Here we are in August !
July was busy and we have more visitors this month but smaller gatherings and I have decided to enjoy the time but staying accountable to the thread !

We all have different objectives and targets and also worries and stresses but we can always provide a safe space to share and/or have a rant so feel free to pop in as and when you can for this new month .

Thanks to sunshine girl and SunnyB for helping to keep the thread going, especially when I am not able to post very often .

Wishing you all a successful and hopefully peaceful month

Wendy, sunshine girl and SunnyB xxx

Loving the title of the new thread, Wendy, I’m sure there are many of us needing to be accountable … and awesome🤭!! Enjoy your family time and socialising, life is for living after all. I’m confident you’ll get back on track as soon as you can, ‘cos you’re very focused and determined.

Personally, I’m finding taking control again very empowering and the fasting has been going well. There has been some encouraging scales readings and clothes are already feeling a little more comfortable. However, from Friday we are going the be at eldest DD’s for ten days and I’m quietly panicking bit, as being away will almost certainly make things more challenging.

Hope everyone is doing okay, I’m looking forward to reading updates from lots of you. Do the best you can to make good BSD choices and let us know how you’re getting along.

Thank you for the new August thread Wendy.

This August I am going to be awesome and plan on losing 10lbs in 4 weeks 3 days when friends arrive. I noticed our quiz night is back on, they just forgot to update the website. So I will be going to that and have no control over the food but it is usually low in carbs. I will just have to stay off the wine.

Come and join us everyone. We had a very lively crowd for July.

Accountable …… yes that will be my buzz word for August too.
Thanks for setting up the new thread Wendy.
Yes, you must ‘enjoy’ as Sunny says ‘life is for living’ and ‘life also has an expiry date’ …. sorry, but yes we need to enjoy. We can also be accountable to ourselves at the same time , then I’m sure we will all be ‘awesome’ .
Enjoy August.

Hi again, good start to month with a 2lb loss in one day. I know it will be fluid but it makes me feel motivated.

Had a lovely swim yesterday but not today. Thankfully and much needed it is pouring with rain on and off for the next 2 days.

Up at our nearest shopping strip yesterday and bought 6 new dining room chairs. The old ones were plastic coated and it was peeling off, not bad as we bought them in 2012. This time bought a fabric style which we will cover when it is just us and the cats but uncover when we have visitors.

Little story and moan. In France from 1st August they are not supposed to give you till receipts unless you ask for it – all about saving paper. Bought chairs and the girl said she would send the receipt to hubbys email address. Went to service area to collect and the first thing they asked for was the receipt. I tried to tell her it was coming by email so we had to go through a whole load of palaver on proving who we were – we had the bank card receipt – and she wouldnt accept my ID as the purchase was in hubbys name even though we share the same surname. When she finally decided we were entitled what did she do. She printed a receipt. Doh!!!

Considering the number of times I get home from the supermarket and find an error I will be asking for my receipts.

Have a good week.

Thanks for the new thread, Wendy. Accountability is a good theme for August.
I will be doing an eat out of my freezer and store cupboard month as I still have a number of meals and things like frozen fish fillets and prawns that need eating. Lots of lentils and things in the cupboard as well. I’m feeling a bit skint after buying in a whole year’s worth of hay for the horses yesterday, and I need to clear out the old food before the new crops start coming in in earnest. So this should help keep me accountable as there is lots of healthy stuff in there. I’m pretty good at buying healthy ingredients, just not so good at using them to make meals.

Hello everyone & thank you Wendy for starting this new thread & accountable & awesome I will try to be this month.
Well I’ve finished my antibiotics course & assume my UTI has gone away. It’s my 49th wedding anniversary today & not even a card from my husband although I bought him one & have some whisky in a train box coming for him! I know he has never been romantic but a few flowers would have been nice🙁 We are going out to a restaurant we haven’t eaten in before this evening to celebrate that have a cocktail hour so I think I will have a Pina Colada & the food looks good on the menu so hopefully it will be a delicious meal.
The grey wet weather is getting me down but there is some sun shining at the moment🌞 😀 suffering from SAD in mid-summer is just ridiculous 🙀 & sleeping badly weeing all the time disrupting my sleep. I don’t know if that’s down to losing carbs or iffy bladder communication 😂I know tmi!!
Oh on a plus note I have been trying on some smarter & evenigish clothes I’ve not worn for years to choose something different to wear this evening & got into the suit my husband bought me to wear in 1999 to my university graduation ceremony😀 I was a mature student with the Open University.
Anyway it’s good to hear that some of you are staying focused & doing well & I will also try to become better motivated this month. In the meantime onwards & downwards everyone 👍👏👏
Margaret xx

Hi all, enjoying a period of being motivated and have lost 3lbs in 2 days. Long may it continue. At least it might make me decide not to have a drink on Monday night.

Margaret, we are mirroring each other. I have just finished a course of antibiotics and had a urine test yesterday. Results in today say I no long have an infection. Funny that I still keep feeling like I want to pee but, notices on my activity fitbit that I only got up once during the night and had a full 8 hours sleep. Something like you, had been keeping me awake.

Also I did my degree through the Open University – psychology and sociology were my main subjects. I couldnt go on to do honours as I didnt have access to children and was studying development and learning. I would have had to be a teacher to do the final 2 years for honours. Thought it a bit unfair at the time, plus back then I didnt have access to a computer. Graduated in 1989.

