Summer 25 Boot Camp, Week 4: Beware the doldrums

[prettybird]

Here we are in Week 4 already - over half way through (less than 4 weeks until my holiday ) . By now, most of us should be seeing some good results - but not necessarily all of us to the same extent as our bodies are all different .

Remember that many of us experience a few weeks of doldrums over Week 3, especially Week 4 and even possibly week 5, where the scales will resolutely refuse to move - or even move upwards slightly . This is normal as your body adjusts to this WoE, so keep the faith , follow the rules , KOKO and the scales will begin to move again. In the meantime, concentrate on the NSVs, like better sleep, better skin, more energy and/or looser clothes.

Remember that this is a marathon not a sprint and try not to get too fixated on the short term. All healthy weight loss regimes will eventually settle down to a rate of 1-2lb/week but at least on this WoE, you can enjoy healthy, tasty food and not be hungry all the time. Concentrate on what you can eat, not what you can't

Link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hlJKScntZ78g7eAkaR7hF_uiL0t3WGumIFvHvDAvfJI/edit?usp=drivesdk

Here's to another good week - onward and downward. For those of you with a Bank Holiday those of us in Scotland don’t , enjoy it. Hope the sun shines on you

I'm definitely in the doldrums. No loss this week - so disappointing. But I have had a couple of slip ups so that wouldn't have helped. This week going to try and be really strict. Thanks for the new thread Pretty Bird.

Thanks for getting us motivated @prettybird

I'm planning to defrost the freezer today (oh such an exciting life!) but it's also an opportunity to see what's in there and do some menu planning for the week ahead. I think there's quite a lot of veg so I'll need to be creative with recipes, and will be trawling throught the recipe threads.

Thanks for the new thread @prettybird ,
I'm chuffed to have lost another 2lb, but some of that is probably due to the flu I had over the weekend.

Thank you very kindly @prettybird

especially for the reminder this is a marathon rather than a sprint. Shall be reminding myself of that when I weigh myself tomorrow

Thank you @prettybird , timely reminder about focusing on what we can eat.

I dont have a huge loss to show this week either @shells and though it is disappointing I'm telling myself to trust the process and I did have quite alot of wine at the weekend.

Leftover chicken satay and salad for supper, and my posh cheese arrived today so looking forward to that this evening to take my mind off not having more wine.

Ok glad not to be on my own @Perimenofullhalt . Onwards!!

@Shells at least you didn’t put ON a pound like me. It’s gone. Was expected as the week before had been too good and then a night out on Friday at a friends dinner. It was never going to be good. But I’m on it this week.

Yes, thank you @prettybird for the reminder about the doldrums. But I plan to persevere despite no loss because 1) I'm eating amazingly good food and 2) I'm still several lbs down. Leftovers tonight of buttered cabbage & chili. Delicious 😋 I'm off on holiday in 2 weeks.

Very difficult day at work today and reached for crisps.
Unsurprisingly they didn’t make me feel any better, and now I add disappointment to the stress I already had.

Back on it tomorrow!

Ah @Perimenofullhalt iys never worth it is it? Have a think about if there’s anything you could have done instead?

I played an hour of tennis today. I’m not very good but I certainly did a bit of running around. Had a chicken salad with lots of lettuce, fennel, cucumber, celery, toms, good amount of chicken with skin & a dollop of mayo. Dinner was cream spinach salmon bake on a bed of cauliflower mash with a side of aubergine and courgette. Was very yummy and something I’ve not made before.

Good point @notdonna I could easily have had a bottle of wine and a takeaway (but that might not be what you meant) I did go for a brisk walk after supper and feel a bit better about myself.

The spinach salmon bake sounds like a good idea, I'm giving my superannuated bag of frozen spinach side eye every time I open the freezer and always on the lookout for ideas!

@Perimenofullhalt my strategy is to only buy the most disgusting flavoured crisps. dh hoovers them up. I can't even eat half of one crisp! (downside is that I can't then kiss him!)

