🎄LOSE IT! December 2022🎄Festive Edition🎄🥳🥳🥳

[TheRealHousewife]

Hello & Welcome

Carrying on from LOSE IT! November 2022 this is where people who wish to lose or maintain with accountability check in daily. People can access support and general advice around a healthy lifestyle (food/health/wellbeing) We generally have WOW - Weigh on Wednesday to track progress.

December is a tough month to navigate food wise especially if you’re wanting to lose. By making sensible choices without total deprivation you can hopefully mitigate any Christmas excess.

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 strengthening your immune system and maintain a sense of well-being. 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.

You just need to find what works for you! Me personally? I calorie count, log via MFP app, Intermittent fast, eat-low carb Mediterranean style and try to stay well hydrated.

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.

Are you in? What’s your plan? Whatever you do, Good Luck!

1st December weight = 9st 8.3lbs. 1.3lbs loss would be great but happy to STS 😬

Yes please!!

Happy 1st of December!
🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

The same right back at ya’ … and I Love your Christmas trees @Smugsmaug 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🥳 I’m wanting to put mine up this week! Anyone else trimming up? Or have you already decorated 😬

@christymcy Welcome! What’s your plan?

Thank you @ImALittlePea … I missed your comment earlier ❤️

Happy December everyone!
Food wise I've been dreadful since September. I lost all interest in cooking and with all the food issues here it's not easy to cook anyway. Then ds and I got covid early October and are still not right. Then last week a stomach bug and we are still not back to normal. But Waitrose and all it's loveliness is coming today and I'm going to make a big batch of my pasta sauce and a big batch of mashed potatoes and divide both into small portions. Dd will usually always eat mash and Yorkshire puddings.I'd eat pasta most days but ds will only eat it without sauce. I'm on a mission to introduce sauce again as they used to eat it.

To reach my goal I'm going to maintain my usual activity levels which according to my Fitbit are about 30-50 miles per week walking at pace up and down some big hill thanks to where we live. I used to follow a vague 16:8 routine and don't eat after dinner around 5-6pm. I don't drink except maybe at Christmas and don't eat out and do there's nothing to cut back there. I'm aiming t

Be healthier over all. Good homemade food with quality ingredients most of the time instead of large quantities of junk. I'd eat a 6 pack of crisps easily.

Hello! Happy 1st December!

Right - how to stay on track while feeling like anything goes in the festive season?!

@TheRealHousewife no tree or decs up for us yet, probably won't for a while as our other kitten is a mischievous little thing and I don't know if I can face a whole month of picking and re-baubling the tree 😂

@AutisticLegoLover that sounds a sensible plan. Good luck - you've got this.

Sorry I can't remember the name to tag but I totally agree that NSVs are 100% equally as important as what the scales say.

Today's plan:
Lunch - soup (in laws coming for lunch so it's normal soup, not my normal fare of cup-a-soup and veggies 😆)
Dinner - loaded pasta and pesto
Going to attempt no snacks. Weigh in tomorrow is already in jeopardy so need to be as good as feasibly possible today! Eep.

@AutisticLegoLover Sounds really sensible and healthy, that's basically how I'd eat in an ideal world too! As it is, I'm sitting down a the supermarket with a coffee, sandwich and biscuits because it's on my way home and I was famished!

@TheRealHousewife I feel it in my waters, you'll be shrugging off that 1.3lb no problem!

@ImALittlePea I'm with you on the delayed Xmas decs. Between baby and dog there's already enough thrills and spills!

Ok as mentioned up post, I'm having a sandwich and biscuit lunch which isn't what I'd planned. I think continually being sucked into convenience food when I'm hungry means I'm letting my blood sugar go too low at work. Thinking about what I could bring in that has healthy fats and complex carbs, to eat on the way home.

Breakfast - fried eggs, sunflower seed toast, coffee

Lunch - cheese sandwich, fruity biscuits, coffee

Snack/dinner - really need to work on the bright colours and the veg.

@AutisticLegoLover Thats an impressive walking distance each week! I doubt I do that per year 😬

@ImALittlePea The my better half has said we can fetch the Christmas tree at the weekend 🎄 I do like to see a twinkling tree.

@Cloudberries123 I hope you’re right!

Blummin weather is pants as per usual. I’ll soon warm up as tackling ironing pile as tall as Kilimanjaro.

Menu change alert! Didn't fancy pasta, so we're having sausages, homemade chips and peas instead. Probably about on a par, calorie wise.

I seem to have hit 'treat yourself, it's December' mode. Just want wine, sweets and crisps. Argh. Can't promise I won't cave again tonight. Going to try not to, don't want a totally horrendous weigh in tomorrow!

@ImALittlePea sounds very tasty and why not. I don’t deny myself anything other than huge portions 😬. Kinda works! Enjoy it, this weather requires warming foods!

I never have a menu and that's the problem. Thursday's consumption was toast and tea for breakfast and lunch, an apple that I didn't finish it as it didn't taste as good as usual, 8 Ritz crackers with Wensleydale with cranberries., and a peach yogurt. Lots of water. That's it. Oh and a marshmallow and two mouthfuls of ds's hot chocolate.
At least I got some fruit in 🤣

Must do better.

