The Fast diet (5:2 diet) is the only thing that has worked for me. I've lost over 45 pounds in a year with no problems & no added exercise and I have maintained for the past 9 months. I needed something that would be do-able long term & not make me feel deprived or be too complicated or cost $$$ by requiring me to join a group, buy special foods, etc. The Fast diet is simple, just eat only 500 calories two days each week & eat normally (aprox. 2000 calories) on the other days. There are variations on this diet (4:3, ADF, etc.) but the basic concept stays the same, just the number of fasting days a week change. To give myself the best chance of success I worked out 3-4 different 500 calorie menus when I first began. Since then I don't bother with counting calories, as I just choose one of those menus. On my "eat" days I never count calories, just eat until satisfied. Over time I have found myself needing less & less to be satisfied. out of curiosity I did add up one of my "eat" day's calorie totals. It was a day where chaos reined & all my meals ended up being fast food. I was shocked to find that the day's total calorie count was still under the 2000 calories allowed. Since then I have never worried about overeating on my "eat" days. If you do Facebook, there is a great 5:2 diet group that I've found to be very helpful & supportive. JMHO

We did better than I expected as far as groceries. I aimed to eat mainly from the freezer/pantry/garden & use the couple grocery store gift cards I received for Xmas to get what we really needed. This worked until last week when dh & I took ds#2 south to settle him in his new school. Five days of eating out wasn't quite budget-friendly, but we did eat more than half our meals in the motel room. February should be easier as we'll only be feeding 3 (dh, ds#1, & me) as dd is away at sea until at least the end of March. Our freezer/pantry/garden still have plenty so I'm aiming to continue shopping there first. Tomorrow I'm doing another inventory of each to draft a February menu. I've given myself a challenge of decluttering one box each day in February & March to help get our home in order. This will help the budget as some I can sell & even if I give everything I sort out away, I find that this makes me less want to buy anything.

I'm surprised that Australia comes in as more expensive when compared to New Zealand. From what friends who have moved across the ditch, the COL in Australia is much more favourable than that here in NZ. Incomes are much higher as well.

Yesterday wasn't a great day for not spending. Dentist (me) ---$405 ouch! I had 2 unexpected cavities that were cheaper to deal with ASAP, so I went ahead & got them filled rather than waiting. new shoes (me) ---$99 I got myself some Skechers a few months back & LOVE them. I've been watching sales to get a pair with the small heel that would go better with skirts for work. As I have small feet, I need to grab them when I see them as the small sizes sell out fast. Believe it or not, $99 is a sale prices as it is about 30% off. haircut (ds#2)---$20 He gets his hair cut about 4 times a year, at the beginning of each school term. McDs breakfast combo (me)---$5.90 This is my one a week treat for me. I go after the gym & enjoy an hour or so quietly checking my emails, etc. With free refills on soda, I get my money's worth. On the Pantry Challenge I've done really well. We are starting to run out of things & I've needed to get creative. Rather than run to the store I ask myself if I can wait one more day before chopping. Usually I can find enough to put some sort of meal on the table. Dinner yesterday was zucchini fritters cooked in the waffle iron then used as bases for mini pizzas (using up the opened jar of pasta sauce & little bits of this & that in the fridge. Tonight I found a few small bits in the freezer & made fried rice for the boys (+ enough for ds#1's lunch for work tomorrow). I made dh baked eggs cooked in a tomato sauce with a large scoop of the veg mix from the fried rice. I ate a dinner salad plate. I've thawed out some black beans I found in the freezer & will use them to make a texmex dish of some sort to have over rice or in tortillas for tomorrow. It may be just ds#1 & I as dh & ds#2 have an overnight hike planned with the venturers.

How long are the flights? Are they international or domestic? daytime or night time? I've flown alone with my kids many times over the years. What I'd recommend for a 4 hour flight is much different from a 14 hour flight. What you can expect from the airlines is different when traveling international, rather than domestic.

