Thanks so much for your kind words and encouragement Cathy 🙂 Yes I am frustrated and disappointed – but with myself! I just haven’t been able to get into a rhythm with healthy eating and weight loss at all this year, it’s been stop and start. When I last shed a decent amount that was 4-5 years ago now, as I wanted to look my best as mother of the bride – maybe I need another of my children to get married hahah!
But in all seriousness I do want to be fit and healthy as I get older, and if I can discard 10kg I’ll be at a healthier weight, and importantly one I feel comfortable at.
I did brave the scales yesterday and it wasn’t as bad as I had feared. I’m still over 4kg less than what I weighed at the beginning of the year.
I had a spinach and mushroom omelette for breakfast yesterday, then Greek salad for lunch and a pita bread pizza for tea (a favourite Fast 800 recipe from a few years ago). I woke up absolutely starving this morning (to the point where I felt ill) so just had 1/2 a banana with my coffee as I’m going for my morning walk and won’t be able to have breakfast for a while.
Yesterday I did the Resistance routine in the app too with my hand weights.
So Day 1 went well, just have to keep going!

Hi Sue
I feel your frustration but I hope that by signing up to the fast 800 and knuckling down you will achieve a good weight loss in the 115 days we have left in 2026. I felt exactly the same as you are feeling about going on weight loss medications. It seemed like it could be the only way. It’s frustrating when you see how much weight people can lose with what seems little effort. However, I am risk averse and nervous of medication but I am envious of my friends who have lost weight using Ozempic. Hopefully, you’ll get some good results and will be happy with your achievement on the fast 800. It took me 3 months of hard work but it was worth it. I got my blood sugar back down to well under normal. Your walking is inspiring and I am going to get back on my walking pad this week.
You’ve got the summer months ahead of you so hopefully that will make things a little easier. Which ever way you decide to go we are all here to support you. I am going to be strict this week- I’ve been faffing about and not giving it 100% prior to my cruise. Today I am 142 lbs after the weekend and I plan to be 138 by the end of September. Here we go again….. we’ve got this!

Hello everyone, apologies I’ve been MIA for a while. My August reset went totally pear shaped! I can’t pin point it on one particular reason, just had a lot going on, and also dealing with the death of a close friend of the family. He was only 10
years older than my husband and I and has children a similar age to ours.
Anyway I gave myself a good talking to yesterday and this morning I re-signed up to the Fast 800 online plan. I’m going to knuckle down for the next few months and see how I go. If I’m still not getting anywhere then in the new year I’m going to talk to my doctor about weight loss medication. I saw my son yesterday for the first time in a few months and he has lost so much weight on Ozempic. He has T2 diabetes so it was vital he lost weight, it’s really good seeing him look so fit and healthy compared to how he was at the start of this year.
I have no idea what I weigh as I haven’t pulled the scales out for a few weeks. On the plus side I have kept up with my walking, so it’s not all bad. But it’s my birthday later this month, and of course we have Christmas fast approaching! But I figure there’s still 115 days left this year to make a difference!
Hope everyone else doing well – I’ll go back through your posts today so I can catch up 🙂

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Welcome to Cops19 & very well done S-G with your inspiring weight loss since your holiday.
Verano your point about aging but staying around the same & for me a plumper weight is true for several years apart from since becoming more sedentary after my knee replacement & recently my cataract op & not being allowed to play bowls for four weeks. I would still like to be slimmer but of course staying healthy when getting older is most important.
I have just weighed & gained 0.75lb now up into the next stone level which has shocked me at how very easy it is to gain weight eating carelessly with carby treats creeping in. I have asked my GP for a blood test to check if I have become pre-diabetic & will on Tuesday return to hospital to see if my left knee will need surgery. Obviously I am a bad example regarding closely following MMs excellent guidelines with strict low carb eating & must get back to this!!
Very well done to those of you continuing to lose weight & I hope we all have a positive next week 🤞🤞
Margaret xx

