2018 - Thread 2 of Help Me Mumsnet I have 4 stone to lose and 10k debt to pay off

[ChickenVindaloo2]

Hi everyone,

It's the day after the day after Boxing Day, Thursday 28 December 2017!

Just over a year ago, on Boxing Day 2016, I was 14 stone exactly (My highest weight ever was 14st 5, I'm 5 foot 2 ish). So I needed to lose 4 stone just to get to a healthy weight. After a false start, I lost 3 stone, getting down to a low of 11 stone exactly through stopping binge-eating. I also went to (private) CBT therapy and started going to the gym. I had popped back up to 11st3-4 in the run up to Christmas, mainly as a result of complacency and dropping the gym visits due to the dark evenings.Having eaten more than usual and some salty foods over Christmas itself, as of this morning, I'm 11st 5. I need to lose at least 2 stone really to be a healthy weight and perhaps 2.5-3 to achieve peak gorgeousness!

(I also had £10k worth of debt, mainly on credit cards. I re-mortgaged and I now have £5k on a 0% credit card for 2 years. I've worked out I need to pay it off at £200/month)

In terms of weight loss, the general rules are to err on the side of low carb, unprocessed food. I need to get in more salad/veg and restart the gym sessions. I also need to watch portion sizes and ditch the snacks, treats and extras.

Rowgtcfc has been an amazing help throughout and I hope she will join me on this shiny new thread! Would also be delighted to see new comrades of any size, shape or "diet" plans!

I've attached a pic of me at my heaviest plus one at the end of last year.

Thread 1: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/2811974-Help-me-MN-I-have-4-stone-to-lose-and-10k-debt-to-pay-off?pg=1

Some of my best tips which I hope help!

• every day is every thing. it's what you do every day over the course of a year which makes a difference. In a year, what will you wish you did today?
• it's ok to just not eat crisps/chocolate/sweets/cakes/biscuits, easier, even, than trying to moderate
• eggs for breakfast
• salad and veg are your friends
• low sugar but good fats is anti-ageing too!
• You need less food than you think. You won't die from hunger.
• The secret is: there is no secret. Most slim folk have to prioritise it and work at it.
• Practice being slim. Act like you're slim.
• Do what suits you, find your own path. Eg don't assume breakfast is vital for you.

Wow Womble, that's really good! I'm sure you'll manage to keep up the good work. It's hard I know. I've eaten all my calories for today but just want to scoff! lol Where's that motivation I said I had? Nope, we can do this!
Hi Chicken, nice to see you, glad you've not been naughty again!lol
Hi Sib, did you manage the exercise? Well done on the food. Are you just starting your weightloss? If so, a stone in a month is doable I'd say.
Hi Row and Coffee, hope you are both doing OK?

Hi everyone.

Pretty awful Mother's Day here! Nothing terrible happened so I shouldn't really complain, it was just one of those days where everything went wrong and everyone annoyed me . Oh well...

I had a bad weekend food wise (see previous posts) but was better yesterday. I also walked 15,000 steps yesterday, which is the most I've done since Christmas. I've had a bad foot for years (Morton's Neuroma - ouch!) so have been unable to wear heels for years and have struggled with long runs etc. I had to have a steroid injection in my foot yesterday and it's now incredibly painful, but hopefully in time it will improve my foot pain so that I can exercise more and wear high heels again!

I'm trying to keep my diet motivation up today but am seriously struggling .

Kitty - Once again, that's a really good loss! I hope it's motivating you to keep going.

Womble - That's also a fantastic loss. Well done! It must feel great to be in the 12s now?!

Sib - Yay for keeping the weight off. Hope it continues!

Chicken - Sorry you're disappointed with your current weight. I know how hard it is when work is manic. Hopefully next week you can have a break and get back on track!

So as I mentioned before, I've set myself the goal of being 12 stone 7 (or less) by the end of April when I'll be 11 weeks post partum. I think that's challenging but totally possible if I focus and work hard. I just checked back and it took me 5 months to get down to that weight after I had DS! It'll be so motivating if I can do it in 11 weeks this time!

Thanks kitty you're right, we can do this.. we just have to remember that motivation is not in the biscuit tin or chocolate cupboard haha!

Sorry you didn't get the numbers you were hoping for chicken, I agree with coffee, definitely remember it being so much harder to stay on track when busy!

Go for it coffee you can do it! Fingers crossed the pain from the injection wears off soon & it does the job! You'll be walking off the lbs before you know it!

