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. :)

@ the milk. Dh does that too!

It's one day Stealth. You are doing so well that it will not be too hard to get back on it tomorrow. You'll probably still be full anyway. We all need a day off now and then.

You'd better come back tomorrow or I'll take away your Xbox!

Oops sorry wrong person.

The sentiment stands though!

:o
I know...think I'm just sick of this. I'll be back tomorrow or a day some time in the future full of motivation.
I am doing this for my health and because I'm sick of being the fatone. At the moment that's not enough.

When you read these weightloss articles in trashy magazines they always describe an incident (like the time I broke my parents' garden chair) and say that if they thought about cheating they only had to think of that time. It's never that trite and easy IRL is it?

though in these trashy magazines it's usually when they were flying (to America...it's always America) and the slim and beautiful air hostess had to call along the crowded plane for a seatbelt extended. And then they show a picture of them on said holiday in a swimming costume looking pale, sweaty and unhappy. Then when they got home they ditched the jumk (pic of bin full of pastries and McD wrappers) and survived on salad and grilled fish. 3 weeks later and BINGO size 10.
They don't say "at one point in the 7th week I flagged and ate all my 5yos Easter eggs. I then had to dash to the shops and pray they still had the same ones in the reduced section."

Stealth If you abandon us, I will stalk you down and force feed you carrots!

I do have a an incident to look back on - it's not a 100% prevention from the odd bout of stuffing self with crap but it sometimes helps put me off bingeing. It was 5 years ago now, and I wasn't that overweight BUT I spent the day I went on holiday, eating virtually non-stop - effect of being a bit bored on a plane and coach with a 2 year old - then woke up at 3 am with ahem very nasty guts.

Stealth - sod it, you are on quite a low total calorie count anyway, have a wee break, as long as you ENJOY it. and come back from it in a day or two!

My Dh doesn't do that with milk, he does it with coke and sweets

stealth firstly step away from the trashy magazines . I bet all those people who can now stand in one leg of their old ultra big trousers all had times they lapsed, cried and wanted to give up. It's just it doesn't sound great in a magazine to write that, plus, often these people are endorsing a specific diet and the company won't want someone who's advocating their diet to say how hungry and miserable they were on it. So you had a day or whatever of eating junk, put it down to experience and start a fresh tomorrow.

Can I have some hand holding please? I am doing my very first proper exercise class in pretty much 3 or 4 years tomorrow morning. I'm bricking it. ALthough I feel fitter than I was (before I came out in a sweat when climbing the stairs ) I'm still really not that fit and it's a step aerobics class at my gym where everyone that goes to the classes are desperate housewife types (all v glam and slim and fitness obsessed). I am fat and unfit and because of my big weight mass find it hard to bounce around like I used to. I'm really scared

Stealth take today off if you need to, then come back to us tomorrow. If you leave, I feel like I just do not understand the world anymore. [sob].

Seriously though- you have been on such a low cal diet for ages-- just give yourself a break. But whatever you eat, make sure you ENJOY it, as TheLight says and it is worth it. Then tomorrow, be back with us.

You have inspired us with your thread- we need you!

Haha! Under calories with a takeaway - unheard of until today!

All I had to do was eat a quarter of each of my little boxes. Then I've got a quarter for lunch, and in theory, half for tomorrow's dinner.

So tomorrow I probably will be over, but, meh, it all evens out over the week :) Gym tomorrow too, I think :)

Good luck arch. I haven't been brave enough to do that yet but I do watch through the window in my gym and wish to join in.

Maybe I will when the dcs go back to school.

Some one above mentioned roller-skating. I would love someone to do that with, i can't wait till my daughter is old enough! :)

Arch, I hope you enjoy your class. Don't even think about all the other people thre, just focus on yourself and getting you fitter.

Sealth, enjoy your 'mini-break' from your low cal diet :) I was reading the other week about some nutrition guru or other recommending he odd blow-out here and there (sorry, can't be more precise than that, can't remember any useful details like who).

