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.

Thanks you Quim - you're very kind.

11kg lost is wonderful. You must be so pleased. Well done!

Summer will be here and holidays and I would like some photos where I don’t look fat.

I know it sounds sorry for myself but I haven’t been able to enjoying looking at photos of myself for years and I want that to change.

Well done Huggy in giving up smoking that is amazing!

I think we all need to appreciate that every day may not be a strict diet but it may seem to be a diet in terms of being able to eat whatever we want when we want as today’s food is just too calorific and cheap and available. We just need to accept that we shouldn’t be eating the crap if we want to be slim

Sorry just seen Quim that you lost 11kg that is amazing well done!

Thank you Dash and Huggy, it was a very slow process and admittedly that is a rough figure from from Absolute Heaviest Recorded to Absolute Lightest recorded, but I'm certainly much happier without it!

I think we all need to appreciate that every day may not be a strict diet but it may seem to be a diet in terms of being able to eat whatever we want when we want as today’s food is just too calorific and cheap and available. We just need to accept that we shouldn’t be eating the crap if we want to be slim

I completely agree with this. There's a lot of clear blue sea between "living on lettuce leaves" and "only having treats occasionally", but we live in such an obesogenic environment these days that it doesn't often feel like it. Once the bad habits bed in, it's a huge achievement to overcome them.

I'm also measuring from My Absolute Heaviest!

I wasn't there for long as it was the shock of the number that jump started me, and I was 2kg lighter a week later.

The loss since then has been very slow though. I think I need to do more than just calorie counting and steps, but wanted to give myself an easier time for the first few weeks so I'm not tempted to give up completely.

I also agree with this:
I think we all need to appreciate that every day may not be a strict diet but it may seem to be a diet in terms of being able to eat whatever we want when we want as today’s food is just too calorific and cheap and available

Yesterday was not a strict diet day for me. I ate an entire tub of Halo Top ice cream. It was lovely. Not good for weight loss, but I still kept my daily calories to 1200. Previously, the ice cream would have rendered the entire day a write off and I would have continued to eat crap.

I'm doing OK, but I can feel my motivation starting to dwindle. How do you all keep motivated?

Huggy I actually only realised how heavy I'd once been because I found an old weighing-in slip from one of those BMI machines at the gym, I was pretty shocked, I thought my heaviest had been half a stone or so lighter than it was It's funny, I remember when I did that weigh-in, I knew I'd gained weight and wasn't happy about it (hence being at the gym) but I didn't have any real notion of what weight I was aiming for - I only established my goal weight later, by going to the doctor's surgery and asking them how much I'd weighed when I signed up. I also had hilariously unrealistic expectations of how quick and easy it would be to lose if I just put my mind to it...!

In terms of staying motivated, we used to have a refrain on this thread, "WHY IS IT SO HARD AND BORING?" - keeping motivated is half the battle. For me, the answer has been to design a totally rigid way of eating (no sugar / carbs / booze Mon-Thurs, whatever I like Fri-Sun), so that the mental challenge is just gone. I pretty much just know what I'm going to eat every day when I wake up, so it isn't a constant exhausting negotiation with myself. There are still challenges, obviously, but after all this time, there's really 0 chance of me randomly having pizza, wine and ice cream on a random Wednesday, unless I have some specific reason to have "scheduled" it in (like MrQuim's birthday last week).

So that's really a way of saying, I can't do it if I rely on motivation! The big thing for me is having a "release valve" built in - I don't obsess over things I can't have on the days I can't have them because I know when I can have them. I don't know how people can deny themselves indefinitely, whenever I tried it it drove me barmy, but I know that lots of Slenderistas find that if they let their hair down on the weekend they can't find the wagon again on Monday (not to mix metaphors or anything...!) so it's completely about your individual psychology.

I think that ^ is why people find the 5:2 so useful: when you know it's a fast day there's just no point thinking about it, and the stakes aren't all that high, as if you're ferociously craving something, you know you can have it tomorrow. It's a slow and steady plan (for most people), but it's easy enough to stick to, and it gets easier and easier in time, so if you just trudge along with it, you'll generally find yourself several kilos lighter within a few months without it having felt like a constant grind.

Thanks Quim

I'm going to look into 5:2. I don't know anything about it really, so will do some reading tonight.

I'm not the sort of person who can stick to a strict diet indefinitely. Like you, I need a "release valve" whether that be a small daily one or larger weekly.

Planning food ahead could work for me though. What does a good day (your Mondays - Thursdays) look like food-wise?

I've been experimenting with fasting this week. I'm up to 5 days and it's been going well. I've lost 3lb and I feel less sluggish. The weight loss is probably fluid and I know it won't carry on at that rate but it's nice to see a loss

I'd recommend the Michael Mosley horizon on iPlayer.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lxyzc/horizon-20122013-3-eat-fast-and-live-longer

That's great @KickBishopBrennanUpTheArse

What has the 5 days involved? What have you had to eat and drink? I'm looking into 5:2 just now but interested to hear about your fast days.