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Thanks Cathy. You’ve done so well to maintain at around 140, I would love to be that weight. I had stopped setting goals for myself but I’m thinking that’s maybe why I’m just ‘drifting’ at the minute so have decided to set a goal for 9th October when we go away to the Lake District for a week. I’m going to aim to lose 2lb per week so hoping to be 10lb down by then. I will still be over 11 stone after losing that as have gained so much back unfortunately but my next goal after that will be for Christmas which I will work out once we are back from the Lakes. I hope you enjoy the kite festival, it’s extremely windy here in Newcastle today, probably not good kite weather! Dawn X

Hi DCT and Dawn and everyone else
Glad your on the mend Dawn. Hopefully now you’re feeling better you’ll be able to get back on track. Like you, August didn’t go to plan for me but I’m hoping September will go to plan. I weighed 141 this morning so I am maintaining which is good but I am hoping to lose and get to around 135-138 before October 9th when I go away for two weeks. I know that I’ll put on weight on my cruise and I intend to eat and drink whatever I want when I am away. I will be going to the gym and using the walking machines to try and offset things.
DCT- good luck for your September goal . Slow and steady with four months to go means you can definitely achieve your goal. I’ve been hovering around 140 now since May and that in itself is a fabulous achievement for me . I feel I may have become complacent with my loss and I really do need to up my game to lose a few more pounds pre holiday so yesterday I started being strict. Not keto 800 strict but mindful of calories/carbs. I’ll get back on my walking pad later and really try and motivate myself to behave. I know I’ll be gutted when I come back from my holiday if I am 10lb or more over my threshold! My top weight is always going to be 145 lb now so when that happens it is time for strict keto/800. With my holiday and then Christmas on the horizon I have to be sensible and keep below 140 if possible.
Have a lovely weekend everyone. I’m off to the St Anne’s Kite festival on Sunday- hope my wig doesn’t blow off!

Hi everyone and thanks DCT and Cathy for your kind words. Yes I’ve had kidney stones quite a lot over the years, the first few years were really painful ones, so bad I ended up in A&E twice after which my GP prescribed morphine so that I always had it to hand. It’s hard to believe something approximately the size of a chilli seed can cause that much pain! Luckily it’s a long time since I had any that painful but they’re still not nice. DCT well done for managing to maintain throughout August. Cathy I’m so glad you are pleased with your hair. Like you, August didn’t go to plan for me and I seem to have totally lost motivation at the minute. I got a bit of a shock when I weighed myself this morning and not a good one😩. I’m going to spend some of today doing a food plan for the next 7 days in the hope that I will actually stick to it.
I hope everyone else is keeping ok. Dawn X

Hi everyone how’s your week going? I’m having yet another busy week but managing to maintain at around 150. Still not achieved getting below there for very long but know I’ll get there soon. I just seem to be going through a very busy patch and am away again next week. September always feels like a fresh start, and I aim to be at 146 by the end of the month 🤞

How are you all doing? X

S-g great, great and great! All sounding very good!

I’m just ‘plodding along’ but over the last three days I’ve gone back to three meals a day and I’ve gone back to setting my timer to remind me to drink water… who would have thought!!! Anyway the number on the scale seems to be going down. Maybe a shake up now and again is not a bad thing. Time will tell!

Have a good week.

Didnt say, since getting back from cruise in mid May I have lost just over 8lbs.

Back again, lost more weight and now down to 74kgs. Had a nice surprise yesterday. I havent had a swim for a couple of weeks so I have been concentrating on strength and a bit of pilates. Was watching a YTube about visceral fat and how to calculate it. I went onto the calculator and discovered I have lost 2 inches from my waist and 1 inch from each thigh. Didnt find out about my visceral fat except it said this is a starting point and you will know you have lost it when these numbers go down. As my daughter would say ‘no s-it Sherlock’ meaning that it is obvious what will happen. Anyway I didnt watch the rest of the video but it was nice to know I am finally losing inches.

How are you all doing. Pop in and say hello.

