🍁LOSE IT! October 2022🍁12 WEEK COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS 🎄

[TheRealHousewife]

Hello and Welcome

Following on from the LOSE IT! September Thread here’s October’s Thread.

Dare I say it’s officially the 12 Week Count Down to Christmas 🎄😬 There is still time (for those who want to) for a complete body/mind/fitness overhaul before the festivities and family get together commence 🥳 Plus, who doesn’t want to start 2023 feeling more energised, fitter and svelte!

Jump right into October! Reset & refresh to become a healthier version of yourself! Being mindful, planning ahead and few tweaks here and there it’s not impossible!

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

We generally have a 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). It’s a journey, not a destination.

I calorie count based on a lower carb Mediterranean diet. I intermittent fast and generally eat twice a day. I try not to drink calories and have very little processed food or sugar. I meal plan, set my intentions daily and exercise most days.

Are you in?😊 What food plan will you be following? What do you want to change and why? You can do it, if you really want too!

@Jammymare I've got a young baby too and I feel you on the one-handed meals! I actually find toast with peanut butter is great as the fat content means I stay full for longer - I do usually add chopped banana or raspberries to make it more fun and also nutritious.

Ready to hear any other tips that others have 😊

My menu today;
Breakfast: none- had a lay in! (My fave way to diet!)
Lunch: jacket potato with cheese and salad.
Tea: I'm thinking a spicy lentil soup maybe.
Trying to keep it an alcohol free evening. Aiming 2-3 litres of water and 10,000 steps!
It's pissing rain here so might do an indoor walk on youtube- all a bit cringe but I close the curtains and it gets the steps up!

@jammymare what sort of foods do you like?
Some of the lunches I like;
Soup
Jacket potato
Crumpets
Anything on toast (egg, mackeral, beans, mushrooms, tomato, whatever,)
Also, Some will disagree but don't rule out ready meals. Some are really quite good now- so, so handy if you're calorie counting too. And can be made with one hand!!

Can I rejoin please? I was on the May and June threads.
SW 84.1kg
CW 84.1kg
GW 68kg

Hi, I'd like to join please.

Maybe this will be the time I stick to it and see some positive results 😬

Will attempt to make a good start and do WOW next week.

Good luck all.

Evening All

Welcome to the thread @Jammymare @ZimZamZoom ; off course you can come back@giatta, no need to ask 😊. You can do it ladies. Remember the tips in the attached photos can all aid in healthy weight loss.

I had a menu change and made a chicken curry, other half said it was very
authentic 😬.

It’s been proper wintery here today; log burner been on since 13:00 🔥 Now all toasty and cosy.

dental stuff cancelled till november
tired, slept poorly and it's showing with my motivation and food choices.
stay strong everyone :)

Hey, going to hop on if that's ok?!
Had a bit of a flip out this week. I did really well last year and got down to a weight I felt happy and healthy at. Maintained for about 9 months. But then just lost all motivation since June and have piled it all back on. Feeling so annoyed with myself. 2 quite small children, one with additional needs so I don't have much time - this makes it hard to fit in the exercise. I'm quite good at the food side once I get into the right mindset; but exercise not so much. So any ideas on that front would be fab; ideally something you can do at home with no equipment- looking to maintain muscle mass with some decent stretching as body still a bit screwed from carrying 2 big babies!
Last time I was pretty successful using Michael Mosley ideas- I'd do IF (only 12:12) and cut out sugar, refined carbs and snacking. No calorie counting. Relatively low carbs: focus on protein and veg.
Need to stop giving myself a hard time and accept what is!

Good Morning Everyone

Now it’s officially Optimistic October - see attached photo 😊 Paying attention to our own well being is so important because positive mental health is intrinsically entwined with weight loss/gain. If you’re in the right headspace, sleeping soundly and exercising regularly achieving healthy weight loss is easier.