Huggy it's very early days so I'm not sure I should be imparting my diet wisdom yet!

But I will anyway because it will put off tidying my house

I'm doing more of a 16:8 style rather than fast days. I'm a bit scared of trying to stick to 600 or 800 cals in one day

So I've just been not eating anything at all between 6.30pm and 12.30pm. Effectively it means missing breakfast and no evening snacking. It's not particularly difficult or complicated but I haven't been tested by a night out or big event yet.

So from 6.30pm to bedtime I have nothing except water or herbal tea. I don't feel remotely hungry but have to remind myself not to eat out of boredom or mindlessly pick.

In the mornings I have lots of boiling water or lemon water. I might have a cup of tea around 11.00 if I'm struggling but if I'm busy I don't. I do get waves of feeling hungry but it passes.

At 12.30 I'll have lunch. No particular fixed thing but not loads of carbs. This week I've had:

Lentil dahl soup
Chicken and egg salad
Quiche and salad
Chicken and salad wrap

I have had a few bits of fruit or walnuts if I've needed a snack in the 4pm danger zone.

For dinner I've had:

Sausage and Yorkshires with gravy (no roasties)
Chilli in a wrap
Tuna and wholewheat noodles with salad

Looking back at mfp I've just realised I haven't really had any processed sugar other than a bit of ketchup or chutney so I think that has helped. I found last year when i was losing weight that I don't feel as hungry or get as grumpy when I avoid added sugar. I've been having plenty of fruit and some carbs though so I'm not on the Atkins diet!

According to mfp I've had between 1000 and 1200 cals a day so it's not that low. Its around the same as last year when i was calorie counting but it feels easier because the calories go further across 2 meals compared to 3.

As I say it's early days and I don't know if I will be able to keep it up. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else does similar or 5:2 and has managed to keep it up long term.

@KickBishopBrennanUpTheArse not sure if I have mentioned this before but I have been 16:8ing it for about a year now. I basically skip dinner and have my last meal of the day before 4pm and then fast until breakfast at 8 am the next day.

Autumn no I didn't know that. I've dabbled in the past by moving my breakfast a bit later but not really done it properly.

Do you find it helpful? I think I'd struggle more to miss an evening meal because I'd have to cook anyway for dd. How do you cope with social events etc?

@KickBishopBrennanUpTheArse I do make exceptions if we are going out with friends but that’s quite rare and most times we go out for lunch etc instead. What I do is break lunch in two parts and have part of my lunch at 3:30 - 4ish. That way when I cook dinnner for DD at 4 I am not hungry: DH does IF as well with me.

I did experiment with eating breakfast material but found I needed the energy in the mornings while if I Skipped dinner I slept through most of the fasting period.

I would say I follow 16:8 for all but one or two days a month but to be honest I don’t feel hungry at dinner time any more. Even the rare times we go out for dinner - I order a side as my main or would have skipped lunch so I feel hungry enough to eat. I think it took me a week to get used to it.

I find 16:8 much easier to follow than 5:2

Autumn have you lost weight from doing it?

Do you know how many cals you eat in a day?

And what didn't you like about 5:2?

I hadn't thought of doing it in the mornings. I might switch in a couple of weeks and see which works better.

Sorry for all the questions

I’ve weighed in today for the end of the month and I’m down a pound to 167.2 so that’s 7.4 pounds off this month 😁

Will be harder to get 7lb off in March as it’s my birthday and I have many plans haha but I will keep going as I am and hopefully try to fit in a bit of extra exercise!

Foreverlexicon that is a great result. 7.4lbs in a short month, well done!

Ah yeah 16:8 style I've looked into a bit. I can do it with food quite easily, but it's almost impossible for me with drinks! I have quite a lot of milk in my coffee, and I really don't like it black. I'll normally have an early lunch at 11am (I'm up at 5am every day) then have my main meal at about 5pm.

So my fast is really only 12 hours (aka the same as most people ) if I'm counting milk in coffee. I drink far too much of it not to count it (between 50ml and 100ml milk depending on the size of my cup).

But, it is working for me at the moment. When I hit a plateau I may look into a real 16 hour fast.

Wow foreverlexicon well done . That's a great result.

Well I just weighed in and I'm down another lb to 11 1.8. Really pleased with that. It's not loads but I'm ending the month almost 2lb lighter than I started despite a rise mid-month but more importantly... fanfare ...

I'm a NORMAL BMI!!!!

Only by .2 of a lb but I'm in the right zone

continues to ignore the fact I'm not quite 5 ft 6 any more

Foreverlexicon - well done! Not sure I’ve ever hit the thread title aim of 7lbs in a month!

KicBishop - that is a result! I’m desperate to be overweight rather than obese. I’ve quite a way to go to even get there.

I have half heartedly tried 16-8 a few times. But like you Huggybear it’s the drinks that do me. I love my tea in the morning. I don’t have much milk but I do have it.

