The FastDay Forum

I expect VBF tried to stop you eating the cream by valiantly throwing herself between you and the fridge and eating it herself?

All my very best wishes are with you today, `what's for you girl won't go past you...`

Hope I am not too late to send you good vibes for a very successful outcome. 'Expect the most wonderful things to happen' I say......good luck

Monday, low-carb day two-hundred and forty-six, repair day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 109.4lbs (analogue scales corrected ~106.75lbs); 1.0lbs gain
... t.measures - ub. 28.5, w. 25.5, t. 30.25, h. 34.25 inches

Report at the end-of-week 35 of low-carb : total low-carb weight loss 28.4lbs, and weight gain for the week 2.4lbs. No shrinkage / expansion.

And just under half a pound of that will be *real* weight gain (excess of 1570 calories, nearly a whole extra day's worth of food). Greedy the FatDog. Still, easy come, easy go... should all be straightened out by Thursday.

Somewhat distracted today, as might be imagined. Simple salad dinner along with some goodly slices of OLS bread, and a bedtime cocoa in the hopes that it might help me sleep.

........ Calories 731.78 Carbs 28.10 Fat 46.94 Protein 46.26 Fibre 17.21

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Tuesday, low-carb day two-hundred and forty-seven, feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 109.6lbs (analogue scales corrected ~106.75lbs); 0.2lbs gain
... t.measures - ub. 28.5, w. 25.5, t. 30.25, h. 34.25 inches

Well, that's disappointing but maybe it's the rest of the weekend's overdoings working its way out on the scales. I'm still below my target so I'm not going to let that disturb me, today of all days...

Many thanks to you all for the good luck wishes - I picked most of them up before I went off and was thoroughly bouyed by them all. It was *really* blowing it by the time I got to the street, so headed in to the pub next door for a coffee so that I could rearrange myself in their loos - to no avail, in the two minutes it took for me to get to the 'interview building' I'd been thoroughly deranged again; let's hope they're good buddhist meditators and don't judge by appearances...

Three very lovely people on the panel: they made me very relaxed about it all - I suspect too relaxed at times and I might well have dug a few pits for myself. I'm finding it very hard to remember specifics (I suspect my memory is trying to protect me by erasing the real clangers) but, thank goodness, I've not the deep overwhelming miserable feeling that I had after the bookshop interview.

The 'bookkeeping test' was a doddle, well, it should have been: I could have done what needed done in ten minutes in my sleep *EXCEPT* it was on a bloomin' Apple computer. Arrrrrgh. I'm not sure if I've mentioned my allergy to Apple computers before - but stick me in front of one and ask me to do something and my skills are rendered useless. All the bleeping keys are in the wrong place (there isn't even a backspace for goodness sake, or is it delete?)! The menus are in the wrong place! I can't find anything! The minimise stuff is in the wrong place! The touchpad is so large that I inadvertently 'touch' things with the side of my deformed right hand and start random processes off by accident. And, because I can't find anything, I've not a scoobie how to get back to where I was. And the text was so minute (even littler than on my Asus) that I could have done with a magnifying glass (oh, and the onscreen one wasn't where it *should* be at the bottom right of the spreadsheet, oh no, it was randomly located somewhere at the top). So, instead of the very maximum thirty minutes they were expecting me to take, I *think* I took nearly fifty! Sigh.

And, as well as the weather blowing for the century when I left, it was piddling down too - took just three minutes for my brolly to turn inside out. I felt oddly serene though - as some of you sages have said: if it's for me it won't go by me. I'd dearly like to work there (right livelihood, and all that) but we shall see - they'll let me know after next Tuesday.

Sensible eating wasn't on the menu - couldn't think what to cook so picked up bargain salads, and ciabatta bread and some 'irresistible' soup. Oops. Ciabatta was a bad idea. As were the nice red wine and the coffee with cream after dinner. Maybe make that Saturday morning for a reasonable recovery on the scales.

