Optimistic October

[Octopus37]

Says she, thought I would start a new thread. After yesterday's triumph, I ended up eating rubbish yesterday (lack of time and planning) and weight out for a Toby (bar snacks) last night to get my Dad out of the house to give DS1 space. Weigh 9st2 this morning, but confident that I didn't eat the 8,000 calories needed to gain over 2 pounds. Aim for the end of October is 8st13.5 (rather than .75 which was my new low yesterday), the sky is the limit

Ooh yes I think there was vanilla extract in the original recipe I used. Nice addition. I use the mashed banana in place of honey BTW and it works very well to sweeten it. Think will make an omelette to reheat at lunch tomorrow as I didn't get any ratatouille or other done on weekend.

If I'm having porridge (I prefer it warm) I do oats in water (think it was 30g, would have to check MFP, it's been a while), then stir through one mashed banana and a teaspoon of peanut butter. It's about 300 cals depending on the banana. That's my depths of winter breakfast.

I also see because of no chilli and therefore no rice, the only carbs I had were fruit and veg today. Mad for me but absolutely fine at the same time. My omelette and beans came to 500cals which is also a big crazy! But it was delicious and after 16k steps I deserved it.

Definitely going to try peanut butter in porridge, read that here before and sounds delicious.

I had really nice porridge on holiday in Sweden - mixture of oats and quinoa. Very nice. It was very creamy and served with raisins cooked in and lingonberry jam on the side.

I have PB Fit which is powdered peanut butter. It probably tastes terrible as it's supposed to be a lower calorie way of flavouring things like yoghurt but i'm curious to try it.

Yeah it's the fat in peanut butter that makes it tasty

IDon'tMindMarmite thanks! Will try and report back. Barley is a good idea. I will probably make it just for myself so will fridge/freeze portions, but it isn't great doing that with rice.

Everyone's ONO recipes sound amazing! My breakfasts are very standard indeed. Basically cereal. Weetabix at the moment, but with some muesli sprinkled on it to make it a bit nicer. Sometimes fruit as well. The kids are really enjoying the new "Kelloggs by Kids" cereals which somehow manage to have only 8g sugar per 100g, despite tasting really sickly sweet like cereals that have more than double that.

Lots of hugs HoneyBadger! Be kind to yourself. It's hard for teachers during term time. I find that meal planning takes up brain space that I want to spend on other stuff. Maybe the solution is to fill the freezer with ready meals. Not crap ones. Decent ones from Cook, or Picard (from Ocado), and reasonably filling to be a genuine alternative to takeaways.

I'd value anyone's quick cheat meal ideas. Particularly ones which fussy kids will deign to eat.

Morning, as I feared I've got a big upswing. 3lb up since Friday, and 6lb up from my lightest weight.

I just kept eating yesterday, tired and a little hungover I managed to get through a bar of terry's chocolate orange (they are doing big bars now 😳) plus a roast and a hot chocolate....

Here's to a good week and no self sabotage!

Had a Chinese last night so 9st2.5. Aiming to do better this week. Would like to be 8st13.5 at the end of the month

Upswing here too. Over 14st again. Pretty sure a decent bm would see that off

Getting nowhere at the minute. However I am staying sane and doing well at work and improving fitness and at least I'm not gaining. At the end of October I'd basically have maintained for 2 months unless I make some progress in the next week or so.

Reminding myself that isn't the end of the world.

God forbid but I may have to do some calorie counting if I can't do extended fasts

Before I finished reading Honeybadger I was thinking it would be worth a week of weighing and cal counting, you might spot something that's causing the plateau as you are doing so much it is hard to figure out. I do love all your plusses tho and you are absolutely right.

I'm down another pound so now up 4 on last Tues AM. Need to sort this out, do not want to be healthy healthy followed by horrible overeating, that's the polar opposite of what I want.. Hope you all have lots of yummy food today and a good day all round. Another busy week ahead here, I'm sure we're all similar, but it's complicated further by one dc having to restrict as a negative covid but close contact. It's a pain tbh.

B: ONO and coffee
L: omelette with peppers, tomatoes, onion and cheese
D: roast chicken with potatoes and carrots
10k step walk tonight.

Morning morning, it is very frustrating when you get stuck either in a plateau or a binge cycle. @TheHoneyBadger as already suggested, maybe just track cals temporarily to see whats happening?

