2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

2Scratters

Great news @PipneyJane yours is quick and just is needed. DH will be no news is good news due to the length of the process.

2 Scratters xx

Gem-gem

That is wonderful news @PipneyJane! 

Also, well done to Mr Pip on getting a new full time job.

thriftwizard

That is just such good news, @PipneyJane, all round! Very happy for you!

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all,
Absolutely brilliant news Pip, big hugs and great news about Mr Pip's potential job

keepcalmandcraft

Brilliant news @PipneyJane!  Very happy for you.

CapricornLass

That is really good news for you, Pip, and good news for MrP too.  Though I hope his clearance comes through rather quicker than mine did - seven months!  But I largely enjoyed my time at the Ministry, even if their logical thinking baffled me at times.

Laura_Elsewhere

I finally gave in and let Mr E march me up to the GPs this morning for a general overhaul... nothing major, just lots of minor things that have added up over several year when I've not been able to face the nightmare that is the appointment-system there... so now I have an appt for bloods on Monday, which I am expecting to come back all "within normal limits" as I suspect my main problem is being a 55-year-old, size-24, unfit, newly-post-menopausal woman! Sensible to check thyroid, etc., as some things could be very early signs of problems- but they are all equally explainable as being a middle-aged unfit overweight woman!

So I am now spending this week monitoring my food and drink, ie not "on a diet" but just noting down absolutely everything in a free nutritional database to see just what kind of terrifyingly-high sugar intake I actually have (answer: terrifyingly high)... and as well as Mr E trotting me the mile at his pace up to the doctors' this morning (he wheeled my bike, he dashed off once we came out as he is at work today; I got some salad and fruit from the shops and cycled home), I took myself out for another mile as briskly as I could manage before lunch, and then half an hour pottering about outside cleaning and oiling my bike (not much distance but at least doing all those stairs again). 

Eat less, less sugar, move more, more daylight... not rocket science...  

Also, that stripey duvet-cover frock is being cut out tomorrow, because I want something which looks nice and feels nice to wear, asap. Even the red linen 1929 frock I made in February is now uncomfortable to get in and out of because I'm wider... sigh... 

PipneyJane

Thanks everyone for the good wishes.

 @CapricornLass , DH has been warned that his clearance could take as long as yours. The Ministry is being very thorough. However, if all goes to plan, he’ll have “a job for life” which makes him feel very relieved. (When we first met, in our early ‘30’s, he’d only ever had one employer. After they made him redundant - and that took forever, because they really wanted to keep him - he worked for his second employer for nearly 9 years.)

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I finally gave in and let Mr E march me up to the GPs this morning for a general overhaul... nothing major, just lots of minor things that have added up over several year when I've not been able to face the nightmare that is the appointment-system there... so now I have an appt for bloods on Monday, which I am expecting to come back all "within normal limits" as I suspect my main problem is being a 55-year-old, size-24, unfit, newly-post-menopausal woman! Sensible to check thyroid, etc., as some things could be very early signs of problems- but they are all equally explainable as being a middle-aged unfit overweight woman!

So I am now spending this week monitoring my food and drink, ie not "on a diet" but just noting down absolutely everything in a free nutritional database to see just what kind of terrifyingly-high sugar intake I actually have (answer: terrifyingly high)... and as well as Mr E trotting me the mile at his pace up to the doctors' this morning (he wheeled my bike, he dashed off once we came out as he is at work today; I got some salad and fruit from the shops and cycled home), I took myself out for another mile as briskly as I could manage before lunch, and then half an hour pottering about outside cleaning and oiling my bike (not much distance but at least doing all those stairs again). 

Eat less, less sugar, move more, more daylight... not rocket science...  

Also, that stripey duvet-cover frock is being cut out tomorrow, because I want something which looks nice and feels nice to wear, asap. Even the red linen 1929 frock I made in February is now uncomfortable to get in and out of because I'm wider... sigh... 