I've had two minor successes today - every Wed I have a breakfast meeting which involves the most amazing criossants, buns, danish pastries etc. Well, this morning, for the first time ever in my job, I got up early and made some superhealthy porridge and had that, then didn't have anything at the meeting except for coffee. It was hard to sit there with the platters of gorgeous pastries in front of me (they come warm from the oven from the local baker'sshop - they really are divine) but I did it.

Then at lunch we went out (same colleagues) and I found the lowest cal option on the menu and had that, and really enjoyed it. I didn't allow myself to even consider the creamy garlicky lovely pasta.

I'm not sure if I've lost any weight yet, but I can feel it in my jeans - so a minor success I think! :)

Well done Holo, and arch, enjoy your class.
Sorry, my lst post obviously came across a lot more dramatically than I intended. It was a general winge, not planning to leave the thread! It's just atm I can't imagine getting my willpower back - but then I don't suppose that's easy when you're in the middle fo a binge.

Yesterday I had a big food, big exercise day, getting the set out of a theatre and back into the set store:
I had a small cooked breakfast (one sausage etc), and fruit, and toast, and a smoothie.
Cheese and bacon sandwich, a biscuit and a toffee for lunch
Pasta with spinach, pesto and pine nuts for dinner, then on to the after show party where I had a piece of dark chocolate and 3 cans of beer!
On the plus side, I moved a lot of set several times so still came out well under calories, and I'm fairly sure I underestimated my cardio by a lot as some pieces of set were 20 or 30kg on my own or at least twice that with help.
I am very tired now though. I had better lose some weight after all that effort

Well done Holo, it makes you feel quite proud when your willpower works.

I ate so much lasagne for dinner last night that I almost had to roll to bed but I didn't want to snack at all. Evening snacking is my danger time so I am quite pleased.

Oh God hooray, i can log in! I tried and tried at about half 9 last night and couldn't! I wanted to say good luck to arch with her class - do it for you :)

Well done to all those successes yesterday - and here's to today! One day at a time people. It's so good to read about peoples motivational stories here.

Also - Stealth (and anyone who's wobbling) please please give yourself PERMISSION TO WOBBLE and then CARRY ON ANYWAY. Like others have said, if you're going to blow the day - do it, enjoy it, and choose a day when you're going to stop and get back on with loosing weight again. Weather your wobble is a single meal, or a whole week - it's ok, it's just a blip. It doesn't matter because you've lost some weight before the blip, and your going to loose more soon :)

AFM - Yesterday was a day of mayhem in our family. Consequently i ate nothing till 12 midday when i had my breakfast Slim Fast. I had my 2nd at 2pm, and then following another crisis in the evening neither me nor DH got near any food till 8.30pm - and it was a Mac.Donald's while driving home. Luckily my 2 hamburgers and small fries took me to 10 calories under my allowance! That was close

The saga of the scales continues. They're Tesco ones, i think. A glass square with little silver feet and a digital read out at the top. Anyone else got ones like that? Do they work for you?!

This morning i couldn't resist it - i put them in the same spot in the hall (naked, post wee + pre tea) and it's saying i've lost just under 2 lbs overnight. 14' 6 now. (14' 11 Tuesday night starting weight) And y'know what? I'm going with it I don't know if it's the right weight - and if the darn thing suddenly announces i've put on a stone i'll bin it, but at the mo it's spurring me on.

Motivational thoughts to all today x

urgh 12st2 this morning. How can I put on 3lb in about 2 days when it will take me about 3 weeks to lose it again :(

Stealth - could it be bloating? Have you tried cutting down on salt? Are you near your totm? You know muscle weighs more than fat - perhaps that is masking some weight loss?

Glad to have you back Stealth! I feel motivated by fluffy's words- give yourself permission to wobble then get straight back on. In the past i have wobbled and then thought 'well I've blown it now'!

