Does anyone want to lose weight as a snail's pace?

[ginandchocs]

I'd say most people want to lose weight quickly. I certainly do. But it just doesn't work. Or, it does initially, but then it all goes back on and some.

I've decided to try a different method. I'm aiming to lose weight slowly. Maybe a couple of pounds a month. If I achieved that, I would lose almost 2 stones in a year but in a way that would be sustainable.

I'm going to do this using myfitnesspal. I'm setting my calorie goal for the week to be relatively near to what I usually burn without exercise (obviously a little lower otherwise I wouldn't lose anything!). I'm splitting the calories unevenly throughout the week though as I always tend to eat that bit more at the weekend (I end up falling off the wagon and giving up another diet - hopefully by having a greater calorie allowance would allow for this). Any exercise I do would then increase the weight loss (by a tiny amount) and would obviously make me healthier. I will not eat the extra calories.

The calories I've allotted myself may need to be tweaked if they're too high and I'm not losing at all. Time will tell. This may be a bit mad, but if it works then great. I would have to eat around this amount of calories to maintain my weight if I had lost anyway so I'm hoping this brings with it lifelong good habits.

My calories will be:
Monday to Thursday - 1675
Friday - 2000
Saturday and Sunday - 2250

Some days I may be over, others under. I'm not going to eat for the sake of it nor will I say no to something because I don't have the calories left for it. However, I want my weekly calories to be 13,200 or less. As I said, though, these calories may change if the numbers aren't right. It's a bit trial and error.

Anyone else fancy a slow weight loss journey that will hopefully create new habits, and allow me to maintain forever more?

I can’t remember whether I was 12st 8lbs or 12st 9lbs on Monday but I’ve just weighed myself and I am 12st 4lbs. I know that’s pretty much all water weight and I haven’t lost 4-5lbs of fat but it does mean that I’ve got the calories right so that’s good news as I’m finding it doable.

Welcome @cornflakecrispie 😁

@BasinHaircut that's a great loss and does show you are completely on the right track. Well done!

@lmfaoo Trying not to look at this as a diet is exactly what I'm trying to do. I'm hoping to make small changes that I can live with.

I actually haven't finished adding up yesterday's calories yet, but can confirm that I went a full day without any snacks! That for me is something of a miracle and wasn't intentional but I'm really pleased. My meals weren't the best but that's definitely a step in the right direction.

Just checking in.

Today has been good so far. Breakfast was 1 slice of toast with butter, banana for snack and a 2 egg omelette with salad for lunch followed by yoghurt and granola. Tonight's dinner will be chicken stir fry. I've also had 3 coffees with milk.

Currently on 11,400 steps.

Monday tomorrow. Let's have a smashing week, everyone is doing so well! 👏🏻

Well done lmafoo. Rubbish day diet wise for me. American pancakes for brinner and then roast for tea. Definitely gone way over my calories but I went for a run this morning and I'll be straight back to it properly tomorrow. Hope everyones had a good Sunday.

And well done ginandchocs for no snacking! I really struggle with snacking, if I don't eat often I get dizzy and grumpy. Trying to find healthy filling snacks can be really difficult!

@cornflakecrispie wow I envy you going for a run! I would love to go running but I don't have the confidence and I'm so bad at it I hate every second! I'm thinking of buying a treadmill as for a start no one will be able to see me and also I think I will find it easier being able to see how far I have run. I think I need that visual aide to motivate me. It's such an expensive purchase though I've told myself I have to get down to my goal of 10 stone before I'll get one. Hopefully it will help me maintain when I get to my goal, which I will do. I will get there!

@cornflakecrispie well done for going for a run. I haven't been out for 2 weeks now and really need to get back into it. I did go for a walk today, which is an improvement on yesterday!

Today has been pretty good. Not great again, but under 2000 calories for the first time at a weekend in absolutely ages. Another day without snacking (though there was pudding).

