The significant shifters 2016 part 2 (all welcome)

[LentilStew]

New thread, ladies

mayflyaway Taking the emotion out of eating too, that's also a biggie. There is no doubt that emotion is a real factor leading us to lose the plot with food. It's why I fear scales so much, they hold so much power over us. A slight gain and, yes as you said, despair and self-loathing can overtake . Then we are susceptible to gorging on something to numb the pain. Glad your fast day was good though. What did you choose to eat?

sosad that's great news about the 3lb. Being tired can be dangerous, it always makes me feel hungry too.

How're you doing, lentil, clearskies and broken?

I have a challenging few days ahead. My DH is away for five days from tomorrow. Can you imagine the gorge fest I might have had in the past?

Not now though. I have roughly planned my eating itinerary to cover all bases and feel confident I will stick to healthier, kinder choices.

Portion sizes: tonight I have made a large amount of meatballs in pasta sauce/wholewheat spagetti and have portioned it out to put in the freezer later. I also put a portion out for my tea tonight (with spinach and Mary Berry dressing). However, I looked at it and realised it was too much and although in the past I would have finished it off anyway, I cut it in half and told myself that I could have the first half and then go into the kitchen to reheat the second half. But I ended up not doing that because I was already full!

I will have the other half for tea tomorrow.

Due to my age I am feeling the aches and pains a lot and this is one of the reasons why I have made the changes in activity and eating. It just cannot go on . I have been so miserable struggling up steps, struggling to stand from sitting, walking so slowly because I am in so much discomfort from aches in ankles, knees, hips.

Earlier today I found myself walking quite quickly up stairs and realised that the usual struggle was much less . I felt quote wonderful when I got to the top. Something is working, and I am looking forward to the rest of this year to see more improvements in my health.

I'm still doing the Cto5K and did Week 3 (session 2) early this morning. It means jogging twice for three minutes and twice for 90 seconds over 12 minute period, with a brisk walk at either end. I completed it for the second time and still can't believe I did it . I will do Week 3 for four more times (at least) before moving on to week 4.

Oh I meant to say, was chatting to my GP on Friday (was there about another matter) and mentioned my Cto5K thing and she said she does a walking group every Wednesday at 6:30; meet at surgery and walk along canal. I would be welcome to come along. She also gave me the number of a woman who does a jog/walk group locally. I will go along perhaps in a couple of weeks time.

I told her about my eating out two/three times a week habit and that I take a tupperware box for leftovers (I take three quarters home for DH's dinner the next night ). She suggested I save money and invite my friends for tea but I hate cooking and DH likes a pint of real ale.

I seem to have come on earlier with an old user name on my phone sosadforhim is me. So I'm at 14st 7.5lbs. Long way to go but at least I'm on the way up the hill.

topstaffing, sounds like you'e very organised for your husbands trip away. Great news on you feeling more sprightly too. It's nice to feel the benefits on your health and not just how you look. I did the couch25k a few years ago and was amazed at how I really did manage to do the 5k. I even worked up to around 10 mile jogs after a few months. Just walking now though as I've zero fitness and not feeling the urge to do it. Maybe I should plan on doing I after I hit a certain milestone. Good luck with it :-)

Hi all!

I can relate to so much of what others say here- yes up tiredness can lead so easily to over eating - I'm trying to drink a lot of water instead of reaching for food and consciously avoiding any eating after evening meal 6ish. I brush my teeth as a way to remind myself 'no more food needed today' and keep drinking water all evening. Losing weight makes me so thirsty.

Well done on all the weight loss last year may, hope you can continue with what's been working for you.

Sounds like good preparation, practical and psychological for 5 days on your own stop. I think it's really helpful to see a situation coming up where lapse risk is higher and work out a plan of action. And you can always post on here if things get tough.

It is lovely, isn't it, to feel the physical benefits after just a few weeks of losing weight and exercising more. I'm feeling much more energised and making time every day for my walks.

I'm like you stop, feeling the double whammy of overweight and being older. I want to get back to pain free joints and moving around with a spring in my step. I'm gradually believing more and more that I can stick with this this time.

Ah yes portion size! keep trying to remind self to serve a smaller portion, with masses of veg and eat SLOWLY!

Hope your time home alone is going OK stop with your preprepared meals.

Here I am still in a really good phase, weight coming off easily at the moment, eating healthily and enjoying lots more exercise. I'm making sure I really enjoy and celebrate my successes this week cos I know there are bound to be more blips where I find things harder or weight loss slows. I keep having to tighten my belt another notch and have tried the scales a couple of times which show 3lb down since Monday.

I'm OK with looking at the scales a bit more, it's calorie counting I don't want to do. I know that really works for lots of people but for me it would turn food into something too precise and formulated. It works better for me to eat wholefoods, lots of veg, lots of water, pay attention to what I'm eating, eat slowly, chew, have a healthy snack in my bag in case it's needed, avoid all processed foods, that kind of thing.

