Hello everyone
Dawn- thank goodness you called the hospital and managed to secure a surgery slot! As a medical secretary of 40 years I am appalled at the level of poor administration within hospitals and healthcare these days. I used to love my job and I trained for two years for my role. Nowadays they employ anyone and you can tell when people pick up the phone that they don’t care. It’s shocking. I feel for the consultants who have inept secretaries.
I am not doing well at all. I went for my deep clean on Thursday and I requested my dentist give me a huge dose of anaesthetic. He did a deep clean and I have to say I didn’t feel a thing and was relieved but ever since I’ve been on two hourly painkillers alternating paracetamol and Ibuprofen as the pain is off the scale. I have earache too. I phoned today and was advised to keep doing salt water rinses and to call back on Thursday if things are no better. I feel absolutely shocking, I ache and feel fluey and my gums are swollen and hurting a lot. I had to resort to icing my face on Saturday which did help. The hospital said I would be seen In 4 weeks’ and today I got an appt for 6 weeks’. So I’m resting and taking painkillers. I keep hoping I’ll feel better but I don’t.
The year is passing by and I am as big as I was at the start of the year. I feel awful and exhausted. I’ve tried and tried and failed and failed.
I have been offered an exam invigilator job at a sixth form college and am looking forward to a fresh new role. A bit of money and feeling valuable. I enjoy retirement but feel I have potential that is not being used so something ad hoc like this sounds nice and I’ll be glad of the extra money!! I hope I can attend the training day in November when hopefully h to in ha will have settled down.
I’m sorry to be so miserable. I really was hoping for a great year this year. I felt so optimistic like many of us did at the beginning of the year.
I’ll catch up on the posts I’ve missed this last couple of weeks.
Lots of love to everyone. Well done to those who are achieving their goals, I’m very envious. Hugs to those who are struggling with health and life in general. It’s not always easy to navigate the choppy waters. We have been in the Bay of Biscay for quite a while now- let’s hope for calmer seas as we head towards port.

Thanks DCT, yes I’m hoping once the surgery is done I will be able to focus properly. I’m also hoping getting rid of the gallstones/gallbladder may reduce my bloating a bit🤞
Dawn X

Hi everyone and welcome to another week. Not weighed as I was up during the night again, BG was okay but I just couldnt sleep. Had a cup of hot chocolate (low calories Options). Everything running through my mind, I tried to have nice thoughts, beaches, music etc but nothing worked. Right now I have several things going on and I kept jumping from one to the other and back again. I finally fell asleep around 6am.

Congrats to your son Margaret. I too am watching Strictly but besides the obvious ones I dont really know who everyone is.

Hubby had his 3 monthly doctors check up and all is fine for his 80 years. Popping out now to buy some odds and ends but particularly a bed throw for viewings. We had a lovely mauve and white bedspread but gave it to charity because it was too big to wash and didnt think we needed it. Hey ho. Might look for a few flowers for the pots now the geraniums are dying off.

Have a great week.

HEIDI a big well done for your loss, despite all that’s been going on in your life. You have done so well. And as both you and Sue said, when you pick up an item equivalent to the weight you have lost it really brings it home!

DAWN lovely to hear from you and I’m glad you’ve got another surgery date. Though I agree it does sound as if you’d been forgotten – again! I’m not surprised you can’t focus on healthy eating for long, but just do your best for now and once your surgery is done you’ll have that headspace you crave.

SUEBLUE it sounds as if there is a lot happening for you at the moment and I hope you can weather the storm. Well done for getting your walking in as I’m sure that helps and will stand you in good stead for when you have a bit more time to focus on you again.

CATHY how was your appointment on Thursday? I hope that there is some positive move forward at last.

YOWZER how are you doing? I hope you are feeling a bit better now. You’ve had so much ill health recently and I hope it is now on its way out. Thinking of you x

ARCTICFOX are you ok? I’m really missing your posts and hope all is well. Please let us know how you are doing.

