Anyone else just eating healthier/less and moving more?

[KnickKnome]

I've tried every diet known to man (and done quite well on some- I was down 50 lbs before Christmas, though dreading seeing the damage an all inclusive holiday and Christmas has done!)

I've had enough of counting calories/points/syns or whatever. I'm fed up of following plans or drinking shakes. What I really want to do, after years of yo yo dieting, is to eat healthy stuff (not low fat stuff though) that excites me, in slightly smaller portions and do exercise that I enjoy. I want to cut down/out fizzy drinks (already cut these out), sugary foods, chocolate, processed stuff etc.

I not only want to lose weight, I want to lose it (and enjoy it whilst doing it) and maintain it. Yes it's a cliche, but I don't want to diet, I want a lifestyle change. I want to be able to go out to a restaurant for special occasions and not worry over how many syns/points etc the food will 'cost' me, but be able to enjoy it. I don't even know if this makes sense, but after spending so long on different plans, I'm so excited to just eat stuff that's not dictated to me, but stuff I think I should be eating.

I've just done a meal plan for next week, and an online food shop which has got me really excited to start (yes, I'm weird! )

I still need to lose at least another 50 lbs. Does anyone want to join me?

Auntstella if I do weekly weigh ins I usually only see good weight loss every other week, ovulation and period cause me to retain fluid, stick with it for another week before you give up!

Welcome and good luck losing the 7lbs fiveshelties

Lowcrab kebab was a wise choice, pizzas make eating an obscene amount of food much too easy.

Last day on the steriods tomorrow, so hopefully appetite will return to normal.

Hi can I join you all?
I was trying slimming world but I keep giving up.
The only time I've ever successfully lost weight was was I ate less and moved more.
I'm thinking that my meals will usually be
Breakfast: cereal, porridge or yoghurt and fruit
Lunch: a sandwich and salad or soup
Tea: whatever I want but not takeaways or ready meals
Evening Snack: yoghurt, fruit or cereal (depending on what I had for breakfast)

I lost 2 stone a few years ago but put it back on as I got careless. Feeling determined I need to lose about 3 stone overall but my first goal is 7lbs. I weigh in on Fridays.

Welcome slushie

Hello slushie

Has anyone been watching the horizon dieting series. I initially wasn't going to as I thought it would just reinforce faddy dieting. But it's actually really interesting. Last night they talked about the impact that tiredness has on eating habits and it really hit home for me. I really need to prioritise early nights if I am going to maintain healthy habits.

I was up late last night and feel shattered this morning and for the first time in a fortnight I thought about skipping porridge and fruit and stopping off at my local bakery lidl on my way to work for a pain au chocolate!

So I'm going to try and push myself into better sleep patterns.

Welcome slushie!

Yes I watched the Horizon doc. What I have taken from it is to trust what I have learned about myself and dieting, what I've learned is a bit of a mix of a lot of different approaches but it's what works for me.
Not eating breakfast suits me. Not eating sugar suits me, snacks for me are a bad habit that I have mostly broken but it's taken a long time. I love veg, butter and olive oil and I'm happy with that. Eating less carbs is easy....eating no carbs feels too restrictive and makes me feel too deprived.

Eating smaller portions and eating slowly are next on my list of good habits to develop.

Checking in to say I have lost two pounds! All water probably but still it makes me happy!

I too have lost some weight,5lbs. I have a way to go but can definitely feel it,especially in bed at night.

Well done on your losses Terra and MrsHoolie

Hope everyone is managing to stay on track!

Weigh in 27th Dec - 11 Stone 1lb

Diet started 4th Jan

Weigh in 15th Jan - 10 Stone 12lbs

It's a start but was hoping to lose more!!! Oh well, will keep on going.

Well done everyone.

Think I was hoping for a miracle half a stone loss in 12 days!! I am not particularly patient and the thought of no cake for weeks on end is not making me happy. Give me the willpower to continue please!!!

It's a good loss beachy could be more than you think too if it's the wrong time if the month.
I've just been put on steriods for the rest of January, so even maintaining will be a challenge.

Well done Hoolie and Beachy! Keep going everyone. Btw I would strongly recommend MyFitness Pal if anyone is deliberating over whether to try it. It is very simple to use and has really opened my eyes about how much I eat and of what.

Well done on your losses everyone you are all doing great!

I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow morning, so I will report back then.

Silver what a rotten time you must be having. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to maintain. Just focus on healthy foods as you need to fight this infection!

There last few days have been a challenge. I was off work last week so it was easy to prepare good food and fit in exercise. But it's been harder to do around work and nursery drop off/pick up.

I have been forcing myself to get up early enough for a healthy breakfast though, and it turns out ds enjoys exercise videos, so we have been doing bits of davina mccalls new dvd if we get home in time.

beachysand I'm impatient like you and expect to drop at least 2lbs every time.I refuse a biscuit. I'm trying to be realistic for tomorrow's weight in, bit no doubt I'll be a bit dissapointed!

Terra I second your MyFitnessPal recommendation. I use it to track weight, measurements and exercise and it's fab

Well done everyone!

Lowcrab- Good luck with the weigh in.

Silver - sorry to hear that you are unwell. Hopefully the steroids will get you better again. Though I can see it is disappointing when you are trying to lose weight.

