Patricia that is lovely thank you. You have done amazingly even with your bad ankle. Mmmmm toast! When my son has it it makes my mouth water. I love loads of butter on mine and a Marmite. But a second later that craving is gone and I drink water🤣🤣. Not quite the same 🤣

Allie I love love wine. When I was young I thought all red wine tasted like vinegar! My brother trained me how to appreciate it by getting different ones for me to try whenever I vivsted him. So for years I learnt how to love it and now I kinda gotta to hate it🤣🤣🤣. 💞🦜

Scottish girl I bash it with some feta, lime juice and chilli flakes and salt and pepper, then wrap it in little gem leaves and eat it. Yummy 😋. I also have it for breakfast with poached egg and bacon. I find it quite versatile💞🦜

I’ve been reading a lot of posts lately that advise eating avocado. I’ve never tried it before except the guacamole dip…..but obviously need Doritos for that lol.
I’m not into fancy recipes so was looking for simple ideas of how to include avocado in my meal plan……or do you just eat it on its own? Sorry for my ignorance here but any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks

And you know mine, too, Patricia! 🙂 🙂 🙂 The dastardly wine creep. Stay vigilant my girl, and I will too!

Onmyway- i used to go shopping just to buy my weigh day treats when i was at weight watchers!! And don’t get me started on those fake chocolate bars i used to buy as they were low points!!!!

Birdy – thank you for your encouragement. Brill news on the gillet. I think its a matter of when not if you beat diabetes !

Enesca- thank you! I’m happy with the lighter breakfast but i have yet to feel comfortable doing a big run after seeds and yoghurt. However i feel a million times better for giving up squash. And my skin is much softer.

Thanks for the reply. I have found some information on the search engine, but nothing really unexpected.
I’ve had one week of 5+2 diet , then I was four days away last week and now I am on 5+2 again this week.
I have also started exercise, at least 1 hour per week.

Learning by doing while traveling – During the conference, I ate less than usual on monday, but not really dieting, and this was offset by a drinks reception. Conferences are difficult for dieting. I then decided to try travel day (thursday) as a fast day. This more or less worked! For breakfast, I asked the B&B to have only an egg (and a slice of toast) for breakfast. She gave me two eggs!. Skipping lunch was okay. What I found out that also works: you can get a meal, e.g. salad with chicken or shrimps from places like M&S or Waitrose, with less 400 calories. This and a bottle of water for dinner worked well during a four hour train journey. And I got lots of work done.

As expected I was losing weight during fast week and I hope I will lose some more this week. I am also doing a fasting blood sugar test once a week in the morning (before fasting day), but with only two data points, it is too early to say anything, as the variation could just be a blib. I will be away for two-and-half weeks starting friday. Easter with family, then another conference followed by a week of holiday, so I am wondering how this will work. My plan is to continue 5+2 for three months then have another HbA1c test.

Birdy you are amazing! You are doing great on the WOE, looking well and kicking the drink habit.

Scottishgal, I really appreciate you thinking of me, this ankle is a drag in every sense; but luckily DH is on leave, and has kept me busy planning things we can do to the house.

My very lovely husband made me breakfast today, with a freshly buttered piece of toast, (I ate and enjoyed it!)

Allie knows my weaknesses! It’s bread, toast, ryvita. It’s out there as a problem for me when I start maintaining and don’t have to count the carbs for weight loss.

Wendy I am so determined that I will not go back to my binge drinking. I may have the odd one now and again and it will be counted😉. I am away in the south of France in August as I have already mentioned, I will drink then but I think by then I will only need one or two to feel a little tipsy🤣🤣. Cheep date this bird will be🤣🤣. I don’t know how I will resist french bread at the moment, but again I am sure I won’t be that bothered! It will be the ice creams on the beach🤣🤣. How comes you break up so late? Thank you for you faith in me Wendy 💞🦜

OMG Birdy, cheese Easter eggs. That is so wrong 😉 I have fond memories of chocolate eggs in my youf (!) but I think now I would find them a bit thin and disappointing.. I would much rather have a square of very satisfying dark choc.

