Eliaza52: I think you have just given your daughter a wonderful Xmas present….many more years to enjoy the company of her mother. But first you may have to tell her who you are….she may not recognize you!

That’s an amazing gift to give your daughter, Eliaza52! You must be so excited about seeing her again and introducing her to the new you.

My Indian meal was half portion each of Rasmi Chicken (chicken in a tomato based sauce) and a cauliflower bhajee. Had the second half last night. This is a formula I usually use – something in a tomato based sauce and a veggie bhajee, often sag, but sometimes mushroom or aubergine.

Lots of lovely positives being posted, don’t know about the rest of you, but it helps to keep me upbeat, especially if things are getting a we bit stress.

My positives for today are:

1) Catching up on laundry today, while we are generating a good level of electricity (we have solar panels on the roof). It’s been cold but really sunny here this morning.
2) Christmas prep is progressing well, managing to do a little bit everyday. Hoping to have the Aga running properly again tomorrow and then I can do some cooking!

Keep posting those positives folks.

Positives:

1) lovely morning flower arranging for school – such a restful, frivolous thing to do. An annual treat!

2) daughter and I get on so much better now she’s 13. Maybe I’ve accepted she’s growing up a bit. And she actually is growing up a bit so is more tolerant of other people’s POV

3) great dog training session, we learnt ‘heel’ from a front sit. OMG, I will definitely be practicing that one! He’s such a beast already

4) buttered cauliflower, heavily seasoned and chicken for lunch. Buttery cauliflower my absolute favourite thing to eat

5) every day I am so grateful for my warm, dry, well lit and beautiful home. We are all only a few steps away from not being any of those things, and every day I feel a deep peace that I feel safe in this world.

Eliza what a wonderfully ‘positive’ post. I think you get the prize for the most upbeat post of the day. But JackieM 5 positive things to post is really good, I struggled to get to three today.

SunnyB I’ve never tried cauliflower bhaji is that deep fried like onion bhaji or more like saag? And yes this ‘positive’ thread really helps me too.

Kazz the kebab is just like home made meat balls but on a stick! I really dont think there is anything ‘unfriendly’ or processed in them but they just may be a bit heavy on the calories. It’s not food we eat everyday so, in my mind, as long as it’s BSD friendly the extra calories occasionally can be built into the plan. I think that once you start having simple carbs again it’s far harder to contain and that it’s the beginning of the slippery slope back to high carb eating/weight gain/ yo-yo dieting/diabetes. Not a route I plan on taking again.

Hi V, the cauliflower bhajee is not deep fried, it’s just cooked in a light curry sauce, so more like the saag, which is why I choose that, saag, mushroom or aubergine. I occasionally have a small onion bhajee, but avoid rice, breads and other high carb items. As long as I’m steering clear of those, as an Indian meal is only occasional, I don’t panic too much about the calories.

I agree, the posts from Eliza and Jackie were really uplifting and like you V, I often struggle to come up with more than one or two positives to post.

Hi All,

Aside from the eating and drinking challenges (which everyone seems to be managing extremely well), this really is a lovely time of year – people are so happy,

1.it is the most beautiful clear cool morning here, perfect for walking before the day warms up
2. my fridge is groaning, filled with delicious healthy food
3. I am starting some Christmas treat baking for friends and family, it will be great fun and I happily won’t eat any of it
4. My tomatoe plants all have fruit on them so I am still hopeful I will reach the holy grail of vegetable gardening here in the southern tablelands and produce a ripe tomatoe before Christmas – fingers crossed for me friends this is the closest I have ever been.

Luvtcook – sorry, I meant to respond to your comments straight away, but I’ve been offline as we’ve had a mini ‘thing’ here – both our oven and washing machine have broken down and I’ve been trying to get them fixed – (so the positive thought is we now have a new oven on order – OK, I’m really trying here!)

Yes, I’ve seen and read a lot of Jason Fung’s work. It’s interesting isn’t it; when he talks about lower calories equalling slower metabolic rate, weight regain, – I reckon any regular dieter would recognise that as exactly what happens. I also like the fact that he acknowledges the faults within the medical profession, vested interest of pharmaceutical companies, etc, and I completely agree with what you say – I am very thankful that my Type II diagnosis came at this particular time.