Hope that everyone has something good happen this week X

Hi everyone, sorry I haven’t posted in a while, I’m just catching up on posts today. Cathy I’m so pleased it appears to be an abscess you have after all and hope you can get it sorted soon. Yowzer I hope you are starting to feel a bit better.
Sue it must be a worrying time for you and you’ve done well to continue to incorporate walking regularly. Heidi well done on your total weight loss, it’s inspiring.
I’m afraid I really haven’t been in the right head space to stick to healthy eating for more than a few days at a time then I undo it all by eating stuff I shouldn’t. It’s now around 15 weeks since I was in hospital with acute pancreatitis and I still haven’t had gallbladder surgery though everything I read says it should be done within 2 to 4 weeks of the attack if it has been caused by gallstones. The appointment which was eventually planned for my surgery (which had to be cancelled because I had a high temperature) was 6 weeks ago now and I still hadn’t heard anything even though I was told they would get me back in within a ‘few weeks’ to have it done. I decided to ring the hospital this morning to chase it up. It took me an hour to get through to the person I needed to speak to and I think I had been forgotten about again as no date had been arranged for the surgery. It has now been arranged for 10th November (if I hadn’t chased it up I’m not sure I would have ever been contacted about it) so at least I have a date now and I will aim to eat healthily and not sabotage my efforts.
Dawn X

Heidi you are doing so well! Your progress this year is really inspiring 🙂
15kg is what I need to lose to get down to my target weight – it really does bring it home when you pick up something in an equivalent weight.
When I’m lifting the 24 pack of spring water bottles into my trolley (about 14/15kg I think) I always think about what an extra load this amount of weight is putting on my body and joints!

Hi Just making my weekly check-in. I hope the Thursday appointment was not too gruesome Cathy. Nice to see you posting SueBlue. There’s still time to make a real difference this year, so good luck with your reboot. ArcticFox where are you?

My week has been a challenge, and I’ve had a few wobbles. Now 20 weeks of healthy eating. Total loss 14.5 kilos. So bumping around the same weight for a few weeks now. I am just about to buy a big sack of dog food, weighing 15 kilos. Sobering and encouraging at the same time to realise that is almost the weight I have lost!

Very best wishes to all for a good week.

Firstly the good news my son got the contract & started work then came down to see us yesterday & stayed overnight 😀. I weighed yesterday & have put on a pound probably because of having to eat breakfast to take my meds adding extra calories to my day. I fortunately took the last tablet yesterday & don’t think they have really helped but I will give it a week to monitor my symptoms before getting back in touch with my GP.
Gosh S-G your property sounds reasonably priced but I suppose Brexit has made it more difficult for UK people who now want to live in France & the inheritance laws there are very different but fingers crossed for you 🤞🤞
Good luck everyone for next week🍀🍀. My husband & I are enjoying watching The Celebrity Traitors & Strictly Come Dancing on tv but I am already hating the dark evenings & walking through the village in the evening which has such poor “traditional “ street lighting & uneven pavements.
Margaret xx

Hi all, happy Sunday. Last night I took an imodium before bed and today my stomach is okay.

In France you can have more than one agent and they share the commission with your original agent. It is not a good idea to have too many but we have noticed we are on French Homes, Rightmove, Leggett and Hamptons. So we should be getting plenty of cover. We are putting the price down on Wednesday as there has been a slump in the market due to the political situation here. We never should have gone for over €300,000 as, daughter says we are missing those looking at under that 3 number, so it is going down to €299,990. We dont really need the money but we are not going to give it away for a stupid price. Reason, daughter is giving us a house in case you missed it but we will need the money for our retirement fund in case we need care etc.

Weight is slightly down but not declaring until Tuesday.

BTW it is back to Tshirt weather here at 26 degrees but it was 6 degrees this morning so the electric blanket is definitely on.

All good thx Verano. Don’t forget the water!

Ahh …. just flipped over onto a new page ….this must be a record?

Just wanting to bring this back above the reported posts. This ‘reporting’ is becoming a full time job!. I just wish these posters would stop pestering us!