I won’t be in the Uk until after Easter so I might miss out on the cheesy offerings ! Don’t beat yourself up about the booze. You seem to have things well under control and even if you go to the pub ( just down the road if I remember rightly ?) I am sure you will manage admirably as you did with quiz night.

Thanks for the info Sunshine. House sitting is something we have to investigate when I retire as we will then have the freedom to plan longer overseas trips without work constraints. Right now we only ever go away for a Week or so at a time and my neighbour checks on the house and our cats but for longer trips we need to make arrangements. So we would definitely be interested in your scheme when I finally retire ( one more school year to do)
Enjoy your celebratory anniversary evening.I feel a complete beginner. We are coming up to 10 years at the end of May 😉

Ok my lovely people I don’t know if you have done this before, but I was wondering if we could share recipes for leftovers in the fridge. I don’t know about you guys but I hate wasting food. So I hope you will all jump onboard and share what you like to do with what’s left in the fridge. Thank you 💞🦜

Thank you, I just felt a little bad. I was a big drinker but not anymore and that is what counts I suppose . I must admit I do like a bit of cheddar. They are also bringing out cheese Easter eggs this year, so my other half can be me one and I can have a little treat munch on it every now and then as cheese lasts a while in the fridge as we know🤣 💞🦜

Oh Birdy, Birdy, Birdy! I don’t think you could be dishonest if you tried! A post as honest as yours gives license to
others to do the same. In that way, you help people that may not even have joined the community yet, and are
silently lurking. No one is disappointed in you, Cutie! What we are after is progress, not perfection. 🙂 I left a post
earlier today for Avisa on this thread. Californiagirl has an excellent post on how detrimental alcohol is to all of
our endeavors. If you haven’t seen it, take a look! What concerns me though is that your husband was your
drinking buddy…Is he supporting you in making these healthy changes in your life, or will he eventually try to pull
you back in the direction of the pub, and all the liquid bread and liquid sugar that lurks there? Alcohol dependency
is a big problem in the UK, and I’ve read that it affects @30% of the population. The fact that pubs there are so
deeply linked to socializing probably compounds it. We’re here to help in any way we can, Birdy. You may need to
develop strategies for avoiding those places for awhile, though. Men don’t like change, so let us know if that’s
going to be a problem for you, and we will work on a solution. xx

Birdy, nobody’s disappointed in you. We’re looking forward here, not dissecting every injurious habit we ever indulged in in the past. You’re doing great and that’s that.

Regarding being under 800 cals and 20 grams carbs, that happened to me plenty as I got more comfortable with the cooking. I usually stay below 10 grams even today, just because of the types of foods I eat. Calorie restriction should be a largely fixed point, at least in the weekly average. If you have a lot of calorie leeway at the end of your eating window, use it for a slice of cheese or a square of 100% salted chocolate.

Ah I see🤣🤣🤣. Thnak you though 💞🦜

I should have told you that’s what I was using when you made the spinach feta frittatas, but I didn’t realize you didn’t know. I have like 10 pages of recipes on MFP, no joke. Invaluable tool.

Allie, you can tell Wendy that I use http://www.trustedhousesitters.com. I could get her 20% discount but we would have to exchange private email addresses so I could link her to the site (I would get 2 months free). Normally it is an annual charge of £100 or euro equivalent so she can go on and set it up herself. Wendleg, let me know if you want a private chat, I can highly recommend them. We have had sitters from Oz, NZ, Texas, Amsterdam, Germany, England and now Argentina – makes life interesting.

