ToffeeApple71 Member

@AnnPT77 flare-ups for me are completely random. I'm lighter and fitter than I've been for years and the flare-ups have definitely reduced since losing weight. However, I can't work out what causes them. I can run four days in a row and be fine, or I can go for a gentle walk and have a flare-up. There's no rhyme or reason.…

@sijomial thanks...but no thanks! Wouldn't it be great to be able to insert new cartilage?

How exciting! I love my Garmin. Just bought my son a Venu SQ Music. I'm sitting here looking at it in its box, itching to set it up. My next purchase for myself with be a fenix but can't justify the cost with my forerunner less than 6 months old!

That would be awesome! Given my love of a long bath, I'd be the thinnest person ever. If only we could literally melt it away in a bath...

I bike to work. It's about 7km each way. I don't do anything different than if I was driving other than leave earlier and wear clothes appropriate for cycling and weather. I change once I get to work. I went from no cycling to cycling every day with no problem. Rain, hail, shine. I've biked in all of them. Gloves in…

I heard an interview with Paul Coll, the current World number 1 male squash player. He said after every point he focuses on the next....asks himself "what do I do next?" I apply this to my approach to weight loss. Did I manage to refuse that donut we got offered at morning tea? If I did, what helped me say no, so next time…

I tried a range of different classes at my gym. My favourite ended up being "pump". Mostly because I run and wanted something for resistance on days I don't run. I also enjoy their other group classes, body blast and BTT. It's great to mix it up for me, mentally, because I get bored easily! Try different things and you'll…

I walked for a year before I started running. You can burn a lot of calories walking, you can vary your pace, use hills etc to push yourself. One day I just broke into a jog and carried on. I used c25k once I had run for a few weeks. The walk/run method is great. You can run as fast or slowly as you like, and you can walk…

My boys went to Switzerland recently and their Airbnb host made them a special dinner on their last night. Part of the dinner was raclette which they'd never had before. They're bringing a raclette grill home with them. So excited! A fab way to have cheese...but not something I would have spent money on myself.

I bake. Baking needs precision. Weighing, measuring, timing, kneading, rolling etc. By focussing on the recipe, I find I relax and let go of everything else. So I'm always challenging myself with new recipes...the more complex the better! Learning a new skill like folding dumplings is always a positive as well. Then I give…

I would look at the reason the ingredient you don't like is included, and then substitute with something you do like, that does the same job or just leave it out altogether. So if the onion is for sweetness, I'd choose something else that adds sweetness. Or if it's for flavour I'd add more garlic or use onion powder.…

I had a big issue 60kg ago with "having" to finish everything on my plate. It was a thing from growing up ..we weren't allowed to leave the table until we finished our plate. Not sure of my parents' reasoning, but it meant that for my entire life I ate whatever was in front of me. So my first thread to pull was allowing…

I'm sorry you're not feeling well. Why not eat at maintenance while you're feeling unwell rather than try for a calorie deficit? It'll give you more to eat, and will take some of the pressure off. Also, I find filling up on low-calorie food like vegetable soup helps when I'm in the mood to eat too much. Use lots of colours…

I have a Garmin forerunner 245 and it will allow you to set the pool length, and it tells you the distance you swam.

Start with one thing you can change, that's an easy change. I'd suggest water. Have a bottle of water with you...at your desk, on the table or wherever you are. And just sip as often as you can. If you reach for the water bottle instead of anything else, not only will it be good for you, but it might stop you reaching for…

@heybales I am a slow runner. I can run for two hours and easily hold a conversation! I'm currently increasing my speed and working hard, but I reckon I could still talk while running. I do stretch and roll...the yoga is just an extra workout I do a few times a week. Sugar is definitely a trigger...a can of coke or bowl of…

Lentils in any form. My favourite is a creamy Dahl with potatoes (roasted if I have time). Or a quesadilla made with black beans, lentils and tomatoes. And cheese. Got to have cheese in a quesadilla! If you buy a can of lentils, the Dahl takes literally 5 minutes to make. I buy a can of beans, lentils and oats and make a…

In case anyone was following...I think I've narrowed the problem down to yoga rather than running. I took a break from yoga (I just do online, YouTube sessions, no classes) while I was away on holiday. Continued with the running. My migraines went away. I've been back for two weeks, re-started the yoga and have had two…

And this is the minutiae I struggle with. Happy to avoid the obvious, like honey, but the additives and colourings to look out for, plus things in shampoo, face creams etc means I could never call myself vegan. I don't really give myself a label. I guess I'm a vegetarian, I do eat eggs and cheese. Occasionally I'll eat…

Me too! Or at least plant-based (can't be bothered worrying about minutiae which I probably don't know about which would mean I'm not vegan anyway). Vegan cheese is just dire and often contains coconut oil which I can't tolerate. My favourite cheese is a local one, made by "over the moon" here in NZ. It was an accidental…

I love cooking and trying new dishes and flavours. Now that there's only myself and hubby I find we're eating leftovers regularly...so we may have the same meal for two nights running. I haven't gotten used to cooking for two instead of four yet! But I'd go mad if I ate the same food all the time. I go through phases of…

I didn't know about that feature. I'll check it out. Will be useful on my evening runs. I'm leaving them later and later because of the heat. (Southern hemisphere, hot, hot 🔥🔥 summer here)

Try making a Pad Thai with tofu, but grate the tofu instead of having big chunks of it. Makes it have the texture of chicken mince and has the flavour of the pad Thai. I always add extra garlic and ginger if I'm using tofu rather than meat.

Depending on how much I've gone over, and what my exercise plan was for the day, I would either reduce my calories for the coming days by about 100 each day until I'd compensated for the over-budget, or increase my daily steps for a few days (usually by adding on a km or two to my warm-down after a run), or go for a quick,…

I like the Adidas training app. It's free. Gives you a range of exercises/focus and videos to show you how to do the exercises correctly. I also use the Garmin ones to track for a challenge I'm doing. These can be done through the app if you need video instructions or just in the watch if you know what you're doing.

There's a Facebook group called "veganuary" for people who have signed up to try being vegan for the month of January. Lots of info on there, recipes, recommendations for books, YouTube stuff etc. I've found it informative and helpful. Newbies like me who are giving it a go for the first time and lots of vegans who have…

I have recently bought a Garmin forerunner 245 music. Essentially because it is not touchscreen (I had problems with my previous fitness tracker when running in the rain, with long sleeves etc... anything that may touch the screen) and because you can play music on it, so I don't need to take my phone with me when running.…

I had 60kg to lose. I think that's about 120lb. I started off with 1kg a week (2lb) and gradually reduced it as I lost weight. I've plateaued for a while now, although would still like to lose another 5 kg or so. I started walking about the same time... started off slowly, doing maybe 20 minutes, and as the weight came…

Ha ha yeah I guess I could stop running and see if they go away! But I've been doing 10-12km regularly previously without issue. It's the speed and distance I'm trying to increase at the moment. So slow jogging seems ok. Maybe I'm just not made for running a half marathon and should be happy with a 10km limit.

I'm working on hydration and electrolyte imbalance. I think I'm ok in that regard but I am watching it. However I had not considered blood pressure as a cause. Temperature isn't usually an issue...but it's very warm here atm, so it's possible that that is a cause. All things I hadn't considered, or that haven't affected me…