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

Hiya. I was 13,12 before losing my mind last month. Weighed again this morning and 14,8.5 (rather than 14,11 yesterday) so must have been bloated as hell but obviously that's still a significant gain. FFS.

B sausage omelette
L quinoa, tomato, courgette salad
D homemade chicken slice and veg.

Recipes:
Quinoa 30g, dry weight, 100g cherry tomatoes, lime juice, half a grated courgette, mint/coriander, lettuce, cumin seeds or powder to taste.

Roast butternut squash. Fry off spring onion, ginger, garlic, carrot ribbons and sliced pepper. Cook rice noodles. Tbsp peanut butter, soy sauce and water in with veg, add roasted squash, toss through cooked noodles. (The recipe had loads of stuff like who peanuts, tamarind paste, sugar etc but I only have 1200 cals a day so can't add that).

It went on quick so will hopefully come off quick - seems to be the case ime.

I guess I'm lucky that my losing my mind last month only saw me plateauing rather than gaining. As I recall you're much more disciplined at all this when you're on the ball so no doubt you'll overtake me again soon Think we were level/you slightly ahead of me (not that it's a race) before you went off and I've just stayed put and the way things are going might still be stayed put even as you pass below me again.

Well done for catching yourself and getting back on it!

1200 is very low for your weight - don't want to stick my nose in where it's not wanted but would it be more sustainable if you didn't have such a low limit? We have 9st'ers on here aiming at 1200 and you're calorie needs will be way higher than theirs, just as mine are, because of size.

The other bonus of being bigger is that my friend and I were on treadmills yesterday and she ran solidly for over 45 minutes whilst I just did very uphill walking at pace, then slowed down completely and went to flat to get my heart rate down, then increased speed to jog for all of about 2 minutes which is all I could do and then returned to a good pace of walking very uphill. At the end of it I'd burned more calories than her. At this stage of the game we use a lot more calories than lighter people generally and when exercising which is a good thing.

To lose multiple stones is going to take a long time and I just wonder if massive calorie restriction is sustainable for long term? Remembering some JS videos that made sense about that. Sorry for interfering.

I'm 8st7.5 and cals are 1454 nonactive days and 1646 active but I'm on a slow loss path.

63.9kg this morning whoop whoop! Sorry, just thought I'd share.

Hats off to anyone who can manage on 1200 cal per day. The least I've managed was 1400. I was so hungry I couldn't sleep and had to get up and have an oatcake and re-brush my teeth. I'm aiming for 1600 but don't often manage it. I know I'm lucky that I can lose weight on that. But it's still challenging nonetheless.

I don't think it's luck - it's maths really isn't it? My bmr (sit on my arse and do nothing) is just under 1600 cals. Clearly (apart from when I was really ill) I don't often sit on my arse and do nothing and a really lazy day not leaving the house is more like 1800 calories of expenditure. Normal day of work and buzzing about putting washing on, cooking dinner etc is at least 2100 calorie expenditure. Deliberately choosing to get up and move more, go to the gym etc expands that further.

I don't count calories but yesterday I worked and was busy then came home and chilled briefly before going to the gym and spending over an hour in cardio and occasional 'peak' zone. That took me up to just over 2500calories burned in that day. If I ate 1200 calories I'd have less calories than my body needs even just lying in bed and a deficit of 1300 calories. I could do that now and then (and i do more than that now and then because I utilise fasting) but sustainably, doing that for months and months, I'd expect to be starving, ill, cold, miserable and likely suffering from brain fog.

If/when I get to even 10st I'll need to be considerably more careful with food (unless I've built a hell of a lot of muscle) because my considerably lighter body will take less energy to operate and move about and my gym time will burn a lot less calories. For me it seems easier to gradually reduce how much I am eating as my weight and energy expenditure reduces.

I dread to think how little calories I'd burn at 8st something.

It usually worries me when people say they're constantly eating a really low calorie amount but generally it turns out they're eg. 5.2 or 8st7 and it makes sense.

I don't know - breaking my golden rule of not 'opinionating' on here but I want us to be kind and gentle and realistic with ourselves.

Congratulations on your progress monochrome!

Have all your opinions @TheHoneyBadger, we can handle 'em!

My BMR is pitiful last I recall.

Yeah I know it's really low. I have a couple of medical conditions that mean my metabolism is soooooo sluggish. It's very frustrating. 1200 is low, but on 1500 I actively gain. Very frustrating and very unfair

marmite.

Think I'm particularly opinionated today because of work issues. Will reign it in!

Do you mind saying which Honey? Are they being treated? I have underactive thyroid which means slow but that has to be medicated to address that. Trying to think what could cause low metabolism but not be treated.

JS suggests 2-4week low cal followed by 2-4 maintenance... I think if you're feeling you're hungry and restricting and it's not a nice existence it's not sustainable or healthy at all really. However if you can get in plenty of good stuff and enjoy really nice meals it feels good all over if that makes sense. That's me after making na effort to try that sticky rice recipe and it was a flop really. Oh well.

I have hypothyroidism (medicated) too, overdue a blood test but waves in general direction of covid and connective tissue disease which is lupus like so my immune system is hyperactive and lots of things are dysfunctional depending on what my immune system is attacking at the time - I daresay it causes my hypothyroidism and maybe makes my levels more irregular. I take drugs for this too but it's a bit shooting in the dark. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm also overdue my rheum consultant appointment.

When I first started losing weight I was on 1800 cals, but I was 19 stone.

Hi troops! Been away from Mumsnet for a bit and just caught up on the thread. Love hearing how everyone is getting on.