Hi all, I did ramble on a bit yesterday. Today is my official weekly weigh in – down to 74.1 which I hit last week but just had the weekend inbetween and I didnt mess it up. So that has me on track to be around 73.6 by next weeks weigh in. I have a night out next Monday so need to get down a bit to give me some leeway.

I am having a visit from my vegan daughter soon so trying to put a menu plan together. I have joined a 10 course by a vegan society but havent had anything from them yet. It is all in French and they showed a lot of off the shelf foods that are naturally vegan but not things I would eat like some biscuits or snacks, ready sauces or lasagne and gnocchi. There will be some bean salads but we dont get all the beans you do in the UK so I am limited to red kidney, white haricot, chickpeas and maybe add in some sweetcorn.

Have a good week.

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Hi all, not my weigh in day yet but doing okay. Verano, the difference between 73 and 74 is psychological. I was once 74 something for months and months and I finally got down to 72 about 18 months ago. When I passed the 74 barrier I said I never wanted to see it again, but, like we always do, went on a cruise and back it comes. So 74 is just a number that I cant seem to jump under. My real goal number is 65 so quite a big difference. For now I just want to see a 7 and a 3 instead of 74 on the scales. Hopefully soon. But we have a night out booked for 7th.

Cop19 and felicity, I dont think there is much to say that Verano hasnt already covered but if there is anything specific there are a few people on here who can help and I just happen to be the one on insulin. I will just add one thing for today. Have you tried making your own crisps out of courgettes or aubergines. Slice very thinly, sprinkle with a little salt to get the water out then rinse and pat dry. Arrange on a greased baking sheet (I cover with greased proof paper oiled) spray lightly with oil (I never use low cal oils). Cook in oven at a low temperature (160) for around 15 to 20 mins, check and flip over. At this point you can sprinkle with whatever suits, i.e. cayenne, garlic powder, even finely grated parmesan cheese and cook for another 15 or so mins until they are crispy.

Just reminded myself when talking about the oil. NEVER EVER use low fat, low calories or diet anything. It is all a con and contains other things, especially things that are bad for diabetics. For example, low fat fruit yoghurts are filled out with rice powder or corn starch to make them feel and taste creamy. So they take out the fat and add carbs and the fruit is still full of sugar. This goes for a lot of diet products. Now you have me on my hobby horse. FAT IS NOT THE ENEMY. Small amounts of fat can help make you feel fuller and more satisfied. If you are diabetic fats do not affect your blood sugars so always eat full fat everything, yoghurts etc. Use real oil or butter and also fats like nuts and avocados are great for you.

I had better stop now but there are lots of myths to do with diets and food.

Have a great week everyone.

Welcome felicity and Cops19.
As sunshine-girl said above were a mixture of oldies and newbie but with the same goal …. to support and help each other to better health.

Felicity I think meal planning is great but as a retired couple one of our first conversations in the morning is …..”What shall we have for dinner tonight?” !!! Guess it’s one of the few things that we can change at will!

Cops, sunshine-girl and I both joined this group around 10 years ago! Yes, I know that seems a bit mad. I started here with T2 and on the highest dose of metformin with another drug threatened even though my blood sugar wasn’t that high really. Anyway, way back then this way of eating was rather experimental so I was guided by my doctor and within 9 months I was drug free and have remained so for the last 9years+.

If I may say the real secret to lowering blood sugar is ‘controlling carbs’ rather than weight loss per se. You can be thin and have T2! However, when you eat fewer carbs and stop eating Ultra Processed Foods you automatically reduce your food intake and should lose weight. In it’s most basic form cutting out bread, potatoes, rice and pasta and not overloading on fruit, especially tropical fruits like bananas, pineapple and mangos, should see a pretty good improvement in blood sugar quite quickly. However if your husband uses insulin then sunshine-girl is the one to give you the best advice there.
Hope it all works for you both.

