Beware the Lindas of March! Slenderistas spring forward and March towards a 7lbs loss

[BitOutOfPractice]

So, winter has us in its icy grasp as March begins but by the end of the month we will be lighter, warmer and, erm, slenderer!

Here’s a link to January’s thread

Come and join us on mumsets best thread™️

That’s great soft & slight, looks like we’ve all been visited by the weight loss fairy. I’m so lazy right now, lying about dozing, it’s bitter cold here (I believe, I’ve not been out yet) Very windy too but I’m planning a walk later on, I’ll wrap up well. Another night of food as my bff is staying. Food all planned, now the trick will to stick with the plan!

Ooh some good losses again Well done!

I'm languishing around 11.2-3 but average is slightly lower this week.

I have been out for a run in 0-feels-like-minus-seven-degrees today so that feels pretty virtuous! Bitter bitter wind.

Did eat a lot after but have healthy veg and chipotle chilli for dinner, it's also a booze-free weekend unlike last week so on track for a good post-weigh in weekend.

Hi can someone tell me about pasta - I made Quorn Bolognese which according to MFP comes in at 115 calories a portion which is great - however i weighed 100gram of dry spaghetti - cooked it and it came out cooked at 275gram - which is about 400 calories? What do others consider a portion - it was too cold to go out walking in London today so I've not done any excercise.
I've gone over today but I'm sure the cold must affect our appetites - that's my excuse anyway.
Thanks

Hi Mary, I eat a lot of pasta and have thought about this a lot. In my opinion it is no use to weigh it cooked as, if you have it very al dente it will be far more calories per gram than if it is totally water logged.

I have realised that my stomach doesn't know any difference between 75 grams and 100 grams dry. 75 grams is still very satisfying, you could go down to much less if you aren't very hungry. Also, 10 grams of parmesan is very delicious and not a lot of calories. Also, also, you can have 'capelli d'angelo', angel hair pasta instead of spaghetti and because each strand is much thinner it fools your brain into thinking you are having much more.

Pasta seminar over!

Congrats to everyone who has seen a new loss. You're all doing great.

Are eggs the best thing for breakfast? To keep you full i mean. I can't eat first thing so I usually just have a coffee, so I'm planning on eating 'brunch' god I hate that word, well no probably elevenses actually. And then a little snack at 3/4pm and then tea at 6pm.

Right now I'm trying to really concentrate on portion size and not snacking, but I get to 8pm, when the house has been cleaned and I sit in front of the telly or in my phone snacking on everything . And it's not hunger, it's just habit and maybe boredom.

Thanks ofthread useful to know - I will look out for that pasta - I'm really suprised re calories in pasta and rice. Previously I could easily cook double that and more and eat it all!!! I've always eat a healthy breakfast and lunch - it's my evening meals that where carb loaded - I've just measured how much dry rice I used to cook -210 grass which we would share!!! It's was too much - now I'm just cooking for myself I can have more control over this. Enjoy your evening - well what's left of it.

Hello, sorry, ive not read back and caught up. Hope everyone is OK. How are you doing hairspray?

I got home late last night. Dd is doing OK but her surgery has not fixed the problem so we still have a lot g road ahead. But for now she us home and smiling.

I weighed in this morning. Only 4lb up. Not bad for extreme stress and two weeks eating out for 3 meals a day. I'll be back to calorie counting Monday.

Hoola that's great news so glad you've got her home. I had been thinking of you.

I'm completely out of touch with the thread too but getting back on it from next week.

Look after yourself.

Oh well done Hoola and Hoola Dd for coming through what has happened so far. I hope you enjoy being home.

Delighted you’ve got her home hoola, so sorry the op wasn’t the fix, lovely that the little pet is giving you smiles💖
I find pasta so mean! I tried to go with 50gr uncooked which is around 160 cals for my brand but it’s a pretty sad looking portion. 75gr uncooked is acceptable. 400 cals is an overestimation of cals mary, check the 100gr on the packet value, I think 320-360? It’s certainly an eye opener to look at weights of rice/pasta/potato but in terms of food satiety & calories value they’re worth it. You wouldn’t see much chocolate or crisps for 350 cals!
Haven’t done my last weight in of the week, I want to bask in my low of yesterday for a while longer😉

Weekly average down by .8 of a pound. Getting there😉 Snowing quite a bit here, there’ll be no running outside today. I was going to have a takeaway tonight but there’s been a lot of junky crap eaten this weekend so I’ve decided on homemade burger & chips, gotta pull it back a bit

Hoola - glad your DD is home and happy.

Not - good job on a loss, especially on a week with a night out.

Mary - I wouldn't cut pasta out completely. Yes, it's relatively high cal but it's also very filling and satisfying. The goal isn't necessarily to be as low cal as possible, it's to eat lower cal overall but also sustainably. That way you can keep it going for long enough to shift a decent amount of weight. Consider the meal as a whole - if you choose a low cal but tasty sauce (veg/tomato based, usually), 75g of pasta could still yield a very calorie efficient meal that won't leave you hungry and craving bad stuff.

We still eat lots of pasta. I have a much higher calorie allowance, but I can still fit in a 125g dry weight meal of pasta, which I'll do if I'm super hungry. I usually do 100g on a normal day.

As for me - I was surprised and delighted to be down slightly again today: 12st 7.7! That makes my average for the week 12st 9.0, representing a 1.7lb loss compared to last week's average. Needless to say, I am thrilled! I expect some bounce back tomorrow following last night's wine (there has to be a price to pay for that!) but for today, I'm just going to enjoy it.