DH got me a ton of sweets for mothers day as I've given up dairy, wheat & sit in an effort to find out what's making DD unhappy. I had every intention of rationing them out over the week... obviously that didn't happen & I just ate the last of them so I'm not very hopeful for this week although I suppose I could pull it back if I'm really strict from now on!

Hi Coffee, hope your foot is feeling better now? Walking in heels is one of those skills I never picked up. I'm flat footed and also have narrow feet, my feet would 'pop' out of the shoes I was wearing so never learned to walk in them. It's a shame as I've seen loads of shoes and boots I like, all with big heels! :p Sorry to hear your Mothers Day didn't go so well. Congrats on the 15,000 steps though, that's awesome!
Hi Womble. we just have to remember that motivation is not in the biscuit tin or chocolate cupboard haha! Amen to that! lol Actually I have some left over chocolate digestive biscuits left over from Sunday and I didn't eat any last night! Yay. lol I have a terrible habit of waking in the night and half awake/asleep eat sweet stuff. I remembered not to do it last night as I wanted to spend the calories on real food. (I had two the night before and they were 83 calories each! ) I have 122 left for today and might use it on a banana if anything. Today has been a bit easier than yesterday. Isn't dieting boring though?! lol Hope you are managing OK or have you written this week off?
Hi Chicken, Row, and Sib, hope you are all Ok. How's the competition with the colleague coming on Row?

Sorry about the sweets Womble. Hopefully it won't show on the scale. I'm sure giving up dairy, wheat etc will have an effect on your weight as well.

I love that phrase: we just have to remember that motivation is not in the biscuit tin or chocolate cupboard. So true!!!

How are you getting on Kitty? Well done on resisting the chocolate digestives. That's so frustrating about the night snacking though. If you 're not really awake when you do it/not aware of what you're doing, it must be so much harder to stop. At least you're not eating an entire pizza or anything! I actually have 1 or 2 sugary cereal bars most nights . I'm generally awake most of the night feeding DD, so I get SO hungry. I'm hardly going to eat salad at 3am with no sleep...

Official weigh in day today and I'm 13 stone 1.5. So that's about 1.5lbs lost in a week, which I'm happy with. I'd love to be down to 13.0 or even 12 something next week!

Hi everyone!

Yes kitty I'm just starting out on my weight loss, which is why I'm probably seeing a big difference initially. I always think it gets harder the further along you go and weight is harder to shift.

coffee I think your goal is challenging but doable! I hope your foot is feeling better.

womble have you managed to stay on track now all th sweets are gone? Lol!

Yesterday wasn't so good, ate chocolate, meringue dessert and some popcorn. I also skipped the exercise because is was so tired!!

Must if been super tired because I snoozed my alarm every ten minutes for an hour and a half this morning which resulted in us being late for school run! Oh dear! If i don't wake up no one else in the house does either! Lol!

Today is going to be abetter day! I am inky going to weigh myself weekly, I started doing it every morning and it takes the fun and motivation out of it because I haven't seen much difference!

Good luck today everyone!!!

Helooo, I've been too scared to come back on this thread, cos I was awful over Christmas etc, and too scared to weigh myself at the end of January, when my goal was just for the scales to say 13st something.

Finally plucked up my courage this morning, and the scale said...
13st11 I'm so pleased! I know I still have a long way to go, but I really feel like I'm on the way. Another stone off and I'll look like my old self.

Giving up alcohol for Lent has probably helped

Hi everyone, hi DoAsYouWouldBeMumBy, congrats on hitting your target. Nice to met you btw.
Hi Coffee, I wouldn't worry too much about your cereal bars. You must get famished. It's more important that you stay healthy and if that means cereal bars, then so be it! Seriously, I wouldn't worry to much, your body has been through a lot and is still adjusting. Is this your first child?
Hi Sib,
I always think it gets harder the further along you go and weight is harder to shift.
Couldn't agree more. My poor mum 'only' lost two pounds last month. But, she has an underactive thyroid, is 67, and has been dieting for two years. She's lost about six stone total. It must be hard though to put in all that effort and get so little back. It's just so bloody quick and easy to put it back on though!
Good luck with the weekly weigh ins. I hope you do well.
Hi Row, Womble, and Chicken, hope you are all ok?

Hi everyone

I've actually managed to be reasonably sensible since the sweet incident so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a small loss on Monday!