I'm weighing tomorrow and doubt I'll have lost anything, but I have felt so much more in control as this week has gone on so I'm not disappointed. I'm around half way through the James Smith book so need to finish that. There are definitely some good suggestions in there.

As @lmfaoo says, let's have a smashing week 😁

Morning all. Sounds like a bit of a mixed weekend but the most important thing is that we don’t let it knock us off the long term course! Weekends are always tricky and as long as you maintain some control it’s ok.

I think I came in on calorie target or slightly over yesterday. I’ve had to do a bit of guessing as I didn’t log as I went along, but I’ve just done it now and it puts me 46kcals over for the day.

I did absolutely no walking over the weekend so need to get back into that habit this morning. Just having my coffee then I’ll head out for at least 30 mins.

Morning!

I hope you had a good walk @BasinHaircut I'll be heading out with the children for a walk after lunch today. I've weighed myself this morning and I'm down another 1/2 pound so that 2.5lbs lost in 4 weeks. If I was at a Slimming group I'd be disappointed in that, but if I carry on at this rate I'd lose over 2 stone in a year and I'm eating what I want but just being careful.

I've planned my food for today. I'm really fancying toast and marmalade for breakfast so I'll make that in a bit. Then for lunch I'm going to make a stir fry with salmon as I have a couple of fillets in the fridge. It's one of my favourite meals! I'll have it again tomorrow with the other fillet. It's an easy dinner night tonight as ds1 has Beaver lessons over zoom on a Monday night so I need something I can thrown together afterwards. Pasta pesto I think for today which is a big hit with my boys!

I hope everyone has a great day

Well done @ginandchocs that’s fab and just what you were after. 2 stone in a year would be fab and unlike SW or similar you are able to eat whatever you want and not feel like you are failing if you don’t lose ‘enough’ per week.

Walk was good. I walked to DS’s school and back, past the train station that I use for work to see how many steps it all was. One thing I’ve realised during lockdown and talking walks just for the sake of walking is how bloody lazy I was before driving such short distances. This is one thing that I will change once we get back to normal. The school run is 4.5k steps so twice a day is 9k. Waiting for DH to leave to get a lift to the station in the morning means I miss out on 1k steps. Shocking really.

Well done @ginandchocs you are really nailing it. I was surprised at how much I lost in the first two weeks as I've certainly not been under-eating but I think it's down to not having any wine! So many hidden calories and I would reach for the snacks as well once I'd been drinking so it's a bit of a double whammy!

@BasinHaircut that's amazing! Just by doing the school runs you will have almost hit 10k #neatup247 springs to mind!

I went for a walk with my friend today (at a distance) and she asked if I had lost weight which is really encouraging. I tend to make more of an effort in general with clothes and hair etc when I'm feeling good so that probably made it more noticeable!

Today has been a pretty good day. I had toast and marmalade for breakfast, followed by some mango for a snack. I had a salmon stir fry for lunch and then a couple of salt and vinegar rice cakes this afternoon. Dinner was pesto pasta and I've just eaten some smarties. That brings today's calories to 1,688.

Good work everyone!

Another good day for me too. I’ve got 200kcals left from today’s allowance so might have a couple of snack a jacks.

Have done a bit of circuit training this evening too.

Well done everyone.

I only manage to go for runs because I get up super early which normally I have no motivation to do so I never go (recently started couch to 5k and I'm in week 7) but during lockdown it is the only tine I get to myself so I'm desperate to get out as much as possible. I like going early because there's never anyone else out at 6 am and if I go later on in the day I end up needing a wee.

One thing I love about this slow way of dieting is that I can still eat proper meals with my family in the evening. Normally when I'm on a diet I have to have a different tea to everyone else and it's always that, that makes me fall off the band wagon. Whereas this way I had a delicious chilli with all the trimmings but I was careful with my portion sizes instead of just stuffing myself.

Ginandchocs all your food from today sounds delicious.

Lmfaoo getting compliments is always such a nice boost, isn't it? I'm also completely off the wine and gin (well for the past week anyway). Not missing it yet but think I will when the sun reappears.

