size 16 to size 10 and anything to get there: whether you have eaten lettuce and ryvita all weekend or worked your way through a munchy box and a dairy milk get over here for MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY

[StealthPolarBear]

Rules of Motivational Monday:
The weekend is the past. You start from now. If not, you'll end up here in a couple of weeks and a few pounds heavier so do it NOW
MM involves healthy eating and some exercise. Your excuses will not be tolerated here.
MM is when we all get back into control and back into the swing of things.
Welcome all and best of luck. :)

arch if you have a sugar management problem, you could try eating low GI foods, less simple sugar, more complex carbs.
I find oat-heavy breakfast keeps me full up to lunch, whereas corn or rice cereals leave me hungry by 10am (I'm up and breakfasted by 6.30am most days).
I drink water (not too fast) when I'm in a snack temptation situation, to fool myself that I'm consuming something so must be full.
After a few weeks of gradual portion reduction, I'm happily full most of the time on 1300 cals a day gross, 900 net.

Hi all,

Arch - maybe its the low fat way of eating. Fat is what makes you feel full I believe - that's how low-carb eating works. Maybe factor in a chunk of cheese or some nuts at those times? And bfing will increase your calorie allowance. Think it's worth about 8 ww points when baby is full bfing.

Oh stealth I didn't know that, will go on and update myself with the bfs. Re: the hunger it is very hard and I'm so of people who can just miss meals or eat meals late. I'm not using it as an excuse for my weight, as I've been relatively slim when I was a teenager (well, a size 12 which for my build looks slim) and I've found naturally my body seems to be happy and look healthy at a size 14/16, so I think this is where I need to be, but it has always made things very difficult for me - I'm not just eating because I'm greedy and fancy something! I know the less you eat the less you need to eat as your body adapts to less (just like it adapts when you eat too much) so maybe I'm just finding my way and need to work through this, but I have always struggled no matter what I do or don't eat with this aspect. I think this is why exercise always helps me so much when I"m losing weight and is the only way I've managed to successfully do it in the past.

Thanks sassy and IO . I eat an oat based muesli everyday for breakfast (with a sprinkling of corn flakes to bulk it out) and don't eat any sugary foods really aside from my treat of a low calorie hot choc every day (oh, and fruit). I have been eating cheese but the weight watchers one and I admit I did have some full fat yoghurt yesterday to try and fill me up and help the hunger. IOU genuinely of how you can't feel so hungry on 1300 kcals a day . Whenever I eat I keep thinking 'I bet a slim person would eat only this much' or 'I wonder if a slim person would eat a snack now' . I realise I now sound a bit mental - I'm just trying to get in the mindset of changing my attitude and thought processes to food.

Btw stealth my nn is an olympics one at the minute - I'm usually reastie, which is a sort of play on my RL name

ah :)
I think it's one thing for someone like me who has never been hungry in their life (never had a chance in between meals) to cut down, be a bit hungry and then adapt, but if you actually feel ill through lack of food then obviously another way is needed until you do adapt. Hope you crack it!

Hi arch.. welcome! I also really struggle with hunger. There are times I can eat the contents of the fridge. I have no real advice, but what occasionally works for me is I will eat a boiled egg. I also have a big pot of veg soup on the go and I will try and eat a mug of that. It can make me feel pretty miserable at times, I will be honest. I seem not to be hungry today though- I have not eaten rice for weeks, so I think my rice at lunch yesterday just really filled me up. I skipped dinner (that is rare ) and I am not hungry at all yet. BF always made me ravenous though. I do not thinking saying 'would a slim person eat'...' sounds silly- I used to repeat to myself over and over 'eat like a slim person eat like a slim person' when faced with a particularly enticing meal!

Arch perhaps swapping some fruit for veg, beans or nuts would even out your sugar highs and subsequent lows. Gradual changes are more likely to stick than fads or crash diets.
My breakthrough was realising how much I ate out of sheer habit, because food was in front of me. I now make sure if I choose to eat something, I really enjoy it. Every mouthful.
As you like cheese, you could swap some for low fat soft cheese, or if you're cooking with hard cheese, use less but stronger cheese.
Every little helps.

Good idea on the fruit. I have cut out fruit almost entirely from my diet, because I noticed that I always felt hungry but also a bit queasy after eating a banana or an apple. I had not made a sugar connection to it though.

Remember eighty the past is the past, accept what has happened and focus on the future, or you'll give in to fruitless guilt.
What will you do from Sunday onwards to get back on track? Each day is a new day, and a new chance to work towards your goal (twee but true). The scales don't judge you, they just tell you. What you do with that information is up to you.

Good luck eightytwenty. I hope you had a great time.

Arch have you thought about 6 smaller meals rather than 3? You will fuel your body through the day at regular intervals. Also you will always know that it's soon time to eat so you won't get that empty feeling or get too hungry.

Im on the phone so am.apologizing now for the typos!

arch But honkey, do you mean me?? To answer your question on the 10th of July my BF% was 57. Its was 44 at last weigh in on Mon.

Right I may make myself sound a bit weird here but....embrace the hunger !! I love that feeling of a little bit empty. I can almost feel the pounds dropping off.
Its hard at first but once you stick to your planned meals and snack(if you have them) then you may find that you don't notice it as much.
After my bread binge last night I felt too full. It was awful. I hated it! I used to feel like that all the time because I thought I liked feeling that way....turns out i don't!

I cant eat anywhere near as much as I used to. I know it doesn't but my stomach has shrunk. That's how it feels anyway. And I have also found I enjoy my food more if i do feel empty.

eighty What IMST said. Accept it happened and jump back on the wagon!