Check in on Myfitnesspal every day and kept to under 800 cals and under 50g carbs. Although today I am stuck at 560 cals and 48 carbs (porridge for breakfast) so not sure what to add. I am doing a kebab style chicken tonight and could have a small pitta bread which would keep me under 800 cals but would stuff up the carb count as I want to stay under 50g. I have a boiled egg in the fridge (always) so I might chose that as a snack.

Dont forget to keep on keeping on…

Good heavens sunshine-girl how odd that we were both studying with the OU & my subject was also Psychology with a biological behavioural basis & I went on to honours & post grad diplomas in therapeutic counselling with a view to qualifying as a Counselling Psychologist! Unfortunately breast cancer got in my way preventing me going on to do my Masters at Surrey University because I had to stop my client work & building up contact hours to focus on my own recovery & then the opportunity was lost because my mentor/sponsor/manager as the local counselling service & also a lecturer on the Masters course left. I look back with some regrets now but realised I was burning my candle at both ends also holding down a full time job so something had to give & it was my body! It just goes to show we need to look after ourselves & not always focus being available helping others.
Oh well I’m off out now to dinner with my husband & well done with your weight loss!⭐️👏👏
Margaretxx

Well done s-g!
Isn’t it funny how when the scales go up we have put on “weight” but when they fall we have just lost “fluid/water”!
Let’s be kind to ourselves …. a loss is a loss.

Hi all, great achievement Margaret, sorry about the illness blocking your progress. Life is a bit of a lottery and playing one thing off against another.

Scales down again and I am putting it down to my own hard slog. Decided to have half a mini pitta bread with the chicken kebab and salad just to make up the calories and I was still under 800 but 60g carbs. I know the diet is working as I am hungry when I go to bed but not hungry enough to be thrown off track which is why I had the small amount of planned carb or I might have been so hungry and raided the fridge – not that there is anything in it off plan.

Verano, the psychology we use on our diets are what keep the diet industry booming. If we do well it is a good diet and recommend it (especially when you pay for it), if we do badly it is us who are failures and move onto the next big thing.

Weekend coming up and determined to do well. Keep on keeping on…

I feel neither awesome nor accountable – summer cold has me feeling rubbish and eating everything in sight, and we have 2 meals out tomorrow with others – on a positive note I cannot eat huge portions anymore so either lunch or dinner will be something light, no promises on the other though.
Steak and salad tonight, that’s what my body has decreed it wants 🙂
Have a good weekend everyone.

Thank you S-G & like RubyG I don’t feel very awesome today having gained 1.25 pounds in weight despite continuing to spend many pennies. My husband & I had a very enjoyable anniversary dinner at a local steak restaurant & we mainly ate protein but also some new potatoes. So must get back on track!!
Some good news for us that our son has seen his kidney Consultant & his kidney function is slightly improving & he has now been prescribed medication. He will now continue to be reviewed but he is looking for work again because his current contract has ended. It never rains but it pours as in the weather here today. However I have rather optimistically bought a new garden table & chairs which are 50% reduced because we have friends & family coming to lunch throughout August & I’m hoping summer might finally arrive 🤞🤞
Keep going everyone 👍
Margaret xx

Some encouragement for Margaret and RubyG. For some reason I gained 1.3kgs in one weekend (last weekend) and all I did was have a few drinks. I’ve put on less on a weeks holiday. I didnt l let it get me down and faced August with renewed determination. Since Tuesday I have lost 4lbs. So come on ladies or girls or whatever you prefer to be called. Get out of this defeatist frame of mind and lets all get this August show on the road.

I haven’t had a swim since Monday due to weather – thankfully some rain and today the pool has dropped to 22 degrees brrrrrrr. So I am spending the weekend doing some light gardening. I have finished building and filling one of my raised beds and today we went out and bought some soft herbs – basil, lemon verbena and soft thyme (there are 2 types available but one is rather woody). I was also looking for some hormone rooting powder so I can start growing some plants from cuttings but they didn’t have any so will look online. The basil is quite bushy so I am going to split it into 4, plant 3 outside and one for the kitchen. Same with the verbena but maybe just 2 in the plot. I also bought some baby cauliflowers which will replace the courgette plants.

I am really feeling this garden stuff and I am looking at all the unedible apples on our trees (too sour) and have printed out a recipe for homemade apple juice and one for apple cider vinegar. That is my job for tomorrow.

Keeping busy and keeping on…

Thank you S-G & I have also been making use of my garden picking runner bean’s yesterday & just now slicing them for steaming for supper with our chicken kievs😀 They are so crisp & fresh & slice really easily because they are also tender. We only have tomatoes also growing & they are beginning to ripen now. I made broccoli & squash soup for lunch served with a little Greek yoghurt but also a cheese scone🙀 My dieting starts in earnest on Monday & I’ve just bought an air fryer so will have to learn how to use it 😀
I hope everyone is having an enjoyable weekend & my husband is watching rugby & Scotland narrowly beat France. England is now playing Wales.
Onwards everyone 👍🍀
Margaret xx

Hi all, happy Sunday. Not lost any more weight but had a bit of a breakthrough this morning. Hubby was cooking brunch and I was setting the table and the radio was on. Suddenly found myself dancing around and not getting out of breath. Felt I was my old self. I am seeing the pneumonologist next month so will get properly checked out. Me and my long list of doctors.

Happy days.

