The Edcawber Principle

edinburgher

@Suffolk_lass - well done - I'm at 23lbs off 

Feeling a bit tender, think I have tennis elbow or similar, occasional excruciating elbow pain and numbness/tingling in forearm 😩

beanielou

That's mazing ed
Sorry about the elbow pain.

Suffolk_lass

Sorry to hear about the elbow. The tendon that causes tennis elbow runs along the top of your fore-arm just towards the inside. If you sort of press with the thumb of your other hand you will find the "hot-spot" - you can press really hard on this for 15 seconds or so and the immediate tension/spasm will disperse, then you can feel around and massage the inflamed tendon a bit. I've had it twice. The first time I had healing acupuncture (the painful one where they bounce the needle on the bone to stimulate healing) - then physio that followed it up was as I have described and I managed to get mine sorted myself the second time using that technique. Just be aware that it is often referred pain - so the real problem might be your neck or shoulder in tension - I could describe that but you can't treat that yourself. DS and I sort each other out normally when we are allowed within 2 metres - I know his is really bad at the moment. As it might be your neck (from your car accident?) that area is not something to mess about with if you are not already familiar with how it feels and where to work. You can happily press on your forearm to give immediate relief without doing any damage though.

23lb is amazing - well on the way to that 2 stone mini-milestone. You must be feeling so proud of yourself (rightly so) - 3 weeks in, five/nine to go on this phase - you will smash this if you can sustain it.

edinburgher

Thanks guys, it's not so sore today. I even managed to take DD sledging, although I had a couple of ibuprofen beforehand and favoured the non-sore arm. Only 45 minutes or so, but a good workout, I even got a shot! I have a tubigrip bandage coming this afternoon for a bit of support.

I actually put on weight today (1.2lbs), which is a first for this diet. I think it is down to the fact that I accidentally had an extra meal on Friday as I had miscalculated the number of meals that I was allowed... Back on the straight and narrow today, with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast and bacon with oven dried tomatoes with a little olive oil for lunch. No dinner plans as yet.

I have resurrected our old net worth spreadsheet and there has been quite a change since I last regularly updated it 2 years ago. It was still a bit sobering, as our spending is high and therefore our requirements in terms of income remain high. Need some sort of cunning plan, but not quite sure what.

Suffolk_lass

I'm sat at the computer waiting to get in the bathroom for a weigh-in. Yesterday was three weeks since I started. Last time I stood on the scales it was higher too but overall still going down (not sure why but a handful of nuts wasn't predicted as a filler snack). Definitely feel my clothes are loose. Have you measured like he suggests? You might find 6" has gone now. I can tell from waist on jeans and hooks on bra. I need to keep busier or I get into "what shall I eat?' mode when I don't need to.

Edit to update - another 1.5lb so 12lb in 3 weeks now - not too shabby

Ooh, I remember that spreadsheet.

edinburgher

@Suffolk_lass - I haven't bothered measuring because I feel we all know our own bodies and I'm my own worst critic! Jeans and shirts that haven't fitted for the Christmas holidays now go one with a comfortable fit (DD insisted we got dressed up for Burns Night). Also, at a prosaic level, I jiggle less when I'm moving

Another 1.2lbs lost today, taking my total to 25lbs so far (now 15st 2lbs). Unfortunately I am experiencing a bit of pain in my arm (as you know), but also my hips. I'm not sure if this is down to the diet, increased injury, the car bump or some other factor (I'm thinking probably not the car bump as was slow speed and no airbags deployed etc.) I've been taking ibuprofen, but can't do this for very long, so am considering some other anti-inflammatories. Perhaps apple cider vinegar and turmeric (not at the same time)?

Mrs E has been paid and as a consequence, our (maybe) summer holiday is now fully funded. This is great, as it's (maybe) something to look forward to, (maybe) enforced savings and (definitely) money in the bank. I have moved £2,426 to Premium Bonds to cover the cost of this. I have also started a slow stooze (credit card with a £3,750 limit, all money going to PB). Who knows, maybe I'll be a millionaire this time next year?  The logic behind the slow stooze was to spread out costs and potentially boost our savings return over the next year or two. That's as fancy as it gets.

I have started to make very small payents to my SIPP at the month end so as to try and juice our returns from that leg of our wealth stool. Nothing fancy, 0.5% of earnings this month and going up to 1% next month. Better than a poke in the eye. That is gross x% of earnings, I'm dividing by 1.25 to take account of the government's contribution.

I realise that our expenditure will potentially fall over time (once DD grows up), but it is likely that we will be carrying a mortgage into retirement and I'd rather have a higher income than spend less (I know that's not often the MFW way, but different strokes for different folks). That's not to say I'm a mad spendthrift, I do try and reduce costs, budget and generally watch things like a hawk. I think that personal (as oopposed to lifestyle) inflation is unavoidable and is a topic not often discussed in this neck of the woods. Some things just get more expensive.

Karmacat

 "I think that personal (as opposed to lifestyle) inflation is unavoidable and is a topic not often discussed in this neck of the woods. Some things just get more expensive."  That's interesting, Ed, but I don't think I fully understand ... can you say a bit more?  Sorry!  But new info about how to regard my finances is always useful (though of course I too will soon be a premium bond millionaire ).

edinburgher

Karmacat said:

 "I think that personal (as opposed to lifestyle) inflation is unavoidable and is a topic not often discussed in this neck of the woods. Some things just get more expensive."  That's interesting, Ed, but I don't think I fully understand ... can you say a bit more?  Sorry!  But new info about how to regard my finances is always useful (though of course I too will soon be a premium bond millionaire ).

Headline rates of inflation are the government's best bet at the increase in the overall costs of goods and services for the population.

But some people buy much much less of some things (maybe you never go on holiday) and much much more of other things (like housing, children's clothing, or groceries). The difference in the annual costs that you spend on the items that make up your budget constitute your personal rate of inflation. Good recent Monevator post on the topic.

Several of the things we regularly buy are getting more expensive and there are only so many options to trim these costs. Housing being one example. We can save money by remortgaging , but if we move we're likely to spend more and there's no two ways about it, we live in a nice area and that's just the cost of being here 🤷‍♂️

Karmacat

Oh of course!  I don't know what planet I was on ... linear thinking got hold of me and took me to a cul de sac.  Thanks for that  

badmemory

I agree with Ed about the personal inflation rate.  Mine never seems as low as the gov says.  Even before I retired my inflation rate always seemed higher.  I have found that any item (of any sort) which is a "brand" goes up earlier & by more than an item which isn't a brand.  One advantage of being retired is that I no longer just shop in a major supermarket, that has made a big difference to my personal inflation rate, but you can only do that a couple of times   I am dreading this year, we are only in month 1 & petrol has already gone up 3.5%.  I do realise that in actual fact I am lucky as in about 40% of my pension will go up by 2.5% with most of the rest only 0.5%, but many people will have no rise at all or in many cases a drop in income.

But we should all celebrate the good news so - I had the vaccine last Friday Pfizer (sp) headache for a couple of days & arm ached a little the next day & yesterday in my bubble I wore a 45 year old jumper, all fashion comes back to bite you on the backside.