NOW, or NEVER, no EXCUSES thread part 4.

[Tortoise]

Here we are, thread 4 .
Time for me to have a large kick up the arse and lose weight! (After Easter!)

Weighed in this morning, 12st 8.2, so up 0.8 lb since last Monday, hopefully that will go off if I can get back under control, most of it is down to Costa Hot Chocolate, I need to control myself if I'm going to get under 12st by the end of the month.

Glad you managed to get to the dentist and your weigh in arty, and well done on another loss and a new low .

Johnny, if I remember correctly Easter is the weekend of 19th April, the weekend after I go to see The Weir. I'm trying to keep myself motivated, still having the Slim fast shakes for breakfast, the plan is that that is a reminder every morning that I'm supposed to be on a diet and need to watch what I eat, I actually quite like them so I think they'll be a fixture for a long time now. I'm also not worrying too much about sticking to the diet if there's a good reason not to, but also trying to make sure I stick to it if there isn't a good reason to splash out, hopefully the two will balance out. (and hopefully that last makes sense .)

Help, I'm freaking out, my husband has been on and off sick leave for the last three years, I just found out that as of last month they've stopped paying him, I'm now the sole wage earner in our household and almost half my take home is overtime and out of hour's rota payments, it's going to be hard as it is but if I lose that extra we're sunk!

Oh my God, is he OK? Have they only just told you with no warning? so you haven't had time to plan?

I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope you continue to get the overtime. Is it likely? Really awful suggestion but aren't your children teenagers? Is there any way they can help? (I hope I've remembered correctly and I haven't just suggested you send toddlers up a chimney!) Is there any chance that you could find a job with more guaranteed hours?

Sorry, I think I've probably stated the obvious, I wish I could offer more practical advice.

Well I came on to update my diet 'news' (or lack of) but it all seems quite trivial given your last update.

I didn't get around to weighing myself. I tidy away the scales so I don't do it daily and so dds don't see me doing it and so it's not always easy to weigh myself if dd2 is taking a long time with breakfast (sometimes she demands a 4 course breakfast!!) or dd1 is dithering and not getting dressed.

Zalen I have a cappuccino habit which is a barrier to me losing weight. I tend to have skinny caps now and herbal tea but I just don't enjoy tea as much. I'm guessing I have about 5 weeks to lose about 6 or 7lbs and don't think I'll make it - although I'll try. I have 2 birthdays in the next week so will be eating out. I've googled both restaurants and neither have healthy options.

I categorise food as:

1. Healthy diet food which actually I enjoy (eggs, meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, yogurt)
2. Naughty food which I enjoy and have rarely (eg chips, cheese, takeaways, meals out I suppose etc)
3. Naughty food which I don't enjoy the flavour of and just eat because it's in front of me (biscuits, pringles, cakes, some bread, puddings)

So I think I'm similar to you that I try to eat just from the first two categories. I don't mind putting on weight if it's from group 2 but when it's group 3 I just get so angry with myself.

Anyway inspired by another thread I bought a tonne of vegetables today and roasted them - aubergines, leeks, red onions, peppers, courgettes, mushrooms. I had some with a hummus wrap and I am intending to make the rest of them into another 3 or 4 meals. I am hoping this will get me back into the zone.

He's fine, he normally gets paid on 26th of the month and his share of bills etc is transferred into the joint account on the 27th. I checked the bank account today and found that the money hadn't come in, it was when I rang him to ask him about it that I found out he wasn't being paid anymore. He's been on sick for a long time with a few phased returns to work which usually end in him going back off sick. He's been on half pay for a while so I've been sort of expecting it, but it was still a surprise to find that it's finally happened and he didn't think it important to let me know!

He's supposed to be looking for a new job. When I had to get a job because I couldn't take up the PGCE place I had lined up because of his long term sick it took me 6 weeks from making to decision to accepting a job offer, he's been looking 6 months to a year with no luck! The reason he's off is stress and depression, but compared with how he was when he first went off sick he's a million times better and to be honest these days I can see no sign that he's not perfectly capable of working, I personally think he simply likes not working.

I've emailed him a load of job details from the internet just from a quick google this morning but he should be capable of finding his own jobs to apply for. Our eldest is 19 and away at University, he's busy trying to get his own life started, I'm not going to ask him to subsidize his lazy layabout of a father, our youngest is 9 and a little on the chubby side so chimneys aren't really practical for him .

I'm sorry I panicked earlier, he just says 'Oh something will turn up', I refuse to let that something be selling the shares I got through my previous employment, they are intended to ensure we have a reasonably comfortable retirement, I refuse to waste them supporting him sitting around at home whilst I work full time and have to take on any overtime and out of hours cover available to keep the bills paid.

Sorry, rant over, back to weight loss chat, hopefully the stress will help me lose next week, as long as I don't resort to comfort eating.

Nice of him to tell you, that's the sort of thing my husband would do! Could you turn the electricity or gas off and forget to tell him how to turn it on again?