I’m here so a positive… only managing one a day at the moment….

🧺🏖️🧳 All my washing is done so just waiting to be ironed for our next, and possibly last ‘hoorah’! As time marches on travelling is becoming more difficult and stressful so we are doing a long 5 week trip which could very well be our last cruise and stay holiday! Who knows only time will tell!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Margaret hope all worked out well with your son and, of course, your guts!

S-g fingers crossed for the new estate agent. The property next door to us is just about to be completed so we also have our fingers crossed but hoping that we aren’t going to have a ‘planning permission’ battle! We live in a small close of bungalows and one was sold 5, yes 5, years ago and the buyer wanted to turn a small two bedroom bungalow into a double fronted two storey house with extra bedrooms in the roof space. After many years of objections and new plan after plan in April this year it started being modernised/redeveloped as a two bedroom bungalow! I wonder why people buy a bungalow, when there are so few, only to want to turn it into a ‘house’. There are many, many houses out there …. go buy one!

Sorry, off my high horse now!

We have a wedding anniversary tomorrow so out for lunch which will be really nice. We’re going to an Italian restaurant we’ve not been to for ages. The good news is we are having late lunch so won’t need dinner!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Hope you’re fast went well Antigone.
No great movement here but the pan that’s the way it goes.
Have a good weekend!

Last post reported

Just popping in with one…

🥦🧅🌶️ Two huge pans of soup made today. Chicken and a new, to me, squash with ginger, garlic and lemon grass. It’s quite warm but very moorish!

Hope you’re having a positive day too.

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Fasting today. I find Traitors gives me the munchies lol!

Cathy thanks for the update – you’ve been in my thoughts constantly, I can only imagine how worried you’ve been, I hope your appointment at the dentist went well and you start to feel better soon.

Yowzer I hope you are feeling better too!

It really has been an awful year for so many of us in different ways. I had such high hopes for this year, I recently turned 60 and had wanted to lose weight before my birthday, but sadly that didn’t happen and the scales went the other way! I’ve got even more to lose now 🙁 I am hopeful I can at least make something of this year though (diet wise) and am going to knuckle down and try to get back into healthy eating, so I’ll end the year on a lighter note!

Like a lot of you on here, I have a lot on my plate at the moment. My elderly father is terminally ill, so dealing with all of the emotions around that, we are also planning on moving and getting our house ready for sale, I’m also planning on retiring early in the New Year and so work is busy, and to top it all off I’m also dealing with some family issues. At least (fingers crossed!) my health has been generally good, apart from flu during the winter here. The immunotherapy treatment I’m on for RA is really working well, and I’ve been able to cut down on medications. It’s well worth spending a day in hospital every 6 months! The only downside is having impaired immunity but so far that hasn’t caused any major problems.

The one positive thing I’ve done this year for my health is to walk regularly – I walk for 45mlns to an hour 4-5 times a week.

I really need to go back through this thread and catch up on everyone’s posts, but in the meantime take care all x

Sunny that’s what it’s all about …reboot …take charge again in a nutshell!

Has been a sunny day, so that’s a positive … think I can find more though.
🌿🌿 GS helped me with some of the bigger gardening jobs on my list, like removing some branches from the lilac and giving the bay a serious ‘hair cut’
☀️☀️ we’ve booked two weeks of winter sun for next month
🧺🧺 only one wash load away from having the laundry up to date!!

What about you … what have your positives been today?

Nothing to report scales wise, but am happy to be taking control again…. it feels good 🙂

Hi everyone, great you got your Ipad back V, you will have to give it a whole range of new passwords which can be a pain.

Good news about your son Margaret. We are always parents. Grandson is working away from home and rang mum this morning to say he was unwell, sickness, stomach pains etc, he suffers quite a lot but the point is, he rang his mum and he is 20. Bless.

The agent never did contact me and I have left another message so I will be looking. Speak of the devil, he has just rung me and coming round on Wednesday morning. Gives me time to get the house PERFECT.