That sounds brilliant s-g well done!! I’ve always loved dancing & bounce around when ironing 😀💃🏻💃🏻

Hello.
Yes s-g you are so right. The ‘diet industry’ messes with our heads so much. Good to hear you’re feeling more like you old self … onwards and upwards!
Margaret …Wendy 1947… I’m guessing you and I are of a similar age??
So pleased to hear you enjoyed your anniversary dinner. At the end of the day we have one life, we need to celebrate every time we have the opportunity to! So pleased to hear your son’s kidney problems can be managed.
Well, we had friends here for lunch. Pretty low carb but I did have a sliver of an open fruit tart …. sent the remainder to a neighbour (who just happens to be a relative). All ‘indulgences’ now out of harms way!
In saying all that I’ve had a bit of an iffy few days …. BUT …. tomorrow is Monday … new day …. new week…. new start ………
Hope this week is a good one for everybody … socially, nutritionally or anyway that makes it good for you!

Still feeling good. Didn’t lose any more weight over the weekend, in fact, possibly quarter pound on but still in the 4lb loss range. Know if I had some wine I would be up with only a small loss. Determined and not going to have a drink while we are out tonight. It is enough that I have to have a meal out but I can save the drinks for when our friends arrive in September. How good will I feel at 10lbs lighter.

Decided to get on with some courgette fritters today. I had been worried they would make tons and it would have loads of snacks in the fridge but decided they could possibly go in the freezer. Turns out one very large marrow sized courgette only made 6 fritters. So I will do some more tomorrow just to use up the last 3 courgettes. I will have a couple of small ones left but they are new and fresh so will keep a while longer.

Today I telephoned the cardiologists secretary. Before I had my bike test he said if things were good I needn’t see him for 2 years but if there was a problem it should be 1 year. Anyway, considering there is a small problem I rang to get an appt for next year. She asked me why I thought I needed the appt so I told her what my results were. She said, yes 1 year. Then I told her my husband has an appt for July next year and we often have a joint appt. I gave her his date and she said, okay, same day and time. Done. The point is, I often doubt my ability in French and do sometimes get stuck in certain situations but mainly I can handle most things with confidence, and more important, fluently. I am still doing lessons most days even if it is just watching a short video from Comme Une Francaise with Geraldine. I just enjoy doing lessons and look forward to going out and speaking to people. There are so many English people here who dont speak a word and I cannot understand how they get on. Anyway, that is my pat on the back for the day.

Have a good week everyone.

Hello Verano yes I was born in November 1947!
Well done with your French fluency s-g 👏👏 I have been trying to improve my knowledge & French fluency on & off for years now because I have some French & French Canadian heritage & somehow feel that some magical osmotic process is going to happen whereby my fluency will just emerge without me having to do much😂 alas it hasn’t happened yet & I expect it won’t now because I don’t really have a natural ability to learn languages despite also studying Latin & having a miserable time going to Italian classes because of holidaying in Sicily last year 🙁
Today for some odd reason I have felt completely off balance but have stuck to my diet routine, played short mat bowls this afternoon quite well & went & cancelled my gym membership because I decided that from now on I’m only going to do exercise things I enjoy doing! I’m continuing my circuit training class & I have also just collected a much larger than expected Air Fryer & my new challenge is to learn how to use it to cook healthy meals🤔
Is anyone else using an air fryer? Any tips will be much appreciated 😀
Margaret xx

Hi all, we had a really good night out. The food started with a fish cake and the waiter remembered from last month that I dont eat fish and asked me if I would prefer melon. Would I, hell yes. He brought me a bowl of 3 different type of melon balls topped with melon sorbet. Lovely. The main was stuff turkey leg and as I was tucking in I realised it was 20% turkey and 80% stuffing sat on a mound of mashed potatoes. I ate the turkey and the stuffing and avoided the mash. Because I was hungry I had 2 small chunks of baguette. Our team (me hubby and 2 strangers we sat with) can joint first and had a tie breaker. It was what was the length of the titanic. We said 300m they said 290m and they were the closest, so we lost. However, the compare announced we were the winners before rectifying his mistake and it felt good to be a winner for just a few minutes. Hey ho, maybe next time.

Anyway, I have gained 1lb, which seems a lot for 2 bits of bread but it will be fluid. The weather is warming up so I am hoping to be swimming later today – the pool temp has dropped from 28 to 22 so is a bit on the cold side.

Margaret, we did find it very difficult to learn the language. Before we came here I did GCSE O level and got a B+ but, ask Wendleg, the French don’t recognise half of what we were taught. Also, because we were retired (early) we didn’t meet people like at work or at the school gates and the French are reluctant to get into conversation due to feeling exactly how we feel – scared or nervous we are not going to be understood or know what to say. Anyway, over the years I have had multiple lessons both private and in groups. I took the French Alliance exam and have a DELF B1 (diploma education language French- to say it back to front) which is classed as the level of an independent speaker – someone who shouldnt need help in daily life or dealing with officials (tax man etc). However, then you get out of the classroom and still people don’t speak to you, or if they do they want to practice their English. Anyway, that is why, after 18 years I am still learning formally, not just relying of immersion i.e. absorbing it just by being here. If you want to do a bit of adult learning look at the website I mentioned or just go onto YouTube and search for CommeUneFrancaise.com Geraldine Lepere. If you subscribe she will send you a weekly video of everyday things i.e. going to the hairdressers, buying baguettes with some of the history and culture thrown in. Short and easy, fully subtitled or explained 10 to 20 mins. She is lovely and all the lessons are free. And it is the French real French people speak. Or you could come and stay with me for a week 🙂

Sorry to have gone on a bit. Hope it is not too boring for most of you. Enjoy the week and I look forward to being 1lb lighter tomorrow.