Birdie, what you are saying is that you are normal. I like a drink and sometimes much more than is good for me, but now it is every 3rd or 4th weekend when I am being strict. On that note, I forgot to mention it is our 26th wedding anniversary today so, sorry guys, hubby is popping the champagne right now. Guess the holiday has started. Luv ya all

Oh avisamuelgrey, I was so glad to read your post and realise I’m not the only one affected by work. You’re totally right, afternoons are the worst. I swear if I didn’t have to work I’d be skinny lol.
So many posts to catch up on when I got home tonight. Well done to you all on your each and individual achievements, especially Patricia for managing to hobble onto the scales and still have a loss despite your injury. I would have felt sorry for myself and comfort ate, so well done to you!
I had a Snickers bar(not as bad as a galaxy as it has nuts in it 😉) this afternoon…….my first proper bar of chocolate since starting BSD………and I can honestly say I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected to! So, I’ll be sticking with the dark chocolate from now on.
I finished up work tonight for Easter and I always associate chocolate and food with happiness and celebrating and so I thought what the hell I’m going to have the chocolate. At least it made me realise that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and I can do without it after all. So all is not lost and I’m taking the positive from it 😀

Hi ladies I have a little confession 😔. Now before I tell you I have to make it clear that before I started this WOE I was a big binge drinker! I would drink during the week too! So a Friday night would consist of 4-6 pints of larger with a lemonade top at the pub, then when I got home I would have a G&slTonic and then my O/H and I would polish off a bottle of wine too! During the week when I was working days I would have Mondays, wednesdays and Saturdays off, so I would go to the pub for a few pints or I would have 3-4 gins or vodkas(sometimes I would do both) and Sunday’s we would call fundays in the summers and I can’t actually remember how much I would drink😢. Every diet I have ever been on I never cut down my drinking down, well a little but not a lot! But since doing this and being on here I have had 1 G&T and I hated the slimline tonic it tasted awful, I believe I could taste tha saccharine/sweetener they substituted the sugar for! I also got a headache just after one! Then on Sunday I had roast at my mum and dads ate really well but I did have 100mls of red wine! Sorry 😐. I measured it and I counted it in MFP. It didn’t send me over any macros as I had allowed for it.

Please please please don’t be too disappointed in me😢. I will go and put myself on the naughty step now. 💞🦜

I like the idea of my own secret national Shellbob day 🤩🤩🤩 the start of the new me was definitely Feb 1st 2019.

Thanks for all your lovely huggy words, but stop now or I might cry or blush or both!!

Now I’ve started shopping Essie/Allie I can’t stop, and now I’m actually wearing clothes that fit lots of people are commenting….its grin inducing……I don’t ever want to go back 😁😁😁😁😁

I have just done it for the mini frittatas that Allie suggested to me earlier. Love it Essie as this will make my life a lot easier. 😄😄😄😄🎉💞🦜

Oh wow thank you Essie💞🦜

Birdy76, go have a look – it will make you feel mega-smug! So far, I’ve seen some drinking a Diet Coke every day, potatoes in meal pictures and a few saying they are drinking tins of coconut milk.

Yes, Birdy! We know our way around crazy town! And we aren’t even up to speed, yet 🙂 🙂 🙂

MFP does do a serving breakdown if you use their recipe function. Import ingredient lists from online recipes or manually enter your own, enter the serving number and save. When you click on the name of the recipe, it will show you a per-serving nutritional panel. It’s a bit of a pain to search for all the ingredients at first (even the automatic import feature gets things wrong a lot so you have to edit the entries to replace them with accurate ingredients), but it’s not difficult and it won’t be long before you have a rather nice collection of options that you can add to your daily log with a single click.

I hated shopping for clothes when I was young and slim, Birdy, and of course I extra-double-extremely hated shopping for clothes when I weighed more than 300 lbs. It took recovering from a couple of decades of obesity to discover the sheer joy of being able to buy regular clothes in a regular store in a regular size and have them look nice.