Nearly the weekend so enjoy. I am cooking a meal from Jamie Olivers Eat Healthy TV programme, chicken balls in broth, sounds delicious.

Well done S-G staying the same weight & it’s good having a night out. I hope you can get your iPad back Verano but it’s always good changing passwords because unfortunately there are so many scammers out there 🙁
I am also plodding along & I have two more days of these new meds which seem to be slightly helping no doubt killing off every bacteria that I have in my gut. I’m taking Kefir & Optibac hoping to counteract this 🤔
I am hoping that I have lost some weight when I weigh on Saturday but my clothes don’t feel much looser. It’s lovely that the sun is shining today & my maple tree is already in autumn colours & we have loads of berries on our plants that the birds will be happy with. We have a wide shallow terracotta bowl in the back garden for wildlife to drink from but one pigeon uses it at his personal bath 😂
My good news is that fingers crossed my youngest son will be signing a new work contract today 🤞We have been very worried & I have already bailed him out with a loan until he starts work but unfortunately can’t afford any more. You never stop being a supportive parent no matter how old your children are.
I hope you soon have some positive news on your house sale S-G 🤞
Keep on going everyone 😀
Margaret xx

Well done staying the same s-g and hope you have some success with your estate agents. House sales are always a nasty business.
Just plodding along here and just about to check out all my passwords. I realise that I need some sort of backup after my recent escapade!
Hope everyone is well.

S-g that’s all we can do!

Hi all, well my night out hasnt really done any damage, went from 74.2 to 74.3. I’ll take that. And we won again, we are usually a team of 2 who come 2nd or 3rd and we have joined the team of 4 who usually come 1st or 2nd – so we help them keep the winning streak. Looking forward to next month.

No real news, we have contacted another estate agent and he was supposed to call me this morning and he hasnt so that doesn’t bode well with me. I dont like people who let me down. We will see.

Hi V, despite my night out I have stayed the same but that means another week with no loss. Keeping on…..

Just one positive for me today ….. my iPad came ! Whooppeeee!
Hope everyone is well and feeling positive.

Oh Antigone. Not the sort of surprise anyone wants. Just a ‘blip’ onwards……

Hi all

Good to see your BS is down s-g.

Well I’ve been home 6 days, but had a 2 night hotel stay and a wedding plus Sunday lunch out with family yet still managed to lose my 2.2lb holiday gain plus 0.4lbs! Can’t work out why or how but I’m just going to run with it! Can only guess that just dropping most of my carb overload has led to a water loss. But, you know, I’ll take it!

Hope this second week of October sees everyone progressing towards their goals

Cathy so good to hear from you, and I’m happy and relieved that it appears to be an abscess after all. Though I share your anger and frustration about the way this has been handled by your dentist. I’m tempted to ask whether it might be possible to change dentist altogether – a different practice perhaps?

Anyway, good luck for Thursday’s appointment and I hope they finally begin to get things sorted for you.

Once all this is behind you I’m sure, with your determination, you’ll be able to focus on weight loss again. Let’s hope we all see some success in that department over the final few weeks of this cruise 🤞

Thanks Verano,
I changed the batteries in my scales and suddenly I’m 3 k heavier 🤦‍♀️ I wasn’t expecting that. I just had chaffles for lunch and might fast for a day or two. Must remember to drink more water! This time next week ladies…we will be lighter!😇

