Thinking of the upcoming weekend jollities , I thought I would post this on the thread ………

My visual carb and calorie counter ( I’m a simple soul and I like pictures 😉 gives these readings

Easter Egg : 80g small , 415 cals, 45g carbs
Easter Egg :100g medium , 519 cals, 56g carbs
Easter Egg :200g large, 1038 cals ,112g carbs

One small chocolate bunny : 50g , 275 cals, 28g carbs

50g mini eggs, 248 cals, 35g carbs
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CARB ALERT !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sugar bombs folks xxx

1. Fat fast: eat before work, then you are occupied for at least 8 hours which makes it easier. How long do you want to fast for?

2. The stock pots are the gel ones. I like dissolving it in a cup of boiling water and sipping it.

3. The breathalyser – it’s easier to understand once you get it I’ll tell you the settings to use.

Hi Patricia and thank you, so have my steak before I go to work and then start my fast? Sorry my brain never works well when I am on nights. Do you use a whole stock pot with just hot water, making up the amount it says on the packet then warming it up as when needed? I take it that is the little pots of gooey stock? Also with the breatherliser how does it show? Does it say Keto on it? Thanks again hun 💞🦜

Hi everyone, my positives are:
1. The fracture clinic saw me today and said that I don’t need to return. My recovery will be complete in 3 months, but all is going as it should.
2. I’m walking around without the boot! With the consultant’s permission.
3. We are going to Wales in 2 weeks time to see our family, it’ll be great.

I can’t swim or run for at least 6 weeks from injury 😫, but at least I’m not ignorant of the risk.
I was looking forward to swimming in Sardinia, but it’s easy to see why it’s a bad idea. The undertow when getting out is hard work on the joints and ankles.

Birdy76, can you avoid nights altogether in future?

Oh birdy76, I forgot about the keto stix. I use the same breathalyser as JGwen recommended. It’s £6 from eBay and seems to work ok. You only need fresh batteries, and look at JGwen thread giving advice on using it.
LCD Police Digital Breath Alcohol Analyzer Tester Breathalyzer Audiable UK
Put this in the eBay search engine and you will get a choice of sellers.

Birdy76, a small fatty steak sounds good, have it with fried mushrooms and spinach if you fancy them. If you don’t want to finish it, that is where the fast begins. Having a high fat sendoff seems to propel you into a fast.

I started at 6pm and following morning had beef broth, and a few seeds for protein.
I had 2 Knorr Beef stockpots over the day, so I wasn’t hungry and knew I would soon have a nice cup of broth.

It’s the first fast is the hardest for your family to observe. Now DH has seen I didn’t have a problem, he won’t be getting stressed about the next one.

Actually I might have steak as not processed and I can have it rare🤣

Oops forgot one more question, I have read the fat fasting still not sure of it though! So the way see it is tonight I eat good fat foods before going into my fast? I am thinking bacon, egg, sausage and avocado before work then more avocado and my my mini frittatas on my breaks at work. Is this right.??💞🦜

Welcome GIGI and well done on your start even with being ill on your first week. We are here for anything you may need and we are very friendly non judgemental group. We all have wobbles but we all here to help one another to navigate this WOE. I have been on this BSD for nearly 3 weeks now and I have lost a stone and a half and quite few inches off of different parts of my body. I personally love the control I finally have with my eating on here and I love love this group. No question is a stupid question as I am sure that one of of us at some point have asked it, thought it so please be assured you are not alone and you now have a community you can realy on. birdy💞🦜

Thank you Scottishgal I did love alcohol and I loved my drinking at the weekends, but I am now ok with it and I am not worried about going out with my O/H and drinking too much. My skin and swollen feeling has gone from the not drinking and I don’t want hangovers anymore. I have had some horrible ones! The worst being a pain in the top of my head so severe that it woke me and I was in tears as I didn’t know where to put myself or how to get rid of it. It caused a bit of a panic in my O/H as I woke him up from downstairs with my wailing🤣. I had a panic attack with it i think as I couldn’t control my breathing! Anyway that is the past.😄. I know if I want a drink I can have one, but I also know it will effect my flab burning so I will ask myself if it is really worth the trouble!?!? Me thinks not🤣. We go to the Army Navy rugby match at twickenham every year and it is a liquid bread fest! We drink from around 10.30 am until 4pm non stop! It is a big celebration for my other half as he gets to reunite with his army buddies. This year I said I may have a couple as being around a load of drunks is going to get pretty boring fast!🤣🤣. I don’t need to have a drink to silly and make people laugh so I don’t even think I will have a couple🤣🤣 it won’t be larger even if I do have one or two. Larger is never passing my lips again I hope.🤣 oh look I am waffling again🤣. You are doing an amazing job Scottishgal and I think you will be fine this weekend! Just think if you go without chocolate on your trip you could have some real foodie treats instead.(obv’s not carbs though🤣). Have a fantastic time hun.💞🦜