Presumably if you're used to living on half his pay he could go back to a part-time role rather than try to push himself into a full-time one? We know quite a lot of people who have suffered from depression and a couple who have had quite bad breakdowns and fortunately they had enough support to go back to work so I hope that's the case with him. I'm glad there are jobs in your area for him, do you think he'll apply? And would you ever be able to get another PGCE place? That must've been awful to give up a career you really wanted.

For some reason I thought your youngest was a teenager so it might be a bit cruel to send him out to work!

Don't worry about ranting, as you say it's often those sorts of things that turn us to comfort eating.

confession. I ate some chocolate from a party bag that dd1 was given over the weekend.

To be honest we've been married 24 years this year and during that time he's worked full time for maybe 3 years, all the rest of the time he's been part time. Because of the work we were doing he still usually earned more than me up until the last ten years when I've become the main earner, now I'm the sole earner.

He applied for a load of jobs yesterday, I'll keep chasing him daily to apply for more, the thing is I can badger him into applying, I can't do anything to ensure he actually puts the effort into the applications or the interviews if he gets any and I'm not sure I trust him to actually try to get a job, only to go through the motions.

I've suggested he widen his job search and consider some other types of employment, I don't mind what it is as long as it covers his half of the bills and gives him some spending money.

Well I hope he gets something, although he doesn't sound too motivated.

Finally weighed myself and I'm down .5lbs on 10 days again. 131.2 lbs. so I have 6 weeks to lose 6lbs. Not sure I'll do it, I've got 2 birthday celebrations in the next week that will involve a lot of eating!

Last night I had the hairy bikers tangle pie. It was lovely and I really felt full for hours. I have it again for lunch or dinner.

Well the diet has completely gone out the window, really need to knuckle down again. After blasting through my old sticking point of 13.25 st I now seem to be having trouble getting past 12.5 st. It's an improvement but I need to do better.

I was up late last night working on a fancy dress costume for school for DS2 then got an out of hours call from work at 5 so only got 4 hours sleep, already had a Fabulous Bakin' boys Caramel Shortcake and barely managed to keep myself from popping in to McDonalds to pick up breakfast on the way to work.

On the plus side I found out last night that DS1 has managed to secure himself a fantastic work experience opportunity for this summer, it means he won't be back at the end of the summer term until August but it's an amazing opportunity and I'm so pleased for him.

Just looked up the Hairy Bikers Tangle pie on Google, looks great, I might actually try cooking this weekend, it's been a while, I really fancy a decent home cooked meal for a change.

Congratulations on the loss Johnny and hope the birthday celebrations don't do too much damage .

Well yesterday didn't go well. Coffee at a neighbours house and I scoffed about four bits of cake and three cookies . I didn't have lunch to compensate (felt sick by that point) but I am angry with myself.

I then had leftover tangle pie for dinner then I decided to cook with the rest of the filo pastry. So I have made tiny little quiche / flan things with peppers, cheese, eggs and ham. I ate about three of them and will feed the rest to dds and dh tonight.

I hope the rest of you are eating healthier than I am!

Well I have been away for a week visiting my daughter at university so been eating out twice a day(and very nice it was too)
So I'm home and just doing a healthy online food order
I had a lot more exercise than usual but will not weigh in til next Friday , I have a feeling I will have put on lots though
I'm away again next weekend , which is a last minute decision but not good for my dieting
So sorry to hear the problems you have zalen
Let's hope we all have a better week this next one diet-wise at least

Thanks cookie, I'll just have to keep badgering my husband to apply for more jobs, if I nag long enough he'll either get his act together and get a new job or leave, result either way .

Looks like I managed to pull things together a bit over the weekend, back to 12st 6.8 this morning when I weighed in so I'm reasonably happy with that. Going to try really hard to be good this week and try to make a bit of a dent in that figure, I'd really like to hit 12.25 stone sometime soon.

I hope you had a good visit with your daughter, I'm off to London on 21st March to visit DS2 who's at university, he's going to be trying to get us day tickets to see Versailles at the Donmar, really enjoyed my last visit there and would love to go again .

Hello :) Is there space for one more here? Would love to join the no excuses chat as I need a kick up the butt to stop having bad days and cancelling out my good ones xx

Hmm, tried to post a correction to my previous post but it appears to have gotten lost.

It's actually DS1 that I'm visiting in London, DS2 is 9 and therefore far too young to abandon 200+ miles from home.

Welcome wishesandchaos, I'm sure there's room for one more, and I know exactly what you mean about bad days cancelling out the good ones, I've had a bad couple of weeks recently but am hopefully getting back on track now. Good luck for the coming week, if you want to join the weigh in we generally weigh on Mondays but that's up to you. Also have you tried My Fitness Pal, I find it quite useful for making me think about whether I really need that cream cake, packet of wine gums, whatever is tempting me at the time, as it makes me think about having to put the details on my food diary.

Thanks Zalen, I have MFP on my phone but don't track on it often. Have stuffed myself this morning through sheer boredom, so back on it now. I find it easier when I'm at work so Mondays at home are my main bad day. Need to get properly on track.

I weighed today and am 3.5lb down from last week so been a good week on the whole but I've such a long way to go!