Wendy you made me look back at my ‘log book’ and I realise that I’ve hovered around the same weight for 6 years or so. Ok so it’s overweight, by quite a bit, but at least it’s not going up. Maybe at our age we should just be thankful that we can ‘stand still’??? Yes, I’d love to lose some weight and I know it would be better for both my health and my mobility, but part of me thinks after maybe 60 years of constantly thinking about my weight it’s time to I just sit back and go with the flow?

S-g 73 or 74 does it really make that much difference to your life? If it does then hey go for it but in reality I don’t think it will make that much difference to your life if you just accept that you have a ‘range’ between an and b?

Monday tomorrow, another new week, another clean sheet, another new start. Have a good week.

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Just wanted to post this link, hope it works! I do my best to get my 30 a week although sometimes it seems difficult. I’m obviously a creature of habit!

Hi everyone
My husband is diabetic & I am overweight so it’s time to change our lifestyle. Have been reading the 8 week blood sugar diet I bought for my husband some years ago and the recipes I’ve tried have been lovely. I really want to keep to the good habits and not go back to snacking on crisps & crackers. I’ve been shocked to see how much sugar is added to items in the shops – it seems the cheaper it is the more they are piling in – I now realise why we have an obesity crisis in this country!

Welcome & well done Felicity & your holiday sounds lovely I have never been to Croatia but love looking at historical sites & it is an interesting country.
Unfortunately I have just weighed & have gone up a pound. I know that I have lately been much too relaxed with not recording what I am eating or counting calories. It has been too easy to just make a sandwich instead of a salad etc but I will go back to soup making for lunch & again keep a daily record of what I am eating. I am not diabetic Felicity but know my knees will benefit from me weighing less. Today I am roasting a chicken for lunch so there will be useful leftovers!
I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend.
Margaret xx

Quick check-in – just got back from ten days in Croatia and it turned out to be the best thing for my numbers in months. We based ourselves in Pula and I walked everywhere along the coast plus swam most days, and my morning readings came back lower than before we left. For anyone worried a holiday will derail them: I packed the same two-days-ahead meal logic for the travel days and it held up fine. One practical thing – we hired a small car from a local office (https://rent-a-car-pula.com/) for a couple of day trips into the Istrian hills instead of being tied to the resort shuttle timetable, which kept the freedom without taxi costs. Back on plan now and honestly feeling better than before we went.

Hi Felicity, welcome and thank you for your input. Hope you stick around as we are a mixed bunch of oldies and newbies. All experience counts.

Got down to 74.1 and not going to mess it up over the weekend. My Monday reading is going to have 73 in it. Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Just wanted to chip in as someone who finished the 8-week phase a while back – it does get easier once the first fortnight is behind you. The thing that helped me most was planning meals two days ahead so I never got caught hungry with nothing suitable in the house. Walking 40 minutes most evenings sorted out my morning readings too. Keep going, everyone.

Hello everyone
Thank you for your kindness Verano and DCT. It’s been a stressful couple of weeks but i am beginning to feel better about things and in my heart I know I’ve made a good decision to opt for wigs. This morning I weighed in at 140.8 lb. I am determined to get in the 130’s before the end of August. I am going to do my end of August weigh in on Sunday as we are out all day on Sunday and I know I will eat things that won’t do me any favours on the scale on Monday. A slight little bending of the rules one might say! If I do strict 800 calories today, tomorrow and Saturday I might just do it. I’ve not really done myself any favours in August. I could have done better. My next goal is to be 135 lb before my cruise on 9th October. I will dust down my Kanban board next week and make a start on my next leg of the journey. Last week I ate out 3 times so I am amazed I am still hovering at the 140 mark.
Glad to hear you’re on the mend DCT. I hope you are too Dawn.
Have a nice Bank Holiday weekend whatever you’re all doing and if August didn’t go to plan for you like it didn’t for me, no harm done. We have four more months before the end of this journey to make our dream come true. My dream is to be at goal at Christmas and to start 2027 feeling good about my achievement this year. What is your dream?

