The scales today showed the same weight as Wednesday, disappointingly, as I feel lighter, tighter and leaner, having eaten well and done a bit of exercise this week.
Hubby is down to 15st 9.0lb and happy with a loss this week.
We will probably not weigh again now until the New Year – Christmas plans have been pared back, so just 3 of us on Christmas Day, and no plans for restaurants on other days anymore – maybe a few walks on the beach and/or on the Moors in the great Northern outdoors to blow the cobwebs away.

Good luck with the plan YBR, I do understand that you need time and headspace to figure out how you’re going to do this, but it’s so worth it.
While you may not have symptoms of diabetes, it is not to be taken lightly.
As others have said, try to manage this with your diet before the meds route, with the support of your doctor of course.
There was also another thread on here recently about avoiding the label of diabetes and all the implications it has on future risk ratings for things like life insurance, travel insurance, driving licence, etc.
You seem to have caught this early, so good luck in your endeavours.
Simple rules we started with:
Breakfast = egg-based
Lunch = soup
Supper = portion of lean protein and green veg, cauli is your friend and a great potato substitute
Snacks = avoid if possible
Water = drink loads
Good luck, whenever you choose to start

Here’s hoping you get on that ferry SG, the ferry back can be dealt with when the time comes – you never know, the rules may have changed again!
Keep on keeping on, and hope you have a lovely Christmas with your family 🙂

Hi.
I’ve bumped a soup thread up to the top for you. Soups are a great lunch instead of carby alternatives and they freeze really well.
I make ‘mash’ and freeze that in portions too. Cauliflower, cauliflower and broccoli , cauliflower, broccoli and celeriac etc etc etc. lots of combinations!
Following on from sunshine-girl I copied a section from I think the original 5:2 diet book which I look at now and again…..
“Any method must be rational, sustainable, flexible and feasible for the long haul …. It must fit into your life as it is, not the life of your dreams. It needs to go on holiday with you, it needs to visit friends, get you through a boring/challenging day …. and cope with Christmas.
Your body is not my body. Mine is not yours. So it’s worth carving out your plan according to your needs, the shape of your day, your family, your commitments, your preferences.”
Take your time but do try this way of eating it’s definitely far better than going down the medication route.

Hi folks!
Well done SUEBLUE on blood test results AND being a loser in the nicest possible way and to CCATHY for maintaining,not easy to do this time of year. And massive applause for CC on working so hard on getting us all boosted!👏👏👏👏
Where wd we be without you guys! So pleased yr DS has got a booster booked..surely they shd be making sure that vaxxers families don’t have to queue for hours,it’s only fair! XX
DCT and DAWN,like you I’ve had a bad few days food wise ..I’m not happy with that and neither is my tum! ..but now back giving it my all for this final week before crimbo!
DCT fingers X’d and legs and eyes crossed too for your hubby’s Xmas Eve consultation X
Have a fab Friday and a good weekend everyone! XX massive hugs all round XX

Morning all. Just a quick catch up from me too: busy times!

Sue I’d meant to post earlier in the week to say how fantastic your blood test results were! I’m so happy for you. Especially that your statins dose is being reduced. And well done for the weight loss this week too. We’re all rooting for you to shed your remaining 1.5kg and get to your 2021 goal. I’m sure you can do it!

Cathy I hope you have a good day. You are all doing a tremendous job for us. Thank you. And good luck with your final push next week.

Dawn, I’ve not had a good food week either. It’s been a busy week with various things going on, including some bad news from a friend. So I’ve not really had my eye on the ball and have managed to regain the 2lb I recently lost. I will do my best for the rest of the challenge but look forward to drawing the line under 2021 and starting afresh in the new year.

Good news on my hubby’s op though. He has his consultation on Christmas Eve and they will then decide what to do and when. But should mean we are clear to go ahead with Christmas plans as long as Covid doesn’t interfere. Like you Cathy, I’m hoping for the best but planning for the worst.

Must dash now but sending good vibes to you all. Good luck for the rest of our journey and hope you have a wonderful weekend X

TTT

I hope it all works out for you and your family S-G 😍

Morning everyone

Just a quick post before I head off for work – going to be mega busy today with boosters! I stayed the same weight today which I am happy with. I had a few indulgences last weekend and tried hard to pull it back. I am revising my plan to be 146 next Friday which is 2lb heavier than I hoped for. I hope I can achieve it.