3.5lb down is a good loss for a week, I started on 15th November when I realised I was just about to go north of 15 stone, I'm just under 12.5 now so making good progress but I've still got a long way to go.

I find work days the worst for snacking, I've got to the point in the past where I've kept just 5p in my purse so that I absolutely cannot go and get something from the vending machine.

We have free kit-kats available too which doesn't help, I just try to ignore those

Weekends I put a good movie on the TV and get my head down with my cross-stitch and usually manage to distract myself quite nicely that way.

Free kitkats! Your office sounds fun haha. I work in a small office on the top (2nd) floor of the building and have to make a few trips a day up and down the stairs to the warehouse at the bottom. I am finding if I make a proper effort to prep a lunch and take it in I can resist the biccies, cake and chip shop that my colleagues tempt me with haha.

I am 16st 9lb :'( and desperate not to go further up that scale! Tracked my indulge this morning on MFP and today would appear to be saveable so will power tonight and shall avoid guilt I think :)

Do you have an overall target? I'd love to get down to at least 11st as that would be healthy for my height.

I'm kind of aiming for 10st, 9.5 would put me in the middle of the healthy range for my height, I'm about 5 ft 6.

Our office is all on one level so no stairs but I'm a member of my local Premier Martial Arts gym and train there four times most weeks so I get plenty of exercise doing that.

Today is going quite well, one of the rice crispie cakes DS2 and I made last night and a slimfast shake for breakfast (Caramel Temptation is very nice), slimfast snack around 10, an apple around 11:30 and just had lunch, an Aldi Simply Bistro Steam meal, Tandoori Chicken. I'll have a banana late afternoon and another slimfast shake for dinner this evening. Just hope I can avoid the Fabulous Bakin' Boys Caramel Shortcake and Walkers French Fries which have been making an appearance on my food diary far too often of late .

I'm roughly 5ft5 so suppose to be in the middle of my healthy weight I should aim for 9st-ish. Feel really dizzy this afternoon so early night and lots of water I think. I don't have time to go to the gym so trying to think of ways to build in some exercise (not just walking ds to school on a Monday) lol x

cookie glad you had a lovely week.

zalen I hope things are OK at home. That's a good loss. You and DS 1 are so cultured with your various theatre trips. I saw 'Tinkerbell and the pirate fairy' yesterday and it was high culture for me! Both dds were there in case you're wondering.

Welcome wishes I seem to have more bad days than good days at the moment but I'm not giving up. I am the world's slowest dieter but now that I'm normal weight I'm finding it hard to be motivated to eat well. I am managing to go to the gym 3 times a week (and have been for 3 weeks now which is actually a bit of an achievement for me). It's so hard building in exercise and I hope you find a way. How old is your ds? I took dds to the park yesterday with their bike and scooter (dd1 is 5 and dd2 is 3). I chased after both lots but had to stop because I wasn't wearing a sports bra and I thought the bounce would cause an earthquake!

Well done for your 3.5lb loss, that's a brilliant achievement. It seems a long way away, but 18 months ago I wanted to lose about 45 lbs and I'm down 60lbs now. It can be boring and hard work but you will get there. I know what you mean about snacking through boredom. This is my problem. I do a lot more housework since I dieted just to keep myself busy but I would like a hobby.

My weigh in today showed I'd put on 1 1/2 lbs. It was fils birthday and I had lots of cakes on Thursday so I'm not too surprised. I'm 132.7lbs which I think is 9st 5. I would like to be 8st 13 by Easter. I haven't put my food on mfp for days so I really need to focus for the rest of the week.

Sorry for the long, rambling post.

I'm not sure about cultured, we went to see Coriolanus for one, 6ft 2in, blonde haired, blue eyed reason who has now been nominated for the Olivier award for best actor for his performance .

Since then I've just googled actors I like the look of and checked to see if I can manage to go see anything interesting that's come up. I may have to restrain myself a bit with my husband now being effectively unemployed but if I can get Barclays front row tickets and take the Mega bus to London then it's not actually that expensive so I'll still go when I can.

Thanks for the welcome Johnny.

Zalen, Coriolanus beats my trip to see Frozen last weekend!

So hungry today am struggling :( didn't help that one of our managers today ordered 12 dominos pizzas to share between everyone! Was good though and only had the tiniest slice of veggie pizza. That's ok right? Lol xx

A tiny slice of veggie pizza is brilliant. Well done for showing such restraint.

I hope your day got better. I started really well this week but yesterday ate cakes and biscuits that another mum brought round for a playdate. I think I ate about 800 calories worth! Today was better although I am seriously craving chocolate. I don't actually like chocolate that much but still crave it. I have only just heated up dhs dinner (he's only just come home from work) but I have been wondering for the last two hours if I should just go to bed with a bottle of water (yum!) to help with the cravings. I am drinking lots of water at the moment and it does make a difference.

Last night was hard but I got through it.

I think lunch is going to be a roasted vegetable omelette and dh is out tonight so I'm going to make a veggie curry from leftover veggies. We have half a butternut squash and some sweet potatoes so not sure what they'll be like in a curry.

Hope everyone else is having a good day.