Mmm, I have one like that as well. We have been in our house for 9.5yrs now and the refurb is nowhere near being finished! Hopefully you new courses will give you the focus needed to tolerate the invasion of your bathroom.

Yes, Theo, I haven’t had to share a bathroom in over 40 years, also! Some
things are just better left to the imagination 🙂 🙂 🙂

Couldn’t agree more, Allie – and yet another thing we have in common 😊

Good morning! It’s so good to read all these positive posts. I have had to share a bathroom and have still made it to 48 years so that’s definitely not the secret for me!

Another sleepless night here and it’s stii dark but today is my eighteen month birthday of eating the BSD way can’t get much more positive than that!

So to yesterday ….
1. The sun was shining all day.
2. I also signed up for Future Learn courses but I’m doing three…. the same two as Theo plus Liver Disease: looking after your Liver. Think I need that one most!
3. We had friends join us for lunch which is always nice.

Stay positive and have a good day!

1. Two more or less perfect BSD days in a row … winning streak!
2. Afternoon swim in our beautiful new-ish (our first summer) swimming pool with some extenteded family over for the afternoon.
3. Best bit of dinner was side dish of zucchini noodles in garlic cream sauce!

1. lost more weight
2. feeling great
3.found a house sitter for our cruise dates

Just so happy to be back home and back into a sensible routine.

Morning Folks – reading the positives has helped me find some of my own, which has been made difficult as I went to bed with a headache and got up with one. It’s not poor hydration, ‘cos I was all over that yesterday, but I can’t decide if it’s low carb related or a migraine brewing. Either way, pain killer haven’t helped and I’m feeling well under par, however, here are my positives for this morning:

1) Last evening enjoyed sitting in front of our log burner with OH and relaxing.
2) The sun is actually shining here at the moment – a rare event given all the storms we have had recently.
3) Scales were kind to me today, so things headed in the right direction again.

Despite feeling cr++py, I will be staying BSD 800 today and hoping to feel better tomorrow.

1) the shower. Godsend on days I need to get away from family and/or food. And such a GOOD hot shower.

2) the cleaners. Complete indulgence but as soon as I had a job I had a cleaner and one of the conditions of being a stay at home mum was the cleaning people continued (he’d need one if he was single I figured). That and no ironing. TBF he’d rather I didn’t do his ironing and he knows cleaning is not a core skill of mine. However I know that compared to (for eg) my mum I am blessed to have the money to do this and a husband who gets why I want to.

3) sunshine today. Glorious walk with dog and friends. Daughter outside practising her gym skills in garden.

Bonus points:

4) kids ate homemade tomato soup 2 days in row with no complaint and that means we are 3 veg in today already. Plus protein from cheese (and carbs from bread but hey, baby steps)

5) finally made epic (1.5hr round) journey to collect bricks for wood burning stove that I ordered in August and only just got energy/time to collect. Mission finally accomplished!

I do love reading everyone’s positives, BSD related or totally unconnected. Sunny, really sorry to hear about your headache, really hope you are feeling better now? Well done for finding positives anyway.

Mine are……

1) Been out most of the day but came home an hour ago to the news that o/h thinks (hopes) he will finish his bathroom tomorrow and that it will be useable by Sunday morning, so back to “his” and “hers” thank goodness! Phew!!! No divorce yet then😜

2) Was out food shopping today when I just “happened” to notice a clothes shop with a knock down sale, and somehow or other I unearthed rather a nice black (sorry Essie) and white tweedy biker style jacket,. They only had one, and it was a size 8, perfect fit😊 Well, what’s a girl to do……………………….? So one more jacket in the wardrobe😋 And the price? Wait for it………..knocked down from £68 to……………………….£15😍

3) My favourite niece rang me, her mum lives abroad, and they have never been close, so she is kind of my surrogate daughter and I love her to bits. Unusually we haven’t spoken for a few weeks, so we had a lovely long catch up.

Feeling blessed.

Black and white is always snazzy, Essie. It’s not happy, but it’s dashing and dynamic and I’m all for it. Also you can never have too many jackets, and the moto style that’s so trendy right now rocks. I can’t believe the bargain you got! You really had no choice but to buy it, Theo. Your hands were tied (to your wallet). 😀

Well, actually to o/h’s wallet – it was his credit card I used🤦🏼

But thank you.