........ Calories 2005.30 Carbs 119.38 Fat 107.34 Protein 47.60 Fibre 14.67

Oh I do hope you get that job @FatDog...keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Usually if you feel that interviews have gone okay, it means they have gone well... Your attention to detail is impeccable unlike `Slack Alice` here! I'm certain they will see that.

Mac is just posh Linux with a `monkey proof` interface and a defective keyboard, so you can use linux commands in the terminal to restore some sane functionality to it! We can have a jam sometime soon if you like... Yours free for a repeat of Saturdays curry

Think this would be perfect for you and you for it.

Xx

Hope you get where you need to be. We do eventually I believe, but it sure can be stressful until it all unfolds. Am sure you have the whole forum sending good vibes, cause we wish you well take

Ha! You'd be right @caitlin and @izzy, but for the most frustrating part: I wouldn't be using the Apple to do the job - just an ordinary Windows PC. Not quite sure why they did the test on the Apple other than the Windows one was in use by a chap covering the admin job! Grrrr. Whimper.

OH's shamanic friend who told me about the job in the first place, was getting all excited at the idea I could develop a herb garden for them (the centre has a huge garden which is slightly frayed and neglected around the edges now) - he's thinking medicinal, me? I'm thinking both! Rosemary, lavender, sage, thyme for starters. Oooh, it would be wonderful. Wonder if there'd be space allowed for the odd veggie too? Might be for ornamental cabbages I suppose, and I'm rather partial to cabbage

You might have some ideas to share with us then @FatDogon the vegetable with a c thread as cabbage is getting a good airing

Actually that's a great idea, I remember the garden as being quite rambling and peaceful, but starting to get a bit run down, certainly under utilised and lots of opportunity for courses there too. I have lots of seeds looking for a home

Xx

Wednesday, low-carb day two-hundred and forty-eight, repair day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 109.4lbs (analogue scales corrected ~106.75lbs); 0.2lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 28.5, w. 25.5, t. 30.25, h. 34.25 inches

Why, thank-you V&P vary-fairy - most kind I'm sure, given that yesterday seems to have been another mad Tuesday.

Still feeling quite phlegmatic about the interview, though I spent the night dreaming about weird spreadsheet and recipe problems combined...

Last thing yesterday evening I had a shot at getting SQLServer to install on the SD card - takes an eternity to uninstall it (it bungs it on in a oner, but makes one remove it component-part by part) - but, sadly the server is smart enough to realise that the SD is a removable drive. Darn. So then have to re-install it, which also takes an age...

Think I'll go with bunging everything on the 64GB SD card anyway, and use the 32GB as a backup, with intermittent backups off onto a USB hard drive weekly or so. Thus my afternoon vanishes in "computer housekeeping" rather than building my database. Getting closer though.

Have a bash at an introductory nutrition book (Sarah Brewer's "Nutrition (Beginner's Guides)") which started well with straight biology, but I've skimmed some of the later bits and she then rather disappointingly seems to fall into the conventional "eat a balanced diet" (e.g. 45 to 65% carbohydrates) camp. But her worst sin is to have no references for the literature that she cites, which is a real shame (actually, in academic circles it's a crime). Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.

Apologies folks: salad, OLS loaf, cheese and quorn again for dinner - I'll try and have a recipe for you tomorrow though, given what I have in the fridge, it might well be a rehash of an existing concoction.

Bestest neighbour comes by with a swede and stays for the company / wifi so, with no sofa to loll upon to read my book, I head back to the computer. Spend an age trying to determine an appropriate pen name for my writing efforts (i.e. the e-cookbook for starters). "FatDog" isn't usable / available for social media setups ("real" names required), plus it's already bagsied by multitudinous cafes and dog trainers, and is maybe not so very appropriate anyway. Thus I had to ponder / hunt about for something vaguely sensible and meaningful, at least to me. Then needed to set up a new email account for my pseudonym, and create associated Facebook and Twitter accounts. Next to get the domains for my "corporate" identity - there are loads of registries out there so need the VBF to advise on which one is the best (@Caitlin being a web queen). Shall reveal the "new me" once the basics have been set up. All rather exciting really.

