The diet begins Boxing Day! Lose weight, stay happy

[HattietheManatee]

So after a really crap year where I had a severe depressive episode, I’ve ended up mentally much healthier but heavier due to my medication (mirtzapine). Oh, and my obscene addiction to sugar!! I’m finally in a place where I feel I can tackle my weight gain. Having braved the scales yesterday I weighed in at 10st 7lb - I was 9st in April, so quite a gain. I’m 5ft 3 and this gives me a BMI of 26 (so in the overweight category!)

Target weight is 8st 7lb so want to lose 2st. First mini goal is 10st by end of January.

I plan to follow a HFLC diet as this should help me tackle my sugar additiction once and for all. I have terrible problems with blood sugar and lots of people say this clears up on the diet. Am going to use India Knights idiot proof diet book after a recommendation here.

I can’t wait til next year so I have 4 more days to wallow in Christmas biscuits then Boxing Day will start my diet! We have a family meal out that day which could be interesting...I’m not planning to mention it in RL so will use this as a diary. Please feel free to post, join in, give support (flowers emojis rather than biscuits please or I may end up nibbling on my iPad) etc.

*MrsSunshine" I'm sure you are the best judge of what is right for you. I'm awful at knowing the calories in things which is why I've started weighing things and googling the calories. It probably doesn't seem much to me because I'm so greedy! I never go without breakfast and I'm struggling to imagine eating a tablespoon of rice. I'm sure you can do the 7 lbs!

Hello all. Hope your all having a good day foodwise 😃

Well done, it’s great your in the healthy BMI category Hattie Low carb is really working for you!

Today;
Porridge
Beans on wholemeal toast & banana
3 wafers
Dinner is going to be a small portion of pasta with homemade pesto with a salad

MrsSunshine of course you’re very welcome to join in. Well done for getting so near target. I haven’t read much about fasting so can’t really advise but it doesn’t sound like a lot of food - could your body be in starvation mode? Tell me to shut up if I’m talking junk! Maybe use my fitness pal or similar for a few days to check you’re at the right calorie level for you.

Thanks Pavonia and PinkHeart for the good wishes, I’m really pleased to have got a healthy bmi and under 10 stone in two weeks! Is definitely working for me and seeing the results is making me more determined to stick to it. You’re right I’ve smashed my target ahead of date. Wondering what my new end of Jan ambition should be - say 9 stone 9?? That would be 12 pounds in 5 weeks which would be awesome!!

Sage hope you’re getting better (and husband not suffocated by pile of teddies!)

Today I have eaten:
B decaf coffee with cream, half an avocado Very late in the morning
L aubergine curry with noodles made from peas (both cheap in Waitrose!) and some Parmesan. May have been a bit carby in retrospect
S: decaf unsweetened soya latte, boiled egg with asparagus spears, other half an avocado, bite of cheddar and some cottage cheese (v hungry, which is what makes me think lunch was a bit carby)
D: mustard and creamy chicken with mushrooms (from Jamie’s 5 ingredients), creamed spinach and cauliflower rice

Afternoon everyone!

I’ve never seen noodles made from peas, I’ll have to look out for them as they would make a nice change from normal noodles now and then.

Today;
Special k with full fat milk. Was very tired this morning so 4 black coffees
Roast chicken and spicy tomato chutney sandwich. Few crisps
I will have a couple of wafers mid afternoon as a snack
Dinner tonight is going to be green Thai curry with lots of steamed veggies and 2 tablespoons of rice

Well this bug just keeps on giving and I am shattered... but thinner!

Today is the first day in 5 days that I've had an appetite. So far I've eaten:

Hairy Dieters' crumpets with spiced fruit and yoghurt; cup of tea with semi skimmed milk 300 cals

Homemade protein bar 169 cals

Hairy Dieters' spicy pork rice 395 cals
Yeo Valley light 61 cals
Diet ginger beer- need ginger. Still feel a bit queasy.

Banana 110 cals

Dinner - DH might be making Hairy Dieters (there's a theme here) Lemon chicken which, if he does, I'll have with a bit of salad. I just don't feel that hungry. This is a weird feeling for me!

Hi all, glad to hear everyone getting on ok and you are on the mend Sage. Hattie and Pink, your menu’s make me hungry😋. SW weigh in last night and I lost 5.5lbs, which is amazing but today I’ve been craving chocolate and 1 M&S thickly covered chocolate biscuit and some Toffifee later I’m kicking myself as this is what happens, I reward myself with treats and I can’t stop. I’m sure it’s because I’m tired so I may have to go to bed early to sleep the craving off and hopefully 2mro I can refocus.

