Fatrabbit- what an achievement! Many congratulations on your amazing weight loss. I don’t know where you’ve been hiding within the BSD community because I don’t seem to have met you over the months I’ve been posting- we were probably ships crossing in the night. As a fellow vegetarian I applaud you! To get your BMI so low too! I am happy that I achieved 25 but you may have inspired me to maybe aim a little lower perhaps after Christmas when I hopefully have cracked the beginnings of maintenance! I don’t know where you’ve been hiding but I am so pleased that you’ve joined this thread like me as a newbie at goal weight. Looking forward to getting to know you.

Hi Macloud

I took a week off with lots of ‘unavoidable’ social activities. This resulted in a gain of 5.2 pounds from 18 stone 6 pounds to 18 stone 11.2. This was from Thursday to Thursday. Today, Monday I am 6.6 pounds back down, weighing in at 18 stone 4.6. As you say, this cannot all be due to calories. I am now 1.4 pounds down on two weeks ago and, having stuck with it till this Thursday, will hopefully be down to 18 stone 4. That would mean a 2 pound loss over the 2 weeks. Basically, my bad week has cost me a week. A lesson I don’t mind (re)-learning! Get back onto bsd and all will be well.

Nil desperandum! (I hope I got that right)

2bigdave

I’m so happy to see so many participating on this thread! It really
lifts my already high spirits, being able to share the maintenance
journey with others who have already grasped the gold ring, as
well as those you have it in their sites. Luvtcook has just reminded
me of an experience I had recently. I know that I have shared it
already on the “new life choices..” thread, but for those of you
who may have missed it and don’t read that one, I’ll repeat it.
I’m required to see my medical dr. every 4 months because he
manages my medications. I was in his office recently for a routine
exam, and there was a new nurse. She escorted me into the
examination room and opened her laptop to review medications
and history. After she weighed me and took my b.p. she excused
herself, returning to quiz me about my address and phone number.
She thought she had the wrong chart and wanted to double
check that she had the right one. Next came this question –
“I don’t see the date or the hospital record of your bariatric
surgery. When was it?” When I told that I hadn’t had any surgical
procedures, her eyes got wide, her jaw hung open, and she said
“I haven’t ever heard of anyone losing 146 lbs. without bypass
surgery!” I laughed all the way out to the car. I don’t think I
had any real concept of what I had accomplished until this moment.
All things are possible with the BSD. Have any of you had like
experiences?

Fatrabbit, its so great that this thread has been revitalized by you since there had been no posts on it since August. It really is a celebration for everyone chugging along on BSD. So many of needing to lose the 100lbs to join this club. I hope to join you one day myself.

Luvtcook – what a good idea – MuchThinnerRabit instead of Fatrabbit

It is so awsome to hear of so many folks who have lost 100lb+ on the BSD. Just amazing. On most weight loss sites its only the gastric bypass folks that have lost that must.

Congratulations to you Fatrabbit. KrysiaD is right…..you may have to re-register as MuchThinnerRabbit. Also so great to hear your fibro may be gone. What a relief that must be. Please stay in touch with the forums so we can share the rest of your journey. We need inspiration achievers like you.

Rebecca, I strongly recommend that you go with the non-food treat. So much of the BSD is a mental exercise and continuing to think of sugar and bread or other bad carbs as “treats” is dangerous. They’re poison, materially damaging your health with every gram. Look how wonderfully well your body has responded to the BSD. It’s because you stopped feeding it the arsenic that was slowly killing it.

Physiologically, if you keep eating bad carbs, even once a week, you will keep having cravings and keep getting hungry. The cycle of carbs spiking blood sugar which spikes insulin levels which stores fat and refuses to release the fat it has already stored has to be stopped by choking off the source of the original blood sugar spike.

Congratulations on your great results so far! Stay the course and keep your eyes on the prize.

Oh dear. Having read some yet more of folks’ successes and impressive resolve, I now have to let the side down (yet again) and confess publically my misspent time past this week just gone (my 12th on BSD) and especially the last 3 days away to a relative’s wedding and general cals-fest.

