2022 has GOT to be the year I get on track and stop yo-yoing! Who's with me

[Dumpydump]

Started 2021 at 15st 1lb! Lost weight, put some on, lost some, put some back on. Weighed myself today and I'm 15st 2 again!!!! Back to square one! In 5"2 and now back up to a size 16. I feel unhealthy and unattractive but really struggle with the impulse to binge eat, especially when I am stressed or tired. Before having children I lost 8 stone, weighed 10 stone and wore a size 10 so I know I can do it. Just need to stay motivated. I am going to restart with my fitness Pal and try and walk 10000 everyday. Really don't want to be writing the same thing this time next year!

Hi Dumpydump.
I think what I need to accept is that I am always going to have blips and times where I fall off the wagon.
I fell off last night, was all about giving up this morning! Managed to talk myself around. I guess we all have blips, that's just life I suppose. I imagine if there's more good days than bad, we're doing OK.
Hi Courante, welcome to the thread. Good luck, and let us know how you get on.
Hi WitchDancer Sorry you stayed the same, but like you said, at least it wasn't a gain! I really like your story there of the roses. How are you doing today?

Today has not been a good day. I'm feeling cruddy again and have had a splitting headache all day. I've eaten my own body weight in absolute rubbish, breaking my Lent too.

Tomorrow is going to be a better day - it couldn't be much worse!

Thank you @WitchDancer - sorry you're feeling less than great today though - hope the rest of the day and tomorrow is much better.

Thank you @73kittycat73. Glad you've talked yourself around! Yes, I think that is life. I'm very guilty of having an all or nothing approach rather than accepting the blips for what they are - normal. That's the main thing I need to work on to stop the my yo-yo dieting habit.

I've definitely got to choose some kind of plan/rules soon (today!) before this natural lull in my appetite leaves and I slip back into my weight gaining habits. I think 'lots of veg' is going to be my starting point for today.

Thank you, I'm feeling much better than yesterday. It's part of my normality I'm afraid, it's just some days are worse than others. It's not often I want a duvet day but yesterday was one of them.

Today has been much better, but then again I haven't had time to eat other than lunch! I've been into the office this afternoon to talk to a member of staff in a good way. I'm bushed now though so DH will be cooking tonight.

Hi Courante, I understand that all or nothing approach! I guess we have to accept weight loss habits as part of life, and life is never smooth! lol Good luck with upping the veg.
Hi WitchDancer, some days we all need a duvet day! I hope the headache has cleared up now? Do you suffer from migraines?
Sorry you missed out on lunch, did your DH cook something nice?

Hi Kitty, vegetable curry with boiled rice. It was well lush thank you. No, not migraines, just a common headache I'm pleased to say.

Today I've fallen off the wagon again with chocolate eggs. Why can't I leave them alone if I know they're in the house?

Yum, curry sounds nice. I can't be trusted with chocolate in the house, so I try and have as little in as possible. I appreciate that's not always easy with a family. Oh yeah, I got my younger brother a dinosaur egg a while ago but had a snackcident and ate it. He has another one now.

Third day testing negative for me but feel more wiped out that I did when I was positive - mentally and physically! I think the dog walk after vacuuming the whole house/doing some basic housework was a bit too much.

I've slowly been trying/thinking about adding things into my life to plug the gap the wine/food did/does. My biggest success so far is starting piano lessons again (after a 35 year break!) - early days but a step in the right direction.

I'm not surprised you're feeling tired after doing that lot Courante! You need to pace yourself.

I'm still in chocolate hunting mode. I know it's there so I'm really struggling to leave it alone. Weigh in day tomorrow is not going to be good. It's a fresh start to the week though so that will be good.

Weighed in - I've maintained this week, which I'm thrilled about.

How's everyone else doing?

Hi Courante
I've slowly been trying/thinking about adding things into my life to plug the gap the wine/food did/does.

Good idea. I've been knitting.

