Nov 25 starters - thread 2 - the one where we don’t eat everything in sight this Christmas!

[Springbaby2023]

Hi everyone, starting a second thread as the other one is almost full. We made it through month one, now here’s to a happy, healthy and lighter 2026!

A great NSV for me… I’m on my way to a work night out (not normal for me on a Monday!) and I’ve just been complimented on how I look by a random man on the way. I probably should be offended or think he was being misogynistic or something but I’ve not been complimented by a stranger in YEARS so I am fully taking it lol.

I’m interested to read about the clear protein and/or protein water as I would like an easy way to increase my protein without adding calories. I do like the (chocolate) shakes but could do with a calorie free protein drink too. I drink lots of water and already have collagen powder dissolved in a glass of water each evening. Please could one of you link to the protein water you would recommend?

I’m fed up.

only lost 10 kg since I started in November, and put on 2lbs the last 2 weeks

not sure what I’m doing wrong

I’m eating 1600 calories on average, which is apparently a 800 deficit

does this sound like 600 calories to you? Or am I overeating without realising

Breakfast
Protein wrap, 2 eggs, 50 g smoked tofu (air fried), mushrooms, tomatoes
Meal
Smoked mackerel fillet, small mozzarella ball, 6 airfryer chips, lettuce, mange tout, tomatoes, spinach, onion , boiled egg
Plate
2 baby potatoes, Greek yoghurt coleslaw with carrot and cabbage, ½ corn on cob , 3 slices of roast ham
Snacks
2 slices Wafer thin ham, small cheese cube, scotch pancake + Nutella, 4 strawberries, an Orange

drinks

2 cups of tea
5 pints water

activity
3000 steps
1 hour cycling

I have these, there are so many flavours

https://www.myprotein.com/p/sports-nutrition/clear-whey-protein-powder/12081395/

Also they do a variety box which is good

https://www.myprotein.com/p/sports-nutrition/clear-protein-variety-pack-10-servings/14915129/

I always put my collagen and creatine in them so its all done and dusted together. If i am playing sport or going to gym I take pne with me.

Without knowing your weight/height/age etc its hard to know where you are going wrong. 2400 sounds like a very high TDEE but I dont know a huge amount about it. How do ypu log your food to count the calories?

An example day for me (977 cals is my aim) I would have

Breakfast - protein yoghurt, 50g raspberries, 2 tbs chia seeds

Lunch- clear whey protein with collagen powder

Snack - protein bar (not ideal but its all i had)

Dinner - chicken breast, 90g sprouts

So what you have said sounds like a lot of calories more but I may be wrong. If you are logging on My Fitness Pal or something then check the nutrition to make sure you carbs, fat and sugar are low enough and protein high enough. Are you weighing everything also?

@diggitydoo It’s hard to tell without knowing your weight. My TDEE is 2300 but that is walking 10k+ steps a day plus three - four work outs a week. I find that on days where I don’t do many steps, my calories can be as low as 1600 which means that wouldn’t be a deficit. I am eating 1600 ish calories a day with a TDEE of 2300 and it has felt like a slow loss compared to some on here but still around 1.5lb a week on average.

I’m 145 kg , so much bigger than the rest of you. I’m not hugely active as have a knee injury, but average 3000 steps a day , a few hours of cycling a week

@diggitydoo I was 147kg when I started. That does sound like more than 600 kcal to me but it will depend enormously on the portion sizes. An egg is 65 kcal I think so you’ve got nearly 200 kcal just in the eggs.

@diggitydoo I think also sometimes certain foods just don’t work. I know if I eat pasta even if I don’t eat much it messes me up. So I stick to rice now (if anything). Have you tried varying your diet to see what you might have success with?

But I’ve given the portion sizes in the description haven’t I? Apart from the roast ham , I guess you
don’t know how big they were

here’s another day

Breakfast

2 boiled eggs
1 slice sourdough toast (120 cal)
tsp Butter
Smoked salmon (89 kcal worth)

Lunch

Chicken breast
Salad (lettuce, pepper, cucumber, tomatoes, olives)
1 dessert spoon pesto

Snacks

2 Oatcake thinly spread with hummus
2 Oranges
2 spoons Greek yoghurt
3 dried apricots

Dinner

Chicken curry (1/2 chicken breast, korma paste, 1/4 can coconut milk, leeks, spinach)
2 dessert spoons brown rice
Cucumber
Spoon Greek yoghurt

@diggitydoo Are you feeling hungry throughout the day? Perhaps you need to increase your dose? I’d probably cut out the snacks and drop one of the meals and see if that helps… but that may be difficult if you’re feeling hungry.