In short, I now find myself a full 5 lbs heavier (scales don’t ever lie .. do they ?) than last Monday. To be fair, weight reversal a bit was expected; actually heavier over the course of the week never ! But again I am philosophical and I know that I never swallowed an extra 17,500 cals, especially in one weekend. Had a good go at it, mind, entirely inadvertently of course.

But it WAS a very good do. .. and welcome diet break generally.

However, back to reality now and restart. Despite everything last week, I am still lighter than I have been for some 95% of the years since I was about 30 years old. So that is about 40 years of accumulated damage to rectify, most of which has now been achieved. No harm in putting a positive spin on it ?

Let’s see what Week 13 on the BSD brings.

Macloud

Juliet, to pinpoint your waist, bend over to one side and find the crease between your ribs and hips. Stick your finger in it and slide the tape measure around that point. Stand back up straight, pull the measure until it’s fitted but not super tight. Don’t suck anything in. Do be sure your posture is nice and tall though. Shoulders back, no slouching.

My waist measurement took a long time to budge, just fyi. I had lost something like 30 pounds before I saw it go down an inch.

Hi taurusmmuk, I didn’t start the BSD until August 2017, so I’m a little shy of a full year and a half on the program. I dipped a toe in at first by just cutting white carbs for a few months. I lost some weight (I was still avoiding the scale at the time so I don’t know how much exactly), maybe 20 pounds or so, but I had such a huge amount to lose that I decided to try the BSD to see if I could pick up the pace a little. The rest is history. 😀

I don’t restrict myself to 800 calories a day anymore (I tend to hover just under 1000 these days as I slowly back out of losing mode into maintenance mode), but I’m still counting and measuring everything I cook and being extremely strict with my choices when I eat out. I am now officially one of those jerks who harries servers about whether there’s sugar in the salad dressing and if I can sub the potatoes for grilled asparagus. Sorry not sorry. I embrace my low-carb fanaticism without a shred of remorse.

Fatrabbit – well done – although I think you may need to change your name now.

JackieM – I had to smile when I read your post. No-one is allowed near my cream nor my flaked almonds for my yoghurt either. Nor my stilton, Tesco Finest smoked mackerel, avocados, Lindt 90%…………..

Thanks for the welcome :))

Very interesting to hear of someone else reversing CF and improving fibro Alliecat. Do you think that was about diet? I also had a lot of success with distraction for the fibro pain. I took to listening to music constantly and focusing my attention off my body. That helped me ignore hunger when fasting too. Then one day when I ran down the stairs in my new slim body and I realised that I didn’t hurt any more. And I no longer dream that I am being tortured at night. I really think the fibro may be gone, as long as I am careful about what and when I eat.

Hi, fatrabbit! What a wonderful accomplishment. There are a lot
of us maintainers, so I know this thread will be beneficial to you!
I can really relate to the challenges imposed on you by fibro and
CFS. I’ve reversed CFS and reduced Fibro by 50%. My 146lb. loss
is wonderful, but it’s the reclaiming of my disabled life that is far
and away the prize.
I look forward to hearing your maintenance strategies! Congratulations
on becoming a member of the 100 Club. Awesome!

Allie

Hi H – Glad you are feeling more positive about tackling how you deal with the stress factors in your life. As yoga was helpful before, why not look at starting it again? Even if your time is tight, I’m sure by making a couple of small changes, you should be able to reduce the impact of stress and improve your wellbeing.

Keep us posted …

Absolutely AWESOME Fatrabbit! We can call you Fastrabbit now — that is an amazing achievement. I know how hard it can be and how focused you have to be to get there — huge congratulations!

Make the charity shops and ebay you best friends, Martie. As my size started to drop and I had to side line garments, I picked up cheap replacements in local charity stores and on ebay, knowing that they too would be side lined in a couple of months. Now that I’m where I want to be, I have started buying my replacement wardrobe both from normal high street stores as well, but there as still some great bargains to have elsewhere too.

Anyway, don’t worry about that now, it’s not a good reason to put off improving your health and fitness and taking control of your weight. Keep us posted on your progress and I’ll look forward to reading some great positive results from you in due course.

WAY TO GO, Fatrabbit – although that should be Slimrabbit now!!!!

