Diet For Summer Challenge

[Dashel]

This is a continuation of the diet for Christmas challenge that was undertaken in 2022. Thank you to @OhFatty for starting that.

It is a group of us wanting a supportive environment to loose weight in the long term. Hopefully the posters from the Christmas challenge will sign up again and new members are welcome.

We each have our own way of doing this and there are no rules other than being encouraging to everyone and cheering on successes.

Wow, that's a great result @Gemzee really inspiring to read on a Friday morning - well done. A flat stomach is something dreams are made of...😊

I've had a STS on the scale this morning at 10st 3lb and am very happy with that as I was fully expecting a rebound. Just got to make it through the bank holiday weekend now without going mad 😂

Congrats! Great to see how much progress you’re making - well done 😁 How are you all doing? May need some help getting back on the wagon. Been quite tough adjusting to shifts and the new job, as well as managing the twins - both walking now 😱. Amazingly haven’t gained any weight but haven’t lost any either. Does anyone else have any experience of managing shifts and healthy eating/exercising please? Many thanks, BW

@Gemzee congrats on your loss and I’m so pleased you are so positive about your body, that is better than any number!

@bigdecisionstomake congrats too on your loss and being at a low! That is also amazing and hopefully the Bank holiday will be kind to us.

@TheBatwoman I have never worked shifts but I would imagine that meal planning and prepping would be really helpful. What sort of shifts are you working? I find having home made ready meals in the freezer really helpful so like to batch cook if I’m making something suitable. Sorry to hear you are struggling too.

We made the decision when we were away to crack on and get the house done as we really aren’t sure what our future plans are and whether to convert another outbuilding or to sell and emigrate in a few years. Either way we have a lot of work to do and we want options. So we have been doing bits after work and big jobs at the weekend. This also means I’m not spending the time food planning and prepping that I should.

So as well as still wanting to eat like we are on holiday we are knackered and just wanting to eat 24/7.

I did cut down a bit yesterday and weighed in at 10st 5.1lb which is a loss as a I was 10st 5.8lb on Friday.

We have a cruise booked for the last weekend in August to take advantage of the Bank Holiday weekend and Tescompoints and then two weeks after we come back we fly to Mauritus . So really need to crack on.

I have three months till the first one so should really be able to get well into the 9s if I put my mind to it

Happy bank holiday weekend everyone!

@TheBatwoman I've never worked shifts so can't advise specifically I'm afraid but I should think @Dashel is right, meal planning and prepping will be your friends. I put aside half an hour on a Sunday afternoon to plan our meals for the week and do our online shop. I also plan in times for cooking and which nights I will do and which ones my son will do - sharing the load helps. My nemesis is lunch, often if I'm working at home I will need something quickly and will just grab whatever comes to hand but since I've been calorie counting I try to make sure before I go to bed each night I know what I will be having for lunch the following day and that I've prepped anything that needs doing e.g. chopping bits for a salad, so that I don't use the 'I haven't got time for that today' excuse the next lunchtime to grab a bag of crisps instead.

I would imagine now you've got twins who are walking you won't need a lot of additional cardio but you could maybe plan in a few resistance sessions when you know you will have time? When mine were little I had a DH who worked away a lot and I either exercised very early at home, while the kids were still asleep, or I actually used to book slots into his diary if I wanted to do specific classes so that he knew he had to have the kids at those times as I would be at the gym. I have boys so we spent a lot of time at the park playing football or just generally running around so I used to get quite a lot of exercise anyway 😁

@Dashel wow, your plans sound amazing, I really admire your 'the world is my oyster' mindset...I think I need to channel that a bit more now my boys are pretty much independent. Sounds like you've got all on with the work to the house though in the meantime. Fabulous to have two holidays to look forward to and a great motivational target.

I've had a tiny bounce up on the scale this morning to 10st 3.2lb - no reason that I can think of for this as I was on plan yesterday although I've got a bit of DOMS and tea was carb heavy so hopefully just that. Will try to stick to plan today as well!

