Countdown to April

[Clearingaspace]

Copying from @fouramclub : checkins are on Fridays but feel free to check in anytime for support/musings/a rant/anything else!

all welcome, original thread was by @peae

Tagging previous posters from March thread @HarpQuartet@CreationNat1on@FastingPhilly @Fullsteamahead@GreatHighway@HarpQuartet @LosingAndWinning@Notmycircusnotmydonkeys @PartridgeInAPearShape@PercyPea@Saraswati @StealthLaSilkySightHound @Welcometothenightcourt @loveyouradvice @pottypotamus @booksbooksbooks @Carno18 @desikated @catherino @GildedAge - please tag anyone I missed as preview suggests usernames don’t exist 🧐

At moment I am managing to ignore the hunger by telling myself, it’s not time to eat, I have eaten what I had planned to eat/normally eat so it isn’t reasonable to be hungry and finally whenever I drop a pound I feel more hungry the day before. So I try to treat the hunger as part of the journey rather than a reason to eat. It is easier when there aren’t Easter chocolates around and teens scoffing everything in sight. I will try to stick to a few mini eggs rather than mainlining creme eggs 😩

This thread was an eye opener for me regarding how much hunger is part of normal life for people who are slim. Lots of people don’t see it as a reason to eat, which is where I used to go wrong. I think the more you eat the more you get hungry which is probably why I ended up so overweight.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4911209-if-you-are-slim-are-you-regularly-hungry

@HarpQuartet Great idea to have strategies ready and waiting in our back pockets... I like yours and am going to try it - as well as having a reasoned conversation with my wee devil!! Snack wise, I find soft hardboiled eggs deeply satisfying if it is just hunger rather than emotional eating ... even better if I've time to chop one up with a tomato and some capers. Also, 2/3 of a square of 85% dark chocolate and 3 almonds comes in at 55 cals or so and satisfies the "treat" element of eating often

@ItRainsItPours ... yes, my Easter strategy is to buy one bag of high quality small praline eggs and try to restrict myself to those and my favourite Montezuma chocolate bar... leaving the rest for others. But I do love buying chocolate - it makes me irrationally happy to do so and be surrounded by chocolate bunnies and eggs and paraphernalia ... some of which I enjoy giving away.... Thanks for the slim people link!!

I realise one other thing that would help me over Easter is a daily chocolate check-in here .. so from Easter Friday I will be doing so!! Just a one-liner....

Morning all, yesterday I posted my strategy for avoiding continual eating, and it worked. There's something about having declared it out loud that works for my brain. Today I'm doing the same for accountability: glass of water, set a timer, snack if hungry, set a longer timer to wait and see if I'm still hungry after that.

Was it this thread where someone posted about imagining the hunger is a fire in your stomach. Drinking lots of water puts it out. I like that picture and it does often work.

Great pic @ItRainsItPours - goign to use that!!

Congrats @HarpQuartet ... look forward to hearing ho w it goes today!!

That's a great idea @HarpQuartet

The water / fire / hunger analogy is great.

I find being physically busy is what makes a huge difference. If I'm doing stuff , not sat, I can fast without noticing. My work is mainly sat at a computer (with occasional on my feet teaching) or sat in meetings so not ideal!! Hah.

I fell off the fasting/eating well mon-weds. So, trying to claw back the week and desperately reminding myself that bad days don't make or break a diet.

Good luck all going into chocolate / food weekend.

Morning all, I'm at the start of a four-day break from work, hooray! And I've just weighed and am happy and surprised:

Last week 78.3kg
Today 78.2kg

Which is basically no change, which was what I was after as I often go back up!

So I feel firmly established in the 78-and-a-bit zone, and next month I'd like to finish in the 77-and-a-bit zone.

I have bought myself an Easter egg, and my strategy is going to be keeping it in the freezer so I'm not constantly seeing it, but I know it's there when I fancy some.

Wishing everyone well.

Well done @HarpQuartet !! That's great.

Good idea on the freezer. Also cold chocolate is great

I'm not weighing in this week. Period due, and I'm bloated as anything so I think it would be very depressing / send me in a spiral.

My new size 12 jeans still fit so that's what I'll take as a win.

First of a number of Easter egg hunts today :/ self control needs to be high!

Oh enjoy the Easter egg hunts @desikated - very cute even if a bit tempting 🌷

great idea @HarpQuartet and well done on your loss

I actually think hot cross buns ar more of a danger zone for me than chocolate- I love them so much, especially the new apple and cinnamon flavour - toasted with butter!

I am back up again - I just don’t seem able to do long fasts or resist hot cross buns or anything else anymore. Also dh can’t go on the long walks anymore and I think that was really helpful for me as much as him. I was going to just flake on the weighin but @loveyouradvices post made me give myself a shake and be honest - so thank you for that x

sw 204lb
lw 181.2 lb
ce 182.8

sw 243 1/1/24
cw 225 22/3/24

I’ve lost 2lbs this week which I’m so chuffed about as earlier this month wasn’t as good. Mother’s Day really hit me but I’m hoping Easter won’t be as bad. I will definitely have some mini eggs but hopefully the little bags not the family sized ones 🤣

Hope you all have nice relaxing Bank Holiday plans today!

