Hi
I usually report in about my own life and progress but I feel I would like to give my two cents worth of you will allow me.

The NHS has no funds for medicine and treatments. The money goes to the top people and not the nurses. The money must go to settle all the cases of people who sue. I have recently experienced that nurses now have a script and cannot deviate in fear of being sued. A nurse who was larger than me insisted , insisted I have toast and cereal for breakfast when she found out I only ate at lunchtime. So this tells me only me can fix me. Gone are the days when the doctors knew your family and understood you. I have to ring up at 8 am , be in a vey long queue of nearly an hour just to get an appointment for one thing. The receptionist booking the appointment will not proceed until you tell them your problem. One! When I asked if , having a couple of problems they could relate to each other , I was told I had to ring again the next day for the second problem. And then you speak on the phone to the doctor. No examination . No eye contact, I think they will soon be replaced by robot or automated questionnaires.

I read in the comments, my take on it was, us long time residents here on this forum, some of us don’t like repeating our knowledge. We feel as if we are repeating and repeating. For everyone’s sake PLEASE stay on and repeat. We can always scroll past it but those who need it in that moment, may land on your precious advice and may act upon it, thus you who repeats are saving a life. Type it up and then cut and paste it at the beginning of each new topic.

Sometimes in life you are just not ready for the advice or help , so with love, we go forward into the day. Sometime in the future …..the planets are aligned, there is a vowel in the month, a black cat has yawned, I have thrown a ton of salt over both shoulders as I can’t remember if it’s the right or left, I have crossed over the road when I saw the windows cleaners ladders…. You have repeated your advice and it has struck a cord with me at that moment. The penny has dropped.

Why after all these years have I come back here to change and save my life? It’s because , you are not tied up in red tape. You can say to me try this. Or you save me time and upset by saying I have been down that path and it doesn’t work for me. Tell me again and again . If you scroll back to last month (July) my first entry I think my first words I typed were I NEED HELP , I was crying at the time.

So please repeat and we can decide to scroll on by.

To those of you who have contributed to any of these forums over the years may I say thank you.
In my desperation, in the middle of the night, when things are so bad, when I feel so small and useless , I open up my iPad and I find friends. I recognise names now and in your words I feel your personalities. I take comfort in the laughter and banter. I reread the advice and hold onto one piece and try and change my life. I have no family I only have you lot. Please keep the connection with me. Keep giving me facts, advice, life changes, jokes , tears, heartaches. Share with me please.

Thank you for letting me give my two cents or please scroll on by
Love Lucia xx

Hi Lucia, thank you for your very wise words of advice. I know from past experience that I can give advice and it not be taken and I am now not taking that to heart, everyone has their own time and might one day have a light-bulb moment and remember something someone has said.

We are not medically trained (although I was a nurse many years ago) so do not give medical advice but we give advice from experience and a collective knowledge. We are always saying watch this video or read this book and you can be sure what we say will be sound and no scams.

Saying that I have just read on a very old post which has been revived about exercise and a poster is giving good advice about skipping but then suddenly suggests a website – I checked it out and it is selling semiglutide (the miracle injection) so I have reported it. That is how we keep this site clean. I read yesterday that there is a new drug that Deborah Meaden of Dragons Den has invested in. It is supposed to be the equivalent of running 8km in one gummy. Put it through scam checker and guess what Deborah Meaden is blazing mad. So I can report that here and save someone any pain and disappointment.

Glad you have managed to get into the plan and understand our ethos. Keep on keeping on…. and keep posting all your thoughts. In a way we can be your friends if not family.

Back to me me me…. Finally I have lost some more weight and I am pleased I did not give in to temptation. Hoping for another swim today as it might be the last for a few days. We are forecast for rain which will be a blessing.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Hi Lucia,
I heard you that day. I heard you when you said, “I NEED HELP”.
It reminded me of my own moment of needing help, when I was battling getting fatter and fatter (at age 59) and I could not figure out why (despite all my best efforts and lots of exercise). We were transiting through London Heathrow airport and I chanced upon the book, I think newly printed, by Dr. Michael Mosely and his 800 diet.
I remember being SO EMBARRASSED buying the book, thinking, the young woman checking me out at the purchase point was probably thinking, wow, this lady sure needs a diet book! What a hippo!
That book changed my life.
For the very first time, I understood what was going wrong. It opened my eyes to all the new research and the incredible knowledge that IS OUT THERE, but I had not known about it and no doctor had explained or mentioned to me.
I started to read and listen to podcasts and I started to change my diet more and more and I found more scientists who were working on this (my favourite, Dr. Ben Bikman). I am now a different person. I don’t struggle with my weight — my favourite saying now is that MY BODY IS MY FRIEND. I am strong, I am healthy, my hair is shiny, my skin is clear and I have been set free from spending every single minute of every single day thinking I am fat and how do I fix that and feeling shame and self-hatred and self-disgust.
My life is now mine to enjoy and my body is my best buddy on that journey.
So, when you cried out, “I NEED HELP”, I heard that plea.
Keep going– you are on the right path and you will have great success.
Instead of being your anchor, your body will be your foundation.

