Nothing tastes as GOOD as SLIM feels part 2

[thedogwalker]

Well here we go, New Year and NEW US. Wishing everyone good luck and sending lots of happy vibes so that we can all reach our goals

I seem to have been on a plateau for the last two years

I've been using food focus a bit this week. It's shown how the odd biscuit/chocolate here and there add up. It also suprised me how well I can eat on very little calories when I put my mind to it. (My net calorie goal is 1557/day to lose 1lb/week)

dh is away next week which often leads to me thinking "sod it I'll have chocolate biscuits / tub of ice cream for dinner instead of cooking" I know it's bad...I'm a lazy moo. I was looking forward to being virtuous whilst he is away but friends are inviting themselves over and suggesting bringing takeaways . My nice quiet, zoning week is disappearing.

well done knottyhair & guitargirl - fab losses.

Shaxx - enjoy the wedding

iluvcake - hope you have a great skiing holiday - you'll be flying down the slopes in your slinky sallopettes now

Phew... everyone else... hope you have a great non biffing weekend

Shaxx, that's for 1lb a week.

Justaminute, is there any way you could make something in advance for when your friends come over? Something that might do the same job as a takeaway, like a healthy curry or maybe a veg chilli, or one with turkey mince or something? Here I go again with the links, but we had this www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7418/easy-thai-prawn-curry recently and it was lovely. I know it cheats a bit with the paste, but if you use a good quality one, and it means no takeaway... Or a stir-fry or something? If you look on this site in the recipes section there's some really nice ones for quick suppers etc as well, and then you know exactly how many calories you're having.

Wow I am amazed at all the losses, way to go knotty and Guitargirl, iluv and Buda on your losses. Well done Shaxx on sts . Dinky your gain is only small and with all the exercise you nromally do, you will shift that, hope you get better soon so that you can return to your fitness.

Well for 2 weeks I tried my hardest and sts, so went off the rails this week and guess what I've sts . Anyway at least I am no worse off but that means I haven't lost anything in January, so need to pull my socks up for February. I will lose the 7 lbs before going home to visit the family.

where is thinbride, I know you will be lurking, like me, come on, we've both had a biff week, but lets put it behind us and start a new. Come on girl where are you .

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Take care xx

Wow Knotty another tasty recipe. I can't believe thats under 200cal per portion!

Thinbride yes come back! We miss youuuuuuu

Wow. Hadn't noticed the losses! Well done knotty, GuitarGirl and Iluv!

You know the golden rule of not shopping when you are hungry? Well I shopped. While hungry. Have bought so much CRAP! DS is happy!

Have just discovered another reason I bought so much crap - started period. Can't remember last one and I had major PMT earlier in the week so I think it is all hormonal.

Morning everyone! Did day 6 of Level 1 of the Shred this morning. I'm enjoying it, but still find certain sections "challenging". Anyone else who's done it, did you move up to Level 2 after 10 days, and is it MUCH harder?? Thanks, and have a good (biff-free!) weekend!

Have done it, moved up to level 2 after 7 days as was bored with level 1 - level 2 is more high impact (think perpetual motion - taps into peripheral heart action so your heart beat is kept raised through out the full 20 minutes which accelerates the fat burn) but you need to keep telling yourself you CAN do it - and it does get better/easier after a few days

Hi all
well started back at day 1 of the shred, having had a whole week off, naughty me. Anyway, went straight into it, didn't feel too bad, but may say differently tomorrow .

Stayed happily in the zone all day and I'm so glad I'm back there and not like last weekend. Hope everyone else is staying in the zone.

Thinbride where are you? Hope you're ok and doing well.

Take care all and have a nice weekend x

Dinky, thanks for the reply - it still sounds scary! But I think I'll try to stick at Level 1 for the 10 days and then give Level 2 a try.

TDW, sounds like you've had a good day and you sound happy!

Had a good day - shredded this morning, had soup for lunch, kids party this afternoon and managed to decline the leftover food, apart from a few carrot sticks, and we're having a late tea of tuna in tomato sauce with rice. Hope everyone is OK x

Knottyhair - am also on day 6 of Shred Level 1 today. Am quite surprised that I am finding it getting easier but am still not convinced that am doing to the abs properly. I have no abdominal muscles to speak of so it's difficult to know what I am doing - except for moving all the wobbly bits around !

Am also still finding the cardio in circuit 1 a bit of a killer. At the moment the plan is to stick with Level 1 maybe for another week and then see how am finding it.

Has anyone managed 30 consecutive days?

By the way Shaxx - was it you who gave the tip of picturing yourself happy at the end of the day after not eating crap? I have found that really useful the last few days as my hand hovered over the tube of Pringles!

Haven't done too well today, took the kids to Discover and by the time we got to the cafe the only things that were left were an egg mayo sandwich on white bread or a pot of fruit. I was starving. Guess which one made it to the tray...

Still, I just had chicken soup for dinner to try and make up for it.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Guitargirl, I know what you mean about the 1st lot of cardio! I'm used to Davina, who only does cardio in 1 minute bursts! But it has got a bit easier. I also find the lunges with bicep curls in the 2nd lot of strength quite tough, but I am a wuss! But back on it this morning, although DS likes to join in so it's "look at me, look at me!" every 5 seconds (him, not me!). Soup again for lunch today and dinner tonight is chicken with some homemade coleslaw (made with half fat creme fraiche & yoghurt instead of mayo). Have a good one everyone!