Well done on achieving you target weight. Sounds like you have made a great start at maintenance and have lots of good reasons for not letting things slide. Hopefully you will be posting on this thread to keep us up to speed on your progress.

Here’s to the new you – congratulations!!

Hi everyone, are we all set to refocus this week?? I have mixed results
to report today. Weigh-in on Sat. showed another lb. lost, but I’m
hoping that adding cream to my coffee (quite decadent, but tastes
like a dessert of coffee ice cream to me) will help. However, I am
now committed to walking 5 days a week and doing strength training
3 x wk, and thanks to the support here I’ve managed to do this for
the past 2 weeks. I feel better about me, for doing so!

Verano, I’ll be waiting with you to see how your blood test results
are on Thurs. Knowing that Metformin hangs in the balance must
be stressful. Here in the States we use a different measure, so
what I’ll be waiting to hear ultimately is whether or not you have
optimal – normal levels.. Fingers and toes crossed, of course! 🙂

I’m wishing you all a very focused day…..

Allie

Hey Kazzi, my love, guess what? It’s our 3 month anniversary on
this forum! Can you believe it? What a difference it has made in
my life, and I celebrate all your successes and the contributions
you are making on multiple threads. People really relate to you
out there, and they are responding to your enthusiasm! 🙂
You’ve definitely earned a week off, so completely enjoy it!
I’m sorry to hear about your favorite Auntie. On the face of
it, it sounds like some sort of transient vascular problem that
is affecting blood supply to the brain. Isn’t it fun to become a
diet and health oracle? I think there are some good low carb
cracker recipes posted, but I can’t remember where I saw them.
I like all the seeds you’ve ordered, so I’ll be watching to see how
you use them this week. Most definitely, email me any time you
like! I’m the classic techno-imbecile though, so if you don’t receive
a reply please just mention it here and I’ll try to work out what
I may have done wrong on o/h’s computer. My laptop is fine
for internet use, but has some bug with the email program, so
I have to use Jim’s for email. No worries though, he would never
read my mail. Truly!
Wallow in sloth today, and enjoy your read. Is it Jason Fung or
George Orwell?

Later, my sweet!

Much love,

Allie

I agree with you Juliet, it is not just that thinks humans are strange, I would say they definitely are. 🙂 My son is doing a psychology Phd, and the things that he tells me really backs this up.

Started BSD 6 days ago, it hasn’t been easy, cravings have been overwhelming, but I am seeing benefit already, I am enjoying steady energy levels, the strength exercises I enjoy, the scales are showing 5lb+ loss already , I have put a real effort in preparing dinner for me and the children within the M plan principles. promised myself a treat on day 7, but my cravings seem to be lessening as the week goes on, so may pick something other than food !
keep going
Rebecca

Welshannie – thankyou – I know I should. To be perfectly frank – I can’t remember where exactly my waist was so I’m not sure where to measure! I will try and get the tape measure out though tonight and see what’s what. It does help when the pounds don’t shift but the inches do so, yes, I will try. Hope you’re having a good day!

Hello, I reached my goal a week ago having lost somewhere over 100 lbs in the last year and haven’t even bounced back over it this week so I am properly into maintenance :)) I can’t quite believe what I have done. I smile whenever I catch sight of my reflection but I feel so very much younger that I am surprised by how old I look! I feel like a teenager! But more confident.
My BMI is now 22.5 happily in the middle of the healthy range satisfying my liking for symmetry but I won’t mind if it goes a bit lower but I am not trying any more. I am doing two fast days a week and following a short eat window but because I feel better while fasting not for weight loss. I am busy all day and into the evening on those two days and I need the extra energy fasting gives me to keep going. I also had fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and am convinced those are exacerbated by activity while digesting food. I haven’t had any symptoms for ages and I don’t want to. I now never eat until I can sit and digest my food without doing anything else. Although lately I seem to be able to get away with having a piece of fruit during the afternoon. I have been craving fruit this month having never previously liked it much. And salad. Especially celery with peanut butter. I used to HATE celery. My tastes have definitely changed although I always liked bitter and have only ever drunk coffee black.