Well done SueBlue – you can achieve your goal I am sure of that.

Things are not looking too good in the UK and I am hoping for the best but planning for the worst at Christmas! Going to try and keep away from Omicron this week! My brother has had his snowboarding trip to France cancelled at Christmas and he has spent a fortune on gear and lessons and lift passes etc! Tough times ahead but counting my blessings. My son in London was having difficulty getting a booster and the walk in queues were five hours long. He has secured a booster for Tuesday so I am happy about that.

Looking forward to having a positive week for our last leg of this journey. Hope everyone has a good week ahead.

omg s-g, crossing my fingers and toes for you 🤞🤞

A true mess s-g. Let’s just hope there’s a bright spot on the horizon.

It is not getting back into France. It is getting out of the country without ‘compelling’ reason. We have spoken to Brittany Ferries and they have no idea except one reason can be returning to place of origin i.e. my homeland. Returning to France, returning to my place of residence, France with a French residency card. Family have cancelled all events this week, i.e. gym, rugby training. Cancelled all planned events while we are there, i.e. escape room then restaurant. Now all we have to do is have a negative test to leave and a negative test to return. Someone said cancel everything until summer when we can all meet outside. Just how many summers are we going to cancel, this next one (summer 2022) will mean being apart from family for nearly 3 years. What if this all happens again in Summer 2022. What was the point of 3 vaccinations, self isolation for nearly 2 years due to risk factors and now we still might not be able to see family at Christmas. We are going and might be turned away at the ferry. 7 hours drive there and then have to come back to tell our house guests they are stuck with us. Brexit is also to blame because the crossing of borders is allowed between members of the European Union,.

Hi all,just a quick post,I will catch up properly tomorrow.Didn’t get chance to post last night as was at cinema (bit scary tbh with seating so close together,if it had just been myself and DH I may have been tempted to leave but it was movie DD and her friend had been waiting for ages to be released)and didn’t get home until late.Have had terrible day today food wise,have planned for better one tomorrow though so 🤞Hope everyone is ok.Dawn X

Whatever changes you make and whenever it is your road to travel. We are all here to cheer you on. Dont be shy and let us help you, but heck I sound I a …. cant think of the word, an evangalist, we are not like that.

Thanks for sharing your favourite Christmas song Yowzer 🙂
Cathy I can sympathise with your concerns. Our new case numbers seem to be doubling every few days. There’s new restrictions for hospitals, basically no visitors allowed, and I’m really hoping that there are no travel restrictions introduced for Christmas – it’s not as though my daughter lives in another state, just the other side of Sydney, but we went almost 5 months earlier this year without seeing her due to lockdowns, and a lockdown in her area last Christmas meant she couldn’t come.
I too am resigning myself to possible disappointment, and if that happens we’ll just get together and have a postponed Christmas lunch at a later date.
Weigh in this morning was good for me – 900g this week. At least I’ve reversed last weeks gain and am inching closer to my 2021 goal. To be 88kg exactly I still need to drop another 1.5kg in the next 2 weeks, but I’d be happy to be in the 88s so that’s only 501g away – I think that’s about a pound, so doable 🙂
Have a lovely Friday everyone and stay safe x

Thank-you all for your encouragement.
I’m thinking of starting next year because (1) I really do need time to get my head round this – until I have some time off I don’t have the mental space, (2) best to start when more likely to succeed, (3) I’m not ready to tell everyone yet (I can’t face certain relatives on my case – some people can be horrendous) and (4) because the book explicitly says not to do the BSD if you are recovering from surgery. I also need to get my DH on side who does all the shopping and cooking. I’m a person who plans and problem solves and evaluates before starting something new.

“Think about what you normally eat and just eat it without the carbs.” Well breakfast or lunch without the carbs is absurd so I am re-thinking those. The more difficult thing that needs solving is that it’s not just me to feed. I have a fuss-itarian child (8yo) who eats very little but carbs, and a vegetarian child (10yo) and we’d land up cooking 3 or 4 dinners every day. So while courgette, aubergine, tomatoes, cauliflower, (broccoli, sprouts, peas, beans (green)), mushroom, onions, carrots are all fine for me, someone else won’t touch mushrooms, or cauliflower, or courgette or …
So it’s going to take a little time to find the tips like vegetable lasagne sheets and cauliflower rice (wonderful, thanks). How long do they keep for; does it freeze OK?