Bonkersblond a huge well done on the weight loss! Don’t beat yourself up - you’ve noticed a pattern, plan for how next time you’ll celebrate a loss without reaching for the biscuits. Maybe a magazine, new hand cream or a nice candle?

Sage yay - you’re eating!! And those sound like lovely dishes too. Hope you’re fully recovered soon. Is the hairy dieters book good then?

Pink here’s the noodle link: www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-edamame-noodles/646344-645178-645179

They weren’t that tasty but with the sauce worked ok. I’m interested in trying low carb noodles made with fish next!

Today
B: decaf coffee with cream, half an avocado, pigs in blankets with mayo. I had a bit of banter about my breakfast at the work microwave, I now see this as a normal breakfast - whereas clearly other people don’t!
L: frittata with salad with dressing, removed croutons
S: olives
D: leftover chicken with mushrooms, mustard and cream, plus a few asparagus spears. Accidentally ate a couple of slices of red pepper. Decaf coffee with cream.
21k steps!!

Woefully inadequate levels of water drinking due to rushing around, need to up the ante tomorrow.

Anyway, realised hadn’t eaten a portion of lunch had taken in, as had been seduced by yellow stickers aubergine curry and noodles instead. Now rule is I can’t buy lunch if I’m bringing one in, it’s a waste. Have texted colleague to ask her to eat it as I’m not back in the office til next week now.

Good news is I hosted a surprise leaving tea party in my office today and I did not eat one single sugary thing despite there being LOADS on offer. Instead I treated myself to an expensive pot of olives from M&S and just nibbled those instead. Found it quite easy to resist which is a shock. Fact I was wearing a very fitted dress helped!

Three people have now commented on my weight loss. Yay!

Bonkersblond Well done on your weight loss! Don’t beat yourself up about the biscuit ( if you had the M&S extremely chocolatey round biscuits I would of had to have one too as they are delicious) what about putting a few £ in jar after each loss so you can treat yourself to a nice outfit or two once you reach your goal?

Sage hairy bikers fruity crumpets sound nice. Hope you are better soon

Hattiethe You done well resisting the party food, if I can see things to nibble normally I want them all.

I’ve got a home made smoothie ice lolly now, I wanted something sweet and didn’t wasnt to risk chocolate. If I got the taste for chocolate right now I don’t think I’d stop eating it

Today I was working at place where I usually end up eating sugary, fatty snacks to get me through. Today I had a cooked lunch (veg stew with rice) to stop me reaching for the chocolate and pastries.

I realise that I often eat/drink to cheer myself up. It's good that I'm breaking the habit.

@Pavonia that's huge progress!

Well, appetite back so I now need to be careful not to go Bessel.

Hairy Dieters recipes are brilliant!

Today:
Porridge, kiwi fruit, honey
Semi skimmed milk

Banana

Mug shot (hate these, really, but quick and cheap to grab for work); Yeo valley light yoghurt; protein bar

Quinoa bites; coconut bar from pret

Hairy dieters tabbouleh with feta (omg- have made a batch of this and it was so delicious that I've had to restrain myself from eating huge amounts but it's so low calorie without the feta that the whole lot comes in at 404 calories!)
Fat free yoghurt with homemade plum jam

40 minutes of walking

I've still 100 cals left so I think I'll have two chocolates which are 50 cals each! The old me would've eaten 6/7 in one sitting.

I'm so happy to be feeling better again. I'm tired though so don't think I'll be ready to do parkrun this weekend which means I've not yet run this year. Bleugh!

Weigh in tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed.

And no idea what Bessel is- meant beserk!

Weigh-in Day
Weighed in at 12 stone 2lb, which sounds hefty but I'm a size 12 and fairly muscular/toned if one only glances briefly at my midriff... bloody peri menopause!

So my actual loss since starting properly on January the 2nd is pretty much 4lb. Very pleased with this as I'm aiming for a steady 2lb per week as this is sustainable for me.

Now the trick is to get under 12 stone which I've not been for 8 years! And now that I'm starting to feel like my old self after this horrid bug, I might actually be able to resume running again next week.

How's everyone ekes getting on?

Oh! Forgot: #hornynotscrawny

And I promise I'll stop spamming this thread shortly but, out of curiosity, I've just run my numbers on the NHS BMI calculator (27.4 so, unsurprisingly, a bit chubby BUT only 2.4 points away from having a healthy BMI if I can lose a stone) I know that BMI isn't everything as it doesn't take build into account BUT @HattietheManatee you were asking about basic metabolic rate to try and work out the calories you need per day. The NHS tool pretty much works this out for you and it shows on the screen that gives you your BMI score. So it said that, for me (you pop your activity levels in too and I'm fairly active) I need between 1667 and 2143 cals per day and My Fitness Pal is set to 1675 as a daily minimum so I was about right.