It's worked well using grocery gift cards to limit my grocery spend. We had been given a gift card at Christmas from m-i-l & got another using some loyalty points that were going to expire. Knowing that I only have a limited amount has caused me to really choose just what we NEED. Dh isn't always happy when we run out of something he is used to always having, but the boys are fine with eating tortillas if we run out of bread, etc. I plan to continue using grocery gift cards as my version of the envelope system to help us budget. I'll buy a card in the amount we have budgeted for the month the first week of the month & when it's gone, it's gone. We won't starve (at least for the first half of the year) as our freezer is full & the garden is producing well. By mid-year choice may not be as great, but soups & homemade bread are filling. Planned spending for this coming week include: ---bill for windows for the renovations ---bill for building supplies for the renovations ---bill for carpenter for the renovations ***new underwear for ds#2 ***school shoes for ds#2 ***hockey shorts for ds#2 + price tech options for ds#2 to use as BYOD for school. To up-grade our old netbook from XP to Windows 7 I've been quoted $200, but the battery lasts just over a hour when watching a video. I'll get a price on a new battery when I am in town today, but it's looking more like it isn't worth up-grading.

We're a short family here, too. I'm 4'11" & dh claims he's 5'10" (but his mark on the door jam measures 5'6") Both his parents & my parents are short. Dd is 5'2". Ds#1 is 5'4". Ds#2 is 5'5", but his hands & feet are larger than ds#1's & he has yet to start shaving. Dh says he continued to grow well into his early 20s. Because of ds#1's small size we had him tested at age 7. At that time his bone age was 30 months younger than his actual age. His growth spurts seem to follow this idea, with his main growth spurt after age 15. We didn't get ds#2 tested as he seemed to follow the same growth path as ds#1. Ds#1 began to shave just before age 16 & he filled out (muscle-wise) a lot after that time. Ds#1 was a competitive gymnast from age 7, so increased exercise didn't cause him to fill out. At age 20 he is still the smallest in his peer group, but is not the smallest man at work. Ds#2 is still growing, but is the smallest in his peer group as well. We have never let any of our children use their size as a reason for not achieving or trying. Dd works on tall ships & has had to learn to do things a bit differently from her bigger ship-mates, but she still is well able to pull her weight on the ship. Ds#1 is much stronger than many of his workmates, most likely due to his gymnastics training & rowing / sailing he's done over the years. He finds that at times his lack of size is an asset on the job site as he can fit into small spaces where others struggle. Ds#2 prays to grow every night, but still has managed to make the NZ U18 Field Hockey squad as a goalie. He's one of the youngest men on the squad & the youngest goalie by over 2 years. He's also the smallest by far. His slow growth has meant that he isn't plagued with the aches, pains, stretch marks, & injuries that his bigger peers are due to their extremely fast growth rate. He is also much quicker, fitter, & more adgile than most other goalies. Ds#2 was the smallest boy in the whole high school (of over 1200 boys) when he began at age 13. This did not stop him from making the sailing team or the 1st XI (varsity) hockey team. He was the only Y9 boy to make either teams & he played field that year in hockey as I would not allow him to play in goal (due to his size) that year as they played in the mens league. Physical size is only an issue if you let it become one. There is one head coach in our provincial hockey office that seems to make a big deal out of ds#2's size. This is the coach's problem, not ds#2's problem. Non of ds#2's team-mates, opponents, coaches who work with him, & even national selectors have any issue with ds#2's size. HTH,

Ds#2 has a graphing calculator as he needed one for his maths 2 years ago. Most of his computer needs this past year in Y12 were for writing papers in Phys. Ed. or Business Studies. Y13 Phys. Ed. is said to be even more writing intensive than Y12 was, so that is my main worry. Paper & pencil should be fine for the rest of his classes. Ds#2 isn't into gaming, so powerful graphics isn't necessary. He uses computers for research, word processing, internet banking, email, Facebook, & watching the odd movie. Some of those things his smart phone or iPod will be useful, but not for word processing. I wish prices here were as low as you can get in the States. Even a cheap, not name brand laptop will be about $500. A nice 11" Mac Air would cost about $1300. Hopefully the school office will open soon & I can get a bit of info to go on as to what requirements he has in the tech area. This is the only info on the school webpage: Recommended Specifications for Student Devices Wireless networking capability using 802.11n, A colour screen 10â€+ preferably, An on screen or external keyboard or other means of entering text, A camera that takes both still photos and video, A microphone, An audio-out port and ear buds or headphones, A minimum 4 hours of use from one battery charge, The ability to run a full functioning, current web browser(eg Chrome) that will allow it to access Google Apps or other learning resources, Virus protection programme (for computers running a Windows or Macintosh computer operating system), Cell phones are not appropriate mobile devices. You may also wish to consider these features: Productivity software (word processing presentation, drawing, spreadsheet tools) that can be used when an Internet connection is not available, The capacity to run graphing calculator software eg Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 or comparable applications.