I’ve got Michael Mosleys book The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet and am mainly working from that, also a couple of others from the library that I’m working through when I have time. I’ve added others to my wishlist – hopefully I’ll get some book tokens for Christmas!

You make a good point about it being a way of life. I’m not expecting 800 calories a day to be forever – but if i can achieve that for 6-8 weeks, then it should be habit-forming enough to move to the next stage. I’m encouraged to get started early next year, even if I put it on pause for surgery/recovery.

Hi s-g … no problem if you’re French residents. The world and his wife can enter the UK. Apparently we have so much infection now that the powers to be think ok … let’s just open the flood gates… not quite sure about that but hey ho!
As long as you’re still allowed back into France you should be fine
I think lots of people will be having last minute changes to their plans … including us!
One day, in maybe the distant future, we will all be able to meet relatives and friends without fear …. maybe we should just move all our birthdays, festive days and celebrations to the summer months when we can meet outside!

Hello.
Sunny glad you got back safely.
Yowzer I got ‘The Spice Tree’ on offer on kindle but to be honest I’ve never been happy with recipe books on kindle, they are definitely better in the ‘flesh’ so you can flick backwards and forwards through the pages.
1. 🩺💉🌈 Pleased to say LFT was negative today as it was yesterday and ‘cold’ seems to have resolved itself.
2. 🩺💉🌈 DD also negative today …. just keeping fingers crossed that she manages to evade the virus.
3 🥦🐟🥣 Smoked haddock for dinner tonight …. not my favourite fish but I do enjoy it for a change.
Hope there is no further ‘bad’ news tonight but either way enjoy the rest of Thursday.

You can still travel though SG?
Our elderly relatives have backed out of Christmas Day with us, but we have agreed to meet up with them at some point, and all test beforehand.
Friends and colleagues are testing positive all around us at the moment, none of whom we have seen in a few weeks so all good here for now, but it’s escalating.

If you have seen the French / English news regarding travel you will understand what I am about to say. Arrrrrrrrrggggggggh. There.

Hi YBR, to add to the great advice you have been given. There are no signs or symptoms for diabetes except maybe thirst and drinking a lot and this leads to peeing a lot. A bit like high blood pressure, not easy to detect, which is why so many people dont realise they have it.

First of all you are in the right place to knock this on the head completely, did doctor tell you your HbA1c number, it is important to know so you know what you are aiming to improve. Do buy Michael Mosleys book The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet. Also buy Dr Clare Baileys BSD recipe book, also use dietdoctor.com for ideas of what to eat but also for recipes. You can sign up to the Fast500 emailing list and receive some lovely recipes from time to time. Also look on keto sites for recipes – they are low carb but tend to overdo the protien.

The meals dont have to be complicated, full or strange things or things you dont really like. I hate all seafood and fish. Think about what you normally eat and just eat it without the carbs. I.e. (as has been said above) no potatoes, no pasta, no rice etc etc. If you want you can replace these by using vegetables but definitely not other root veg, so dont swap potatoes for swede, or pasta for brown pasta, they are still as high in carbs. As an example I make lasagne and instead of using pasta sheets I use ribbons of courgette or aubergine or even a layer of sliced tomatoes if courgette and aubergine are strange to you. Buy a small caulflower and put it in a whizzer or grate it to simulate rice then just heat it through in a frying pan with a touch of a good oil (rapeseed or olive) not a bog standard vegetable oil and deffo not corn oil. Try a nice hearty stew with lots of button mushrooms, onions and a few carrots, make a standard bolognaise or savory mince dish. If you cant be bothered to mess around with courgettes etc just give yourself a good portion of any of the recommended veg (green leafy, peas, leeks, look at dietdoctor for ideas).

Drink plenty of water as limiting carbs releases fluid from the body, makes you pee a lot and can dehydrate you. If you feel weak or dizzy add a touch of salt to a meal. Eggs are a great standby, omeletee, scrambled, poached, boiled – but without the bready dips.

Honestly we could give you so much advice but you will forget or not take it all in, which is why you should get the book.