Welcome to the thread @Millie2008 Dr MM ideas are great. I myself lost the most weight when I followed his Fast 800 5:2 way of eating. I was already eating lower carb due to be celiac and for years have only eaten twice a day (can’t face food in the am) so it was a good fit for me personally. Eating protein and healthy fats at each meal will help keep you satiated and less likely to snack. To maintain muscle mass hand weights, bands and weight bearing exercise are your friend. If you don’t have hand weights you can substitute tins of food or full bottles of water/sand.

@fallfallfall How disappointing for you! Hope you get a better nights sleep tonight!

Menu
Meal 1 - Halloumi stir fry with cavo nero, red pepper, carrot, cabbage and butter beans.
Meal 2 - Sharing platter of potato wedges (skin on) cold meats, cheese, celery & carrot sticks. Tomato, cucumber & red onion salsa.

Fresh peaches & cream.
Tea, black coffee and water … Recently I’ve been really poor at getting the water in! I’ve placed a bottle on the counter as a reminder it needs to be drunk at regular intervals 💧

Exercise
Session 1 - Lesley Sansone
Session 2 - Stretches

Remember ladies, set your intentions and plan ahead. Imagine how you liked to look and feel. Harnessing that image and feeling and getting in the right head space could motivate you into positive healthy changes. You can do this! ❤️

@Millie2008 I'd recommend Caroline girvan (I always do 😂). She's got a lot of body weight only routines on her YouTube channel. If you can source some weights there will be more.

Lately I've also been doing the bow flex 3 minute plank to try and strengthen my knackered core. I think it's helping, and I also know my kettle boils in 2 mins 20s in the morning 😂

One extra goal I'm setting for October is to cut down on caffeine. Since it got a bit colder I've been hitting the coffee too hard. Got some decaf beans in for a start.

Anyone got recommendations for warm non caffeinated drinks that aren't milky (hate the stuff) and are fairly calorie free?

@milkfromthesleepycow I’m a big fan of Pukka herbal teas. “Three gingers” is my current favourite, but they do loads of nice, interesting flavours.

Also, respect to anyone who tries to do a 3 minute plank 😯 Is it a continuous plank, or do you get a break?

And this is really not weight related, but important for everyone who feels a bit gloomy over the winter months - now that it’s October, start taking a low dose vitamin D! It’s the only vitamin the NHS recommends for everyone to take from October to March, as almost everyone will become deficient during these months without a supplement.

@CrimsonAlligator format is 30s holds/ reps of
Low plank, plank with foot raises, side plank right, side plank left, low plank then plank mountain climbers
I've yet to manage the climbers! But would still recommend, I've had less back ache since doing it. Would help with your rowing

Also should have mentioned I hate anything that tastes even vaguely like tea! I've tried a million different herbal teas and they all seem to have that tea taste. Do any of the pukka teas not taste of tea?

That sounds interesting @milkfromthesleepycow . I used to do planks before I took up rowing and couldn’t really hold them for any length of time, but I might try again as I should have some better core strength now. It certainly feels like there’s some muscle hiding under my flab 😄

I think that most of the Pukka teas I’ve tried are not very tea like, but I must confess to absolutely loving tea, so if they did taste like tea it probably wouldn’t register in the way it does for you, if that makes sense? If you can find it, it may be worth trying the “Joy” variety, but I think Three Gingers is not particularly tea like either.

Oh thank you so much everyone for the exercise recommendations! And what a great idea to use tins of food instead of weights! Fab! If I were to purchase some hand weights at some point what weight should I go for and where do I get them from? Sorry... silly question. I've just never done this type of exercise before- usually just do swimming as that's what I'm vaguely good at!
Also thanks for the vit D reminder

Oooh somehow I missed this, here you all are! Thanks for the new thread @TheRealHousewife and yes you're right, I need a new name!
I'm very slowly easing back into weight loss, I have a severe case of post-wedding, post-honeymoon, post-summer blues and am trying to remember what I did on a weekend before I had a wedding to plan! So going easy-ish on the diet but almost a pound off so far this week. And agreed about vitamin D, great reminder!
Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Ha! Surprisingly this one is available!