I have been mega snacky lately. The change in season has been tougher than I thought on my diet - just wanting to eat! We've been run down and work stressful so I guess that doesn't help.

Anyway, I've been mostly sensible until dinner, then eating ice cream etc in the evenings or sharing a huge family bag of crisps with DH. Old habits! But, where my days have been controlled I seem to have gotten away with it 😬 maintaining within 2lb of my lowest weight. I think if I'm honest, maintaining this weight is a good place for me. I ideally wanted to lose a couple more to get to 9st10 but the deficit cals are too hard for me right now.

I had a lovely non-scale victory this week. Bought new jeans, and a skirt in a size 10 and they fit perfectly

Some great meal ideas listed on here lately!

That's great new Hangoverstruggles!

That is tough going honeysuckle. Would you consider talking to a dietitian who would probably know the best route?

Nice one Hangover, look at you just living your life away from the diet thread, maintaining and being a size 10 all over the place! That's brilliant.

Bless you. I'm overdue blood tests too and suspect my thyroid levels are becoming more erratic in relationship to my cycle becoming a bit more erratic too. Last time I spoke to a doctor he confirmed it needs more monitoring at my age because hormone changes mess with it but it's easier said than done at the minute isn't it?

I'm unconfirmed re: autoimmune condition but features of ulcerative colitis since problems developed post having half my colon removed. Finally did manage to get a colonoscopy in March but results were somewhat inconclusive and can't get an appointment with a gastroenterologist for love nor money since then.

Slightly annoyed that I piled on several stone after these problems developed as most people lose tons of weight after a hemicolectomy and with colitis symptoms My weight gain mostly came after my surgery last year - I had a couple of weeks in hospital after emergency surgery and it took a long time to really get up and on the move confidently again. Also for quite a while my bowel could only really cope with stodgy heavy carbs and the like and veggies for example gave me awful symptoms so had to get that all under control before I could improve my diet or my activity.

Sorry that's long and boring. I do find myself needing to justify how i put so much weight on because there's such a stigma of oh you must be lazy and eating all the pies and there's this weird societal thing where getting fat is somehow a massive failure on the part of women as if staying slim and sexy is our ultimate gain for middle age.

Be gentle with yourself and remember you've done amazingly to get that far down from 19stone.

cross posted or just missed your post hangover - that all sounds great - really pleased for you.

Honeybadger your thoughts and expertise are more than welcome! And everyone else too.

Interesting to hear about your health conditions Honeybadger and Honeysucklejasmine. These things are complicated.

Totally agree that fat-shaming is a scourge on society. Obesity is a public health issue, not an issue for shaming individuals.

Congrats on the new clothes Hangover! One of the main things keeping me going is looking at the boxes of clothes in the top of my wardrobe that I want to wear again.

I've gone well over calorie budget today and not exercised. My 3yo made chocolate brownies and they were really good. I'll be ok, though, because right now I'm confident that a day off the wagon every so often is probably a good thing as long as I get back to business the following day.

@TheHoneyBadger and @HoneysuckIejasmine it must be incredibly frustrating to have health conditions that slow the metabolism. You are both doing so well. I hope gp services get back to normal soon...

@IDontMindMarmite was feeling guilty for craving and crack so often lately but the new clothes gave me a boost! Much more satisfying than a number on the scales 😊

The calorie thing is really difficult, tbh I'm not counting at the moment. However, I know I've been absolutely starving if I've eaten 1200 or even 1400. I dont know how people manage that for longer than a short period of time. I've never worked out my TDR. Hangover, well done on the new clothes, clothes really give you a boost. 9st0.75 this morning, I am doing so so at the moment

It's not too bad. I try to keep busy so I don't snack. I could always eat more obviously but I'm not actively hungry on 1200. Protein is key.

B chicken omelette
L tomato and black bean salad
D roast squash and garlic lentils (other half of squash from other day)
S rocky road

Serious snackcident last night 😬 DH and I devoured a wedge of Brie with crackers and chutney oops. Bloody lovely though!

63.7 today. Astounding considering the day I had yesterday. It makes up for all the times when I've stuck really well to calorie budget and not lost anything for a week. It just shows that the numbers depend much more on averages over a long period than daily fluctuations. Common sense really but still interesting to see it in action.

I'm impressed with everyone who shares their menus for the day. I actually don't think I could do that. It wouldn't fit into one line per meal, certainly. Checking my calorie counting app, there are usually about 20 different items per day. Maybe I'm more self-conscious about my eating habits than I thought.

I don't regularly share mine. I think Monday was a shite nutrition day because I got distracted and didn't eat then was hungry and knackered and had a can of baked beans and sausages It just feels a little sad to share something like that when people are describing wonderful home crafted menus everyday. I too am very impressed.

It's 9 o clock and I've just realised I haven't eaten but have had a gin and tonic. I will either not eat or end up grabbing something less than ideal. I did make a wonderfully healthy stew yesterday with tons of different veg though. There is a pattern there as Monday I worked and today I worked whereas yesterday I was working at home and cooked. Not at work tomorrow so will make sure it's a good nutrition day.

I think it's ok for longer cycles than a day - eg 5 fruit and veg a day - I might have 10 one day and none the next.

Hello everyone!
I'm trying to visit a few people before starting the new job, ergo two restaurants in two days.
There has been cake.
Also the little one hasn't had a great day refusing to nap (first time ever!)
Sticking to the meal plan for the rest of the week.
Also I'm going to have to take lunch with me at work so have to start thinking what can I take there too. I'm thinking salads but not sure with this weather, might have to look at flasks