Oh and whoever said have a boiled egg as a snack, spot on! Less than 100cals (depending on size of said egg) and it will really fill you up.

Also make a huge fruit salad and put it in the frigde. If you feel picky or need some sugar its there so you don't head towards the biscuit tin!

honkey bonkey yes I mean you . Wow - you've been AMAZING to lose over 10% in less than a month - what an inspiration. I get what you mean with embracing hunger - you do feel like you're pushing yourself closer to the goal when you have that empty feeling don't you, it's just the nausea/dizziness etc I can't manage, and then I get so hungry I eat more than I would have IYKWIM. I'm definitely retraining my tummy though - I was trying to permanently feel full (think I got into the habit when pg and had terrible nausea and had to keep tummy topped up to help it), now I'm trying to go the other way and hoping my problems may get better after a couple of weeks getting used to adapting, FWIW I agree with you on the stomach shrinking thing - it feels like that with me too in the past.

Whoever said the soup tip - I do that one and find that works really well . I'm starving hungry right now so think my morning snack will have to be an egg so I can see how well that works

eightytwenty bonjour - hope you had a great holiday.

DH is out this morning with DD so I get house to myself (this has never happened before!), I'm going to make a healthy tofu and vegetable rice salad for lunch and make extra for tomorrow then hopefully I'll manage with just soup for tea but will need to snack a bit to get through

Oh, this has probably been mentioned before but things that have worked for me in the past and I still do is I have small bowls and plates that I use for food so I'm limited on how much I can eat/fill my plate with (I find I have to fill my cereal bowl with cereal or I feel cheated so having a small bowl and filling it up makes me eat less) and sometimes I eat with DDs small cutlery so I can get less on it so it takes longer to eat so I think I'm eating more than I am.

Thanks arch

Is it 10%? Never thought about the %s before.

Anyway, it only goes to show how.much fat I was eating before

Just read that the ' optimal' % for my age is anywhere between21.1% and 32.9% so still have a way to go although I will be aiming for the higher end of that

My cold is now at the streamy stage. I heated up a tin of soup, but am finding it hard to summon up the energy to eat the half I could bear to dish up.
I know I need to eat lunch to keep my strength up, but it's a struggle.
On a more cheerful note, I'm down below 83kg, 13st 1, from a starting point of 87kg.
Still Micronesian, but not for long

eighty don't panic if the scales "say" half a stone on - I always find with holiday eating I end up with loads of temporary water weight, that mostly comes off within a week without great effort

arch I agree with the other ladies - look into GI stuff, and build in regular healthy snacks throughout the day. I go through phases of being hungry/obsessed with food all the time, then being OK with regular mealtimes. So I do get what you mean, but not as extreme. Oh and check out MFP for what your daily calories should be for a 1lb a week weight loss.

chips if you feel too lazy to do that with takeaway next time, I'ld just skip the boiled rice, or only eat 1/3 to a 1/2 of the portion.

I'm writing off today and starting again. Think I'm due on totm so have been grazing constantly on rubbish today. Yes, I did a spin class and my usual workout but I've still eaten rubbish :(

Tomorrow is a new day.

I've had quite a few slip ups over the past few days (too much cake, too much wine) so I'm not hopeful of a loss on monday this week. The good thing is having the support of all you guys on here and logging everything on MFP means I've found it easier to keep the slip ups fairly contained and not fall back into the default of eating everything in sight. Lollipop, as you say, tomorrow is a new day.

arch, welcome, and I'd agree wholeheartedly with the other comments about keeping your blood sugar balanced if you can. I am BFing and get v hungry but find regular snacks of something like peanut butter on ryvita keep me going.

Kato, I felt rather fuzzy this morning after accidently drinking far too much wine. I'm wondering how your soft play experience was?!!

Has everyone had a super Saturday then?
The DCs are all off to bed (including one DD spirited over here for a sleepover).
My cold is not streaming quite so much, but I'm still quite tired.

So, today I broke my jeans.
Nope, I rephrase that, I broke my only pair of jeans that fit !!

The way they broke? Well, its from my fat thighs rubbing together and wearing down the denim. :(
The worst thing is that I didn't realise til I got home, which mean I have been walking round all afternoon with my crotch dangerously close to being on show thankfully it was just a bit of inner thigh .

This weight has to come off now because I have no, thats right ladies, NO more pairs of trousers/jeans that fit. Thank god its summer and I can wear skirts! I'm not really a skirt person but needs must!

My new aim is to get into the nice pair of jeans and other 'slim' clothes that are hung in my wardrobe, that are brand new because I bought a 12 being hopeful and they didn't fit . I am a snug 14 at the mo.

Shall I sum up my day... :( :( :(

Bonkey exactly the same, I used to have lovely clothes and now I have two pairs of pants that fit and have resorted to tracksuit bottoms when not at work :(

To cap it off I saw a friend other day I hadn't seen in person in fourteen years. I was 8 stone when I last saw them I am now 13 and a half :( made me feel really crap about myself.

Oh and I bought some trousers in the next size up last might as I was at my mums and spilt coffee all over me. The bigger size didn't fit and I've been out all day with trousers that wouldn't fasten.

Bonkey I did that to a pair of jeans the other week, so I sewed denim stars all over the jeans, one patch is embarrassing, twenty is "where did you buy those cool jeans?".
Unfortunately since I've been on here, I've lost weight, and those jeans are the ones I can take off without unbuttoning. to to in a few weeks.

bonkey :(
the number of times i have split the seams of my trousers caught my trousers on a nail - everyone played along :(
Oh and the time I broke my mum and dad's garden chair