@diggitydoo I think what you’re eating sounds healthy and similiar to what I might eat on days 5-7 when I have a bit more appetite. I am eating a lot less on other days though so I think it balances out.

You’ve gained for one week but that could just be a blip and you’ll lose again soon. I would carry on as you are and if you continue to stall or gain, you could increase your dose?

I personally think it’s better to eat at maintenance sometimes, than overly restrict. Try to have faith in the process and the medication, and not compare to others.

edit: I asked chatgpt to estimate the calories from your second menu and it says 1450-1550. Sounds good??

If the portion sizes are accurate and when you log it then it shows as 1600 and you're not losing still, then personally I would check the macros (MFP sometimes doesnt give accurate target amounts but AI will tell you) and ensure you're within them. Then perhaps reduce your calories if its all ok macro wise.

With TDEE I rarely log any exercise, it is hard to accurately measure it and unless its a huge number of steps, or very intense work out then I would say its best to put it in as 'sedentary'. If on a high intensity workout day i may go over 50-100 cals if I am hungry.

It really is trial and error. You have done really well with your weightloss so far, loads of people have a few weeks where they stall then loads drop off the weeks after.

@diggitydoodon’t lose heart - you’ve come so far!

I would double check tdee outside of mfp and set activity level to sedentary - it’s likely that at 3000 steps you really aren’t burning a lot even with the cycling.

https://tdeecalculator.net is a good site for tdee.

Then look at what you want to lose and reduce daily cals by 500 per lb you want to lose each week, and make sure you are logging absolutely everything - milk in hot drinks, oil used in cooking….

your food choices seem mostly really good, but maybe you could tweak a bit? And are you weighing/measuring rather than using AI on photos?

It is hard sometimes, and you need to redo the calculation of tdee probably every 4 weeks or half stone loss.

to give you my stats as an example - for me (almost at goal), my tdee is 1549 sedentary so to lose I have to restrict to 1049 for a lb a week and I try to stay around 1000-1200 but then don’t add in exercise - I do try to average 12500 steps per day plus some weights (at home), and some running. My Apple Watch target to burn from activity is 500 per day, so add that to the 300-500 daily deficit gets me to around 1-1.5 lbs per week.

its not easy to stick to and I do that mostly by restricting carbs - 1 small roastie with Sunday dinner, maybe 5 or 6 chips with a small steak and veg, other meals such as curry I have veg not rice, limit bread products to once or twice in a week. I usually skip breakfast and just have coffee. Lunch is often eggs based or soup, or leftovers.

i allow myself the odd g&t, haven’t had chocolate since I started, no puddings, biscuits etc. Thankfully MJ means I don’t crave any of that - pre mj I could eat a whole 350g bar of galaxy without thinking.

You can do this but may be you need some tweaks and if suppression isn’t strong enough, consider increasing your dose?

@putthehamsterbackinitscage it can be tough cant it, trying to get all the right stuff in on such limited cals. I try to plan as well as much possible which helps.

I love the fact I don't crave all that sweet stuff, I could easily eat a massive share chocolate bar in one sitting before!!

First injection of 7.5mg coming up tonight 😱😱😱😁

I've been pretty hungry the last few days so we'll see what happens!!

Good luck tobee! I did my first 5mg last Wednesday which really knocked me for six but I’ve been super hungry today! 😫

@tobee same here, good luck!!

Thank you & same to you @Springbaby2023 !

And hope it goes smoothly for tomorrow's dose @user593

Where is the best place to buy needles and wipes from? Annoyingly I think I threw the packs that came with my new pen!

Felt very nervous doing 7.5mg tonight, almost as nervous as before I took my first ever jab! But really hoping this is now going to push me on to get close to my initial target. I’ve felt so much more confident the past few days, can’t imagine how I’ll feel another stone down!

Hope all the new doses go well for you all!!

@Springbaby2023 I got mine from UKMedi

So far so good on my new dose. It's early days though. I've got slightly heartburn in my throat iyswim but not too bad. Can't take anything yet to relieve it because I take thyroid replacement medicine and it's contraindicated for a few hours.

So far I'm not hungry. The dream will be to have a consistent sensation of feeling full quickly throughout the week which was definitely missing by the end of 5mg. Rather than suppression.

That was meant to say slightly more heartburn

@tobee That sounds promising! I’ve not felt any side effects yet but they seem to hit me more day two and three, expecting to feel more wiped out tomorrow. But no new negative ones which is good. I’ve felt no difference to suppression yet but mine always builds throughout the week, days one and two are harder for me. I don’t quite want to eat everything but I definitely don’t get that ‘oh I’ve forgotten to eat’ feeling. Fingers crossed this will be a good step up for us both!