Your travel Plans sound amazing @Dashel - we’ve missed travelling but hoping to do a bit more as the bat-twins get older.

Thanks for the advice @Dashel and @bigdecisionstomake. I hadn’t thought of it as being as simple as that but I think it really could well be actually. I’m doing 12 hour shifts two weeks of nights and two weeks of days, so not too bad. Absolutely love my job and am much happier, just a case of getting used to the shifts now really. Doing so much better with the depression/anxiety symptoms now and in a much better place, so think it’s very much a net positive overall. I have another block of nights starting Monday, so perhaps I can get myself organised and prepare some healthy meal options in advance. Was talking to DW about some of the options for managing to get some exercise around my shifts too and I’m excited about being more active again. Managed to stick to healthy snack like fruit or nuts on my night shifts this week, so think that’s a real positive. Weighed in this morning at 70.5kg, so exactly where I was before things started to go downhill in Jan annoyingly, but still need to remember that it’s 20kg down from where I started and be a bit less grumpy I think! 😂 two people told me yesterday how well I looked and how much weight I’d lost, so that was nice and a bit of motivation.

Thank you both for the kind words and advice. It is a great help to not feel as alone with it all again, thanks 😊 also so pleased to see how well you are doing @Gemzee and @bigdecisionstomake. You’re both doing great! It‘s a real inspiration and so lovely to see you all succeeding!

Hope you all have a lovely day! It’s beautiful here in Sunny Wales - hope it’s just as nice where you all are

Lovely to hear that you're in a better place @TheBatwoman - you sound busy but happy - a great place to be to pick up your weight loss/health goals again 🙂

Some surprising progress here:

Week 21
Initial start weight 11st 5lb
Final target weight 9st 11lb
Weight last week 10st 3.6lb
This week's weight 10st 2.8lb
Loss this week 0.8lb
Total loss so far 1st 2.2lb

Very happy with that although it's not really deserved as I ate/drank slightly over maintenance calories yesterday. I was far more active than usual though so suspect it might be a glycogen loss rather than a weight loss. Also, my son was out last night so I just had a salad for tea with no carbs so that probably helped although I made up for it with a lot of carbs earlier in the day. Amazing to be in the 2s though, even if I do think it's likely to be temporary.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Mine was packed with DIY and being so hungry and at one point I weighed in at 10st 7 😵‍💫😫😭

DH and I are really trying to focus now on eating more veggies as salad is nice at this time of year but not filling. I weighed in this morning at 10st 5.1lb so better than nothing but off to see the in-laws this weekend who love to Over feed.

@bigdecisionstomake hopefully you are still in the 2s after the weekend?

@TheBatwoman I think eventually you learn what works for you and then you keep going until it stops working and re evaluate. Hopefully now things are more settled you will really shift the weight.

I know there are a fair few posters who we haven’t seen in a while, if you are lurking please never be afraid to say hi or come back for support. We all know it’s tough and most of us have drifting off at one point or another, so we are here if you want us.

Just weighed in and when checking on Fitbit I had my weight wrong yesterday.

Wednesday weight was 10st 5.5lb and today is 10st 5.1lb so it is going down at least!

Have a great day everyone

Good morning and TFI Friday 🥳

I did a GFWR yesterday morning and a post walk work to get to 16k steps.

Had a few crisps at my friends house with a Diet Coke but still managed to get a small loss and weighed in at 10st 5.0lb.

Im visiting family this weekend but will stay off the booze and try and get some steps in my it’s a very long drive each way about 5 hours plus traffic so will be hard to get too many steps in.

I hope you all have a great weekend

Morning 😊 I stayed the same on the scales this week which I'm more than happy about as I had a heavy Bank Holiday weekend!

It's 5 months tomorrow since I started and I've gone from 10st 4lbs to 8st 9lbs:

23lbs lost 😲 I've also lost 4.5 inches from my belly and dropped a jeans size.

I can't quite believe this tbh! Feel like a different person!
I do think sorting out my thyroid (underactive) has helped and also consistently sticking to exercise, I normally give up after a month!