Just come back to say, I didn’t have any alcohol last night and the funny thing was no one on our table did (hubby had an AF beer) or I would have gained 2 to 3 lbs.

Margaret, I forgot to talk to you about airfryers. I will leave it for tomorrow as that might be a longish subject. Just to say I love mine.

Sunshine-girl how fascinating learning of your experiences with learning French & communication with the locals. Gosh it’s so much more complicated living there & people still not willing to chat with you but very impressive that you have continued your studies & taken the French Alliance exam👏👏⭐️. My husband lived with a French family on an exchange trip whilst still in school & vice versa with their son so has retained some fluency & intuitive feel when speaking French. Unfortunately the British abroad do have a bad reputation for not even trying to speak different languages but I’ve always felt it polite to learn some basics but got laughed at when we lived in the Middle East trying out my Arabic when I was told their English was better than my poor efforts & they wanted to practice English with me! But basic greetings, pleases & thank yous were appreciated & generally well received. However it was amusing when we were on holiday near Perpignan & my husband developed an ear infection & we had to call out a local doctor & my husband chatted to him in French explaining what was wrong & he expressed amazement that he was able to being British! My efforts trying to get his prescription sorted out in the local pharmacy whilst he couldn’t find a parking space I think amused all the others there but I did succeed in explaining it wasn’t for me but my husband 😂 Thank you for the information on French language help I will have to see how far my little grey cells can be challenged now😀
I did go to the circuit training tonight despite feeling rather weary because of the grey rainy day today & did lots of exercise with weights & felt much more energetic afterwards. I also cooked a lunch of kebabs, sweet potato fries & crispy onion rings in my air fryer that was a good tryout but not very diet friendly. However I will need to learn how to adapt the more usual things I usually cook in it.
Oh well it’s late now so lights out here.
Margaret

Hi all, well the pound gain has gone so it is now onward and downward. For my 10lb goal in 4.2 weeks I have lost 4lbs, so not a bad start, although I know that will slow down. So now 6lb in 3 weeks and 2 days.

Margaret, you asked about air fryer cooking. It is good you have a large one as some are just too small to do much more than chips or burgers. Mine is 5.5 litres so not massive (my daughter has one bigger). Tips: try to cook things in an ovenproof container, ceramic dish, silicone cookware, Pyrex glass. This stops you getting a mess in the bottom, even when you are not using fats you still get some seepage from things like chicken or meat. Buy a set of silicone mats (2 will do) for the bottom of the tray – ceramics and metal cooking containers scratch the surface and it starts to flake off. DO NOT buy an air fryer cookbook, the concept is so new the books are rubbish. Decide what you want to cook then google how to air fry it and you will get lots of recipes, methods and timings. The timings are important as I can cook a 1.5kg chicken in the oven for 1 and half hours at 180 but in the air fryer it should take around 45 mins to an hour. Check because that is where the money saving is – time using electricity. Buy a food thermometer if you want to be sure something is cooked through but cooking can continue in the standing time. Always oil something like meat or chicken, just a light spray or rub helps with browning. If it is something like veg or chips you can chuck them straight in as with anything else that dont have oozing juice etc. Talking about oozing it tells you not to cook liquids as these can boil over and make a mess but it is okay with something like a stew as long as you dont over fill the casserole. There will be some trial and error but if you need any ideas just give me shout.

You have to use it, not let it sit in the corner. Another tip is dont pay much more than £100 for a well known brand but still check the reviews. Mine is a brand called Uten, no I have not heard of it either. Wish I had bought a bigger one as mine is really only suitable for a small joint or chicken or it touches the inside top and burns.

So thats just a few tips. For me the big thing is I have cut my electric bill by 1/3rd.

Sorry that was all on one subject but hope it helps and maybe gives some people a nudge to buy one.

See you all tomorrow.

Hi all, nothing much to report, weight still the same. I did manage a swim but as it was late I just did 20 mins. Today is cloudy and muggy and around 30 degrees but it is due to brighten up later so I might have another swim after dinner.

Hope you are all keeping well.

Hi all, nothing to report. Weight the same. Had a swim this morning for 30 mins. I am doing arm exercises while watching TV and also set about doing 5 deep squats every day to tone my legs 🙂

Well done s-g with your activities & weight loss👏👏 plus anyone else keeping going.
My weight has gone up again gaining 1.5 lbs I think because I’ve had a difficult past two to three weeks handling & coping with what life has chosen to throw at me with health & family issues. I can feel it in my legs & knees which is not good making then rather unreliable & sore. My husband & I are playing a competitive short mat bowls mat today that I hope I can cope with & not let my team down! Then tomorrow my youngest son who is now unemployed & the one with kidney issues, his young son who lives with his mother who is trying to disentangle herself & leave her current flat owning/sharing “partner” with the distress now affecting our grandson who is high end autistic, are all unexpectedly coming to lunch. Food wise I’m just making spaghetti bolognese & garlic bread for something fast & simple. Then on Thursday friends are coming to lunch & I will cook vegetation Indian food & probably a cheesecake & a tropical fruit salad for pud followed by next Sunday my eldest son his wife & two granddaughters are coming to lunch. This will probably be more pasta because the girls like it. My losing weight is on hold & I will probably be gaining more weight then for another week🤔 Life feels rather stressful at the moment🤔
Margaret

It’s always more difficult to stay on track when socialising, Margaret. I do have one tip though, whenever I serve pasta for others, I cook myself some veggies maybe green beans, broccoli or perhaps cauli rice, to have with the sauce, rather than pasta. To save on pans, you can even steam the veg in a colander over the boiling pasta.