Ooh MerryMelba I wish MFP would do the break down per serving, would make a lot easier as the book is not correct in its breakdown😢. Hope you are well hun💞🦜

On Another note does it effect our diet if we don’t reach 800 calories in a day? Also my carb intake for 6 days out of nearly three weeks has been lower than 20grams🤣. I have resisted the dreaded scales for three days now, but I am itching to know🤣🤣. I will wait though and weigh and measure myself on Sunday, promise!🤣🤣. It really has been a lovely positive day on here today😄.

I really want to go on Facebook though and see just how crap the page is on there about BSD🤣🤣, but I came off of Facebook back in January as I hate it.💞🦜

I really do love how crazy you and Essie are at times Allie, not only are your spirits and positive outlooks fab, your commitment is second to none and your help, guidance and support is invaluable. Love you both❤️ . (Sorry maybe a little corny but I speak the truth)😉

But I hate shopping for clothes, love food shopping though🤣🤣💞🦜

Hello All,
Can I (re) join you? I recognise some names from when I was here back in Jan 2018, and maybe from 5:2 days years earlier?

So last Jan I did BSd and lost about 16 pounds of my 28 pounds target, I have regained 8 pounds after falling off the wagon, but am determined this time to get back on it, I have recruited some friends with the new Fast 800 book, which I have been buying and distributing to friends in order to get as many people as possible on board with me!

My 2 kids age 13 and 10 really need this too, so they are doing a slightly looser version of things, but they are keen to tackle our overeating and carb preferences.

I started on Monday, aiming for 11 days of strict 800, then I have a dinner and drinks with new Beau’s canoe club, so will have an evening off, but then back on it for as long as I can bear!

anyway good to be back, have one full day and a 2 pound loss under my belt already and raring to meet my target!

Mocnk

Labor Day it is, E.! The Spring of 2017 is when I first purchased a modest collection of 6/8’s. Inspired by your
shopping trips in Nov. of 2018, I was all set to pull the trigger and go hog wild, but you reminded me at that time
that black friday sales were just around the corner…I hadn’t shopped in so many years that I had forgotten that
they existed! It was a blowout, and I saved 30-40%. Instead of pocketing the savings though, I just used it to
justify more purchases. Everything in excess, I always say!

Shellbob I would just like to mirror Allie’s and Essie’s posts, you are extraordinary and what you have achieved is in incredible. My hat is well and truly off to you😉. We all struggle but what you have achieved and what you have to struggle with day and day out I could not get my head around. I would have to let something go and unfortunately that would be me and probably my diet, but you no way! I am truly inspired by you lovely lady. Essie is right put a big ring around your achievement and celebrate it every year like your own little Sellbob national holiday.🎉🎊🌈. 💞🦜. Oops I got confused a little, so many posts so sorry Allie yes Essie is right you should have Allie day every year without fail! You are incredible. Love ya Birdy💞💞😉🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾

I’m a sucker for a theme, so I go with Labor Day. It’s when I achieved my initial goal (130lb) and when I went clothes shopping for the first time in decades. I had a wonderful day with my girliest shopping-loving friend who had never known me before I was overweight and had seen me go from fat to obese over the years with increasing worry. We went crazy at the sales, had a delicious lunch and I came home with bags full of size 6-8 clothes. It was a perfect day that truly ushered in my renaissance.

Thank you Allie it sounds awesome and will be made today in preparation for my nighshits😛😉. No need to worry what I will be eating. Your a star 🌟💞🦜

Wow sunshine girl I hope you have an amazing holiday hun!🍾☀️🌈

Your post is very meaningful to me, Essie. Thank you for your well considered words 🙂 We are both warriors though,
and what’s a little loose skin, if that is our only battle scar? Only a select few have the priveledge of seeing THAT,
anyway! Which day on the calendar do you circle in red?

Great job, Happyhel! I know what a big deal it was for you to shift from your breakfast toast to the yogurt and seeds, and wow, no squash! Give yourself a huge pat on the back for taking on this WOE in such a committed fashion despite years of messaging and habits pushing you in the opposite direction. The results speak for themselves and will drive more of the same.

