Looking for weight loss buddies

[Eliards2012]

Hello,

I have a lot of weight to lose (7st 5lbs in total) .. I previously lost this weight before on the Cambridge diet /1:1 diet and maintained it for 5years but after having a 3rd baby, lockdowns and losing 5 family members in a very short space of time I have unfortunately ended up back at square one. I have been feeling so low and embarrassed about my size and I know it’s time to take control. So I started back on plan yesterday and plan to stay 100% until Christmas Eve, when I will come off for a week and then straight back on plan on the 2nd January until the middle of February when we are going to Florida. I would love to lose 4 stones before we go and would love to buddy up with some people who want to lose weight and motivate each other xx

Please can I join? I have about 3 stone to lose I've gained weight since having kids and I gained more in lock down. I'm recovering from covid at the moment, trying to eat sensibly, but i'm so unfit.... There is no way I could do couch to 5K... I can hardly manage a walk of there's a slight incline...
one of my issues is that I leave the house at 7am and get home around 7pm. I work in a school as the registrar and marketing manager working flat out all day.

How can I get fit, lose weight and improve my mental health????

@FireflyGirl

I plan to weigh in on a Sunday, as I go swimming at the gym with DS. I like their scales better than my ones at home

Today I have had:
B: Cherry Bakewell overnight oats, apple
L: leek and potato soup with petit pain, satsuma
D: spag bol, garlic bread, grapes
S: salted crisps, 4 after eight mints, 2 oat cakes

I found today quite difficult - I've gotten in the habit of picking at biscuits during the day when I'm peckish, so my body was craving them. Feel quite proud I managed to just have a couple of oatcakes and some crisps instead. Logging my food definitely helps me think about what I am putting in my mouth!

I input my details into MFP, and it's given me a target of 1300 cals to lose a pound a week.

I've just hit my step target for the day, due mostly to marching DD to sleep earlier, which adds 500 cals. I ignored these when I lost weight with MFP before, but I think 1300 cals is too low for me, especially as I'm breastfeeding and don't want my milk supply to drop.

Total cals for today 1595, I'm happy with that

Have you tried taking chromium tablets? They help balance your blood sugars and therefore cravings for sweet things. I found them really helpful. I also take a small pot with 6 almonds, about 8 grapes and some blueberries to work with me fir afternoon nibbles!

@whattodo2019 hello and welcome! I think you need to try exercising little and often and increasing what you are doing each time even if it’s just a minute each time. it’s hard when you are working all day - could you try to go out for a small walk on your break? Or swimming in the evenings or at weekends? Or even just a 10 mins YouTube walk in your home a few times per week?

Sorry it’s late again but here’s my day 4 summary -

• 2x Irish cream bites
• 1x bakewell bar
• chicken curry (step 2 meal)

Another pound lost this morning and just had my coffee with full fat cream! 4.5 pounds down in 3 days! Constantly having to wee though so think I'm just draining my water out! I look much better already.

@Eliards2012 looking good! When is your official weigh in day?

Welcome @whattodo2019. Do you get a couple of breaks during those hours, or is that including a long commute? I used to work similar hours before DS, so I used to do an exercise class on a Saturday and go for a swim on a Sunday. If you're not too tired when you get home, you could do a home workout. YouTube has a lot of HIIT workouts, which are only around 20 minutes long.

I'll have a look at chromium supplements, thank you. Need to be sure they're safe while breastfeeding. I'm currently taking pregnacare breastfeeding vitamins, an iron supplement and a B12 supplement, so I shouldn't be deficient

@FireflyGirl - Saturday is my official weigh in day.

@Rolo104 - Im the same with weeing - it’s constant! Are you drinking so much water per day? Your weight loss is incredible so far! Well done ☺️

Not drinking that much more but keto makes you lose your water bloating so I think I'm literally weeing my weight away! I'm sure it'll stop eventually!

I'm drinking 2 litres of water every day. That's not much different to what I usually do though.
Day 3 today and I've lost 2lb already. Probably water weight but I'll take it

I usually drink loads, but since having DD, I either forget or just don't get chance!

How's everyone's day been today?

I've been out most of the day, which meant staying away from the snacks was easier, but I wandered into Waitrose (as you do ) and they had my favourite German biscuits, which I haven't had for years! And they're dairy free!! Bought two packs, forbade DH from even looking at them, and am rationing them out 🤣

B: English muffin with butter, and an apple
L: Chicken salad with honey and mustard dressing, satsuma
D: vegetable stir fry, grapes, small dairy free chocolate bar
S: 3 mint thins, 4 zimtsterne

You can probably see from my diaries that I eat quite a bit of sweet stuff. This is what I am trying to gradually cut out. I don't usually have as much as I have today, but as my lunch and dinner were mostly veggies I came in well under my calorie count and that's what I used them on. I need to make better decisions about 'spare' calories!

Evening everyone,

I’m aiming to drink between 3-4 litres of water per day, I find it helps with the hunger/boredom of not eating.

