My biggest dilemma is that I have to take medicine in the morning. I don't want to eat until around 11 am because I like to have a late night snack of 100 calorie pack of cocoa dusted almonds. I've been putting off taking my medicine but the one I can't put off is an anti biotic.

I guess I can share this ,lol. I have to take an antibiotic before have sex or I will get a UTI.I have to take it with food.

I guess half of a Greek Yogurt would be 50 calories. I need to look up string cheese and baby bell light.

How about you? Is the 5:2 plan working with your life? I also don't like working out with my trainer on an empty stomach.

Will this not work if you have 11 hours in between instead of 12? There must be some reason you have to have 12 hours off.

Honestly Globe, I would love to send you a care package. My bf's son is in Afghanistan. We're getting ready to send him one. Those flat rate mail boxes make it so easy to ship stuff.

What would you like? What can you have? I am not sure if you're where the heat gets to food.

I have these chocolate whey chips you might like. You can eat it plain, or put it in stuff. I kind of like it with a tiny bit of milk over it like Cereal. I have many flavors of Protein powder. I can put some in a big zip lock bag.

Tell me what you would love to have and I will send it!

FOB stands for Forward Operating Base, any sort of US military installation outside the US is considered "forward". Yes, there were casualties, many. I received a concussion. PRT stands for Provincial Reconstruction Team. Re-reading the first post, I realize now how it could have been confusing, talking about the attack and then hernia without differentiating. It's a good thing that Fiddleman and wife sent me some Protein powder awhile back and that I mailed several gross of Quest bars to myself, unfortunately they are Quest bars, ie delicious and high in carbs

As for my eating right now, we get one meal a day at the moment so I'm averaging about 900 cals a day and my exercise consists of wearing my body armor for a good portion of the day (35 lbs).

How's the concussion doing? Head injuries are sketchy as hell, I hope that you are getting medical care too. The body armor and single-meal days also sound pretty hellish, woman. Man.

Don't fret about the Quest bar carbs -- they are almost entirely from prebiotic fibre, which is great for your gut microbia. I ate metric tonnes of Quest bars during my losing phase and they were awesome. Plus, you definitely need the nutrition and calories right now!!

Take care of you, hun. :wub:

OD - I sent you a PM

Swizz - The concussion was strange, I felt sort of spacey, and couldn't recall things right away, and was very tired. I rested for 2 days and feel pretty much okay now. I have cookie dough, apple pie, vanilla almond crunch, and banana nut muffin flavors of Quest bars, all delish but also very sweet and rich and I can only have one or two per week before they become overpowering.

I've been doing ADR, haven't lost a pound, and if you averaged out my cals, I'm getting about 900 cals a day. so how the EFF am I not losing weight?????? I think I will switch over to 5:2 instead, see what happens.

Those do sound like hellish conditions...I'm so sorry GT. I would switch to 5:2 also since the ADF isn't doing anything for you. Also what about the hernia? Is it going to heal itself or does it need surgery? My youngest dd was born with a hernia (it wasn't umbillical but it was about an inch and a half above her belly button) drs. thought it would close on it's own, but she finally had to have it repaired surgically when she was 15 months old.

Ended yesterday at 563 so not too much over. It was a hard day for some reason...usually fast days keep me from thinking about food but yesterday was odd. I did spin class and rode almost 16 miles, so maybe that is where the hunger was coming from. Gah. Just realized that now...

Oh well, it was a day I kept telling myself, tomorrow you can eat...lol.

GT -- I have been doing 5:2 for three months and haven't lost any weight either. TRIPPY. I posted a new thread about several things I think are happening with me vis-a-vis 5:2...and thus my new approach to it for a while to see how it goes.

Take care of you, keep your attention on the head injury to notice any ongoing issues -- TBIs are nothing to mess with. I hope the fighting where you are eases off, how very scary that must be. I can't even imagine.