Guys I have a question I don’t suffer with cold sores but I have a little blister that has come up on my lip!😢. When speaking to MIL yesterday she asked if I have been eating nuts and of course I have had small amounts since starting this WOE, she said it is something in the nuts that causes them. Have any of you had this at all?

I am also bloated today but I now know it is the upside down hours of the nights, so I am not bothered. Still no GERD pain in my left side so I know I am doing ok. I also ordered some Keto stix, I know a lot of you don’t like them but I can’t afford £175 for the Breathilizer. I am sure I am in Ketosis as I have a dry mouth and metallic taste but I want to see it. I am going to go for a 48hr fast starting when I come off of nights tomorrow until Sunday. I am cooking the roast chicken out of the book for Easter Sunday, with lovely roast potatoes for my O/H and leafy greens for me😋. Can’t wait. Hope all of you are enjoying the sun today. Love and hugs 💞🦜

Hi Kazzee thank you for finding that and posting! It is great. I know you guys talk about the whoosh effect but seeing that way I can take it in better. That lady is really sweet too. I think Allie should make videos like this! No nonsense but funny. You are awesome Allie😉💞🦜

Morning everyone and I hope the sun is shinning on you all! I am just awake from my nightshift and I am loving it that it is actually a little too warm to walk my fur babies at the moment😄. This is to do with the weather finally being how it should be, not the fact that I don’t want to walk my dogs because I do and will but around 5pm so they don’t get overheated 🥵.

Essie I made the dogs join me upstairs on their own beds as I was determined to get some sleep without my blonde himbo barking and waking me up🤣🤣.

So my three today are

1. I have finished 50% of my nights🤣😋😝

2. The sun is shining and my garden is back to being a blooming sun trap!

3. My O/H is buying me a piece of really strong cheddar for Easter and not an egg. This will be for little treats over the next month, rather than gobbling a chocolate egg in a matter of minutes🤣🤣.

Hope you are all well! For those of you going on holiday have an amazing time. 💞🦜

Morning/afternoon guys can I just ask what this thread is all about please? Maybe I am being thick sorry. Birdy💞🦜

Thank you so much all for your replies. Really really appreciated! I don’t know why I’m so worried about the weekend really, I am a coeliac and I’m really used to planning ahead and asking restaurants / pubs to accommodate my dietary needs. Really this shouldn’t feel any different as I often can’t have the chips etc. I guess maybe the issue is that I do not have a choice to be gluten free and yet somehow I feel that this woe is a choice even though I intend it to be my forever. I guess my concern about the Tapas and the barbecue is that it’s very much an all-you-can-eat scenario… And I can eat! The Tapas place is also my favourite place to eat and resisting will be tough. The too many calls rather than too many carbs does make sense though, if I can get through the weekend maintaining my weight I’ll be so thrilled.

I think the other thing that is weighing on my mind is that my husband is not that supportive of me following this w o e. I really don’t know why, he is usually my biggest cheerleader in anything I take on whether that is work, health or anything else. I don’t know whether it’s related to the fact that he has put weight on this year and is struggling with the motivation / willpower to do anything about it but I’m finding it very difficult without his support.

Well, blow me, so it does! Good plan – I’ll keep my eye on the numbers now I know where to look!

The boxes arrived today and I began folding. And folding. Hours later, I have 3 boxes with t-shirts, jersey shirts; belts and luggage straps.

The woolie jumpers are folded on the shelf, with nothing stored behind. Same with jeans and track suits.

Shoes are in the bottom of the wardrobe.

Scarves, underwear and gloves are in a chest of drawers.