I’m still doing my detox week. Sneaky weigh ins are very encouraging. And I suppose as today is last day of the month I should actually record my Feb loss. I did only start on Monday though! So far this week - Monday to today - I have lost 2.7 pounds.

Still pretty frustrated at myself. On 14 Jan I was 15 st .5 of a pound. From then to Monday I gained over 5lbs!

Anyway. I will weigh in tomorrow for the new thread and aim for a 7lb loss in March. I have a girls lunch with friends in London on Tuesday and then a weekend away later in the month so will need to factor that in.

Huggy I tend to eat the same during the day Mon-Thurs, which is a fairly boring rotation of small snacks to keep my stomach occupied, rather than breakfast / lunch / dinner: I tend to just drink tea in the mornings, and I graze on hard-boiled eggs (I SWEAR BY hard-boiled eggs - they're miraculously filling for about 80 calories), Babybels (sounds weird but they're great to keep in your coat pocket and shove in when your belly starts grumbling, at one point I had everyone on the thread eating them ), sometimes a green smoothie, a bit of fruit, a yoghurt, etc. Then on two days I have a fast day, so don't have an evening meal, just miso soup and a lot of tonic water (also miraculously filling), and two others I make a light evening meal. I don't calorie count, so how light the meal is tends to depend on how much cheese is in it (!); the calories vary hugely, but the cardinal rule is it's always more or less carb-free. Typically it's a pile of salad, a pile of sautéed veg (peppers, courgette etc.), olives, feta and some kind of fish. I doubt I very frequently come in over 1200 on these days.

In reality I've got into a bad habit of grazing from the fridge in the evening on "fast days" but I'm pretty relaxed about it these days. The calories tend to work themselves out over the week, so on a day when dinner is a slice of veggie frittata with salad the calories may come in overall lower than on a "fast day" when I've had a latte and the munchies so kept sneaking things from the fridge. It works well for me, I find it sustainable and very low mental effort.

Kick WELL BLOODY DONE! I absolutely love a milestone, what a terrific feeling! Sounds like the 16:8ing is working wonders for you!

Peridot and Huggy I think keeping food to 16:8 but not counting drinks would still make a difference; come to think of it, I hardly ever have more than an 8hr "food window" as I forestall my appetite for as long as possible with tea and coffee, and I'm sure it makes a difference. I find it heaps easier to go without food in the morning, and I can sometimes make it to mid-afternoon without eating anything, and I always feel like it makes a difference. After all, there are very few calories in a tea or coffee - even if you have 100ml of whole milk it comes in at

That last paragraph sounds like the same sentence bouncing round and round in an echo chamber, sorry

I kind of roughly do 16:8 but I do drink a coffee with nut/oat milk in the morning (normally just one though and then green tea or earl grey tea which you don't need milk for)....I find that if I don't eat all morning it's like my hunger isn't 'woken up' if that makes sense so it's just easy to fast for that time and then eat later. I do the same as a PP in that I divide my lunch up so I have something left for 3/4pm which is when I'm usually most hungry usually a snack like an apple or something as well. I'm not massively hungry in the evenings usually so my evening meals tend to not be high calorie unless its a restaurant or takeaway night Those tend to only be once a week though so not too bad. I've been trying to not drink alcohol until a Thursday and have managed it some of the time (done well this week!)

I've started to notice as well that when I drink too much wine I get kind of down and anxious these days. I had a bit of a dark period last year where I felt really down and depressed so I went to therapy and I think drinking less is stopping that feeling coming back so I need to continue with it.

My day hasn't been the best food-wise as we had a team lunch out at work and I also had a large glass of wine for someone's leaving do. Don't think I'll have anything else now as it was quite a lot.

I don’t often weigh on a Thursday, it is my lightest day as it is after my two fasts.

Start weight 14 st BMI 28.3 (Oct)
Feb start weight 12s 7lbs BMI 25.3
Feb end weight 12 st 2lbs BMI 24.6

Midway through I thought February was going to be a washout but I rallied and got a result. Starting March with a normal BMI is More than I hoped. Next goal to get into the 11s by the end of March.

I don’t count the tea or coffee with milk on my fast days, I have experimented with cutting the milk out but I am not convinced it makes a difference. I am doing traditional 5:2 but only eat an evening meal on my fast days as I don’t like going to bed hungry.

Aarrrgghh! I had a terrible day yesterday. Nothing was going right and I came home feeling crap and exhausted. You know where this is going....

I ate everything in sight the minute I got through the door. Bagel with loads of butter. Some biscuits and peanut butter. Some chocolate. This was AFTER I'd reached my 1200 calories. I went over by 1000 calories easily.

I'll get back on the wagon today though. I can't let one day ruin the progress I've made. I think I'll aim for 200 calories less than my target for a few days in an attempt to even things out. I'll also go for an extra long walk today.

Please tell me you've all been there?! I can't be the only one to eat 1000+ extra calories in a day?!