FOB stands for Forward Operating Base, any sort of US military installation outside the US is considered "forward". Yes, there were casualties, many. I received a concussion. PRT stands for Provincial Reconstruction Team. Re-reading the first post, I realize now how it could have been confusing, talking about the attack and then hernia without differentiating. It's a good thing that Fiddleman and wife sent me some Protein powder awhile back and that I mailed several gross of Quest bars to myself, unfortunately they are Quest bars, ie delicious and high in carbs

As for my eating right now, we get one meal a day at the moment so I'm averaging about 900 cals a day and my exercise consists of wearing my body armor for a good portion of the day (35 lbs).

I missed it, too! I would have known exactly what you meant if I'd seen FOB in the initial post but also assumed PRT meant something with your health issues. Sorry to miss it - and sorry to hear you guys are on alert and wearing armor. Stay safe out there! Do you need another care package sent your way? I'm happy to mail along a few things if you let me know a list of what you need - PM me details if you'd like!

~Cheri

It is so challenging to stay upbeat about these things with the military interventions we started over the last ten years...I read in more detail what happened and I'm very sorry to hear about the violence in that region. The media here is really quiet about these things, as you know, especially compared to seven years ago when it was all you heard about each day (OT but somehow America forgot to continue protesting the war/interventions once the President changed) so it's easy to miss these things now. I get bombarded on my FB all day by people totally unaffiliated with the military or our DOD contractors that have ZERO idea of what we do and how we accomplish it and their uninformed opinions about how we can best solve all the ills of the Middle East. It makes me angry and sick even though they're simply regurgitating what their news source of choice tells them to think. My husband is in security cooperation right now - we just spent two years in Bishkek (Manas is the transit point for all troops into Afghanistan right now) and it's amazing how little voters really know about what we do, how we do it and why we do it. Hell, even the people doing the jobs don't know sometimes!

I've got a husband that was tapped to go to Afghanistan and by the luck of the assignment guy's random dart throw he's going to Liberia instead. I wish people understood the position the military and contractors are in nowadays. I keep hearing "you know what you signed up for, just get out." Well, if he was a civvie and had a chance to, oh, take some of that pension with him to a new job, sure. But his job field is narrow - his only civilian options are in the same darn field doing the same things as a contractor. What, are we supposed to say, "this is a different world/Army than we signed up for in 1989" and walk away from more than a dozen years towards retirement, especially now that my husband is too old to accrue a civilian retirement? People/politicians/big military all forget that we are people - we have mortgages, we have a family, we have lives and we have been counting on military retirement and can't just walk away from our job because our principles might lead us elsewhere today. They have no idea - we're just as stuck and we do the job we're told to do whether we like it or not to the best of our abilities. We didn't exactly sign the dotted line post 9/11 because we wanted to go kill bad guys.

Forgive my OT ramble today. I'm having a hard time staying positive today and ventured into politics when I shouldn't. We have a friend that was on a hugely successful career path that was just sent home with injuries that will probably force him out shortly.

Oh, did a fast on Monday and plan to fast tomorrow again. Up to my high on the scale again and not really sure there's a good reason why. Calories are okay, fasts have been going well. Up to 146 - a huge jump from last weigh in. Stress, maybe.

Stay safe, GT.

~Cheri

I have no real experience of military life (BIL used to be in the army and was posted in Afghan and Iraq but that was a long time ago and has since left and is now a civvie). I have no real understanding of the stress that it causes both serving military personal or their families.

If there is anything I can post GT - albeit from the UK...lol - please let me know; it would be my pleasure.

So - no fasting today - tomo is my next day and I'm quite looking forward to it. The scale is playing 'let's bounce around and do my head in' again! I'm going from 161 - 163 again!

I also responded to Dee's post on 5:2 and women/hormones. My menopause symptoms are defo back, especially the hot flashes. I am also feeling really bloated over the last couple of days, despite being aware of the foods I am eating!

Perhaps, as I've said before, I will lose a little...bounce around... and the lose a little. I'm ok with that!

I wasn't able to fast yesterday weird things happening, but today is going to be a fast day. I'm getting myself back on track eating 3 meals a day without deviating and having snacks in btn meals. this is frustrating for me because I find myself eating when I'm not even hungry. Old habits come back fast......