I agree it definitely gets harder the further you are along, you always have to put in more effort for less results! It can be soul destroying!

Definitely salad at 3am is not the way forward lol. Cereal bars for the win! Milk & cereal used to be one of my favourite not so naughty treats yum yum!

Hope everyone is doing well this week

Hi everyone! I've been working like a dog recently - you know what it's like, have to work 3 times as hard before you go on annual leave!

Britney's posted another one of her wee workout videos so she's certainly training for the summer!

Fucking freezing here again though!!!

Just need to get refocused.

Hello everyone.

My not so little ginger ninjas birthday last weekend so overdid it. My scales say 14 5. The official doctors scales on wed said 14 12. Nurse said maybe the difference was down to extra clothes/breakfast

Anyway, weight watchers lady had a bad week too, were both 14 12. Think I may have met an equal ally
Have a good weekend all!

Hi Womble, good luck for Monday.
Hi Chicken, sorry to hear you are working so hard. Apparently the weekend is going to be cold. We have snow forcast down here. Got my heating on already anyway. Was cold! (And I felt sorry for the cat.)
Hi Row, nice to see you! I'd stick with what your scales say. At least WWlady isn't beating you!
I'm doing OK. Managed so far to stick to 1200 calories a day. Even had a chocolate digestive biscuit earlier (Was counted for in my calorie allowance.), wanted a lot more though! lol Why does dieting take soooo long?! lol
Glad everyone is doing so well.

Awful weather here today. Wonder how many calories I'll burn scrubbing my rather neglected house!
How can you only do one biscuit. I bought a packet of biscuits yesterday and ate them all with a cuppa. Disclaimer- I only buy about three packs a year because of this.
I'm trying to stick to 1400 calories. Manage it five days out of seven.
Anyone got a fit bit? Toying with getting one as curious to see how much exercise it thinks I do compared to what I think I do.

Hey everyone. Just a quiet day here, surviving the cold weather again. Got all my laundry done, dried and put away. Want to make the most of my time off.

I have a fitbit charge 2 and I really like it. I only get about 5-6k steps on an average day, unless I do specific exercise. But when I go for an actual hillwalk, it shows I've done 20-25k! I also like the sleep tracking thingy.

Yeah I quite like the look of the sleep tracker. I think I get five hrs a night but it feels like less.
I'm not allowed to wear a watch at work. Do you reckon it would still work round my ankle under two pairs of socks?

Grim weather here too. There's snow again but thankfully nothing like the other week. It's still all a bit cold and miserable though!

Welcome back Doasyouwould. Don't worry, we all have blips from time to time. Well done with the weight being better than you hoped. Keep at it and you'll lose that stone!

Kitty - Thanks for your supportive words . How are you getting on? Hope you're well. Well done with the 1200 cals a day and sticking to just one biscuit. They're both great achievements! Also hope you're well Womble.

Chicken - I know EXACTLY what it's like. I'm in a similar line of work to you (although not working at the moment) and I remember the stress right before taking annual leave. I'd work ridiculous hours to finish as much as I could, do a detailed handover note of EVERYTHING, then when I was away nobody would pick up the things I asked them to, so I'd come back to a total sh*t storm. Anyway, I really hope this week goes well and you get some rest. Have you got anything fun planned?

Row - I have a Fitbit Alta. I like it for keeping an eye on the steps I do in the day. I find it encourages me to move a little more. I don't really trust the sleep function on it, because it seems to show me sleeping when I was DEFINITELY awake...then sometimes it says I was awake when I actually think I was asleep. I've only used it to monitor my steps when walking around, so I don't know how good it will be when I start running again. I just tried and mine won't fit around my ankle, but I do have the smallest strap size and my ankles are a little bigger than usual at the moment!

I'm trying to have a healthy day as yesterday was bad. I'm having Spanish omelette for lunch with LOADS of vegetables, then fish pie for dinner (not super low cal, but fairly good for protein etc). I'm really bad at snacking though and just having a bit of chocolate here, then some cheese there and a sneaky biscuit or two .

Hi everyone! We don't have much snow here! Not having a good day! Eaten loads of biscuits!!! Eeeekkkk! But I am planning on doing a good work out later on once in out of my dressing gown!

How often do you all weigh? And silky question maybe but do you think boobs make a difference to weight when you're breastfeeding? E.g. Will I weigh more if I weigh myself when my boobs are full? Hahaha!