Enjoy your family fet together though, they are very precious.

Thank you SunnyB that’s a brilliant idea & my runner beans cut finely would work very well!
I hope everyone is having an enjoyable weekend? I’m rather anxiously keeping an eye on the weather hoping it won’t rain & we can still sit out in the garden. The conservatory has now been turned into a playroom & the toy washing machine & shopping trolley has arrived & are ready for play action😀
I’ve been cleaning & tidying up & am now going to make a bolognese sauce for tomorrow.
Margaret

Margaret the runner beans would be great. I use spiralised courgette fried quickly in a hot pan with a little olive oil. In fact now if I have curry I always use a vegetable base such as tenderstem broccoli. Very occasionally when out I will have a small pasta dish, usually tagliatelle, with prawns. Wonderful but only in a really good restaurant because I don’t enjoy a plate full of stodge anymore!
It’s so hard sometimes to fit this way of life into ‘real life’. I guess you just have to be honest with the reasons you are eating this way. Weight loss alone is not enough to make family gatherings a problem. Only you can assess your ‘needs’ but family commitments should probably always take priority at our age !
BTW I’m December!
Have a good weekend everyone.

Hi all, once again nothing special to report.

When we have our visitors I am going to try to prepare as much as I can beforehand. There will be a lasagne with garlic bread for the guests, aubergine lasagne and no bread for me. I am making a pastry free quiche using fine cured ham as the base (procuscio or whatever it it called). Then there will be a beef rangdag with rice but cauliflower rice for me. The first night I am opening a tin of confit de canard (confit duck) and they will have potatoes and beans and I will have beans and maybe another veg. These are the meals I have control over so then I can relax a bit when we go out. One restaurant does 7 courses if you count the coffee and mignardises (little fancies or chocolate) but I can get really full up on all the proteins without having to bother with any carbs. Although they do amazing crispy potatoes in garlic and herbs – I might have a couple. Bit of a tip, I have bought a couple of cans of ready cooked new potatoes, saves me worrying about cooking those.

It seems a bit of a waste making all this effort to lose weight when I will probably put it all back on for that week with friends, then I only have 2 weeks before we go away. I think I will try to be very careful and set myself some limits. The one downfall is my friends are very boozy but I have noticed that no one notices if you are not drinking once they have had a couple. Water looks like vodka so I can get away with drinking a lot less.

Margaret, I had some very good news from my brother. He has been on daily (3 times a day) dialysis for the last 3 weeks and his kidneys have started to work normally again. He is so pleased he sent me a photo of where the tube has now been removed but must have forgotten he was naked. He did have his hand covering his bits. He sent the same photo to my daughter. Not sure he hasnt put it on FB. Hey ho, he is very happy.

Have a good weekend.

Margaret, glad the pasta alternative has inspired, sometimes small tweaks are all that’s needed to make a meal BSD friendly. Just need to think outside the box a little.
Good news about your brother, SG. Hope he continues to make good progress. I’m with you on pre preparing as much as possible when entertaining, makes things so much easier on the day.
V, one of my favourite things when roasting cauli, is to add some whole coriander seeds. They give crunch little bursts of flavour as you eat and a sprinkle of mango powder will provide a little tang, if that’s your thing. Roast caulinis one of my favourite things, so i enjoy looking for alternative to zing things up a bit.

Thank you all for your helpful & delicious sounding pasta alternatives I very much appreciate your help.
S-G what wonderful news for your brother you must both feel so relieved & pleased. We should know more from my son’s Doctor next week.
I do have a spiraliser & plenty of courgettes😀 & at the moment the curries I’ve made before that & know they like are spicy chickpeas with a tomato & chillies, black eyed peas & mushrooms, a yoghurt raita with cucumber & spicy cabbage & peas plus basmati rice & poppadoms for them but I will also make cauliflower rice because I’ve got out of the habit of doing that.
I’m just having coffee & then I will do some cleaning, prepare my sons bedroom because he is staying tonight & it looks like it might not rain today after all & the sun is shining now.🌞😀
Verano I’m a Scorpio are you Sagittarius like my eldest son?🤔
Margaret xx

Hi all, weight down just a smidge on last week but only about quarter pound. I still have until Tuesday before official weigh-in.

My one experience of roasting a whole cauli ended with me cutting it in half (fully cooked) and finding a caperpillar in the middle. So never again.

Talking of things going wrong, give me strength, I was making apple juice yesterday and had 6lb apples simmering. Because I was on WhatsApp to daughter him indoors decided I should be getting on with it so he started to put it into a pillowcase to strain. Now if I had looked at it I would have said it needs more water, lots more water but once he gets it into his head to interfere there is no stopping him. So today we have about 20ml of apple syrup. I said I would put it back in the pan with a couple of pints of water and let it simmer but he says no, and has started pushing it through a fine sieve. He now has about 50ml of syrup. I give up and let him get on with it. But it took me ages to top and tail (cut out stalks and other end) on about 60 apples and he has messed it up. Yet he wont get on with the jobs I want him to do.
Bloody men.