I’m getting close to the end of 8 weeks, so most days recently all my positives have been centred around how wonderful I feel about staying true to this course, so it’s definitely time to try to be a bit more expansive –

1. It is going to be stinking hot here today but right now, it is a delicious fresh 14 degrees, perfect for a long dog walk
2. Lovely strong fit healthy bodies. I’m 60 but feel the most comfortable in this skin for many years
3. Lovely home grown summer vegetables

Bless your antipodean upside-down seasons. We should get a supply chain going where we send each other fresh produce whenever they’re in season. Customs might have a wee bit of a problem with it, but that’s what fake declaration forms are for. 😀

We should! I’m desperate for a steady supply of Theodora’s beautiful, sustainably caught local fish! I live in Canberra an inland city so reliable supplies of sustainable, healthy fish are a bit tricky. It all comes from the Sydney markets and Australia allows a lot of dodgy seafood in from trading partners. Tasty but not always healthy or good for the ocean.

I’ve just stumbled across this thread and it’s very timely.
I’ve been re-reading the BSD bible and noticed the part on 3 positive things. One of my Christmas presents was a Mindfulness colouring-in diary (from my daughters) and I decided to use it for the “3 positives” so have been doing this each day since NY day. I must admit some days it’s easy to find 3 and other days quite hard to find even 1! But it reminds me of my grandmother telling me to “count my blessings”.
I don’t have 3 to post today as the day is just beginning here, but will do so later 🙂

Positives for today:
1. My husband gave me an Apple Watch for Christmas (I love it) and at first I was using the shorter band but on the longest hole. But today I moved to the next hole! So in two weeks my left wrist has lost weight, at least a little bit.
2. This is the second day in a row I’ve filled all three health ‘rings’ on the watch: heart-rate-raising exercise, general movement, and standing every hour.
3. Feeling a bit odd today, a bit hollow both physically and emotionally, but stuck to my food plan. Didn’t eat when I was bored in the afternoon!

Well done Natalie. Know just what you mean about the hollow feeling. Great to be able to see it for what it is and not fill it for food.

Congratulations Natalie for recognizing the emotions you were feeling as
not something you had to act upon by blocking it with food. I agree with
Jackie, we all have a range of emotions on any given day, and it must
feel empowering to know that you can wait them out, for they always
dissipate, don’t they? Continuing success on your road to wellness, and
that means so much more than what results we see on the scale each
morning!

Best wishes,

Allie

All power to you Natalie, both for recognising the emotional down and separating it from your need to eat and for still finding positives to report for the day. Will look forward to reading your positives SueBlue, it’s so good to have so many people picking up on this thread, helping to keep a positive vibe going.

My headache yesterday was definitely migraine and I ended up in bed at 15.00. Pleased to say that I’m fine again today, so I guess that’s my first positive:

1) Feeling well and much more energised today.
2) Lovely navy sued ankle boots arrived today.
3) Finding more of my rings fit again – yippee!

Good afternoon!! Late today but did have a better nights sleep. Have only just caught up with my emails because I became engrossed in my jigsaw! It’s so good to see so many positives.

Yesterday ….
1. The sun was still shining! Not so good today.
2. Framed some lovely photos of my grandchildren.
3. Had a good BSD friendly day.

So good to see so many people on all the threads having successes.

First time checking in to the site in months and look what pops up! This thread that I started aaaages ago! what a nice reminder! so that is my first feel good thing to note

I’ve booked an appointment with a counsellor to help with my anxiety

I had a nice movie night last night with my hubby.

No BSD related stuff cos I’ve been off it for too long, coming back though, again!

Welcome back Izzy! I decided to revive your old thread for Positive Thoughts a few weeks back, as I was missing having a thread just for general positivity and not necessarily focusing on the whole weight thing. Recently it seems to be gaining in popularity, which can only be a good thing.

Best of luck with your counselling. I know from experience that it can get very gritty and uncomfortable, but have always found the end result worth it.

Hope to see you posting more positives soon.