Do as others suggest and start the diet today or tomorrow. I know Christmas is coming soon and you might want to see that through first. Then clear out all the junk. read some recipes, have a good idea of what you are going to eat, buy what you will need so you dont get caught out and enjoy a new way of life. As for your birthday, it is in the name birthDAY not birthweek. Take this seriously, diabetes is very serious ones it takes hold. You want to avoid going onto medication at all costs or you will be on a slippery slope. I am on insulin and never got off it yet. Verano is a great example of someone who completely reversed her diabetes and a great role model.

Just remembered, fat is your friend. NEVER EVER eat food that claims to be low fat, diet or even low sugar (unless it really is) as most of these products replace the fat with a carbohydrate to give it ‘mouth appeal’ and that is usually rice powder or potato powder. So buy full fat foods like yoghurts, cheese, milk or cream, real butter but eat sparingly – they satisfy you more because they fill you up and they taste great. The only thing I have against low sugar is that it can fool your body into thinking it is getting something sweet and create an insulin respose. When the insulin floods the blood and finds there is nothing to battle with it gets stored as either fat or in the liver. Gosh there is so much to know.

Good luck and feel free to ask as many questions as you need to.

Welcome YBR, you’ll find lots of support on these boards.
Have you read the original Blood Sugar Diet book? This gives a good insight into diabetes and that you don’t have to be obese to be diabetic.
I would also abandon all excuses about when to start – start today 🙂 and deal with each day as best you can.
Re. calorie counting – I used MyFitnessPal (a free app) – a bit of a pain to use but it works. I would also say that planning meals in advance works too, so you know what you are eating is the right stuff and the right quantity.
You say the recipes are full of things you’ve never heard of, and you don’t eat fish or seafood – if you tell us some of the things you do eat I am sure others on here will chip in with suggestions.
Also, weigh and record everything you put in a homemade meal, divide by the number of portions and enter it in MyFitnessPal – you’ll soon get the hang of it.
Key things I would suggest to start with:
– cut out ALL sugars – that includes sugar, honey, maple syrup, fruit juice, sweetened drinks. A square of very dark chocolate (>80%) is an occasional treat.
– cut out ALL white starchy food – potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, other stuff made with flour, breakfast cereals, and all cakes, biscuits, etc.
– focus on lean protein for the first 8-12 weeks, eggs and chicken breasts are your friend (especially if you don’t eat fish) and above-ground vegetables
– homemade vegetable soups are a good lunchtime option as they are filling, can be made low carb and low cal
– fruit – limit this in the first 8-12 weeks, a few berries are generally OK, bananas are off the menu sadly
Good luck!

Hi
For people with T2 this really is a Way of Life rather than a ‘diet’ which suggests restriction for a period of time. Carbohydrates are the secret of controlling blood sugars rather weight loss per se.
Take a look at the diet doctor website which has some great graphics of low to high carb foods.
Not all medics are sympathetic to this way of eating so I suggest you also read Prof.Roy Taylor’s book ‘Life without Diabetes’.
It really is possible to reverse diabetes by restricting carbs, as many people on this forum have done.
Enjoy the journey …. remember there’s no time like the present!

Hi,
I’ve recently been diagnosed T2 Diabetic but have no symptoms, or none that can’t be explained.
The diabetes nurse has not yet been much help – told me to lose weight (my BMI is OK, I’m not obese), to exercise (I may have a sedentary job but I am active), to smoke less (never smoked), drink less (I’m TT), get my blood pressure down (it’s fine) – you get the picture. I’ve basically not given anything more helpful than I can get from google.

I’m going to have to take the initiative here, and I wanting to avoid medication I’m thinking about the BSD. I hope to discuss it with the nurse next week so want to discuss/confirm my ideas.

I’m hoping to have surgery around the end of January so the plan would be to wait until after I’ve recovered (4 weeks).
If I start immediately I’d be dieting over my birthday, so start mid-march, …
but we’re booked to go on holiday (full-board) just before Easter, which would make it impossible that week.
So I can see myself already building up excuses and pushing it back. What have people done in similar circumstances – would you start after your birthday and take a week “off” or not start until after the holiday? (I wouldn’t stuff myself but choose the best options I could.)

Also I’ve never dieted, or calorie counted or anything before and I have no idea where to start. The recipes in the book are full of thinks I’ve never heard of and surely are relatively expensive – also there are so many fish recipes and I don’t eat fish or seafood. Any advice how to start figuring all this out? How to calorie count a portion of home-made dish?

