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. :)

Morning :)

Re: not eating much and yet still not loosing - it's a plateau isn't it? I think your body just gets used to getting by on X amount of calories. In the wild we would be great because we would cope through feast and famine.

Not much comfort i know

Anyway i was reading the thread here about 'fasting' last night. It turns out it's not eating nothing, as i thought, it's about eating 500 calories or less once or twice a week. I'm wondering if doing that would just kick on the weight loss a bit? If i were to do it i would pick a day when i was least busy, and not exercise on that day. Or maybe just a gentle walk. What do you all think?

Stealth - i think not weighing yourself everyday is an excellent idea. One which i will take up once the novelty of weighing myself naked in the hall each morning wears off

No change today for me on the scales.

I figured I would plateau at a lower BMI than 36! I have a consistent average net calories of 900 a day, and I'm only counting exercise that raises my heart rate/leaves me short of breath/makes me sweat. Surely I must use more than 900 calories just remaining alive, pottering in the house and garden, fidgeting, forgetting stuff upstairs/downstairs again , tidying etc.
Where is my body getting the calories from if not my capacious fat reserves?

LOL

Sorry bolt

Erm ... i dunno! Perhaps we are utilising the very air we breath somehow?

I am sneaking back in , I have been hopeless the last couple of weeks and I really need a good kick .

I am fed up because I have put some of the weight back on that I lost so from today I am back and I am on a mission .

Help !

It looks like you are all doing a fab job , going to read back and get motivated .

Get back on track, draw a line under the last few weeks, and focus on getting weight off from now.

willbury, I only have a little motivation myself but am willing to share :o
I did L3 this morning :o so feel a bit virtuous

Thank you bolt , my house is a tip and I am working till one so I should be kept busy today and be able to stay away from the junk .

No I will be staying away from the junk not should !

Well done stealth , very impressed , I haven't done anything for a couple of weeks , that is going to change , u feel rubbish for letting things slip , I should be half stone lighter than I was and instead I have put four pounds on .

Let that be a lesson to you all !

Morning!

Hi Wilbury, I'm a newbie. Ikwym about 'I should be here in terms of weight loss but I'm there in terms of weight gain.'

Talking about mini revelations, I had one a while ago - I realised that losing weight is not like driving on a long journey, when you an either put your foot down and go really fast, or slow down and enjoy the scenery but still go in the same direction and end up at the same destination. This might just be me, but I realised that it's more like pushing a barrel up a hill which requires consistent effort, and if you stop to take a breather, the barrel starts rolling back down the hill agan and might end up in a ditch, then it's even harder to get started with the rolling again. For me, I've had so many little spurts of determination for a few weeks when I've lost, say, half a stone, then thought to myself 'Oh that's all right then, I'll just reward myself with a cake from the baker's / takeaway / glass of wine / chocolate' (usually at least three of these!) and...well, it's obvious, isn't it. So, my job is to make sure that I actually keep this weight loss show on the road and don't just have yet another spurt of determination followed by celebratory binge.

So...I'm going to a BBQ today. The person who's invited me doesn't really believe in salad (or any food apart from red meat). I don't want to overeat / eat the wrong thngs and set myself back after a really good week. How do you negotiate BBQs without falling off the wagon?

I had a BBQ a few weeks back, the only advice I can give is:
Decide in advance how much you would like to eat and refuse to eat more than that.
Bring your own salad (or even enough to share)
Try to eat lean meat rather than burgers.
Drink plenty of water to make you feel fuller and keep your head clear so you don't get the alcohol fuelled munchies.
HTH

Ok, so I have had a wobbley few days, beenover cals slightly most days and I have had bread.

Bread normally = a maintaining week.

So I jumped.on the scales this morning in hope they would kick start the motivation, only to discover I have lost 3lbs so far this week . This takes me to bang on 12.

I will read back later to catch up properly but URGH to cold carbonara!!!!!

Hmph. Got cramps, and all my effort this week has been for nowt because, due to totm, I'm back at 13 1 this morning :(. I am hoping against all hope that Monday yields a loss, but idoubt it :(

Better go to the gym, I suppose.

(and I just caught the iPad changing my nowt to Moët lol. Well, a glass wouldn't go amiss today!)

For the BBQ, eat meat rather than burgers or sausages. Don't eat the bread and just choose whichever salady thing looks the least messed around with.