Basin we've really the same thing about walking. We go for proper family walks at the weekend but had completely got into the habit of using the car for short journeys during the week (usually cos of rain) hoping we can keep up with walking more after lockdown finishes.

Good luck for tomorrow everyone.

@cornflakecrispie I'm the same with running (when I go!). I always go out first thing, often before anyone else in this house has woken up!

I've done the odd diet where I eat differently to the rest of my family and I hate it. I feel that I'm setting my children up to follow in my footsteps and have an awful relationship with food as they grow up. I'm determined to do what I can to make sure they grow up knowing what a healthy balanced diet is, and how to enjoy food but know that too much of something isn't great.

I've just finished breakfast which was 2 scrambled eggs and a bagel. My thoughts at the minute is that I'll have the other salmon fillet with rice and broccoli for lunch and then we're having tacos this evening which I am really looking forwards towards.

I'll take the boys out for a walk after lunch today again and will go for a longer one today I think. The boys are on a technology ban today so they'll probably be happy to be out of the house 😂

I hope everyone has a great day 😊

Hey all, hope everyone's had a great day. Mine has been rubbish! Ok food wise though I did have a donut this afternoon which was bloody delish so no regrets but I've just felt bloated and miserable all day for no reason! Think an early night is in order. I've managed 16,000 steps which is good.

Dinner was sausages with new potatoes and lots of veg. Has anyone tried the fruity apple and pork sausages from aldi? They taste soooo good deffo recommend!

Sorry you've been feeling rubbish today 🙁 but well done for having a good food day regardless. I haven't seen those sausages in my local Aldi, will have to look again.

My appetite seems to be decreasing at the moment, though I think I'm eating a more substantial lunch so it could be why I'm not snacking much. Today I had scrambled eggs and a bagel for breakfast. Lunch was rice, salmon and broccoli. We had tacos this evening and then after getting back from food shopping I had a glass of port and a small twirl. Today's calories are 1,468.

My eldest asked earlier could we make our own pizzas for lunch one day this week, and that would usually me either feeling bad that I've broken my diet or miserable because I'm eating a salad instead. We might make these pizzas for lunch tomorrow and I'm going to enjoy every bite and see how well I can get it to fit into my day.

Morning all. Yesterday was also a bit of a rubbish day for me. Work was crazy and DS was behaving awfully. Food-wise I did well though, came in on calories. If I wasn’t so busy I might have turned to food, but fortunately I was too busy to snack!

I made a Jewish style chicken noodle soup for dinner and it was sooo delicious and filling. Have another portion for lunch tomorrow.

Those sausages sound good @lmfaoo I will have a look next time I’m in Aldi. I don’t go often as my Lidl is more convenient, and at to moment we are getting Tesco deliveries most weeks but there are a few bits I like to get from Aldi (love thier sweet chilli sausages actually) so might go soon.

Yes enjoy that pizza @ginandchocs there is absolutely no reason why you can’t have it! I might actually stick pizza on the meal plan for next week, haven’t had pizza for ages.

Weather looks like it’s going to be awful today. Was hoping to walk into town for a few bits but we shall have to wait and see. It’s a good 25-30 min walk with DS so hour round trip. Might not be practical if it’s pouring!

Lunch today will be the remaining leftover chilli from Saturday with a jacket potato and guacamole. Dinner is going to be salmon, sweet potatoes and roasted peppers. Not sure what I fancy for breakfast yet....

Morning all. I've just realised that I drank barely any water yesterday so no wonder I felt like crap! Will make more of an effort today, I usually drink loads.

@ginandchocs home made pizzas are the best! I have never thought of pizza being a bad thing to have especially if it's a thin base you can have a decent portion for not that many calories. Even better if served with a side salad.

@BasinHaircut the weathers been quite hit and miss this week, hopefully you won't get caught in a shower!

