Wow, that's fantastic Risi, and yes, grandchildren are the most amazing gift on earth aren't they? 6 is incredible. I've only got 3; ages 9, 7 and 6. The youngest grandparent I ever heard of was John Cougar Mellencamp at 32 - now that's really going some!

So many beautiful ladies here (that’s all of you, don’t anyone think you’re excluded!). I love this thread (or anything else you choose to call it @Kate, we’re none of us tech snobs!).

@Jane I mostly drink instant coffee with coconut milk in it. I drink tea when I go out because ‘flat white’ coffee is so high carb with the cow’s milk! Though I did have my first flat white in ages this morning before The Walk home (see my home page if you want to know the details of that ) The cream and water sounds like a great idea and if you accustom to the taste… well done!

@Tracy No worries, and we’re glad you’re here. Thank you for your words about my family pic, and for clarifying about your breathlessness issues. I’m so sorry about your weight gains, and really hope that trend reverses soon. It *is* harder for us mature girls, but I’m going to urge you to take body measurements. I’ve only been measuring my waist and belly and there was no change at all in either for a long time, yet I (and hubby) can see the fat loss in other parts of my body. Even the tops of my feet look slimmer today LOL I only wish I’d measured my forearms, biceps, midriff, thighs, calves… I’ve only lost 5 kgs (11 lbs) but the amount of fat that is visibly missing from me looks at least double that! Now, these are just my thoughts, so mull them over and choose to agree, disagree or experiment, it’s entirely up to you. These are things that I have found to be true for me, and they may not be true for you… I’m doing keto so if you are now able to see my diary you’ll be able to see the way I do it (which is with no red meat so far). I find that cream cheese is very high in calories if you eat more than a small quantity of it. ‘Not much protein’ depends on your energy expenditure/exercise level. Have you been to the calculator at http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/ to see roughly how much protein you should be including daily? I aim for between 60-80 grams. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I struggled to keep it high enough to start with, but seem to have it down now. Some people say that cheese stops them losing weight. I seem to be OK, but wouldn’t have more than around 50 or 60 grams per day. Now the bit you may not want to hear… SF syrups and other artificial sweeteners could possibly be a problem. Some folks are fine, but others can apparently be kicked out of ketosis just purely by the taste of something sweet because their body knows that what comes next is a sugar dump, and it prepares for battle. If you can stand it, can you try a week with nothing sweet and see how you go?

@Kitn so glad you went to the social even if the music wasn’t quite ‘you’. Ever notice how DJs finally get everyone up to dance and then change the music style so everyone sits down again? Crazy pants! It’s so exciting that you could wear slim clothes and feel gooood! Glad that you took it easy for your back too. I’ve never done dim sum so thankfully that’s something I don’t have to miss. And did the friends comment on the new you?

@Teneko ha ha, that’s brilliant, but yes, carrots are quite high aren’t they? How dare they!!! I hate that onion is high, we love our onion, but now it’s rationed That’s fantastic about the jeans – wow! And yes, that’s a major victory no matter what the scales say!

@Kate No, no new thread needed, this thread is for anything us girls wish to talk about – food, real life, whatever. I guess new threads are for when you want more input than this small group can give you in reply. (I occasionally wonder if any of the guys peek in here or not, but they probably don’t dare ) My opinion is that your calories are too low. We seem to be able to eat more with this WOE. In fact, we seem to *need* to eat more! Your break-up is good, but for my opinion, I’d say increase to around 1400 calories. Keep your carbs under 20, protein is good unless you’re incredibly active, so add lots more healthy fat (or your choosing) to give you more energy and fill you up. You should *not* be hankering after ‘old foods’ and you certainly shouldn’t be hungry! I don’t know about you, but diet drinks always make me feel really hungry. I have seen a study explaining why it does that, but couldn’t tell you where it is now. Do you drink much of it? My husband always takes L-Lysine for cold sores. L-Lysine is an amino acid (a protein) rather than a script, and can be purchased near the vitamins at the supermarket or pharmacy. However, if you’re eating enough protein you shouldn’t need to add this in, once your body is accustomed to low carb. It is more than possible that your body is ridding itself of toxins through your skin, and this is the result. I hope that they go away quickly. Sometimes things that we’re prone to, do ‘come out to play’ while we’re detoxing. I’ve had a problem that was constant, and terribly embarrassing, come and go since I’ve been low carb, but it’s getting further apart and smaller intensity every time. I think that as my body empties out the fat cells it finds stuff that caused the issues in the first place, releases it into my system and has to clear each dose as it arises. If that makes any sense. Glad you’re enjoying the foods.

Wow, what a lot of words!!!