The theory behind basic metabolic rate (I think- disclaimer: I'm NOT an expert) is that if you don't consume at least your minimum calorie requirement, then even if you see rapid weight loss results initially you'll plateau through your body going into starvation mode and then your metabolism will start to be messed up because it thinks it's not going to get enough so will start storing more than it burns off. Anyway, as I said, I'm no expert but I think that's kind of how it works.

I'm feeling bloated today and my weight has gone up a little bit since yesterday. Don't really know why.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I'm feeling a bit glum but I'm resisting the temptation to try to cheer myself up with food/drink.

Pavonia, don’t despair, I felt like this a couple of days during the week, but think I’m over it now. I probably had a bit more of the naughty stuff than I should but I think I’m back on track, before when I felt like that it would be a downward spiral but hopefully with making sensible choices I may even still lose a lb at next Tuesday’s weigh in. Thanks Hattie and Pink for top tips with rewards, definitely training my brain to not reach for a choccie bar. Hope everyone is having a good weekend xx

1lb lost in week one and 2lbs lost this week, slow and steady

I've started exercising more and logging all my food, psychologically I feel like I've lost half a stone which is brilliant.

Totally don't despair @Pavonia ... least you've not just guzzled a mars bar. Found one when I was cleaning out a cupboard earlier. Left it but it was on my mind all day. Oh well. Tomorrow's a new day... although we're heading to friends for a swim and then tartiflette... that'll be 100000008 calories then!

Thanks guys, at least I've done 10,000 steps today and I probably will tomorrow too because I'm walking with a friend.

Hippo 1 or 2 pounds every week soon adds up, well done. We are nearly half way through January!

I've only lost 0.7 Kg since boxing day but at least the scales are moving in the right direction. I went to a bring and share lunch today and took the remaining mincepies and a massive toblerone to get them out of the house.

Coming on tipsy (hic!) don’t tell boot campers! It has been nearly three weeks since gave up booze, diet I’m following says allowed a couple of gin and slims at this point. Had friends anniversary party, but NO DIET TONIC so plan was scuppered, two glasses of prosecco and one wine plus three waters in three hours. Am way more drunk than would be normally, only good news is have stuck to diet and no carbs --apart from booze— Catch up tomorrow and apologies for absence. Will pay for this on scales on Monday! —don’t care right now glad to have had new get out— feck really can’t work out strike throigh

@HattietheManatee well we were thinking we oughta send out a search party! Glad you've had a fun night out. Remember that a glass of prosecco only contains around 83 calories so is practically the same as drinking water and is therefore also practically carb-free, no? 

I'm about to head off and eat melted cheese abs bacon followed by ice cream. Back 'on it' tomorrow though.

Now I'm well again I'm going to properly go for crossing the barrier into realms of 11 something. This has to be the year I do it.

@Applesandpears23 - as long as things are moving down the way scales-wise then that's the main thing. Slow and steady- best for keeping it off long term.

Keep on keeping on everyone.

Top tip I heard yesterday which I will share, is second week of New Year is when many new eating/diet habits quickly fall by the wayside as realisation kicks in that you need more than a week to shift the pounds, I myself have found this so true and hearing this has given me the motivation it’s not going to happen to me - or you as long as we have the support here, how fab will it be when we all reach our goals !!

Hattie, sounds like you had a great time last night, love the tipsy post, hope your head is ok this morning🤪

It was a really fun night, me and OH never get to go out together and were lots of friends old and new there so lots of catching up and dancing!

Yesterday’s diet:
B bacon, mushroom, one egg
L: oxtail stew (from freezer), leftover low carb cauliflower cheese
S: olives, 2 squares 74% chocolate, real coffee with cream
D: meat, cheese, guacamole and pulled pork in lettuce leaves. Such an easy diet to follow at a buffet! Two glasses prosecco and one glad white wine.

You’ll notice a little blip with the snacks. Technically I am allowed a few squares of dark choc on the diet at this time, but as I’m on boot camp that’s not in the right spirit of things. I was exhausted and really not in the mood for going out so found myself reaching for old vices - caffeine and chocolate. I did feel a bit crampy right after them so lesson learned.

Good news is I’ve googled carbs in booze and looks like worst case is 11g of carbs for the 3 glasses (and reduced fat burning ability). I got on the scales and am still 9 13 - had dipped a lb in the week, so might stall weight wise but apparently this is common in week 3 too. Still very committed to LCHF diet and plan to be strict this week to make up for blip.

Now need all the patience to deal with kids - and lots of water too!

Will respond to you all properly later. Have a good day everyone!