Half a stone off in April (3kgs for the 'metrix')

[VivaFrida]

Carrying on from the March thread (but all new joiners welcome), a fresh slate for April!

Please join me - all plans welcome (calorie counters, weight watchers, citizens of slimming world, intermittent fasters, eating-only-blue-food eaters). Here to support each other and aim to lose 7 pounds, or 3 kgs.

My starting weight for April is 65.1 pounds and getting to 62-ish or just under by the end of the month would be great.

Who is in?

Thanks shoelace. I take measurements too, but there was no change in that either.

It was frustrating, but I’m still hoping that it was just a temporary thing and that May will be a different story

sazzle! You got to target for the month and I forgot to comment: congratulations!!!

Welcome to cardibach, ScreamingLadySutch & OhTheRoses! Do stick around and get ready for an awesome May! Support always in spades on this thread.

Crazzzycat - great news to hear about your shift of focus, and you are absolutely right it's inner health and how you feel that counts, much more than the number on the scales!

ScreamingLadySutch I know what you mean! I love getting into my old jeans, and being more active, but the difference of attention I get is scary.

Morning shoelace88, did you have a nice BBQ? Here is the south east was so cold!! We had the heating on most of the day & went to sleep with hot water bottles!!

Definitely lost another 1.5lb this week. Formal weigh in tomorrow evening.

So thrilled I have found this thread.

Ah, ok, right, forgot to report that I lost another kg exactly since last Sunday (it's the third week in a row in which I have lost exactly one kg per week) - I now weigh 60.8kg.

Weight at the beginning of the April challenge: 65.1kg (10.2 stone)
Weight now: 60.8 kg (9.5 stone)
Weight lost in April so far: 4.3kg (9.4 pounds)

Weight lost since the beginning (27 February): 9.5kg (20.9 pounds)
Staring weight: 70.3 kg (11.07 stone)

Target weight: 56kg (8.8 stone)

This normally would be the moment when I say, 'oh well I have made it" because I fit back into (some of) my old clothes and would go back to eating rubbish! But this time it's very different because:

1 - I have tried to reduce the stress that causes me to eat rubbish (it is work stress in my case, so say no to over commitments, say no to toxic projects, toxic people, make my own health a priority).

2 - Instead of a quick fix I have chosen a diet (old WW) that allows me to have the odd slice of cake, the odd bit go chocolate, and also the odd Domino's pizza! I have never feel deprived and I do not feel on a diet but really feel i have changed my life.

3 - I have made space for exercise in my life again. The change in mental outlook that I get from exercise and the amount of energy I gain from daily training is enormous!

So - I am moderately optimistic that this time I shall get to my goal and keep it off! To be honest I have been at a healthy weight for most of my life - I put weight on when I no longer seem to be able to manage the hits below the belt that life gives me. Life hitting below that belt is, I am afraid, unavoidable, unless one lives in a glass bowl so I just need to learn to manage them.

Congrats for the loss OhTheRoses :)

Oh. 3 pints of cider and a buffet happened last night 🤦

Back on it today 🤦🤯

Loved your post Viva 😁 I shall reread that when struggling

Hi everyone, I’ve had a bad week after hitting my goal around 10 days ago. Hope I can pull it back. Easter and birthday cake everywhere proved to be irresistible :(

Viva it sounds like you have it sorted! I’m only 3 days in, but I feel I might have this time too. I am a teacher - or rather have been for 30 years. As of Tuesday I’m unemployed as I’ve taken voluntary redundancy. It was all just too toxic. I feel very positive about the future which will involve letting my house out, relocating to a rental nearer my daughter and doing supply teaching, turning, exam marking and maybe something totally different- but on my terms.
I have counted calories and made sure the food was interesting and nutritious and tasty so I don’t feel deprived. As I’m not at work I have been able to think about it instead of rushing.
I hope this will pay off on Weigh-in day chez cardi- which is Friday.

No worries Vida! I'm surprised I made it to target, and will be re-weighing myself on the 1st of May to start accurately for next months 3kg challenge!
(All inclusive holiday from 3-10 May so will have to weigh either side of that and just hope i don't put it all back on again!)

Awful awful day today.
Treated the kids to pizza, while visiting some family before dropping them home, and my grandmother was on fine form.

For a bit of history, she used to teach home c, has always been on some fancy fandangled diet or another, and has looked the same since I can remember - not slim but not obese either.
She is also never straight to the point. She phrases things in a roundabout way, where you know exactly what she means, but if you call her on it she will deny it.
Unfortunately all bow exacerbated by dementia...

Normally I am strong, bat it back at her, and ignore/move on.

Today? Today was not one of those days.
Tired, stressed, in pain with AF (still), and just a bit on edge for several reasons.
I was setting the table for lunch for us all (she didn't know what we had got for lunch - grandads request for pizza as well!) - and she did the standard look up and down, followed by the inevitable "when did you last weigh yourself or step on the scales".

Im ashamed to say I snapped. Told her I'd lost weight, and when she started to comment further, that it was none of her business. For a final comment, tears in eyes, I stood in front of her and told her to leave me alone.
Left the room and stood trying to calm myself.

Thoroughly upset and ashamed of myself for it all.
The kids have never seen me like that, and knew I wasn't okay even though I said I was.
Hate that I lost control of myself - she has always been the same, and the dementia is just making it worse, as it will continue to do so.

