Countdown to Easter

[ItRainsItPours]

All welcome!

Supportive thread for setting goals including self care and fasting, and chat in between.

@StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans i think I am naturally a night owl, if I go to bed early I am ok at first but once I catch up on sleep I then find myself lying awake for quite a while, whereas I like going to bed and falling straight asleep. However also I am a procrastinator and a bit lazy - I also like time by myself. I know it’s not healthy and needs to change - I do sometimes fear I am a man child even though I am not a man!

@ItRainsItPours sorry to hear about your stomach pain that sounds awful. that’s very interesting about perimenopause and gluten intolerance- nothing as bad as stomach pain for me but I i definitely notice now some slightly slightly embarrassing side effects and signs of inflammation when eating bread.

I am late 40s and have been on hrt for about 5 years. Just been increased to the maximum 100 patches but I don’t think they entirely replace the estrogen I used to get when younger. I hope I can still have some gluten if that does turn out to be the problem. Just can’t have the odd days like yesterday where I eat it for all meals. Should help with the healthy eating though, I was with people today having bacon butties and cake but passed and came home for a baked spud.

@Clearingaspace - that's fab to hear! I did a huge number of steps at the weekend - 18,000 on Sat including dancing - but haven't yet upped the brisk walking. With you as my inspiration, I'll do some later today - and then every day this week.

And yes @Clearingaspace do come and post on here daily - it really helped me through Christmas/New Year period. The accountability made such a difference to me. I'm rooting for you and your earlier bedtimes - I'm now at before 11.30, and ideally 10.45/11.00 so definitely getting better... 10,30 my end goal for weekday nights.

@ItRainsItPours I'm sending you loving healing thoughts - so very very rough on you, and sounds well worth trying a few wheat-free days... Let us know if it makes a difference or not. I definitely feel worse if I eat more than a little wheat - but mine's brain fog/spaciness rather than pain

@StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans Wow. I love the power of that as an exercise - although Im not currently trying to lose any weight at the mo, I'm toying with the idea of having 10stone 7lbs as a new target for the year. I've not been there since my 30s!! And my left knee is a bit crook, so I might try you and your DD great exercise to feel the impact... that could be the incentive I need.

@StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans I so get the "beyond maximum" for your nervous system... I often feel that and am a fan of long hot baths with a novel, my quiet calming space. I dont have ADHD tho my DD does.. and of course I wonder if elements of it are within me. And wow, I love children's books and often dip into a child/young teen novel, especially good old fashioned ones like Katherine Rundell who I adore... I don't know those two so Im going to look them out!! Any other recommendations? So calming, so soothing, so everything is going to be alright in this world - which we all need in current times.

Congrats @ItRainsItPours - that is SO POWERFUL. My 2025 goal is to have POWER OVER FOOD ... it feels so good even just typing that - I think it is within my grasp but I am not there yet!! Let's get there together

Sounds like you are a lovely family @StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans

@loveyouradvice i will follow your lead in turn and aim for 11:30 bed tonight. I also love the idea of bath and a book - I have some Epsom salts so might use those. I had one glass of wine last night with friends and feel hungover today for some reason so maybe that will sort me out!

Howdy, and a happy Friday. I'm here for my commitment to Friday weigh-ins, 81.5kg, a small but welcome loss on last week.

Onwards and downwards xx

Honestly, the minute someone sets up a pirates exercise class, I'm in.

I think it is SO easy for us to understand why people love you @StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans with your wit and kindness and interest in the world and all of us... and you clearly have a wonderfully creative daughter! Congrats to her for coming up with that idea to test the impact on your knees.

Congrats on the loss @HarpQuartet and on reporting in here

And congrats too on commitment to 11.30 bedtime @Clearingaspace - how's it going?

wow - a 29inch waist @StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans - that's mega!! And I'm another who's on for the Pirates exercise class - looking forward to one coming near me!!

