It’s the season of love - join Slenderistas and lose 7 lbs this February

[Autumnnymph]

It’s the shortest month of the year and Valentines Day is almost here.
Be good to yourself and lose this extra pounds and gift yourself the joy of meeting your goal.

Morning all. A belated happy birthday autumn. Glad to hear you're feeling better.

That cream tea sounds delicious Paws.

I'm just trying to motivate myself to go to park run. I'm awake early and it's lovely weather. No excuses!

Have a good weekend everyone.

Hope everyone’s having a good weekend - am same to same from last Sunday so am actually pleased not to have gained too much back. I have gained the 300 gms I lost between last Sunday to Thursday.

I am hoping that is mainly bloat and water and will come off quickly. Golden days restart today - what’s everyone having for lunch today ? Am considering a chickpea curry with baked polenta.

So after a surprise party arranged by a few friends I can emphatically day today wasn’t golden. Too much cake , too many nachos and guns have been consumed.

Ah well. Tomorrow is the start of a new week. Have a fab week everyone - just a week left in Feb - let’s give it our best.

I've just come across this thread, and think I've finally found a thread where I fit in.

Many will say that I don't need to lose weight, that "56kg is nothing", etc. However, at 5' exactly, that's at the top of the healthy range for me.

I was 62kg a few months ago, and I WAS overweight. Today I am 56.4kg, making my BMI 24.3. So yeah, I'm now just under being classed as overweight. Just.

For my height, the acceptable range is 43kg - 57kg. 50kg would be right in the middle, and I've given myself that as my target.

I've got my pedometer, my 1kg ankle weights are on and I'm taking my son out for a walk on his trikey.

My "plan" is simple - 10k steps and 1200 cals. Can I join you all here? Like I said, I don't seem to fit in anywhere else as I'm not big enough

Huggy you are very welcome. That sounds like a sensible target and a sensible plan.

There are all sorts of people on this thread. Some of us had a lot to lose to start with but are now maintaining. Others are just starting or like you trying to address it before gaining too much.

I'm still stuck at 11 3 which is 1lb above a healthy BMI. I would like to end the month lighter than I started so I'm on a mission this week. Not sure today will go well though. I'm cooking a meal for 50 people tonight. My house is FULL of food. It's only vegan chilli but there is a lot of it!

Autumn your party sounds fab! Hope your head is not too sore today!

@KickBishopBrennanUpTheArse sore throat and so so so thirsty - am guzzling so much water today. Cooking for 50 people OMG :O

@Huggybear16 welcome! i know what you mean - i am only slightly taller than you and at 56.5 am in the healthy BMI but on the top end.

Your plan sounds very sensible and achievable. As Kick said we have all kinds here - when I started my journey almost 5 years ago I was definitely overweight at 69 kgs, I have been maintaining for the most part since then and now in the last year been trying to shed the last few kilos.

Thank you @KickBishop

Ah vegan chilli sounds amazing, I'd struggle not to each the 50 portions. I'd definitely struggle to cook it.

I think where we are (BMI around 25) can be difficult psychologically. A few lbs is the difference between being technically overweight or not. It can be quite easy to just give up as it's "not that bad" combined with those few lbs being difficult to shift.

Thanks for the welcome. I'm going to weigh weekly I think. I used to weigh daily but I don't want a static number to cause me to give up too quickly.

Hi @AutumnNymph

Thanks for having me here!

Being shorter than average means a little overweight looks a lot overweight, doesn't it? I guess if adding a few pounds shows on us, then the opposite must be true also?

But losing over 12kg is more than a few lbs, that's so great and so encouraging.

My heaviest ever was 62kg at the end of last year (well, I was 65kg the day before giving birth). I looked like a beach ball on matchsticks and felt crap. How are you feeling 12kg lighter? I notice a big difference at only 5kg lighter so I imagine it's good.

@Huggybear16 the weight just slowly snuck on me - my heaviest was 71 kgs I think. Atleast MFP tells me that.

I think it was at 69kgs that I took the weight loss seriously and worked on it sustainably. I am a goblet shape so i have always had thinner limbs and as the weight slowly crept on i first didnt realize and then made excuses, But when it touched 69 I couldnt hide.