I am a vegetarian reluctantly becoming vegan again as dairy inflames the arthritis in my hands and common sense dictates that I need to give it up. I have never worried about carbs from vegetables or legumes and don’t intend to start now. I have even had a few roast potatoes this month, but as other veg is much nicer it isn’t likely to become a habit.

It is nice to find this dedicated thread just as I need it. I know maintenance is likely to be just as challenging as losing the weight was.

Well done Juliet with your 3lbs.
Do you measure your waist as well?
I am doing mine so that I can see that the pounds are coming off around my tummy.

Welshannie x

8 whole hours in my one whole chunk …. WOW I envy you! Hope tonight is just as good for you.

Blood test out of the way now so we will see on Thursday if I have been low carb enough to maintain my HbA1c at 34 (5.3) and my cholesterol at 4.5. I have everything crossed at the moment as I really don’t want to go back onto metformin. In fact I won’t I’ll ask for 3 months to get it down again if needs be.

Good afternoon my friends!

I’m having a very slothful start to the week off! In fact, I’m not doing anything at all today chore wise – I’m having the day off! Over the weekend I did my housework, washing, cooked a bit, went to visit my favourite Auntie who’s only 70 but crippled with arthritis and has some sort of speech problem that has appeared in the last 12 months. She’s had scans and blood tests but they can’t tell her what’s what. After an hour, her speech goes thick and slurry sounding. When she rests, and I do the talking, she’ll be okay again for awhile. It’s not stroke type symptoms, she’s been checked out. She did fall badly backwards down a flight of stairs about 18 months ago and hurt her back badly. Unfortunately, her mum, my nanny, had bad arthritis so it’s probably a genetic thing. I left her my copy of the BSD800 book as she wants to lose about 14 lbs. I was pontificating the benefits of BSD. She said, Oh, I could listen to you talk all day about diets, you have great knowledge! Bless her, I don’t at all, but I’m happy to pass on what I’ve learned and spread the word. Alas, her daughter has recently lost 6 lbs in 3 weeks doing slimming world, so I think my auntie is leaning that way. It would be easier for her with having to cater for my uncle as well. I said that and she said, oh, David will eat whatever I give him! Fair enough! I left with 6 beautiful fresh eggs laid that morning. Their hens come to greet me whenever I arrive, they are adorable!

Julia – my thoughts on 48 hour fasting are that it is worth it, particularly if you want to speed things up a bit on the scales when you are a slow loser like myself. I lost 3 lbs rather than the usual 1lb last week. In terms of ease, I did find it quite hard, probably because eating is such a pleasure for me. Not just something I have to do to keep alive. And since blowing off the refined carbs like bread, my tastebuds seem to have woken up! The flavours of things – it’s pure joy having 20g of cheese and 4 picked gerkins! I find 24 hour fasting easy. Anything longer is a bit of a struggle but it could be it was my first time and perhaps the next time I will find it easier. I’m on holiday this week so I will do another 48 hour fast, probably be after breakfast on Thursday until brunch on Saturday.

Allie – I echo your thoughts and if you don’t mind, I’ll pick up your email address. I love the sound of your cats! My mum would like a cat but she won’t as I’m allergic to them, as I am all animal fur which is a bit of a blow! It wouldn’t stop me having a short haired dog when I semi retire though!

Mary – good luck with the next fast – we’ve got the 15s in our sights so I am with you.

I ordered psyllian husk powder, ground flaxseeds, coconut flour online and that has just arrived. I want to have a go at making home make crackers. Got some sesame, poppy, chia seeds also to mix in.

Okay my friends, I’m struggling to use the built in mouse on this laptop which I have warming on my lap, so I’m going now to make a coffee and read my book.

See you all later.

Lots of love
Kazzzzeee xxxx

62.9kg today, down 100g. Watched everyone else eat Bakewell tart and snarled at my husband when he suggested using MY cream to pour on it. Back away from the cream! 😂😂 I also nearly cried when I realised my daughter used all the flaked almonds so there were none for my yoghurt. Luckily I found some walnuts, but was still a bit put out!

Still, we had a good roast and I had loads of Brussel Sprouts and chestnuts and crackling, so overall the food was good yesterday.