Today I'm having porridge for lunch, cous cous salad for lunch and tortilioni (can't spell) for dinner. Snacks will be a banana and popcorn.

Hi everyone.

I'm managing to stick to roughly 1600 calories most days. Eating less through the day so I can have a proper meal with my family at the end of the day. That's easier now that I'm back at work. I work in a school and with all the cleaning we're having no breaks and only 20 min lunches so not enough time to eat much!

Well done everyone on managing to eat well even when your having rubbish days. That's definitely another one of my downfalls. And the rubbish weather makes me want to bake but so far I'm resisting.

Today I've had a tuna pouch thing for lunch and ginger chicken and rice for tea. Also some snacks when I first got in from work because I was starving!!

@cornflakecrispie it sounds like you've had a good day. I hope everyone else has too. @BasinHaircut I tried looking for the sweet chilli sausages in Aldi when I was there last night but couldn't find them! Hopefully just low stock as it was late in the day when I went!!

Today has gone well. Breakfast was just a bowl of cornflakes. I had a fruit kebab for snack which was part of the youngest's school work so it ended up being a family task! Lunch was the pizza and then I had 2 salt and vinegar rice cakes this afternoon. For dinner we had a jacket potato with bacon, beans and cheese, and also a salad. I then had a snack of a multipack size double decker and a glass of red wine (one of the mini bottles). That's brought today's calories to 1,507. This is the third day in a row where my calories have been lower (for me) bur I'm eating what I want and I'll end up eating more over the weekend so it's not such a bad thing!

Sounds like you all had good days yesterday! Mine went a bit sideways after I posted. First day of AF and I felt just awful. Really low mood and absolutely no energy. Didn’t get out for our walk at all.

Stuck to the plan for lunch but just didn’t fancy salmon for dinner on the end so we pulled a pasta sauce out of the freezer (made from those sweet chilli sausages actually!) and boiled up some pasta to go with it. Grated some parmesan on top. Don’t know if it was within calories, the sauce was homemade and I can’t be bothered to try and work it out, but I somehow managed not to snack so even if I went over (there was quite a lot of pasta involved) it won’t have been by much.

Feeling much better today. Am hoping to walk into town this afternoon. According to the BBC weather app the chance of rain falls off about 2pm so will chance it. We need to stock up on fruit as DS is a fruit fiend.

I know lunch today will be the rest of the chicken noodle soup I made on Tuesday but I’m unsure about dinner at the moment. Will try and pick up some steaks in town as that’s what I fancy.

Hope you all have a great day!

Hi all! I woke up with a headache this morning and no milk so couldn't have my porridge or a coffee! Not a good start but I settled for some yoghurt and granola.

@BasinHaircut that home made pasta sauce sounds amazing and probably much better than the bought versions you can get. We had tortelloni with masapone sauce and half of the pasta and sauce which I would normally eat came to 650 cals and that's without cheese! Needless to say I had a much smaller portion and packed it out with veg and it was delicious. Still had to have cheese though! DP was happy as that meant more for him!

It's my day off today so I'll be cleaning the house then out to do the food shop later. I'm excited to weigh in tomorrow as it will be 3 weeks for me.

How has today gone for everyone? Food wise today has been pretty good. I've eaten:
B: bagel with 2 poached eggs
L: chipotle chicken with couscous salad
S: ice lolly
D: beef ramen
Drinks: g&t

My husband came home from work with a bottle of one of my favourite gins so I had to have a taste 🙈

Today's calories are 1,577 so quite low again for me. My appetite feels far lower this week and I'm not wanting to snack as much. I am paying more attention to my meals so it could be that I'm eating better which is keeping me fuller 🤷‍♀️

Good luck for the weigh in @lmfaoo let us know how it goes!

@ginandchocs don’t you find it amazing how much food you can eat for that many calories?

Yesterday was a good day. Ended up taking the car into town due to the weather but I did work out last night really hard so hopefully that makes up for it.

Haven’t actually logged my calories from yesterday yet, going to do it now but I’m sure I was on track....