Being 12 kilos lighter feels amazing and i definitely feel more energetic and have fewer health issues. Clothes also fit so much better dont they?

I am barely 5.2 and yes every extra pound shows.

Fell off the wagon in a big way last week but feeling back in control today. We’ll get there. Baby steps.

@lastqueenofscotland I've spent more time off the wagon than I'd like to admit, but it's been a lot better than being off it permanently! Today I got back on the wagon, still 5.6kg below my start weight so it hasn't been a disaster.

Today I started again, and joined this thread to help keep me focussed. I've had 1100 calories and done 12400 steps. The food wasn't very healthy though, but as you said, baby steps.

I’ve been doing surprisingly well.

Something seemed to click in my head last Thursday - I bought loads of food to eat on my night shift thinking ‘ok I’ll start tomorrow’ and finally had the realisation that actually, I didn’t want to sit there eating to the point where I feel sick and I have just let myself had a bit of it each day.

Frankly this is one of the first times in my life that I’ve had chocolate and biscuits in the house and not felt compelled to eat it all at once?!

I’ve been riding lots and every other day doing some body weight exercises (push ups/plank etc) and finally dragged myself back out for a run (albeit a very short one!). Basically I’ve pulled myself together and taken life back to normal.

Just weighed and i’m 169.8 so down 5 pounds in total so far this month so hopefully I can push it to the 7lb this month! Still a stone to go to get to my pre awful winter ‘normal’ but I’d like to get down to 140 eventually.

@Foreverlexicon

I'm in a similar boat wrt having treats in the house right now. For the first time since I was a teenager, I have chocolate in the cupboard and no overwhelming desire to scoff it down.

I had a 300g bar of Dairy Milk in my cupboard (the huge one). I opened it when a friend visited about 2 weeks ago - there's still about half of it left. I've had a few squares now and again, but not sat and stuffed my face as I usually would.

I'm hoping I can keep this up, as it was binging that lead to the fatness. Fingers crossed. I've had a good start to today - I've taken my son out for a trikey walk already and therefore managed 7000 steps before 9am.

Hello all! I fell off the thread, sorry for the radio silence!

So my 9-day Golden Sprint got me into the right KG bracket, but it had to come to an end on the Wednesday because MrQuim had made (early) Valentine's plans; and it's his birthday tomorrow so we're going out for dinner and to the cinema. A month of two halves. It's a bit annoying to have two midweek commitments on the trot, but at least I got my weight down a bit first, otherwise I'd be truly freaking! I probably won't weigh in and assess the damage until March 1st.

Autumn very subtle name change?

@QuimReaper 9 days in a row? That's brilliant. I don't think I've ever managed 9 days on the wagon at once.

I'm only on day 2, but I've done 14,500 steps and had 1150 calories. I've achieved my own daily mini goals 2 days in a row so I'm pleased with that.

Once I'm a few weeks in I'll add in more exercise and make a few more food swaps, but just now I'm concentrating only on calories and steps to ease myself in again.

Day 3 tomorrow....

Thank you HuggyBear! It isn't normal for me - I'm one of the thread's maintainers (well, usually hovering a kilo or so above my goal...) and I tend to be very careful during the week and then eat whatever I like on the weekend which typically yields a STS or a small loss (I'll introduce you to Quim's Patented 2:2:3 diet one of these days ), but when I want to see results (in this case kick the Christmas gain) I try and schedule one of my Golden Sprints, which basically just means being Golden over the weekend as well as the weeks either side. On this occasion I was stymied by a) having a cold and the relentless sodding rain, the combination of which meant my stepping was a bit lame and b) MrQuim scheduling a Valentine's Treat for the 13th which meant the usual 11 days was trimmed to 9. I'm a bit grumpy about both of those things but never mind.