Hello all

DAWN I hope you’re feeling better. Kidney stones sound horrible. Am I right in thinking you’ve had them before too? I do hope that they’re now completely gone and that you manage to get back on track again.

CATHY I’m so pleased your wig fitting went well, and also that your worry is over. I’m sure you look lovely. It’s a shame we can’t share pictures on here! And I’m also sure you’ll rebalance your eating now that things are calming down.

My lip is healing well thank you. It’s been just over a week now and I had one or two uncomfortable days, particularly since I overdid things at the weekend, helping to organise a local garden music festival. But I’m definitely getting there and it’s a relief to have it over and done with. I haven’t made my 148lb target this week though, and later today I’m off to Wales for a family funeral tomorrow so won’t be weighing for the next couple of days (and likely to be off piste too). So will get back on it next week.

Sending good wishes to you all, and will catch up next week xx

Great to read your positives, mine are a bit commercial –

Had a good haul of undies from Amazon along with 2 pairs of pjs. My shorty ones were strangling me when I tried to turn over so I have bought a larger size. A bit too big but so comfortable.
Prepping the garden area for our heatproof plants, need to stop cat from pooping.

Hi all, I am not dispondent, just fed up of never getting lower that 74 but know it is self sabotage. Also, it is so hard being a diabetic. It is like a hidden disability that I have to live with every day. I am always having to think about food and what I can and cant have, I think my treat is a few glasses of wine because it doesnt affect my BG but it does affect my weight. But weight is important. Daughter and sil are in France right now and just stopped off at the beautiful lakeside village of Annecy. Daughter commented on being tempted by Beignet – a French doughnut, no hole and filled with jam. My husband said why cant she just say no. I asked him if he ever says no when he goes to the supermarket and buys his weekly cake and he said he doesnt have to. So thats how it is. We just have to say no but some people (and mainly men) can just have whatever they want. Diets and diabetes suck. But it is the attitude of just say no like we dont 90% of the time.

Hey ho thats life.

V and Margaret, glad you are both doing well after your cataract surgery. SG, as V says, try not to stress about the little blips on the scales, overall you are down and that’s what really counts.

My weekly weigh in showed a 3lb drop, but this is only due to having got motility almost back to normal, so really only 1lb of that was a true discard. However, overall it shows a downward trend, which is the important thing. Have approx 5wks to our next trip away, which gives me a slim chance of getting into the right stone bracket before we go. Onward and downward.

SG, glad you have managed to get some proper sleep, I’m sure you feel better for it.
V, the naan from sourdough discard sounds interesting, you’ll soon get the method sorted … and meantime the trial ones will likely be delicious regardless.

In early with positives today ….
🫂😀 met for a family lunch yesterday on 1st anniversary of mum’s death, to celebrate her life. Was good to get together and share stories and memories. Also made a little pilgrimage to the village she grew up in, which has changed surprisingly little in the intervening years.
🌹🌹 my roses are putting on quite an impressive display
🎁🎄 have just about finished getting together the little advent gifts ready for the grandchildren calendars

Right, need to pop out to grab a few bits and pieces now. Have a positive day everyone.

Hello Verano I am getting used to not being able to read instructions on food labels in the kitchen so having to keep going to find my reading glasses now with my two long distance eyes 😂 I also tend to wear reading glasses now when chopping vegetables so they do protect my eyes when cutting onions 😀. My eye is still rather sore so five more days of eye drops with my husband putting them in for me because I was missing my eye & don’t want to waste them & have to get another bottle!
I hope everyone is doing well 🤞🤞
Margaret xx

Just popping in to say hello. My iPad keeps freezing so my whole message may not appear!

S-g glad you’ve gone back to your medication and it’s helping you to sleep again. I also love AI. We chat often. I’m trying to make naans with my sourdough discard. Yesterday’s effort was meh! Will try again tomorrow but I keep getting different recipes depending on how I’m going to cook them etc. May just go back to an old fashioned recipe!