Have a good weekend everyone

Well the tape measure has revealed a whole load of inches disappearing from waist, bust, hips, arms, legs and neck. But I dint like this weighing daily malarkey that I'm trying this week. I've weighed more than Monday every day so far, despite the calorie counting and exercise

Next week I'm going back to a weekly meeting with the scales.

Happy weekend! It's updownnconfused again using phone and it seems to have this old profile. Clear skies, looks like you're in a good place and you've got something that works with you so that's fab.

Toetouching, fantastic news on inches lost! The scales are temperamental. One day last week I was 3lbs heavier than the previous day. I knew I'd been healthy though so wasn't too worried.

I've a night out tonight, dinner and drinks. I've not drank in almost a month. It's quite a reserved bunch I'm going out with who only have a couple of glasses. So I'm thinking I'll not bother drinking at all. If I'm going to drink, I'd rather go for it and horoughly enjoy a nice full bottle of bubbly!

*thoroughly

Morning everyone! I am a numpty! Yes I am . Decided to sleep in till 8 oclock this morning and because it was light when I woke, took the cats for a walk in the woods. I did a bit of jogging too and it was here I came unstuck, because I tripped and fell .

If I had fallen back on my arse it would have been ok because I have a lot of padding there , but I fell forwards and hurt my ribs. They are sore and worse still, my plans to clear out the garage and visit recycling depot are busted because bending is painful let alone picking a box up. Bum!!

Along the way two dogs chased my cats into trees, for which I was glad, because my cats could have hurt these dogs (their nails are really sharp). I realised I knew the lady with them and we had a good old chinwag for ages (while cats mewed in trees and dogs sat beneath).

After she went I went to retrieve cats but then another load of dogs came along, so I waited by the cat-trees . It is rare I see so many dogs at the same time. I will go for a walk in the afternoon next time, it is definitely quieter then and we almost never see a dog.

Well, I am still ok foodwise despite being at home alone while DH is away. He is back sometime on Thursday.

I will see how far I can get with the reorganising in the garage. We build up so much "stuff" that it just goes in there out of sight. It really pee's me off though because I built loads of shelving units around the sides of the (double) garage a few years ago to store everything, but it is still not enough. More rubbish is building up. It is a mess! DH doesn't like to throw anything out. I have the opportunity to get rid of "stuff" he won't even realise isn't there any more .

Not sure what to do about the rib injury. There is no point in visiting A&E because last time I did that (after walking quickly into a wall instead of the supermarket entrance with a trolley jut before Christmas one year) they just said "we don't x-ray any more, take painkillers". It was agony for weeks . I don't think I have a break in this case, but I will have to be careful not to overdo things because it is fragile. Bum, bum, bum!

Anyway, it is a Saturday, not raining or too cold, and I have various catch-ups to watch (Vera, Silent Witness, Midsomer Murders, and Cats V Dogs) .

Hey that's great about the inches lost toe that's really good and should be a more accurate indicator of losing weight/ turning fat into muscle than what the scales say. Scales have a life of their own, fluid retention varies daily in our bodies (eg how much salty food we've eaten, etc)

Well done up on avoiding alcohol - think of all those calories and sugars you haven't had and your liver will have been able to work better at dealing with the fat you are breaking down and making good use of the healthy food you're eating.

Had a wonderful very wet windy walk this morning. Whatever the weather I am looking forward to every walk and feel so much better for them.

House guests here this weekend, meal out later and boxes of chocolate, pains au chocolat, crisps, etc all around me so having to be very focussed on my path. Sugar free works best for me generally. If I eat one chocolate I am much more likely to eat more the whole box!

Keep losing everyone or stay steady if you're having a blip

Hi stop our last messages must have cross posted. What a bummer, take it easy, hope the pain calms down quickly. Don't overdo it today, better to think of the long term of all you are aming for. People say broken ribs are agony, hope it's not that.

I find clutter clearing goes alongside losing weight, it's like getting my internal and external 'home' in good order.

Various family tensions simmering here today, which has tended to be a trigger for overeating in the recent past, but holding steady so far .

Hi Clear, I know what you mean about calorie counting. It is such a pain and much easier to just look at portion sizes and honestly assess. This in time should become easier to do.

I did manage to get a lot cleared out but took it very slowly. It took two hours to clear some of the rubbish into bin bags (only half filled). The off to the tip. One of the guys helped me . Back home and filled car again with electrical and small furniture (chairs). Will go back to tip later, just having lunch.

It means I can get conservatory sorted as we now approach Spring, a lovely place to be when it is warm but not too warm (south facing garden). I want to move a piece of furniture into garage to make room for two seater currently in lounge for winter (I won't be moving that on my own) but also make more room to do standing exercises; I've seen a couple of good youtube workouts that look doable.

Toe I am so glad you are measuring and losing inches , me too. I am wondering if my scales will work on Monday morning as they didn't last Monday but I had lost centimetres.

Oh dear I feel like a failure tonight. I drank 3/4 of a bottle of wine, which was lovely. However my lightly dusted chicken starter came out deep fried. Fairly healthy salad dinner though. Just came home at midnight and eaten a half double choc chip cookie; packet of M&Ms and a bowl of Granola. Therein lies another reasons why I'd stopped drinking! Oh well, onwards and upwards tomorrow.