Also I've just read back through the thread and wanted to add my welcoming voice! I've been on this thread for yonks for the exact same reason that you've joined, that other threads can be a bit unwelcoming if you don't have heaps and heaps to lose. (That troll upthread here is evidence of that.) I'm pretty average height-wise but very small-framed, and an apple, so extra weight shows up on me like it does you, I carry it so badly even when my BMI tells a different tale. I've lost 20-25lbs at a v-e-e-e-r-y s-l-o-o-w pace with a lot of handholding from this thread, so I'm sure you will too! You've done terrifically to lose 5kg already, you must feel amazing - you're not far off doing the Stone Dance!

Autumn I'm so sorry I missed your birthday, happy birthday to you! It's rotten that you were feeling under the weather for it but it sounds like you've been very spoiled by your family and friends, so hopefully you had a lovely time anyway Sod the calories, you're so close to goal and you've got the rest of the year to swerve cake and wine!

Lexi I think a mindset shift is a far bigger, and more rewarding achievement than a scale loss. It's sort of rewarding to successfully trudge through a day / week exercising your willpower at every turn to resist everything you're craving, but for me it always feels a sort of grim bittersweet triumph, as all you're really celebrating is the ability to make yourself miserable; I find it's really empowering when you realise you've actually got on top of the cravings, rather than just gritted your teeth and resisted them. Cling to that feeling and keep it up!

Morning all! Welcome Huggy!

Quim that sounds sensible, if you weighed in now it wouldn’t be accurate anyway because you’re probably retaining water.

I’m pretty pleased because I weighed in this morning at 8 stone 7.7, so I’m almost at my goal for the month! I’ve got a gym class booked for 6:30pm, so I’m hoping to get out of work on time so I can make it!

Thank you Quim and Spuriouser!

You have both done so well. It's really encouraging for a new poster to see how this is working for you all.

I needed something (this thread) to keep me on track when I fall off plan or when I'm tempted to leap off the wagon. It's working so far - I've logged on and read a few posts instead of reaching for the cake!

5kg down feels good though. It's taken me from overweight to "within acceptable limits" but it's not enough to stop at.

I was 62kg before Christmas and 56.4kg when I posted here on Monday. Progress is being made for sure. Hopefully I can report a loss on Monday when I brave the scales. I should see a loss if I manage 7 days of the golden Quim style.

It's going to be a very early night for me tonight, I can barely keep my eyes open.

Day 3 is done and dusted. 1100 cals and 12,300 steps. MFP reckons if every day were like today, I'd be 53.5kg in 5 weeks. That would be fab!

Huggy it sounds like you’re doing well, and you sound so motivated, it’s great!

I finished work too late last night to get to the gym, which is a shame. I won’t be able to go until Saturday now, but I did walk part of my journey to work this morning so at least that’s something!

Thanks @Spuriouser
I think missing the gym is something we have to accept sometimes, and try to make it up in other ways. Walking more is a good compromise, so well done there.

Yesterday was day 4 for me, and not the best day.

I did manage 10,500 steps, but had 1600 cals which is 400 more than my allowance.

I was out with a friend and our kids and ended up at a restaurant for lunch. It was tasty though! I thought I could either just not record it and forget the whole day ever happened (what I used to do) or record it and try to save some calories over the next few days. So, I'm doing the latter - I guess that in itself is a victory for me. I have 3 days left until weigh in, so I'll try to eat 150 cals a day less. That's the plan anyway.

Hey all - sorry for silence - it’s been n insane week. How we I have been golden and today I stepped on the scales and saw 56 kgs - which is my goal this month. Very pleased - my job now for rest of the month is to maintain it without gaining anymore.

Haven’t read the full thread - will catch. Up in a bit

Hi @Autumn

Congrats on your 56kg! That's great, well done.

I haven't weighed myself yet. It's supposed to be a Monday weigh in for me, and it's been difficult staying off the scales.

Day 5 yesterday, 1100 cals and 10k steps. I've been under by 100 cals on 3 days this week, so I've almost made up for the day I went over by 400.

Not sure what number I'd be happy to see on the scales come Monday.

Also, I forgot to add, I stopped smoking! Day 1 back on the diet wagon was day 2 of no cigarettes. According to my app, I've been smoke free for 6 days 12 hours. I didn't want the snacks to replace the fags, hence doing them both together.