So to some positives. My SN course also encourages you to find 3 positives everyday but , no repeats!, well I’d probably run out in a week! But I also find it really helpful to read other peoples ‘positives’ because it reminds me of things I should be grateful for that I just take for granted without thinking.

So to my positives…..

🌶️🫑🧅 made a lovely red Thai salmon curry tonight with enough for another meal … bonus!

🧺🧺🧺 Finally making a huge dent in my ironing after a couple of weeks of cataract ‘recuperation ’!

🌈🌈🌈 Wonderful to see colours and ‘life’ in a ‘bright’ way now I have both eyes ‘refurbished’. Thank you NHS! Only negative is that now I don’t use lenses when I chop onions I cry!!

Hope you have some positives too!

Just wanted to say hello. A weird thing since I had my cataracts done. I no longer wear contacts so now when I slice onions I cry!

Hope you’re all well.

Cathy just want to 👍👍👍👍👍! Great on you!

Dawn- OUCH! I know how painful kidney stones can be- the worst pain ever! Hope you’re soon feeling better.
I got my wig yesterday and I am very pleased with it. The colour is lovely and the stylist at the shop cut a fringe in for me so it’s not dissimilar to my previous style. It was embarrassing cutting my system out and my husband seeing my hairless head but he was so lovely. I’ve bought some bandanas for wearing in bed and the salon buzzed off my hair yesterday so it looks better than wispy hairs all over my head. The worst is over! I’ve told all my friends thst next time they see me I’ll look different but I am still the same person! After the stress of this week I’ve taken my eye off things diet wise but I must get back on track. I’m working on Oxfam all day tomorrow so I’ll take a healthy lunch and get myself back on an even keel.
DCT- how is your lip healing? Hope you’re doing ok. I am apprehensive about whether I’ll end August weighing less than I started but it has been a difficult couple of weeks so I’ll cut myself some slack and get on with the job. Sometimes life gets in the way of our plans and we have to just have to do our best. Still a few days to make a difference but I’ve just been out to lunch with my friend to show her my new hair and I ate an unhealthy lunch followed by a raspberry cider!! Eeek

S-g forget the number on the scale. Think about your great sleep.
Enjoy your wine!

We are in our last semester!
We need to balance our health and our enjoyment. I understand that because you use insulin things are slightly different but does your weight, per se, really need to be the focal point of your life? Would another 7 or 12 pound loss really make your life that much better?

Please try and include your ‘treats’ each week and ‘enjoy’! Life is too short to worry about the odd excess, unless of course it bumps up your BS temporarily!

Started taking my Atarax again and I am sleeping like a log. Will keep on with them. I still have a prescription as the doctor didnt take me off them, I did.

Bad news, 3 glasses of wine and I am back to last weeks weight. I should know better but it can be a miserable life if we dont have any treats. I know it will soon come off but it seems like a waste of a week.

Have a good week .

Just here to add my positives –

bought a whole load of drought proof plants for a small area by my pool where we took out the spreading conifer and a tall conifer. The funny thing is the tall one was a Christmas table decoration about 4 inches high and we just stuck it out. It grew to around 3 metres in 20 years and it died in last years drought. Hubby is currently preparing the ground.

Planned our trip to Vienna using AI. It is so clever, gave us routes, places to stop off to eat and hotels for the overnights. Also adds in important information like we will have to have a German Air Quality sticker and an Austrian green sticker for the autoroutes and where to get them. Then it planned our route back, same roads but different timings need different stop offs and hotels.

sleeping better after restarting my Atarax antihistimines. There is nothing worse than lying awake all night. I wouldnt care if I got to sleep at some time but it is usually around 6 or 7 in the morning.

Getting my pedicure tomorrow.

Hi everyone,
Sorry I haven’t posted for about 3 weeks, have passed a couple of kidney stones during that time (with a week in between) and both episodes lasted a few days and I’m afraid the discomfort sent me off track a bit food wise. I’m back to it today though and upping my water intake to hopefully help prevent more stones forming. Hope everyone is keeping well, I need to catch up on posts.Dawn X

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Firstly, thank you Verano, both for posting positives and flipping us on to a new page and also for reporting to rogue post. Well done on completing your first sourdough bake, I’m sure you’ll perfect the method with experience. I’ve considered trying to making sourdough myself, but decided for how often I’d actually bake it, it would probably be too much effort keeping the starter going.