........ Calories 602.80 Carbs 21.99 Fat 41.51 Protein 31.64 Fibre 13.32

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Thursday, low-carb day two-hundred and forty-nine, feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 109.2lbs (analogue scales corrected ~106.75lbs); 0.2lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 28.5, w. 25.5, t. 30.25, h. 34.25 inches

Whimper. If I were a six-year-old sproglodyte I'd be whining "that's not fair, I want a bigger loss" and stamping a petulant foot, but I'm not so I'll just sulk like an adolescent instead. I *am* running at a calorie deficit, so it *has* to be carb water-weight; thus, I can get back to not eating rubbish carbs and drop weight, or eat rubbish carbs and stay at or even gain weight. Given the health implications of the latter option, there isn't really a decision to be made, is there?

Have wasted this morning by faffing; okay, I wasn't being a complete waster - I was book stalking nutrition and / or veggie cookbooks in the Edinburgh City Council libraries - but think I might have felt more productive if I'd prep'd some of tonight's veggies, for example.

At this point the menu is a cauliflower comfort bake, as per the other day, plus broccoli. Hope the ancient cheese I'm planning on using is still usable.

........ Calories 2223.47 Carbs 72.33 Fat 134.81 Protein 61.81 Fibre 24.47

broccoli & cauliflower comfort bake, a FatDog concoction
broccoli, tesco, bite-size florets, 38c/C1.8/F0.9/P4.4/Fi2.6/100g
......... 151g 57.38 2.72 1.36 6.64 3.93
cauliflower, coop, bite-size florets, 35c/C3.0/F0.9/P3.6/Fi2.5/100g
......... 256g 89.60 7.68 2.30 9.22 6.40
olive oil, 824c/C0.0/F91.6/P0.0/Fi0.0/100ml
......... 15ml 123.60 0.00 13.74 0.00 0.00
coriander, fresh ground
......... 5ml 0.00
s&p 0.00
baby pepper, red, sliced round, 36c/C6.4/F0.4/P1.0/Fi1.6/100g
......... 94g 33.84 6.02 0.38 0.94 1.50
onion, red, co-op, fine sliced, 35c/C7.6/F0.2/P1.3/Fi1.4/100g
......... 52g 18.20 3.95 0.10 0.68 0.73
garlic, fine chopped, 149c/C33.06/F0.5/P6.36/Fi2.1/100g
......... 20g 29.80 6.61 0.10 1.26 0.42
olive oil, 824c/C0.0/F91.6/P0.0/Fi0.0/100ml
......... 15ml 123.60 0.00 13.74 0.00 0.00
borlotti beans, sainsers, 85c/C12.9/F0.6/P6.9/Fi7.7/100g
......... 235g (tin) 199.75 30.32 1.41 16.22 18.10
tomatoes, chopped, canned, napolina, 22c/C3.5/F0.4/P1.1/Fi0.3/100g
......... 400g 88.00 14.00 1.60 4.40 1.20
cambus o'may, mellis, slithered, 415c/C1.4/F34.5/P24.4/Fi0/100g cheddar macros
......... 118g 489.70 1.65 40.71 28.79 0.00
crème fraîche, 1/2 fat, yeo valley, organic, 168c/C4.8/F15.0/P3.4/Fi0/100g
......... 200g 336.00 9.60 30.00 6.80 0.00
wholegrain mustard, Maille, 180c/C9.0/F10.0/P7.0/Fi3.5/100g
......... 20g 36.00 1.80 2.00 1.40 0.70
s&p 0.00
total for broccoli & cauliflower comfort bake 1625.47 84.35 107.44 76.34 32.97
459/1404 portion broccoli & cauliflower comfort bake 531.40 27.57 35.13 24.96 10.78