Just thought of good news. Long ago when I was 4 or 5 kilos lighter I had a visceral fat of 12 taken at the gym on a Bodytrax. I was very disappointed to see that had gone up to 15 on my new Rhenpo scales. Today it has dropped to 14. Just got to get my metabolic age down from 77 to my real age 🙂

Happy Sunday everyone.

Hi all, a bit annoyed as weight up again, for no reason but my bone density and muscle mass have increased so that might be the reason. Not giving up and nearly half way through the month so still time to reach my goal.

Nearly forgot to say, we have booked a cruise. We weren’t sure if I would get insurance but as my problem was a one off and I have been discharged from any further treatment it doesn’t have any effect. Also we had to cancel our June cruise because of my surgery. We are doing a week around the Norwegian fjords again but 2 places already been to and 2 new. There are not a lot of stop offs around Norway unless you start going further north and we dont want to do 12 to14 days. It is the last week in April first week of May next year so another goal to aim for.

Have a good week.

Hey everyone,
I’ve been feeling rather puffy again, but my massage therapist is still on holiday, so I haven’t had any lymphatic drainage in a few weeks, and we’re back into a hot spell again. I have been trying to go swimming regularly. I went this evening after a 38 C day and it was so nice to cool down.
I made up a huge salad so I wouldn’t have to cook most of this week. It has artichoke hearts, olives, tomatoes and garlic from the garden and roasted red peppers. Very tasty indeed. I still have one serving of curry and some black bean burgers in the freezer that can be heated in the microwave if I decide I need something warm. When it cools down on Friday and I can cook again, I have a piece of trout in the freezer that I will have with green beans from the garden.
So, trying to stay on track, even though summer has seemed very long this year (our first +30 C day was at the end of April) and being fed up with the heat, bugs, smoke and fires could end up being an excuse to go off the rails completely and exist just on ice cream until it finally cools down. Everything is completely parched here. There is 25mm of rain in the forecast for next week, but they will probably take it out in the next day or two. I think they only put it in there to give people hope, but they should realize that it just results in huge disappointment when it doesn’t come to fruition!

For accountability, I stopped eating after 8 hours. I was able to do that today. I made a checklist of foods I need to eat everyday and make sure I eat those foods first.

Had a bit of a setback in the exercise department and I’m getting back into doing that. My goal is an hour and a half a day. But if I make an hour a day I’ll give myself half a star.

I hope everyone has a really good week this week!

Hello everyone & Sunday went well & the homemade bolognese sauce was good & the finely sliced runner beans steamed with courgetti were delicious & I’m pleased I was encouraged to re-discover my spiralser 😀However our grandsons mother decided to treat us to a proper English afternoon tea, she is Brazilian, & brought along a cake stand, sandwiches, scone, clotted cream, jam , cream cakes & many more small cup cakes from M&S & set it all out on our dining table. So the four of us unexpectedly sat down to afternoon tea🙀🙀I ate a a quarter of a white bread smoked salmon & cream cheese sandwich, one scone with clotted cream & jam & a mini Victoria sponge cake & could then politely stop🙁so diet disaster😳.
Unfortunately the rest of the afternoon became very emotional with her breaking down crying & finally revealing to us everything about the controlling manipulative & cheating behaviour of her live in current “partner” & his continuing lying, stealing her money from their joint account that is supposed to pay their mortgage to go out with his “women” whilst pretending to be very affluent. She used to work for high end fashion retailers organising their photo shoots receiving staff discounts & bought him some expensive shirts etc that unfortunately helps that illusion. She is trying to leave him, sell the flat, protect our grandson & extricate herself financially without incurring any detrimental financial history. It’s a fiendishly complicated situation with our son trying to protect his son & himself from her thinking she can just move back to him when she eventually leaves , when her past behaviour has caused him so much distress to his mental health & he has been in continuous counselling resolving & better understanding the toll it has all taken on him. He remains pig in the middle helping & advising her as much as he can whilst protecting himself from her hopes & expectations & maintaining contact & building an ongoing relationship with his son who is still largely non verbal & high end autistic!!
Our son has always been communicating with us about his difficult situation so always has our support & stayed overnight with a good discussion session yesterday morning about it all & how he needs to continue to protect himself emotionally but help as much as he can. My experience/knowledge of counselling others is certainly coming to be useful although I’m no longer professionally registered & not really up to date with current research but I do enjoy watching any behaviour/science/brain cognition progs that come on the tv. to try to keep myself informed 🤔
I’m out this morning taking back three not flattering dresses to M & S from my ill advised online retail therapy when I still have a wardrobe full of clothes waiting for me to wear them. Also going to Waitrose to buy some fresh food for our friends coming to lunch on Thursday. The sun is shining & supposed to be for the next three days so I’m feeling much more cheerful & trying to control my eating for the rest of the week😀👍
Well done everyone & it is interesting & motivating reading about your progress & happenings! Sorry about my written Sunday saga🤔🙁
Margaretxx

SG, having a date goal to work towards can be very motivating, especially for something as lovely as a holiday. I’m sure you’ll be reporting good results soon.
Arctic, sounds like you have a good menu plan for the week ahead. Hope you’re puffiness will rapidly reduce once you can get your massages again.
Ruby, well done on tackling the exercise issue, it’s one I struggle with constantly. Hope your approach works well for you.
Margaret, sorry your food plans were a bit hijacked, but at least you didn’t have pasta as well as the afternoon tea ‘treats’. Sad that your family event was somewhat marred by having to field other people’s emotional issues, but understandably you want to support your son and GS. I’m sure they appreciate having you in their corner.
Our family visit over the last 10 days, was pleasant and trying in equal portions, but I’m pleased to say that despite having less control on my ‘menu’, the weight impact was minimal. Now I’m back to a couple of fasts a week and OMAD on the other days. Still have a stone to shift and six weeks to make some kind of meaningful impact …. fingers crossed!

