LOSE IT! December 2020

[TheRealHousewife]

Hello & Welcome

Roughly 4 weeks to Christmas 🎄. We all know it’s been a strange unsettling year. Unprecedented. Nonetheless we all deserve to feel the best we can, be the best we can and strive to be as fit and healthy as possible. Not only will you look great in your finery, you’ll be (to a degree) improving your immune system and your ability to fight infection should you get one. In addition, if we eat right, get outside, move more your mental health will heap the rewards. Better mental health = better choices. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

Me personally? In the main it’s been a way of life for nearly 3 years and I’ve lost over 40lbs. I had a bit of blip at the start of C19. After all my hard work I just started eating with impunity. Before I knew it I was10lbs up in a few short weeks! I needed to get back on it and COVID proof myself 😬 I calorie count, log via MFP app, Intermittent fast, eat-low carb Mediterranean style aka Fast800 Plan and try to stay well hydrated. In October/November I didn’t really lose but did maintain. I’m hoping to see a loss this month which would see me firmly in the healthy BMI bracket.

There are so many enjoyable lifestyle options out there without the need to resort to extreme measures. Whatever way you choose, it needs to be enjoyable & sustainable for the long term. This is a long term commitment rather than a quick fix. I also rarely drink alcohol and keep sugar to a minimum. I exercise by doing walking vids & strength sessions with lite weighs.

As no one size fits all members need to follow their own way of eating. Nonetheless this thread aims to offer guidance, support and a bit of hand holding.

There is no shaming, competition or harsh words to be found on this thread. We are in this together.

Useful Links

How to lose weight

The Fast Diet

Mediterranean Diet

MFP

Intermittent Fasting

Mindful Eating

Drink Water

Meal Planning

Mental Health

Jump right in! If you’re not too shy, post a bit about yourself 😊. How do you plan to do it? What do you want to achieve? What excites you about your future self? Together, we can create a whole new you!

You’ll be glad you got on board this time next month 😬

Happy Friday!

I had an ok day today. I swam and was clearly a bit faster as managed 24 lengths rather than 20!
B: mushroom omelette
L: tuna salad
D: teriyaki jackfruit with cauli rice and veg

I’m tired but satisfied at the end of the day. Not working this weekend so will try and strike the right balance between productivity and self care with 2 days off.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

Weighed in at 185lb this morning so that's my 20% body weight lost target met, and total of 48lb down so far.

We're having a party food dinner tonight comprising of a random mix of Tesco party foods including duck waffles, buffalo onion wings, sweetcorn fritters, hickory smoked tater tots and an oriental platter.

Should be an interesting selection of random things 🤣

Think I'm going to hit the gym this evening after letting that settle once DD is in bed, have a feeling I'll need to work off a few calories!

I do appreciate and need my two days off from running at the weekend but I am looking forward to running again on Monday. My goal is to have lost two stone by Christmas from May. Just 3-4lbs to go.

Enjoy your dinner, @FatGirlShrinking. I did a buffet at lunch so different bits. It is always a nice meal.

Today has been a day of much snacking, gone over my calories a bit so going to need to rein myself in again tomorrow.

Gained 1lb over weekend but not overly concerned by that- think it’s probably going part of the natural fluctuations that you don’t normally don’t notice if you’re not weighing yourself twice a week (!).
Definitely felt quite liberated by not sabotaging myself.

Good mental mindset @HolaVida I weighed up this morning too but I know it's just because I had salty foods over the weekend, I ate my total calorie allowance over the weekend but not over it so while I may not have reduced enough to lose I know any gain is just a blip.

Went splash about swimming with DD yesterday and I'm going proper swimming tonight by myself so will be aiming to match or beat last weeks 34 lengths. Only get 30-40 minutes max in the pool these days due to session booking.

Trying to remember where I put my waterproof MP3 player when I last used it a year ago, if I find it then I need to charge it and check it works but I do love having my music on and blocking out everyone else while I just swim back and forth.

Hi all

Lovely to read how positive everyone is.

I had a good run this morning and did just over 7km. I'm up on last Wednesday but lost some of what went on at the weekend so still have a chance of being the same this Wednesday as last if not a loss. I'll try hard. I'm finding fasting easy most of the time but I'm not calorie counting. It just doesn't work for me. If I do get miffed about going up slightly I remind myself I've lost loads, I'm 10 stone something for the first time in years and I can run!

Sunshine I need help! Up again despite good exercise effort although not sweat dripping like when I was really really in the zone.
It’s nibbly food choices, treats of all sorts I justify due to my exercise.
147 this am. A clear 7 lb gain over 2 months.
It STOPS HERE! Short term goal 145.9.

Well found the MP3 player but the charger is in the wind, so ordered a replacement off of Amazon which will hopefully arrive tomorrow.

@fallfallfall you got this, can you spend a bit of time this evening batching up some food for the fridge so you don't have to think about it at all and can just grab a meal/snack and eat knowing it will meet your diet requirements.

Things like bagging up some 30g servings of nuts or whatever a serving of pretzels is.

Slicing 30g of cheese into little pots so you can just tip it onto bread and do cheese on toast quickly and know you haven't exceeded your portion.

I like cheesestrings, boiled eggs and 25g bags of beef jerky for snacking, all about 70calories a serving and satisfy the need. Fibre one cake bars are good too.