That is a brilliant loss feezles! Bask away, you’ve put the effort in and it’s paying off. I had a little break to my lent yesterday (it’s a st Patrick’s day tradition) and as a result inhaled loads of crispy things so cals well up but what caused my flux was the salt. It’s pity but I know over the weeks it’ll even out. So sick of snow, cannot believe I’m stuck in again😡

Thanks all re pasta input. It's so cold today to go out for a walk - I'm staying in where I'm warm thankfully.

So with all of this talk about pasta I have come across this. I know it looks way too god to be true but I've done some research and it's made from the root of the konjac plant. They are from japan. Apparently very very good for your digestive system too. I will be buying some tomorrow to try out. These particular ones are from Holland and Barrett.

Hi Majestic - thanks for that - I will pop down to H & B to take look. Not cheap though.

I’ve heard they’re not that nice, need a lot of disguising with sauce etc to make them palatable but you never know, they might be lovely.
Had the most yummy lunch of homemade cheeseburger with roasted potato chunks in their skins - around 470 cals and scrumptious! Steps are ridiculously low but I’ll do some marching on the spot watching tv and get them up to 10,000....soon, just not yet. Feeling lazy!

All this talk of snow and keeping warm and I went out in a blizzard and walked my dogs for three hours 😇 This is the first positive thing ive put in here for about three months 🙄.

Low carb diet going slowly but I’ve not cheated so hoping for a whoosh soon.

Have a good week everyone. It’s heavy snow here and very cold.

Crikey, poorpaws! Hope you've thawed out!

0.5lb up this morning - as expected, due to wine (planned) and chocolate (unplanned) this weekend. However, 0.5lb up is still a whole Linda down on last week's average, so I'm starting the week smiling!

HUGE portion on salmon and veg for dinner tonight, and the decorator is finally coming to do our study/spare room, so I am a very happy bunny!

I have meal planned for the week ahead, I'm going to try and find some scales (food scales) tomorrow. Any recommendations? Nothing majorly fancy, just something cheap but still gets the job done. Ugh why can't there be an app for that. I will try my very very best to stick between 1,200 and 1,500 calories. Also planning on doing more walking. And basic exercises at home too.

I've not been calorie counting so that's probably why I keep having 'just a few slices of X and pieces of X and bites of X'. All which add up but I'm not counting so I don't know what damage is being done. Going to treat myself to a new water bottle too. Very scared to weigh this morning as I spent the weekend eating junk food and being lazy. I used the downstairs loo this morning so I could avoid the scales in the bathroom

BUT - What better day to have a fresh start than on a Monday morning. this time next week I will have lost something, which gives me a lot of motivation.

No specific recs on food scales, just that you buy digital. I got mine from the middle aisle in Aldi years ago and it’s my most used piece of kitchen equipment. I’m just back from the gym & food shopping, have family coming for lunch. In an absolutely foul mood, sick to the back teeth of walking in to find them all sitting on their arses. Yes they’ll help get the place in order but not without stupid tantrums, the kids not the oh - he just wants to make suggestions. Here’s a suggestion get off your arse!!! I’m tired & hungry and the only thing that’d improve this house is a wrecking ball😡 My weigh is up from Friday, big jump from Saturdays low, that’d be the overeating & drinking. It’ll balance out

Morning all, hope everyone's surviving the snow!

Hoola sorry to hear the surgery didn't fix the problem, but I'm glad your dd is home with you and doing well

I don't know Majesty, I got my scales years ago from tesco. I don't think it matters too much which ones you get to be honest, as long as they do what they are meant to.

I have been stuck on the same weight for two weeks now, but I'm having a fast day today so maybe I'll finally see a shift!

Omg I’ve just found 10 2 finger size Kit-kats I bought a couple of weeks ago as backup (they are sooo small). I haven’t had any chocolate for two and a half weeks and I’m a chocoholic. I keep eyeing the bars and touching them as if they are silk or velvet 🙄

Majesty my food scales are James Martin ones and are very good but they were a Christmas present some years ago so no idea what they cost. I do know the person who gave them to me did weeks of research and they came out very well.

7 ins of snow here and my dog walking pal has offered to walk my dogs so I can stay at home with the little old one as she struggled yesterday so a lovely stay at home day for me 😀 it will mean very few steps though.

I hope the cold weather is not making everyone eat everything in sight (as I want to do). Have a very good week Slenderistas.

Anyone stuck at home, step on the spot, dance, go up/down stairs. There’s no barrier to getting steps. If you’ve little ones have a disco! Mine love to dance around with me. No magic steps, just steps. Surprise yourself and see what you can do.
Moods improving as the lunch plans are coming together. Damn why don’t I keep a nice clean house all the time. Got my 10,000 steps done, bowl of porridge inhaled, nil by mouth until around 4pm - really hope this recipe works, or it could be a trip to the Chinese!

Hello all! Well done on the lovely losses, the scales fairy has finally been!

Hoop glad you've got MiniHoop home

Personally Mary I consider pasta to be a treat. I avoid all starchy carbs during the week as the easiest way to keep calories low: sticking to protein and veg has probably been the most effective lifestyle change I've made. It's entirely personal though - as Feez says it's certainly filling, and some people really need good filling meals to keep them off the snacks. For me I'm perfectly satisfied without it so it's just "empty calories". Either way though, I haven't heard great things about the Zero Pasta stuff either, I'm interested to hear how it works out for you!