Vailara Member

Oh, my weight was up 1.3 pounds this morning, so my goal is a little bit further away, ha ha!

Oh, Suzy, I missed your post somehow! I haven't tried rosehip tea although I used to be fed rosehip syrup as a child and loved it! Maybe something to try. I'm a massive tea drinker, but have to admit to preferring the caffienated stuff. You are reminding me of when I got my heart diagnosis, and I started eating more…

You are right about the haggis! It's traditionally made in a sheep's stomach, but the stomach is more of a bag to hold it all, and the meat of it is lungs, heart, etc. I can't imagine sitting down to eat a lung, but funnily enough when it's an unrecognisable part of a haggis I love it! Vegetarian haggis can be pretty good…

That's funny that you mentioned kalettes! That was the vegetable I had the other day and couldn't remember the name of! Like a cross between kale and brussels sprouts! They were pretty good, although I didn't think they were at all like brussels sprouts, apart from the size. They didn't seem quite as fibrous as kale, and…

Oh nuts, I just did a long post and lost it! I'd found out how to copy and paste highlights from kindle so I'd add in some bits from Tim Spectors book, which is where I got my main information on the gut microbiome back in 2015. I'll see if I can post it again as there were a few quotes I thought were relevant to our…

Well, if you think the swimming pool is funny, when I tried to picture it, I instantly visualised the bacteria as sperm swimming around! I am renaming it in my mind to tadpoles!

Good information on the gut flora. I do eat a lot of prebiotics (including those good old 10 calorie a packet konjac noodles!). And at the moment I am surrounded by sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, etc, at the moment, so swimming in bacteria! The issue with me, I think, is that I'm on medication that upsets my gut flora (I…

Oh my goodness, Snoozie! That's amazing news about your appointment! I'm so pleased for you! It's a pain about the medication, but if that's the only downside, it's still amazing! As you know, I'm on loads of medications and not "allowed" to come off, and it has so been so many years now: I'll never know for sure what good…

I thought I had posted here but obviously went in to the ether, sorry. Interesting reflections, Suzy. We know it's all about the psychology, and definitely, for me, feeling in control makes me more likely to succeed - I hadn't really thought about that, so thank you! I love that you calmly rejigged the recipe to fit your…

Arctic char is the name of the fish. I also managed to source some live sauerkraut and it's delicious, if a bit expensive! Trying not to eat too much all at once! And also some kefir and kombucha - not going to bother making my own again.

I think I would be the same as you, Suzy, and give it a go without the medication. I didn't have much choice as I have existing heart disease, and actually I think the benefit/risk ratio is better if you have known heart disease. But just to say, if it does come down to medication in the end, it's not the end of the world.…

Oh, that's really frustrating, Suzy. Especially when you've been putting all that work in with the diet. I wonder if it's because lingering stress from the house moves, parents, etc? I can't remember if you are on a statin? I've been on one for years: lots of doubts, and I was very reluctant, but to be fair, I haven't…

Yes, my weight is up again today, but that's the way it goes, and I do expect it when I'm weighing daily. I have a little pattern of having a big jump down sometimes (and by "big" I mean maybe a pound, nothing dramatic!), then a bounce back up and wavering about before the next jump down. I wouldn't see this pattern if I…

Yes, I was thinking illness/stress would push the results up, but just wondering if there was a chance enforced partial fasting would push them down! But I suppose not. At least if they are up, you know the cause, I suppose, and that it should get better. I'm glad you are almost finished with the driving now, Suzy. Time to…

That's good news about your weight stabilising. I like your 60/20/20 plan. It sounds very nice and simple. It will certainly be interesting to see your blood results. What way do you think they would go? So funny that you are doing everything right beforehand ... when the test is showing three months, lol! It sounds like…

I would eat pudding for breakfast too (and have done!) but I think most don't lend themselves well to being fried (particularly in bacon grease! Or salted butter) I think Christmas pudding seems a bit too heavy and rich (and crumbly?) to fry, whereas cloutie dumpling is perfect! Having said that, I've never tried frying…

Cloutie dumpling does have some similarities to Christmas pudding, but it's much lighter. I didn't used to like Christmas pudding as a child, but loved cloutie dumpling. Also you probably wouldn't fry Christmas pudding for breakfast! But I think it might be the most divisive of the above. I don't want something that's too…

Yes, so funny about the cat. I think he is jealous of the scales because I use them every morning and he can't understand why. It's hard enough because he'll often stand on them when I do. I'm convinced there's some reasoning in where he chooses to throw up! I haven't decided on the hot dessert, well pudding. At the moment…

What a pain that it's an early appointment and you have to allow for rush hour. And what an early start. I think it's quite difficult missing out on any sleep at our age! Even the driving... I haven't driven anything like that far for years. The furthest I've driven from home in the pandemic has been about 25 miles round…

I hope the week is going OK, Suzy. I'm thinking of you with all your driving. Good planning on taking a healthy snack with you! I sometimes carry some nuts for emergencies, but of course they are quite high calorie. I'd never heard the word brinner (maybe because our evening meal is "tea", lol!) but I like it, and I might…

Vinted is secondhand clothes, so I can't send them back! I could try to sell them on, but I can't be bothered, to be honest. I think I will keep them and start a trend for loose trousers. Thank you for the congratulations! I hope I'm not bragging too much, and I know you have involuntarily lost a lot of weight so let me…

I've just had a pair of trousers arrive from Vinted. Lovely good quality trousers, in my usual size, and I thought I'd checked the measurements out, but much too big! So frustrating. I think at the moment I can hold them up with a belt and they'll look ok. Have to admit a little bit of satisfaction at them being too big,…

It makes you wonder what the point of clothes sizing is when it's so meaningless! Just give us the measurements instead. I hate clothes shopping in person anyway. So demoralising looking at myself in a changing room mirror! So funny about the M&Ms. I have done exactly that, putting a measured amount into a small dish, then…

Thank you for the congratulations! My weight is up again this morning, so I'm glad I celebrated the loss yesterday, lol! Sounds like the pickleball was good, Snoozie. I hope you get to see Josh Groban. I think even indoors is fairly safe if you have a decent mask. Although I suppose it would be really crowded, but still, I…

That's just lovely, Suzy, that you can walk out your door to a calm, open place with animals to watch. One of my usual longer walks from my door takes me through a field of cows. (Quite amazingly, in a city. I think I've mentioned we have a strip of flood plain running through the city as it's so prone to floods here.…

Beautiful pictures, Snoozie! You are brave going out in that cold - I feel chilly just looking at the photos. So funny that the rocks made you think of cinnamon rolls! Now that you mention it, they do! I've found I'm really, really interested in watching programmes about high calorie food at the moment! Because I can't…

You were right to be scared: that sounds so awful! I didn't realise it was that bad. You were very restrained in your description of it. What a terrible few weeks! One of my friends had giardiasis a few years ago and it sounded a bit like that. She was ill for ages with it, and still had to be careful with her diet for a…

Oh my goodness, Snoozie, I didn't realise you had lost that much weight! That's shocking! I was thinking just a few pounds or something. It seems not surprising that you would have a sort of rebound afterwards. There's probably some sort of drive to recover all the nutrients you've been missing, and instinctively going for…

Congratulations on getting rid of that half pound! I hope you're not too bad with the sniffles. Plenty of hot drinks needed!

Don't apologise - I think I've even confused myself with my stream of consciousness! But yes, I have always been worried that I wouldn't be able to maintain (call it diet or restrictions) at a lower weight, and you're right, I was a bit horrified at how low the calories would be - I just didn't think it would be…