Had a delicious lunch today off 1 slice of fried bread with mushrooms and fried egg. Only used 1tsp of veg oil to do the lot and a good non stick pan, but it felt very rich and satisfyingly like a fry up.

thanks @FatGirlShrinking, i think checking in on the forum will be a good start and remind me to stay away from treats.

@fallfallfall. Think about all you have achieved. You have had a fall and then surgery. You didn't sit and eat cake all day. You were sensible and forward thinking. If it makes you feel better I am up on last Wednesday but I ran today and I'm 0.8lb off and hopefully more will come off by Wednesday. Have a think about your treats. Are they worth this fed up-ness? If you want treats, and who doesn't, then make sure it is worth it and maybe have less. I just opened a bag of aero snowballs and they were disappointing and I probably ate two more than I really wanted and enjoyed and now they have gone away in the cupboard. They are not worth an increase.

@FatGirlShrinking suggestions are all brilliant and would work for many of us.

Hand in there @fallfallfall and you will get there.

Happy Monday! All this positivity and acceptance that sometimes things go great sometimes less great but it’s all ok in the end is really reassuring. I had a little gain tail end of last week probably because I’d lost very quickly quite dramatically by being really strict initially but for more long term allowing more things like pulses and grains to allow a more plant based diet so of course there’d be a little stall with that. Still be no snacking, healthy meals and lots of water so it’ll come off.

@FatGirlShrinking congrats on 20% that’s amazing! And really inspiring!

I’m thinking of doing Veganuary, anyone else?

Back from the pool, not significantly better but managed an additional 2 lengths before running out of time so pleased with that.

Thank you @MawkishHawk!

Just had a look in the Xmas cupboard to decide if I could face doing some wrapping and swiftly shut the door again, that's a job for another day I think 😂

B. Oatmeal with stewed fruit “compote”
L. Yellow split pea soup with a half piece of bread (homemade spelt) with hummus
S. Taco seasoned beef rice bowl; shredded lettuce, rice, beef, green beans, sweet corn, fresh salsa, sour cream, avocado and lime drizzled.
Now the rice bowl is all small bits layered. 3-4 tbsp of each (sour cream and avocado much less).

All sounds v healthy!

26 lengths this morning. Was slightly frustrating as there wa a r e a l l y slow person but just concentrated on form and what my muscles were doing and thankfully had a bit more time this morning anyway.

Scales still not shifted tho. Plateaus suck!

@MawkishHawk do have the macho men swimmers at your pool?

Last night, there were 6 women, doing nice neat laps, split across the 2 halves of the pool.

Then 2 swaggering men appeared and started splashing at super speed in lengths, passing anyone they thought was in the way with a huge splash. All the women slid over to the same half of the pool and continued their nice neat laps while these 2 guys splashed, shouted and then lounged admiring their manly chests at the end of the pool.

Seems like whenever I go there is a different set of men acting the same way. Is it built into their genes?

Too much testosterone

Can I ask those if you who are swimming do you feel safe COVID wuss? Swimming was the only exercise I ever really enjoyed but we are in tier 3 and I’m not sure how I feel about swimming at the moment.

@Onthebrink67 I'm in Leicester so we've been in every kind of lockdown going and now Tier 3 😂

The council leisure centre is doing a very thorough job, if anything I'd argue a bit too thorough.

Every session needs to be booked and you book a 1 hour slot.
You enter the changing rooms at exactly the start of your slot, not a minute before.
You have to go with swimsuit under clothes so you are in and out of the changing room in a flash
Pool is limited to 8 people per session so loads of room in a standard 25m pool
Afterwards the showers are all closed off, just a couple of the public shared wall ones left for a very quick rinse off, no soap or shampoo or undressing allowed, and then you have to be out of the changing room before your hour ends.

There is no cross over between sessions and you're never within a metre of anyone.

I personally think the cubicle showers should be open as don't see any risk in being able to shampoo my hair and it's considered safe in private gyms, but I think it's more about limiting time in the changing room.

Thanks @FatGirlShrinking that’s really reassuring. I’ll try and book a couple of slots while I’m off over Christmas and see how I go.

Ours are a little different but feel safe. You book online and have a 10min arrival slot. Arrive with cossie under your clothes and go directly poolside (take shoes off), then undress at the poolside and leave belongings and shoes along the side of the pool. It’s one way system to walk around the pool. Hop in and do your swim, then when it’s time to leave, walk one way around the pool again, pick up your stuff and into the changing rooms. Individual cubicles for changing and showers. I think it’s way safer than the supermarket for example.

i miss my nearest pool. i've not check out the two others (maybe only one other in town) the reno's should be done by january but our restrictions might not include swimming?? not sure.
in the mean time, i repeated the hike. more endurance than cardio but a change non the less.

Weekly weigh in

Start of this weight loss journey was 233lb, BMI 35.4

25/11/2020 - 192lb, BMI 29.2
02/12/2020 - 190lb, BMI 28.9
09/12/2020 - 187lb, BMI 28.4
16/12/2020 - 185lb, BMI 28.1

Loss this week - 2 lb
Loss this month - 7 lb
Total loss since starting - 48 lb

Wow @FatGirlShrinking, 🥳🥳🥳

I’m doing a relaxed 5:2 at the moment (with 16:8 on the non- fast days). Managed Monday but yesterday had planned a 500kcal day but didn’t manage it. Going to try today, but not quite feeling in the ‘zone’ this week. Tired etc.