LOSE IT! March 2022 🌼

[TheRealHousewife]

WOW 😯 Where did February go … A Warm Welcome to New and existing Members alike! Fresh new month, fresh new start, fresh new habits. Jump right in to reset & refresh to become a healthier version of yourself.

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

We generally have WOW (Weigh On Wednesday) day each week. However post and share your progress as often or as little as you prefer. Do what works for you.

The important thing is not to think of it as a diet (based on deprivation and unsustainable) but more a way of life (sustainable & enjoyable).

I calorie count based on a lower carb Mediterranean diet. I intermittent fast and generally eat twice a day.

Are you in😊 What food plan will you be following? What do you want to change and why?

February 2022

Useful link if you’re unsure where to start:-

NHS Weight Loss Plan

More links to follow.

@Crazzzycat right, first time on the rowing machine since your advice. I couldn’t follow it properly because I couldn’t keep track of all the numbers at the same time 😅

So I reduced resistance to 4
Earlier in the week I did 1500m in 8mins 50 (on 7 resistance)

Today I did 1500m, 23 strokes/min in 9mins 20
Rest for about a minute while I wrote that down 😂
Then another 1500m, 27 strokes/min in 8mins 46

It took all my concentration to keep the strokes per minute going so I’ll have to keep it simpler like this I think. I did a little more rowing than your plan so I figure that’s ok?

So sorry about covid at home @ImALittlePea - so disappointing for you. You have every right to feel fed up and miserable. Do rearrange if you can, get a nice trip / outing / meet-up with friends booked in the diary.

@BaconAndAvocado - enjoy every bit of the graduation celebrations!

Only 3 more days at your job @Gonnagetgoing - then you will be shot of the lot of them. What a happy weekend it will be!

Good plan to stay away from the scales baconandavocado. That was my trick for this week too - but sometimes seeing how bad it is helps spur me back to the diet.

Totally agree that you need to tell your friend @SunshineCake1. As for your DM (or is it MiL?) - don't take it to heart, as frustrating as it is. That generation just cannot bring themselves to talk about mental health issues, or even say the word depression. It was exactly the same for my DM, with both myself and my DD. I won't bore you, but so many instances it still hurts to think of. And even my IL's talk about someone they know with severe depression as "not being right in the head" rather than acknowledging his illness. So sad. No conciliation to you, especially with the severity of everything going on, but just to say I totally understand. Hope you get through today OK.

@SingaporeSlinky - your rowing sounds very impressive (and exhausting !!). You sound super fit - and am sure you look fab already - but nice to put in a bit of extra effort to really enjoy your hols.

Big wave to @TheRealHousewife and to everyone else I've missed off!

@Crazzzycat @buzzofthebumblebee I'd like to rearrange but with ours and others hectic schedules, I don't see it happening unfortunately (not easily, at least). DH's symptoms started Sunday evening but he tested negative until this morning, so I'm a bit confused about when isolation starts/ends. I think their 5 days ends on Friday, if they test negative and/or don't have any more symptoms? Everything changes again on Friday as well, doesn't it? It's so effing confusing.

I do have things in the diary to look forward to though; I'll just have to piggy back on those celebrations in place of my own!

Continued thoughts @SunshineCake1, I can totally understand why you'd feel reluctance to speak about it IRL outside of the family but I think it's the best thing to do. We are all here for you as you know, but having some reap life support for you and your family is so important.

Waving to everyone else with weigh ins, news and plans - sorry I'm not tagging individuals, trying to post while keeping both (very bored) kids happy while stuck indoors.

Thank you @buzzofthebumblebee I didn’t think I was particularly fit, but after a 45 minute body tone class this morning, I did 17 mins on the cross trainer and realised I was actually doing ok 😆 When I first joined the gym 2 months ago I struggled to do 5 minutes on a much lower resistance, whereas now I can push the resistance up and go faster and longer. And then I realised I was meant to be rowing, so did nearly 20 minutes of that too. You’d never look at me and think I was fit, but I’m pretty pleased with myself today 😊

@ImALittlePea it is confusing, and everyone we know who’s had covid recently has tested negative despite having the strongest of symptoms, then it’s taken about 4 days to finally test positive, by which time they’re almost better again. Very odd. My DH was in contact with someone on a Tuesday, got symptoms Saturday but was negative right up until about the following Wednesday.

