DIET FAILED AGAIN? Thread three. Join us in a friendly group who are very supportive without any judgement.

[TalkToTheHand123]

Link to previous thread...
www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/4580943-diet-failed-again-thread-two-join-us-in-a-friendly-supportive-thread?page=40

Thought I'd save you the hassle @poorpaws.

Well done for those who have lost and good luck to those struggling.

My focus at the moment is just to be wiser for food selection and to keep active. The slow moving scales can wait although I did check this morning and showing I'm nearly back to 14 and a half stone.

Selling myself short with the housework, I forgot about changing the bed, doing a load of washing and actually quite a bit more, I should look like a supermodel very soon 😆

@poorpaws Bless you! Sounds as if you are really nailing it.

I had a good day yesterday, hit my calorie target, went to the gym and for a walk, and managed 2.5l water. I felt utterly exhausted in the afternoon and nodded off, but just for a 10 mins catnap. I was still really tired at bedtime, but then felt like I tossed and turned to get to sleep. Maybe I was overtired. I feel like I’m fighting off a virus or something maybe.

today I’m having a rest day as I have exercised I think the last 7 days straight (either class or run). I have having a tooth taken out this morning, it’s broken and giving me trouble, so I need to eat a larger later breakfast as I probably won’t feel like it after the dentist.

as always, the weekend looming raises the question of whether I have a drink or not, I think I probably won’t tonight due to my tooth but I might do tomorrow. we have no real plans for the weekend which is nice, however as we are mid building work, there is always cleaning/dust removal to do, and at some point we’ll need to clear out our garage for the conversion to start in there in a week or so, so plenty of active things to keep me busy.

@Bjarnum I'm blaming you for this week, you were the one that invented superhuman week. I just renamed it as no one realised what it was. I might blame you today but if I lose a decent amount of weight I'll be praising you and your brilliant idea 😁. Hope you're starting today.

@thenewaveragebear1983 just do what you can. If your body is telling you to rest, then you should listen. What about a bit of damage limitation as best you can? I hear what you say about weekends, but my poison is chocolate not alcohol so I'm going to try my very hardest to not have any. Maybe for just one week you cut out all alcohol or is that too big a step?

If the weather is decent today I'm throwing DP in the garden so I can clean the room of doom (kitchen). With 3 dogs in there it's a mammoth task trying to keep it clean. Also I tend to spend most of my time in there so my other rooms stay clean but the kitchen is very well used. Thought if I posted it here I would actually do it.

Day 2 keep going ...

Joining @poorpaws and @thenewaveragebear1983 on the teachers pet table for my excellent performance yesterday. Porridge and an orange for breakfast, the most cheesepared of cheese sandwiches and celery for lunch and dds very healthy meatball and cous cous soup for dinner. I tiny and not very nice piece of brownie, dds again, to be polite. 45 mins of front crawl in the medium lane . No housework, but I have plans for today, to tackle my also very doggy kitchen, and to tidy my bed of container herbs, which the dogs have suddenly decided to destroy by eating the compost, and spreading it through the kitchen. I know it’s just water, but I’d lost .6 of a kilo this morning. Busy planning my new size 12 wardrobe.

I joined in ...btw . Pre the prompt...I had excellent first day...ignored pleas for takeaway from resident young adults, and put a jacket potato in oven when we went to the bar ..I had glass of red wine over my favorite cocktail...stopped at one and did not join in white wine drinking back at home afterwards.
Had beans on potato and tiny sprinkle of parmesan.
In calories allowed and walked up steps instead of lifts and escalators at tubes.
So far today had a coffee...

Well if they ever make a film about middle aged out of shape superheroes smashing it, thatIl be us. I think Melissa Mc Carthy could play me…

@poorpaws and @Zebracat good luck on the kitchen clean. I despise deep cleaning my kitchen, surface is fine but once I get going I find the combination of grease and pet hair just impossible. My oven desperately needs a clean as well.

@poorpaws i do quite often have a weekend off drinking, so it’s not unheard of, and when I do I always feel good and am far more likely to stick to my calories. I just need to motivate myself to actually do it…. 😂 I was talking to my friend yesterday about sugar/chocolate and I also really feel so much better when I cut that out. I’ve gotten into a habit of having a skinny crunch bar or 2 with a cuppa in the afternoon, nothing wrong with that especially except they really awaken my sugar cravings.