Hope you and your family will all be fit and well again soon, V. Sorry your celebrations have been so disrupted.
Yowser, really pleased you’ve get your tooth sorted out on time for the festive season.
I too am excited that the shortest day is almost with us, as I need to see bright evenings again.
Thanks for all the best wishes for our safe return home.
My positives are ….
💐 Good journey home from Turkey, if a bit arduous, but all went smoothly and OH coped very well.
💐 our arrival covid tests came back negative …. phew!
💐 house is warming up nicely now, after being an icebox when we got home last night, and the aga is alight and slowly coming up to temp.
💐 Christmas cards written this evening, so can get them in the post tomorrow.

Think that is all for this time… hope your day has presented a few positives too.

Hi V,sorry only just seen your post..,we must have been typing at the same time!
Get well soon,and I hope your plans can go ahead x
Oh I love games at Christmas..scrabble,trivial pursuit,even snap and happy families. Best of all for me,charades! X

CCATHY I do hope you see your son 🙏
SUEBLUE fab news about yr cholesterol👏👏just goes to show doesnt it!
Well done DAWN showing restraint and going for the mini brekky 💕
JENNIE are you completely over your bug now?x
Hello and festive hugs to DCT,LAURA,LINDA,MARIET,ANTIGONE,RUBY and everyone else on our fun bus! Keep on rockin!
Here’s a song for the bus..do you know it..my favourite Crimbo song..We Need A Little Christmas ⛄️🥳⛄️🥳⛄️
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6OJYTv4ipM

Yes VERANO,not long now til the shortest day then they’ll slowly get longer again! Yahooooo!
We love Mowgli,I’ll tell Beau about that book,he loves to cook.
SUNNY hope you’re home and happy to be. Home sweet home! 🏡
My positives…
*~ It was so mild and sunny today,it was an absolute pleasure to be out and about
*~ Got my tooth sorted this avvo,it was expensive having to go private as cdnt get an appt with NHS dentist,but it’s nice to have it fixed ..and able to eat normally again!
*~ Sent away for a book and it came today,looking forward to reading it ..V it’s about the history of Lark Lane. ( a quirky little place full of shops,eateries,coffee and wine bars and pubs. It leads to an absolutely lovely park. Today the guitarist was playing by the lake,which was a nice surprise,usually only see him in the summertime
‘“always try to have eyes that see the best,a heart that forgives the worst,a mind that forgets the bad,and a soul that never loses faith ‘“
Festive hugs to all xxxxx

Hi.
Sunny hope your journey home was good and OH managed well.
Well really difficult for me to find positives today ….. granddaughter has cough and cold, daughter was in meeting yesterday with somebody who has now tested positive, so my birthday lunch on Saturday is ‘on hold’, desperately hope she doesn’t end up ill.
I also have a cold so our plans are also now all on hold …. BUT …☀️🌈💡… looking on the bright side …. Scrabble delivered today, Trivial Pursuit due tomorrow, we already have Rummikub so we are all ready for a winter ‘lockdown’ full of games!
So sad we can’t deliver our presents to our grandsons in person but we have a Plan B ( not Boris’s !), so we have decided we are going to drive the 60 miles or so and leave them at the bottom of their drive! Strange times call for even stranger manoeuvres!
Hope everyone is coping.

SueBlue- excellent news about your blood results. I had a cholesterol scare earlier this year and it took me six months of low fat to get them back to normal. I have cut out cream but am back on cheese and occasional butter! I think I was definitely eating too much fat. Let’s hope you can reduce your statins.

I am trying my hardest not to worry about the impending doom of Covid and that Christmas is most likely going to be scuppered for a second year. I am still hoping to be able to see my son but am resigned to disappointment. So many people will be disappointed once again this Christmas. I can’t believe what a mess we are all still in!

I am weighing myself on Friday, I did have a pizza at the weekend at the family gathering and a take away curry so I’ve worked hard since Monday to eat less and hope not to have gained any weight. I would be fantastic if I could be in the 146’s on Friday.

Keep safe everyone! It’s been manic at the vaccination centre this week and we are now doing late nights and weekends to try and get as many people boosted as possible. I’ve met some lovely people doing this job and I just hope that I can stay safe until after Christmas.

Let’s get the Christmas bus rocking and rolling with lots of Christmas cheer as we head towards Christmas Eve.