Hi everyone, welcome to Ruby Frances – I am assuming you are new to this thread. If you are also new to the diet don’t beat yourself up if you don’t keep to your exercise plan. It can be very difficult if you are new to low carb and low cals.

Arctic I am so with you on the heat and I am being bitten to death despite the preventative sprays and creams. Then last night I heard thunder just as I was going to bed. Then came the lightening and it went on all night along with buckets of rain. We read today that the storm we had didn’t move at all so we had it full on for 7 hours. It was like daylight outside and, at one point I thought something was on fire but hubby said that lightening can smell – just like I can smell rain, it has a special name Petrichor and I can smell when rain is coming so not surprised lightening also smells.

End of week 2 and still no movement. After the little blip with the meal out I have completely stuck besides losing the pound I gained. So today I am exactly 4lbs down this month. Still 3 weeks to go so not giving up,.

Bought a new phone today and have been tearing my hair out trying to set it up, even with an auto swap cable which moved everything automatically. Didnt stop me losing access to a lot of my apps like Deezer and Facebook. I have no patience with tech so hubby has taken the brunt and had to sort it all out for me. I think all is well now.

Margaret I dont know how you manage with all the drama going on. Think of yourself and your son and that is enough to be worried about.

Have a good week.

Just typed a message and instead of hitting carriage return I hit the delete button. So here goes.

Feeling a bit fed up with my weight as it is up a bit again (0.015kg). Maybe I shouldnt weigh every day but my insulin requirements can depend on it and I like to keep on top of it.

Just realised I am 7lbs heavier than I was at my very lowest weight on BSD. If I meet my 6lbs to lose goal I will nearly be there. Anyway, it is another goal to aim for. Even though my weight is about the same I can see difference i.e. my jeans glide on instead of having to be dragged over my hips. Think my midriff is down. No point in measuring as the record ones were taken when I was about the same or a bit slimmer so it doesnt make much difference. If I go bigger I dont like to key it into MFP but wait until it goes down again 🙂

Bit too warm to swim but might cool down a bit later.

Sorry for not posting much. We’re having a bad time of it here at the moment. The last 24 hours have been utterly devastating. I’m feeling fortunate to have made it through without being in any immediate danger and have finished the day with all my fingers and toes and my house is still standing. Which is not the case for many others. Hoping we can make it through the weekend and that the cooler weather allows our firefighters to get a handle on the situation. Will check back in when things have improved. Diet seems quite irrelevant right now.

Arcticfox I have been wondering how you are with the wildfires getting worse & am relieved to hear you & your property are safe. Take good care of yourself & I am sending my love, hopes & good wishes to you!
❤️🍀🍀🤞🤞
Margaret xx

Arctic, so sorry for your situation. I too was wondering after seeing the news. Lots of love and hugs. I cant even mention my diet, it seems so irrelevant right now.

Happy Sunday everyone, but first a big virtual hug for Arctic and hoping things are going in the right direction and you are able to have some respite from the fires.

I was getting really fed up at being 4lbs down now for 3 weeks and no movement. I decided if I hadn’t lost any more by Saturday I want going to relax and enjoy a bottle of wine (not all of it) so I bought some when we shopped. Still no more loss on Saturday so that was still my plan but I am a right little terrier and determined. Hubby was cooking a lovely pork and prune dish which should be simmered in white wine and asked if he could have some as I was opening it anyway. I suddenly found myself saying, no, I am not drinking tonight. And I didn’t. Today I am down to 5lb loss and so glad I didn’t have the wine. 20 days completely on the diet. Just 12 more to go, so it is still my pledge.

To tell you the truth it was too hot to drink and I already felt listless and a bit sick – 35 degrees with hotter to come. Managed to have a swim 4 days in a row now as I go it around 10.30 am before it gets too hot. Also, still doing my squats, arm weights and facial yoga. Plus I am doing 1 hr of French every day. So I really am on a mission. Boy am I going to have some fun when my friends arrive. 🙂

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the hugs and good wishes. We’re holding steady at the moment. A friend of mine who lives an hour or so to the north of me was evacuated, and a small hamlet to the north of her has burned down, but the cooler weather is helping somewhat now. The smoke is absolutely terrible, but that is blocking the sun and keeping things cooler. I can only work outside for around an hour before getting a headache and starting to cough, and that’s even when I’m wearing an N95 mask. I’m glad I got my asthma meds updated last week.
I’m just watching our regular morning update and watching a big, burly, seasoned fire chief breaking down in tears as he’s trying to talk, but he’s saying that they were able to hold the lines last night due to calm winds are really hoping to make some progress today before the winds pick up again this afternoon.
It’s going to be a marathon getting through this, but as we move into September we at least get higher overnight humidity which helps a lot. We’re supposed to get some rain Mon-Wed from the remains of hurricane Hilary, so hoping that happens and that we don’t get too much lightning associated with it. Will check back in later in the week.