Ds#2 is going away the end of this month for his final year of high school. Just before Christmas he was offered a scholarship to a school 8 hours away that has a great high performance sports program. He will have a homestay with a local hockey family as the school doesn't have a hostel. Here at home he uses our ancient 2009 Acer net book or our 2014 iMac when he needs a computer for school. He can't take the iMac with him as it is our only home computer, but I'm worried that the ancient net book won't be enough as it is still on XP & is getting slower & slower. He plans to take Statistics, Physics, Physical Education, Mechanical Engineering, and one more class (High Performance Sport or Economics.) He used his old iPod for the past few years if he needed Internet access at school. The new school doesn't allow phones or IPods for BYOD. What would be the best device for him to take? Is it worth trying to upgrade the ancient net book or should we look at getting him something new? He is aiming at starting an apprenticeship in 2016, so we don't need a computer powerful enough to get through university. Would a tablet be enough? He would need to be able to do word processing, emails, & spreadsheets. Does MS Office 365 work on tablets for more than read-only? Are USB ports still important or are most things saved to the cloud now? TIA

To help limit grocery costs, I'm considering buying gift cards to our local grocery store in the amount that I budget for each week. Using cash doesn't work for me as I have no record of where the $$$$ goes, but by using grocery gift cards I could see that that amount of money was spent on groceries. Has anyone else done this? I will be using gift cards for our grocery shopping in January as my m-i-l gave us some for Christmas & we used some of our loyalty points to get a few others. This is the only $$$ I aim to spend this month on groceries.

Things will be really tight this month budget-wise as we have a couple BIG bills coming due from our renovations & no income until February at the earliest as I am a relief (substitute) teacher & we are on summer holidays until the end of January. We just returned from our National SeaScout Regatta & as I was helping in the kitchen I was able to get 3 big bags of ham bones put aside for me. Today I am boiling down the bones so that I can freeze the stock & meat for soups, etc. It's a bit messy, but well worth the savings I'll get in both money & time. The first bag of bones gave me over 5 litres of stock & 4 pounds of shredded ham. The second bag is in the stock pot now. I need to inventory our freezer as it is stuffed, but with what I have no idea. Currently it is in the back of the garage & hard for me to get to, so I have put off cleaning it out. I've challenged myself to cook mainly from the freezer / pantry / garden this month both to save money & use up what we have stored. I know I have a big frozen chicken in the freezer & dh found a huge lamb roast yesterday when he was trying to make room for the ham bones, so I'm relieved that we will be able to have a bit of variety & not be limited to soups for the month. Budget-wise we need to get more serious in 2015. Last week we made a decision to allow ds#2 to accept a hockey scholarship to a school 9 hours away. This will be for his final year of high school. We'll drive him down the last week in January to get him settled in with the family he'll stay with for the year. All his expenses will be covered by the scholarship, except for a bit of spending money & possibly one hockey tournament. We had decided a few months back to pass on the offer as we didn't feel we could afford for ds#2 to go away for school, but the school came back with an offer that covered almost 100% of his expenses. our goals for 2015: Finish our home renovations (hopefully before mid-year) Have dh return to work (either part-time, full-time, or self-employed) as soon as the house is finished Aim to work at least 80% of the school days as a relief (substitute) teacher. If I don't get enough days at the school where I've worked for the past 4 years, I will put my name down at a couple more schools in the area. When dh returns to work, aim to put all of one of our incomes into paying off the renovations loan. When that loan is paid off, start a new car fund. Give the veggie garden more attention so that we can be almost self-sufficent in fresh veg. Declutter a room each month & donate or sell the excess stuff we have. Draft a realistic budget to know where all the $$$$ goes each month. We haven't done this for years & really should have when dh lost his job almost 5 years ago. Draft a household plan (menu, cleaning, maintenance, etc.) for 2015 If I can get even half of what I aim to accomplish done this month, the rest of 2015 should be less stressful. I should have tons more time on my hands with ds#2 away at school, but I know from past experience that without a plan the hours slip away with nothing getting done.

I'm in. I've gotten the menu planning habit down pretty good this past year, but budgeting needs a lot of focus as we've completely ignored it since dh got laid off 4 years ago. What we thought was going to be a temporary situation looks to be the new normal for us & I think we need to make a more responsible plan for our future. Any plan will be better than our current winging it attitude. I know what I need to do, but doing it is another issue.

