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.

https://mcusercontent.com/26360a74217f40071dd4d88da/files/2691257e-c817-a525-fb2b-61834f25a59c/10_step_starter_guide_to_good_gut_health_2_.pdf?utm_source=The+Gut+Health+Doctor&utm_campaign=1fc4bebefa-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_08_10_02_30&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2b8a35f93c-1fc4bebefa-460098569&mc_cid=473ae1c0bd&mc_eid=f7f1bcdbca

This is basically about gut micro biome and how to get your 30 a week.

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.

Thanks s-g!
D= daikon, J= jackfruit… is that a vegetable? X=Xanadu …. is that a country?

That really is low s-g. Can you reduce your insulin or isn’t it that simple?

Verano, I just wanted to give you a hug.

I had another fairly sleepless night last night but there was a reason and sometimes it is helpful. Got up at 3am (its always 3am) and did a blood test and I was down to 42 which is 2.27 on other scale, so very low. Had a Werthers, a low cal chocolate drink and a slice of ham and 30 mins later I was up to 128.

BTW I couldnt think of a veg beginning with D or J or X, or a country with X. Got all the rest. 🙂

I’m so sorry s-g that certainly wasn’t my intention.
“Acceptance” is a wonderful ‘tool’. I think I must have ‘accepted’ my limitations fairly quickly after the initial shock of realising my mobility was going to be limited. It certainly hasn’t held us back. Life is just ‘different’. As we age we all have to make adaptations we just had to do so earlier, and with greater vigour! As I said above ‘I do what I can do, and what I can’t do, I can’t’. “Acceptance”, without ‘giving up’ has helped me a lot over the years.

Thank you Sunny, Verano and Margaret. I can just mention that I dont lie awake every night thinking back. It is the other way round. I cant sleep and sometimes it is restless legs, tingling feet, cramp, whatever and I can work through it, get up, have a drink and so on. Then some nights as I lie there not able to sleep and the past comes back. Once it does it is like a story unfolding in my head and just goes on and on. Margaret I once saw a psych and he did the blow your nose into a tissue then look at it as say you are sh-t, you are nothing, you are filth, you are not in my life etc etc. Then throw it in the bin. End of. Funnily it did work and I can even laugh about that person (very famous so I still see him everywhere on TV) but that was just one person. Not wanting to bring this down I will leave it at that. I think the only person who knows my story is my daughter. Sorry, I am getting upset.

Verano, you made me cry. I knew you used a wheelchair or a walker when we first ‘met’ and that this diet helped you in so many ways. You live with your disability every day whereas mine is just in my head. I have learnt that doesnt make mine any less, it is not a competition as to how much pain we have. Bless you.

Back to business. No weight loss for a few days, no reason so will just keep on keeping on. Decided I need 2 more kgs before daughter visits. Already lost one last week so 2 more in 4 weeks.

Have a good continuation, as they say in France. Bon continuation.

Thank you SunnyB & my eye is feeling much better today after using the drops that will continue for two weeks.
S-G I am so sorry to read about your experience of abuse. I haven’t mentioned it before that one of my previous roles was working as a Therapeutic Counsellor & Psychotherapist with clients who had suffered abuse & also clients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I found that helping clients talk about what they had experienced enabled them to review it but also by exposing it helped it diminish by re-examining their own reactions to it & realising that any feeling of guilt they carried was invalid. In psychological terms it’s called making it concrete so it can then be helped to dissipate. So much stress is caused by circular thinking which can re-impact the experiences. I had to have two years in-depth counselling as part of my training & exposed for myself some suppressed bad experiences & memories. Writing experiences down can also help make them more “concrete” & Verano’s action of destroying her writing by tearing them up can be helpful. I do know that my way of working has probably been superseded by current research but my clients found their counselling & visualisation exercises helpful. It’s never too late to try to do something about your bad experiences S-G.
With very best wishes
Margaret ❤️

I need to find some positives!
Glad you’ve booked your cruise s-g and well done ‘grandson’! Finally, enjoy your mother/daughter time it’s irreplaceable.

