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.

That's amazing @Ohmywhat!

@Gemzee 5 days alcohol free sounds like a real win and it’s fantastic so really well done! I hope you are super proud of yourself!

@TheBatwoman at times it can be really tough to prioritise health and cooking proper healthy meals can be a lot more effort than shoving a pizza in the oven. Hopefully you will find the time to do both. Are there any podcasts you could listen to whilst you walk or cook that would be helpful to studying? I am sure you will pass and the two jobs will be a distant memory soon.

@WutheringShites86 you should be super pleased with 7lb!

@ALittleBitAhAh vegan takeaway… I’m so jealous. We live very rurally and only one company deliver here and no vegan options and when we had guests, they ordered and said it was really greasy and not nice so DH isn’t even tempted.

@Ohmywhat im really pleased you have decided to stay. Congratulations on your amazing loss and for getting into the next stone bracket. I hope that you are finding non food ways to reward yourself for doing so well. You must have really worked hard and deserve something nice. I was talking to DH about what I should get myself as milestone treats and I knew he was thinking about something else, so I said a bit louder but seriously, “when I hit my target weight I’m going to treat myself to a new Porsche” …. That got his attention 🤣🤣🤣🤣 His face was all concerned until he realised I was joking. He is onboard with the walking and the healthy eating part, even giving up alcohol. But not the talking about it part, other than meal planning. So that’s why I post on here. I think we all need all the support we can get.

@bigdecisionstomake thank you and congratulations on your loss too. I have seen some of her videos but I prefer Joe Wicks strength ones as they go at a slower pace and I need to go slow and steady with the covid recovery and with my back issue, I still can’t carry anything heavy without it hurting. I think physio is this week so will see what she says.

Good morning and what a lovely start to the week 🫣 it’s vile here so walking workouts inside for me being supervised by the cat.

I am still bloated and another small gain 10st 6.4. DH pointed out that we had a few weeks with Covid where we weren’t walking much at all so leg muscles probably need building back up as well. Im not worrying just yet and will see what happens when the bloating goes down. I managed nearly 18k steps yesterday and considering I still felt pants I am happy with.

He is away tonight and being very honest, this is when I struggle the most. He left so early we didn’t do our morning walk and I can eat what I want for dinner. My plan is to have Joe Wicks protein pancakes for dinner but I really need to watch the snacking and comfort eating. I also really struggle to sleep when he isn’t here so less will power tomorrow.

I really hope that everyone has a good day - even if it is a Monday

Morning 😊 I know what you mean, my normal go to when my husbands away is loads of pasta or a pizza and lots of wine! So yeah I struggle with that too. Try to distract yourself somehow? Book maybe? Or just have an early night!
My first day back at work after 3 weeks off today, the time off was lovely but looking forward to getting back into routine (will miss my occasional afternoon naps though!).
6 days alcohol free!
Well done to everyone who's staying on track.

Morning all

@WutheringShites86 amazing work, 7lbs loss is a fantastic start to the new year and great motivation to keep at it.

@Ohmywhat wow, well done with such a fabulous loss for week one. We've all got to keep on sticking at it now, but I've already found this group immensely supportive and that really helps when you're having a wobble. For me it's all about the accountability too - I know I'm going to come on each Sunday and post my weight and I find that incredibly motivating to stick to making good choices. I have a friend who did a VLCD and she had incredible success and has kept the weight off since getting to target too.

@Dashel yes, agree Caroline is not ideal if you're carrying an injury. Interesting to hear about your Covid fatigue too - I had Covid in early October and right when I would usually be in my active 'lose a few pounds for Christmas' phase I found that I couldn't really exercise at all beyond a bit of walking as I got so breathless. That went on for at least a month after I'd recovered from Covid and left me really demotivated with food too as for me diet and exercise tend to go hand in hand. It sounds like you're managing to find things that work for you though like getting your steps in and some Joe Wicks.

My weight this morning has dropped back down to 11st 2lb despite the fact my diet was a bit carb heavy again yesterday. Back to healthier food choices this week. Also in the office today which reduces my opportunity for an additional walk unfortunately but will try to shoehorn one in somewhere.

This morning I've done a 10 minute Get Fit with Rick walking workout as a warm up then Day 1 of Caroline Girvan's 24 days of Christmas series which was a shoulder workout - I will be sore tomorrow! Then dashed around the house doing energetic tidying for a final 50 calories to take me up to 300 calories in total which is my morning workout target.

