Anyone starting tomorrow and not planning a ''quick fix''

[LadyPrigsbottom]

Hello!

I have gained a shocking amount of weight and absolutely need to regain control of myself.

I do not need another drop-some-lbs-quickly-to-look-lovely-in-my-new-frock-diet. I think it is more serious than that for me now and I need to completely transform my relationship with food, as it has obviously become unhealthy.

I have come crawling back to dieting, (and to MN), to hopefully find some weight loss buddies.

I am planning to do the "No S Diet". The rules are:

1. No sweet treats
2. No second helpings
3. No snacking between meals

Except on "S" days; Saturdays, Sundays and Special Days, (birthdays, Christmas etc).

On "S" days, the theory is that you stick to your three, square meals and also have a special treat or two over the weekend. It isn't that you can then eat a whole tub of ice cream every weekend or anything.

It is meant to be a lifelong plan, (aren't they all?), not a quick fix. So I am not expecting rapid weight loss. I honestly just need to stop gaining at such an alarming rate. Even if I stay as fat as I am, (and I am quite fat), I could live with it, but the rapid weight gain has scared me tbh! I have gained approximately two stone in less than a year . Two years ago, I had a normal BMI and I'd just had a baby. Now, I am on the cusp of obese.

I am circa 14 stone, (a few lbs under), and need to be circa 11 and a half stone. At this point, I'd settle for anything under 13! I am 36.

Would love some company .

@LadyPrigsbottom I'm glad to hear it's going well! I had a positive day yesterday, and starting today feeling good for the day. The only thing I found yesterday was I didn't drink as much water and had more fizzy juice and it definitely made me feel hungrier so I think I need to work on that.

Not doing too badly here, I am trying to have 3 days a week with no added sugar (i.e. I can eat fruit). I'm finding it ironically easier to plan on those days than other days when I just pick random sugary stuff from the cupboards!

I can't believe we're into July. My meal times were all over the place yesterday but I'm off for a walk now and I've got a good long walk in every day since Sunday. I'm think I'm going to note all my exercise for this month and try to get into a routine of 20 minute workouts in the evening as well as the walking. I do it some evenings now but in a very hit-and-miss way.

I know whistlers! Where had the year gone? Oh yeah, lockdown! Won't be long till school holidays, even if the concept has lost some of its meaning.

It's funny how that happens drspouse. Sometimes my off days are harder than my on days!

I was hungry and frankly couldn't be arsed making salad at lunchtime. Is it just me who only likes sald in restaurants? I hate washing salad veg and then it's always a bit soggy when I come to eat it.

Any who, I decided to have 2 x baked potatoes with fillings . BUT, shock of the day, I didn't finish it. I genuinely didn't want to! Massive breakthrough for this greedy, truffle hunter .

Let's see if it sees me through till dinner. I'm hoping so. I really feel as if I might have started to crack my chronic, afternoon snacking habit.

I mean, I only ate about a third of the second potato, or maybe less which is very unlike me.

ladyprigsbottom I hate making salads, it’s such a chore and irrationally I hate the washing up of chopping boards with tomato seeds and juice on. But I do eat lots of salads because I prepare the ingredients for a few days worth of salads and store in Tupperware and then combine at mealtimes. At the moment I only have chopped red onion in my fridge but I often have Tupperwares with cooked lentils, peppers or tomatoes. Then i’ll add them to whatever I have - eggs, tuna, avocado, low fat feta cheese is a favourite or I make croutons by putting bread in the oven. I’ve got some beetroot in the fridge so will chop it today, put in Tupperware, that’ll last for two days.

Inspired by the tales of daal up the thread I have had two days of chickpea daal (ready made from a tin). Not the nicest but it was filling. I need to accept that with dc around I won’t always have time to cook different meals for me and them and so have some ready meals in stock for those occasions.

Today I am going to have a jacket potato with tuna salad. Tonight will probably be roasted chicken breast with salad. These are the same meals dc are having so should be easy.

Hello all, well done @LadyPrigsbottom on leaving the second potato!

Still managed to stick to it, feeling good. I definitely feel less bloated. I keep working out how many weeks until certain events and then working out how much weight I can realistically lose by then. Keeps me really motivated!

Oh that's a good idea to prep salad in advance @StealthNinjaMum. Does the lettuce ok? I don't know if my Tupperware would be up to the task tbh, but I could get some better stuff.

Thanks @2020in2020. It is most unlike me to leave anything on my plate...or in my fridge, cupboard freezer . So this is real progress for me.

I have an event in September, which I would love to be a bit slimmer for.

Not much on today. I had some breakfast (cream cheese on toast) and did some errands with the 2yo. I've prepped dinner already. It's in the slow cooker as we speak. So I feel nice and organised today. Planning a late lunch, (of dahl from the freezer - the batch I made up thread), so I can last till dinner.

So far, no slip ups this week! Not a lot of exercise, but you know. One thing at a time.

Does the lettuce LAST ok? *

ladyprigsbottom I haven’t tried with lettuce as I wasn’t sure it would last. I might try. I also sometimes make enough dressing for a few days. And i’ve been known to buy a packet of bacon, put one or two rashers in a salad and then wrap slices in clingfilm and freeze them and then use them one or two at a time in a salad or soup. It stops me eating them all in one go.

The home cooked dahl sounds amazing. When it’s the holidays I might make some.

I did a 25 minute workout last night so I am feeling virtuous. Having tacos with lots of salad for dinner soon. I actually don't mind making salad, I find chopping veg very relaxing. I make soup and stews a lot in the winter.
I don't think lettuce holds at all in the fridge. I buy baby lettuce plants and stick them down in my flower bed. It looks a little odd maybe but it means in summer I have fresh leaves and no lettuce wilting and taking up space in the fridge.

