Weight Loss - January

[Ems]

There are so many of us doing the above, and on quite a few boards; Atkins, Weight loss tablets etc. Thought it would make things easier to find and follow if we started on this? ....

I started yesterday, to try and lose my 'Christmas Chocolate'; probably half a stone, just using advice and memories from previous Weight Watchers.

Had a terrible headache by the time I went to bed, distinct lack of chocolate and sugar!! Every time I had food cravings, I drank a glass of water which seemed to help, plus its good to drink 2 litres a day, so I'm doing something good.

I started the day at supermarket getting all fresh veg, fruit and chicken. And the January edition of WW magazine, read all the inspiring stories of women shifting 4 stone, great stuff.

Chicken stir fry tonight. And last night I didnt pick at childrens supper either during cooking or after they'd 'eaten' it!! That is a major breakthrough! Weight loss is all down to breaking bad habits.

Oh, and Ive also been writing everything down that I eat, which makes you think about it a bit more.

Went off Boots detox idea after hearing of Alibubbles greenpoo, there been enough of that in this house!!

I'm here Ems!!! I will be mainly eating fruit for a week now, the time has definitely come to ditch the xmas tag I've been using since mid december! NO MORE CHOCOLATE WILL PASS MY LIPS FOR A MONTH!!

I'll be keeping you all posted as usual...

Good luck everyone! X

Good idea, Ems, I'll certainly be a regular contributor to this thread!

Me too - didn't fancy the green poo either and haven't got the stamina for following a full diet detox programme, so -
no chocs, tea, coffee, biscuits for a month for me as well (starting tomorrow!)

Lizzer, are you SURE you haven't been at the chips and chocs this lunchtime (tee hee)

No choc for me yesterday or today, despite a 2lb box of pralines from France glaring at me! No iced bun with my coffee in M&S today, either. A humungous migraine has stopped me eating much at all but hopefully it has broken the cycle of wanting choc, which is the hardest thing, for me. Once I've stopped, I'm okay.

I'm with you too, 2 weeks of pies, chocolate and Baileys plus very little exercise has sent me 7 pounds in the wrong direction....
Dh has expressed an interest in trying more types of fish which seems a good idea; anyone got any good ideas for simple low fat recipes ?
My standard one is to steam salmon (usually) with spring onions, ginger, garlic, rice wine and soy sauce but I can't live on that for a month !

I'm here too and this time I mean it. No choc, biscuits or crisps for January. Like SueDonim, I'm all right once I've broken the chocolate eating habit. Am also surrounded by pralines, whispering my name, at present.

I got bagfuls of chocolate for Christmas, you don't know how hard it is to resist the temptation to stuff my face - but another birthday is rearing its ugly head next week so I am going to take the whole lot to work and the masses can have it (just my luck if they are all dieting too!)

By the way, I'm trying to detox by ditching the tea and coffee for a month and I know water is the best thing but it is SO BORING! I will really miss a hot drink, any suggestions? I'm not too keen on some of the fruit/herbal teas, some of them smell gorgeous but taste disgusting!

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A Weight watchers trick is to start each day with hot water and a slice of lemon, cleanses the system, really brightens your skin and somehow keeps constant sweet cravings at bay. It really did work, and I started it again yesterday.

I also drink peppermint tea and theres a nice new one, thinks its cranberry, rosehip and something. Stick with them they are an acquired taste!

Quick healthy supper tonight, cooked a chicken breast in foil with some dried herbs, squirt of olive oil and squeeze of lemon whilst boys were bath-ing (20 mins or so in hot oven).

Got a bag of chopped mixed stir fry veg from Sainsburys and bean sprouts, heat up in bit of olive oil, add sliced chicken and then one of Sainsburys little pouch sauces (in veg section). Had very nice Thai one. Quick, easy and quite cheaty. And I feel very full.

With WW, vegetables dont count, so eat as many as you want, have some chopped raw in the fridge to nibble on (go on pretend its exciting) carrots/cucumber etc. Make a MASSIVE veg soup, you can freeze some, kids love it, puree it so babies love it and eat it for lunch or as a starter at supper to make you eat less of your main meal.