Hi all

Hope everyone is having a good day.

I'm also in the shred mood, but I find the cardio ok in level one, it's the last set of strength, the side lunges with the arm raises, kills my arms , am defo tired after that.

Hurt my ankle yesterday, fell over in town, how embarrassing , which has sprained my ankle. But I am still going to shred, when DH finally gives up the TV.

Take care all x

TDW, hope your ankle is OK, go easy on the exercise. Falling over in town sounds like me, I'm such a klutz. I'm forever walking into door frames, whilst DP mutters "spatial awareness" under his breath and shakes his head pityfully.

Well I managed to do the shred and my DH did it with me. He is much fitter than me, but then again he didn't give birth 5 months ago . I think he enjoyed it and maybe he will do it again, but he will need much heavier waits than me.

Had a lovely lamb for roast dinner, but kept it healthy with the veg and wheat free gravy. I use arrowroot to thicken my sauces so that I don't need any wheat based products.

Now I've got spelt bread in the oven, hope it rises, my last effort wasn't too great but made great breadcrumbs .

Hope everyone is ok. Take care xx

Just a quick one, what is the food focus everyone keeps talikng about? Is it just for your phone, or can you use the computer aswell? I don't have an iphone etc so can't do anything fancy on mine.

Cheers x

It's online as well. If you Google it, you can see what it's like. I use a similar thing called Livestrong/myplate. You basically put in your weight, age, and the rate at which you want to lose weight, and it gives you a calorie limit. You then input what you eat, and what exercise you do and you can track how you're doing. I'd be useless at keeping tabs on myself without it!

Morning all - had a feeling ill and bifftastic weekend but today is Monday, new week, new attempt to shift the weight.

Time to get back to basics so to remind myself

• mindful eating

• 3 healthy meals a day - snacks between meals to be fruit only

• water - lots of it

• exercise - lots of it

• remember the mantra:nothing tastes as good as being slim feels

Morning all. Happy Monday. Last day of January.

Well have been pretty bad this weekend. Had takeaway curry on Friday night for dinner, had cooked breakfast on Saturday, then biscuits, then a toasted sandwich, the out to a Burns Supper - lots of wine, lots of food. Yesterday was more of the same.

So. Back at it today. Have just had a slice of rye bread and a banana for breakfast. Snacks will be fruit, yoghurt etc.

It is -5 at the moment. Brrr. So not walking dogs today. Cleaner here too so won't be shredding or anything. Will def do something tomorrow.

Am out tomorrow night for dinner but can be good.

thedogwalk - you can def do Food Focus on computer. I did it for a while. Must have a look again. I bought spelt flour last week to make bread. Am a bit worried that I will go overboard on it if I make it though.

HAve a day of tidying, continuing my decluttering and ordering my new kitchen planned! Then taking DS to dentist after school.

Dinky and Buda, as you say, new week, and it sounds like you're both back at it. Had a good weekend, shredded both days and it was easy to meal plan as we were in all weekend with no visitors, which always helps! Had a bad night's sleep last night and felt crap when I woke up, all AF related! Really felt like curling up in a ball and not doing anything when I got back from taking DS to school. But took some nurofen (other anti-inflammatories are available) and made myself do the Shred and feel a lot better now. Soup for lunch again, and we're having the tuna/tomato rice thingy again tonight as it was really nice! Have a good day everyone!

Ooh, a new kitchen sounds exciting Buda. What are you going for? We're redoing our house at the moment and just seleting all the kitchen stuff (having it custom made as worked out cheaper that way) - cant wait to get into the redone house with all the stuff we really want in it!

It is very exciting dinky! We are moving back to UK in July after 15 years overseas and bought a house in Somerset which is currently being done up. New kitchen, new bathrooms, windows, wiring etc.

Going for a kitchen from Handmade Kitchens Direct which will then be painted. Building new kitchen so what used to be dining area will be a sitting area, what used to be kitchen will be dining area and what used to be outside toilet, storage, back staircase and larder will be kitchen. Am SO excited!

When will yours be finished? Are you having to go and check on it all the time? It's a bit scary being so far away when ours is being done. I asked for advice on here about doing it from afar and everyone said not to!

Buda, whereabouts are you now (if you don't mind saying)?

Thanks for the info knotty . I have joined the food focus page. Has anybody input the shred into that and if so, what have you logged it as?

Hope everyone is havng a good day. Take care xx

Good on you, TDW. I googled the Shred to see what it comes out as, and apparently it's 170 calories. Doesn't seem a lot does it, but I guess it's only 20 mins. On the one I use there's an option to input calories or food manually; I'm sure Food Focus would have the same option.

Knotty - I think Buda is in Budapest.

Yes Buda - we are having to make decisions all the time (especially re variations, specs of windows, colour schemes etc) but we've got the most brilliant project manager (who is also our architect and interior designer rolled into one) who takes a hell of a lot of the load off our shoulders. Current estimation for end date is late April.

TDW/Knotty - I'd put Shred down as 150 cals - it takes alot to high level cardio to really burn cals. IME Shred is great for losing inches rather than weight as it tones you up all over.