Martie, for what it is worth, I did the 5:2 several years ago and am on my 4th week with BSD, so have done both. I find the BSD easier….less hunger, more flexible, easier to plan around. On 5:2, even though I was already low carbing, I found going from an “eating day” to start all over again for each “fasting day” tougher. I now find it pretty simple even to just eat one decent 500-600 calorie meal a day and have soup or a salad for a mini meal for the other. No breakfast.

MM recommends not doing back to back fast days on the 5:2 but I found Day 2 if done back to back much easier….its the first day that was always the challenge. With BSD there is only one first day….all down hill after that. And oddly, those that have been on BSD for a while and have a “off or binge day” say getting back on has not been a problem.

Each person has to decide what works best for them…but the big advantage of having these forums is getting the real life experience of lots and lots of folks that have tried lots and lots of strategies. Do know that of course you are getting a bit of a bias….because we are on this forum because we have found BSD has worked best for us. For me it is a god send and really opened a door I thought would never be available to me.

Back to give an update. Exactly a year from starting to fast I reached my goal weight of 150 lbs and a BMI of 22.5. I definitely lost over a hundred pounds, and possibly as much as 110 as I didn’t get a starting weight, but was somewhere towards the 260 lbs area, with a BMI of about 39. I am now maintaining using the 5:2 version of the BSD. It may be my weight may go lower, it may not, but it is not going up again, I know so much more about how to eat now and am not prepared to put up with feeling like that again.

Hi everyone, I dont know what went wrong over the weekend but I am nearly 2lbs up on yesterdays weight which is nearly the 3.25 lbs back on. The only thing I can think of is that I had 2 cans of Pepsi Max which I had bought in for my grandsons and as they are not visiting again until next Summer thought I would get rid of them by drinking them. I know how bloated they made me feel and I know artificial sweeteners can make you gain weight so I wont be doing that again – I dont even like it much.

Anyway, today is another day and I will see how it goes before weigh in tomorrow. Today I had yog and passionfruit for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch and making a BDS skinny chilli with cauli rice tonight.

Hi hatecake, I know a lot of people think of mindfulness as mumbo jumbo but I have just finished a course with FutureLearn online on Mindfulness and it is a lot more about being organised and not try to take on too much. The meditation is just a part of it and can take as little as 5 minutes each morning (or whenever). There is a new course starting today which you could possibly look at called Maintaining a Mindful Life. To meditate just sit comfortably, close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing trying to keep other thoughts from interrupting – to do this I just use the word ‘breathe’ in my mind as a kind of chant. It really can relax you even for just a short time and will reduce the cortisol levels. It also works on a part of the brain which pumps out adrenalin which can have a longer term effect on stress levels.

Try it and see.

A full 8 hours, Ancient Weaver? HOORAY, indeed!!!!!!!! 🙂

So Lucia, what has happened to you? Are you still working on combat diabetes campaign?!! A veritable breath of fresh air ( even though you had brussel sprouts on board lol). Come on tell us about your journey for the year.

Well done Welshannie – that’s a great start! Fantastic that you’re feeling so much better too and even managed to watch your hubby eat cake – the rotter! I think, no – I know, I would have struggled with that one!

I think you’re right about listening to your body and also knowing how it responds. eg. I know if I ate an egg just now – which is sorely tempting – I’d desperately want something sweet after to take the taste away, then something else sweet and before I know it I’ve blown all today’s carbs and have the prospect of salad until bedtime to keep me going through the day. And it probably wouldn’t and I’d have a disaster! All because I had an egg. Whereas – if I have an egg at lunchtime and fast until then – which is what I plan – then I’ll only have an egg because I’ll be so pleased and feeling in control that I’ve fasted all morning that I won’t be tempted to eat anything sweet after it!! Human beings are strange (or is it just me??!)

I’ve managed to lose 3lbs this first week so am really pleased and also feel so much better. The feeling of control that this gives you does help me make the right choices. That along with drinking a swimming pool’s worth of water every day!

Have a great week everyone – Monday is a lovely new start! xx

Thanks Theodora….see you on that thread!