Liz, that is brilliant news from your GP visit. Great for you, and great that you’ve persuaded them to change their practice. What a lovely moment when your daughter gets back.

My positives for today include:
1)speaking about the Blood Sugar Diet, its impact on Hba1c results, and this website at the Desmond course today
2) receiving my letter from the Breast Screening Programme this morning saying my mammogram was clear (last time I needed further investigations so pleased about that)
3) carol singing in the pub tonight with friends and neighbours, and cheery husband

Kazz – and it’s a lovely ring….. x

Marie

Good morning everyone. SunnyB I guess I must be a ‘cup half empty’ person struggling to see the positive side of life. Some days are better than others …. yesterday….
1. Chatted to an old friend.
2. Had texts from some friends who are getting excited about celebrating my birthday with me on Sunday.
3. Getting excited about my birthday party …. but no 🍰!

I veer towards to ‘glass half empty’ myself, Verano – especially in the grey and chilly winter months – definitely should have been born somewhere hot and sunny! In case I forget, all best wishes for your birthday on Sunday and for the coming year.

Struggling a bit to think of positives today, as I heard this morning that my parents were burgled yesterday. The house was ransacked, the safe and laptop taken and all of Mum’s gold jewellery. On the upside, some one saw the burglars acting suspiciously in an adjacent street and speeding off in a car. They took the reg number and immediately reported it to the police. So, by the time the police were taking statements from Mum and Dad, another team had tracked the burglars and it looks like some, if not all, of the property taken may have been recovered.

So, I guess the two main positives to take from that is:
1) There are still people who will make the effort to question things that look suspicious and report put themselves out to report it- i.e. to get involved.
2) The burglary happened when Mum and Dad weren’t in the house and they are physically safe and sound.

A final one from me today: ‘Only one principle will give you courage, that is the principle that no evil lasts forever nor indeed for very long.’ – Epicurus (341 – 271 B.C.)

Oh SunnyB, what a miserable experience for your parents! I’m sure that you are very
grateful that they weren’t at home or sustained any injuries. They certainly will feel
violated and vulnerable for awhile though. We had our Jeep Grand Cherokee (SUV)
stolen from the driveway in the wee hours of the morning a few years ago. A group
of miscreants took it and 2 others of the same make and model, drove them to a
deserted area, and set them on fire. We got to see the charred remains on the evening
news broadcast the following evening. So senseless! No one likes to feel that
vulnerable, particularly those of us who are aging.

Eliza52, congratulations on getting rid of the meds, not to mention the loss of 42lbs!
I hope you feel wonderful. If your daughter is at all emotional, there may be a few
tears in her eyes when she first sees you. She will be both shocked and overjoyed
to see the new you 🙂

Verano, putting no holiday weight on in 3 weeks away is a real victory. Cheers!
Happy Birthday to you. Enjoy everything about your celebration with friends. Are you
still in Spain? I’m not sure if you actually told us that was your destination, or I just
assumed it because I know you enjoy being there.

Wishing everyone a fine day 🙂

Allie

SunnyB so sorry to hear about your parents there’s nothing worse than having your home violated. I hope they are ok. Yes I am with you I also should be in a ‘sunny’ place too but at least I have missed the last three weeks of winter!

Yes Allie I am in Spain but in the Canaries not on the mainland so the weather here is still warm all year round but more importantly we get maybe 2 hours more daylight!

Well I’m off home later this morning and sad to leave the sun but ….
1. I have managed to stay a fraction under the weight I was three weeks ago.
2. I feel ready to start eating more carefully despite the time of year.
3. I’m feeling bright at the the thought of the festive season ahead.
Thanks for your good wishes! And have a good day.

1. I am so enjoying the extra energy I have. –

2. I had hoped that having lost 16k so far I would be ready to throw away my ‘fat’ clothes. I am not, but maybe thats a good thing, I have a lot of redecorating to do, so I can do that and hopefully by then I will be down another dress size.

3. Having enough socks so that matching them up is a chore. – This may sound like a strange one, but I sometimes have youth groups from disadvantaged backgrounds staying in my holiday let taking part in activity holidays. I always make sure the dehumidifier is available in the drying room for these groups because often they only have one pair of shoes or two pairs of socks to their name.

