⭐️LOSE IT! February 2023 Edition⭐️

[TheRealHousewife]

⭐️Open to previous members as well as new members⭐️

Fresh new month, fresh new start, fresh new habits. Jump right in to reset & refresh to become a healthier version of yourself. These threads are for those who’d like to lose and those who wish to maintain whilst eating a healthy varied diet.

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

We generally have 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).

I calorie count based on a lower carb Mediterranean diet. I intermittent fast and eat twice a day. Im a long time healthy eater and overall I’ve lost over 3 stone. After having been on the wrong side of 12st Im now hovering around 9st. I had a blip a couple of years ago when my thyroid went wonky but now back on track.

Are you in😊 What food plan will you be following? What do you want to change and why?

Feel free to share your own links, tips & recipes 👍

Just backtracked and see you're driving to Vancouver - hence the snow ! Stay safe @greenspaces4peace

Hello everyone. Another good day I feel but it’s early days!
B : rye toast with peanut butter and an apple
L : leftover dahl, brown rice, kale and broccoli, then a plum

D: vegetable soup, oat cakes, carrot and pepper sticks, cheese and humous

at work again … I find it so hard to fit in exercise. Finished at 7pm so came home, dinner and now rolling into bed.

well done everyone so far!

@greenspaces4peace hope the trip goes well.

I had a hungry hour earlier but went for a shower and it has mainly passed. It's the walking today-nearly 10 miles on 1600 calories. I do have nearly 400 exercise calories but I don't eat those unless desperate. Not with the big WOW only 2 days away. It was good to be back out walking today although ds came home with 11 workbooks from year 2 and I had to carry those up the bastard big hill. Extra calories burned no doubt but it wasn't fun.

Time for bed for me. Sleep tight everyone.

I did well for my first IF! I did panic when it was 7pm though! And quickly made my Indian tea, my first and last cup of the day which is a huge thing for me!! Also managed to drink so much more water today and even had some fruit. Which is also a huge accomplishment for me. Now in bed ready for My spa day tomorrow!!

Night All

Morning all. The cat (not mine but the neighbours) woke me at 6am and it's a good thing because I'd forgotten to set the alarm.

@MKD1 well done! I find IF gives me a psychological boost along with a much needed sense of control over snacking at night. After dinner is my danger zone for eating crisps, chocolate and sweets so having that nothing to eat after dinner around 5-6pm cut off enables me to say no to myself. I do get hungry after dinner though especially yesterday but I've not woken up starving so it's entirely mind over matter I think.

59.1kg this morning. I'm happy with that. I need to put a new goal into happy scale.

Have a great day!

I've just worked out I have lost 8.5lbs since rebooting on 9th January. That's 7 weeks so that's a nice steady loss that should stay off. My BMI is 23 dead on now. My aim is a BMI in the middle of healthy so that's another 7lbs to go I think. I can't imagine being in the 8 stone bracket. I've not been there since my 20s.

I've got the day off tomorrow and I'm going to do some cooking and look at some strength building routines.

Morning everyone, can't believe it's the last day of February already 😱

Had planned to weigh in this morning but with family life there wasn't time. With having stopped all the sugary snacks I hope to see a loss tomorrow - just hope I haven't compensated with nuts and crackers.

Breakfast - 2x rye toast and Vegemite, tea, coffee

Snack - orange, date bar, water

Lunch - 2x fried eggs, freezer veg

Snack - tea

Dinner - chicken and veg pasta

Morning all. Last day of Feb. Overall a 3lb loss over the month with a holiday in it, so I think that's ok!

Was super proud of myself yesterday, boss went out a bought cake for everyone. I said no and he bought be a Diet Coke instead!

My hope is that by Friday I'll be back to pre half term weight!

Todays meals are:
Breakfast: porridge with banana and cinnamon
Lunch : a rice dish of some kind!
Dinner : hunters chicken with potatoes and peas

Thank you @TheRealHousewife & everyone on this supportive thread for another month of weight loss.

My Feb aim was to loose 5 lbs to get down to 11 2, which I did. Only for the scales to say 11 3 today frustratingly - but I'll still take it as done ; )

(original SW 13 2 1/9/21 got to 11 2 end Feb 2022)
SW 11 13 1/1/23
CW 11 3
GW 10 10 - 10 12

Think Happy Birthday wishes are due to you TheRealHousewife ? Enjoy the cake!

Well done to everyone else for this month. Even being here will have kicked some bad habits.

Well done @MKD1 and enjoy the spa!

Excellent progress @AutisticLegoLover @ginsparkles @buzzofthebumblebee

Everything crossed you see what you want tomorrow @Cloudberries123

Ooh happy birthday @TheRealHousewife 🎊🥳

I ended up having a big lunch yesterday 😂 burger and chips, absolutely worth the calories! Wasn't very hungry in the evening so had a cup-a-soup and three crispbreads.

Today's plan:
Lunch - cup-a-soup and the works
Dinner - lasagne (leftover from weekend) and a nice salad

I was sent this article last night and it's really insightful so wanted to share (hopefully the link works!)

Time for some water!

@TheRealHousewife happy birthday! Hope you have a lovely day 🎉

I've just been shopping and bought some proper Greek yogurt and some frozen cherries. I'm going to boil up the cherries and make a compot to sweeten the yogurt. I don't like plain yogurt at all so it needs something. A drizzle of honey maybe.

I can't believe the price of babybels £3.55 for 12!