Allie….you legend! Thanks heaps for cheering me on….you have done what I’m dreaming of, pretty much. Amazing to realise it’s actually possible and can be maintained. I’m definitely heading over to the challenge thread.
Cheers : )

Week one done 😀
Weight 14st 3lbs- so far lost 2lbs.
Waist 43in and three quarters – lost 1 and a quarter from my waist.
Blood sugar fasting 7.1 – down from 22.5
Feeling : good

Very please with this first week results especially with my BS. And that 2 lbs lost, I can really feel a big different in my body. Goal for this week, is to sort out exercise, male sure I do 5000 steps each day, need to slowing build my fitness up after having the stroke.

My son and hubby are also doing the diet. My son lost 3 lbs and hubby put on 1! Yes you guess it, he has been very naughty… he had cake Saturday night! And let me tell you, he was grumpy 😡 yestetday. He said that he did not feel very good. Let this be a warning to you all, carbs will make you feel crap and grumpy 😡. If I just lose 1- 2 lbs per week and my BS stays low. I will be happy with that. No carbs is going to big part of my lifechanges.

Hey Juliet, sorry to hear that you not been feeling too good. Since my BS has dropped, I will now have to’listen ‘ to my body to know when I am just feeling hungry or that my BS has dropped too much for me, for example I was out shopping just before teatime and felt nauseous. Luclkly I had a handful of nuts n my bag and the feeling slow past away. Boy did I enjoy my steak that night. And did not miss the chips.

Taurusmmuk and Esnecca – Interesting thought about will power and muscles. ‘If you don’t use it, you will lose it’ I had not thought about will power in that way. Friday night was my hardest point of the week. I wanted chocolate 🍫 that night. My son said ‘ no’ and that was that! When hubby had cake on Saturday, I was strong and it did not bother me. I think it was that I felt fuller that day – had breakfast and lunch as a brunch – it is true that eggs makes you feel fuller for longer as this morning I had a blueberry and tea shake for breakfast and I am hungry again.

So here to another good everyone, please let me know how you all doing, it is a big help reading everyone high and lows…

Take care
Love Welshannie x

Hey girls, lend me your pom-poms! Raa-raa- cha-ch-cha raa-raa-cha-ch-cha!
Last night I got to bed and sleep at the very nice time of 10.30, a very pleasing achievement all on it’s own, followed, and it seemed almost instantly, by waking to early dawn light at what is for me a perfectly acceptable time of 6.30, giving an awesome total of 8 hours solid restful sleep!

I’ll write more later, but I have too much to do to spend any more time at the computer today, and possibly not much time tomorrow either.

Oops, just seen it didn’t post. Trying again.

Good morning

I certainly would like to hear anyones thoughts about food and sleep patterns Californiagirl!!!!

Last night I just couldn’t drop off and then when I did I woke at 3am and struggled to get back to sleep and was then woken out of a deep sleep at 7am. Completely back to front night. I ate much earlier than usual so maybe I was hungry but I must admit I don’t often feel ‘hunger’ these days. My poor eating comes from boredom or mouth munchies as some people say. Maybe it’s just a symptom of getting old!

Hope you all had a good weekend and the week ahead is productive. I’m still looking forward to ‘future success’ and really hoping to find some in the last stages of this challenge.

Sunny B
Thank you for this. I will start on it today, at least there are some changes I can still make, doesn’t feel quite so hopeless!
And yes I do need to look at how I relate to the stress, I can’t change the cause but at least maybe how I deal with it. I used to do a little yoga ( not sure why it’s lapsed!,) and it definitely put me in a better mind space if you like.
Thanks again
H

Sue, really pleased that you’ve got your head straight again and are back on track.

Our current 4 week challenge thread is called “Remember remember, low carbs for November: a 4 week challenge ending on 28th November”. Obviously we are half way into it now, but you’d receive a warm welcome nevertheless – never too late to state your short term goals and get support and encouragement to achieve them.

Towards the end of the challenge, a call will go out about starting a new one for December, so we always tend to have one on the go to keep us all motivated. So please do join (current one and the next) and let us cheer you on. 😄

Morning all,

today +0.7lb 😞

Have been slowly gaining for 5 days now and not sure why. Be interesting to see if I have any loss to post tomorrow.