Great news about the cholesterol results, I think we have been misled for far too long on the low-fat message.

Not hijacking at all, your insights have always been appreciated.
Unfortunately hubby’s discipline has waned a bit – still low carbing and only an occasional drink on a weekend, but the snacking has crept in again, and he feels cheated if he doesn’t have 3 meals a day, fasting is just not an option in his mind. He is very disciplined when out for a meal though, and will generally have a steak with a side salad, no chips at all, so that’s good.
I will try to do a few 16:8 days over the festive season, to keep the daily cals within some sort of control.
I felt good last night after a focused day, so weighed this morning – 11st 11.6lb so I am happy to be back in the 11s, and do need to make sure I stay there. Thinking about it, I could still get down to 11st 7lb before Christmas if I apply myself.
ODAAT!

Dawn the breakfast option sounds like it was a good choice – I’d pick this over a cake any day tbh, I definitely have more a savoury tooth than I do sweet.

I saw my doctor today to get blood test results and I was amazed when she said I had a “clean bill of health” – blood sugar was normal and most amazingly for me my cholesterol was normal! I say amazing because for at least the last 25 years doctors have been advising me to lower my cholesterol – even when I weighed much lower than I do now, I still had high cholesterol. My dad does too and his is not diet related so I honestly believed I had inherited it from him. I began taking statins about 9 years ago I think as I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic as I had raised blood sugar,
Raised triglycerides and blood pressure etc…. this was despite DECADES of eating low fat foods, I ALWAYS chose the low fat option, used diet margarine etc… anyway I can’t believe that after almost 5 years of eating full fat yoghurt, butter, olive oil, avocado, nuts,
Lots of cheese etc and avoiding the low fat products I now have normal cholesterol! My bad cholesterol was significantly lower and the good cholesterol higher. So now I’m going to trial a lower dose of statins and see if I can still maintain the good readings – I think additional weight loss will help here.
Hope everyone else has a good Wednesday 🙂

Evening all,hope everyone has had a good day.I ended up having a mini cooked breakfast at the garden centre this morning,could have been worse.The scones were much bigger than I thought so I avoided them!Feeling really tired today so heading up to bed soon.Will check in again tomorrow.Dawn X

let us know how it goes…..I love all of those ingredients!! x

The questions are fine Tulip 😁 I really am making this up as I go so not sure, but having just done some research it seems to suggest 4 hrs. I have also discovered they seem to suggest whipping the cream before starting. I guess my 2nd attempt may be better, I probably should have done more research before starting. I am also guessing the ice cream may end up quite hard, but heyho you live and learn

looks lush!! How long do you need to keep going with the half-hourly stirring? Sorry for all the questions!!! xxx

https://www.instagram.com/p/CXeNOt8MMpR/?utm_medium=copy_link
Link to picture, looks a bit like mince lol

Tulip. About 3/4 tub marscapone same for the double cream , the large pot (because I wanted to use the rest for something else, about 1/2 a packet of frozen raspberries. As you can see no measuring here 🤣. I mixed the cream and marscapone in the food processor. Add the raspberries, place in a container with a lid and place in the freezer then take out an mix every 30 mins to prevent ice crystals from forming.

Elle-Mae, that sounds delicious! Please can you share your recipe, and method without the machine? 🙏🙏

SG, crossing my fingers and toes for you!! You are an incredibly resilient and resourceful woman 😚😚😚

Wendy, I’m glad your friend with the son is a bit more settled and you have your own son to look forward to welcoming home too x

Love to all
Clare
xxx

S-G 🤞that it all works for you X.
I had the ‘bright’ idea I could make homemade raspberry cheesecake ice cream as I remembered that someone had given me an ice cream maker which came out of the loft alongside the Christmas decorations. The plan was marscapone, double cream and frozen raspberries. I mixed the marscapone and cream then had to pour it into the running machine, rather messy 😂. I made the mistake of then trying to add the raspberries the machine couldn’t churn them, so machine off ice cream then freezing to it. I removed as much as possible and put in a tub in the freezer and stirring every 30 mins. Shouldn’t have bothered with the machine lol. In retrospect I should have made vanilla and added raspberries separately. I had thought it would be a way of having some no sugar ice cream as an occasional treat.