I had a semi revelation last night. I was out for dinner with DCs and a girlfriend and her 3 year old. My friend is extremely slim..... borderline worryingly so, but she is tiny, and small framed. She always eats very little. Her lunch will be half a sandwich and a piece of fruit etc. I always just assumed she ate a proper meal at dinner. Anyway, she ordered for her daughter a toddler meal of sausages and chips and nothing for herself. I asked her if she was eating, and she said she would just share with her daughter. She ate half a sausage, 3 maybe 4 chips and the cucumber and tomato garnish. Okay- I think that is a tiny tiny amount, but I had a sudden flash of understanding- slim people eat less than me. And they eat less than me all the time. I KNOW that sounds so stupid to just be 'getting' that now, but I have really just 'got' that. I guess because i do the starve inge thing, I kind of assume everyone does that. But I eat man-size meals, and can match my 6ft3 inch husband bite for bite. People always say watch your portion sizes or whatever- but for some reason I had never really taken it on board!

So today i am going to eat less. Yesterday I had very few vegetables also so today i am going to ensure that I get some fresh raw veg with every meal. And I am going to concentrate on really healthy eating. I cannot cut my portion sizes into half, but I reckon I CAN cut my portions by 10% this week- and then another 10% next week.

Look forward to hearing about your class arch and have good days, everyone.

It is a balance between smaller portions and avoiding snacking in my case.

I am fortunately not in the eat everything on my plate brigade which helps, I can quite happily leave food if I'm full except when it tastes so good.

I weighed in this morning and have lost the 2lb that I had put on over the last few weeks which I am pleased about. I just need to keep focused now.

Chips I realised the same thing recently. At dinner time for the last 12yrs I ate the same as dh and he eats a lot! I started doing it because he used to do the cooking and plating up so would give us the same and frown if I left any.

Now I put less on my own plate and I'm not missing out at all. I'm full at the end of a meal and I'm not missing out. Also if I ate out I was reluctant to leave any on my plate until I realised that they have to put enough on there to satisfy all appitites and so it's ok to leave some. It's made a huge difference to how I feel about food.

Officially submitting my 'calorie holiday application' effective date tomorrow afternoon? Who do I hand this to?

Finally 11 12!!! This morning and were off to Edinburgh for the Fringe for the weekend with friends and no children! We've rented an apartment so have own kitchen etcs but I intend to drink cider (not solely though!) we're having a restaurant meal on Saturday and lots of ad hoc rubbish im sure!!

There will be lots of walking though, but Im not going to ruin my only holiday this year and that of my friends!

Also had a review at the gym last night and in moving up to lifting and resistance machines and I've booked spin for Monday when I get home?

You're doing really well Kato.

No munchy boxes while you are away!! Anything else goes though.

just back from my step class. Thanks for all the well wishes. Turns out, what I thought was a dance step class was actually an 'athletic' step class . Cripes that was hard work and I'm not sure if I'll walk again tomorrow . I didn't really enjoy it either as I love the fancy pants routines and find repetition of the same thing over and over quite tedious. Still, I got through it and survived. It's a shame as my gym seems to have an influx of weight training type classes but not so many routiney aerobicy classes which I like. It's all kettlecise, body pump and body conditioning. Has anyone done zumba before? What's it like? I'm not so good at swivelling my hips and I imagine for some reason there's alot of loose hip type dancing

chips I know exactly what you mean re: slim people just eating alot less - I have a slim friend and when we have lunch she'll have maybe one cheese roll and that's it. The difference between me and her is that I would have 2 rolls and maybe some pudding (well, yoghurt or banana or some such) and I wouldn't get from breakfast to lunch without some kind of snack. They just must not feel the hunger or be incredibly disciplined or just naturally not in need of much . I am in the eat everything on my plate brigade and as such I have to put less than I think I want on my plate as I know if I put more I'll just eat it all anyway as it's there

Well done kato have a fab time in Edinburgh

Well, today I shall be eating Chinese food, then going to the gym to burn it off, then erm, eating the rest of my leftover Chinese

Then going to the gym tomorrow and Saturday, I think! Ooh, must book Spin for Saturday, before I forget.