Anyone need to lose a stone or less and needs motivation?

[Flippetydip]

Not that I can provide the motivation but hey ho, I thought perhaps if there were more of us it might help!

I'm currently 10 stone 12 and 5 foot 7. My fighting weight is 10 stone and I would like to get back down to this.

Lockdown has seen me put on at least half a stone. A bad back has seen me stop running and lack of school runs means a distinct deduction in time on my feet.

Anyone else in the same boat?

It certainly is CBA Friday! Fish and chips in our house - delivered!!! Rubbish on the exercise and steps front too!

I find this weight loss malarkey very frustrating - so little progress. I am sure it is a combination of lack of purposeful movement and peri-menopause. (That and the fish and chips!!!)

I wear my Fitbit all the time - pretty obsessed with the sleep tracker!!

Just back in from a 1hr cycle with DH in an attempt to burn some calories to enable Friday nights drinks! Have gone for Prosecco as it is the lowest cal option I like. Teen DD did dinner while we were cycling so haven’t actually eaten yet but it is flatbread with falafel and salad with baked sweet potato wedges so fairly got calorie wise.

I’m jealous of all the takeaways though!!

I can’t use Fitbit/Apple watch to track my sleep - they disturb my sleep too much!

Ooh can I join?

Lost nearly a stone but still have another stone (and a bit) to go.
Went from 74 to 68.5kg , my first target is 65kg then hoping to get into the lower 60s and see how I look and feel I'm 5'5".
I'm already noticing a change in how I look and how clothes hang on me and for the first time in a long time my belly doesn't stick out past my boobs.

I'm on 1200cals a day sometimes 100 + or - and I exercise 2 x 45 mins a week and throw in 20min HIIT or full body YouTube workouts 2-3 times a week or try to hit my 10k steps if I miss a day.
I am not logging my workouts on MFP though as I don't want it to add more calories because I WILL eat them

Today I didn't workout, came under my cals but went over my fats probably because I had too much butter with my salmon and spinach and I'm not willing to forgo the milk in my coffee.
Also did a very brisk 1 hourish walk with Ddog which was over 5k and according to my Fitbit burned 463 cals.

@overweightcat that’s an amazing loss! Do you stick to 1,200 calories easily? I ask because I struggle!

Anyone have any low calorie alcoholic beverage suggestions. I like a couple of drinks on a sat but wondering if there’s a better option than gin and lemonade or Prosecco....I guess they’re both very high calrories

@AIMD it was a bit tough to start with as I am a mindless snacker. I realised how bad it was when one morning I automatically grabbed a handful of DCs hazelnut crave cereal when making theirs and realised I had to add 100+ cals to MFP! And I didn't even think about scoffing them down I just did it. And that could be put forward for any time of the day biscuits / crisps etc because they were just snacked out of the cupboard usually midway through doing something else I never even thought about the sheer amount I had.

I find it easier now but what I think helps is that I'm not big on breakfast, I have my morning coffee but I'm never usually hungry until anything between 10.30 -12 in the day so I often don't have anything bar the coffee until lunch. I found that if I forced myself to eat breakfast even though I wasn't hungry I would be starving an hour or so later so it seemed a bit counterproductive.

I watch my portions and tend to weigh out whatever I put on my plate with my little digital kitchen scales and I try to eat slowly. Lunch tends to be soup and a bit of whole meal bread sometimes and dinner I try to stick to no pasta just rice or potato/sweet potato for carbs and protein + veg of course. If I'm ever hungry later in the evening I might have a couple of rice cakes with almond butter. Occasionally if I've been very good that day I have the Aldi mini kit Kat or the caramel wafer bar which are under 130 cals.

But I found the majority of sticking to the 1200cals for me personally is basically cutting out snacks and sweets.

Oh and @AIMD this will sound naff but I've cut out alcohol altogether and what me and DP now do is get a bottle of San pelligrino sparkling water, add high juice to it (current fave is apple and elderflower) and have it with ice in gin glasses

@overweightcat what you’ve said about snacking and breakfast actually sounds really similar to me. I eat things without even noticing. Just tried to have less in the house so I don’t have any options of snacks. I’ve also stopped eating breakfast the last few days because similar to you I just am not hungry for a few hour after I wake.

I used to not be able to go without breakfast and need to snack regularly. I’m wondering if my body is changing as I get older to need different eating routines.

@AIMD it's tricky isn't it. Although I have noticed the longer I stick to it (I think I'm on week 4 or so of the actual calorie counting beforehand I was just exercising) the less inclined I am to snack. I rarely go to the cupboard to look for what I could have, when I have caught myself doing it I start going over the contents of the cupboard in my mind and remind myself how many more calories I would have to log if I had that packet of crisps/those Jaffa cakes and 9/10 times I walk away from it.

I've not cut out any food groups though and if I do really fancy that chocolate or whatever I will adjust my daily calorie intake accordingly to factor it in. I don't want to go down the route of depriving myself of anything as I know that's not sustainable for me in the long run and I am aiming to be able to carry this on.

I also very consciously do not add my exercise to MFP as I did initially and would find myself eating those calories and my weight loss stopped so I just keep my intake to 1200 and view my exercise as a way to tone and strengthen my body rather than loose weight. I have some loose skin on my stomach and a mum pouch I'm hoping to tone.

Another thought on why were struggling to move the scales at the moment. I've read a bit on why sleep is important in weight loss / gain (one of the hormones, can't remember which) and the majority of people I speak to are really struggling with sleep at the moment. I'm going to bed later and then waking up more. So my plan for next week definitely includes better quality sleep and not faffing so much at bedtime!