The wardrobe now looks neat, though this depends on me keeping up with the folding. I’m very happy with the look of the boxes, they are a very reasonable price and hold a lot. It fits my shelf space.

Skipping, this started when you said you have an empty wardrobe. Mine started as overflowing, with most of DH shirts and jumpers on chairs. Now it’s easy to find our stuff and the wardrobe is merely full and the chairs are visible again! 😁

You are in Spain, aren’t you? Have a great time.

Hi Jennie10, Yes I will do the 100,000 celebrations thread (but equally happy if someone leaps in first!). If you log in to the Latest Forum Threads, it says by the title x of 99, 366 posts. I thought I would wait until 99,500 before starting a thread! That might bring us nicely to the significant number!

Hi all, Wendleg, I could have done with quizlet a few weeks ago. Our house sitters are due to arrive any minute and they are from Argentina and dont seem to speak much English. Been doing Duolingo but can only manage – yo come manzana – I eat apples. Have a great holiday Verano, see you when you get back.
Positives:
Will be seeing my family in 2 days
Meeting new people later today
and
going on our annual cruise in one week
Yeah

caronl and Dreamscometrue – thanks, that’s lovely of you both. Yes, I’m pleased as I feel like I’m pretty much back where I was.

caronl – as I posted the other day, I really like your idea on the Positives thread of the time-limited celebration thread for reaching 100,000 posts. As well, as everyone on the BSD, I think it would be a lovely thing for the admin team to read, too. Are you going to do it? Hope so. One thing I’m curious about, where do you see how many posts there’s been?

Denise susan – welcome back. I’ve also been lost on that ring road – spaghetti junction, in fact – but it’s a great time to get back on board – fresh starts are always good. xx

Kazzee – it’s so nice to see you back – I think you’ve done really well to maintain over the last couple of months.

I’d definitely like to join the next road trip and am happy with going up to the summer holidays – so 13th July sounds good to me. I’ll post more consistently this time, promise!

My only other thought is about a host. If Kazzee wants to do it, or anyone else is really keen, then that’s great. But, if not, what about trying without a host – we can all take responsibility. What do you think? It just seems a long time for 1 or 2 people to take on that responsibility. But, just to emphasise, I’m only suggesting it to help, not to take anything away from anyone. The Road trips have been Kazzee’s (and Verano’s) and if you Kazzee, or anyone else wants to host, then that’ll be great by me.

Jennie xx

Hi Jennie Margaret hadenough and everyone😀

Eventhough I needed to step away for a while I am still enjoying reading your posts. I am at the moment in a kind of maintenance mode. So far so good.
I’ve been really busy lately and very stressed and was finding it difficult to commit to BSD fully. To cut a long story short we have a property that we rent and basically the tennant trashed the property leaving owing us rent and a huge bill for re decoration. Their deposit barely covers the damage done.
Anyways we now have new tenants and I feel much more focused. A whole month was spent on the house making It habitable. With myself and my husband doing most of the work to save money. Anyways ……I am back and feeling much more positive.
Guess what ….I actually now like cauliflower rice😱😱😱😱😱😱😐. Once I learned to put as much flavour into as possible I now enjoy it!
I have been buying it already *riced* from Aldi then I had a lightbulb moment!! ( I know I can be slow at times)
£0.70 for a small container of made cauliflower rice. One cauliflower for £0.25 and 4times the amount of rice made in my food processor 😀……duh!!!!!. I have frozen it too so it’s ready to go. I am actually loving Aldi for my BSD shopping and they have the best frozen tuna steaks which can be cooked from frozen for quick meals etc.
I hope you are all doing well and look forward continuing on this journey with all of you!!
MIss ZIggy

Hi everyone
I would be happy to join you on the next road trip .I don’t post quite so often as I frequently host the weekly thread but I always read your posts !
I break up early July and have a week in Sardinia but I will be travelling with you util then and throughout the summer !

Hi Kazzee
Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed it too. It goes along with JGwen’s – and others – posts about the ‘woosh’ effect.
My favourite moment was the first time she threw balloons against the tree – it was so delightful I played it again.
Jennie xx

Hi Katniss
When I go out for a meal, like Allie, I check to see if there is an on-line menu and decide what to have beforehand.