I had a mini melt down this morning, just so fed up of feeling tired, feeling grouchy, feeling overwhelmed with everything I need to do, and the bloody cold weather just tipped me over the edge when I saw the forecast for yet another cold snap of arctic winds next week. I am so DONE with crappy winter weather!

Weight in this morning at 17'2" so no change from last week. That actually feels ideal for this week's challenge - hopefully seeing what change a focused week can bring will make me want to do a few more. It's definitely got me more determined again to get back into the 16 stones and it is in reaching distance, which I didn't think it would be during lockdown binge eating.

@Zebracat I'd like Helen Mirren to play me if she's available please, I'm a bit lot older than middle aged, or maybe Maggie Smith might be appropriate too.

Well aren't we all doing well 👏. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of you all.

I've had a busy day but not quite as good as yesterday. I did another long dog walk and an exercise dvd (nearly 17,000 steps). DP refused to go into the garden because it's been so cold today so he impeded my progress in the kitchen. I did one part thoroughly so I'll just do a little every day until it gets finished. Nice to hear that other people don't have immaculate homes due to the fur monsters.

It's Friday night and I'm sitting down for the first time today and I'm craving something sweet but I shall try my best to ignore all cravings or at most, just have a very small wafer bar.

Day 2 nearly done and I think we are doing amazingly so far. I know it's difficult but just think how we'll feel at the end of next week when we see a difference because, if we all do this properly, there will be a difference so try not to give in just because it's the weekend.

Good luck everyone.

Can I join please? Just read the full thread and you look like just the crew I need to get me back on track!

I started seriously trying to lose weight at the start of 2021, following my DH's protracted terminal illness then death in 2020, after which my DS and I sat around eating chocolate for a good few months, in shock. I pulled myself together when my weight hit 17 stone 3, as I realised I had to get healthy so my son had at least one surviving parent. (I'm 5'8" and 58, post-menopause).

I basically followed a low carb intermittent fasting approach (16:8). I cut out chocolate completely (as with many of you, I have no stop at all with chocolate), only ate sugar in fruit, had no bread and minimal other cereal-based carbs with the exception of oats. I would have a breakfast of homemade muesli with toasted nuts and seeds, fresh fruit, orange juice and greek yoghurt. Then no lunch and an early supper based mainly on beans and/or fish and eggs and lots of vegetables. This worked really well for the first year and I got down to 13 stone 11. Then I plateaued in 2022 and stayed roughly the same for six months. Since then my weight has been creeping up again. I've been weighing less, and relaxing the rules more. This Christmas was not good. When I hit 15 stone last week I realised I had to start from scratch again. So I'm back on the strictest version of my plan. 3lbs lost over the last two days (I find weighing daily helps me, though I know its not advised).

Part of why the weight went back on was a couple of joint injuries which stopped me walking. I was doing 5-8kms at least 4 times a week at one point, but clearly over-did it and first damaged a ligament in my foot, and then six months later one in my knee. Each stopped me walking for weeks - I was on crutches with the knee for two months. Its a vicious circle - excess weight damages my joints but I really find walking helps with the weight loss (and particularly with a positive attitude towards it).

I'm aiming to get down to 11 stone ideally, but the first push is to get back under 14. I'd really welcome your tips.

Welcome @SchrodingersKitty ...
We are all doing a hodge podge of things ..whatever works for you we will embrace.
I am a strict calories in calories out type gal ..mainly cus a lot of the time I have my dsd with me who has anorexia. I can't rule out a food group Infront of her, and we have a very calorie dense food plan...I have to moderate portions .
But when I stick to it and remember my hrt it does work.

My day 2 of boot camp week is great..back from London and delighted that scales even at end of day are down . Not eating out, limiting alcohol and I used stairs not lift...I have had dinner..it was burger, brioche bun,chips...I had tiny portion of chips,loads of salad, did look at burger no bun but it's looked sad...so had bun but no cheese or Mayo or bacon or avocado on it.
I feel hugely pleased and much more in control.
Tomorrow I'm working so it's fruit for lunch, lots of water and I'm only one home TMR for dinner so will be something very simple ..I will do weights as well..physio told me kick ass and up weights so doing that .
Feeling like I'm nailing it.
Hope everyone else's motivation is going good

Hiya all, I'm going okay ish on the kick start, and have decided that drinking extra water is helping so much!
A glass before meals fills me up, so fewer calories are needed. Giving it a go anyhow.