My biggest success so far is starting piano lessons again (after a 35 year break!) - early days but a step in the right direction.

Well done you! Piano lessons sounds great! Do you have a piano at home to practice on?

Good going on maintaining WitchDancer. Have you got a high up place out of sight, that you can't easily reach to put the chocolate on? Or a garage/shed? Somewhere that it makes it difficult to get to.

I'm very chuffed this week, 3lbs off! The exercise must be helping. This is the most I've lost in a week since about week 3. So encouraged I've done my exercises for today already! lol

Actually WitchDancer, I'm doing a 12 week weight loss course on the NHS and have just done a module on making and breaking habits, that might be useful to you? The habit they chose was sitting down at night after a long day with a cuppa and a packet of biscuits. Mindlessly snacking the whole packet is gone before you realize it. You do it again the next time because the reward area in your brain is triggered. The way to cope is to next time, only put out three biscuits and put the rest of the pack in a tin/container, out of sight. Really enjoy the small, taste and texture of the three biscuits, eat them mindfully. The reward part of your brain still light sup, but you've saved yourself hundreds of calories.
I hope this helps in some way.

That's interesting Kitty, thank you for sharing. I'm interested to know how you get on with that course.

I agree - your course does sound interesting Kitty, and effective. Fantastic news about the 3 lbs off! What is your knitting project at the moment?

Yes, I've got a piano at home. Well a digital piano (88 keys, weight keyboard etc) - which is great as I can use headphones and not irritate everyone! I've had it about 8 years but apart from one of two bursts of enthusiasm, where I've tried to play something way above my skill level without lessons, it has largely sat untouched...until now. Now I've got the time and I've found a great teacher.

Well done with your sts witchdancer! We've got way too much chocolate in the house at the moment too and I'm failing to stay away. I'm going to read 'good sugar bad sugar' by Allen Carr again next week. It did work in making me not interested in it when I read it last time (and part of my success in losing weight) - clearly that got undone though at some point in September and here I am now.

I'm putting everything off now to the end of term (Friday). I'm just limping to it (teacher). I had to have a nap after work yesterday but that is hardly surprising given what the dog walk did to me on Sunday. Thankfully I've only got a half today so on my feet less.

HI WitchDancer, how are you doing this week?
I hope you are having a better time too Dumpydump?
Hi Courante. My current knitting is all Christmas items! My mum goes to a local market and bought some wool for me a while ago. He said if I wanted to sell anything I make he would charge a little commission but would sell the items for me. I've been knitting character baubles, a reindeer, a snowman and Father Christmas. Just currently doing an elf party bag. I thought I'd knit a load ready for Novemberish and put the money towards Christmas.
It's good that you found a good teacher. That always helps.
Is that the Allen Carr book that says you can eat your favourite food all the time, and ends up saying basically you can eat nothing but fruit ?
It's almost Friday, hold on!

To be honest this week isn't a good week. I'm hurting lots and feeling very down in the dumps, which isn't great particularly when we have a lot of chocolate in the house.

I cooked again tonight - an omelette thing with potatoes, spinach, red peppers and onions in it. Tasted lovely but I really don't think I should be eating eggs as the side effects are not good!

I'm a woolly hugger and do knitting and crochet. I'm working on a baby blanket at the moment for one of my friends, with another one in the queue, plus a Helen Shrimpton blanket I'm working on too. Hopefully I'll get them finished when we're on holiday over Easter.

Sorry you're in pain @WitchDancer . Hope you feel better very soon.

Sounds like you've both got some great projects on the go! Great forward planning with the Christmas items! I used to enjoy knitting when I was younger, I never really got my tension right though so it very much looked homemade. My last project was knitting my boyfriend at the time an Aran jumper - about 25 yrs ago.

I've just looked up the Helen Shrimpton blanket - WOW - they're beautiful! That will certainly be keeping you busy.