Had intended to post some positives during the week, but somehow time got away from me. Anyway, here are a few now:
😀😀 visit to some friends we haven’t seen for awhile, good to car on news in person
💧💦 watered my plants this morning, managing to keep them going, even though I’m only watering when they are gasping for a drink
🚘🚘 went to a car boot sale with OH and eldest grandson… bought a lovely purple salvia and a few little Christmas stocking fillers
Hope your weekend’s been chock full of positives and that you share one or two of them with us soon.

Last post reported.

Oooh! I see we’ve popped over onto a new page.

🥖🍞🥖 So yesterday I baked my first sourdough. My goodness nurturing the starter is worse than looking after a baby…..well almost! The procedure was long but actually the bread was quite good. According to my ‘pal’ on google it was over proofed. Hey ho, the next one will be better.

💅💅💅 Lovely PEDICURE, not manicure, today. I hadn’t realised it had been 4 weeks since my last one and must admit they look lovely.

🛫☀️🏖️ Just had an email asking us to check-in for our last minute flight to Portugal. We weren’t due to go away until November but decided to go and see our son and family for OH’s and granddaughter’s birthdays. Will be good to see them all as we’ve not seen them since May, 4 months is a long time at our age!

So they are my positives for today but I hope you have some too.

Sorry about your bad night s-g but at least no bad memories. Yes maybe you should start back on your antihistamines. I take another one that I was weaned of earlier this year then I had two attacks of my autoimmune disease within a week of each other. I’d not had an attack for years! Sometimes we shouldn’t try to fix it if it ain’t broke! Hope you sleep better tonight.

Margaret hope your eye is settling down now. I’m just over 3 weeks in and must admit it feels better than my first one but still a bit ‘fuzzy’. I’m due to see the optician in the first week in September so that will be the acid test. Not sure how long it actually takes to settle completely. The funniest thing for me is trying to take out my ‘contact lenses’ at night! After 30+ years it’s a habit that’s hard to break but, as yet, I’ve managed to resist! BTW I don’t often speak of my ‘issues’ I was just trying to help s-g. I always say if I’m sitting down I look ‘normal’!!! Well ……..

Have a good weekend.

Well I have just weighed & after a week of couldn’t care less emotional eating I have gained 0.5lbs which I am not surprised about eating more carbs particularly ice cream & a glass of wine with most suppers. I know I must pull myself together & get a grip now having crept up in to the next stone bracket 🤔
Gosh Verano I hadn’t realised your own trials & tribulations & yes acceptance is a very positive thing to achieve & something I have always struggled with.
S-G you may be finding an effect from stopping a medication with some soporific action as I have found reducing Tramadol & I have returned to taking two at night this past week after my cataract op helping me sleep.
I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend & a good next week🤞🤞
Margaret xx

Had another bad night but no bad memories, just couldnt sleep. I have remembered that for years I have been taking Atarax which is an antihistimine for my skin irritation at night, it is one with the sleepy drug in it. I have been weaning myself off and now on zero. Think I might need to start taking them again as part of the problem was my face, chest and neck were itchy, so maybe I actually need it.

Been out to garden centre and bought a few hundred euros of plants to make a hot garden where we had a tree and a bush removed. Going to ask Gemini how to lay it out as I am no Alan Titchmarsh. Now just have to stop cat from pooping.