I am 2lbs down from my 6lb holiday upswing. It is not disappearing as quickly as DH who lost 3lbs the first night! It is a week before my period according to my tracker app which never gets it right by like a week.
B: ONO
L: Chicken stew
D: Risotto
S: Brownie, bits and pieces

I'm totally unsure what my calorie target should be actually. Before my holiday I was in maintenance mode which was 1500 during the week then 2000 on weekends. When I put my new weight into MFP it adjusted my target back to 1200 but I feel like that's a bit drastic. Have been aiming for somewhere around 1400 but am feeling quite confused about it.

1400 sounds good Idontmindmarmite, that's what I'm on for a half pound weekly loss and little to no exercise (it goes up to almost 1700 with 10k steps a day).

Hi, just checking in. I'm feeling quite meh about dieting today. I think I went into complete hungry panic on the way home just now, despite reasonable breakfast and banana for snack. (I was working this morning). I've had lunch and am calming down. Seeing the same number on the scales 5 days in a row does odd things to my brain, even though it's what happens from week to week that matters.

There are prawn crackers in the house! I did not bring them into the house. But they are there.

I hope everyone's ok. It does feel all a bit Mondayish here doesn't it?

Hiya. Didn't weigh this morning, totally forgot.

B omelette
L casserole leftovers, toast
D loaded Sweet potato wedges
S cup of soup

Went for a walk this morning as usual. 4km but 100m elevation gain, down the valley then back up again.

I am home early and need to get something from the shop and am so tempted to go for a pint

HoneysuckIejasmine Walk sounds lovely!

HoneyBadger Eek! What are the options for pint-avoidance? Walking round the block a couple of extra times instead of going into the pub? Going to the pub, but getting a gin 'n' slim instead of a pint?

The prawn crackers are gone. Mostly into the children, thank goodness, as I took it with my for school pickup-snack. But some went into me too. Now to estimate how many and put it in the app.

Surely prawn crackers are very light? Honeysuckle love the sound of your walk and menu! Honeybadger how did you do?!

I'm here having put a roast and a ratatouille for lunches in the oven. Sipping my cool boiler and lemon now ahead of a 650cal feast. Logged for the day 1457 and a walk to go so all good.

Heygirlheyboy Like many things, depends how many you have. They are deep fried. I think they're about 10-20 calories each so one or two is ok but the calories add up very quickly. They are very addictive (due to being deep fried I guess) and come in very large bags.

Ah OK monochrome, I'm not a fan but they are certainly light at least. I'm in bed exhausted, was close to cracking earlier but waited it out. Another high step day (16k) so actually I'm genuinely hungry so need to up the good foods. Good night all.

Logging tomorrow early:
B: ONO
L: ratatouille with hallloumi, chickpeas and salad.
S: apple and almonds
D: nutty egg fried rice with broccoli and mushrooms yum.

Heygirlheyboy You're being very good. That all sounds very yummy.

I've had a rubbish snacking day. I really am very addicted to just reaching into cupboards for stuff. It depends on my mood. This is the first time for a while I've found it really hard to keep going. Probably not helped by my 6yo being extra challenging today. I'm also feeling a bit low and useless work-wise due to the strange times we're in. And nervous about how I'm going to manage diet & exercise during half term next week while the kids are around. Maybe it's just my period on the way.

Sorry to subject you all to a downer. I've been so positive until now. Hopefully I'll have a good sleep and feel better in the morning.

Morning,

I had a good day yesterday, just a few little unplanned snacks in the evening but ended at 1500 so not going to worry too much!

2lb of last weeks 'gain' have disappeared this morning so 10st 0.25. Would like to be back at 9st12 which is where I was maintaining.

Today is a bit random but planning

B weetabix, coffee
L overnight oats with protein powder & berries (needed to take lunch to work & fridge is bare!)
D left over chicken & veggies
S protein yogurt

Have a good day all. May the willpower be with you!

Had a better day yesterday, 9st1.25 this morning. My hungriest bit of the day seems to be late afternoon around 5pm, so think I probably need to keep some calories back for then. Dad going today, feeling a bit funny about it and emotional. DS no well. TBH feel as if I'm coming down with something, feel totally drained