Half a stone (or 3kg) off for August!!

[cricketmum84]

Link to previous month here: Half a stone (or 3kg) for July http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weightlosss_chat/3624800-half-a-stone-or-3kg-for-july

Hello everyone! Old timers, newbies, lurkers and anyone I've missed and welcome to the Half a stone challenge for August!

Everyone welcome regardless of what diet or exercise plan you are following.

All I ask is positivity and support for all of us (and someone to follow me around and steer me away from the Greggs vegan rolls please).

I'm currently on holiday until Saturday so will weigh in then and let you all know the damage as my starting weight for August.

Much love x

Still up in Scotland at my parents' house.... I am starting to feel compulsive for the first time in a couple of weeks- kind of like an emotional 'itch' that makes me want to munch.... have had several spoons of peanut butter and a slice of bread and pate, totally unnecessarily as snacks....

This is when I often lose momentum - a couple of weeks in after a little progress, but not yet where I want to be.

All encouragement welcome!

Cricket - you look amazing! Awesome photos. 😊

Last day in France tomorrow. So.much.cheese.

Weigh in on Monday. Then back on it with you all

@cricketmum84 just scrolling down and saw your pics. Amazing !!!!!!!

Brave Goldie, so difficult once the compulsive grazing starts. Could you make yourself a huge salad and eat 5hat. Or go for a walk?
I’ve just finished the walnuts and all the fruit in the house, trying to remember how disappointed I am when the numbers on the scales go up.. really should plan my tea.

Today I actually looked up “sugar addiction” as two things have happened past couple of days:

1. Resurfacing of heart issue leading 2 HCPs in 2 days to ask me if I’m diabetic

1. My wee smells sweet - TMI i know but I got a whiff today and it smelled sugary

Actually a bit scared I’ve got T2 diabetes. I eat a virtually meat free diet, I eat plenty salad and a fair bit of veg (too little fruit though), I don’t buy coke etc, I make my own cordials, I cook from scratch and meal plan etc.

I’ve even started to wind back portion sizes.

But today I ate a full pack of Mrs Crimbles Macaroons, yesterday it was 4 Sainsbury’s Mars bars and 2 macaroons, tonight I am THAT close to buying a tub of peanut butter ice cream from Lidl after swimming and we have people coming round for tea and biscuits tomorrow and I know I’ll hammer at least 6 Maryland cookies.

I am miserable as I fear my number may be up re the sheer thumping amounts of sugar i eat. DH was diagnosed “pre diabetic” in March and has drastically cut back on sweet things. I haven’t.

Blood tests on Weds so should know by the end of the month. I’m so fed up, I wish I could get my brain zapped MIB style to quit the binge.

Have any of you had a history of serious binge eating/sugar addiction and cracked it?

Aah sugar. It does seem to be 1 of those things where eating a little triggers a full on binge. Very tough though. I find the only way is not to buy it, some days are better than others. Only other tip I have is to try fruit ice lollies, yes they have sugar, but not as much as biscuits. You could mak3 your own with sugar free squash? and yes I know that sounds a bit Blue Peter.
Diabetes is really shit though, you don’t want that.

Well I've literally just closed the work laptop after starting at 8 this morning. I am knackered and still so behind! I'm a whole person down and my remaining team member is working so slowly!! He just doesn't seem to see any urgency?! God I am so stressed out!!

Ended up ordering Chinese. Tried to stay healthy-ish though with a veggie chowmein with a special request of no oil. Plus I didn't even eat half of it so I'm guessing not too many points.

I don't really get the sugar cravings. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate or sweets, I really have to be on the mood for them.

My downfall is salty, Fatty things. Think cheese and crackers, warm vegan rolls, cheese on toast, salty crisps!

Paul, I don't know if it will be tje same for you, but when I had to stop eating gluten, it was much easier than when I was "just" dieting- now I can't have a cream tea, for example, whereas before the temptation would have overwhelmed me. So if a blood test is bad news it might kind of help? I am sorry you are having such a stressful time.

Bravegoldie, you need one of Crickets meme - how about, in 30 days time will you want to have eaten that peanut butter today?

10st1.3 this morning which is lovely but a bit of a cheat as I had a very early evening meal last night. I'm going out tonight so will see tomorrow what the scales say!

No change. I need to find a way to get more bran in my diet. I used to have bran flakes for breakfast and now doing 16:8 I don’t eat breakfast.
I can tell the difference though.

Still 13.1 here for me but went out for dinner last night so no surprise really. I had to order some size 16 jeans and trousers as all my 18s are falling off me. Such a novelty to try trousers on and not have to be breathing in to see if I could get the zip shut.
And FINALLY! Someone in real life has noticed and commented!! I've lost 20lbs so far and finally my mother-in-law said yesterday, you've lost weight haven't you?! 😂

@PaulHollywoodsSexGut
Buy the fast800 or blood sugar diet by Michael Mosley.
It is the only “way of eating”(!) that has ever addressed and altered my bingeing and overeating. Other diets have made me feel
deprived so I was on willpower alone until I wasn’t. And the weight goes back on and stays.
Into the second week of 800 calories a day and I honestly am not hungry and just don’t fancy food so the fact that I can’t eat quite a lot of my old favourites just isn't bothering me one bit.
And the huge plus- it does lower your blood sugar it can reverse type 2 diabetes and get rid of pre diabetes symptoms etc. As my dad is a T2 diabetic and my big sister looks very much like she is going that way too- I am delighted by this.
I feel slimmer and less bloated already and although I know you do lose water etc- I also know that some of my weightloss is fat. I can see it.
I lost 8lb in the first week- going from 14st 3 to 13st 9 and even at 5ft 8 I have a fair bit to go, but I am delighted with the way I feel on this and I feel so in control.