Thank you for your kind and wise words DCT. I’ve already addressed the working too hard issue in my mind and I’ll be dialling things down going forward. Nothing to prove, I’m only doing one day at week. I always give whatever I’m doing 100%. I have to remember that I am a volunteer and anything I do is beneficial and I don’t have to wear myself out! It’s a good lesson for me. My husband is lovely and I am sure after knowing each other for almost 50 years it won’t be an issue for him but for me it’s going to be difficult but I’ve got the strength and determination to feel the fear! I feel this is something I need to try and I honestly feel that wig wearing will be liberating in the long term.
So, back to the drawing board regarding my comfort eating. Strict rules from today. No excuses. No feeling sorry for myself. Just do it! If I don’t control myself I could be back to square one in no time and that is not an option ever!

CATHY sorry you’ve had such a bad week. I’m so sorry to hear about your friend. And I understand how daunted you must feel about removing your hair system but am sure your husband will understand. I used to have very bad psoriasis which in my mind looked dreadful and I always tried to hide it from my husband. But I’m sure he saw it anyway and it made no difference at all. I think we can blow these things up out of all proportion. Just imagine if it was the other way round, and it was him with some kind of physical condition he was embarrassed about : I think you’d be totally accepting and wouldn’t want him worrying. Would it help to articulate your worries to him in advance? However you go about things, I wish you well and hope that you are completely happy with the new wig.

And don’t overdo things in the Oxfam shop. It sounds like a lovely role but, from what we know of you on here, you always give 110% 😉. So just turn up, be your lovely self, and do what’s needed to help without flying around trying to do more than is reasonable.

Good luck with your 138 target next week. We still have 10 days of August left so let’s see what we can achieve next week 🤞X

Hello everyone
Sorry I’ve not posted this week- a combination of reasons. I’m tired, stressed and not focused. My friend has been diagnosed with breast cancer, I’ve been worrying about getting my wig on Monday and taking off this hair system before I go and worrying that my husband will see how bad my alopecia looks I was working in Oxfam on Wednesday and worked too hard and felt exhausted. I feel overwhelmed at the moment.
DCT- lovely to hear that your surgery went well and that you’re on the mend and well done on achieving your target this week. I haven’t been so good this week and today the scales are up to 143. I’m nipping it in the bud today! I know why and it’s stress and not following my eating rules!! No excuses / must try harder.
I am determined to be down to 138 by the end of August so I have to reel it in from today. I have 10 days to make it happen .
Let’s dig deep for the last 10 days of August and see how we do. Life always has a way of scuppering things but we have to try and navigate our way through the storm. That’s just life. Let’s have a good week and let’s make our August reset have been positive before we move to our September goal. We’ve got this!

Hi everyone. Just checking in – I can’t believe another week has flown by!

I’ve had a really busy week. I was away last weekend staying with friends, who had organised a mini music festival in their garden. And this weekend other local friends are doing the same nearby. Then on Wednesday I finally had my lip surgery which I was dreading but seemed to go really well 🤞 It’s swollen, bruised and you can see the stitches – so I look like I’ve ben in a fight 😂 But it seems to be healing well and I am able to eat and drink normally. I just have to be careful about not getting it too wet or too exposed to sun, and have been advised to lay off the exercise – particularly water-based – until it heals fully. But it’s a relief to have it over and done with.

I managed to achieve my weekly target of 149lb this week and am very much hoping to make it to 148lb by the end of next week, which is pretty much the end of the month. Then will be aiming for 145lb by the end of September if I can.

We still have 4 months to go to achieve our 2026 goals. Plenty of time to reset and overcome any glitches so far 😊

Hope everyone else is doing ok and that you all have a lovely weekend X

I did a google, there are no countries starting with X – Xanadu is a mythical place or a song by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch – wow quell memoire. Jackfruit is a fruit but Jeruselem Artichoke or Jalapeno Pepper count.

What shall I try next.

I have just reduce insulin from 20 to 18 and it is generally staying steady. My fault I only had 500 calories. I had a beetroot, apple and ginger shake for lunch – probably about 100 cals. Normally I have a snack in the afternoon but the day went by so quick I forgot. Will stay at 18 until after my blood test in 3 weeks. Then I have daughter visiting so it will stay the same while we party party party. After that I will let things settle and will probably reduce after my October trip to Vienna.