Shellbob, I’m an abstainer. I was never much of a drinker to begin with (it upset my stomach very quickly) so even though I very much enjoyed a good glass of wine with dinner and indeed made something of a study of wine pairings, it was an easy discard when I decided to go low carb. Once the BSD came into play and I went below 20 grams of carbs a day, 125 calories and 4 grams a sugar in a 5 oz glass of wine put it firmly off the table. My OH doesn’t drink either and we navigate social events with sparkling water and (in his case) fruit juices. We keep a couple of bottles of wine and some beer in the house for guests and we have a fully stocked wet bar. Everyone gets what they want and it’s all entirely painless.

I think that you are a magnificently strong lady, Shellbob. I say that with the deepest respect! I only hope that having
a community here, ready to listen with compassion and kindness, is a safety valve for you. I understand the conflict
that might occur between Katy’s team and the rest of the family. Their sole responsibility is to care for Katy’s needs,
but you have the needs of the rest of the family to balance, as well. Additionally, you and your husband are ultimately
the ones who have to make the decisions. Caregivers come and go, but you must be there day in and day out, year in
and year out. Hang on to your positive spirit, know that you are important as the glue that holds the family together,
and carve some time out for yourself each day. Sending a family size hug across the Atlantic xxx

Have a fabulous holiday, sunshine! Wendy was just asking me about international housesitters on Sunday, and I
was reasonably certain that you were the one that had information on them. I’ll pass it along!

Allie

Allie, your goal anniversary is so momentous that I feel like you should put it on the calendar for a full celebration every year, like your birthday or the 4th of July. Insulin Independence Day! 😀 Congratulations, my friend. You are living a dream that you built with your own research, understanding and persistence. It has all the impact of winning the lottery, only you earned every last dime of it yourself.

Hi Allie, yes I’m trying to be much more positive as that is my natural state, that had become very hard when surrounded by such total negativity, not just from Ben but we have almost ongoing issues with Katy’s staff passing judgement on our family….there is no escape from this…however I’ve decided to change things I can and make the best of the things I can’t. My hubby and I always quote Dory from Finding Nemo
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming”
🐠🐡🐟

Have a fabulous trip Sunshine, bon voyage xxx

Hi all, just popped in to say congrats to Allie. I am coming up to 3 years but my maintenance is my BG as I have never managed to lose much more than a couple of stone but have had a low BG for 3 years. Every time I tackle the weight something crops up but I never go back on carbs – totally forbidden – but not just that, I dont even want them.

I wont be around for a few weeks as ‘something has cropped up’. We are welcoming our Argentinian house-sitters on Thursday and I will be cooking a vegi meal for them – butternut squash curry followed by fresh fruit and yoghurt. Then on Friday we head off to the UK to spend a week with family. Daughter is going to be away on business for most of it so we will have the grandsons, taking them to Harry Potters world. Then we head off on our Baltic cruise for 2 weeks. Looking forward to luxury and being waited on hand and food with everything done and prepared for us. See you all when I get back. In the meantime, keep on keeping on…

Great to see so many positives being posted. I have been frustrated by a broadband issue, which thankfully is now fixed, so I’m once again able to see what’s happening on the forum.
Positives from me right now are ….
1) Sitting in sunshine on our balcony typing this.
2) Visited my hairdresser today for much needed cut and more importantly, intensive conditioning treatment. Hair looks and feels great!
3) Looking forward to cooking some lovely fresh aubergine for dinner tonight.
More in a day or two … Keep those positives coming!

I came across this article yesterday which covers a range of suggestions on what to do if you encounter a stall, and mentions advice on having an occasional glass of wine. https://www.dietdoctor.com/top-tips-lose-weight-low-carb-women-40?fbclid=IwAR2lBZNPoFa7uz5rKHtaqh0O8mxOoE5cFZymie7Li1HnN_iHMcmYaD80pWY

My personal situation is that to get to any social event I usually have to drive, and I have a strong commitment to not having any alcohol when driving. – I know that in the UK its legal to drive after having a single drink, but a close friend put himself in a wheel chair when he was 17 by putting his vehicle on its roof on top off a hedge when driving back from the pub so before I was old enough to formally start driving I said I would never drink any alcohol when driving and have always stuck to that.