Hi all, glad things are improving Arctic.

Well I am totally fed up and in need of some help. My weight is back up again today. I have now done 21 days of not much more than 800 cals, sticking to around 50g carbs with my highest day being 65 when I had a Ryvita with mashed tuna because my BG was dropping. I have now swum 5 days in a row and yesterday bumped it up to 40 mins instead of 30. What more can I do. I know I have been on this diet for a long time (years) and my normal diet when I am not trying to lose weight is probably less than 1000 cals so my body doesn’t see much of a difference. My daughter says I eat like a bird so can’t cut much out.

I also do TRE every day and never eat after 8pm or before 10.30. I could extend that to lunchtime but some days I have to be careful my BG doesn’t go too low. I have thought about doing a longer fast, say 24 hours, but I would have to be very careful and maybe cut out my diabetic meds, which would have the knock on effect of increasing my BG. I also know injecting insulin causes the production of fat cells because injected insulin cannot be processed by the liver in the same way as natural produced insulin and is put into storage sometimes creating new fat cells.

Help and advice welcomed.

Hi s-g
I sympathise with you.
I can imagine how frustrated you are.
I wonder if you should consider increasing rather decreasing food/eating windows. Sometimes I find if I throw in the odd breakfast of berries and yogurt, or eating a few more carbs, not cakes and rice but some fruit or a slice of bread and butter, for example, my body seems to start to ‘work’ again.
I sometimes wonder if eating such low calorie diets for so long, your body does in fact go into ‘starvation’ mode. I know that’s suppose to be an outdated theory now but who ‘really’ knows!
The only other thing I can think of it to drink more water. Set your timer for 45minutes and drink every time the buzzer goes off. May not help but certainly can’t harm!
Sorry can’t be more helpful.
Hello everyone.
Hope August is going well for you all and Arctic hope you’re safe.

Thanks V. I dont know if this will work but I have copied a typical day from MFP. Here goes.
Spinach, raw, fresh, 1 cup 7 1 0 1 24 0
Honedew Melon – Melon, 150 g 53 13 0 1 0 12
Almonds – 20 Almonds, 0.25 g 45 1 4 1 0 0
105 cal
Lunch
Lettuce, 0.5 cup, shredded 4 1 0 0 7 0
Heinz – Salad Cream, 3.75 grams 13 1 1 0 0 1
Wegmans – Cucumber, 0.13 cup 2 0 0 0 0 0
Tomato, 5 cherry tomato 15 3 0 1 4 2
Tuna – Canned Tuna, 0.75 can 90 0 1 23 210 0
124 cals
Dinner
Peas – Birdseye – Garden Peas /, 50 g 34 4 0 2 2 2
Cod Fish, cooked, 1 medium fillet 197 0 1 44 1,044 0
Mccain oven chips – Chips, 50 g 79 14 2 1 0 0
310 cals
Snacks
Lindt – Dark Chocolate, 1 square 50 2 4 1 0 0
Tuna – Canned Tuna, 0.25 can 30 0 0 8 70 0
Butter, 0.5 pat (1 inch sq, 1/2 inch high) 18 0 2 0 0 0
Ryvita – Ryvita Whole Grain, 0.75 biscuit 31 5 1 1 0 0
129 cals
Totals 668 cals 45 carbs

Maybe Im not eating enough but I do have a breakfast, lunch and dinner and some carbs. I had the chips and Ryvita because I knew I was low on cals and carbs. I normally have around 780 cals and 45 carbs and my treat is the chocolate. Also swam for 30 mins and did arms with weights and squats.

Does that help.

Here is another day
Butter, 0.5 pat (1 inch sq, 1/2 inch high) 18 0 2 0 0 0
Egg – Egg, 2 medium 123 0 9 11 123 0
Tesco – Creme Fraiche, 1 tblspn 45 0 5 0 0 0
cals 186
Lunch
Chicken Burger – Burger, 0.5 burger 130 5 7 11 132 1
Wegmans – Cucumber, 0.13 cup 2 0 0 0 0 0
French Baguette – Baguette, 0.13 loaf 160 30 2 4 310 1
Lettuce, 0.5 cup, shredded 4 1 0 0 7 0
Generic Tomato – Medium Tomato., 74 g / 5.3 oz 13 4 0 1 10 2
Heinz – Salad Cream, 3.75 grams 13 1 1 0 0 1
Butter, 0.5 pat (1 inch sq, 1/2 inch high) 18 0 2 0 0 0
Cals 340
Dinner
Chiicken Breast – Chicken Breast, 50 g 83 0 2 16 20 0
Red bell pepper, 2 ring 6 1 0 0 1 1
Donegal Rapeseed Oil Co. – Rapeseed Oil, 5 ml 41 0 5 0 0 0
Mushrooms – Button, 100 g 22 3 0 3 5 0
Onion – Onion, 25 grams 10 2 0 0 1 1
Spinach, raw, fresh, 1 cup 7 1 0 1 24 0
Coconut milk, 0.25 cup 19 2 1 0 12 2
Cals 188
Snacks
Lindt – Dark Chocolate, 1 square 50 2 4 1 0 0
Cals 50

Totals 764 cals 52 carbs

Forgot to say I drink around 2 litres of water, plus 1 green tea and 2 coffees. It is stinking hot here so probably drinking more than 2 litres.