Hello everyone and thank you for thinking of me.
The dentist who I saw this morning in the Max Fax clinic thinks I’ve got a periodontal abscess and has asked that I get my dentist to do a deep clean and she will see me in four weeks. She said if things are no better in four weeks she will take a biopsy. Ive see two dentists at my practice who both told me I didn’t have an abscess. Why was it beyond my dentist to diagnose this? Why did he tell me he thought it could be cancer? I am angry. I’ve felt unwell for weeks and I had the trauma of a cancer referral. I don’t feel confident about my appt on Thursday and I will have to have an anaesthetic before he goes anywhere near my gum. It’s incredibly painful. For the time being this is good news and hopefully it will heal very soon. This started in July before my cruise! I went telling in them I thought I had an abscess!
Anyway, I can’t go backwards only forwards. This has totally scuppered my weight loss journey but that doesn’t really matter.
Yowser, sending you lots of love as you convalesce in your cabin. You’ve had a stormy few weeks/months. I hope you’re soon feeling tip top.
Sending good wishes to everyone: it’s been a difficult few months for a great many of us.
I’m looking forward to feeling better and getting back to normal.
Went out on Saturday to a 40th and met another friend who has had a lot of success using Mounjaro! It seems to be the easiest way to lose weight these days! It’s making me think! Seems so much easier for them than me! I wish I had the courage and finances try it. I haven’t weight myself for about two months. I don’t want to face the truth! I can’t cope with the truth whilst not feeling well. When I feel better I’ll get myself back on track. For now my health is more important.
Thanks everyone for your kindness whilst I’ve been off the grid.

Hi Verano … I’m jumping in and as of this morning I’m still 12lb above target weight and where I want to be. I’m hoping to see at least a pound or two ditched this week.

In an effort to move things along, I shall be keeping an eagle eye on the carbs and cutting out any snacking …. no more sneaking a few roasted nuts when passing through the kitchen! As you say V, little incremental changes.

Hi Sunny great to see you.
Well week 1 was kind to me I lost my 2.2lb holiday gain plus 0.4lbs!
I’ve set up the Week 2 thread. So just one more week to work on our short term goals hoping that little by little we will build lasting habits again.

Welcome to week 2 of the “reboot”.
Whether you’re jumping in with all guns blazing or taking the gentle route this challenge is for just one week. Then we get the chance to start allover again!

My aim for this week is to continue being ‘mindful’ of carbs and to add drinking at least 1ltr of water each day.

Please come.along if you need support or want to offer support.

Hello SunnyB – let’s do this!

Cathy, just wanted to say that I hope your appointment went well today and the Head and Neck surgeon has been able to give you some clarity and support.

Thinking also of everyone else who is struggling with difficult times for themselves, their families and friends.

I’m in need of some accountability, so came seeking a thread to join and found this one … hope it’s okay to join you V, SG and Antigone. I need a reboot and think at this point, a weekly thread will suit me better than the monthly one.

My situation is I’ve been coasting most of this year, as life has rather got in the way of me sticking strictly to the BSD way of eating … and more than the odd glass or two of wine has been embibed!

In the interest of transparency, after ditching a pound or two, I have in the last couple of weeks been maintaining at 12lb above target weight. So I’ve decided now is the time get a grip and start to whittle away those additional pounds. We are likely to be going away for a couple of weeks next month, so really need to see some progress before then.

Tuesday is my usual weekly weigh in day, so I be able to give a better picture of my situation tomorrow.

Heidi, so pleased your parents are being discharged from hospital. Hope they will both make a speedy recovery.

One positive from me for today …. a mooch around a couple of antique/bric-a-brac stores and lunch with my GS.

Hello all

S-g 5lbs is great and as we know only too well weight loss is never a straight line on a graph!

Antigone hope you enjoyed your lunch.

Well week 1 has been a decent start for my reboot. Lots of stress because of iPad loss on Wednesday and Thursday, then long wet motorway journey on Friday. Saturday ‘Amy’ nearly blew us of our feet. Also Saturday sat nav had us driving through a town three times and still not finding the wedding venue! All in all not the best of starts for a reboot.

On the positive side I’ve lost 1.6lbs of my 2.2lb holiday gain so that’s pleasing. I think that’s because I have been very conscious of carbs over the last few days. I did have a slice of toast on the two days we were away and half a roast potato plus a little bit of bread with some pate. Otherwise I’ve been pretty csrb friendly.

I’m trying to add one new aspect of a low carb diet each week. This week I’ve tried to eat fewer carbs and I think next week I’ll add in drinking more water.
Week 1 is almost over. Week 2 of the reboot will be another new start.
Only looking forward to the future!