If I just have to pick in the pub, I usually go for the protein – plain fish e.g. seabass, if they have it, steak, or gammon and eggs (almost all pubs have gammon). The steak and seabass are usually more pricey but if it keeps me on track I go for it.
If it comes with below ground veg, I’ll check if there is any above ground veg on other dishes on the menu (which means they’ve got some cooked in the kitchen) then I’ll see if they’ll swap. (I don’t always bother with this last bit). I always ask for salad rather than chips (and/or salad instead of veg). In 3 years I’ve never had a problem with asking this. If anyone around me asks I just say I’m on a diet. We don’t have dessert, but if I was with people who did, I’d have a coffee with cream while they ate their ‘pud’. Generally, I’ve found most people are more interested in what they’ve eating to notice what I’m having.

Again, at the barbeque I’d have the protein and avoid the bread, dips etc. Sometimes, I’ve eaten beforehand so I’m not desperately
hungry, or I’ve smuggled in something small I can eat in my bag (e.g. a couple of hard boiled eggs) which I’d eat quietly somewhere, to stop me picking.

I remember when I first started someone on here said if you do have a ‘break-out’ it’s better to have too many calories than too many carbs. I found that thought really helpful.

Good luck with it and enjoy yourself. Forecast for good weather – hurrah!
Jennie xx

Hi JGwen and everyone else who wants to continue this journey together.

How about we do another 12 weeks – which by my reckoning if we start tomorrow that will take us up to Saturday 13th July? Would that work?

I am going up to the Lakes this weekend with the whole family, brothers, wives/partners, their kids and my parents. My family are foodies and there will be lots of it. I am a veggie so used to adapting to fit in with others eating habits. My plan is to drink lots of water, take protein shakes for lunch, eat whatever is on plan for my evening meal and avoid obvious carbs. I religiously log everything on MFP and will keep it as near a dammit to 800 cals.

For the bbq take something you know is on plan and counted. Fill up on water and veggies.

Hi Sonia
It’s really good to hear from you and I’m so glad you are seeing such a good consultant who is set to really help and try to get to the bottom of it all. He does sound great and it’s nice to hear you sounding a bit happier with the whole situation. Are you able to drive again or is that still off the cards? It is tricky getting back in the swing of things, I’ve struggled with that myself, but once you do, 5lbs is a mere bagatelle, you’ll soon make short shrift of that!

Everything with us is much more settled. One of my children is moving for a new job so I’ve been busy helping him trying to find somewhere to live. He lives away from us now but he will be even further away, but he’ll be happier in the job I think, so it’s a positive. My brother has been a bit down recently but we’ve got a family celebration just after Easter, with lots of extended family coming, including a cousin from Canada who he is close with, so hopefully that will give him a boost.

Yes, I finally got into my healthy BMI this week – hurrah! – I’m only 1lb below the top number, but in I’ve squeezed – so I’m claiming it. Then if I go up again over Easter, my strategy is ‘don’t tell anyone!’

Margaret, hadenough, Miss Ziggy – hope you’re all doing well. Have a Happy Easter everyone.

Jennie xx

I’m afraid I can’t give much advice Katniss as I’m the same and really struggle with willpower……especially where chocolate is concerned……and this being Easter weekend with lots of chocolate about……..
However, I would say try to make informed choices and if you do come off the wagon look on at as choosing to come off rather than falling off. I think this psychology makes it easier to get back on track after the weekend is over.
My favourite chocolate is galaxy and I found a new one in asda the other night that is dark chocolate. I resisted the temptation to buy it but have asked OH to get me that instead of a huge egg. I know it’s still wrong and I should do without but if we deny ourselves all the time then it is easier to completely give up, so this works best for me. I want it to be a way of life that I can stick to forever as, being diabetic, I’m more concerned with BG control than losing weight.
Interested to read other peoples opinions and strategies.
PS. My OH is completely supportive of me following this WOE so I’m not entirely sure he’ll buy me it…….but no harm in hinting lol