Method: 1. heat the first lot of oil in a large non-stick grill-proof pan; 2. add the broccoli, cauliflower, coriander and s&p and stir fry for 10 minutes or so, until the cauliflower is tender, set aside; 3. heat the next lot of oil and soften the onion, then add the baby peppers and garlic and cook until the pepper is beginning to soften; 4. return the other veggies to the pan and add the borlotti beans and chopped tomatoes; 5. give it all a good stir about and remove from heat; 6. mix the mustard into the crème fraîche and spread evenly over the top, and top this evenly with the cheese and further s&p if required; 7. bung under a pre-heated grill until the cheese is golden and bubbly

Hi FatDog, looking forward to learning about your new identity in due course. As far as cheeses go unless they are actually trying to fight their way out of the fridge with their zimmer frames I always find the more ancient the better! x

Friday, low-carb day two-hundred and fifty, repair day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 109.4lbs (analogue scales corrected ~106.75lbs); 0.2lbs gain
... t.measures - ub. 28.5, w. 25.5, t. 30.25, h. 34.25 inches

Sigh. But given yesterday's rather unanticipated high calorie intake it is, perhaps, not so very surprising. Really hadn't thought the bake was going to be so calorific, had guestimated it at considerably less. Drat. Just shows how easy it is to underestimate one's intake... Not a hope of getting my weekly calorie deficit into four figures this week (unless I do the tightest repair day *ever*), but then - I am meant to be maintaining, *not* losing, so that's fine (she says, grudgingly).

Managed to get thoroughly distracted by various cookery and meditation books in the library. Noooo, not cookery and meditation combined, separate that is - but maybe that's an idea? Must go see what, if anything else, is out there. One of the books that I had ordered and went to pick up appeared to address the meditation / food nexus: Geneen Roth's "Women, Food and God"; my initial dip into it (admittedly interrupted by visitors) has left me puzzled: so far, I'm not understanding it at all. Need a decent period of peace and will give it another shot.

Of course, there's lots on the yoga diet (sattvic diet) - sattvic foods are meant to lead to clarity of mind, equanimity and be good for one; serendipitously, they're things that FatDogs like eating (e.g. veggies, cream, legumes, nuts - generally unprocessed stuff that hasn't caused *any* suffering). Sadly, much seasoning is deemed to lead a sattvic food to become rajasic (too stimulant: provoking "mental restlessness", foods include herbs, spices, eggs, chocolate and fried things) or tamasic (too sedative: harmful to mind and body, including old food, strong cheese, onions, garlic and alcohol) so I probably won't be going down the yoga diet path just yet.

Dinner *certainly* won't get me any yogic diet brownie points - it's positively tamasic: bargain ready-made dishes (on their sell by dates) of stuffed mushrooms and potato dauphinoise; the wee bit salad on the side is the only acceptable aspect I suspect (though maybe that's tamasic as well, as it's a day past its sell by too)!

Slightly irked with the day, as I wanted to get more of the nutrition book digested. Wonder how we could get a "reading room" into our living space. OH is, increasingly (for reasons mysterious and unknown) leaving the stairs to our loftbed down during the day - maybe I could simply make my way up there to read. Hmmm. I might just try that tomorrow. I could take wee Valentine and the headphones for some music, and then disappear into my books for a few hours

........ Calories 865.00 Carbs 46.82 Fat 57.98 Protein 41.07 Fibre 17.89

Saturday, low-carb day two-hundred and fifty-one, weekend feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 109.4lbs (analogue scales corrected ~106.75lbs); 0lbs gain
... t.measures - ub. 28.5, w. 25.5, t. 30.25, h. 34.25 inches

Report for the end of week 44 on 4.5 : 2.5 - 1.0lb gain this week (total loss 36.6lbs); no shrinkage or expansion.

What was I expecting? A miracle? Had rather hoped that the calorie deficits, albeit wee ones, would have put a halt to the creeping rise in my weight - not quite sure why it's not heading back down. Looking at my tracker there appears to be a definite cyclical pattern to the loss / level / gain line - might just be coincidence, but then it might not.