@Perimenofullhalt ha ha!! No! That’s not what I meant but love your justification. I meant box breathing or walk around the garden or 🤷‍♀️ But defo not a bottle of wine & a takeaway.

Aaahh! I need help with the spreadsheet!
I went to enter my weight and apparently tapped something that completely deleted my row! 🤔 I didn't save it or anything, so not sure why it wasn't there when I went back in!
Is there a way to restore my row please? @FinallyHere

@HazelNotHungryLC I’m on it now

Thank you @FinallyHere!

hello lovely people, i have spun the dials and re-wound the clock to around 4pm yesterday, with apologies to anyone who has made any updates since then, and magically restored @HazelNotHungryLC to our happy universe.

It didn't look as if anyone except Hazel had made any changes since then, but i could so, so easily be wrong. Anyone spot any impacts, please let me know , meanwhile , welcome back @HazelNotHungryLC

Thank you so much! I'm so sorry everyone! Hopefully it did only affect me 🤞

and that reminded me how very very happy i was to have the scales inch down a bit for me this week. I feel ludicrously happy anytime they do go down and likewise downcast anytime they don't. It seems that the cold I had for a day or two, and was happy to shake off so quickly, did actually register as an increase on the scales.

Not sure whether it was the inflammation, or sucking on even no sugar sweets, but very glad to have it gone again. sigh

Why do i let my emotions be so ruled by the tyranny of that number on the scales.

@FinallyHere you seem to be a wizard managing to change the time, could you maybe give us all an extra hour in bed sometime?

I am totally with you on the impact that looking at the scales has on my mood. I was about to change the battery in mine a couple of weeks ago as it resoloutely stuck on exactly the same point. Then it moved down and I forgave them. I find it a bit of a dilemma - if I'm not weighing every day it's a sure sign that I'm sneaking off track and don't want to acknowledge it. On the other hand I know that my weight fluctuates but yet the upward movements upset me. Especially because I don't have much to lose.

I had a 'bored mouth' moment this morning and I found myself looking in the cupboard that contains dh's snacks (plus cereals, juice and all the other things I never have). dh pointed me in the direction of some biscuits but I gave myself a little shake. I'm sitting here with a coffee with cream and I know that the snacky feeling will have gone in a moment and I'll be fine until lunchtime.

@venusandmars my bored mouth is usually around 4pm in the afternoon. Herbal tea sometimes helps. I’m getting better at ignoring it though.

I hear you @FinallyHere I did a mid week weigh in with absolutely no loss and feel glum. I've been good too! However just presuming its doldrums and will pick up again soon. Hoping.

@venusandmars do you use an app to track your daily weigh-ins? It can help see the overall trend.

I have been letting carbs creep in this week 🤦‍♀️ it doesn't help that next week my period is due, so my hormones are all over the place right now. Because of the carbs, and not eating enough vegetables, I'm now constipated, which is causing back pain! I've never had this before, but it's the kick up the backside I need to get back on track, starting today!

@HazelNotHungryLC I don't use an app, but I do use a pencil and write in my paper diary (old person here!) There are no graphs, nothing that smooths out the lumps and bumps of normal life, but I also record (write) on the first of every month so I see the long-term look.

On the ongoing thread @NotDonna posted links to a couple of 'Recipe Tin Eats' dishes: seared tuna with sauce vierge, and green bean tomato and avocado salad with avocado dressing. Made them tonight and they were fantastic. Everything that is good about this woe. Tasty, rich, tangy, delicious, nutritious.

It all felt particularly good because I only needed to buy tuna and avocado. There was ffgy in the fridge (always), plenty of olives too. I had green beans, onion and red pepper in the veg box this week. Tomatoes from the garden and my garden herbs have been in overdrive - chives, parsley, basil, corriander.

Hey!! That’s outrageous @venusandmars she didn’t invite me over!! I’ve still to make it - probably Monday dinner as we had a chicken BBQ tonight (DH out there with a big brolly) and he’s very keen to do his ribs tomorrow but I do wonder how sugary they are! I didn’t have any of the bbq pineapple which looked bloody gorgeous!