May I jump on here and post a few positives please?

1) I have lost 10 pounds in 5 weeks.
2) I look after my lovely Noodle twice a week now (my 7 month granddaughter)
3) I have a new (used) car so I can transport my grandies about.

Thank you.

Lots of love to everyone,
Nonna Mary
xxx

That’s impressive, Mary. I’m glad that things are moving in a positive
direction for you!!

Nonna Mary, lovely to have you with us on this thread. How wonderful to have you little granddaughter twice a week and that is a great result on the scales as well. Keep posting your positives and have a great w/e.

8 days in – no carb cravings – not hungry- lost 4% body fat already #right direction 😊

Hello friends

Massive congratulations Nonna Mary on your fabulous loss despite Xmas. I know how fed up you were so I’m really really pleased for you.

My positives:

1 – lost 3 lbs. 16.2 on new scales which weigh 2lbs more than old scales. Hope to be in 15s by next Saturday.
2 – met up for brunch today with a new walking group of over 40s single people for whatever reason. Pleased to see the ages ranged from 40s to 80s. Lovely friendly bunch. Looking fwd to joining the weekly Sunday morning walks soon when I feel I can manage 5 miles. I was so nervous and nearly didn’t go but I’m so glad I did. Pleased I pushed myself.
3 – the nights are drawing out! It’s not pitch dark at 4pm now!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Kazzee xx

Kazz, I’m really pleased that you pushed yourself too! I’m very optimistic
about the diversity in ages. Can we register this as a NSV, something
you might not have done in 2017? I hope that the weather remains sane
so that you can enjoy the exercise and the social aspects of a new group
of friends, each and every weekend. 🙂 🙂 🙂 2018: anything and everything
is waiting for you!!!!!!!!!!

xoxo
Allie

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. I love reading everyone’s positives. I’ve only just got up but I already have one for today – after two bad nights, last night I had a good nights sleep!

Kazz I’m envious at the thought of winter and being dark at 4pm, it’s the opposite here (Australia), today is going to be 45 degrees centigrade and it’s light till almost 9pm. I don’t cope well with the heat, and need to avoid sun exposure with one of the meds I’m on.

Anyway, here are my 3 positives for yesterday:

1. Found a lovely, floaty, designer-brand skirt in the charity shop for $10. It still has the original $169 price tag on it 🙂 it’s the sort of style I wouldn’t have worn when i was bigger but will be lovely to have something new to wear to work when I go back next week.
2. Spent a relaxing day at home with the curtains drawn and air conditioner on, (due to heatwave) cleaning out cupboards and meal planning, so I feel prepared for the week ahead.
3. Found some packets of French kale, rocket and spinach reduced to clear in the supermarket (45c instead of $3 per packet). I’ll use them in my meals, and my daughter likes to make green smoothies.

Finding 3 positives each day is a good habit to get into. I had one day though this week where everything had gone wrong and I struggled to find a positive. But then I looked at things differently – one of the “wrong” things was one of our car tyres getting a puncture. But the positive I took from that was that we were able to use the spare to drive to the tyre place and they were able to fix it quite quickly.
Many years ago (as a child) I used to have a book by Patience Strong, it was full of inspirational poems. I remember the cover had clouds on it and I’m sure it was called “Every cloud has a silver lining”.,.. I need to look for the silver lining more often 🙂

Good to see you have posted your positives SueBlue. I envy you your 45degrees and sundown at 9pm, as much as you envy the cold and early nights – could we do a trade maybe?!

I love to find bargains like the ones you found today. Like you, as someone for whom positivity doesn’t always come easy, finding three positives each day is not always easy. I have a little book called ‘The Ways of Wisdom, A Gift Book’ by A Helen Exley. It’s full of inspiring quotes, which I dip into from time to time. It helps to put things into perspective when positivity is failing me.

Well done on finding the positive in the tyre puncture and hope to see many more positives from you.

Hey Izzy, welcome back! Today’s positives, I don’t have to go to work today 😀😀😀😀, I found a charity shop with a pound rail and bought 8 items and also found a Phase 8 coat for £4.99 (belt missing but who cares?). Life is good.

