Half a stone off in Feb

[Smarshian]

So I started a half stone thread in Jan and managed to lose 4lb as I lost motivation half way through. Still feeling positive though and want to achieve the full 7lb this month.
Any diet/exercise routine welcome and tips and tricks encouraged. I will be continuing with slimming world (loosely) and I’m training for a 10k next month so regular runs.

Been good today so far, just a coffee with honey for breakfast (have missed it, just had green tea all week). And a banana, spinach, avocado and almond milk smoothie for lunch.

Well done! A friend does an extreme diet every January to shift her Xmas weight and ready for her annual Feb half term holiday - she just sent photos of her at the beach and she looks AMAZING so I hoping the motivation rubs off

She must have fantastic willpower. Mine comes and goes.
Just been for a walk to the supermarket but by the time I got back I felt a bit lightheaded, so had some light crackerbread with butter on, and a green tea. Preparing a lasagne for dinner. Should easily be within my 1200 cals on MFP today. Let’s hope I don’t end up munching on some choc this evening!

It’s the only time of year she diets and she does something super extreme like under 800kcals every day for a month - looks great in her annual bikini photos then relaxes and maintains at a reasonable level the rest of the year

I’m like you, my motivation comes and goes and it’s currently ok after what feels like 6months of “fuck it” so I’m riding it!

@SingaporeSlinky are you just doing 1200 every day?

IJumped yes, trying to, that’s what MFP suggested based on my height and how much I wanted to lose. I’d been quite good in January in cutting out snacks and doing occasional exercise, but started logging calories on that at the start of Feb and lost 4lbs in a week. I think I’m a bit bloated at the mobut hoping I will carry on losing next week.
It’s made me more mindful of my portion sizes, and if I do have an unhealthy snack like crisps or something, I’ll try and make up for it by having a smaller dinner, or planning a healthier dinner for the next day.

*at the moment, but

Was my day off today and fairly low calorie until I made a copious number of cookies for the children to take in for Valentine’s Day....they didn’t have much sugar in them but still moreish and I didn’t have dinner but just smacked constantly....ah well, should be able to achieve a fairly strict day tomorrow as I’m out of the house for most of it. My uncle is in town and taking DH and I out for a slap up meal on Thursday so I’m using that as my motivation to have the next 4 days v strict so I can enjoy it without guilt

Doing well today, 2 coffees, some crackerbread for lunch and making a soup for dinner. Trying really hard not to snack today and have just been for a walk.

Made Jamie Oliver’s lentil and spinach soup for the first time and it was delish. Added some leftover roast chicken we had and a small baguette on the side, was all very tasty. No snacks, so I’m actually under 1000 cals today if I’ve logged correctly. Have to say I’m ready to reach for some chocolate, but I will try and resist. How is everyone else doing?

Soup sounds lovely! It’s lunchtime here and I had a salad with chickpeas and avocado so healthy fats and protein to keep me full, made lasagne last night for tonight’s dinner and my portion will be 400kcal so added to my latte this morning I’ll be bang on 800kcal today to offset last nights sugar cookie fest!!

When you make a meal from scratch do you input all the ingredients individually? I’m struggling with that some days, so end up entering whatever I had and picking from MFP the closest match. For example I had lasagne the other day and couldn’t be bothered to weigh and count every single part, then work out what proportion of the large dish I actually had. So I just entered lasagne and selected a 400g portion of a supermarket ready meal one. But I know that won’t be accurate, and they probably have much more salt and sugar in them.

Yeah I usually do but I’m vegan so matching like for like in MFP isn’t very easy

My friend did an extreme diet of soup every day, or dhal with extra bits, and lost 11lbs in a week. However she had a few solid meals then put 3lb back on! But made me see this extreme dieting can make a huge impact.

I'm trying the lowish carb route plus no snacks after kids have gone to bed. Also loads of water has helped suppress my appetite. Hoping it translates to the scales....

I’m trying to keep it manageable for the long term, so smaller changes. I’d hate to lose loads and then it all creep back on again. Once I’ve lost it I want to try and maintain it, I don’t want to end up yo-yoing forever. I don’t think I could do without carbs, so I’m just having smaller portions. For me, cutting out snacking seems to be working, plus switching most of my sugary coffees to green tea. This weekend I’ve had a few coffees as more of a treat than a daily thing. I’ve resisted crisps and chocolate all weekend which I’m proud of, rather than using the weekend as an excuse to binge. And I’ve been out for walks rather than dossing around.
Going for a run in the morning with a friend. I don’t really like running, and can’t go very far but it’s a start. Hope you all have a good start to a new week!

I hate running too but going to dust my C25K app off this week (which I’ve never actually completed) as otherwise my current job means sitting in the car for 2 hours and sitting behind a desk for another 8

Well I ran 2 miles this morning which is the furthest I’ve done so far. It really helps doing it with someone, otherwise I would have stopped at least a few times. Plus about 10 mins of walking either side.
Banana and green tea for breakfast. And my 2 lbs of water weight has come back off again. On track for a good week!

How are you doing @Smarshian ?

Last Monday I was 12st3. Now I'm 11st12.5. So 4.5lbs off!! Very happy with that!

Just taking it one week at a time. Aiming for 7st7ish (my before children weight) but will probably be happy with 8st. Aiming for 3.5lbs off each week so I will reach my goal by my 30th birthday.

TheInvestigator that’s great! It must be a nice feeling to go down into a different stone number, I’m trying to get from 10-something to 9-something, and comfortably enough that a little up and down here and there doesn’t push me back to the 10.

How have you been doing it?

That’s great @TheInvestigator well done

I’ve had a NSV - I realised last night I no longer look 4months pregnant! Feel like I’ve been bloated for months and finally my stomach has flattened a little!

Brilliant on the exercise @SingaporeSlinky

Thank you. I'm fitbit-ing. Hitting 15000 steps a day as my minimum just to keep me moving really. And I've set my goal on fitbit, so I'm just always staying under my daily calorie limit. I don't do well on diets which cut out entire food groups, so calorie counting works best for me. Snacking is my problem, so training myself to snack on cucumber and carrot etc is the hard part!

Well done do those who manage a run. I find walking no problem but running is my nightmare. I managed 18 minutes of running on the treadmill so will increase to 19 minutes, then 20 minutes etc.

I do struggle with finding healthy snacks. I bought cucumber and hummus and I do like it, but no more than once a week. I’ve found that Ryvita crackerbread is quite good because they’re so light and I enjoy them with butter on, just have to be careful how much butter of course.
I need to find more options that I’ll enjoy, otherwise if it feels like rabbit food, it won’t be a good long term solution and I’ll reach for crisps again.

I always said I couldn’t run, and I used to hate it. Still can’t say I’m enjoying it, but I’m getting a little bit better. I find I get so out of breath that I just have to stop though. My body isn’t aching or anything, I just can’t breathe properly. I tried C25K but found the start, stop, start, stop annoying. I’m better just running as far as I can and then just walking home.

I’m struggling to fit more than 2 runs in a week at the moment as I have a 2 year old and 8 month old but I’ve been really good with my diet this week and my jeans which were feeling quite snug a couple of weeks ago fit comfortably again now. Weigh in tomorrow but I’m confident I’ll have lost a pound or 2. Today I’ve had a slice of toast some grapes and an apple for breakfast. A go ahead bar mid morning, lunch was chicken, sweet potato and roasted veg and homemade veg curry for dinner. Have avoided the wine all weekend and just had a couple of small gins instead.
I’m lucky in that I’m quite active at work 2-3 days per week depending on my shifts (walking for around 6 hours per 8 hour shift) so I think that helps.