Here are mine for today –

I woke up this morning –

1. With that happy, warm feeling I get when I have spent time with good friends

2. With that slightly surprised, powerful, just a little impressed with myself feeling when I have stuck to my guns and resolve

3 RAIN!!!

Oh one more,

I woke up this morning to a message in my garmin connect that read, ‘Do you want to see what a healthy sleeping looks like?’. Of course I clicked yes …

Next screen displayed MY 7 day sleep charts with the message ‘This! You are a champion sleeper’. This is such a turn around for me, so important, I actually teared up.

Good morning. My positives yesterday were….

1. Travelled home safely and on time. Often a worry before hand.
2. I have found my new ‘natural’ weight having stayed the same for almost a month and most of that time being relaxed about calories.
3. Thai meal out and I have now learnt how to eat Thai food quite happily without rice. Tom Yum mushroom soup, followed by a chicken dish and pak choi …. easy!

Hope you are all well and managing to stay positive … despite life!

Hello Positive People, find this thread such a boost! Think it does us good to look for the positives, no matter how small.

Thanks V – my folks, although in their early eighties, are amazingly resilient and are powering ahead. The police have caught the perpetrators and recovered the safe unopened, but at present much of her jewellery is still missing, a lot of which was of huge sentimental value of course. However, they’re determined not to let this event loom large over them and are arranging a trip to India in the spring, as something good to look forward to!

My positives for today are:
1) Unlike most years, I am feeling really relaxed about the upcoming festive season. Usually by this stage I’m a ball of stress and anxiously going over lists – not sure what is different this year, but I’m grateful for the lack of stress!
2) Enjoying some family time this week, with a daughter visiting for a few days, a family dinner last night with our other daughter and family, grandchildren visiting overnight tonight and seeing one of our sons and his family tomorrow.
3) Realised yesterday, that my finger nails are stronger now than they have ever been. This realisation came about when one broke and thinking about it, this hasn’t happened for months. Unusual because historically my nails have been weak and brittle, breaking easily.

Look forward to reading other positive posts, so please keep going everyone.

Good morning everyone. SunnyB your parents sound amazing.

So for yesterday…..
1. I reorganised my fridges and stocked one with lots of water … now I just have to drink it! Also popped in a good few bottles of prossecco!
2. Ordered a few more presents just one or two left to sort out now.
3. Weight stable, over the moon, and am starting to reflect on 2017 and make a plan for 2018.

May start a thread soon for 2018 plans?

Thanks Verano. Good on you for getting organized enough to be making plans for 2018. My positives today are:

1. Having some lovely family time.
2. Still maintaining at close to 4lb under target.
3. Excited to be making my own yogurt for the first time. Am looking forward to trying it later this evening.

As I’ve already lost over 3 stone, my rate of loss has slowed somewhat, though I had rather hoped to reach 11 stone by Christmas, but the scales were firmly at 11st 1 1/2, and I wasn’t overly optimistic. Yesterday I ate more calories than usual (lovely succulent roast chicken thighs – note, plural, THIGHS!) so I suspected that I might creep up a notch, or hopefully remain the same, but this morming the scales said 10 (yes, TEN!) stone 13 1/2 lbs. I got on and off three times, but it came back with the same answer! With a whole week to go!

On another note, someone else (sorry, can’t remember who) said they now had wrinkly skin, which I too now have. However, I haven’t really done any exercise in the past three months (or previously, before anyone thinks that perversely I gave up doing it when I started the diet!). We do live in the 3-storey house, so I do a reasonable amount of stairs (the living room and kitchen are on the middle floor but bathrooms, with bedrooms, are at the top, and there’s a bathroom on the ground floor where we work) and I work standing up most of the time, and moving around, so I’m not sitting around all day, but still….it’s not “exercise” as such, and I’ve also not been great with drinking (I very rarely feel thirsty, and I just forget to drink). However, our local health club has a weeks’ free use of the gym in January, and I”m going to sign up with the intention of continuing on a monthly subscription (off-peak for over 55’s is quite reasonable – £26 a month). So good intentions, and the hope that at least some of wrinkly skin might be coaxed into tightening up a bit!