I usually buy a bottle of port or liqueur as part of my Christmas shopping. I love curling up by the fire with a glass of port and getting out writing paper and pen to write personal letters to put in cards.

Most groups staying in the holiday let divide up all the unused food and drink between them before they leave but sometimes there are cans of beer or cider and half drunk bottles of wine or bottles of spirit with a single shot left behind. – I now find that most of the cider tastes too sweet, so I probably only have one can of cider or maybe a can of beer or glass of wine a month when I am really in the mood. My total alcohol since Christmas has been 2 shots of whiskey added to coffee with double cream, one can of cider, and half a bottle of wine.

Yes, I know Shellbob. You never have the luxury of ever being off duty! May I say that you’ve been sounding so positive
and energetic lately, and I sincerely hope that that is the case 🙂 I abstained for the 10 months of weight loss, and
now only pop a cork on the weekends. If I get careless and allow wine creep M-F, I see the results on the scales at
once! At 3.8-4g of carbs per glass, this shouldn’t come as any surprise……

Birdy, I found this mini frittata recipe with red pepper, spinach and cheddar. Maybe you can access it:
https://www.rachelcooks.com/2013/09/25/mini-frittatas-spinach-red-pepper/

Very glad to see you back with us, Mariet!

Bless you lovely lady💕. I am at work that is why I am so silent for a change🤣🤣. I finish in a couple of hours so will be able to write some replies properly. I am reading all the lovely posts as they come in on my emails! I have itchy fingers but not the time 🤣🤣. Hope you are well 🦜

No reason , Birdy.Just like to know you are ok xx

Morning yes I am back on nights tomorrow 😢. I am working in the cafe today too, why Hun? 💞🦜

Hi fellow travelers
I have been completely lost this trip!! I have found my way back via the ring road!! Long way round!! Anyway back on it now with 3 stone to loose and my micro health to find! On the surface all is good but I haven’t checked my bg level for months which isn’t good!!
3 years ago I lost 3 stone which didn’t reverse my type 2 and now I need to do the same again no excuses 6 months! By Friday I want to be back into the 12’s or by Monday if not possible. I have got to do this. I am happy to continue the journey with you lovely people. I would love to step up and would usually make the joke about want something doing give it to a busy person but on this occasion I have decided to put myself first and not strap on anymore to my already heavy load as I need to focus on me. Writing this feels weird but if I am going to be successful I know I have to be more selfish & a little more inwardly focused. Roll on tomorrow, next week, next month 100% no excuses for me this is the only way. I need to hold myself to account & waste no more time!!

Just want to add to my wine comment, I’ve just read a bit of the WINO thread Allie recommended. I wasn’t meaning to be flippant in my ‘an occasional glass hasn’t done me any harm’ comment. I realise wine is a total trigger substance for some, however it isn’t for me as I’ve only ever been able to drink sparingly for the last 18 yrs due to being on constant call for my daughters complex care.
When I say occasional I mean occasional, what do most of you long time maintainers do? Abstain or occasional?

Well done Patricia, you must be healing well if you could risk stepping on the scales with an ankle injury . Great result.

Getting into the next stone bracket is a massive boost. Well done Shellbob ! I am looking forward to being 11 stone something.Can’t remember the last time I was that weight ! Don’t be apprehensive about your blood results.You are doing everything right ! Your positive outlook is a continuing inspiration on the thread !

My hubby is pretty good limiting carbs MOST OF THE TIME but he still thinks in terms of treats like fish and chips, wine, risotto , apple croustade etc as being OK ..eeek !!

Birdy , are you back at work tomorrow ?
Hi Allie ! Big hug xx