I’ve been busy with work for the past couple of days, so not had time to post (though I’ve managed to read at least some of the posts). I’ve had a lot of work to do, and we had storms a couple of days ago that ripped out the fence along the left side of our garden! Fortunately we get on well with our neighbours, but the whole thing is going to have to be replaced We’ll split the cost 50/50 with next door, and hopefully the contractor can do it in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime the cat has suddenly had his horizons opened up, with the sudden doubling of his garden! He is disabled (he has a condition called cerebellar hypoplasia, often known as wonky legs, which means he can’t jump very high – useful as he can’t reach anything on the kitchen worktops! – and he can’t climb, so he’s safe in our fully fenced/walled back garden, and we don’t let him out of the front. But before anyone goes “ah…poor thing!” he is far from needing those “Ah’s”, He rushes about like a bat out of hell, flies down stairs so fast he nearly goes head over heels (or should that be heels over head?) and drives us mad in the early hours of the morning, prodding and poking to wake us up so he can express the full strength of his affection. Lovely, but not at 4.00am!

However, to the positives!
1) Despite having upped my cals to about 1000 a day I’ve lost almost another two pounds so now down to just over 10 st 12lb.
2) My hair loss I think has finally started to slow – I hesitate to say it’s stopped, but the handfuls are no longer coming away every time I run my fingers through it! Maybe the extra calories are starting to make a difference!

To Marie, firstly, what are you eating more of, to up the fibre but not the carbs? I am trying to keep my net carbs to not more than 30 (though they sometimes go a little above this, but 50 has been the max). It always seems to me that the highest fibre things are pulses…but they’re also high carb, so any advice on this would be welcome.

In answer to your question about turning a hobby into a business, yes, it does sometimes become tedious. I make some things that are very popular, and let out a groan when I need to make yet another batch of them! I could of course not make them any more, but the point of a business is also to pay the bills, so I knuckle down and get them done – doing a large enough batch to put off the re-making for a reasonable amount of time!! But then there are the interesting things too. I recently had a client who is re-creating the Great British Bake Off tent in miniature, so I made a whole batch of pastel coloured workstations – three different colours, and some left handed, some right, plus (for those familiar with the set) the unit along the back with the big illuminated arched window. I am about to start work for another client on a large commercial kitchen set for a model of a French boarding school! It can be very rewarding working on some of the more unusual projects, collaborating with a client – getting inside their head to understand what they are trying to achieve, and enabling them to do it.

I’m glad that everyone seems able to find some positives at the start of this New Year – long may that continue for all of us!
Liz

Liz, look into seeds (hemp hearts, flax, psyllium, sunflower, pumpkin), avocado, soybeans/tofu, and just plain fiber (inulin powder, konjac powder, oat fiber). Broccoli rabe are amazingly high in fiber too, as are most cooking greens (turnip, collards, mustard). They all are high enough in fiber that net carbs wind up being either zero or tiny amounts, 1, maybe 2 grams at most. Chia seeds have more fiber than anything else, gram for gram, and are nutrient powerhouses in other ways too. When I made a coconut cream chia pudding for my OH and his parents to have for breakfast a few months ago, his father didn’t seem to think much of it at first, but then he told OH when they were out and about that afternoon that he was amazed at how full he still felt. They hadn’t stopped for lunch yet and he found he wasn’t hungry at all. He’s an oatmeal and toast kind of guy, so he’s used to being hungry enough to eat an ox alive by 1:00PM. That’s the miracle of the greatest stuff-your-belleh combination of all time: fat and fiber.

My positives include:
1. As I said this morning, a good night’s sleep. I am tired this afternoon but I think that is this heat. I read that in parts of Sydney it’s the hottest day in 158 years.
2. Aunt and uncle came for lunch. (The positive is it’s only every six months!) they brought some grandchildren, around the same ages as my kids, and all the kids spent the day in the pool having a great time together.
3. I served mostly healthy food but also some Christmas leftover snacks. I was really good all day until they left then suddenly went face-first into the chip bowl! But I limited the damage and poured the rest into the bin. Usually I would have finished them all.