@FireflyGirl I think your diaries look great with plenty of fruit and veg. When your calorie counting things like stir fry’s / lots of veggies/ salads are a great option as you can fill up for less.

I’ve had a good day but super busy and haven’t stopped, my diary for today ..

• 3x Cambridge products (bites)
• Cambridge curry with cauliflower rice - (seeing as I’ve been craving cauliflower since @Rolo104 mentioned her shepherds pie )
• 4litres of water

I can tell I’m in ketosis now as I’ve got a funny taste in my mouth despite brushing numerous times and I’ve got no hunger and feel pretty buzzy. Just hope it doesn’t affect my sleep as I don’t sleep well at the best of times and when I was in ketosis before I couldn’t sleep more than 1-2 hours per night, which was crazy.

Hope you all have a good day tomorrow!

Hi, can I join in? I'm like you, OP: I had lost 5 stone and was in sight of my goal (another half stone or so), but then started creeping up (mostly due to holidays) gaining a stone over 4-5 years, but then lockdown and an accident saw me add those other 4 stone all back in the last 18 months.

I really need to get control of things - definitely stop going up and get back down to where I was before.

@HerRoyalWitchyness - I also have various disabilities: ME and dysautonomia (both diagnosed) plus likely something connective-tissue related (lots of people kept suggesting I explore EDS, but seeing a photo of my grandfather and reading some more about it, I suspect Marfan's syndrome - only figured out start of pandemic, though, and I totally don't have the spoons to talk to doctors about it). I really struggle as my weight makes my dysautonomia way worse (I've noticed lifting something heavy/wearing a backpack has a quite significant effect - even more so when the weight is part of me and I'm carrying it all the time!), and the size I am now I basically can't exercise. I need to loose at least 2 stone before I can.

I had used MFP before, and was doing something close to daily intermittent fasting: not quite 18:6, more like 16:8. This worked before, so I think it should work again. Issue is that I eat breakfast and lunch (instead of lunch and dinner like so many people do), which is socially 'odd' - dinner actually usually makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach anyway, and I find if I eat in the evening I have a lot of trouble stopping: I have no "full" signal then, and I tend to eat more in attempt to make my stomach feel better, but only get worse and eat more, and so on... So I have to turn on the willpower and just have my tea and broth in the evening (and sometimes 2 squares of dark chocolate, but I think I'll leave that until I've gotten the pattern going again).

@murmuration - welcome! It’s so frustrating when you manage to lose the weight and maintain it for so long for then it all to be back on in the blink of eye. I find it so demotivating to be back at the start again and know I’ve got a long way to go but at least I’ve learnt never to let this happen again and how important maintenance is. When I’m dieting I weigh all the time, yet when I’m not I never step on the scales and moving forwards I’m going to get into a regular habit of weighing regardless so hopefully I get the wake up call soon rather than later. I’m trying to do the fasting along side Cambridge as it makes it easier for me to drink my water at the beginning of the day and then have my products later. I don’t think it matters when you arrange your fasting and having breakfast and lunch seems fine to me - you know your body best and if it worked before that way then that’s the way to do it. Some people think I’m crazy having all my products at night but I know that’s when I’m starving and it works for me that’s how I lost 7 stone so stick to what works for you!

I hope everyone has had a good day. Here is my daily diary

• 2 packets of bites
• 1 bakewell bar
• small bowl of veg
• 4.5litres of water

Thanks, Eliards! Similar for me. I didn't notice the creep until my clothes got a bit tight, but I figured it was just a little bit and I could get rid of it (sometime) - but then covid hit and now I have a whole lovely wardrobe I got for my new size that I can't fit in :( I want to be able to wear that stuff! It was recent enough I remember how nice it was to feel good in my body, and I really want that back.

I managed okay yesterday - my goal is 1200 calories and I went only a bit over with breakfast and lunch, and no snacks. Today I've just had a snack as I won't get lunch until 2pm, but I already put the snack and my planned lunch's main course into MFP and I've got 200 calories left for some fruit and perhaps a bit of chocolate with lunch. I checked with MFP first too see if I could have a snack. That's the type of thing I need to get back into the habit of doing...

(Oh, by the way, I should say I have 85% dark chocolate every day as my nurse showed me an article that showed 40g of 85% dark chocolate per day has positive impacts on ME - happy to take medical advice to eat chocolate :) if people would rather I not mention it I can not talk about it - know it might be hard to see someone having chocolate all the time!)

@murmuration - I am exactly the same under my bed is full of lovely clothes that I just can’t get into. this time I’m going to get rid of everything that is too big as I lose weight! As having bigger sizes almost enabled me to gain weight and just move easily into them. I’m hoping by doing this if I gain weight I’ll have nothing to wear and it’ll become a problem so again trying to encourage that wake up call earlier!

Well if it’s medical advice - you should really follow that .