Hi, Eliza52. Here is a positive thought for you today! Others here have told me that
skin can take up to 2 years to tighten up 🙂 Don’t despair! I’m also waiting to see what
happens! I’ve lost 10st7lbs, so I definitely have this issue, too. Oddly enough, my
face escaped this fate. I don’t know if the “52” in your username is reflective of your
date of birth, but I just turned 69, and feel very alive and more like 40!. Some of these
results with respect to how are skin adapts is age and genetics related, and we can’t
do much about that. We all lose the ability to produce collagen after a certain age,
which is the basis for elasticity. Even if I don’t see any improvement in the next 2
years, the effects of weight loss are all disguised by clothing, and no one sees this
but my o/h, cardiologist and internist. Probably my bathing suit days are over, unless
I slip into the sea under cover of darkness, but I can certainly live with that! Only a few
days until your daughter returns from this side of the pond. You must be beside
yourself with excitement! I’ll be waiting to hear about her reaction to the new you…

Best,

Allie

Hi alliecat

I am so impressed with your weight loss! Like you though, I’m not going to obsess about the wrinkly skin; nice if it does diminish a bit, but it’s not visible under clothes, and I don’t worry what the medics think of my body. I don’t have an “other half” to think about, and I’m certainly not going under the knife! Similarly to you, my face hasn’t suffered either. Perhaps, with all the muscles we have in our faces for expression, the skin retains more elasticity than other less animated bits of us! By the way, yes, the 52 is year of birth – I’m 65, but don’t generally feel it!

Best wishes
LIz

Good morning everyone. Today I have reached the grand age of 70!!! So there I’ve given away my secret now. So just one positive for me today….. I’ve reached my goal!

I decided a while ago that I wanted to be medication free by my birthday and I am! I was taking metformin which was stopped in August when my diabetes was finally recognised as being in remission. My only other tablets were painkillers which became redundant soon after my hip surgery in September. So here I am today able to say I’m so much healthier than before I started this WOE 17 months ago. An added bonus is that in that time I’ve lost 63lbs including a small loss from pre BSD days.

So today I’m feeling very positive and I hope you are too.

Some amazing weight loss being reported here and my hat comes off to all of you. Verano, a special congratulations to you, for your weight loss, being free of meds and for hitting 70 in way better health than pre-BSD. Very happy birthday to you.

My positive today is probably not as inspiring as these weight loss ones, as it is just one of Christmas prep. This morning I’ve made two sorts of stuffing, cranberry sauce, brandy butter and pretend bread sauce. I love bread sauce, so have tweaked the recipe and instead of using bread crumbs to thicken the sauce, I used almond flour. That way, you still get all the flavours but at a lower carb count. Food-wise, I think that is the sum total of the advance prep I need to do, so quite pleased to have it all sorted. Now I just need to concentrate on finishing the gift wrapping tomorrow and that’s me sorted until the final shop on 23rd and the event itself.

Decided this morning, to go out for lunch today and as luck would have it, one of our favourite local restaurants had a table free. Looking forward to a relaxed meal with OH and catching up on news as things have been hectic with family coming and going over the last few days and it sort of feels like we have hardly had time to touch base.

Hope you’re all having a good weekend.

Verano, happy birthday wishes to you and congratulations, achieving all those goals takes such courage and determination!

Verano- Awesome achievement! Many congratulations indeed from me! I’m thrilled for you!

Happy birthday V and many more years of health and happiness.

SunnyB – well done on keeping your stress levels down!

I have a positive….. my earlobes are thinner! I’ve always had chubby earlobes, much to my embarrassment, but some dangly earrings I’ve never worn because the stud part wasn’t long enough, now fits! So I will be sporting my marcosite teardrop earrings at the Xmas party. They were a 50th bday prez. Chuffed to bits!

Kazzee xx

My positives for this morning:

1. The tree and other decorations are up, I’ve finished my Christmas present shopping, just last minute food items to get. I’ve ordered the turkey. I host Christmas lunch for about 16, but everyone brings something so it’s not just me. Everything is under control.

2. I cleared out the freezer, threw out anything dubious and we ate non-dubious things over a couple of meals. Now lots of space in there, and no freezer-burned wandering pepperoni slices or loose peas.