Good morning! I’ve just been looking through some of the threads and it looks as though nobody is happy with what the weather is throwing at them. Extreme cold in the US and extreme heat in Australia. At least in the UK we get quite moderate weather even if that’s nearly always rain!

So to yesterday…..
1. I did a huge chunk of my jigsaw and it only gets easier when there is less to do.
2. Had a really good BSD day. Probably because my hands were occupied!I realise I’ve not had a digestive biscuit, my downfall, for literally months.
3. I have accepted that I need ‘crunch’ in my life so didn’t beat myself up because I had two Ryvitas yesterday.

Still loving reading and participating in this thread. Well done Nonna Mary that is a great loss. Lovely to see all this ‘positiveness’ it certainly helps to keep me focused. Have a good day!

Verano – we love a jigsaw here, can totally see how that’s on your positive thoughts list.
Mine are:

1) my obsession for gardening, which like everything else disappeared last summer into a cloud of apathy, is back and I’m really excited about getting the garden into shape

2) it’s Sunday, husband on run and children asleep so I can sit and read the paper with a coffee, and a sneaky cuddle with the dog (if he ever comes in from garden!)

3) starting rehearsals with a new (not professional) theatre group this afternoon. Acting absolutely the thing I love to do the most, so a new group and fresh opportunity very exciting.

4) lots of positives and it’s not even breakfast time yet!

Good morning, everyone! The sun isn’t even up here, so no positives to
report…but I’ve just read Jackie’s post. You are positively vibrating
with energy, my girl! I’m sure we would all love to hear about the
new theatrical production you’re involved in, and the role you will
be playing! I envy you a day in the garden…We’re doing apartment
living at present, so the only opportunity that I have to get my fingers
in the soil is by way of containers. It’s never too early to begin planning
however!

This is a wonderful thread! Have a great day, all 🙂

Allie

JackieM my husband and I met through amateur theatre. I did musicals and he did … what do you call not-musicals? Plays lol. Shakespeare and stuff. But we had friends who did both so we went to the same parties. Once we started going out we did shows together (musicals, but he took non-singing roles, there is usually one or two, luckily he can dance). We stopped when we had children but we both love theatre so I imagine we’ll get back to it when they’re older.

Hi JackieM and Natalie, my hobby is musical theatre as well. I’m about to perform (strictly back row of the chorus) in Spamalot (Monty Python). In fact that is going to be my next BSD challenge, a dressing room full of carbs and sweets!

But positives are lots of movement, and great fun and silliness!.

Alliecat – I am recovering from my cold and you are right I do feel like I am vibrating with potential! I even managed to do some tidying without feeling like it was a massive burden.

Natalie – am following you around the threads today – what a great story, we have lots of couples in the main group I am in. I am one of the non-singing ones (well, just because I can’t sing doesn’t mean I won’t!) and the hardest thing I ever did was the chorus in the panto, singing in harmony whilst dancing and not near the other people singing my part. I basically smiled a lot! My main group is mostly musical theatre so great to find one that isn’t

This will Be Macbeth, only a small role but enough for me whilst I find my feet with them. It’s an amalgamation of two Lords. My biggest part since I restarted after a 25 hiatus after Uni. was Clairee in Steel Magnolias. What a great play/film! I expect the US BSDers would have found my acccent fairly deplorable though!

My husband doesn’t even like going to the theatre. Luckily he likes running a lot, so can see it’s fair I get to go out to do drama. My ideal would be a theatre group that rehearsed whilst the kids were at school, but mine are old enough to leave For a bit if OH still on train. Mostly the challenge is getting them back from all their clubs before I go out.

Just missed your post VictoriaM. Total respect for chorus, as I said above it’s the hardest thing to do!

Lots of great positives being posted today, full of joy and energy – it does one good just reading them!

My positives are very modest:
1) Had a lovely chat with my son on the phone last night.
2) Also has a long call with an old friend and got some dates in the diary to catch up in person in Feb and March.
3) The sun is shining, which always lifts my mood.
4) Busy morning around the house, now it’s time to kick back and relax.

Oh! And if it’s not too greedy:
5) OH has set up the rowing machine in the spare bedroom again, so I can row whilst watching my soaps!