Big hugs @Laura_Elsewhere. Hope your blood tests come back normal. Everyone fights the weight battle in a different way.  I’ve been fighting mine since I was an overweight pre-teenager.  A couple of things that I found to be very helpful when attempting to control weight and cravings, etc:

• Adding a tablespoon of sunflower seeds or mixed seeds to my breakfast cereal.  It cut out the mid-morning munchies, because the extra protein made me feel fuller for longer.
• Portion control.  Horrible phrase, but it really does help.  Most recipes feed 4 (or more) so I’ll dish up those extra portions into “lunchboxes” at the same time as dishing up dinner.  (Literally, one ladle for me; one ladle for DH; one for his lunchbox and one for mine.  Repeat until pot is empty.)   I weigh my breakfast cereal, too, and limit it to 40g.
• Using Bulgar Wheat instead of rice.  Something I learned when one of the Van Tulleken brothers did a program* about his Type 2 Diabetes and ways to overcome it.  It’s got 8 times the fibre and 4 times the protein of brown rice, so takes considerably longer than rice to release its sugars.  Even better, it is simpler to cook than white rice and goes further.  I use 1 cup of bulgar wheat for 4 generous portions, whereas I’d have to use 1.5 cups of rice.  To cook:  put 1 part bulgar wheat to 2 parts boiling water in a lidded container, add a pinch of salt, put the lid on and leave for 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed.  (If I’m using a saucepan, I’ll bring it back to the boil, then switch off before covering and leaving for the water to absorb.)
• Sugar. Before I discovered Canderel in the 1990’s, I dropped from 2 teaspoons of sugar per cuppa to 1/2 a teaspoonful, simply by stirring like mad to ensure that the sugar was fully distributed.  (I first went from 2 teaspoonsful to 1 and then dropped again.). Dropping the sugar in my drinks helped even up my blood sugar.  (Pre-Candarel, all sweeteners tasted horrible.)
• The afternoon banana.  A dietitian suggested that I substitute a banana for my afternoon chocolate bar/piece of cake/biscuits.  They’re higher in fibre and release their sugars more slowly than, say, an apple.

HTH.

- Pip



* It was on BBC2 and called, I think “The Truth About Carbs”.  I can’t find it on iPlayer.

Laura_Elsewhere

Thanks, Pip! tbh, I suspect if I simply switch to tapwater with a spoon of pure lemon juice in it (sanctioned by my dentist as not too acidic! The only way I can thole this hard water here...), and keep the sweet treats for weekends, I will lose weight considerably. 
I recorded everything I ate or drank yesterday without making any changes from what I've drifted into, and then today again only I stuck to tapwater and no sweet treats nibbled, and by the end of lunchtime today I was on c.600 calories and 13g of added sugar, compared to yesterday when I was on c.1100 calories and an alarming 80-something grammes of added sugars, almost all from drinks, inc the organic cordial I drink more diluted than the bottle suggests but which is of course, like all cordials, still just a flavoured sugar-syrup! 

So that was a useful exercise... 

Afternoon snacks I have a range of things involving very slow-burn fuels, oats and seeds and so on. A banana on its own isn't sufficient, I will still end up with problems, but I mash up over-ripe banana with a drizzle of maple syrup (<10% by weight) and some chopped dried apricots and the same weight of porridge oats as of banana, and then press that into a tin and bake it for 20 mins at c.200ºC and it makes really good slow-burn fuel bars. Only I forget to make them... on tomorrow's list... this afternoon I had two apples and a clementine, and a small bowl of plain whole yog mixed with frozen fruit and seeds (sesame, poppy, linseed, sunflower, pumpkin)- I make up a batch of five little lidded jars, about 125g each, and those are lovely with no added sugar. 

Cherryfudge

Commiserations, @Laura_Elsewhere, at least you have the appointment done and dusted, and hopefully the bloods will be okay. Ironically, all this food talk is making me want to try things...