OK, What's For Lunch or Tea Today?

[Marco]

Learned by my own take on Loosing weight.. Basic Rules were

No Processed food, No take away's what so ever
No clashing of carbs, small portions of it
No eating late
No booze cos i cant help but drink too much

That little potion of rice you shown it about as much i eat. I do one 90mm dia x 35mm cooking ring full on the plate.

Sensible advice dude, but you've still got to enjoy life! And enjoying life isn't obsessing over calories...

That's the difference though, you only eat to survive, not for pleasure, or at least that's the impression you give. Correct me if I'm wrong... The other thing with carbs is that it depends on how active you are and how your metabolism works, and therefore how quickly you'll burn off the calories or put on weight, so nothing is set in stone

Marco.

[Made in 1968]

Im not a fan of eating, its a pain & an expense i could do without. So you see food is not an enjoyment but a ball & chain.

Regarding cabs its just that every diet i tried was shit & basically useless, even with excersize & believe me my last job made me do a lot of that. I decide to half a blokes calorie intake which i did & worked perfectly no less than 4LB per week loss. So you can understand the calorie intake allowance was the only way. It sticks with you after a year, i dont so much obsess but i know full well the amount i need to have. Im back on that regime as i need to get down as low as 12 stone. Loosing a lot of weight makes you more energetic anyway so excersize becomes a thing you just do without exerting yourself..I do have to be very careful with this new job as it a very sedentary job so still have to be careful with carbs.

[Marco]

Im not a fan of eating, its a pain & an expense i could do without. So you see food is not an enjoyment but a ball & chain.

Regarding cabs its just that every diet i tried was shit & basically useless, even with excersize & believe me my last job made me do a lot of that. I decide to half a blokes calorie intake which i did & worked perfectly no less than 4LB per week loss. So you can understand the calorie intake allowance was the only way. It sticks with you after a year, i dont so much obsess but i know full well the amount i need to have. Im back on that regime as i need to get down as low as 12 stone. Loosing a lot of weight makes you more energetic anyway so excersize becomes a thing you just do without exerting yourself..I do have to be very careful with this new job as it a very sedentary job so still have to be careful with carbs.

We have *totally* different attitudes towards food, but that's fine, as we can't all be the same. However, when you were on that diet (highlighted by your words in bold), were you also drinking heavily? If so, that would account for why you had to do what you did, in terms of your calorie intake, in order to lose weight.

Alcohol is one of the most calorific things there is, so if you can drink it in moderation, whilst combining it with enough exercise, then you can enjoy food more without worrying too much about calories. Simples

I realise though, that unfortunately you're not able to drink alcohol in moderation, so that's why you've had to cut it out altogether. Almost all of us could do with losing some weight. It depends on how serious a problem it is for you. But I'd rather be a little overweight and happy/enjoying life, than the 'right' weight (or underweight) and miserable....

Life's too short for that, mate.

Marco.

[Made in 1968]

No i stopped drinking well before the weight loss after a near death incident.. I cant drink again. Like i said before i do not like drink or the taste of it. It was basically a tool i used to escape from this world, the trouble was more drunk i got more suicidal i got, but when you go too far it wakes you up.

Do not worry though buddy i not a food fan & what i do looses the weight , that is all that matters to me..

[Marco]

No probs, I get you. Could I ask you though, as someone who's genuinely interested in your well-being and would always do what I could to help, did you ever identify (and successfully address) the cause of what it was you were trying to escape from? You say "this world", but what specifically?

Also, have you suffered from, or are you suffering from depression? Obviously I know about the BP thing.

Marco.

[Made in 1968]

Kind of. I was to do with massive sums of money i was paying out for years. Over something that was totally not my fault. I now got this job so should be ok but there is no retiring when i planned..

[Marco]

Ah I see... One's ability to retire is a funny thing, based on many different factors, and btw I'm not talking here about you, just making a general point. However, if you're talking just about money, then for me it's quite simple: you only need enough to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.

Ah, but what constitutes as a "comfortable lifestyle"? It's entirely subjective... Well, for me, it's essentially about being able to live reasonably well for the remainder of the time you're likely to live, while having no debts, and therefore zero stress brought on by money worries. Plus not caring about portraying an 'image' or what others think. One's lifestyle, therefore, doesn't have to be lavish or extravagant, simply comfortable.

Therefore, if you can firmly tick that box, then for me there's no real point in continuing to work (certainly full-time), other than to accumulate stuff you don't really need, and if you have hobbies and interests to keep you busy, together with a close network of friends and family, with whom to spend your time with, then you can easily fill the 'void' left from working, and enjoy the freedom of being in charge of your day

In that respect, and this is purely my own personal view: in order to achieve that, and to retire as early as possible, I'd rather live in a smaller house (with less 'stuff' in it), but which was all bought and paid for, than a bigger/fancier much more expensive property, full of more 'stuff', that I'd have to work all my life (or into my dotage) to pay for, or pay off...

Therefore, in that respect, if it meant selling, say, a large four-bedroom house I had in London, to clear all of my debts, and move to a small flat in, say, Manchester, but subsequently be able to live debt-free (with a small 'nest egg'), and also afford to retire earlier, then 'downgrading' my house/material possessions accordingly would be a price I'd be willing to pay, and Del's the same.

TBH, I'd live in a council house in Carlisle with nothing but the basics, if it meant I wasn't under stress and had more time to spend with the people I cared about, because for me that's ultimately what matters most. When you pop your clogs, you can't take all the bullshit material crap you've accumulated with you, but you'll always have your memories, so why not spend the time instead making some nice ones and ENJOYING the life you have left with those you care for...? For me that's worth more than any sum of money you could mention.

Too many people these days want too much [somehow thinking that they're 'entitled' to a certain standard of lifestyle], and to live in ways that they can ill afford [often funded by debt], as they equate money and material possessions with 'success', and in the process saddle themselves with a lifetime's worth of financial stress, whilst essentially having no real 'life', as they spend all of their time working to pay for their lifestyle, or perhaps the lifestyle that their partners 'demand'....

For me, that would be an utter nightmare. The fact is, if people could learn to live simpler lives, and be content with less 'stuff' [materialistic bullshit that they don't really need] then they'd be able to retire much earlier!!

But then some folks claim that they're happy essentially living to work, as opposed to it simply being a means to an end, and again for me that is an anathema, and a mindset I simply can't relate to. However, as they say, each to his or her own.

Anyway, I hope that when you do retire, you're still fit and healthy enough to be able to enjoy whatever pastimes give you pleasure

Marco.

[Marco]

Back to food... We picked up some fresh diced goat yesterday from the butcher in Chester, so will be having this recipe later: https://www.thespruceeats.com/morocc...-recipe-435269

...and it'll be served with some couscous. Should be good!

Marco.

[Audio Al]

Lunch was something simple today

1 small baguette with slightly salted butter , That was it

[struth]

Looks good

sirloin steak in onion/ale gravy and trimmings