Lurking Matthew Walker’s book Why we sleep has quite a bit about the link between sleep deprivation / poor sleep and weight and hunger. It seems there is a definite link due to hormone and chemical changes in our bodies when we don’t get enough sleep!

I definitely eat more crap if I’m sleep deprived, like my body craves carbs for instant energy to compensate.

10st 13 exactly today, .75lbs down on last week. Not much but in the right direction. I had feared the worst after the takeaway last night...

Oh dear... I have 7 month twins - no chance of getting more sleep here!

I find 1200 calories really tough too. I manage it maybe a couple of days each week, but find it easier to have a calorie deficit as a goal - generally I'm happy to move more as a trade-off for eating more!

@Lurkingforawhile that’s interesting. My sleep is awful at the mo. Might put extra effort in next will

@overweightcat - you sound just like me... the stomach skin, the mum pooch, the allowing for things you want in your daily calorie allowance so you don't feel deprived etc.

@Lurkingforawhile - interesting re-sleep. I'm definitely sleeping less than normal at the moment, probably because I'm not doing that much so I'm not as mentally and physically tired as I would be in non-lockdown. I also stay up later because I want to make the most of my kid-free time... I just love being able to sit and stare at my phone/watch something without being bugged for a snack or whatever. Stayed up until about 1 last night after a few glasses of wine and I definitely feel quite carb cravey today.

My 15 yr old DS has just burnt over 2000 active calories on a long distance cycle. We obviously all need to take up cycling 80+ km and we could be eating what we want!!

While he was out cycling I have walked over 12km so feel the Prosecco with hockey club bingo will be well deserved this evening

@PeasandCucumbers enjoy the bingo and Prosecco - that sounds like a fun evening.

I’ve been a bit rubbish today but am 3lbs down from when we started which is a step in the right direction. Did a 3 mile run yesterday and nothing (other than the usual dog walk). My iWatch says I should burn 780 active calories a day and I am slave to it so I have another 99 calories to go today. A 20 minute walk should do it before I crack open the crisps and wine. I am WEAK!

@PeasandCucumbers my OH is a fairly serious cyclist and it's the only time when I think exercise outweighs what you eat. Quite often he'll be out for four hours and do 100km plus. In the summer the weight just drops off. I am jealous but I like a gentle bike ride where I can see the nice countryside so it's not for me!

Hello all! Did a long walk yesterday and kept to 1900 cals which allowed for a couple of glasses of wine. Today I’ve done a 15 min HIIT workout and 35 min strength workout provided by my PT, just need to get out and get my steps in. I was feeling sick on Friday so I only did 2,000 leaving me with a deficit in my weekly steps which is annoying.
No movement on scales but then I did have wine yesterday. No booze now until next Friday/Sat when I will have either 2 glasses of wine or a G&T depending. I think my period is about to come as well as I’m bloated and achy in the stomach. Joy! Hope you’re all having nice weekends despite weather and apparent world apocalypse!

Hi!

I don't do any exercises at weekends unless we go for a walk. Yesterday was a cheat day and we had a Chinese takeaway in the evening with DP but still didn't stuff my face like I usually would and didn't actually feel bloated or too full at the end. The weight seems to be at a standstill and fluctuating especially towards the end of the day and I'm generally feeling a bit down and crappy these past few days not sure if everything is getting to me a bit at the moment...
Probably still staying under 1900 cals over the weekends but tend to let loose a bit and allow for a few more treats and so on.

Back to it tomorrow with homeschooling, working, workout, 1200cals and the rest.

Hope everyone is ok.

I have been a bit rubbish over the last few days but luckily have not gained any weight. Today I went for a run and have tried to be 'good' so hopefully I will keep it up for a few more days and see another couple of pounds disappear!! I have noticed that my stomach (were literally every single pound was deposited) does seem less 'flabby' so that helps with the motivation as well!

Anyone fasting tomorrow? Have three pork pies and some celebrations to shift!!

@Ilovetolurk - I am! I try to do Mondays and either Wednesdays or Thursdays but last week went to pot because of the lush weather so I ended up doing two days on the trot (weds and Thurs) which was HARD.

Mind you, I'm 2 lbs down on the scales since the beginning of the week so maybe it did the trick. Feeling a bit better about it all. I definitely feel thinner in my face and arms, so that's nice.

I'm still not denying myself too much of what I want. Eg, I tend to drink wine most nights (), apart from fast days. I just make sure I have a low calorie lunch to allow for it. Someone's prob going to tell me that's super unhealthy.

10lbs to go to get to target! I might start thinking about starting to exercise this week .

I will join you today @clevername. I have an all day Zoom call to take my mind off it

I wouldn’t feel bad about the For me the whole point of fasting is to eat (and drink) fairly normally the rest of the week.

Not fasting here but scales are up a tiny bit (500g) after salty meal last night, which is a depressing way to start the week! Trying to let go of it - PT asks for daily weigh in to do a weekly average and has told me again and again not to stress about the daily number but that is easy to say!
No sign of period, 4 days late now - convinced I have water weight from hormones atm.
Meal plan for today:
Breakfast - All bran (30g) unsweetened soya milk, fresh berries (50g)
Snack - coffee with unsweetened oat milk, 1/2 banana
Lunch - tofu salad with little gem, tomatoes, courgette and 100g of smoked tofu, 1 small wholemeal pitta and 50g hummus
Dinner - Vegetable and lentil stew with sliced veggie sausages (DP will have bread with this but I won’t)
1600-2000ml water
This should be around 1500 cals which leaves me 200 variance, I often leave a bit of leeway in case I’ve weighed food wrong or DP has put more oil in than he admits