Have good days all.

@Dashel Ha ha to being watched by the cat - mine watched me doing weights this morning - she's fascinated with the lifting and lowering but scarpers as soon as I start a walking workout and move around a lot! Keep strong while your DH is away - you can do it!

@Gemzee - well done on 6 days alcohol free - great achievement!

Great suggestion thanks @Dashel. They are technical (IT) exams, so lots of diagrams etc but you’ve got me thinking - I could put the revision study cram style videos on while using the stair master treadmill.

I’m pretty clumsy so may be best not to for an outdoor run, or I’ll be adding to my count of lampposts I’ve run into! (Tally currently stands at 2 if anyone was curious 😂). I’m going to aim to fit in a workout 4 days this week, even if it’s only 20mins.

Hope you all have a positive week! Great to read all your progress updates - please do keep them coming

So pleased to hear that @Ohmywhat and well done! That’s so great!

Evening all! I'm a few days in now and am going well, far better than I expected! Is great motivation reading through how everyone else is going. Is amazing how when you cut out sugar you do stop craving it as it's been easier than I thought. Am managing to do some sort of small workout every day. What does VLCD stand for?

Thank you, can I join please.

I'm a stone heavier than this time last year, when I'd lost 2. Now 5 foot 3 and 11.5 stone. I'd like to get down to around 9 stone. Under 10 to start with.

Good morning,

@6poundshower welcome, hopefully we will help you get to where you want to be. Congratulations on loosing so much last year!

@Matilda142 vlcd is very low calorie diet which is usually about 800 to 1000 calories per day. I feel better when I cut out the crap and get exercise especially when it’s done outside. I am pleased it’s going well!

@TheBatwoman it was one lamppost for me when I was running but numerous other things as well 🫣 Your studying doesn’t sound much fun tbh

@bigdecisionstomake my cat thinks I need a lot of supervision so she sits on the window ledge or in her radiator bed with an air of disapproval. Just because some of us have purrfect figures! Little does she know she gets indoor dry food in Winter when she hardly goes out to go with her wet food 🙀

How are your shoulders today?

@Gemzee you are doing so well with the alcohol free nights! I hope your first day back wasn’t too bad.

I am pretty proud of myself for pretty much sticking to everything yesterday. There may have been an unplanned Graze bar but I’m not stressing about 140 calories.

I managed 15.8k steps and a biceps and triceps workout with no DH. I’m glad he is coming home tonight though and my arms are a tiny bit sore. I used 1.5kg and 3kg weights but when I was doing them last year before injury and COVID it would have been either 5s and 3s or maybe 7.5s and 5s so definitely lost a lot of strength.

The scales were favourable this morning though and I weighed in at 10st 4.9lb so pleased to be going down instead of up 🥳

I hope everyone has a positive day

Morning all

@Matilda142 well done on your progress so far. I find if I do some sort of workout in the morning I'm less likely to reach for something sugary later in the day as it seems like I've wasted the workout effort if I do - if you see what I mean.

@6poundshower welcome, I'm new to the group too and everyone is really supportive here plus it helps me to have some accountability.

@Dashel Shoulders aren't too bad thanks, I often find it's not the next day but the day after that when I'm most sore though so might be worse tomorrow. Well done on sticking to everything yesterday and for 15K steps plus the weights workout, that's amazing. Great loss this morning too - it's a good feeling when your efforts show on the scales!

I had a busy and stressful day in the office yesterday so didn't find time for a walk and came in at a disappointing 6.5K steps for the day. My small win was avoiding reaching for the chocolate when things came to a head mid afternoon and the pressure got quite intense.

I have had a good loss overnight taking me to 11st 0.8lbs but realise that can't all be fat loss so preparing myself for either a gain again in the next day or two or at best a plateau for a while now.

I've done a 30 minute Eleni Fit Cardio Power walking workout this morning plus 15 minutes glutes and abs. I'm WFH today and I've got my Covid booster this morning so not sure how that will leave me feeling but will try to get a walk in if possible at some point too if time allows.

Have good days all.