Not really sure of the point of posting this, other than to get it out, and hope for some respite in my head from it all..

Sorry for the rant guys..

for sazzle.

Sorry to hear that sazzle. Try not to feel too bad about it. It sounds like you had a lot on, so it’s quite understandable you snapped

Sazzle

Totally know where you are coming from, my nana is exactly the same. She's lovely to me but constantly goes on about my sisters weight even though I'm bigger than her. It's awful to watch.

Happy Monday to everyone, one more weigh in for me tomorrow morning then it's all aboard the May train!

sazzle you should be proud of yourself for standing up to her. It sounds like something that needed to be said. You may have got emotional with it but it doesn’t sound like you were aggressive or rude, so I don’t think you ‘lost control’. Any chance that the message will have hit home with her? If not, at the very least it’s good practice, next time maybe you can say the the same thing without feeling so bad about it

Morning all!

Don't be too hard on yourself Sazzle

Well done on the losses everyone

I too haven't had the strictest of weekends but I am totally happy with that. I had some wine on Fri and Sun, but didn't feel like it on Sat so didn't even though there was some in the fridge. Wine is often my downfall so this is progress! I had chocolate, but not that much and I calorie checked before eating even though I wasn't actually totalling my calories for the day etc. I have been active, did a short swim on Friday evening, a spin class with DH and DD on Sat, Body Balance Sun morning with DSis and then a hit around in tennis with DH and the kids last night for about an hour.

Feel like I'm rambling a bit but what I keep feeling is that, a bit like Viva, what I am currently doing is totally sustainable and that although my weight is moving slowly (not helped by a week all inclusive holiday this month!) it is going in the right direction. On Sat I was the lightest I have been all year and nearly 10lbs lighter than I was at the start of the year, which given that I don't feel I am generally depriving I am really bloody chuffed with

Anyway long rambling post over! Have a great day everyone!

Viva do you mind me asking what height you are? Your target weight sounds really low and I can't imagine ever being that weight (though I was in my early 20s)

Weighing in this morning at 67.4kg. 100g off a 3kg loss for April!

I had kinda hoped to see something in the 66s, but hopefully will get there not too far into May. I’m feeling good, my clothes aren’t tight any more. And I think I’m getting on top of what’s wrong with my heel (retrocalcaneal bursitis, since you asked 😄), taking anti inflammatories and sticking to the reclining bike at the gym which seems to be ok for it.

Another a little concerned about your target weight Viva. Probably because you’ve hit my target weight and I can imagine getting there and seeing if I could push it a bit further. Saying you’ve ‘made it’ doesn’t necessarily mean immediately putting it all back on, with a change of mindset you could focus on maintaining instead?

Oh sazzle27 family members can just push the right button to make us snap, don't they?? Because they are family they think they can say whatever they want... from me too and a lovely .

Right, shall we sort out my weight? - I am 1.65 (5'4) and according to BMI (NHS calculator):

"Healthy weight range for your height:
50.4kg - 68.1kg"

Some history. 53-56kg is my 'normal weight' - the weight I have been all my life (except when i was preggers and a couple of depressive episodes in my 20s and 30s).

In 2017 I had another depressive episode. I was working a great job, exercising, being happy in myself. I weighed about 54-55kgs - I know because now and again I jumped on the scales, not weighing obsessively.

In August my best friend died (young mother, brain tumour)

In November I lost my well-paid job (cut in the arts... hello!)

In December a very close family member died suddenly and unexpectedly (my uncle, whom with I grew up - he was like a second father to me).

I just could not face life anymore. I did it what I always do in these circumstances. I eat. I eat more. I stop exercising. I don't get out of bed. I ballooned to 70kg within a few months.

Then during 2018 my life got better, I got another job, I started therapy. I volunteered for a charity. In February 2019 I was ready to start watching my food intake and upping my exercise.

56 kg is not a magic number that I have taken out of a hat. It's the weight I was until 2 years ago when my life imploded.

Oh blimey Viva, sorry to make you write all of that out. If 56kg is normal for you I can understand wanting to get back to that. You sound like you're doing so well to recover from that terrible time. You've been such a wonderful, positive, inspirational voice on this thread, thank you

@VivaFrida thankyou for such an honest post!

I am 5ft 10 and always weighed heavy for my size. At 14 stone I was a size 12.

I was kinda ok at 16 stone and size 14 3 years ago, then anxiety and depression hit me like a sledgehammer. I gained weight up to 20 stone. I went on an anti depressant that's known to cause weight gain a year ago and ended up at 24 stone. I'm now down to 21stone 6 and wanting to be back at my size 12 weight again. I also have the issues with my teen son that Make life bloody hard.

The amount I have to lose can make me very down and depressed sometimes. I just want it to fall off quickly!! But know that this probably isn't the best way to do it. For now I will keep plodding and sticking to the half a stone a month, little steps and little goals all make a big goal in the end.

But thank you everyone for your concern, really! It is lovely that you care.

Oops sorry x-post!

GottaGetUp thank you - I am getting so much better everyday - I am learning to manage grief and letting go at the huge anger at my job situation... putting it in proportion, being grateful and positive.

cricketmum84 - thank you too for such an honest post. Weight is so much more than just that, isn't it? You are doing really great.

I know it's a platitude but a mantra that has helped me is "life doesn't give me more I can handle" - trite I know but it did bring me some consolation.

PS sorry if this is not very articulate but I am on the train with erratic signal!!