After reading this thread yesterday I decided to use my waffle iron to cook our potato fritters for dinner. We have 3 waffle irons (one that makes 2 penguin shaped waffles, the one that makes 5 small hearts, & a more normal one that makes 2 square waffles). I used the heart iron & it worked great! It was so-o-o-o much easier, quicker, & cleaner than when I made potato fritters earlier in the week by the usual method of cooking them in a fry pan. I'm thinking all the possibilities of things that could be cooked in my often neglected waffle irons. ---cornmeal pancakes to be topped with chili ---chocolate cake in the penguin iron to be topped with fresh strawberries & cream ---scrambled eggs in the penguin iron ---pizza dough in the heart iron to make parcooked pizza bases to top & finish off in the oven. any other ideas?

We're in the the end-of-year-chaos season, but thankfully most of it is now over. Ds#2 sat his last exam on Tuesday & is now on summer holidays until the end of January. Ds#1 is working longer hours as they rush to finish jobs before the country closes down for Christmas. Dd is away at sea, working on an American ship now that carries university students who do a semester at sea. She is enjoying this a lot. We will have a small family Thanksgiving on Sunday. We usually celebrate on Saturday, but ds#2 has a cricket game all day & ds#1 had to work today, so I've put it off until tomorrow. I only have about a week left of possible work before the school closes for summer holidays. Then I have no work for sure until the beginning of February. Although I look forward to having time to get jobs done at home, it will be a challenge to make ends meet as dh is still not working. Our garden is thriving & I'm planning on cashing in some of our loyalty points for grocery vouchers, so we should manage OK if I am careful.

I make up a big platter of homemade Christmas cookies for each of dh's siblings & his mum. I, also, make up smaller platters as an end-of-the-year thank you for coaches, scout leaders, etc. My family is half a world away, so I only send cards. When my mom was alive I would get a small gift for her & for my dad. Now we get my dad a NZ calendar. I do take a small gift for each niece & nephew when we return to the States for a visit every 5 years or so. The high cost of postage got just too much for us as the years went by. We try to limit our dc's gifts to experiences (i.e. National Sea Scout Regatta, Hockey camp, etc.) + 4 gifts: Something they want Something they need Something to wear Something to read Dh & I don't usually exchange gifts.

ds#1 ---iPad or iPhone --- He also has an iPod touch, but hasn't used it much since getting his iPhone. ds#2 --- iPod Touch or Samsung phone (he'd prefer an iPhone, but got the Samsung as it was all he could afford) Neither of my boys have a laptop. They use the family iMac or our ancient Acer netbook when they need a computer for homework. dd --- her new Asus Transformer Book (convertible notebook tablet) or her Samsung phone. Dd loved her old Acer netbook that she used all through uni, but it was dying & when XP was no longer supported she up-graded to the Asus Transformer Book. She wanted something that used windows, was about the same size as her old netbook, & had USB ports. When her old non-smart phone died a few months back she up-graded to one of the cheaper Samsung smart phones so that she could check her emails, etc when she was not near WIFI as she travels a lot for work. None of my dc are interested in getting a Kindle, while I LOVE the Kindle Paperwhite that I got for Christmas last year. When thinking what is best for your dc I would look at how they would use the device most often. If they would be reading books most often, get a Kindle Paperwhite as it is so much easier on the eyes when reading for long periods & you can easily read in bright sunlight & the battery lasts much longer than a tablet. If they will be using the device for writing / schoolwork, I would look at getting a tablet that could use a work processing app like MS Office 365 or Apple Pages. You can get bluetooth keyboards to use with most tablets. If they are into gaming, look for what device would best fit their favourite games. If they want something to carry with them for music, surfing, emails, etc look at a smart phone. An iTouch would work as well, but as they are in in their mid to late teens a smart phone would give more options as they begin to spread their wings. JMHO