Hope your ribs feel better stop and the family tensions aren't too stressful Clearskys!

I feel your disappointment updown. I was thinking earlier this morning (after uncomfortable night's sleep ) that I have all or nothing thinking and when you talked about your starter being fried and not like you imagined, I can totally see how it could throw you off course. Too much wine, or any other alcohol is another thing that leads me into temptation. It is like inhibitions go by the wayside. What you described eating when you got back isn't a lot really, but I can see why you are dwelling on it.

This is where the support on here and on the fb page is crucial. Whereas in the past you might have really struggled to put it behind you (I certainly would) I hope you can draw a line and look forward to a good day getting back on track. The more we can practice this habit when we fall down, the easier it will eventually get. My DH does on occasion eat a lot but I notice that he just reins in his eating a bit for a few days afterwards.

Yes I echo that stop that's not a huge lapse up and the important thing is to draw a line under it, not beat yourself up too much and start today afresh to keep up with all the gains you've made overall.

With the various challenging factors yeaterday I did end up overeating a bit - fancy bread that was there that I didn't need to eat and some chocolatey stuff (it was there, I was tired, I was stressed) , then felt dreadful about my 'failure' and crappy physically from being overfull. Really I was tired and needed to sleep.

This morning the sun is out, i've slept well I've been for a walk and I feel more confident to get back on track and not slip up any further. The old patterns of once inhibitions slip then just 'giving up' can change!

Take it easy with those sore ribs stop

Well, I'm glad that you have got sun clear because looking out of my window all I can see is freezing rain and wind. I've been out to do Cto5K (carefully) and done shopping but now am home with large cup of tea, I'm not going out again today .

That's for your support stop and clearskies. Looks like you had similar self loathing feelings as me clearskies. I agree with you on the sleep thing. The thing is, we've realised we did it and we're moving on.

My body has been unhappy this morning, very dodgy tummy. So strange, considering last night was a typical regular occurrence for me a few weeks ago. My husband reckons it's because I'm being too healthy (I'm not, I'm being sensible). If anything, I think my body may be having a normal reaction to rubbish food and too much wine.

Lucky you to have sunshine clearskies, it is miserable here. I have another challenge today - a childrens party at my friends house. Adults typically eat loads and drink wine at these things, not me though!

*thanks

It is weigh-in time tomorrow morning. I am hoping that scales work so I can record something on the spreadsheet. I wasn't able to last week. While clearing out the garage yesterday I found my Rosemary Conley measuring tape! It is many years since I did RC and actually at the time, I really enjoyed the exercise classes. I don't think they exist any more, although I did see an RC book on the shelf in Tesco last week. In it RC was talking about 5:2 type dieting.

3lb off! That is my BMI down from 39 to 36 and a total of 19lbs off .

Brilliant job stop. Glad the scales worked today and gave you the great number you've worked for.

1.2lbs off for me this week so a total of 15.8lbs. Very happy with that for 5 weeks in.

So a new week starts. 30 minute walk done this morning and both breakfast and lunch prepared and logged into MFP.

First real challenge of this journey tonight as I have a corporate dinner at a posh Indian restaurant. I think I'll be ok if I stick to either a dry or tomato based dish and lay off the breads. Luckily I don't drink alcohol much at all so a fizzy water for me won't be odd.

Here's to another great week.

Not a good day today, scales showing gain of 2lb- quite possible due to significant lapses over weekend - self sabotage button getting pressed a bit..... bum bum bum, very cross with self.

Have written out a (long) list of all the stresses over weekend that have contributed to this lapse. What I have to do now is not give up, get back to plodding up that hill. Determined to find a way to keep losing weight even midst ongoing stressful crap.

Well done toe and stop - good progress!

Where has everyone else gone?!

Can I join?

Weighed last Wednesday at 17.9 I want to be 10 So I have a healthy BMI. I'm 22, 2 boys and need to get healthy before I met my partner I was 11 stone and so close to my target☹

Welcome slap

I was up today. Which is depressing, but not unexpected as I'd had an awful weekend. Oh well. Back to it.

I'm still hear! - reading the thread when I have the chance but never seem to have time to post all the very witty/helpful things that come into my mind

I think we're hitting the tough times now - and new joiners are very welcome to our tough times - but things will go a bit up and down and it can be hard to stay on course when realisation dawns about how bloody long it takes to lose a lot of weight and how slow the process is

but we must hang on in there - ups and downs are normal, stalling is normal, but overall if we eat a bit less than usual and move a bit more we will go down. And each half stone down makes a huge difference.

So I'm setting small targets - not expecting miracles - I've only lost 6 pounds since we started - but if I can keep up a loss of 4/5 pounds a month then by Christmas I would be where I want to be - and it would be so worth it

Will try and post a bit more often - I read the thread and the 5:2 threads for motivation and it really helps to know other people are facing the same struggles and to share tips etc