I'm still 9st 8lb which is fine, 1 pound from target and I haven't been very strict this week and its the week before my period so I was surprised not to see a gain. I'm away over Easter so won't be able to fast or run trying not to think about it too much and just go with the flow. I just hope I don't gain too much and feel disheartened. Anyway well done all another week done! 👏

Phew... I have lost the 7lbs I put on last week... so this means I’ve lost 2lbs in March, which I am pleased about given last week's glitch and planned delicious birthday meals earlier in the month.

SW: 14.2 (May 23)
CW: 11.9
TW: 11.2

Now onto Easter – DD not back til late Sunday so I'm planning two very healthy eating days before SMALL amount of chocolate Sun/Mon... I’m going to tell my husband at the beginning of each day what chocolate I am planning to eat, using this to keep me on track... together with @HarpQuartet's timed water strategy – and my favourite Gin Stephens motto: Delay, don’t deny which I say slowly and calmly to myself as if I was a person with great self-control (!!!!)

What are others’ Easter strategies?

Well done @HarpQuartet – very satisfying and here’s to 77’s next month. Love your Easter egg in the freezer – I hadn’t thought of that – very ingenious!!

@desikated ... those jeans!! Fab news.... good luck with Easter egg hunts: pop back to tell us how you are doing??

@Clearingaspace .. gosh, yes love those apple cinnamon hot cross buns. I reckon we all have times when dieting is easier and times when it is much more difficult, when we just need to be kind to ourselves and create the goal of NOT putting on weight rather than losing. I actually think this is much tougher... How are the 30 plants going??

@ItRainsItPours Congrats on those 2lbs – and good luck .. yes, mini eggs are my strategy too!! Much easier and beautifully portion-sized... what I need to avoid is breaking open one of our Lindt bunnies, as once it's on the plate, my hand just keeps wandering in that direction.

@Saraswati - wow, one pound from target... your final target?? That's absolutely amazing... and so great to have been able to eat in a relaxed way and not put on ... bodes well for the future...

@loveyouradvice undecided if its my final target yet! I'd love to be 9st again like I was when I was younger but hurtling towards 40 with 2 kids I fear that is unlikely. Would just like to look a bit stronger and more toned so going to focus on that!
Also IF makes me feel so much better in myself, had a few nibbles last night about 8pm and had the worst heartburn in the night

You are so close now well done! Only half a stone to go!

Oh wow that is amazing @loveyouradvice that gives me hope of shifting the 6 extra pounds I gained this month. I think your swift action was key though, could be baloney but I have read things somewhere about ‘holiday’ lbs coming off much more easily if tackled quickly before they become established! I 100% agree about weightloss being randomly easy then hard - I think I flicked off my weightloss switch (or smashed it off the wall tbh!) and need to find the magic ingredient to get it back on again!

@Saraswati your goals sound fantastic - being strong and health benefits of fasting; definitely stick with them as chasing a couple of lbs close to goal weight can be detrimental- particularly to building muscle. Right now I would give anything to be my weight even from a couple of weeks ago 😭🤣 I was chasing 8 stone 13 in my mid 30s, low carb, some IF and exercising with hiit every day before breakfast - which seems crazy now as I do hardly any of those strategies other than IF, and it definitely screwed me up!

well done @ItRainsItPours fab loss and great strategy to stick with mini eggs 😄

Should add when I was ott it was low carb AND v low cal - lowish carb on its own is probably good and something I need to aim for??

Happy Easter peeps!

So today's my first chocolate... one small praline egg, and one square dark chocolate... that's the plan. Though may add one tiny Lindt bunny to the mix......

So feeling GOOD that I 've avoided chocolate so far ... telling myself I'm powerful and can do it... and that I can have a small amount of chocolate every day this week so no need to hoover it up now! Let's see how it goes... and I have a glass of water and timer a la @HarpQuartet on hand

@Clearingaspace I so know how that feels - good luck!! Yes for me, lowish carbs (ie berries and the odd apple slice, and occasional spoonful of quinoa or oats or lentils) with low calorie is what works for me ... and when I'm at goal weight Ill cautiously be adding in more healthy carbs, as I don't like limiting them so much.

oh ... and when I need to lose weight I've put on fast, I cut right back - around 800 calories and just berries, non-starchy veggies and some oat bran (many years ago I did the Dukan diet and this has stuck) as carbs... Seems to work for me and I know if I dont do fast the weight tends to hang around and be much harder to lose

How is everyone getting on now Easter weekend is behind us? I have stayed the same weight despite enjoying some smalls eggs and a wider eating window.
Is it time for a new thread?

Hi @ItRainsItPours I have also maintained!

I'm feeling a bit swamped so I'm going to see if any other kind soul is willing and able to start a new thread; otherwise I can do it tomorrow or Thursday in time for Friday's check ins.

@ItRainsItPours - that made me laugh! Somehow I read that you had eaten some snail's eggs..... !!!!

I'm very chuffed to have just had 0-2 small eggs a day, supplemented by a square or so of my usual 85% dark chocolate.....

And yes, to have stayed the same weight!!!! Feels SO SO good.

Fabulous if someone's up for setting up a Countdown to May thread - hugely appreciative of all of you and your support as we lose weight together xx

I did the thing >>>>> https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/fasting_diet/5041853-countdown-to-may

New thread for May..