This came at just the right time for me. I was getting frustrated at how the hours/days would slip away without me really making much progress on my many goals. I remember seeing the posts about the bullet journal a few months back & thinking what's the big deal? Well, when relooking at the idea & thinking of combining it with the idea of internal planning, it looks to be a great fit for me. I use an A5 size grid-style planner (from tinyme.com.au) for my day-to-day commitments, but couldn't seem to get it to work for longer term goals. I dug out an A5 size graph paper notebook to trial as a bullet journal. It works great! I have accomplished more in the past 3 days than I got done in the past 3 weeks. As both books are A5 size I can easily fit them in my purse when I go out. I've organised my bullet journal in this way: pg 1 --- left blank in case I want to use it as a table of contents pg 2 --- interval dates (20 Nov - 31 Dec 2014) Focus Habit = Daily 15 minute Declutter Project 1 = Sort/Sell excess HS/ing gear Project 2 = Tidy Lounge boxes Project 3 = 6 week Holiday Prep Task 1 = sort P333 for summer Task 2 = Tidy my closet / drawers Task 3 = wash windows Task 4 = Xmas Cards Task 5 = File bills Pg 3-8 = more detailed lists of what needs to be done to accomplish my projects / tasks Pg 9 = lists of paperwork & bills to deal with (to be added to as they come up) Pg 10+ = Daily "to do" lists Each evening I refer to my project/task detailed lists & choose ~10 things to get done that day. #1 is always my 15 min declutter habit. I also note down my daily weight & dinner menu. Thursday I completed 4:10 of the items on my list. Friday I completed 10:14 items. Focusing on fewer smaller goals helps me to not get overwhelmed & simply give up. I'm hoping my bullet journal helps me to keep sane & keep the house running while we get through the crazy stage of our home renovations.

Where I live in NZ, Trick-or-Treating has become more popular each year, but is still viewed by most as another American import. My dc only Trick-or-Treated the couple times we were visiting my family back in the States & we have never participated here in NZ. I politely tell any children who come to my door that we don't celebrate Hallowe'en. I find most of the "rules" about Trick-or-Treating that I knew growing up in the States did not come with the mainly commercial import of the holiday. A lot of the children are not supervised & are just expecting lots of free lollies. The only Hallowe'en tradition we do is to carve Jack o'Lanterns. I always buy an orange capsicum (bell pepper) for each of my 3 dc & they carve that into a Jack o'Lantern that they eat as part of their dinner. We don't use a pumpkin as it is springtime here & dh was horrified at the idea of wasting good food (pumpkin) making what was really a decoration. Instead dh likes to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day (5th Nov) with a bonfire, fireworks, etc. When we lived in Fiji, I belonged to the American Women's Association. The AWA put on family events for Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, & Thanksgiving. These events were mainly for the expat Americans, not something the general public were expected to take part in & support. JMHO

I'm trying to shop the pantry/freezer/fridge/garden first as we are getting ready to replace our kitchen. Today I made a bean soup in the slow cooker, using up the last of my navy beans. Tomorrow Tuna Mac is on the menu using tuna, mayo, peas, & pasta from the pantry. I'm getting through what's in the pantry & fridge, slowly emptying the shelves, but the deep freezer is a HUGE challenge for me for a number of reasons. #1---our chest freezer is in the back corner of the garage & I need help to lift the garage door, so can't access what's in there with ease. #2---DH keeps adding things to the chest freezer & this keeps many things I really should use up buried. #3---most of what I remember is in the chest freezer is bits & bobs, nothing that adds up to much more than soups & dh isn't a soup fan. When we get to the next stage of our renovations the chest freezer will be located in the laundry room, not the garage. I plan to empty the freezer when we move it & give it a good clean. I feel bad that I most likely will need to throw out a bunch of food, but that can't really be helped at this stage. My goal is to start over & be a much better steward of our resources from then on.

This looks better & easier than other recipes I've previously tried. How well does it dissolve in cold water washes? Do you need the essential oils if you used the scented Dr. Bronner's liquid soap? I have the tea tree Dr. Bronner's that would make a good germ-fighting laundry soap.