Hello, hope you are all having a successful week. I am still losing weight so if you are on a bit of a plateau remember it will shift when it is ready. But you have to stick with it. This is not a time to throw in the towel or, as is my case, crack open a bottle of wine. Just 4 more days before I can have a treat. However, I have exceeded my monthly goal of 3.33lbs and coming in at just under 4lb loss. Don’t want to mess this up.

We are having some welcome rain here today so I had better get the WiFit board out and do some jumping about or maybe a bit of yoga.

Don’t forget to keep on keeping on…

A good reminder S-G to keep on track. I am having a bit of a temptation wobble today but am also so pleased that my son has secured a flat to move to that he was keen on! I know I was concerned about him & his stress levels because he is a workaholic & still needs to learn how to pace himself in all things. Perhaps I am reacting to losing some of my stress because I do feel very tired today even thought the sun is shining which usually peps me up🤔
Keep on going everyone & well done with the weight you have already lost S-G you are a star!⭐️and Wow Californiagirl what a saga you have to tell which is very inspiring to wobbly people like me just trying to plod on! 👏👏👏
Margaret xx

Hi
What’s the best tip you have learnt during your time in all these forums over the years please?
I have two
A. I am enough, I am worth it, I have value , so keep up the hard work
B. Even baby steps improve your health and life
Love Lucia xx

Good question Lucia. Think the best advice for me was to look for the non-scales victories and not just the results on the scales. We forget to count things like clothes fitting better, clearer skin, not getting out of breath as easily, sleeping better etc., etc., there are so many pluses! It’s so easy to get hung up on the reading when we step on the scales and is certainly a pit I can fall into if I’m not vigilant.

Your comment about finding ways to move mire
Lucia, had made me think about my scribing levels. Have been gardening everyday for the last week and I think that has really helped me both mentally and physically and …. dare I say it …. thinks it has shown on the scales too! Not consolidated yet, so won’t report it as a real result yet, but fingers crossed.

Hi Lucia, I think this diet has taught me that doctors are wrong when they say diabetes is a progressive chronic disease that has no hope of going in remission ( I wont say cure) and can only be treated with more and more aggressive medications. Many people on this site have managed to turn around pre-diabetes and even full blown diabetes. I have not completely rid myself of the illness as I was already 12 years diagnosed and already on insulin but I have managed to reduce my medications drastically and avoid what doctors told me would be inevitable, worse and worse health. Even at a review 1 year ago I had a blip upwards but only by a small amount and my doctor said ‘what do you expect, you are only going to get worse’. I did in fact get much better results on my next test.

I have also learned that it is not an easy path having to watch what I eat day in day out with very little respite, but one which I would rather take than the alternative of heart failure, stroke, kidney damage, loss of sight, loss of limbs and so on and on.

I will beat this and continue to have a healthy and full life.

Nothing much to report today. New airfryer arrived and it is bigger and better than the old one. Now just waiting for the refund in my bank account.

Gearing myself up to clear out our old desk which is full of hundreds of old photos (about 20 albums). I am thinking I could empty each one into a plastic wallet and label it and that will keep them safe. We never look at them but we cannot bear to get rid of them. So that is my task for this weekend. Then the desk can be painted an antique blue to match the rest of the room.

Just a quick note to say that I’ve set up the new thread for September. Hope to see you all there from tomorrow.

Thanks for that SunnyB.

Call out to Margaret or anyone else interested in learning French. Geraldine Lepere is starting a new 30 French challenge for September. It costs €30 (or equivalent) and you get a lesson every day for a month with lessons,quizzes, tests, and is based on a tour around the wine regions of France. You need a competent level of French to do it but it should be interesting. I don’t drink a lot of different wines and stick mainly to white Bordeaux or Bergerac but it will be good to be able to talk knowledgeably about wine when we take friends around vineyards for tastings. Like all of her courses you get to keep all the content for life. Sorry that is completely off subject.

BTW, if you register with her on YouTube you can get a free lesson every Tuesday. Different subject from going to the hairdressers to taking your car to the garage. All free. commeunefrancaise.com. Please don’t report me, you know I am genuine.

Thank you SunnyB for setting up a September thread & also S-G for the link to the French Challenge but unfortunately I don’t think my French knowledge is good enough to cope with that yet.
I will join you all in the September thread tomorrow. I had gained 0.75lbs when I weighed today due to not strictly paying attention to the amount of calories I was consuming last week. I will try to do better next week.
Margaret

Margaret I have just looked at the first lesson and everything she says in French she repeats in English, I will let you know how do-able it is.

Thank you S-G

Thank you all….as a consequence of this forum, I have walked confidently through August and into September. You are all brilliant!

Hi
Do I have kept going and have reached 31st august
Thank you to everyone for their comments hep and little nudges along the way
My moods are better
I no longer crave foods. My addiction is under control. The biggest thing this week is I don’t love bread any more !!!!
That’s HUGE!
So into September
Here I go
Love Lucia xx