Congratulations to everyone who's done so wel!... Mell, Caty, Alison! I have been eating more healthily in the last month and notice my weight's gone down a bit to what it at the beginning of January. Walking four miles to university is definitely helping!

Congratulations to Roversgirl, Mell, Caty and Alison. Long may it last!

I'm not sure why I'm posting this but I wish I could bring myself to like porridge. It sounds like such a wonderful breakfast, but the texture turns me off completely.

Have you tried soaking raw oats in milk to cover for an hour or so and then eating them? I love them like that. And you can add chopped fresh fruit in season, or a few raisins during the soaking.

All the benefits of porridge but none of the texture...

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Cestina's dolls houses - Where has the week gone?

Did anyone see the Horizon Programme: The Truth about Fat? I think it's still on iplayer. Very interesting - essentially investigating genetic influences ... Something that really struck me was the presenter saying something about how she felt her physical appearance had always reflected her character (as she was slim and fit, I think the implication was that she felt this was some kind of reward for being abstemious/ healthy etc) but that had been totally challenged by the findings in the programme (ie she was genetically disposed to be slim).

I probably haven't conveyed that very well, but it resonated with me from some of the earlier discussions on this thread about our weights representing for us 'success' or 'failure' etc ...

anyone see it?

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Hope is the bird that sings for the dawn whilst still in darkness.

I love porridge but don't always have the time (don't like the microwave version) so I tried the SW 'magic' porridge - soak the raw oats in a fat free yogurt overnight and add fruits such as raspberry or banana and eat without cooking....it tastes better than it sounds

I make my porridge in the microwave - but to me it tastes the same as if I make it on the stovetop, but takes less time and doesn't stick - or leave a pan needing washing up...

Microwaveable bowl; 1 measure [I use 120ml] porridge oats, 1 measure milk, 1 measure water. Leave in fridge overnight to soak, microwave for 2 mins 45 secs - stir after 1 min 30 secs and watch for the last 15 secs as sometimes it rises to the top ahead of time - I think it must depend whether a few extra oats or a drop more or less water or milk goes in. Delish

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to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk

If I am not eating the oats raw (preferred) then I too make mine in the microwave and can detect no difference in taste from stove-top. I don't bother to soak overnight, just put double the amount of liquid to oats into a tall microwaveable jug and microwave for about 3mins or a bit longer (I like them stiff...)

But as abbey says, watch the last seconds carefully or you get a terrible mess in the microwave

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Cestina's dolls houses - Where has the week gone?

Which is not fun first thing in the morning... I have been known to give up and just eat it as boiling hot milk and slightly soaked oats when that's happened...

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If I don't see you through the week, I'll see you through the window.
http://siobhansqueensguide.wordpress.com/

The bowl needs to be large enough that it is only half full in the first place. And I always put a piece of kitchen roll on the turntable first, so that any slight spillover is immediately caught ... even waching closely, I find, it is sometimes quite possible to watch the porridge rise up, and up, and over the edge!

But I must confess I don't have any other distractions in the mornings. I go downstairs and make my porridge and pour my coffee [coffee-maker has timer function, so I go down when I hear it bleep that it's ready ] then bring it on a tray back to bed, and then SLOC gets up and sorts his own breakfast - he doesn't want to talk to anyone at that time of day, so he does his own thing, and has done to my certain knowledge for the last 37 years; he reads the paper over his cereal, mushrooms, and toast and marmalade - and when he comes back upstairs to dress he's ready [as am I!] to participate in 'normal' conversation again

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to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk

Wondering how people are dealing with the endless Easter chocolate? I thought I'd gorged enough on Sunday to finish it all, but there still seems to be a cupboard full of the stuff! It's somewhat irresistable after a chocolate free lent though!

I've got a horrible feeling I've put on loads of weight over Easter weekend: everything feels tight . It was only a few days but I never get away with even one day of eating too much. & tomorrow is Easter Day by the Orthodox calendar, so you are allowed to eat lots more chocolate then, Caty .

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We really must stop eating like this ...

Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open.

I'm back to the weight I was at 3 weeks ago. Officially that means I've put on 4lbs which would be horrendous, but I think the scales were having an April Fool a fortnight ago when they said I'd lost 4lbs in a week which I couldn't possibly have done ... so I was expecting to be more than this today and so am not as upset as I thought I'd be!

OK, now I can eat the second Easter egg ...

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We really must stop eating like this ...

Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open.

Well done on the previous weight loss Alison! I have allegedly gained 5 kgs in two weeks! I'm not quite sure how. yes, there was Easter but still. Apart from a very stressful period a three years ago, my weight has always been relatively stable and never had dramatic weight changes. I haven't even noticed gaining that much!

If it's only 2 weeks it could just be the scales having a weird blip. They do that! Hope so .

I'm the same as I was last week, which isn't too bad because it hasn't been the best of weeks, but next week I won't get chance to do a normal amount of exercise because I'm working out of the office so will be leaving early and getting home late, and then I'm going away for the weekend, so it could all go wrong . Then I really need to make a big pre-holiday effort until July!

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We really must stop eating like this ...

Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open.

Alison, I haven't gone near the scales since my holiday 3 weeks ago. Just started exercising again, so will pluck up core to stand n the scales next week. 13 weeks till we go on holiday with son and his slim girlfriend. Hoping this proves more motivating than our holiday last year with on and his previous, also slim, girlfriend.

Not exactly a reccomended method of wieght loss, but having spent the past few days in bed with bronchitis, and no appetite, I have just lost slightly more than a kilo.

It means I have lost eight kilo overall since January, so being ill does have compenasations.

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... Anna made up her mind for once and all that there must be something about the Chalet School that affected all concerned with it with mild insanity!

Hope you're feeling better now Miriam and that it was just a scales blip Roversgirl. 5kg loss in one go is as worrying as a 5kg gain.

I have pigged out again. I had 2 good months at the start of the year but the last 6 weeks have been pretty bad. I had a big deadline on Momday, so very little gym and lots of chocolate since Lent finished. I really need to get back on track as I've still not made it into the "healthy BMI", let alone slap bang in the middle which is where I want to be. (I know all about how BMI is not always a healthy target I know from family examples that that it is for me!)

Edited to removed double post.

I am so proud of myself, around 3 years ago I was at my heaviest ever and since then I've had several lots of steroids, been unable to exercise and have very gradually managed to lose 3 1/2 stone as of today.

There is still a long way to go - in 2008 I was about 1/2 a stone less than I am now and was really hoping to carry on losing when I ended up on steroids for 6 months and that was the start of the massive gain, so it's fingers crossed that that doesn't happen again. But if it does at least I'm starting from less than I would have been otherwise!

And now my BMI is just "obese" not "morbidly obese".

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"How long does getting thin take?" asked Pooh anxiously
"About a week, I should think" said Christopher Robin