It's really hard to overdose on pure protein because you feel so full quickly.

Lollipop - hope it's just a blip.

My moan for today - I bought some Kellogg's all bran bran flakes for the first time in ages and they are so sweet. I've just looked at the packet and there is added sugar. Lots of added sugar.
I bought them to be better for my diabetic mum for breakfast than our usual offerings but I need to go and buy something else now because she won't be able to eat these.

Hello, can I join you all? Even though it's not Monday..? I love this thread.

I have about a stone to lose. I lost 3 stone 2 years ago, but one of them has crept back on and I'm beginning to resemble the biscuit barrel I visit so frequently.

My problem is I "work" from home, and often use food to procrastinate.

When I lost weight before, I did the Scarsdale Diet (meat, fish, veg, fruit, no booze!) and became a gym bunny. I don't know if I can bear to repeat that diet - he tells you what to eat EVERY DAY and while it's BRILLIANT, I am so sick of some of the meals. It's really healthy and effective though.

I might try MFP. I've never used it, but i would like to be accountable for my custard creams.

I'm 5'6", 10st 0 and want to be 9st. Even though it makes my face a bit haggard (I'm 41).

I'd recommend Scarsdale for anyone who is trying to eat healthily but not losing weight. It does completely retrain your eating habits, and knowing in advance what you'll be eating makes it VERY easy to keep on track, be organised, etc.

The weight falls off, and it's family friendly: you can just add pasta, spuds, etc to the family's meals.

The plan is written out here: lowcarblisa.tripod.com/thescarsdalemedicaldiet/id18.html

It's quite like SW, I think.

Hi Annuva :)

Holo the barrel up a hill analogy is brilliant! Yes, when you stop for a minute, usually if you're driving along, you remain where you are. If you don't keep your foot jammed under the barrel, you'll be back where you started before you realise what's happening :( My plan is to get to my size 12 10 and then pick a certain outfit - probably an expensive pair of jeans I will treat myself to. When they start getting a little tight - no excuses! Back on MFP for me. That way I'm not constantly calorie counting or weighing myself, but I'll be able to keep it in check and it won't be allowed to get too bad before I do this again - starting with maybe 3 or 4 lb to lose, not 3 or 4 stone!

Have caught up :)

cat 5lbs in 3 weeks sounds doable! Good luck and remember your goal.

Lollipop Don't fret too much. It will come back off. Maybe avoid weighing until you feel better.

Well done stealth on L3...I have never managed to get past L1 . Great idea about the jeans :)

Holo Yes the barrel thing is spot on! I will be remembering that in the future.
BBQ? Avoid all bread and anything to creamy or saucy.Try and stick to things like chicken. And take a huge bag of salad with you! Good luck!

We are taking ds and one of his friends for as picnic tomorrow. Been shopping, I have bought myself a salad to have while they all eat sandwiches, crisps, sausage rolls and cakes!

I am also wondering if my mindset is changing slightly. At sainsbos, rather than linger around the bakery section, i just walked right on through just grabbing what i needed. Before I would drag it out thinking for ages what crap yummy stuff I should buy.

Oh and welcome newbies :)

Hello back! Thanks for the welcome. :)

DH wanted to go to a cafe for lunch, but instead I made a yummy salad which meant I could control what went into it :
Chicken breast, lettuce, cucumber, roasted red pepper, new potato, roasted butternut squash, tomato and balsamic vinegar. It was delicious, and DH agreed it was better than anything we could have got in a cafe.
We're going for a walk before collecting DCs from their holiday, but it's a walk that passes several cheese shops so may end up calorie-neutral.

IMST That sound yum! :)

How many calories does an hour of walking burn? I wouldn't have thought it was very many. 200?

According to MFP....
Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace, 60minis , 251cals

Thanks! :D

Hi everybody and hello to newbies/returners. Holo I love that barrel analogy too, and I will picture a barrel in my head every time I think about heading for the biscuit tin.
Today is my last day at work until September (I get 3 weeks off in the summer) so from tomorrow I'll be at home every day and will be spending lots of time playing with the DCs, having days out etc. Just hope I can keep my focus and not succumb to holiday treats. I was very good earlier - my boss bought an M&S key lime pie for us all to share and cut me a piece (she doesn't know I'm on this weight-loss mission). I had 2 tiny forkfuls and then left the rest, even though it was really delicious. Checked on MFP and I have saved myself about 350 calories