Sweet tooth this week; I've got in some satsumas, Snack a Jacks, and low fat plain yog to mix with 2 teaspoons of Options drinking choc. Thats very yum.

I also did (you can tell I've really got my mind set this week!! Taken me a while to get here!) a meal plan after mondays shop, think about what I'm eating, plan whats in the freezer, and dont keep swanning of to shops. Save money AND lose weight.

Lets pray it doesnt all got to pot by day 3.

Hi robinw, not tried that one - I usually have to add a bit of sugar to herbal teas, do you think it would be sweet enough without?

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thanks robinw, will try it and see, then add honey

I've fallen by the wayside already. We ate the last home-made Xmas pud tonight, with cream and brandy butter. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.....

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Cheer up Suedonim, you couldn't let all your hard work go to waste and therefore you are quite justified in eating the last of the pud and think of the brandy as medicinal - just keep your HANDS OFF the pralines!

Ems, I didn't see your message last night - now you mention it I remember a friend at work starting the day with hot water and lemon so will get some lemons today and some fruit teas & honey for the rest of the day.

Keep going, it will be worth it!!!

Jodee, I know what you mean about some herb teas, horrible! If it is caffeine intake that concerns you, we switched to redbush tea in our house some months ago. Dragonfly teas do a delicious spiced Cape Malay Rooibos Chai (seen the boxes in Safeway, Waitrose and Holland and Barrett) which does not need extra sweetening, and H & B and independent health food shops sell 11 O'Clock Redbush, which has a lovely 30s retro design box and more importantly a very tasty tea inside. This stuff is rich in bioflavonoids (natural antioxidants) and much lower in caffeine than ordinary tea, but it tastes similar. It's very popular in S Africa, where it originally comes from.
Another herbal tea that we like is mint-verbena, which is less minty than peppermint and very refreshing. Now all I have to do is find something caffeine-free and low-cal which is as tasty as a Costa vanilla latte...

Marina - you beat me to it. I'm having rooibos tea too.

Can anyone suggest something easy to take to work on an atkins diet other than a salad?

And as if by magic... this thread's enormous already!!

I too have bitten the salad leaf this lunchtime, it was soooooo tasty. I mean compared to all the chips I had the other day, or the bar of whole nut that lasted about a minute last week- it was an unbelievably (sp?) nice change. Gosh, I mean I know chips are nice but that rocket was mindblowing - you could just about taste each individual healthy phyto-nutrient rich cell, all washed down with a tasty glass of water - fantastic.... (stop me if you've had enough of the sarcasm already!)
I know its easier as you get into it, but my bod is still craving its cheap xmas fix of fat 'n' sugar, talk about going cold turkey...(no pun intended, promise!)

I am with you all too... and would just like to give you one foodies thoughts on dieting:
"One of the things that makes me miserable about diets and dieting (more so than the obvious restraints) is that all too often they reduce food not merely to fuel but to medicine. I like the ceremony of food preparation: the shopping, the chopping, the stirring and attending(...)in order to make the whole thing work, you need to get in the mood, adopt something of a mindset; you need to shift into the my-body-is-a-temple mode. This way none of it feels like self-denial or deprivation; it feels like giving yourself something, doing something positive for yourself(...) The planning is not only a necessary part of losing weight it also satisfies the part of the brain which wants, in a normally greedy person - and who else would need to be concerned with all this? - to be occupied with food."
from Nigella Lawson's HOW TO EAT

I have to say that her section on low fat cooking is like all of her cookery incredibly practical and sensible and straightforward. I particuarly like the fact that she is prepared to say "And for all my long-held beliefs that fat is a feminist issue, that the modern tyranny of the scales was both idiologically and physically damaging and that intolerance of the un-thin was dangerous, I have to admit that I felt awful when I put on weight after the birth of my first child and better when I lost it."

Good luck everyone! x