3. Sitting with a morning cup of tea reading the BSD forums!

Flick I loved that message from Garmin, sleep is something I struggle with so that would make me tear up too!

SunnyB I’ve been making my own yoghurt since I was given an Easiyo thermos thing last Christmas. So much easier than I expected. And I buy the Easiyo packets (Greek unsweetened) but just use a little bit mixed with milk powder, so much cheaper. There are enough yoghurt cultures (I call them yoghurt babies) in the sachet to divide it into at least six portions. And keep the rest in the freezer.

Verano happy birthday! I’ve been watching your progress for at least a year now, sometimes it seemed like you wanted to give up but you’ve done so amazingly well! 63 lbs and no meds! What a wonderful present to yourself. Congratulations.

Kazz I’ve never heard of chubby earlobes! Well done slimming them down.

Sorry for the long post 😁

Many congratulations on all your achievements Verano and enjoy your birthday. You were one of the first people I read about when I joined this forum, and I have watched your ups and downs which often matched mine, and now we both seem to be in a good place. Perhaps being 70 (or in my case just 71) has changed our outlook? Who knows?
X B

Good morning and thank you all for your good wishes and kind words. Again today I have just one positive. Yesterday I celebrated with my family and friends and had a lovely party. I do feel as though I have achieved a great deal on BSD but it really is now just a case of keeping on keeping on ….

Tomorrow I’ll be back with three positives to add to the thread. BTW Busybee I think you’re right about a change in outlook, but I really don’t like a number starting with 7 so I think from today I’m going back to 60 something, especially as I’m still 18 in my head!!!

I always choose to be 26. Youthful without being childish.

Kazz, never thought about earlobes getting chubby, but see no reason why they wouldn’t be effected by weight gain along with every other part of the body. Exciting that you will be able to wear those special earrings at Christmas.

Natalie, you’re sounding even more organised than me and I’m just a bit envious you’ve managed to clear out the freezers too! I was planning to do that too, but was stymied by an Aga that refused to work correctly, meaning instead of being able to cook up stuff from the freezer, I had to buy in microwave meals. Hoping to impact on the freezers this week.

1) Lovely meal out with OH yesterday.
2) Going to finish the present wrapping today – hooray!
3) Back to full wriggle room today, with 4lb to spare.

Looking forward to reading lots more positive posts. Have a good week everyone.

Good morning everyone! This thread really makes me count my blessings and I love hearing all the positives. So yesterday for me saw ….

1. Had an ECG because of a very cautious GP, not a bad thing, but all seems fine.
2. Received yet more flowers for my birthday.
3. Made the decision to restart a strict BSD routine today for the next six days.

Natalie I like your vision of 26 but I have to be a bit more realistic! Slim earlobes , I love it! Fingers, wrists and feet all get smaller so why not? I don’t wear earrings so would never have thought of that one.

Anyway, hope you all have a good day!

Positives for today:
1. Our new swimming pool, which we thought would be ready last summer, was finally finished mid-winter so now it’s hot again we are swimming nearly every day. I get some gardening done by pulling a few weeds then getting back in the lovely cool water!
2. Still on the backyard, a year ago it was an sterile construction site and I was worried about the wildlife that the previous home owners had welcomed here. But now we’ve restored a garden next to the pool they’ve all come back. Kookaburras on the shed roof, blue-tongue lizards basking on the mulch, even a resident water dragon who was peering over the top of a pot at me this afternoon. And lots of spiders. At least they are keeping the flies and mozzies down. But I killed the red-back spider by the back door.
3. State level Big Bash cricket starts on TV this evening! My favourite spectator sport. I go for the Sydney Sixers.

Hmm just realised my list was things I am grateful for rather than BSD related NSV, maybe not right for this thread, but it made me happy thinking about them anyway!

Natalie whatever puts a smile on your face and a skip in your step will make you more likely to have a good BSD day so just go with it!

I have just had an eye opener. I started to fill in my Fatsecret diary again today. Breakfast 10 blueberries and 3 cherries just 21 calories but over 5g of carbs! Just makes me realise that the odd few things I mindlessly eat out of the fridge really can do so much damage.

They all very much belong on this thread Natalie. This one is a space to share any of life’s positives, not just those related to the BSD. It’s to make us look for all the blessings in our life, no matter how big or small, weight related or otherwise. Enjoy your pool and garden, it sounds like you didn’t get the chance to use it much last year, so revel in it this summer.