Advance planning, katniss! Many eating establishments have online menus, so make your selections, and stick to
them when you’re in the restaurant 🙂 If not, look for tapas selections with protein and vegetables. Avoid the rice and
potatoes, or anything that is clearly not BSD. Pub food is notoriously bad, with the smell of chips wafting through
the air. If you order steak, have the chips removed from your plate, and a simple salad seem the safest choices to me.
Your family is probably fairly consistent when it comes to what you might expect at the barbeque. I’ve navigated this
situation by just having the protein off the grill (avoid bbq sauce, as it’s loaded with sugar), and bring a gorgeous
platter of grilled vegetables for everyone to enjoy. We eat with our eyes first, right?! Things like red and yellow
peppers, courgette, eggplant, chunks of sweet onion, …you get the picture 🙂 Throw a few black olives around,
dress with an olive oil type of vinagrette, and some fresh basil. Voila! Stay as vigilant as you can with alcohol.
It really can be a nasty shock at your next weigh in, even if you’ve stayed well within your calorie allowance!
Others will be along to share their strategies too. Best wishes,

Allie

Hi all. I have commented on a couple of posts but this is my first attempt at my own thread so please bear with me!
I started this woe on 1st April and am 12lbs down as of this morning. I have about another 1st 11lb to get back to a healthy weight and I know that maybe doesn’t sound a huge amount to some of you, but it feels like a mountain to climb for me. I’d already lost 2st when I started this and I just want it gone now.

I’ve so far found it fairly straightforward, I had been following a lot of the clever guys advice and also that of Dr Chatterjee from the 4pillar plan and so the fast 800 has just complimented this, but given me a clear focus.
However, this weekend is my brother’s birthday, my brother in laws birthday and my sister in laws birthday and it’s the bank Holiday weekend in the UK. So Saturday we’re going to a Spanish tapas restaurant for the afternoon, Sunday we’re at a big family barbecue and Monday we’re going for a pub meal.

How do you manage these social situations? Tapas and the barbecue are the biggest concerns for me as my issue is always my portion sizing and knowing when to stop, I have no off switch! Even when other people say they’re stuffed I know that I could eat more. Everyone is also already encouraging me to have a drink, we have a toddler so I will drive Saturday and Monday and not touch a drop and that’s fine, but the barbecue Sunday is walking distance. I’m trying not to make a big deal about ‘dieting’ and I just feel concerned about my willpower in these situations. I don’t want to undo my achievements over a weekend! Any advice gratefully received.

Enjoy your holiday Verano.
And well done Kafin. Sounds like you’re doing great so far. Keep it up.
My positives for today
1. The sun is shining in Glasgow again and it’s forecast to get even warmer tomorrow 😀
2. I’m going away today for a 2 night break with OH and I’m so looking forward to it.
3. And I’ve finally lost another pound! Over the last few weeks I keeping gaining a few pounds and then losing them again but finally lost an extra one, taking me to my lowest weight in years! 😁

Welcome Greek goddess and well done on your fantastic results. This really is a great WOE and everyone on the forum is brilliant. They are all so supportive and knowledgeable and full of encouragement. Checking in here every day keeps me motivated.
Also, welcome back to artic fox but so sad to read what happened to you. The accident was bad enough but your friends reaction over and above was shocking. Unfortunately, it usually takes a bad experience in life to discover who really are your true friends.
I love your enthusiasm birdy . I can take or leave the wine so it’s not a problem for me but I appreciate how difficult it must be for you. Sounds like you are doing really well so far. My addiction is chocolate but I’m working on that…….and being off work is definitely helping!

Thank you all for your ideas. I will buy an avocado when I next go shopping. Not sure about having it with raw peppers though. I’m not a lover of peppers but can take a little if cooked.

Hi Kafin, as part of the battery of tests on this research program into the benefits of weight training for women in their 50’s we had to wear heart monitor and a mask to monitor our breath patterns while using a treadmill in a standardised protocol for evaluating fitness called the Bruce protocol.

You start off on a treadmill with a gradient of 10% at a speed of 2.74km. After 3 minutes this goes to gradient of 12% speed 4km, after 3 minutes this goes to gradient of 14% speed 5.4km, after 3 minutes this goes to gradient of 16% speed 6.76km etc etc.

When I did my assessment before starting weight training I only managed to do the first two stages before the assessor stopped the test. I am determined to do better, so have been using my warm down on the treadmill after each weight training session to practice. Walking briskly up hill is actually a more practical exercise than one of the weight training tasks. The leg presses and arm pulls are using muscles I use regularly, but I can’t think of a situation in daily life where lifting weights already at shoulder height so they are in front of my face is something I would want to do.

