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

9st1.75 this morning. Funny day yesterday, ending up eating loads of crisps, not really sure why, maybe not a bad thing to recognise that. Need to try and get a bit more on track, but exhausted and not feeling great, will see how I go

9st13.5 this morning. Pleased I've dropped back into the nines. 9.11 is my low, 9st10 always my seemingly unachievable goal 

Will keep on track this week 🤞

@Heygirlheyboy have you shared your nutty rice recipe before? I'd like it if not please, sounds delish.

Have a great day everyone

@Monochrome4 oh my goodness thank you for your advice! I'll try each one. I did tell DH yesterday that my right arm hurt from hyper extending so that points to no.3 straight away. But I also noticed that my actual sit bones hurt, not just the soft tissue in front so it might not be just that. We'll see. Fingers crossed we can improve it.

Weight back up. Not surprised. Couldn't stop eating last night. Can't bring myself to care at the minute. Work has taken centre stage and all the seats in the audience

I have hangover, here it is again ot.rte.ie/recipes/nutty-fried-rice-with-satay-sauce/ lovely combination of tastes imo.

Hang in there Honeybadger, you know that's not real weight gain but the weight of the extra food. The end of the week is in sight, this has been a tough and tiring half term.

OMG now Sainsbury's are letting me down. Only in so far as they've run out of Reese's mini peanut butter cups advent calendar but still. I'm feeling personally attacked by shopping delivery services now.

@Monochrome4 DH just lowered the saddle half an inch as my heel couldn't reach the pedal at full extension. Maybe that will help too.

TheHoneyBadger Please don't panic! Nearly half term. You're doing really well.

Idon'tmindmarmite I hope that helps! It makes me sad thinking of people uncomfortable on bikes.

HeyGirlHeyBoy thanks for the recipe. That looks like a really useful website - will bookmark.

64.5 again today, despite doing everything right yesterday, up from 64.1 all las week. The trend line is going upwards now, but it's exactly the same shape as it was 4 and 8 weeks ago so it's definitely period-related. I just need to keep doing the right things and trust that the overall downward trend will continue. I'm still nearly 4kg lighter than I was mid-August when I started, and at the weekend I had to buy a new belt (size: small!)

Keep going @TheHoneyBadger. I suggest (not that you asked) going back to basic principles of nourishing your body, and don't think about 'dieting' as such. Hearty soups, stews, nuts, seeds, oats, full fat yogurt.

I'm off work today and have made this for lunch. Can't wait, smells sooo good!

@Heygirlheyboy thanks for the recipe. Def trying it!

I had some old peanut butter that I used up for bird food this morning, mixed with lots of different seeds that had been hanging around for too long. It was delicious

WOW @Hangoverstruggles, that soup looks epic. I will definitely try that. I am loving my soup lunches at the minute. Such variety, so filling, great volume and so few calories, what's not to love!

@Hangoverstruggles Which book is that? It looks familiar and I'm wondering whether I have it somewhere.

@Monochrome4 it's from Hairy Bikers Go Veggie

There are a few lovely recipes in the book - also love their giant cous cous salad!

Hello, I've never posted in here before, but I've been watching my diet for about nine months and lost 67lbs so far.

Recently I also started the Couch to 5k and Strength and Flex programme because my weight loss stalled for about six weeks. Doctor has also referred me to a dietician and given me an activity referral so I can start swimming and get a programme at the gym sorted for me.

I'm currently 14st 10lbs, down from 19st 7lbs. Very close to 5st lost.

My target weight is 9st 7lbs to take me inside my healthy weight BMI.

Food is Slimming World-esque, calories between 1200 and 1600 per day, mostly lower end because I just want to get this weight off.

Just been a bit lonely living by myself and not having anyone to talk about progress or lack of with.

Wow! Congratulations @Kakiweewee! That's absolutely amazing progress. Welcome welcome. How tall are you?

I'm five foot two on a good day.

I've got a lot of health problems and some of them affected my mobility, and instead of fighting that to be healthy, I gave in for a good few years and just gained and gained weight.

I'm trying to change my life and have healthier habits, whilst also dealing with chronic pain. I've been able to make a lot of really positive steps towards being a healthy functional person in the past year.

@kakiweewee that is amazing progress
Today I'm making chilli jam, so lunch will be a Cheddar and chilli jam toastie with some cucumber sticks on the side

@Lalanbaba that sounds absolutely delicious. I'm craving it now!

I'm having lots of veggies, wholemeal pasta and bolognese I made with extra veggies.

@Kakiweewee wow you are doing fantastically well!

Just realised I've been massively underestimating calories in grapes! I know there are a lot of worse things, but I was counting my portion as 64 cals and it's actually more like 180! Oops. Bloody MyFitnessPal with dodgy info.

Hangoverstruggles Thanks. I thought I recognised it. I have that book but haven't done much from it. I'll dig it out again.

Kakiweewee Welcome on board you superstar!

Hangoverstruggles Eek! Maybe I'd better re-check grapes too in that case. When I did the Noom trial they encouraged grapes because they're full of water so reasonably filling for the calories, but actually what they were suggesting was 5 grapes at a time. I find it very hard to stop after 5.

Welcome kaki.

I've come in, taken the dog out then collapsed on the sofa. It has occurred to me that every night after work recently feels like a Friday night as I'm shattered and I'm probably eating and drinking like every night is Friday night.

Just focused on making it to half term now. Maybe I'll have the headspace to get back on track then.

Not sure if I'm going to the gym. Friend hasn't messaged and I'm reluctant to jog her memory

I've just realised the key to stopping snacking. Have a kitten lay fast asleep on you for hours until it's basically dinner time. Can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. If I could think of a way to stop needing the loo so much, that'd be fantastic.

Welcome Kaki, that is an amazing weight loss, you must be so pleased with yourself

@IDontMindMarmite that's good to hear, my kitten is arriving some time next week after her spay operation, so I will encourage her to snuggle me as much as possible so I eat as little as possible.

She's almost an adolescent cat mind you, going by experience of teenagers, she will do the complete opposite.

IDontMindMarmite and Kakiweewee KITTENS! It's a shame there isn't a heart emoji.

My cat loves to sit on me for hours but unfortunately I manage to escape to snack anyway.

I have gone off the rails this afternoon and evening and given up counting calories. A bit annoyed with myself. I will get back to it tomorrow. I've got this far. I will think of all you diet superstars and let the peer pressure inspire me.

Welcome Kaki, that's great! I started at 19,5lb myself, so I know how hard you've worked!

A few days off for me - I've got a UTI. still going for a walk after school run though, I'm keeping that habit. Only 2.5km today as it was raining quite heavily

@HoneysuckIejasmineHoneysuckIejasmine Get well soon! UTIs are horrible.

@Octopus37Octopus37 How is your dad? Settling in ok?

Ok I've now gone through and added everything to the app that I can remember eating. Somehow I feel as though it'll help me get back on track to understand exactly what happened. I went into the kitchen and went into snacking mode in the afternoon, then family dinner was too big (entirely my fault). Between those two things I was 400 calories over budget. I need to have a good think about what happens in my mind when I get into that mode. Tomorrow is a quiet day so I will plan my meals and stick to it. The positive is that it's still probably less than I was having before I started all this.

You are all brilliant for sticking to your calorie budgets. It sounds so easy and it really isn't! Sorry for going over everything in so much detail. It just helps to put it down in writing. Thanks.