And reporting in today:
SW 14.2
TW 11.2
CW 11.0 (one down from last week, one up from previous week)

I am loving wearing trousers that fit and having a body that I feel proud of (yes, I'm good at looking past the wrinkled skin and sagginess, and embracing its new shape which feels great, if in need of a little toning- and as ever, my bewilderment and enormous pride that it has grown a child)...

So my goal is to hover around 11.0 and hopefully get into the upper 10s as frivolously it just feels immeasurably better to be 10.13 than 11.0! How mad is that...

More brisk walking and planning a wee bit of strength exercise - even just 5-10 mins a day would make a difference!

SW 1/1 13 st 9
CW 7/2 13st 2

I am still in pain and advised not to fast. Despite that I have lost a couple of lbs this week. The pain seems worse when I eat less healthily and in particular when I have the dreaded bread. My conclusion is that eating well and avoiding bread/biscuit is very important for me. I have a blood test tomorrow so hopefully will find out what’s going on next week.
Well done on the weight loss @loveyouradvice and @HarpQuartet and fat cancellation @StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans . Cancel the fat needs to replace cancel the cheque in mumsnet lingo.
I have visions of middle aged women with eye patches going arrrr as they try to do core strength exercises.

That's a fab loss @ItRainsItPours ... well done, doing that alongside the pain xx

Yes, hold that image in your head @StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans ... I fantasised about wearing dark chestnut fitted trousers for almost a year before my body felt ready to buy them!

@Clearingaspace Hi how are things going for you? You mentioned you might want to post daily on here for a bit... what are your thoughts now?

Rooting for you and your success... however you define it!

@loveyouradvice sorry not to post -I am afraid I am a bit in the head in the sand zone! Just trying to keep under 200 lb is a challenge. Can I ask how you have got your weight down - do you track calories or carbs on a daily basis or just avoid certain things and fast?

So my success is I am trying a lot harder to get to bed of a night. Probably averaging out at 11:45 pm ish. I am pretty persuaded that I need to be trying to be in bed by 11 so will try to keep bringing the average down!

@ItRainsItPours hope you are doing ok

@StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans your pirate class post is conjuring up some very funny images 🤣🤣

well done on your loss @HarpQuartet

Congrats on the bedtime @Clearingaspace . I think that makes a huge difference - I'm always a lot more hungry when Im tired.

For me these were the key things in getting my weight down

1. Being SO fed up of yo-yoing weight - all that effort for months and then thrown away, rinse and repeat... I wanted to just get to one weight and stay there
2. Deciding it was the most important thing in my life for a time and giving it time - perhaps 1-2hours a day immersing myself in reading about diet and preparing food etc .... I'm aware this is a luxury but I figured it would save me lots of time in the long term
3. Started with 12 weeks Michael Mosley 800 cals a day in an 6-8 hour window - lost 22lbs
4. Then rang the changes - always calorie counting, always lowish carb (I didnt count but just did it) - and different eating windows: 30mins to 9-10 hours
5. I typically had 1-2 days a week with 500 calories in a 30 minute window for a while, another time I did some 36h fasts - outside of that I was 1000-1400 calories
6. I had lots of safe food around - cold roast veggies, salad, eggs, sardines
7. I had 10g of 85% choc and 3-5 almonds for a treat each day - and loved it!

And I write this hesitantly - I have put on the weight since doing it (grief for someone close seems to lead to a weight gain of 2.5 stone) - but lost it again...

So although I hope to be at this weight for life, I haven't yet done that - this group is going to be a huge help in doing that this year.

Thank you so much @loveyouradvice -really helpful and kind of you to share it all. I can’t think of the right words, but it must have taken a lot to manage to re-lose weight after a period of grief x

Just popping my head up to add my appreciation for the kindness shown here, as well as wit and wisdom. @ItRainsItPours I hope you're not in pain right now, sending well wishes.

80.6kg, a loss of 0.9kg, perfect.

I have a win to share: about an hour after dinner yesterday I realised I hadn't had any "pudding", typically something like a caramel wafer bar. And it was ok. I didn't feel deprived.

I think I'm regaining my nice even balanced attitude, which I lost months and months ago.