@milmilkfromthesleepycow
I like a peppermint tea (with honey if I'm really going wild!) Or chai tea-I just buy the teabags from tesco, don't do it properly- too much effort!
Options hot chocolate are pretty good and low calorie if you're a hot chocolate person.
Lemon in hot water if I'm in the mood
Or just plain old blackcurrant cordial made with hot water.

I got my hand weights from Amazon - the link I'm including is on 2kg I think, but you can scroll along and choose the weight you want.

To be honest, unless you are extremely frail/doing rehab after injury etc., I wouldn't bother with anything lighter than 2kg. I bet you'll have carried a shopping bag or handbag that weighs more than that, and to actually grow muscle and look more toned, you need to go heavier than what you'd normally carry in life. I started with 5kg weights, but I'd already been lifting weights at the gym with my sister (who is a bit of an expert, hence why I know about this!)

I also like that they come in fun different colours! 😁

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07YG622LP/ref=sspa_mw_detail_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWw&th=1

Forgot to tag you @Millie2008 !

www.amazon.ca/Gaiam-Walking-Weights-2lb-Set/dp/B01ICBQLPG/ref=asc_df_B01ICBQLPG/?tag=googlemobshop-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=292925500529&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13001132780279830548&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001475&hvtargid=pla-335397447084&psc=1
I use this type of hand weight 2lbs during the fitness walking Leslie videos.

Welcome to October all - sorry to be posting so late but will use my stats from yesterday's weigh in to start the month:

SW: 104.7kg
CW: 70.7kg
October GW: 69kg (although anything with a 6 at the front will flabber my gast!)

If I'd just made it to 70.6kg, I'd have hit a healthy BMI (according to the NHS) which considering where I started is such a boost. And I do credit these threads with keeping the motivation high - you're such a lovely 'Team Leader', RealHousewife and everyone on here is always so nice and sweet so thank you all!!

I've been calorie counting (with a couple of lower calorie days a week although they have got higher and higher so need to kickstart that again!) and hiking a lot which has done wonders. I've been out the last couple of days and what a difference a day makes - last night was a dark, windy and horribly wet walk round Southsea and the seafront... today was a sunny, warm and delightfully fresh walk round the New Forest. I'm so very lucky to live where I live..

Saw quite a few ponies, some who are definitely looking like they might be carrying little foals around, ready for the spring! Love it ❤️

it's really amazing how quickly the thread moves :)
life is steady and i've not had time to read all the posts BUT i always love seeing people write down their daily intentions it helps me focus. I also love the little tricks and hints.
so thanks to all of you: i've committed to doing my exercise minutes today (45), i used hand weights just 1lb today, AND took my Vit D.
keep up the good work everyone!

@SanFranBear Thank you 🙏 I’ll PayPal your fee over 😬. Well Done! 🥇👏⭐️🏆🏅 Stunning pony photo 😍

You’re very welcome @Slightlystressedbride @Slightlystressedwife Love the new name 👍👍👍😆

Hi can I join you all?
this time last year I’d lots 2 1/2 stone using saxenda I have gained it al back. My target weight is to lose 3 stone no target date just as soon as I can by doing it in a healthy way.

I’ll be calorie counting.

Sw: 14.3
cw: 14:3
Gw: 11.3

i might not weigh every week a si get a bit scale obsessed.

Morning 😊

Am shortly going for a run - last long run before my 10 mile race in 2 weeks time 😊

SW 76.7kg
CW 69.3kg
TW 65kg

Didn't lose as much weight in September but fine with that as birthdays and seeing extended family and my own short break happened so any loss is good. Plus my running has been improving which makes me feel good.

Would like to get to 65kg before Christmas. Not sure about an October target - maybe 2kg off?