October challenge - let's scare off those pounds for Halloween!

[thatsnotmyfruitshoot]

(with thanks to Timba for title inspiration!)

All welcome - this is a follow on from the September jeans thread for those who want to lose a little or a lot, but need some support to keep them going.

Am munching a Marmite rice cake as I type, and am about to force myself to go and do a Davina cardio work out, even though I would much much rather lie on my bed with a cup of tea and a book, and watch the rain outside..

Come join us!

Hi everyone - hope you are all doing well?

Hi fruity - sometimes a walk is just as good as a jog and I am sure your DS had a great time walking home with you?

Omelete for me tonight - mmmmmmmmm

Is everyone gone then?

Just me, on my own, oh dear?

Well, I'm putting in reappearance after my exam (last Monday 11 October). I ditched the diet about 2 weeks prior to that because when you are revising for 6 hours a day frankly you need to comfort eat, not deny yourself - and I surely did (comfort eat). Consquently weight has gone in other direction with an impressive 7lbs gained in past fortnight!

I can now concentrate on 'Operation fat arse' as I don't have to restart my studies until 30 January.

You know what you need for this thread? - a recruitment drive. Why don't you relaunch as a new thread with title: "October challenge - recruitment drive, all dieters welcome"...because often people won't join established slimming weight loss threads since they assume it must be cliquey?...and since there has been some attrition on this thread, presumably need some new peeps?

Am off down gym now to shift bucket loads of quivering lard

Hi hmc - had to look up the meaning of attrition . Hope I am not cause of it???? (goes into paranoid mode)

Anyway, I hope your exam went really really well? What was it in? How do you feel you have done? Hope the gym went well too?

Lol Timba - no, you're lovely. I think diets tend to cause attrition - the going gets tough etc

Exam was history - 'total war' so WWI, interwar (Stalin, Mussolini, Russian revolution), WWII and cold war. Exam was okay but I could have done a lot better if I had been on better form on the day!

Pretty good gym session - 40 minutes interval training on treadmill.

How is it going with you - how much have you lost by now?

hmc - am maintaining at the moment so am pleased with that as seem to be constantly hungry!!!! Have got a place in the 2011 London Marathon so am starting training for that which should shift a few more pounds ... hopefully

Have got an induction at the local council gym on Thursday. DS does his swim squad and dive squad training there twice a week so figure if I 'pay as I go' I can afford it and it will force me to train during the clod, dark bleak weeks ahead.

Oooooohhhhh, I love history. My degree is in history. I loved it. Due, in no small part, to having an absolutely fabulous history teacher at secondary school - a truly wonderful, gifted man who delighted in the subject. I hope you do well? Let me know how it goes and, in the meantime, we can keep each other company here .

Absolutely timba - we'll keep the home fires burning on this thread!

You definitely will be as lean as a whippet if you do London Marathon training - your metabolism will get properly boosted! Have you devised a schedule to build up the miles in a staggered, programmed way?

I'm making some home made tomato soup today to keep hunger pangs in check. I really have to get on top of this weight issue. Had a rare bath yesterday (usually take a shower instead) and my gelatinous belly was protruding like an island above the water level - urggh

Off to a friends for coffee before school pick up - hope she doesn't offer cake. If she does I will be strong

LOL at belly reference, hmc.

I am merely struggling round the park at the moment but will start a plan in the next week. I need about 12-14 weeks to get ready!!!!

Am having pasta and homemade bolog tonight. Am just having a few quiet minutes before DS trawls home from school. DH is out delivering secondary school forms .... bless him.

Only letting DS walk home now as he is with friends and he has to get used to it for secondary school ... that and the fact that the school is 2 minutes walk away

Hope you enjoyed your coffee???

Bet it is nerve wracking letting him walk home on his own initially! Your brain is telling you that he is perfectly safe, but it must still take some getting used to.

Coffee at friends was good yesterday but I did have to accept a small piece of home made rocky road cake to be polite

Struggling with this renewed dieting effort -need some thinspiration!