Morning!

back down to 12st 11 here so 2lbs off. Keen to get back to my pre new year 12st 10 this week.

we have something on in 4 weeks time so hoping to by under 12.5st by then 🙏🏻

the cold weather here at the moment is tough, just can’t face getting out walking etc and want to hide at home and drink tea 😂

next milestone for me will be 12st 1 which is allegedly the top of my healthy BMI - which I don’t think I’ve been in over a decade

Morning. Hope it’s started well for everyone. I’m struggling to get back into diet mode I’m afraid. I consumed carbs all day yesterday and at the moment nothing seems to be satisfying my hunger. I feel like I could eat all day. One of my challenges is that I work from 4-8pm so I have been struggling to find suitable meals to cook and eat when I get back. I am a bit of a reward eater so trying to have my main meal at 3pm just feels too early and nothing to look forward to. I’m going to batch cook some things today hopefully that can just be heated up when I’m home.
My scales are also playing up ( which may be a blessing ) so I don’t have any real idea what I currently weigh. And worried that if I buy some new ones I will be heavier than I thought.
Have a good day and well done on all the efforts being made.

Have you got a slow cooker @Stepcount ? If you could put something in before work then it’s quick and easy when you get home? Add some micro rice or veg bags

I find having some ‘healthy’ ish ready meals in the freezer helps too. Or toast & scrambled egg/beans/bacon or baked potato & salad.

basically speed is key for me otherwise I reach for crisps/biscuits

I second the slow cooker @Stepcount, definitely helps me on busy days.

Well done on your loss @Isyesterdaytomorrowtoday.

Difficult day for me yesterday after a terrible night's sleep and I did snack a bit more than I should have but ended the day with a 360 cal deficit so not too bad all things considered.

Doing ok so far today...

Yes we really rely on our slow cooker too. Helps so much managing around my work schedule!

Hope you’re have a better night tonight @WutheringShites86 and are able
to get some sleep

I weighed in at 12st3lbs on Sunday. Thanks for the advice @Dashel x

I've downloaded the app and started calorie counting. It's recommended a calorie deficit of 500 so aiming for 1200 mark a day. It's difficult to stick to it but I am determined to try my best.

Someone mentioned a good exercise video in the thread but I can't seem to find it. Can someone remind me what it's called please.

@sidesplittinglol I do a lot of home workouts on YouTube so can recommend a few depending on what you are looking for. One of the ones I was discussing with another poster was by Olivia Lawson. If you search for her channel on YouTube she has a good selection of walking workouts and some weighted work outs too. She's a good place to start as a lot of what she does is low impact so she makes for a relatively gentle start to an exercise plan but you do still get sweaty and feel like you've had a workout. The one I did last week was this one:

30 minute metabolic walking for weightloss

Not done them for a few months but I love Team Body Project workouts on Youtube😊
I wrote out a whole post this morning but it disappeared before I could send it 🙄 and I can't be bothered now! But I've done a week alcohol free & lower calorie so I'm happy.
Well done to everyone for sticking to your plans!

@bigdecisionstomake I try and get 5k steps in before I start work. Admittedly doing them so early takes a while to get used too, but now I wake up early automatically- even on the weekend 😤 congratulations on the loss and it sounds like you are making great progress! And I’m going to look up the Olivia Lawson videos.

@Isyesterdaytomorrowtoday congrats on your loss too! I really hope you get to your target for your event. Having things pencilled in always spurs me on! We will help you smash all your targets. The weather is admittedly pants, so did you manage to do anything inside? My steps were all completed inside today as it is shocking here. My car rocked when I went out to physio and my cat has not been happy.

@Stepcount I hope you find things easier soon. I echo the ideas of others as I love my slow cooker and you can use it for batch cooking. We do warm salads so a salad base with a warm protein and maybe some cooked onions and peppers. Tonight we had a bean burger and salad. We even had a roll, back in the day this would have come with chips or wedges but not now. We cook the burger on the hob whilst we prep the salad. Other times it might be fake chicken and asparagus on salad (no bread). It might be worth getting the scales so you can track progress and determine what’s working and what isn’t.

@WutheringShites86 sorry you are knackered. It’s always so much harder to stick to every thing.

@sidesplittinglol its great that you downloaded the app and weighed in. Please remember that there will be days you don’t stick to the 1200 but don’t give up. Just get straight back on the dieting horse. It might be that you can’t stick with 1200 and need to increase it a bit. We all work differently so find what works for you. What sort of exercise videos are you looking for? I think quite a few have been named.

@Gemzee sorry you lost your post, but really pleased you are having a great week.

blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2023/01/martin-lewis--i-averaged-24-630-steps-a-day--burning-3-886-calor/

I read this post about daily steps by Martin Lewis and I don’t feel like such an obsessive now!