I should point out I'm only just over 5ft 1in so a shorty, which means I'm not super tiny at the moment but a really nice size for me (a size 10 in clothes).

Posting here has kept me motivated - thanks all!! Goals for June:
Keep exercising
Stay under 9st
Keep walking (10k steps a day)

Have a great weekend all.

Morning all

Wow, those stats are amazing @Gemzee you've done a fabulous job, particularly when you've had thyroid problems to contend with too, you should be really proud of yourself.

Have a lovely weekend @Dashel and glad to see you moving in a downwards direction again.

I have been in a bad place and off the wagon completely. After being proud of not letting work derail me last week I have let it do so again this last week. I've been working 12-13 hour days and snacking/drinking wine as comfort. As there's been no time for exercise either it's a bit of a write off of a week.

We're coming up to our busiest time of the year and I was really hoping to be better able to cope than this so it's a bit of a wake up call. I have worked out this morning however and am trying to get my eating back on track. I'm away this weekend too and not back until late Tuesday night. I will try to keep things under control while I'm away and hopefully will be a lot more active than just being sat behind a desk so that should help.

Have a great weekend all.

Morning all

Right, back home after 3 days away and weighing in for accountability although didn't really want to get on the scales this morning....😳

In actual fact it wasn't as bad as I feared after nearly 2 weeks completely off plan and being away etc.... I'm back up to 10st 5.2lb - just can't seem to reliably get past the 3s/4s/5s.

I have 9 days until I go away and although work is still massively busy I'm going to try to make those 9 days count. My plan is as follows:

• log my food every day and stay within calories
• workout every morning and try to get either a walk or some time in the garden every day too (garden really needs it....)
• stay off the alcohol completely now until we arrive in France
• post daily again for accountability

I'm at that annoying point where my size 14 jeans are a bit big and not very flattering and I can just about get into my 12s but they are uncomfortable to wear for too long or very tight if eating/sitting down a lot. It would be lovely to be able to fit into the 12s more comfortably before we go. Hopefully with a bit of weight loss and a lot of de-bloat with some clean eating that will be attainable.

Wish me luck 🤗

Managed 75% yesterday, logged food and stuck to calories, worked out, kept off the alcohol but didn't manage a walk or time in the garden. Had it all planned in but there was so much work to catch up on after a few days away that I was still at it last night at 10pm so missed the chance.

Hoping today will be better - garden bins get emptied tomorrow and one is still only half full. We pay for the collections here so I don't like to not have them full on bin day 😂so will try to do that later.

A day including exercise and (for the most part) clean eating has seen off a pound of the gain on the scales this morning - and my stomach looks noticeably less bloated. I'm down to 10st 4.2lbs and hoping this means I might squeak back into the 3s by the end of the week if I can keep it up.

Hope everyone else is doing ok.

Hi 😊 I stayed the same on the scales this morning, again, I'm very happy with that!
Have a good weekend all.

Well done on the STS @Gemzee I think it's a great achievement when you're at goal not to relax a bit too far and end up back on the slippery slope to a slow gain again.

I managed to stick to all four goals yesterday and the scales have been kind with a further loss to take me to 10st 3.2lb which was way better than I was expecting so I feel very happy heading towards the weekend 😊

Yay, congrats @bigdecisionstomake 👏

Happy weekend everyone.

Another day of clean eating, exercise and staying off the booze has given me another small drop on the scales to 10st 2.8lb. Very unexpected but I'm taking it and hoping I can hold onto it for a bit this time! This was my Sunday weigh in weight at the end of May.

Obviously I haven't lost 2 and a half pounds of fat in three days so it looks like a lot of the gain while I was off the wagon was bloat due to carbs/sugar/alcohol rather than fat, which is a relief.

If I can keep in the 2s until I go to France this time next week I will be happy. When I get back it will be 10 weeks until Crete (although 3 or 4 of those will be manic with work so will be off plan in all likelihood). Hopefully it's enough time to get into the 9s and possibly to target - but not so sure about that now.