My nephew was stationed in Iraq twice. I can never know how it really was for him... Rough. Friends died, good and bad...I have to say he has grown up a lot. You take care, don't need to add any more stress than you already have on your shoulders girl.

New low. 175.2. Started 5:2 13 weeks ago at 190.9. And fasting again tomorrow, so hope it sticks around for a while (or less of course) Now about one pound from my WLS low. I am so happy this is working for me. I go in for a checkup in 5 weeks, and it sure would be cool to be at goal!

Thank you all for your kind words, the word stress is so puny it really doesn't describe the feelings one has after such a shock. The difac is back today, who knew I would ever be grateful for the heat lamp food they make but compared to MREs its great! As for things I need, I'm desperate for Clorox wipes or something similar, just-add-water or boil-in-a-bag type foods that aren't loaded with sodium, and Kleenex.

I'm making today a feed day, in honor of actual food being available for the first time in a week, but I will not consume any overt carbs, no bread pasta rice etc.

It's going to be really hard to fast with my brother here. For one thing, he doesn't know about my surgery. I never told him, and I feel like he would be upset if I told him now, 4 years later.

I hope I can keep my head in this while he is here.

It's going to be really hard to fast with my brother here. For one thing' date=' he doesn't know about my surgery. I never told him, and I feel like he would be upset if I told him now, 4 years later.

I hope I can keep my head in this while he is here.[/quote']

Daisy, you can do it. Albeit, maybe a modified version.

Ah, the difac. You know, we were so hungry for American food when living in Bishkek that a trip to the difac for heat lamp hamburgers or a salad (with iceberg or romaine, hard to find in Bishkek) was a huge treat for the family. We did it about once a month. Plus, the deployed guys and gals loved seeing our twins run around - they miss their own families and seeing our family there was nice for them.

I'm in the land of the weird. Hubs got the call that he is now NOT going to Liberia. He's on hold for some other, as yet unnamed, mission. We shall see what happens. At the very least, I'm relieved that we've once again earned a reprieve and will have a few more months of him home. This is kind of an odd turn as he was already on orders. It's not typical to have a guy not go when everything is in order and he's volunteered.

I didn't even weigh today but I am fasting. Nothing to eat as yet but I'll start with a Protein coffee in about an hour. I have my day planned and it should be fine. There is no way I can fast tomorrow night (Shabbat dinner during Rosh Hashanah? Hardly!) or Saturday so there you go.

I think I need new clothes. I dressed differently in Bishkek (had more professional duties, did some catering and what not) and now I'm a SAHM and really feel too dressed most days. Uncomfortable, too! I think I'll be splurging on some more comfortable, everyday wear clothes soon. I'm actually really looking forward to sweater weather, but it's still high eighties here!

GT, PM me your address and I'll get you some Clorox wipes and Kleenex ASAP. Do you have mail privileges with an APO address? Our contractors in Bishkek had limited privileges so I'm not sure what you have. We had both dip pouch and APO there, due to Manas. Anyway, if you go under dip, I'm in VA and it'll get there very quickly. APO will take a few extra days to get to NY first. Either way, I'll send Priority to make the stateside time faster. As for meals, I have zero ideas about boil bags/meals with low sodium (wouldn't I need a magic wand for that?) but if you know some brands off the top of your head I'll find what I can and mail things out by Saturday. I admit to huge gaps in my knowledge of processed food. Want some packages of tuna and/or some flavor drops for Water? Those are my processed food standbys.

Everyone enjoy the rest of your week. I'm in need of a nap. I'm operating on just a handful of hours of sleep a night and need to nap when this baby does. Surprisingly, it's my five year old daughter keeping me up at night - anxiety about her dad deploying (which will hopefully fade soon) and the new school experience have her up multiple times a night with nightmares. The kid woke me up at three this morning (for the third time since one!) to ask about birthdays and school...WTH? This kid clearly takes after me and needs to know exactly what to expect or she's a wound up little ball of stress. Poor thing!

~Cheri