I really love my new title, Wendy! (I think that’s your name??). I’ve used quizlet a bit and spanishdictionary.com has good explanations and tests. My teacher for Spanish 1 was awesome but the teacher for Spanish 2 doesn’t practice speaking much with us or explaining so I usually come home and figure out myself. It is a beautiful language and I feel like it’s respectful to learn it when I live in a place where it’s spoken so widely. Latinos here are very tolerant of my practice attempts! Plus it’s good to have something to occupy myself instead of eating! I’m off to bed but hope all of those that are starting their day have a lovely one xx

Oh Essie you are so right. This is what I meant when I mentioned ‘ epiphanies the other day. I read somewhere that it takes 3 months to change a habit . I am at 7 months down the line and htere is NO going back .

Quizlet can be used for free by the way.Ignore any paying programmes

Oh Kirsten your honour, that brings back memories ! I began Spanish at secondary school and because I am very old the method we used was “An essential course in modern Spanish” by H Ramsden. I think we worked through the book from cover to cover.I could hardly speak a word of Spanish but my grammar was perfect 😉 I do love the language though. I vow to learn Italian when I retire !
Do you know ‘ Quizlet’ ? It’s a very useful tool for learning vocabulary etc. Here’s an example :
https://quizlet.com/HolaProfThomas/intermediate-spanish-grammar-gramatica-para-espanol-intermedio-fy13g4/sets
You can do a search for a particular topic or grammar point and you can work with cards and other activities. I am on there if you do a search for wendleg but my stuff is for French learners of English 😉
Have a great day !

Time for new trousers, JGwen! What’s the Bruce protocol?

1. I got a lot of studying done today so feeling confident about pospreposicionales, pretérito and objecto directo/indirecto. Still have time tomorrow to tackle the hard stuff that I’m ignoring before mid term in the evening
2. I reinvented an old classic from Uni days tonight – smoked trout fillets with a puréed cauliflower/broccoli top. Al la fish pie!
3. According to the Ketosis dipstick, I’m in low Ketosis which is great after only 3 days. I k ow they’re not super accurate but I’m a big baby about pricking my finger…

Hello lovely ladies!
I ‘ve been silently following the forum for 15 days now. All the info here is invaluable and even though I didnt actively participate, everything you share here has been a great inspiration for my new WoE.
My first week on 800 fasting (1-8 April) has been was a disaster as I caught the flu and deviated from the program too much and of course didn’t loose anything.
So Officially I restarted on the 10th of April. This past week (10- 17 April) was miraculous! 3kg down, 100% on plan, carbs between 15-25g, and I even managed a 24 hour fast on the last day of the week. It was so easy to do I will probably stick to it – 24h fasting every Tuesday.
It’s doable!
xx GiGi

1. I had time to call in at the free books “shop” in town and pick up 3 sci fi books as my treat for myself for Easter. I am planning to find some time over the bank holiday weekend in a quiet spot in one of the fields curled up with a book in the sunshine.

2. I was a bit taken aback today, the university lecturer running this weight lifting research project believes in calories in / calories out. – It sort of set him back on his heels when I started quoting different research papers about carb restriction, BMR, and ketosis. :-} I successfully completed 3 stages of the Bruce protocol as my warm down. – Our initial assessment involved the Bruce protocol and I only managed the first two stages, so I have set myself a challenge to improve on that.

3. I have been cracking up with laughter tonight at Equestrian Pilates. – Its the first time ever I have done an exercise class involving balancing using one of the inflatable exercise balls. The tutor had us in some strange positions to work on the core muscle groups, just getting into the right position to try the exercise was a challenge. Not helped because I had made the decision based on the exercises last week to wear loose trousers and they were too loose and slipping down at times.

So how long do we want the next road trip to last for folks? two months, three months or four months, to the start of the summer holidays?

I had the TV on for background noise the other day and they were rerunning a series on BBC2 where they followed a family who were being taken through the food/eating habits from the 1950’s onwards. – It really struck me when they were covering 1961/ 1962. Those where the years where breakfast cereals were first released and mass produced long life soft white bread. Even the presenter picked up on how the high sugar element of breakfast cereals was addictive and the children were hungry for a second serving very quickly.