Ds#2 is an elite athlete (on the national hockey squad.) Nutrition is extremely important as he is in the middle of a big growth spurt & as he is on the small side naturally he needs all the nutrition he can get to reach his top possible height. The Talent Hub, who mentor local elite athletes from a variety of sports, recommend having a high protein snack with-in 30 minutes of finishing a training. If they can eat with-in 5 minutes, it's even better. Ds#2 has hockey training 6:30-8:30am, before heading off to school. He eats a banana before leaving home & takes a liquid breakfast UHT drink (like a milkshake, but higher in protein) & a high protein museli bar to eat after training. I put one of each in a ziplock sandwich bag & keep a supply of these snack bags for him to grab on his way out the door. Lunches consist of 2 huge wraps (salad veg + meat/fish/or eggs), a single serve yogurt, a V8 fruit/veg drink box, a piece of seasonal fruit, & a piece of homebaking. If he has training (more hockey or sailing) after school, he'll take another smaller lunch for after school. When he gets home from school (if he has no training directly after school) he'll make 3 pizzas (on tortillas or pitas) & a smoothie (yogurt, frozen fruit, milk, & possibly a banana or egg). He'll eat whatever is put on the table for dinner with no complaint. When he made the national squad we knew we had to take his nutrition more seriously. I got into the habit of reading labels to choose the highest protein choices. Some carbs can be high in protein as well. I was surprised at how high wholemeal pasta was when compared with normal pasta. Full fat foods, high protein, good carbs, real foods (i.e. NO low fat, low sugar, GF, etc.) are the only option we give ds#2. JMHO

I needed to do a massive declutter for years before I actually really began. In clothing alone I had tons of clothes that hadn't fit for almost 2 decades. The funny thing was I just didn't feel comfortable getting rid of them. In the end I ended up finally making progress last year after I had lost over 20% of my weight. I now had tons of clothes that didn't fit as they were too BIG! I had no trouble bagging up the clothes that didn't fit as they were falling off me & was very grateful that I still had those clothes from years ago. Books, HSing supplies, etc. still aren't easy for me to let go. I have piles of things that I know needs to go, but I just am not ready. My youngest finished HSing 4 years ago to do high school at PS. I kept everything I used for my older two kids "just incase" PS didn't work out. He has 3 weeks left of Y12 & is looking forward to his final year beginning in February 2015. By now I should be ready to let go of the remaining HSing things. Even if he decided against doing Y13 at PS, he would do correspondence school, polytech, or begin an apprenticeship not return to HSing. I find that once I begin to declutter it tends to snowball & things get easier to let go, until I need to stop for some reason. Starting again is like starting over, with all the reluctance just as before I began. I find that I need physical & mental space to work through my reluctance & I just don't get that often in our crazy household.

I've rolled my children's uniforms for years. I got tired of my kids not knowing where they put their scout socks, etc. Even now I roll ds#2's school uniforms. This means if he has early hockey training he only has to grab a uniform roll (polo, shorts, sock, & undershirt) & grab his school shoes & put them in his bag to put on after practice. He plays on 4 different hockey teams, so each one's uniform (shirt, shorts, & socks) are rolled in his sport drawer. His Venturer Scout uniform is all together on a hanger, as is his #1 (dress) school uniform. Rolling keeps things together, makes grabbing a matching outfit fool-proof, & helps to avoid wrinkling. JMHO

I have teen boys ;) I just make/buy snacks for them that I don't like. I, also, feel that we set our future eating habits while we are teenagers, so I provide lots of healthy alternatives for my boys. One of my boys is an high performance athlete on a national level squad & his nutrition is very important to his fitness. We follow the guidelines set out by Hockey NZ in planning his daily intake. Hockey NZ does NOT recommend junk foods for their elite athletes. To get the recommended levels of carbs & proteins after a heavy training can be as simple as a PB&J sandwich, a smoothie, & a banana. The rest of his daily intake doesn't look any different from what I'd provide for a good balanced diet for everyone in the family. The males in my house just have a bit bigger serving sizes than I do, but they tend to eat the same foods.

Some people have wondered what a non-fast day looks like for me. Today was one of my "eating" days. For breakfast I had a hot chocolate (I wasn't really hungry yet after fasting yesterday.) Lunch was a grilled cheese sandwich, red grapes, & red bell pepper sticks. Afternoon tea was 4 cheese & crackers and another hot chocolate. Dinner was 2 beef, blackbean, & cheese enchiladas + munching off our veggie platter (carrot sticks, red bell pepper sticks, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese & red onions), and a glass of hard cider to wash it all down. I may have a banana or some ice cream before bed as a treat, but not now as I feel stuffed. Tomorrow I'll fast again, so water/lemon all day & a huge salad plate for dinner again (this time with l/o roast pork & salsa as dressing. Yum!) I have no idea as to how many calories I ate today. I'm not concerned at all as I regard my "eating" days as time to load up on healthy foods. My fasting days allow my body to rest, cleanse, & heal. The past week I have done ADF to hopefully drop the final 5 pounds I have left to my goal weight. Then I'll move to 5:2 to maintain.