Not much of a reboot as I am still the same as last Monday but that is 5lbs lighter so not complaining. Going out tonight but the food is aways quite light and the French dont really do carbs, just the bread on the table and the wine. After that I have a full week for recovery and hopefully a loss next week.

Have a good one.

Hi all, well today is not my weigh date but I am going out tonight so it will have to be. Still a loss of 5lbs and really cant complain.

Lacy, I dont have a food routine on Saturday and it is something different each week. I also dont indulge so no crisps of booze or anything my body is not used to. No, it is just Sunday morning. I can suffer with a stress stomach so I think that might be it. Not that I am stressed but because I have had problems with, say, eggs before and my body is anticipating it.

Looking forward to our quiz night. Have a good week everyone.

Hello all,
Glad you managed to find your ipad, Verano – I know I’d be lost without mine!
Hope you get your stomach issues sorted out soon, Margaret – they can really wear you down.
A good stock of home-made soup in the freezer is a great help, Pootle, – it’s a quick, easy meal when you can’t be bothered cooking, and much better for us than takeaway! My kids laugh at me because I freeze the leftover chicken carcasses after roasts etc, but they can’t get enough of the soup I make using them!🤣
S-G – what are you eating on Saturdays? I find I can get the trots next day if I’ve eaten something that disagrees with me, or that I’m intolerant of. Just a thought… Glad your BG is down again, though not great if your pen was contaminated.
Haven’t been around much as a bit of family crap going on, and I just had some very bad news about an old friend. The weather here is slowly starting to come good. Allegedly spring, but still very cold, windy and rainy. Seems like a very long winter this year, and am hanging out for some sunshine! Working on maintenance – my weight swings between 58.5 and 60kg. This morning I weighed 800g less that yesterday, and I have absolutely no idea why. I’d had a couple of glasses of wine with lunch and had expected to put on half a kilo or so. Oh well…
Anyway, best wishes to everyone,
Lacy xx

Good luck with your appointment tomorrow Cathy, and best wishes to everyone who is struggling with personal or family ill health and the issues surrounding that.
Lacy xx

How’s it going Verano? Tomorrow I have a work lunch…once that is done I shall be back on track…is the plan lol!

Hi folks,just want to wish CCATHY all the very best for Tuesday 🙏
Im just staying quiet in my cabin,curled up in my bunk,til I start to feel a bit better.
Leaving love n hugs for everyone,specially those struggling with one thing and another these days.
What a year it has been so far,stormy waters for so many of us.
Hang on in there…things can only get better! XXX
🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿 🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿 🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷🌿🌷

Hi mrsmmf and welcome! I’ve just had a look through the recipes and can’t see a way to favourite them either 🤔. Does anyone else on here know? All I can suggest is either taking a screenshot or maybe adding the link to the favourites / bookmarks in your browser. Sorry, that’s probably not much help! But good luck with your journey and it would be great if you posted on here how you are getting on. Food planning definitely helps. I tend to use the recipes in the books which always seem to work well.

Heidi good to hear from you but I’m sorry to hear about your mum. You’ve got so much on your plate at the moment, and it must be even more difficult hard being in a different country from your parents. You are being very wise about prioritising your time as you obviously can’t be in two places at once but I know you must feel pulled in different directions. Well done for staying on track through all this, and I hope there is some improvement in the respective situations soon.

You are right in that it’s gone very quiet on here! How is everyone doing? I echo all Heidi’s good wishes to you all, and Cathy I’ll be thinking of you on Tuesday.

I’m going ok. Plodding on and gradually managing to get back into better eating and exercise habits. Hope that everyone has a positive week X

Hi everyone, weight back down but means that so far I havent lost anything this week and we are out tomorrow. Still had a 5lb loss so not complaining.

Cannot understand why I have the trots every Sunday morning. Thought it was maybe the runny fried egg or the mushrooms so been cutting them out to eliminate them. Now I get the trots even before I have started cooking. Maybe I have food related stomach before and my unconscious mind still associates it with that. I am going to take 2 Imodium every Sunday morning to stop this. Any ideas.