Well done on your rowing @SingaporeSlinky!

I know it is really difficult at the start to keep track of strokes per minute. It’s a useful thing to try though. I actually discovered by doing this that the fewer strokes I do per minute, the faster I go and the more intense the workout is. That was a bit of a surprise, but useful to know!

Everyone is different though, so what works for me, may not work for you. I think as long as you felt you had a workout that was challenging, but not completely impossible, you’re winning 🙂

Thank you @Crazzzycat I was definitely out of breath by the end of it.
I’ve got a spin class tomorrow but I’ll try and repeat what I did today and see how I get on. Aiming for the 1500m x2 felt like a good benchmark.

I’m home from a trip to my moms and focused!
Starting the day with a chia seed “pudding” for breakfast 235 calories.
Aiming to follow the fast 800 concept.
Not ready to weigh in at all…

NSV alert! Went to get the boys a McDonald's for lunch, I refrained and came back and had soup while they ate theirs.

Let's hope the scales reflect that sacrifice on Friday 😂

Great restraint there @ImALittlePea!
A few weeks ago I bought my Dd a happy meal while we were in town shopping, so thought I’d get one too, and just made sure it was within my calories for the day. She saw me select the fries and said “since you’re being healthy, why don’t you get the fruit pack?”
I thought if I’m having it, I’m having it. Might as well enjoy it. Although to be fair, I’m not sure I ever do enjoy it!

@SingaporeSlinky, sometimes when travelling our only option on the road is a mcd's.
i've checked online and i order the grilled chicken snack wrap (not sure if it's available in the uk) for 230 calories.

Absolutely @SingaporeSlinky I'm definitely an "all in" kinda girl once I decide I'm having a treat. I don't think I'm likely to reach my weigh loss goal for the month, but given I'm normally so lacking in willpower when it comes to foodie treats I'm really quite proud of myself for sticking to my guns so much this month.

Hey everyone. I have been following but not really had time to post.

I'm showing as 7.5lbs down for the month today. Very pleased.

@sunshinecake you and your family are in my thoughts. Hope you get some news soon.

Losing the plot so I'll just say she's with people I don't think she knew before Thursday. Still waiting for police to call 49 hours waiting now and have called twice today.

Handhold @SunshineCake1. Positive thoughts coming you and your families way.

So I’ve had falafel and potato salad, raspberries, 1 x ginger Nairn’s biscuit and 1 x date with peanut butter and cod fish cake with small potato, sweet potato, carrots and broccoli and cheese sauce. Also did a 20 minute run and a 20 minute walk to shops and back.

I’ve got a question though. I got some cheese savouries and Ferro Rocher dark chocolate bar. Normally I’d love the savouries but they’re just not doing it for me. I do like the chocolate.
But do you find the fitter you get and the healthier choices you make re eating the less enjoyable you find the bad food? Like the other day with the Lindt bars and fruit pastilles? It’s really confusing me!

Aw Sunshine... I hope you hear from either your DD or the police tonight - it's so worrying!

I went for a lovely hike this afternoon.. very different part of the New Forest this week - all wild heathland and ponies! Took a couple of snaps and was pleased that even though it was longer and more hilly that last week, I completed it in a similar time. And a whole herd of deer leaped across the trail I was on, about 10m from me. I was transfixed as they did that proper bunny-like jump... I didn't get a picture as I couldn't take my eyes of them

Some great WoW's today so well done. I'm child-free, back on my sofa, eating chocolate orange popcorn - it's bliss.

Hope your family get well soon, LittlePea!

Okay low calorie about 700 today and yesterday. I’ll soon tweak that to being nearer to 800. Light walking.
I met the Apple Watch March challenge which was the best I could do being I spent 20 hrs in an airport/plane twice this month.
I’ve tweaked the morning chia pudding to a few less calories so I can add in fruit and be at 250.

you sound very focussed @fallfallfall - am sure you will have a loss very soon that will see you get back in the groove.

So yesterday I had a light food day too - no breakfast, vegetable omelette for lunch, hummus & 6 small seeded sourdough crackers snack, and 1 small packet nuts & GnT out with friend. Scales today say 1.5 lbs up !! I don't place too much emphasis on daily fluctuations - thankfully!