January is a great time to lose weight as everyone seems to be doing the Dryathlon so no one is socialising!

You're right beachy January is a fantastic time to lose weight, it's my annual reset button on excess. We always go dry, I go off sugar and generally we enter February 1/2 stone lighter.

I'm actually feeling more positive about the whole thing - I'm determined to keep control over what I eat, despite the increase in hunger levels, so if nothing else the damage will hopefully be limited.

Hi all, I weighed in at 14.11 today so I'm really pleased (it seems crazy to say that... before I had my son I would have died at the thought of being this weight!)

Two weeks ago I was 15.03. So just cutting out the sweets and white carbs seems to have had a big impact! I have bought some wholemeal pasta and brown rice just incase I find myself craving carbs though.

And despite my initial cynicism I've found the Horizon series on dieting really helpful. I've taken a few hints and tips from it about how to manage hunger and the bit about falling off the wagon really hit home for me. I tend to dive headfirst into the cookie jar once I perceive myself to have failed on a diet and I don't want to keep on doing that.

I would like to be able to go to a birthday party, eat a slice of cake and then not come home and think 'fuck it I might as well have a takeaway and some more cake and some sweets' and essentially eat my way back to 15st

I have got to say being part of this little gang is a huge help too. Here, have some flowers you lovely lot

Hi

Can I join too?

I had a baby last year and am struggling to shift the last 5kg. I just don't seem to have the time to eat healthily or exercise properly at all.

I'm not a fan of diets but hope that by cutting the grazing throughout the day and using the car a bit less I'll be able to fit into my bridesmaid dress in May.

Welcome Cordelia. I am looking forward to pizza and wine this weekend. I allow myself one "naughty" meal a week.

We Cordelia good luck shifting the baby weight, my dcs are too old to blame them for my excesses now.
Terra I love the idea of one cheat meal a week but like lowcrab the horizon programme's description of catastrophic thinking really hit home, if I break my duet I tend to go a bit crazy and completely fall off rather than just enjoying a small sugary treat. It was good to even acknowledge it as an issue, maybe that will be sufficient, I get the feeling I need more than that - anybody got any ideas?
We have a really great india restaurant booked for the end of January - to celebrate the end of dry january - I chose indian because their puddings are usually uninspiring....but that approach won't work forever.

Morning. May I join?

I am very embarrassed to say at 5 ft 4 in I am 12 St 11 lbs. I started an office job a few years ago and the weight has piled on. Before that I was about 1 to 1.5 stone overweight which didn't creep up as I was running about all day instead of sitting at a desk.

I have a bad habit of emotional eating and also reach for the biscuit tin every day after work whilst preparing an evening meal. Why? I just don't know.

I have tried every diet and hate recording food and counting points etc. Time to be positive, I am paying for an expensive gym membership so plan on going 4 times a week, cutting snacks and reducing portion sizes. Let's see ha that goes. It should deal with the two main problems that I don't move enough and eat too many snacks.

I've been trying to 'cut down' and 'move more' since early November, when my GP suggested I lose weight. If I lose 1 stone and keep it off I will be very happy. I am new to this weight control / dieting lark, but for me, doing the above is helping. I started paying proper attention to my weight etc at the start of December, and have lost about 6 lb since then. I have had to put 2 work skirts aside as a result!

An expert (ie qualified sports science lecturer) explained to me recently that reducing by 500 calories each day is a good aim, and sustainable, and that the balance should be 'eat 200 calories less' and 'burn up 300 calories more', eg by walking more. I worked out that 200 calories = 3 digestive biscuits! So I'm eating more healthy food - porridge, salads - plus eating a bit less of the high-calorie, high-fat foods (eg smaller piece of cake, 1 chocolate) and making a point of walking more, eg a walk at lunchtime. It really is making a difference without making me major changes to my diet or lifestyle.

I have a fitbit which helps me keep moving - to reach my target number of steps in a day.

I just need to keep it up! I reckon I need to keep going until about March to reach my target.
Some of you have made amazing progress. Don't be disheartened by a gain some weeks, it happens, but you are in control of what you eat and how much you move, and it will happen.

Hello to all the newcomers to the thread.

All going well here. Managed to swim twice and also went for two r
runs with new running buddies who are also new to running.

Today was a great run and I felt great until the last 20 minutes where I totally booked and ran out of fuel.

But I'm feeling motivated to keep going. it must get easier right?

I really need to up the exercise.
I have only done my fitness DVD once since I started the healthy eating!I do walk quite a bit,on a work day I usually reach the 10000 steps a day but I need to do more intensive stuff.
I work funny hours though so difficult to get into a routine with it all,I guess just do it when I can.
The food bit is going well though,although last night was the first time I felt like I could fall of the wagon with choc and sugar.

Weekly weigh in and still no change.

I'll give it another week.

Hi county yep snacking is a killer, it took me ages to get over the habit, I mean nearly 6 months but it's worth plugging ahead.
I'm failing on the move more side of this deal but we're at the inlaws this weekend, so we ate out yesterday and I managed to decline pudding - hard! Then I declined homemade choc brownies - v hard, I declined fresh homemade cheesy scones - torture and then sat through a marathon session of Celebrations eating by entire family without so much as a sniff. I'm feeling very smug this morning, while dh is regretting overindulging on the lot! I just hope I'm rewarded at weigh in tomorrow.