Hope everyone else is doing ok.

Thanks @Gemzee 🤗

Morning all

Had a really busy day yesterday so got lots of steps and burned lots of calories. Only managed two of my four goals yesterday as I ate at maintenance rather than weight loss and had a glass of wine in the early evening sun.

I think the overall activity level saved me though as I've had another very small loss this morning to take me to 10st 2.6lb. Stats are therefore:

Week 23
Initial start weight 11st 5lb
Final target weight 9st 11lb
Weight two weeks ago 10st 2.8lb
This week's weight 10st 2.6lb
Loss in two weeks 0.2lb
Total loss so far 1st 2.4lb

Will be interesting to see if I have a bit of a rebound tomorrow although I've got quite an active day again today so hopefully that will keep me on track.

Enjoy the sunny weather everyone.

Hi everyone,

Glad to see you are doing so well @bigdecisionstomake it won’t be too long before you get to the 9st somethings!

The more I do physically the more I want to eat. Gentle walking is ok but anything heavy just makes me so hungry.

@Gemzee glad to see you are also happy and doing well.

@may23 welcome to the thread! Those sound like very low calories, is that sustainable? I know it’s best to stick to whatever works for you.

I love carbs too and lots of snacking!

I keep saying this it I really need to get my arse into diet mode. We have been doing so much that I have been starving and had friends round for dinner on Friday and Saturday so things have been tough.
I have severe DOMs in my arms and sides (pretty sure that’s a first) from moving gravel from yesterday and today we went for a long walk. According to Fitbit I burnt 540 calories but it made me hungry (surprisingly 🤦‍♀️) then we have been doing a bit of gardening.

I weighed in at 10st 6.4lb this morning so need to do better.

Good morning,

I need to get back to my daily posting as it helps keep me on track.

So to get focus back on this, I am going to:

• Post every morning
• Weigh in daily
• Track on MFP
• Get my 15k steps

It worked before and will work again!

My upper body is still sore especially my arms. I weighed in at 10st 5.8lb this morning and got to 21k steps yesterday after my walk and gardening. I did do a Yoga with Adriene stretch session before bed.

I know it’s a Monday but I hope everyone has a great day x

Morning all

Not so happy to see Monday as it seems like I've got a million things still to do to get ready for going away very early Saturday morning and am working until Friday now. At least the weather's nice....

Off plan for me yesterday food and alcohol wise but I was very active and came in at 17.5K steps for the day so hopefully that will have offset it a little. Back on it for the week now though.

I've weighed this morning and there has been a small rebound to 10st 3.2lb. I'm hoping this is largely water due to lots of carbs/salt (sharing size bag of crisps anyone?) Aiming to be back in the 2s before going away if possible.

@Dashel Sounds like you've been really busy and getting your steps in, I'm not surprised you've been so hungry. You know what you're doing so just keep swimming - you've got this.

@may23 welcome to the thread. I totally get that weighing everyday can de-rail you so if one weigh in a week works for you then that is a great plan. I find posting on this thread is good for accountability so tend to do it most days and weigh in at the same time but I'm quite relaxed about the ups and down that come with that. Good luck with it all, 6kg sounds like a manageable target and something you should be able to do if you're consistent - let us know how it's going.

Have a great day everyone.

@may23 thank you and I hope your week goes well!

@bigdecisionstomake I hope your work goes well this week, stress levels always seem to go through the roof in that last week which doesn’t help te scales.

I really hope you get back to the 2s and have an amazing time. How long are you going for and where too? Sorry my memory is terrible. Hopefully after a detox yesterday the effects of the weekend will disappear

I STS on the scales today at 10st 5.8lb which is a tad disappointing as I did two small GFWRs and a walk at lunch and after work and finished on 18.5 steps and 1650 calories.

I know I need to keep it up and I will be it’s just nice to see the results on the scale on straight away.

Hopefully there will be a nudge tomorrow for us all