🥖🍞🥖 My sourdough starter is now 14 days old and ready to bake with. Tomorrow is D day, or maybe that should be ‘B’ day! Sorry!

🥕🌶️🍅 Made my first batch cook today. Bolognese. So glad we’ve had a bit of rain now I feel justified in making a Bolognese!

🥕🌶️🍅 Healthy meal tonight bolognese with courgetti spaghetti. I haven’t used courgetti in ages. Need to get back to all the swaps we used to make in the early days!

Have a good week.

S-g I think your daughter may be right.

I went through a trauma just over 19 years ago. I’d had a hip resurfacing in 2000 then in 2007 I contracted sepsis which went to my hip. Then I went through a series of maybe 3 surgeries to remove my hip and had nearly 5 months in hospital. The upshot was that rather than just getting a new hip and hey ho off I would go, as I thought, my surgeon said if I was lucky I’d be able to walk with crutches! I was stunned. Then after a further two surgeries I had a new hip. I was wheelchair bound for several months and my mobility improved but has never fully recovered. So now I use crutches and a walker if I go more than a few hundred yards as I need to sit down.

OK I know this is completely different from abuse. I just wanted to say that I went through a really low patch for maybe 12 months after being hospitalised and accepting that my mobility would always be compromised. I kept a journal for quite a long time after I came out of hospital. After a while I stopped and just put the journal in a drawer. Maybe 7 months or so later I saw the journal in the drawer and started to re-read it. My goodness it was really a very depressing read. At that point I decided it needed to go. Destroying the journal, ripping page by page into pieces was really cathartic. It was like disposing of the trauma and I felt much better afterwards.

No it wasn’t a ‘golden bullet’ my mobility is still compromised, but yes it did put lots of things into perspective. It has allowed me to accept things as they ‘are’ and to not re-live a time when I ‘hit the wall’ several times.

Maybe if you ‘journal’ it will help you to stop reliving the past…. you can’t re-write it….. if only we could!!! We have to accept what has gone before us but we really have to try not to let it ruin today or tomorrow. I know how hard that can be. For me, with a physical disability, I just say “I can do what I can do and what I can’t, I can’t”. I know that a ‘mental disability’, for want of a better description, is not that easy to overcome.

Don’t let the past define your future you’re worth more than that.

Margaret, glad your op went well, hope your recovery is swift.
SG, sorry to read about your sleep issues and the cause. I don’t have any answers for you, but hope you manage to find something that works so that your sleep is less impacted.

So, now to report on my ‘progress’ since this time last week ….. sadly a blip upwards of 1.8lb!!! Frustrating as other than what can most politely be referred to as ‘stalled motility’, I can’t identify why this has happened. Best I can do is tackle the motility issue and hope the scales issue rectifies as a consequence. Will continue to monitor what I consume too of course.

Wishing you all a good week.

I can see this page and the message to Margaret, (glad you are doing well) but nothing else, it is as if the subject has disappeared. Hoping this message will bring it back or move it on.

Looks like I have jumped onto another page.

My problem is not that I wake up. I just dont go to sleep, getting up is recommended as lying awake can cause more anxiety. It is not often I go all night without sleep and I slept okay last night. If I do wake for the toilet I can quickly get back to sleep and once asleep I am like a log. I have had a lot of abuse through my life and, unlike some people, I dont seem to be able to put it in the past and keep trying to re-write history. My daughter says I should write everything down but it would be very miserable reading. Okay I dont have to show it to anyone. I tried with an online diary that was very private, then the system crashed and I lost everything so I prefer pen and paper but afraid of anyone reading it. Yes, I know it is stupid. Verano, I also do the deep breathing, read MMs book but it is same things, I do count, hold my stomach, feel my breathing, go through the alphabet. Once I get in the cycle nothing helps. I was taking an antihistamine called Atarax but been on it for years and know it is not good – not sure it was doing anything anyway.

Well, to say I had nothing to say, I do rather ramble on. Have a good week.

Maragaret glad all went well. I’m sure the soreness will wear off very quickly.