Aye @isadora2007

I have both and have done both - trouble is I had 2 fainting spells on the 800cal/day diet and as I’ve got an underlying heart condition (Wolff Parkinson White - same as Jessie J factfans) I am not allowed to go near a VLCD.

Do you know what I just need to do? NOT BINGE ON CRAP. But if it were that easy none of us would be here now.

Have you had any light headed episodes? I did so well on it, I was happy with my morning yoghurt with grated apple and yummy lamb chops with pomegranate salad etc but I fainted once in the gym and nearly took my face out on the weights stack and that was it for me.

PaulHollywood have you tried 16:8 without the 800cal a day limit? The long period without food is what is supposed to regulate your insulin levels on this rather than just doing VLCD. I've been doing it very successfully and although I do feel hungry right at the end of my fasting window, it's not as much as you'd think and it's not for long. I have totally stopped grazing on crap every evening which I used to do. I don't eat anything low fat or specific diet foods (had burger and chips with a brioche bun last night for example). I'm sticking to 1200-1400 calories (tracking on MFP) but when that's split between two main meals you can have really substantial meals.

Sorry to hear that @PaulHollywoodsSexGut I have naturally low blood pressure and have a vagus nerve issue that can also cause fainting but thankfully haven’t experienced any light headedness on this plan. Insomnia, yes... fainting no.
Perhaps the other idea about the fasting period would still work? I just am in awe of the lack of urge to eat- alien to me, honestly. Which then makes not overeating really easy as I just don’t fancy it. I think honestly this is how naturally skinny people feel all of the time.

Interesting you should say that @BrillyPribble as my weakest part of the day is the evening. I can virtually double my calorie intake between 7 and 9pm through snacks and sweets than I consumed between 6am and 6pm.

This is why I suspect that the 16:8 idea may yield results.

But again, I need to just try and eliminate sweeties and might track down the second hand version of the Allen Carr Easyway book re Sugar.

Honestly, 16:8 has been a revelation for me. Every evening I'd eat crisps, nuts, biscuits, cake, snacks of whatever kind I could find. I haven't eaten anything in the evening past about 7pm for 3 months now and haven't really missed it at all. I've had a few days where I've just eaten continuously and haven't stuck to 16:8 (usually period related!) but on the whole, it's been so easy and I don't feel at all like it's hard to stick to or even that it's a diet, it's more a lifestyle change.
(Have namechanged!)

I'm thinking I could manage 16:8 - just need to work out a way to guarantee getting my dinner by 7pm!

I’m so thick, I thought it was 16hrs of eating and 8 of fasting.

Explains a lot!

Still feel hopeful about it, listening to a podcast on it now, thanks @wooleyfooley

😂if only!!

LOOSE Why would you need to eat dinner by 7pm? You choose your eating window. So if I know I will be eating until 8.30 at night, I won't start eating until 12.30....

The 16:8 has been a revelation for me. I am another evening eater so it works so well for me. I am starting to feel a bit hungry now but will probably wait another half hour at least. I am going out for drinks tonight so I need to be really careful I don't add too many silly calories, but it's to celebrate a new job so I don't feel too guilty

11:11 today so have lost three pounds since starting, about a week ago. I am another one who is at risk of fainting - due to low blood pressure in my case. I haven't felt faint and always have a cereal bar with me just in case. My average calories have been 800 - 1000.

Brilly it makes such a difference when people notice!!!

I'm so dense! But I'm not sure I can last until 1230! I tend to be hungry in the morning. However that could just be a case of adapting to a new routine - on a non-teaching day it would work.
(Not sure my students would love me if I taught my morning class on an empty stomach - but then again do I want them to love me?😀)

I've been good on the no snacks, though!

I am a college lecturer so similar role. I thought I would be ravenous but I have been fine. You kind of get hungry then hold it.

Actually I find it easier on teaching days as I am too busy to think about food. On Monday I didn't eat lunch until 1.30 and usually I would have had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, followed up by a cereal bar for elevenses and then lunch. It seems if I don't have breakfast, my body adapts. Obviously we are all different though.

Yes, it's easy to not have time to eat on a teaching day - I work in FE and my classes are three hours at a time with an hour for lunch between the morning and afternoon class. This can easily disappear with queries etc. I think that's how I've got into a pattern of early breakfast, packed lunch and then hours and hours until dinner. But I could experiment a bit.

@BrillyPribble it feels so good when somebody else can see a difference!!

Do you know my mother in law hasn't even mentioned that I've lost weight. 5 bastard stone and she hasn't even noticed. And she is OBSESSED with weight.