Iron tablets sorted it for me. Could you ask for a full blood count at the doctors? good luck x

Esnecca , thank you.
You are so right. And your words are very wise and ring true. I initially embarked on the 5:2 diet several years ago after watching the televised documentary. It all made so much sense and really resonated with what I’d previously thought about fasting. I’d read about a theory on a study of concentration victims from the Second World War and how the survivors seemed to have had increased life spans and a decrease in many of the usual age related diseases even tho their bodies had endured such extreme conditions including near
starvation. This theory talked about how the body almost went into a hibernation state, repairing itself and strengthening its ability to repair. I’d seen a few relatives taken far too early from cancer and my goal was to increase my resistance to illness and prolong a healthy existence for as long as possible.
You are so right. It is a mindset change that needs to happen. A total rethink about how we see food, how we judge it in terms of its real worth. It’s almost like retraining the taste buds, the sense of smell, as well as re programming the brain that has been previously programmed by marketing. Every other ad on tv or media is an ad to sell junk food. We’ve been drip fed this since birth. It’s mass brainwashing we as a society have become normalised to. It’s become a way of life and sadly it will only get worse as it’s quite simply ‘Big Business’.
I’m so grateful for the inspiration I get from these posts and it certainly gives me ‘food for thought’. It’s a long road as the brain is a complex machine and I’ve got almost 50 years of junk (food) data to delete 🤪 I will tho as I’m in it as a life change and not just for weight
loss. Hopefully that will just be one of the many beneficial side effects. 👍👍
and

Thanks SG that makes sense!

I love that idea sunshine girl😋. Thank you Essie that has now been copied and pasted into my notes app😉😋. I am getting a little collection of Essie recipes now, love it and very grateful. Ha! Allie I knew I would get round it😝😄🤣❤️❤️

Patricia you go girl. After my dance I noticed a posh charity shop and whilst waiting for my Mother-in -law I decided to have a browse and I found myself a lovely pre loved Boden top! It actually looks like it has never been worn!😄. It is cream with light blue strips like crew tops with a little button detail on the left shoulder. I love it and at £12 a bargain as I think Boden is usually quite expensive.🤣🤣❤️

Ah I see Wendy. Something to look faward to and a lot of places will be quieter as the children would have gone back.

I have decided that I am not going to drink until May if I can help it. I might not even drink then. 🤣🤣. Happy days. 💞🦜

Wow, the thread is buzzing again !
Thanks for the very useful info on house sitting Sunshine. I will definitely be following up on that and your experience will be very useful.

Birdy : school holiday dates in France depend on the ‘zone’ you are in. There are 3 zones and each one has different holiday dates so I break up on the 19th April and go back on the 6th May.

Welcome articfox. So sorry to hear of your accident and the aftermath which sounds very challenging.I am shocked that your friends have not stepped up to the plate when you are so vulnerable. Being alone is tough . Stay strong .
We will be here to support you as you tackle your health issues and get back on track.
Have you considered having your grocery order delivered to avoid having to face the supermarkets ? That way you can take the time to plan your meals and avoid impulse buys.
All the very best to you and stay with us. You are not on your own xx

allie, never tried to freeze them but I do only serve half for hubby (total of 5 eggs) and my half gets an eighth cut out and plated for a snack for later or for lunch the next day. I make mini quiches using parma ham as a base filled with egg etc and they freeze very well so would imagine your mini frits would too.

hi 1960, I did at first but had to swap around some things I didn’t like. Eg the mackerel pate I switch for tuna. I can still make a weekly menu cobbled from some of the meal examples but been doing this for so long I just know what to eat and, more important, what not to.

I’m doing the sofa dance with you birdy76!

Wine has been an interesting taste for me, matched with good olive oil and meat, cheese and desserts. An odd glass of red with dinner seems to be within my limit so I can re-enter ketosis in a few hours. We all can choose, the breathalyser is very useful for making the choice a meaningful one. How long before you want to reduce fat? Is this glass worth it?

My liver was slightly affected for a while, but between dropping alcohol entirely for 6 months, and dropping carbs since February it’s fine now.

I am truly impressed by your story. Many people who drink socially as you did would find going cold turkey very hard. You gave up bread and pasta as well, so rather than this being harder perhaps having lower than 20g carb protects you from the siren call of drink.