Hi everyone.
I'm really annoyed with myself right now. I had stuck to 1200 calories all week, then today...My nieces came round and there was cake, chocolate, sweets...I caved. Then carried on when they went. I hope I haven't ruined my whole weeks work!
Hope I don't sound like a drama queen but I'm waiting to hear about my mum. She had to go off in an ambulance earlier for an ECG to make sure she wasn't having a heart attack.
Sorry to derail...I weigh once a month Sib, I find that the bigger number (Hopefully! ) spurs me on (Except obviously when nieces are here. ).
Hope you are all doing OK? We've had snow down here again (Laid.). I was amazed Sainsburys still came earlier! (They have a habit of one flake of snow, sorry can't come out.)
Oh, one good thing. I brought a lovely faux fur coat last year but when it turned up it didn't fit me. Had a gap of about 5-6". I grabbed a coat today, yes that one, and I can just about do it up! It was tighter over the bust but above and below did up.

OK, brother called, couldn't really hear him as the call was breaking up but her heart is OK. Phew. Still not home yet but I'm sure she will be soon.
Those of you that have sport watches/fitbits, can you recommend one? I have the Fitbit Alta I think it is (No, it's not been tidied away into a box from unuse, oh no. ) but it doesn't count my exercise bike exercise. I want one that will. Any recommendations? Thanks.

So pleased your mums OK kitty that must be such a relief! Sorry I've no recommendations on the fitbit front! Fan work on the coat well done!

sib I weigh once a week on a Monday morning, and yes I expect breastfeeding does make a difference!

2lbs lost last week so I'm 12st 12lb now, happy with that!

Hope everyone had a good weekend :D

Hi Womble. Congratulations on the two pound, well done!
Thanks for the kind words. Good luck for this week.

Row - I'm totally imagining you wearing one of those curfew tag things like criminals wear! I doubt the biggest size would go round my ankles but I do have very fat ankles. There is a kind of fitbit you can buy which you wear as a necklace instead if that were allowed?

Thanks Coffee - I'm keeping up with my own work emails. I do have a touch of the control freak and anxiety in me. But no disasters touch wood! Yes, I have a spa day with my mum this Friday once all my annual leave Spring Cleaning chores have been completed

Sib - I like to weigh every 1-2 days. I can put on half a stone in a week so I prefer to nip any deviations in the bud asap! Not sure about breastfeeding but I definitely weight more just before my period when my boobs are swollen.

Hey Kitty - sounds like you've got a lot to deal with! I hope your mum is ok. Draw a line under the sweets etc and move on. That's what I'm trying to learn to do too. I have the fitbit flex 2 and I like it. I think with any fitbit though, you can manually put in any exercise it hasn't recognised eg 40 mins cycling or whatever.

Great work, Womble! Setting me a good example as have been wobbling. But not chucked the towel in and piled it back on as I have before!

Progress here:
Had a busy, active day getting house sorted on first day of annual leave. Too busy to do more than have 3 basic meals!
I've chucked out the last of the bread and stored my toaster away out of sight.
Have resolved not to buy anymore of that low sugar/high protein icecream. Even if it is healthier, I'm still eating too much of it and it is bloody expensive too.

Sorry it's a fitbit charge 2 I've got, not a flex2.

Hi Chicken, thanks for the advice about the Fitbit. I wanted it to recognise the cycling so it would go towards my hourly goal. Can I still log it that way anyway, and it'll count? Sorry, just realised you might not know! Lol I'll have a look on Argos and have a compare.
My mum is fine thanks, the Dr thinks it was arthritis (Spl?), since I've had my op she's been lifting a lot more (BIn bags, washing, putting the bins out, etc.) so thinks that's what has agitated her shoulder.
I have to go to the Drs myself tomorrow, I've been bleeding since Monday last so they are going to take a look. It'll be good practice for Friday as I have to go back and see my consultant and the last time I was in that bit of hospital I had quite a bad panic on. Have realised it's not some big test I have to do (Going back and toughing it out.), I feel like it with every trip out! lol So, we shall see how tomorrow goes...
Are you doing the low carb high fat diet then Chicken? The ice cream sounds good! I did read about a high protein bread but my Sainsbury's online don't stock it (Nor the new tea I've heard of, Yorkshire tea biscuit, taste just like biscuits apparently!). I suppose I could try Amazon Pantry? Do you have any other plans for your leave?
Hope everyone is doing Ok and isn't troubled to much by the snow!