Though it is lovely to have been asked around to our artist friend's for dinner tonight, I'm struggling with whether to have an ad libitum evening or to exercise maximum restraint - I won't have a scoobie what's gone into the food I'm eating so won't be able to do accounts for it either way. I think I'm going to have to push this WoE's forgiveness to its limits: ad lib. but mindful rather than mindless eating is the way to go methinks - e.g. not scranning lots of oatcakes, cheese and chutney just because it's a treat and it's there. Trouble is, I'm rather an all-or-nothing FatDog - moderation is not something that I'm very good at, need to work on this methinks.

Rediscover the Vipassana Dhura Mediation Society link that I picked up many months ago now (http://www.vipassanadhura.com/mindfulness.html) - rather a lot of reading there for a FatDog, think I'd better stop picking up anything further until I've made a dent in what I already have.

Frustration - want to do my reading but "Any Questions" (repeat) is on the radio just now, which is horrible (the sweary quotient is sky-rocketting) but compulsive listening. Darn.

Think that I need to be setting proper, SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-limited), targets on a medium and long term basis as well as short - right now the longer stuff is very hand-wavy. I've an outline from some months ago - think I need to dig that out (just dug - last changed September last year!), polish it up, pin it to my desktop and notice-board, and then stick to it! So - e-book published how soon folks?

Felt as though the day was filled with extraordinary serendipity. Pass by charity store on the way to the co-op and find Sarah Ban Breathnach's "Simple Abundance" daybook - the readings for the day and the previous day hit so close to home that I was, quite definitely, having it. Then back via the library to collect ordered books - shufti at them first to see if they're worth checking out. Notice that the cookery book, Mridula Baljekar's "Vegetarian Indian Food & Cooking" has had an unfortunate encounter with some ingredients and bring it to the librarian's attention (I don't want them to think it was me!) - librarian says they'll withdraw it once I'm done with it. FatDog jestingly says she'll buy it off them. Done! Mine for £3.00. Gosh.

Dinner at friend's is delicious and company delightful. I utterly pig-out on ice cream (all friends and relations will vouch - FatDogs do *not* normally eat ice cream).

........ No accounts as it's a guestimate - maybe 2500 calories and 250g carbs?

=====================

Sunday, low-carb day two-hundred and fifty-two, weekend feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 109.6lbs (analogue scales corrected ~106.75lbs); 0.2lbs gain
... t.measures - ub. 28.5, w. 25.5, t. 30.25, h. 34.25 inches

Aye, tomorrow will tell... And to make it worse, I have this overwhelming and irresistible urge to eat *toast* for breakfast. And so I do, lots of it. With peanut butter and Seville orange spread. Oh yum: though the bread wasn't nearly as delicious as it promised to be - methinks a FatDog OLS loaf with some sunflower seeds in it would have beaten it hands down.

Long unseen friend by (more than 10 years methinks) puts paid to any plans for most of the afternoon. Then up into "the reading room" for an hour or so, and fall asleep instead.

VBF helps lead me astray in the evening with a bargain co-op goat's cheese pizza, followed by fruit salad and cream, coffee and cream, and chocolate. Late night nut munchies nail the excess. The day might as well have been ad libitum: less embarrassing if it had been as I would have had a guestimate for the accounts rather than an all too revealing list...

It's called how to sabotage one's diet and put on lots of weight in just two days...

........ Calories 2975.12 Carbs 227.23 Fat 130.98 Protein 70.78 Fibre 28.06

FatDog - re the library book - as they say in the NE here - 'shy bairns get nowt!'
And whisper where toast is concerned (or better still, 't***t') - or @Ballerina, she of the flame hair and sharp ears, will hear you and ...

Hi Fatdog. Checking in to say hi. I have not been keeping up in the last week. I wanted to say that from my point of view, your trend is still very much on the downward slope and it sounds like you enjoyed your Ferris style binge! Keep up the good work.