S-g onwards and upwards …. where there’s a will there’s a way and I’m sure you will find a ‘way’ if at all possible. Good for you!

Hello.
Yowzer … great philosophy!
So my very first positive is ……
1.🍅🍞🐠 Kippers last night were ‘magnificent’ just as good as I remember them being.
2. 💉🩺💉Annual blood tests today and despite my really, really crappy veins they managed to get some blood the first time. Mind you I still have the usual terrible bruising. Just need to see if my HbA1c is as stable as my occasional finger pricks suggest …. fingers crossed!
3.🥘🌶🍅 Chicken curry tonight with cauliflower rice.
A few weeks ago I discovered a book, The Spice Tree, by the owner of Mowgli and although I’m not that fussed on the recipes it gives a wonderfully clear picture of how to build a ‘tree’ of spices for meats, vegetables, pulses etc. The book for me was like somebody switching on a light bulb …. gone are the 101 spices to be replaced by a ‘core’ depending on what you’re cooking. Great book if you like Indian food. Although somebody may tell me differently!
Sorry, my positives all seem to revolve around food again but over the last couple of years, with little else to do, my mind has focused on cooking!
Today was less ‘dark’ than recent days which makes me think ….. just one more week to the shortest day THEN … rundown to spring and clocks going forward!
Have a good evening.

Hi SG, hope the plans, albeit amended if required, still come to fruition and you have a lovely Christmas with your family.
We plan to travel on Mon 21st (within the UK) and will be seeing relatives for Christmas, with hubby’s best friend staying with us. Fortunately I managed to pick up a pack of lateral flow tests form the pharmacy yesterday when collecting prescriptions, so hopefully have avoided the stock-out and panic around the test availability, and if we are around people in the run-up to Christmas we will test before seeing relatives.
I have managed to have a decent no-snack and low carb/cal day today, although hubby is driving me nuts – his occasional teaspoon of peanut butter seems to have become a twice-daily routine now, and any suggestion that he cuts the snacking is currently met with resistance. Already the occasional square of 95% dark chocolate is a nightly occurrence, along with our single Brazil nut (each, not shared…….) and half a portion of milk kefir, so he’s probably halfway to getting 800cals before even starting on actual meals. Hey ho, I’ll just keep on keeping on and try to deal with my own demons 🙂

Hi all, just had bad news that my daughters fiances little girl has tested positive for covid. Not going to put us off. She is confined to her bedroom, the rest of the family are testing daily and even her father, who took her for the official test, had one done himself and is negative. Rather than looking for problems I found a solution. We can stay in the Crown Plaza for 3 nights, by which time she should be out of isolation. Or, if they all stay negative the new rules say we can be in the same house, no need for us to isolate and fingers crossed we dont catch it. Just worried that we wont be able to get back home and the cats will be alone. I have a contingency for that too – our estate agent has a key and loves the cats 🙂

Now just got to have our tests on Friday before we leave. Fingers crossed for that too.

Yes all good here I’ve been steady +/- 2 lbs for about a year now.

Without wanting to hijack your thread – I am quite disciplined. It’s my nature. If I get into something I go into it 108%.

Just got back from a weekend away. Eating out / a few beers. I stayed pretty much on plan. A slice of sour dough with breakfast and some fried halloumi in flour were my ‘off piste’ moments. I have completely cut out the snacking and when I’m away like this I usually go down to 2 meals – a brunch and evening meal.

As I said you are doing well and you know where where to find those marginal gains 😉 👍

Tank you for the support!
I take it you’re still maintaining well?

Hang on in there. You know what you’re doing right, and what you can do better. You’ve done really well. Both of you.

I have decided not to weigh today – despite plans to lose a few lb to give a buffer for Christmas, life has other plans and my head is not in the right place right now.
I will weigh on Friday morning, our last working day before a couple of weeks off, and then weigh again in the New Year and deal with whatever the scales say.
I am not eating carbage, just eating too much and too often.
Hubby is managing to maintain his weight, but I have noticed more frequent snacks for him too, so we both need to rein it in.
Let’s try for a better day today, and try again tomorrow – ODAAT!

Thanks Jennie and Sue,I may have a cheese scone as they’re not very large there and (may be) better than the sly cake(they call it a fruit slice) which I would normally have.Jennie good luck with the weigh in.I keep forgetting I have herbal tea in,must start using some of them.Dawn X