I agree Sunny B I’m enjoying reading all of the positivity on here.
My three positives for today are:
1. First day back at work after a 2 week break – I’m prepared food wise as I made today’s breakfast, lunch & dinner yesterday, no excuses not to stray from BSD!
2. I’m wearing a lovely new dress I bought in the sales. I have been trying not to buy new clothes until I get down to my goal size, but it is nice to have something new to wear on my first day back 🙂
3. Today is predicted to be cooler, 38 deg centigrade. Yesterday was a bit much with Sydney recording its hottest day since 1939. It reached 47.3 in the outer western suburbs! Tad too warm for me!
And just realised I have a 4th today – when I weighed myself this morning I was almost back to my pre-Christmas weight. I’ve been able to lose 2.8kg over the past week 🙂

JackieM and VictoriaM lovely to meet you!

SueBlue we adults didn’t even go in the swimming pool yesterday (the kids did) it was just too hot to go outside! I could feel the hair on my arms crisping. We had visitors for lunch and the children ate outside (undercover – their choice, there was room inside but they were wet from swimming which kept them a bit cooler I guess) and when I collected the plates etc the metal cutlery was almost too hot to touch! They weren’t even in direct sun, in the shade, but still got uncomfortably hot. Very glad it will be normal hot not stupidly hot today.

I really do not understand how all you hardy Antipodeans cope. Anything above mid 20s floors me!! I really hope things become more temperate for you all soon – likewise for our friends in the USA who are suffering from the other extreme!

My positives today……………

1) My son joined us for Sunday lunch today – I hadn’t seen him since before Christmas because he had opted out of the big family Christmas in favour of skiing with his friends. So lovely to see him and catch up on his news.

2) My lovely granddaughter (who trains at The Royal Ballet School) turned up today with mountains of silk chiffon to ask me to make her half a dozen new ballet training skirts……”because you are sooo clever, grandma, and you can do ANYTHING!” Oh, the faith of youth!

3) We awoke to bright sunshine and a really hard frost so CLEAN DOGS – can’t remember when that last happened. Sun shone all day too.😁

1. Electric blanket combined with a nice fluffy sheet, so nice to return to if you have to make a trip to the loo during the night in this weather.

2. I can finally get into the new jeans I bought when I was trying to inspire myself on the last diet, (not saying that sitting down when wearing them would be comfortable) but I can finally do them up. 🙂

3. I picked up a very inspiring book at a charity stall yesterday.

1. My husband gave me an unsolicited compliment today as he watched me dressing, saying that the thin-ness was just radiating off me!
2. I did the grocery shopping and the checkout I chose happened to be opposite the chips aisle. All I saw was rows of brightly coloured plastic. Nothing that looked edible or appealing. (It was only yesterday that I ate some chips from a bowl, but at least I don’t find the packaging enticing now!)
3. Husband would normally be returning to work today after the Christmas close-down, but he’s taken extra holidays so he’s still home.

Good morning everybody’s enthusiasm is really rubbing off on me too. JackieM you sound as though you are in a really good place! JGwen do you want to share your inspirational book on the ‘Take a look at this thread ‘?

Yesterday my first positive…..
1. Sitting by the ocean breathing in the ‘smell’ of the sea.
2. Having some girlfriends here for cocktails and I had only a very small one. Mainly Cava with just a smidgeon of orange liqueur and a splash of mandarin juice. I know very sugary and to be honest one was more than enough!
3. Scales dropped slightly so after a week away I have put on less than half a pound. I don’t think it’s realistic for me to try and lose weight on holiday but remaining static is a bonus.

It’s been interesting to hear lots of people who are suffering extreme heat at the moment say they are gaining. It makes so much sense that heat would make us more dehydrated and I wonder if that’s why I always gain a few pounds on holiday but they disappear with 48 hours when I get back home. Anyway, hope everyone has another positive day.

I love, love, love this thread. Such diversity and never fails to lift my spirits. Here are mine fir today –

1. a cool change – they area wonderful thing
2. my fabulous daughters – they are always fabulous but when I’m feeling worried or vulnerable, they are magnificent
3. coming home to my beautiful dog, you’d think I was a walking miracle. He is the miracle.

And

4. Let’s hear it for our bones!