Glad you ECG was okay, V. Well done on returning to strict BSD for a few days, that should give you plenty of scope with this time next week. I’m not calculating and recording, but I am making the effort to keep things low carb to preserve the wriggle room I already have, so I can ease up a little for the main event.

My positives for today are:
1) My OH has defrosted my car for me this morning, so I don’t need to stand out in the cold sorting that before going into town.
2) Managing to get my cold under control and feeling much better today.
3) Last visit to the shops today, prior to final food shop on Saturday evening – phew!

My main positive today is seeing my daughter again – she’s studying in New York and home for Christmas. Not entirely plain sailing, as they cancelled her flight yesterday with 12 hours notice! They said they’d try and book her something else, hopefully for same day, but no promises….so we took the decision to buy a separate flight for her with another airline (the original airline agreed to give a full refund). So…she arrived this morning. Her first reaction on seeing the new me was to say “You’ve bought a new coat!”. (True, after loosing over 3 stone, I’ve had to buy a complete new wardrobe!). She then did question whether I’d lost weight! (To be fair, bundled up in a winter coat and a thick woolly scarf – it was freezing early this morning – she had a point in that it wasn’t immediately obvious! However, she says she is very proud of me, and she’s coming round to the idea of our BSD Christmas. Ok, so we’ve promised we’ll make stuffing for her and her friend (a girl she used to work with, who’s from Hong Kong and was facing Christmas on her own) For the stuffing I use Bergen’s soya and linseed bread, onion and sage so it’s quite low GI – though I shalln’t eat any in any case. We’ll also do roast parsnips for them, but for the rest of it…they’ll have what we have, because at the end of the day, it’s delicious – and healthy food. Her one request is a mince pie, as they don’t have them in New York! So the two girls can eat a box over the holiday….and that’s it! The friend is a health “freak” anyway as my daughter put it, so she’s delighted to have a low-carb Christmas! On with the jigsaws – one of our best traditions. 1000 pieces, just hard enough to challenge, but not so infuriating that everyone gets cross! We dip in and out over the period, leaving it on a big board and it’s very relaxing! (We buy three for the whole period just in case one gets done too quickly!).

Final positive thought, my weight is still creeping down – another half pound today. I shall need a second new wardrobe at this rate!
Liz

Liz what an uplifting post! I am also a jigsaw geek they certainly stop me snacking! Have you tried the Ravensburger ‘ What if?’ series? The puzzle doesn’t match the picture , even more frustrating!

Anyway, good morning all. SunnyB sounds like yesterday was a really positive one for you. I have been reading through some of the other threads this morning and there are certainly a few ‘interesting’ and provocative conversations going on. It’s lovely to get back to the calm tranquillity of this one! So for my positives yesterday….

1. Had a friend join us for dinner, always lovely, but I mindlessly ate grapes!
2. Didn’t quite stay within my cal/carb target yesterday but did log everything so getting back on track.
3. Am going back to my lunches of just soup today. I always find I get back into losing mode when I have soup lunches so here’s hoping. Today will be broccoli and stilton soup.

Have a good day and stay ‘positive’.

Liz, lovely for you to have your daughter home for the festive season and I’m pleased she is going to be supportive of your BSD Christmas.

Verano, even with the small slip-up with the grapes, it sounds like you have things under control. I admit things got away from me a little yesterday, so like you, I had a soup lunch today and will be having pork, cabbage and cauli-mash tonight. Need to up my hydration today, as it was a bit lacking yesterday I think.

Positives for today:
1) Did half of the final pre-Christmas food shop this morning.
2) Still not feeling stressed about Christmas – a first in many a long year!
3) Making some low carb brownies this afternoon – will report on them later, when I know how they have turned out and calculated cals and carbs.

Stay positive everyone.

Hi, V, so happy to see you here today, holding down the fort, in your usual
gracious way! I just wanted to wish you a joyous holiday. You’ve accomplished
so much this year, WOW! Reversing T2D is such a mighty achievement!