I'm still here, timba and hmc! It had dropped off my Threads I'm on, so I got distracted for a while. Will also post on your new thread.

Just started the Shred workouts - blinking heck, that's a killer. I'm doing pilates a lot now, and that's made a real difference to my shape, especially my stomach, and I know what you mean about it protuding over the bathwater, mine was just like that!!!

I haven't weighed myself in a while but my jeans are fitting much better. Been on this for about 7 weeks now, and wheat free for over four.

Going on holiday this weekend so that will test me.. and MIL has sent over some homemade cake which it's killing me to resist..

Hello all, thanks for the invitation hmc. I will catch up on this thread and all your stories tomorrow.

Evening All (haven't I heard that somewhere before???) .

Glad to hear you again fruity and hello pinky.

hmc - it is seriously difficult letting him have his little freedoms and, believe me, they are hard fought and won. I just find it sooooo hard to loosen my grip. I know he has to grow up and I know he has to learn how to do these things but it just goes against the grain. My little boy is growning up

I am having serious problems being good at the mo. I think once I start serious training for the marathon I will get into the right mindset ... here's hoping. Want to raise money for charity ... and suggestions as to who I offer to run for????

Feels like embracing fruitshoot for returning to the thread, delighted to see Pink join us, and always glad to see Timba

Right, after that group love in, will post properly tomorrow

Hello!
I have been really slack so have not wanted to post but I'm back in the dieting zone!

I've started the day with a big bowl of porridge made with water, grated apple and cinnamon. I'm going spinning this evening so hopefully this is the kick start I need!

Oh good, glad this thread is revived a bit! Just done another shred workout but got a horrid sore throat so given the usual zumba class a miss.

Shaxx, welcome back, I wish I liked porridge. Yours sounds nice, perhaps I'll give it another go. I'm sorely in need of some decent breakfast ideas.

Timba, might be worth going for one of the smaller charities as they always need the financial boost. Do you have anything local, a hospice or SN children's charity, maybe?

fruity - what is this shred workout of which you speak? Its good that you are feeling that your clothes fit better and you are looking more buff - after my fortnight long revision binge session the opposite happened to me; the top button popped off my jeans under the strain

Good to see you back Shaxx. I know what you mean about not wanting to post when you have fallen off the wagon a bit - but I reckon it's important to keep posting at least every other day. Keeps dieting at the forefront of you mind and on your conscience (hopefully). Since restarting on Sunday I haven't been a paragon of virtue but am trying to stick with it. Also had porridge for breakfast - with sliced strawberries in mine, perhaps I'll do the apple and cinnamon tomorrow.

In deciding what charity to plump for Timba is there an area which appeals to you? I've done runs (not marathons I hasten to add) for Alzeheimers and Dyslexia (both for family reasons) but am also a supporter of third world charities since the acute deprivation they live with often eclipses most of what we experience.

Ah, see it is nearly lunch time. I'm thinking of a cheese and tomato toasty but easy on the cheese...at least it is the half fat variety.

Fingers crossed that Pink will post again and that our September thread compatriots return in numbers!

I'm here! Just struggling on with ss application delivery of forms thereof. Stuck at 71 kg so not much to report.
will return in halfterm for more dedication!

Hello swany - all my forms are at the schools now ... just debating the order of them on the CAF. Oh God, I can't wait 'til next week when it will have to be done and I can start to think about something other than schools. Feel like I haven't slept since September and want to eat everything

Hope you are coping though and have made your final choices?????

fruity and hmc- have a local hospice but another local man always runs for them (although I am sure their coffers are not overflowing). I was thinking of maybe a cancer charity or a children's charity - will go on the marathon website and see who has listed. Ran the 2006 London Marathon for Asthma UK - family reasons - but wanted to do a smaller one this time. Thanks for the suggestions - hadn't thought about SN charities. My DH had said run for a children's charity though

Have to stock up on porridge now though - good job I like the stuff. I love porridge made with grated apple and cinnamon - mmmmmmmmm. Think I may invest in Quaker Oats

I love porridge! I even have it for dinner sometimes.