The gains haven’t been huge and possibly TOTM although this WOE has knocked my cycle out of whack so never know where I am any more.

I am walking a little more and so hopefully there is muscle gain. Body fat isn’t rising so I guess that metabolically, things are still going in the right direction.

x

Thank you sunny B x

Hi Sue (Sheehy), it’s really nice to see you here! Like you, I’m finding
maintenance a somewhat daunting challenge. Losing 146lbs. was
pretty straight forward compared to this. I haven’t regained any
weight, and am inside a healthy BMI by 21 lbs and below my target
by 12 lbs. Like Theodora, my challenge is not to lose any more.
You have accomplished so much since Jan., 66 lbs is fantastic.
I know that it is easy to reach a point where weighing and measuring
every last living thing can become tedious. Some of us now don’t,
but we all keep a watchful eye on the carbs. We can figure this
out together, and the suggestions here are wonderful. I think
joining a thread is very good advice, you will begin to chat with
a group of people that you will get to know and soon come to
think of as friends. I’m looking forward to following your progress
here and on other threads. Welcome ! 🙂

Best wishes,

Allie

CCathy, SunnyB, KrysiaD and Theodora….thank you so, SO much for your care and encouragement!

Although it’s a wonderful place to live, Perth is one of the most isolated cities in the world – thanks for being such a great ‘community’ from all around the planet.

I had a day out on my own yesterday and got my head straight again. I’m in. Whatever it takes!

Where exactly is the thread for the monthly challenges? I had a look but couldn’t find anything current…..

Wherever you are, have a restful day/night!

Hey ancient weaver — I wasn’t casting aspersions on your comments — I just thought that your sleep pattern/issues were of a long duration — I’m sorry if I misread that it has changed a lot/many times this year (I can’t keep up well with the myriad posts so I sometimes misunderstand).
It would be interesting to hear your comments on sleep and food intake — I think others would find interesting too.
Allie, the points you raised are also interesting, vitamin D as a sleep aid and in general — we all need to go sit in the sun for twenty minutes every day with our skin exposed — now that’s my kind of recommendation!

Thanks SunnyB. I’m feeling a lot more enthusiastic and optimistic now following all your suggestions. The only thing I’m worried about now is will I have enough money to buy smaller clothes?! 😉

My precious sisters, look at us, we’ve hit 1500 in posts! I’m fairly
certain that this is some kind of new record!

Mary, what a beautiful day you have had. I wonder what food menu
your daughter is preparing today in your honor? Please
continue to share your stories about your daughters and Grandies.
Whatever brings joy to your life is something I enjoy hearing about.
I also think siamese are beautiful, mysterious, and highly intelligent
creatures, but keeping up with their antics can be a challenge
sometimes. There is always some disaster to follow up on that
they have created 🙂 They definitely have “our number”, that’s
for sure. I, too, spend more time than is probably healthy thinking
about our missing sisters. I can’t help but have concern for them.
I definitely have some thoughts, but I’m not comfortable talking
about it on an open thread. However, my email address was
posted back around the last week of Oct., with the high hopes that
I would be able to get together with Esnecca. Please email me,
using some sort of subject identifier, and we can continue our con-
versation there, if you’d like to exchange more intimate thoughts
on this. I think your daughter is spot on characterizing you as
an “Empath”. I think I must be one too! 🙂

Julia, I’m delighted that you enjoyed “a day in the life of” our pets!
You don’t know how accurate the cartoon on your refrig. actually
is. My Mother used to be horrified that they had free access to
the counters in the kitchen. They are such pests at the dinner
hour that they DO sit on the diningroom table with a luncheon
plate of their own that we flip scraps onto to keep them from
snatching food off our plates. It’s sick, not to mention mildly
unsanitary, but they seem to run the show around here. Sad,
I know, being outwitted by a pair of cats.
Hope you had a good weekend!

Allie
xoxoxo

Two pounds down then Andy, excellent news! Stick with it and I’m sure you will be reporting more positive results in those 33 days. Keep going!!