Those grapes can be pesky, can’t they? One of those foods where it’s hard
to eat just one, wouldn’t you say? 🙂 I know that you’re already back on track,
though. It’s hard for me to come up with positives each day, for I always
seem to be in a perpetual state of gratitude. New friends, new life, expanding
dreams of all things being possible now that I’m healthy.

I’ll be looking forward to your new Jan. challenge thread. See you there!

Peace, joy and love,

Allie

Hi Allie, from another thread I realise that your husband has had a really bad year but I’m pleased to hear he is on the mend. You know since my hip surgery, which has left me pain free, I walk around with a perpetual smile on my face! I understand how difficult it is to find specific positives each day because I’m just glad I wake up each morning, and wake up pain free!!! When you have trauma in your life everything drops into perspective when it’s resolved and even the most mundane things do indeed seem like a blessing.

I do try to be ‘gracious’ when possible. The written word can often be misconstrued which is why I appreciate this ‘joyful ‘ thread so much. Whilst I love a good discussion as much as the next person, at the moment I just need good the positive posts in my life.

Thank you for your good wishes which I send back to you two fold. Hoping you and your family have a joyous holiday season and all best wishes for 2018. Yes I’ll be back with yet another challenge for January so will see you there!

Healthy and happy New Year to you and yours.

SunnyB I gave to admit I’m hanging by a thread! Today I made broccoli and Stilton soup but my OH thought it needed more cheese. By the time I’d finished it was just too rich and creamy for me even though each portion was only 170cals and 8g of carbs. Fortunately he likes it! It’s stir fry vegetables with left over chicken from last night for us.

I know exactly how it is with water. I have to say that while I was away I was consciously drinking more than usual and it seems to have stuck… fortunately. I am now finding hydration is a lot easier. Really looking forward to hearing how the brownies turn out…. see you tomorrow, hopefully with a success!

Good morning!

I had a revelation last night. I thought I fancied a piece of toast with butter when I found a couple of slices of brown sourdough bread in the freezer!. I took it out, toasted it, buttered it, tasted it and spat it out! It was, as the name suggests, just a lump of ‘dough’!. Nasty. So my revelation and first of my three positives……

1. My taste buds really have changed. It may only be the second time in 17 months that I have eaten, or at least tried to eat, bread but it is no longer for me!
2. I wrapped my presents and filled my grandchildrens’ sacks.
3. I finally sat down and wrote a menu for Boxing day lunch. There will just be four of us so no great panic really. Now just have to shop!

Hope you are all staying calm and relaxed which I know can be difficult at this time of the year but remember ….. it’s just one day! Have a good day.

Verano – Wonderful that the high carb food you used to delight in, is no longer palatable to you. Like you, my tastes have dramatically changed – crispy roast spuds don’t do it for me any more, crumpets with marmite don’t do it for me any more and pasta carbonara doesn’t to it either – not even tempted.

The low carb brownies were successful, although a little higher in both cals and carbs than I’d perhaps like – 210cals/10gcarbs per piece. As an occasional indulgence now I’m in maintenance, I think it’s allowable though. I have frozen the bulk of the batch, so that I can take out just one or two as and when. The cal/carb count could be pulled lower by using an alternative sweetening agent, but as I have yet to find one that I don’t find objectionable and I can’t taste, so I stuck with using a small amount of light brown sugar.

The recipe in brief:

150g Butter and 300g Dark Chocolate melted together (I used a 74% one from Lidl)
60g Light Brown sugar (or the appropriate amount of your chosen alternative sweetener), beaten together with 4 eggs until mousse-like and quadrupled in volume.
Add the ground seed of 9 cardamom pods and 2tbsp ground chia seed and beat well. (You could use more ground chia it you like)
Beat in 150g of cold, steamed and well mashed Swede / Pumpkin / Butternut Squash – which ever you have / prefer. (I used pumpkin.)
Fold the cooled chocolate/butter mix into the batter mix and when thoroughly combined, pour batter into a lined square baking tin and bake until centre is set and skewer comes out clean.
Cool the brownie in the tin on a wire rack for 10mins and then remove from tin to finish cooling. The brownie is crumbly so hand gently and carefully cut into desired number of pieces (I did 16 approx. 5cm x 5cm). Store in airtight container.