I joined a weight loss group last week as I was getting fed up with my lack of weight loss. I had a weigh in and have lost 3.5lbs!
I am really happy with that but I have to admit that I had gained that since the beginning of this thread!

I'm sure you'll make a good choice Timba! Any childrens charity has got to be worthwhile.

yes Timba have made final and difficult choice (just have to avoid talking to any more friends/enemies about the schools and change my mind again)
Gunnersbury Ist (boys) local, Outstanding
Twyford C of E (mixed) 2nd local Outstanding
C Vaughan (trying for music place) 3rd (as backup in case I don't get into first two)not so local Outstanding
St Marks (mixed) not so local Outstanding
so there you have it....

tmi sorry...
so will be there for music place test on Ist Nov. Possibly see you there, I'll wear a yellow ribbon.

Brilliant Shaxx! - bet you're pleased .

Sounds like busy times Swanriver!

I've had a shocking week - where is my willpower? Last night babysit for friend and she had left a large bag of Munchies out, ate the lot (circa 800 calories). Why? Think I might have to attend a slimming club too - I always resent the time it takes and paying to be weighed but when I have done it in the past, it has been effective

I'll answer your plea and join you if I may.
I don't seem to fit in elsewhere - I don't have huge amounts to lose, and I don't strictly follow any one diet or another.

I totally hoovered the buffet on an Alaska cruise in the summer and weighed in at 11st5 on 1 September. Twas then I realised that I am going on a swimsuit holiday in December and looked rather whaleish as I am only 5ft2.

I am now at 10st9 but it's been a struggle. Wistful memories of losing 16lbs a month ten years ago, but I'm 43 now and everything is slowing down.

I joined my local Gymophobics which has done wonders (a 6 inch loss round the waist), walk a lot (4 miles x 3 a week) and generally watch what I eat, rely a lot on WW yogurts and bananas!

Quite worried it'll all go to pot now that its half term here.

**

Hello all, Algebra here! Thanks to hmc for the message. I changed my name after my dreadful maths exam, I'll be FreudianSlippery normally.

Anyway things are going ok. Am trying not to think about dieting too much though tbh (hence me being away from the thread). I'm having a slim fast bar or shake for breakfast and then just eating healthily the rest of the day. Lost another 3lb in the first half of the month, and another inch. Only a drop in the ocean but it's made all the difference to my self confidence. Biggest difference is my thighs though - due to walking to preschool so much I have been able to buy skinny jeans!!!

Off to Spain with my parents tomorrow, so lots of food but also plenty of swimming, tennis and hopefully squash if there's a court.

Sorry for waffling on - hope everyone is doing well and I hope to see you on a November challenge thread :)

Hello

I'm normally wildstrawberryplace - this is my halloween name but I don't think I am prolific enough for anyone to have noticed

I am FAT.

Seriously. I need to lose 3.5 - 4 stone!

I've gained weight relatively slowly, probably about half a stone a year on average since 2003. Before that, I was always fine. I definitely turned to food as an emotional crutch though, which is why I find it hard.

I eat OK, quite healthily, but I then tend to snack on sweet stuff in secret, which is why I have gained so much weight. Essentially I have become a secret binger .

I've been in denial, I think I don't look that bad, I carry it well etc. When I look in the mirror I don't see a fat person, I see a normal person just not a very nice shape. When I see photos however, I think "Whoa I look massive", and I do really. I have reverse body dysmorphic disorder or something .

So anyway. I saw the other post saying this thread could do with "new blood". Consider my fat ass well and truly parked here for the foreseeable future.

I am horrified to have just tipped the scales at 13 stone at 5 foot 4. It ain't good at all. I am size 16-18, carry most of the weight on my tummy and boobs, which again, ain't good.

I've tried various "diets" but I can't ever get past the induction stage.

Ho hum, let's see what the week brings.