How did you get on yesterday? I didn’t get a chance to update as I took my son to show last night and ended up not getting home till super late. It was a struggle there as usually during the break it’s the done thing to get some food and I was super hungry, but I took a product with me and just bought myself a Diet Coke which took the edge of it and I got through it.

My diary for yesterday -

• chicken curry with cauli rice
• 2x bites
• 1x bakewell bar

And official weigh in for week 1 and I’m 10lbs down so happy and feeling so motivated to carry on!!

@Eliards2012 massive well done!

Awesome Eliards! That’s impressive work.

Part of my push to do something was I realised I needed to either go up into the attic and get down the clothes that fit this size, or get small enough to fit in the ones in my closet! Over lockdown (the second one) I bought some cheep joggers and tops to wear about the house, so put off the issue for a bit, but come Jan I will be needing to go into work regularly (still working mostly from home) and I want to wear more professional looking clothes. Hopefully I can loose enough by then to fit into the larger of my closet clothes.

Did okay Friday - had room left for more than I thought so had bit more with lunch, but then stopped for the day.

Theoretically I should be able to report on today as well as I shouldn’t eat any more :) I realised my regular weekend breakfasts have been quite large - I would have had nearly all my calories with it! So had a half serving. I have some habits to get rid of: I really wanted to snack while cooking the family lunch and gave in a little, but only to the tune of a few grapes, so not so bad. It’s clear I’ve picked up some poor habits. Anyway, lunch was fine but I should have had smaller servings: would have left room for more variety. But we made quesadillas plus homemade queso, and it tastes best fresh. But I think I had more than I should. Should have had less of that and made some refried beans or rice also. But I’ve just started and it’s a learning experience!

Hopefully I’ll report I ate no more today :)

@Eliards2012

And official weigh in for week 1 and I’m 10lbs down so happy and feeling so motivated to carry on!!

well done @Eliards2012!! I've not started fast 800 yet as my shakes only arrived last week and then ive had a cold and not felt great! so hopefully starting Wednesday this week! As still feeling a bit ropey today as well!

I want to say one thing, for weight loss need more patience.
I follow some of the simple tricks in my life for weight loss.

1. Drinking plenty of water
2. Following natural food diet
3. Avoid junk food items
4. Doing running exercise( 3 - 4 miles a day) regularly

This trick is help me to reduce body weight and also lose some body weight.

hey how is everyone doing and @Eliards2012? I've had a bit of a cold and sore throat and have officially started day 1 as of today! Last week we had a break that we had booked at a gastro hotel for 3 nights so I postponed starting until we were back. Remarkably for day 1 don't feel too bad. I am having 2 shakes for brekkie and lunch and then a 400kcal dinner - tonight its a small piece of baked salmon, with cauliflower and green beans. I need to up the water as should really be having between 2 to 3 litres and only on about a 1l so far

Also didn't manage to weigh myself this morning but will do from tomorrow and then again on Monday morning - no exercise this week but will start going to the gym from next week as well.

I'd like to lose at least 4 kg by Christmas when I'll have a few days off before I start again!

Hope everyone else is doing well?

@Buckydoesafart hope day 1 has gone well! It’s a challenge drinking water when it’s cold maybe try tea or coffee to increase your water intake.

I am doing well - i was sticking to Cambridge religiously but then did some research and found the carbs are really high in the products now they have been reformulated and therefore would prevent ketosis and I think were making me feel rough as I would be bordering ketosis and feeling the side effects instead of the benefits so I decided to start Fast800 which I’m getting on well with. So in 3 weeks since I started, 10 days on Cambridge a few days off plan and then I started fast 800 last Tuesday and I’m 15lbs down which I’m really pleased with. I think fast 800 will suit me better as although there’s more prep and meal replacements are easier I feel that learning to lose weight whilst actually eating will have loads of benefits in the long run!

That’s really good to hear - that’s why I’ve gone with fast 800 as well as it’s more manageable knowing you are having an almost normal dinner in the evening! Your results are fantastic @Eliards2012! That must be so motivating! Unfortunately I have 2 meals out this week so will have to be very careful when I’m out to ensure I don’t go over too much! Hopefully I’ll get a decent result - although I always tend to do better week 2 than 1 for some reason!

Hi. I have been doing what I am calling 'Weight Watchers Light' since the beginning of August. Basically, I more or less follow WW Mon - Fri and then relax a bit at weekends. So far I have lost just over 2st , averaging around 2lb per week. I still have a long way to go - probably around 7st more, so it is important for me to find something that works and will be sustainable for a longer period of time. I did lose around 5st a number if years ago, but an accident which continues to affect my mobility, as well as arthritis, meant not only was it very difficult to maintain any sort of exercise regime, but being immobile and then lockdown, means I have pretty much put it all back. I need to be able to follow this for a long while!
Hope it's OK to join you here.

I've now lost 7 pounds doing veggie keto for 3 weeks. How is everyone else doing?