@happylifex10 It’s good to see you here and know that you had a lovely time with your Grandies. I hear you on how tiring they can be even though my longest session has been 2 days with the night in between. They’re rather like whirlwinds in the mess they can create aren’t they?

@RisiM I have days like that too, where it’s hard to want enough food. Other days (not often) I want more than I’ve scheduled. I think that *occasional* low calorie days are OK as long as you don’t do it day after day. My diary is open if that is any use to you. I'm keto so it may or may not help you.

@RATSMITH69 Wow that’s a lot of moving around. I don’t understand the American words freshman/sophomore etc but I guess it’s young. I got married when I was 18. 40 happy years ago.

@sbom1 I’m glad that your cramping has improved. Professor Noakes says that stretching muscles before bed for several weeks, and then once a week will help prevent this. He says it’s actually a spinal cord trigger mechanism that is little understood which causes the cramps and not the muscles themselves. That’s not to say that the magnesium doesn’t help. I’ve had very little change (if any) around my waist, but the rest of me looks so different that I just have to accept it. Wanting size loss and accepting what we're given are 2 different things though aren’t they?

@shadesofidaho I’m so sorry you have to go through this stress so regularly. Perhaps it brings forward subconscious memories from those trips where the news was bad and that’s why it’s so draining? I hope you can move forward from that point *hugs*. It sounds to me as if your husband is proud (in the way that men [don’t] show it) or your mosaic work.

And my day so far... My sinuses are more clear than yesterday, my tickly cough isn't happening so often, and the stabbing pain in my ear is only happening about every half an hour today. I just feel that I'm on the mend and that this will now be the last bad health thing. I'm normally so robust that this endless stream of things over the past 5 weeks has been weird and frustrating. I now weigh 84.9 kgs, the same as yesterday which was a new low. I'm very very happy about that. That's 3.4 kgs (7½ lbs) gone and I'm content with slow but sure. I'm finally feeling that I know the macros and calories that I need to stick to in order to produce fat loss. It has become obvious that I need to keep track of calories, carbs, fat *and* protein and keep all of them roughly within my desired goals, or there's no weight loss, even if the calories and carbs are correct. Sshhh don't tell Fit_Goat LOL. I also measured my blood ketones after exercise yesterday and they were 0.8, which apparently means that I'm burning fat for my exercise energy!!! And presumably my day to day energy as well.

Oh gosh Lesley I had to search through all the sour cream yesterday to find the *one* brand that was full fat. I feel your pain. Reading about the huge variety of products the Americans seem to have at their disposal makes us seem quite backwards doesn't it? I suppose Sydney and Melbourne would have what we want but that would add to the cost, and time, of a shopping trip rather

Sugar is in everything. I even read recently of someone noticing on their salt packet that there was sugar in that! I did read someone on this forum saying that they spread their (vegemite wannabe) just straight on a piece of cheese. I think they buttered it too. That's always an option, and no 'cooking' skills required

Might you be able to find the 70% cocoa chocolate along with the Cadburys stuff in the lolly aisle? I was using 72% Whittakers Dark Ghana when I was doing the Jonathan Bailor 'Sane' style of eating last year. That's still 33g per 100 sugar though. I have heard of a 90% chocolate that I've never seen, and there are sugar free diabetic versions too, but I haven't looked into what atrocities are in that LOL

Whinge away. I think I've set the target for that recently, though I'm trying hard to change my ways ROFL

No, no, Bailor is not a problem at all. I took him at his word of eating all the vegetables you can cram in, having a good sized portion of protein, and was making all of his associate chef's sweet creations for dessert and snacks though, so *for me* it didn't work. I ate too much, and that was not his fault at all. I was also an addictive sweet tooth so the desserts just helped me to stray off and eat 'normal' sweet things as well. Totally not anything wrong with his teachings, it just wasn't radical enough to turn me around.

I'm an 'all or nothing' gal so when I continued reading more about LCHF and found keto, well I had to do keto

If you do want his associated recipe site it's marmaladeandmileposts.com/ Interestingly, Carrie Brown was born not far from the same place as myself in England, and she has lived here in Perth as well, before moving to America. She sounds fairly similar to me, which makes me cringe because I hate my voice LOL