Result is a really soft melt in the mouth brownie, with an intensely rich chocolate flavour. Have decided if I make them again, I will use maple syrup to pull down the cals/carbs a little and might think about adding a different spice – ginger perhaps – although I really love cardamom.

This week has been a bad news week at our house (death of a friend, death of a cousin and OH’s cousin diagnosed with a brain tumour) and I found myself laying awake last night, in reflective mood and counting blessings. There was a small upward blip on the scales this morning, but my positives for today push that very much to a secondary level:
1) Thanks to the BSD, I’m slimmer, fitter and healthier than I have been in way too many years.
2) I have a wonderful OH, am part of a loving and caring family and have some great friends.
3) I’m privileged to have a warm, safe home.
And those are without counting additional blessings, like quality of life and travel.

Still staying calm about the festive season and will be doing a little more prep toward that today, but not knocking myself out. As you say V, it’s just one day!

Enjoy your day everyone and appreciate as much about it as you can.

Verano that’s great news about your changing tastes. I haven’t experienced that with bread which I’ve still been eating occasionally (when not doing BSD) but over the past ten years or so I’ve found sweet things less and less appealing. Recently I had a square of milk chocolate – quality stuff by Lindt – and didn’t like it at all. Tasted weird. I prefer 70% now. Maybe one day I’ll go pure 100%, but I’ve tried it and still think it’s horrible, might take a few more years to build to that!

SunnyB I’m glad you’re dealing well with sad news, I hope you’re ok. The brownies sounded good until I got to the pumpkin!

My happy thoughts:
1. It’s my husband’s last day of work then he’ll be on holidays for three weeks which will be lovely.
2. The smell and taste of a peach with breakfast (6.6 g of carb may be too much for some).
3. Only three sleeps to Christmas! The kids are so excited.

Good morning!

SunnyB so sorry to hear all your sad news. Yes we do need to count our blessings life can be very difficult at times.

Natalie I’ve replied to your post on the Christmas thread. But talking about food the brownies sound lovely SunnyB but I couldn’t trust myself even if frozen! My first offering for yesterday is also food related ….
1. I tried Krysia’s idea of a square of 90% chocolate topped with nut butter … WOW! But never again too moorish!
2. I actually liked a photo of myself …. first time in many years.
3. I enjoyed a Thai meal out with my OH. I love Thai food and it can be BSD friendly by substituting a vegetable dish for rice and having a spicy rather than saucy dish.
However, for the first time I can remember in a long time I haven’t weighed myself this morning. Thai food, no matter how ‘friendly ‘ followed by chocolate topped with peanut butter is just one step too far! Today will I be more restrained and get back on the scales tomorrow.
Have a good day!

SunnyB – I’m also sorry to hear of your bad news. I think it’s always particularly difficult when people are bereaved at this time of year. Hope your Mum and Dad are still doing OK. Did the police manage to track down any of your Mum’s jewellery?

Verano – I love positive thought number 2

Natalie – hope you have a great time with your husband and kids

Liz – your description of Christmas sounds smashing. Have a lovely time with your daughter, sister and daughter’s friend. You’ve also inspired me. I’ve gone out and bought a jigsaw for us all to do with my Uncle over Christmas/New Year. (He used to buy them for us when we were children).

My first 3 positives have already been expressed beautifully by you in your last post, SunnyB. Number 4 is below

4) Got the Christmas tree up yesterday and decorated it with my family – every year for many years whenever I travelled somewhere I/we would buy something to put on our Christmas Tree at the end of the year. I’ve also got a single decoration – a red apple – that my Mum used to have on her tree and one that used to belong to my mother-in-law. Yesterday, my son came across a mermaid I’d found in Cornwall (not a real one, you understand) so we ended up chatting about family holidays. The idea I’d had all those years ago about creating our family story through our Christmas tree – I realised yesterday, it’s worked !

Allie – will make sure I catch up with you later before I stop posting for Christmas – got to get ready for work

My three good things are :-

1. Have been given a replacement cooker which is now wired in ready for Christmas.

2. The people who have posted recipes for low carb options for pizza bases and baguettes which I can now try out over Christmas. I am so fed up of scrambled eggs, omelettes and vegi sausages.

3. Lost another 0.5kg over the last 3 days, so only 0.2kg to go to get to my midway point between start and target weights.