I hope that I am welcome. Going for a four stone weight loss. I’m going for the eating three reasonably healthy meals a day package. As it goes, I appear to have lost 5lb so far. The weird thing for me is feeling hungry and not caring. A completely new way of thinking.

Welcome @Dicotyledon !

Yes, I have been doing similar and, like you, been shocked that I can live with a bit of hunger, which goes against everything I've ever believed about dieting! Usually, I'm looking for the "free" foods, so I can scoff as much as possible.

Finishing today without deviating from the plan, which I am pleased with. I can theoretically eat snacks and sweets etc at the weekend, but I honestly am doing fine without. I will probably pick a treat or two have at the weekend though. Nothing huge.

I have also really rediscovered my love of cooking and planning meals, which is lovely. I mean, no, the kids still turn up their noses at my cooking, and I still eat their leftovers, because I don't want to waste it, BUT I make that into my meal iyswim, rather than having it on top of my meal.

And well done on the 5 lbs loss @Dicotyledon!! I would love to have lost that by next weigh in (in a few weeks).

I'm aiming to lose a stone by September @LadyPrigsbottom, I don't want to be a fat mum when my DC start school my excess weight is already sapping my confidence. Luckily(?!) I have no social life and therefore no actual events to plan for, hopefully I'll be able to get stuck into meal planning and cooking like you.

I read the Allen Carr Easyweigh book about losing weight and although frankly his method is far from easy in many ways, he does talk about losing touch with actual hunger, which was useful. The gist of it was that we're so used to being able to snack/ eat whenever we want that we very rarely know actual hunger any more.

A great start @Dicotyledon! I'm aiming for 3.5st but breaking it down into smaller chunks. I can't get my head round the fact that it might take me a year to lose the weight if I go at a steady 1lb per week but on the bright side, it should instil some good habits for the future...

I definitely think a stone by September is doable @RubySlippers77!

But please don't worry about being a fat mum. I seriously doubt you'll be the only one, nor will you be the biggest. And anyway, it isn't a moral failing! It's just bad luck some of the time. I've been borderline underweight in the not too distant past...ok maybe quite distant, but you know, about a decade ago. Anyway, it certainly wasn't because I was an awesome person that I was so slim! I just happened to move somewhere, where I had to walk 45 minutes uphill to work every day and where I didn't have time to have my nose in the trough all day. If I'd been a SAHM at the same age, I'd probably still have ended up fat! Ergo, my weight is not a moral triumph / failure. It's just a result of a specific set of circumstances.

I like to think that not being able to get the bus everywhere will help me. When I got my bus pass, it made me terribly lazy.

Sorry I’ve been reading but not posting. Had a bad few days and turned to food but feeling more positive today so hopefully back on it. I’m aiming for 10lbs by September.

10st7lb again this Friday so no loss this week. I don't feel too discouraged though, I feel like I've got the crazy lockdown eating back under control. Hopefully with some structured exercise I'll lose a bit this coming week.

I feel as you do at the moment whistlers. I'm slowly getting some control back over food, which is very refreshing. I feel as if, once I crack the bad habits, the good habits will surely follow!

@Onthebrink67, welcome back! Ah yes, I also turned to food a bit last week. What I eat seems to depend so much about my emotions.

@Dicotyledon, yes, I definitely found that walking, especially in a hilly city, helped me lose weight without really noticing. Also, I spent so much time walking that I had less time to scoff, so win win!

I had a horrible night's sleep. My shoulder and neck were really sore and I just couldn't sleep. The 2yo was a bit restless too, so I was up and down the stairs, doing stretches, seeing to the 2yo, taking painkillers. Eventually I admitted defeat and propped myself up on the sofa at 5.30ish and watched the news. That seemed to put me to sleep actually . Makes a change. The news this morning was not as horrible or dramatic as usual!

Anyway, I've had a huge tea and a sugary coffee - it's essential this morning. Haven't had breakfast yet, but will in a minute.

Had a look at weight and am going to record it here, but this is not the official weigh in...

13 stone 11.5 lbs. That's a little down from the last time I weighed myself, but this isn't official as I'm trying not to pay attention to small fluctuations, as I have a lot to lose!

I just did a regular weekly shop the last 2 weeks. DS2 is really sporty and hungry all the time and if there's no junk food in the house he makes himself a late night snack of scrambled eggs and toast, which is great. And the youngest is eating apples again. It was some kind of lockdown madness that was making me feel like I had to buy a giant trolley full of snacks.

Exactly whistlers. Lockdown has made us all do some slightly strange things! In the grand scheme of things, gaining a little weight isn't the worst thing to have done, as long as we can get a handle on it now.

Slight slip up with my extremely late breakfast, as I ended up having a second slice of toast, which I originally thought I wouldn't need and also had a pear, which I'd meant to add to my one plate, but forgot. So slightly 'wrong'. Not a big deal though as it was really just one meal. Need to think more about putting enough food on my plate in the first place, instead of kidding myself. Will have a late, light lunch today and then think I'll do pasta for dinner.

Morning everyone!

Hope everyone had lovely weekends .

I had two sweet treats over the weekend; half a choux bun thing, shared with dc and a cornet to type ice cream. Also some snacking / not being strict about eating between meals, but I don't feel as if I binged.

Haven't had breakfast yet, but will do in a minute. Planning to make a curry sauce in the slow cooker today, for us to have this evening, with leftover chicken from yesterday's roast dinner, rice and naan.

How is everyone?

Going well. I had a sugar free Sunday and I exercised both evenings of the weekend. I'm definitely into a healthier routine. I really hope I have a pound off by Friday of this week.