Late checking in as usual :)
147.8
I’d like to loose 1lb this month.
Dh has signed us up for the indoor university track and he wants to go 5x per week. This will help.
staying true to IF, fluids and exercise.
NEED to return to logging and watching my calorie count.
it’s cold and dark over here, comfort foods are just too carby and buttery and hard to resist. A green salad is just about as tempting as stepping out in -18C temp.

Managed to post this on the November thread last night:

thank you- the support on this thread is lovely 🥰

I gained a pound but I know exactly why -new week begins!

1lb gain again this week. Annoyed with myself but also know why - lots of eating out and a midweek date night. Thankfully I didn't dive into any unnecessary extra calories last night, which is something.

I feel quite disheartened this morning about weight in general; losing weight in the first place is such an effort, but it feels like to to maintain it is just as constant an effort. Granted, weeks like this are over-indulgent and not a regular thing, and I haven't reached where I want to be for maintenance yet, so am yet to figure out my strategy, but still, urgh. I know I need to sort out my mindset on this, but the festive build up period is a tricky time to have to do that!!

Anyway, onto today.
Was due out for lunch again today 😬 but friend has just cancelled so I'll be souping it up at home instead.
Dinner - I think we have lamb kebabs, some kind of potato and salad planned.

Happy Friday everyone!

Also I've just worked out that I'm still 1st 8lb down vs the start of the year. Which is amazing! I need to harness my motivation to try and kick the 2lb gain from the last fortnight before the school term is up (maybe a little more - don't want to be over-ambitious though) so I don't have to watch too much over the holidays. Focus focus focus. Water water water.

@ImALittlePea I've felt the same with a recent gain. I got out 'map of weight loss' that I started in January (I've converted my weight loss from pounds to miles and plotted a course across the county) and it really helped me visualise how far I've come, very motivating
Next stop Penzance 😂

The theme for the year has definitely been resilience from this thread. Losses, gains but mostly people just riding the bumps and working towards goals overall. We should all be very proud of ourselves

Happy Friday everyone!
With the temperature dropping, also craving stodgy comfort food. So will make another thick soup today, and perhaps a homemade crustless veggie and cheese-rich quiche for dinner.

Morning all. 62.8kg today so that's a nice drop since Wednesday,
It sounds like everyone is doing well and I hope I'll do the same.
Christmas for me means no school run so my activity levels drop massively and that's usually what causes me to gain a couple of pounds or so. I don't socialise and there's no work meals or anything like that. My enemy is inertia and chocolate so I'm going to make sure that 5 days a week we all get out for some kind of walk even if it's only a couple of miles.

Today's challenge is figuring out what to make for dinner with all the lovely food.

Oh my goodness … wrote a post replying to you all only to lose it whilst grabbing my link 😖

Recipe for Christmas leftovers:-

Pea & Ham Soup

I started the day motivated, but my hips started playing up (maybe from the walks my body isn’t used to). Feeling a bit grumpy and sorry for myself, have had to self prescribe some bed rest, but still determined to eat nice and healthy at least, even though I can’t move very much

Hello All, Checking in an hoping I can keep up with December better than I did November! @TheRealHousewife I love that kindness chart will be trying to do some of the things. I live thousands of miles from family and old friends and the last two christmases really highlighted to me what a lonely time the holidays can be. Small acts really do make a difference!
I weighed in at 66.5kg today so still up 1kg from my month of galavanting. Hoping I can get at least half of that off before christmas.
I have however had an awful cold and chest infection this last week (not covid work made me do a pcr) and I am still feeling really ropey, antibiotics have helped but I am struggling to do any exercise even a gentle dog walk has me coughing up a lung so I haven't done any cross fit since last monday and I can't see myself managing any next week either.

I'm totally with you @fallfallfall - I definitely need to stay true to my basic principles. Water, I/F and try and get back to calorie tracking. And yes - salads are not as appealing in this weather, are they? Give me all the internal warmth!

It really is a supportive place @Nishky32 ♥️

Hear hear @milkfromthesleepycow I'm always so inspired by the strength, accountability and resilience here. I remember your visualisation map! I worked out my loss as packs of butter earlier on this year and it was a good motivator.

@Smugsmaug ooh quiche sounds great! I never make them as no-one in the family eats them, but I think I might have to make one this weekend.

@AutisticLegoLover school term vs school holidays are a minefield aren't they! You sound like you have some good strategies up your sleeve though.

Gah! Frustrating! @TheRealHousewife

I hope you're feeling better soon @Allthegoodnamestakken

Lunch was a bust - soup was very unpleasant, so ended up tipping it away and had a slice of toast with dairylea. Also had the last few crisps from date night with houmous. So more salt and calories than planned, but on balance still better than what I'd have had if I'd gone out.

Right - going to try and bust out some more Christmas shopping while 2yo is napping! I'm not in the festive spirit just yet, hoping the more I get on top of it, the more Christmassy I'll feel!

Good Afternoon Everyone

Sorry to read that @Smugsmaug I hope you soon feel better!

Hello there @Allthegoodnamestakken I’m pleased you’ve joined us all again 👍. You’ll soon get back into the swing of it!

@ImALittlePea It happens sometimes. I got soup out the freezer last night for todays lunch. However, OH just phoned that he’s picked up fish & chips. I’d feel rude not to have some 😬. I’ll be having soup for supper instead and a lighter day tomorrow. Overall the week will balance out.