And so to sleep! Well, my tools are quite simple really….. deep breathing and pillow spray.
Two breathing exercises: 5 deep breaths, in for 4 hold for 2, out for 4, hold for 2, repeat. I also recite, in my head, girls names alphabetically, 5 times each with each accompanied by a deep breath. I count 5 girls with the initial A etc. I rarely get passed B. I couple that with either a pillow spray such as Deep Sleep, but there are plenty others in the market, or I recently found ‘scentered’ which is a wax like stick which you rub onto your wrist and temples which works very well for me.

I think the real secret is NOT to get up because that literally does wake you up especially if you use your ‘phones etc’ or read. It may take a while to get back to sleep at first but it really does work. Sweet dreams!

Thank you Verano & S-G & I had my cataract op this morning which the surgeon said went well. My eye does feel sore & fortunately it was cloudy driving home so not too bright although I wore dark glasses & my reading glasses are still enabling me to read & because I now have two long distance lenses can also still watch the tv.
S-G I also don’t sleep through the night having to get up to spend pennies plus recently still being awake at 1-30am. However I’m weaning myself off Tramadol which is slightly soporific so that is impacting but like you I have got up & moved to another bedroom to read until feeling more sleepy which is what MM recommended in his Fast Sleep book. Have you read that because he suggests that some people like himself were dual/second sleepers naturally waking around 3-0am & getting up to potter around the house doing things before going back to bed for a second sleep. Apparently it was common in Victorian times with many people doing this. Anyway I found his book really interesting which describes sleep physiology & some remedial actions.
Well I must do supper now & will have a glass of wine tonight because I feel that I need one 😂
Margaret xx

Calling in to report weeks numbers. Lost 1.2kgs from last Monday. In fairness that is because my weight was up last week after a weekend meal out and drinks. So basically still 74.4.

Question, what do you do when you cant sleep. I have had problems all my life, tried pills and potions, calomile tea, lettuce sandwiches etc. Then I just lie there, close my eyes try to think pleasant thoughts. Then around 3am I get up and make a drinking chocolate, half an hour later go back to bed. Then repeat, get up again around 5am, no chocolate drink but watch something on record, go back to bed. Finally get to sleep at around 7.30 which was last time I looked at watch. I dont stay in bed all day to make up and was up around 10.30 so only 3 hours sleep and probably still wont sleep tonight. I never have daytime naps so cant even cut that out and no caffinated drinks after my after lunch coffee around 2pm. Thoughts please.

Nothing else to report.

BTW the product is called GlycoReset and is a scam.

Just want to save you from sitting through a 40 minute video by Dr William Li on how to cure diabetes called the Biblical Drink. You always know it is rubbish when they start their presentation with a total lie i.e. diabetes doesnt exist in Israel – absolutely not true. Then the simple drink you can make in your kitchen turns out to have olive only only found on Mount Olive, Cinnamon from a magic tree only in Israel and another ingredient only found in Israel protected by a tribe. You can only buy it on line.

WHERE HAVE WE HEARD THIS BEFORE. This makes me so mad, this is the sort of thing that used to make me cry. This is why we found this site. Yes, there is a Dr Li and just a 30 second fact check – he doesnt endorse anything to do with Israeli cure for diabetes. It is not him on the video it is AI. Hope that save you 40 minutes of your precious time.

Have a good day.

Hi all, no news on the weight but no problems

Verano, glad you are enjoying the course, we are all learning every day.
Margaret, good luck for tomorrow, not that you need it. Relax and enjoy some downtime.

I am sure there are idiots in France but our Government have things in place. Like visiting the old and vulnerable (not been to see us yet), even the postie knocks if they know you are in that category. Telling landowners to cut their grass, you can be fined for an overgrown garden or patch of land. If you have ever been to France and see ponds all over the place like at the entrance to a supermaket complex, these are for the fireservice use, also prevents flooding. Although even these have been very close to empty. And not wasting water is second nature to us. The good news is we had real rain last night and all my waterbutts are full again. Shame I dont have anything left to water 🙂