I feel the need to write down my major barriers to success: my husband (mainly drinking habits that I find far too easy to slip into too) and my foot (plantar fasciitis). I know they are really excuses though - I struggled with my weight (to a lesser extent) before I met my husband and before I got plantar fasciitis. I also managed to lose [a lot] of weight whilst having PF a few years ago, and it definitely got better.

I'm going to WI on Saturday and start the process of losing weight.

Yes - that 's the Allen Carr book! It is very repetitive (but I think that's the point) and I don't agree with the potato thing but you can eat more than fruit. Yes, enjoying fruit/veg as real favourites is definitely a big part of it, and in all honesty when I get off the processed sugar they really are...

So sorry to hear you're feeling blue WitchDancer, And that you're in pain. I'd just go easy on yourself this week. It's not a race right? (I think the phrase is, 'It's a marathon, not a sprint.') Don't beat yourself up if you slip, you're having a hard time and your only human. Your omelette sounds delicious. I can never do more than one knitting project at a time, I get too confused otherwise! lol
An Aran jumper is very impressive Courante! I'm not good with tension either so just knit things like toys and items that don't need to be worn.
Very good luck to you for Saturday. Are you going to follow any particular diet? I roughly calorie count. It's good you have identified some barriers, now you can come up with some ideas to get around them.
I liked the book, never been a time when I was off the processed sugar long enough to enjoy all the fruit as much! lol

The day has arrived! I'm going to calorie count - initially at least. Last time I lost weight I put the weight I [realistically] want to be into mfp and set it to maintain. I think took those calories as my maximum and then aimed for the range 1300-up to that. I plan to combine this with intermittent fasting to some extent - but that will take a while to get on to again. I definitely plan to be more mindful of NOT eating mindlessly. Lots of veg.

DH has declared that he is going to not drink alcohol Sun-Thu and that he wants us have a planned night to go out for a meal mid-week (no alcohol). This is a major step forward. I won't be able to go as regimented as I usually do because of this but I think that is a good thing, and I'll aim to make sensible choices and stick to to the rest of the day as normal.

I weighed in this morning at 15st. Three years ago I went from 16st down to 11st. At the end of the summer last year I about 12.5st (having come down from I think 15 st again, maybe 15.5 st). Definitely time to ditch my 'all or nothing' approach and take the slow winding route down I think.

That sounds like a wonderful plan Courante. I'm just going from meal to meal at the moment and trying to eat fruit rather than chocolate. It's all I can do when everything has flared up and I'm feeling pants

Thanks WitchDancer! I think your plan sounds great too. Do your flare ups usually last a predictable amount of time?

Oh, dinner out sounds nice Courante. Good that your DH is onboard too. I lost about 4st last year, put three back on which is what I'm trying to lose now. I went a bit mad last year thought, did it on 800 calories a day for a lot of it. This time I'm being a bit more sensible, around 1200-1500 a day. (Usually ends up the higher end. )
Sorry to hear you're still suffering WitchDancer. I hope you feel better asap.

Thank you, I'll be ok. It's just a case of riding it out, who knows how long it will last.

That's the same way I lost my 5 st Kitty - on 800 kcal/day. Got to admit I'm tempted to do it again - maybe just to get me started properly, which is what I did last time and then swapped to the calorie range. Not sure I've got it in me to 'get on it' though. My step forward yesterday was to calorie count everything and I managed that - not to losing weight calories yet though (last night of wine). I always to this - transition on...today definitely no wine and fewer calories!

Hello, hope it's ok to join this thread! @Dumpydump I could've written your OP. Exactly where I am. I got down to about 10 and 1/2 st at the beginning of 2020 but it's massively piled on (covid, son getting multiple diagnoses, lack of sleep etc - my mum would say they're 'excuses' but I think they're valid!). Need to find myself again, very aware of how unhealthy it is to be this size at my height. SW worked for me before, I really don't particularly love the language of it all but just can't be left to my own devices at all. Wish there was a reset button in my head!