Hope everyone doing OK. Great hike @SanFranBear - ponies and deer too. I must plan a nice walk somewhere soon too.

I’m finishing the month on 73.4 kg. I’m surprised I managed to come in at a small loss this month, but I’ll take it 🙂

For the last few months, I’ve been stuck in this cycle of being really disciplined for a few weeks and then going totally off the rails for the next. My aim for April is to try and break that somehow. If anyone has any ideas for how to do this, I’m all ears! I’m also still wondering if my current calorie limit is actually enough for me. If two weeks on plan + two weeks spectacularly off plan = a loss, then surely the daily calorie limit is too low?!

In other news, I had a big exercise achievement yesterday. I thought it’d be interesting to see if I could manage the longest distance in the April rowing challenge (15 km). Turns out that, yes I can! I can’t say it felt very good, but I made it to the end.

I’m loving the pony picture @SanFranBear. Your ponies look a lot more elegant than our mountain ponies. Are they quite friendly?

@buzzofthebumblebee that’s an impressive “gain”, especially after eating very little. I guess it’s just the alcohol, messing things up. Just goes to show how much our weights can fluctuate, I guess 🤔

800 calories sounds like a real challenge to me @fallfallfall. How long are you planning to do that for?

It might be worth resetting your requirements if you use an app like MFP, CrazzzyCat... although in my experience, it lowers your calories even more. Congrats on your loss though and at least you know (for now), a little blowout won't throw you completely off.

If I remember, you're looking at your version of rhe Fast800 - is that right, Fall? I like that in theory but I have two days a week I try to stay around 80p calories and I know I wouldn't be able to do it for any significant time. You do sound incredibly focused, so good luck.

And the ponies are definitely not friendly - they are technically wild (although do have 'homes', they wander the entire national park and its through markings on them, or small collars, that you know who they belong to) There are always a number of reports every year of children - and adults - being hurt as they will kick and barge you but people seem to think they're there for their pleasure and photo opportunities. There are herds of wild cows as well and they're even scarier - you can walk through a hedge, turn and there's this massive black bull!

I always try and keep my distance - not easy when they're literally across your path - but they are so beautiful! The one attached was standing on a small wall beside an old railway line - God knows what it was up to

So I started March at 9st 12 and end March at 9st 3 so I’m amazed at a 9lb loss really.

Had a spin class this morning, 15 mins on cross-trainer and then repeated my 1500m x2 rowing.

@Crazzzycat what is your daily calorie limit, and how much do you go over on the weeks when you go off plan? Sometimes I find I’m on a plateau for 5 or 6 days, which I find frustrating, might have a higher calorie weekend, but then feel guilty and go extra low on calories for the following 2 or 3 days (800-900) and suddenly lose 2 lbs in 2 days, so I really don’t know whether it’s the upping calories that did it, or the extra low!

Crazzzycat I'm exactly the same as you re having a few weeks where I'm completely in the zone and the next week I'm nowhere near the zone 😂
I've just had one of those weeks but I tend not to get too downhearted as, overall, I'm doing well and have lost a stone since this time last year.

I'm probably going to return to the regime after the Easter holidays.
We're away for a week and there will be lots of chocolate around during the other week so I have to be realistic 🙂

Yikes, those ponies sound dangerous 😬 @SanFranBear! Ours are wild too. They get rounded up once a year for a health check and may see the occasional hill walker, but that’s pretty much all the human contact they have. Yet, they seem completely chilled and totally unfazed by people. I thought that may be all wild ponies are gentle natured, but it doesn’t sound like it!

@SingaporeSlinky, NutraCheck recommend 1600 calories for me to lose 1 lb a week. I lose much more when I stick to that limit, but as I never stick to it very long I don’t know how much of that loss is a real loss and how much of it is water weight from going off plan the week before. And when I go off plan, I REALLY go off plan. I can easily have 500 calories more than recommended.

It’s difficult to get a clear picture of how much I really need, when I’m this erratic when it comes sticking to calories, but I really seem unable to stick to 1600 long term 😑 Anyway, as I’m planning to row like mad in the first two weeks of April, I’m seriously considering upping my calories that what NutraCheck thinks is my maintenance calories for those two weeks. It could be an interesting experiment...