And the perfect match to play me would be Miriam Margolyes. Short, round, wild hair, irreverent and joyous.

@BeyondMyWits aww I love Miriam, she has no filter and I love that. I read her book, she's a real character.

@SchrodingersKitty you are very welcome here, we are a great bunch, not that we always get it right, but we muddle along happily. I'm very sorry to hear of your sad few years and I hope you are coping as well as you can under very difficult circumstances. If you've read the thread, you'll know we are doing a boost week (in fact, it is called many things) so do join us if you would like to. There is never any pressure here to do anything and absolutely no judgement, we do however, give a ton of support to each other, which is priceless.

Day 3 tomorrow, getting through nicely. Don't let the weekend ruin everything.

@Theredjellybean the lone burger, looking sad has had me in stitches. For some reason it's really tickled me, poor little burger (it's also made me want to eat a burger 🤐).

I've been meaning to ask you, how is dsd doing ? I hope she's improving. Where I walk every day with the dogs there is an extremely thin lady who jogs for about four hours to my knowledge and she is incredibly thin. I've seen anorexic sufferers on television, but this lady is even thinner and I don't know how she has the energy to move. We used to see her last year with her three children and she was very thin then but this year she is even smaller. Rumour has it that she no longer has her children and we never see them, so so sad, my heart breaks for her.

Well, on the plus side I've got through on 1200 calories. The exercise is a bit rubbish - mainly because I'm mostly bedridden, but I did manage a spot of gardening

Morning everyone.

i weighed myself this morning and have stayed the same- AGAIN. Very annoying, I had a good week and really felt like it might have helped this week. So that’s 160.6lbs.

I had a tooth taken out yesterday and feel quite sorry for myself today, I didn’t have a good night and am in quite a lot of pain today. I’ve decided on a nice leisurely day, I need to do my hair and nails and a bit of pampering / grooming ready for starting my job on Monday. Bit of housework, kids football…. All the glamour of parenthood eh?

and as always, planning for next week- I like to plan my menu out, batch cook a few bits and I work out a rough calorie count for most things on the menu plan too so I know where I am. This weekend I’m batch cooking a chicken soup, and a lasagne, plus I made some SW type wedges this week that the kids absolutely loved so i might prep a few of them to use up some potatoes and keep in the freezer (although not sure if I should parboil?)

my plan this week is the same as before: lots of water, exercise, keep to calories…. I need a shake up though. I’m getting thoroughly peed off with maintenance/gain every week. I did low carb successfully but it affects my running quite a lot (as in, I find it very hard). I don’t really track macros but a tdee calculator I linked to from another thread said my macros for low carb should be 170 protein, 76 fat, 86 g carbs (in 1700 cals- I don’t include any exercise on these things) - so if I went 1500 cals, but aimed for 75g carbs or less, would that be a good start do you think? Then that’s below tdee and not including any exercise cals?

@thenewaveragebear1983 If you stick to 1,500 cals per day (a 500 cal deficit) you should lose 1 lb a week. (3,500 cals equals 1 lb of fat) but it must be accurate to lose. Discounting, but doing exercise you should easily lose 1 lb. With exercise you have to do 10,000 steps over a base daily step of 2,000 so 12,000 steps per day to lose 1 lb.
Someone may come along and tell me, I'm totally wrong, but I learned this many years ago, at least give it a try. Disclaimer I have no professional qualifications whatsoever, but I'm just trying to help. 🙊
and maybe I'm talking nonsense because I read it and I can't remember the source.

Day 3 - yay! going well but is anyone else absolutely shattered? I struggled to get out of bed this morning, struggling to keep my eyes open and my legs, especially knees, are aching. That's the exercise dvd I think, there are a lot of squats and my knees are protesting.

Good luck superheros.

@poorpaws thank you. And you make perfect sense, that’s exactly what I’ve always thought re: calorie counting etc.

You see this is where I come a bit unstuck really. The tdee calculator for my age/weight/height and sedentary put my maintenance calories as 1700. I exercise every day, and am generally more active than sedentary (eg hit 10,000 9/10 times, plus hiit training, and/or a run, and i am muscular build (as in, I have visible muscle tone on my core and arms/legs). I have a Garmin sports tracker (I really don’t want to sound like a total princess here, but this is a £1000 sports watch, I would like to think it’s pretty accurate at tracking calories burned/heart rate etc) - and it puts my daily burned calories at around 2100 daily average over the last 12 months (that’s BMR + activity) I tend to assume that as my tdee + exercise as it takes into account high/low days and uses my actual heart rate/personal data during activity to track. But I am concerned that I am wildly overestimating my calorie burn because every tdee calculator (eg the online one, the nutracheck one etc) always give me a much lower calorie goal. If I try and hit that low goal to lose 1lb a week, eg 1200, genuinely after 3 days I am weak, cannot drag my legs out for a run, and/or scavenging for food in cupboards.

I don’t know how much to eat 🤷‍♀️. I think I’ve either screwed up my metabolism with years of dieting, or I’m just not burning anywhere near as much as Garmin says- but then I find it so so difficult to drop my calories any lower.

I think the 2000 calories that women are told they need is wildly inaccurate, I don’t know a single woman who would need 2000 calories a day to maintain their weight.

anyway- enough of me boo-booing. I just want to a) eat ALLLLLL the food and b) be skinny. This is not too much to ask, right? 😂

@thenewaveragebear1983 I've messed up my metabolism by years of dieting too, many years of deprivation. Other people I know who are slimming and I know a lot (mainly dog owners who walk a lot and I see daily for the progress) lose weight so much quicker than I do. I'm the first to admit I cheat with chocolate if I try to lose weight for too long, but they do too.

It takes me forever to get my bmi to normal weight for height and I'm wondering if it's worth it. Yes I'm overweight but not obese and I just think I maybe should weigh around 11st instead of 10st (10st 5 lbs for top of correct bmi). As you say it's not much to ask and I'd love to be muscular like you, I just have a flabby stomach which I hate and if I could I would cut it off, don't let me go there ...

I think we have to just keep trying our best. People who have been on here for a long time will be sick of hearing me say this but it's true. We must not give up and we must try to do what we can. Hopefully the scales will be kinder to you (and all of us) next week.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I've just worked out (loosely) with what I'm doing this week I should lose 3 lbs according to my calculations. Although I lost 2.25 lbs last week so that may affect the figures, so we'll see and that of course is if I stick to plan.

Just to make you feel worse 😬 it gets more difficult to lose weight the older you are, so if you are young go for it now because later on it's so much worse. 🤫

Boost week is working for me. Very grateful to @poorpaws for the suggestion.Had a good day yesterday. I also weigh daily, it works for me, and when I don’t , bad things happen. Today I am 95.9 which is almost a kilo gone in 2 days, can’t believe it. Feel I’m now more Andie McDowell, it’s the cheekbones!
Bit worried that I will be derailed by the weekend. I’m not swimming today and I had toast with butter and marmalade for breakfast, but I will keep reminding myself that the toast was my treat and stick with it.
Welcome @SchrodingersKitty, how wonderful that you have been able to care for yourself and your boy after such a sad loss.

@Zebracat well done, it's so good to hear this week is working for you. You know this but if you scupper your progress just because it's weekend, you'll be so sad on Monday. This is ONLY one week and a lot of people are invested in it so don't give up. You'll feel so proud of yourself by the end of next week, IT WILL BE WORTH IT.

Milestone here! I hit the next stone bracket down. Now officially 15st 13 and 3/4! I now I'm only 1/4 of a pound into it so it's not safe by any stretch but I haven't weight 15st something since 2012!

Woo! Let's celebrate! 🥳 With a glass of water and some rice cakes... 😩

Point taken @poorpaws, and thank you. I booked a swim. It’s in my control, not something that happens to me.
@effiesgoldwig whoop whoop! So pleased for you. That is massive. You really have done so well. What’s the best thing about it to you?. I am about a pound off being under 15 stone and when I get there, there’ll be no speaking to me ! Even though I generally weigh in Kilos.