Morning all and happy birthday to @TheRealHousewife 🥳

Ending February in a much better physical state than I started, final numbers are a bit all over the place since last week’s weigh in, but I’m hovering around 9st 5 and I’ve lost another 0.4% body fat in the last 2 weeks. I think the last few pounds to get to target are going to be hard because I’m already on a low number of calories and already exercising 4-5 times a week.

Will set new targets tomorrow.

Well done to everyone that has made progress this month, whether that’s numbers on the scales or eating healthier, or exercising more! If you’re still here and still posting, your head is hopefully in the right place.

⭐️LOSE IT! March 2023⭐️Get Ready for Spring⭐️

Good Morning All

Thank you for the Birthday wishes. My Birthday is on Thursday and my friends is a few days after but we wont be able to get together as we are going away for a few days. I won’t have the opportunity to post as frequent but I’m back Monday.

Apologies. I can see the thread has been busy and my post yesterday didn’t post. I remember answering the door after having written it and I’d thought I pressed ‘Post’ but couldn’t have. Anyway I’ll try and recap if possible later today.

March’s thread is up. Have fun 🤩

45 minute Pump class done. I used 2 barbells, one with 2.5kgs and the other with 5kgs. Any exercises where I have to lift the barbell above my head, my arms just aren’t strong enough, so I used the lighter ones. Everything else I used the heavier. Can feel the difference already, so I’m pleased I pushed myself a bit.

Then did an easy 25 minute spin. Tried to get a class on my phone to follow along but couldn’t connect and then battery died eventually.

Early lunch of greek yoghurt, granola, blueberries and raspberries.
Dinner will be tuna steak and spinach.

Caved into the snacks yesterday (was ravenous all day) so need to be careful today.

@ImALittlePea that article is behind a pay wall but I'm very interested, what's the SEAT diet? Can you summarise for us? 😎

Oh that's strange, it wasn't behind the pay wall for me but it is now?! 🤔

I managed to catch a quick screen shot of the start of it. The gist is that SEAT stands for 'Stop Eating All the Time' - ie. stop snacking. Obviously an over-simplified explanation. The article goes into interesting detail of how the body works and why our modern tendancy to snack in between meals isn't good for us (and how the big corporations have encouraged us to do so for their own gain). Also why I/F is a bit of an illusion when it comes to weight loss, especially for those who naturally need breakfast, as many people will snack during their eating window which becomes counter-productive, and that instead eating three reasonably-proportioned meals with no snacking in between is enough (and you wouldn't need to calorie count).

Food for thought (pardon the pun 😂)

Sounds interesting. I've never understood the eat how much you want in the eating window. Surely it defeats most of the object? If you eat 2000 calories for example between 12 and 6pm how is that much different to eating 2000 calories spread more evenly over the day? I get the whole release of glycogen and burning fat reserves but does fasting a few extra hours than just vet night really make that much difference? I'd be interested to read some research on it. I use loose IF as a way of controlling my intake rather than thinking about the effects of the fasting itself.

Finishing the day on 1638, slightly over, but I've walked 10.5 miles so I'm ok with a bit extra abs boy was I hungry for dinner today.

I watched a tv programme about IF and I seem to remember the scientist saying that the length of the fast is about allowing your body time to not only digest the food, but then start actually repairing the cells. I think that started after 14 hours, so the longer you go, the better. I agree that it’s not very effective for weight loss if you just cram a ton of extra calories into the eating window. But if you keep the calories the same, and shorten the window, it should help. And of course cutting calories as well as shortening the window is even better.

Ah that's very interesting, thanks @SingaporeSlinky I have to say, I/F works for me better than this SEAT theory alone would, because I no longer have breakfast (thereby saving calories) and I also snack far less than I used to when I did eat three meals a day (again, fewer calories, plus the benefit of not snacking on the digestive system etc). I guess I can relate to what the article was saying about allowing your body to become used to the feeling of being hungry and not necessarily having to 'fix' that feeling with food.

A hard one to discuss when it's locked behind a bloody pay wall though!

Anyway - good day today. Had to vary lunch slightly due to an appointment, so I had the veg with a spoonful of houmous, and then the cup-a-soup half an hour later. Dinner was as planned, plus half a slice of low fat garlic bread and perhaps a dash too much dressing on the salad.. not calorie counted today as I'll be totally guessing on the lasagne front, but definitely under.

Well done everyone for Feb - some really positive stories and supportiveness!

Today I’m still on track
B: omelette with cheese, an apple
L: dahl, rice, kale, broccoli
D: veggie soup, 3 oatcakes, cheese, crudités

long day at work again. Tomorrow I’m on a night shift and I’m never sure how many meals to eat and when?!

I will weigh tomorrow to start WOW with you.
see you in March!!

I think everyone had had a great January and February which are possibly the hardest months with being winter and after Christmas and having half term too. Well done to you all!

I'm ending February on a positive with a shopping delivery booked for tomorrow filled with fruit and veg. I'm determined to get back to proper meals for dinner and have ordered falafel, couscous, pitta bread, fajitas and no biscuits or crisps. I'll have to see how the falafel and fajitas work out calorie wise but my plan is to use loads of veg and go easy on any sour cream and cheese and only have two small wraps. I might do the veg in the air fryer instead of a pan to eliminate the need for oil. The dc have helped come up with the menu for most of the week which is a big achievement in itself. I'm warning myself off the high sugar yogurt next month and will continue with my walking, bouncing and no eating after 6pm at the latest.

Thank you for a supportive February and here's to the spring!

I certainly notice that snacking affects weight loss immediately. 79.15kg yesterday 79.6kg today - and I had two (albeit healthy) snacks last night. Wasn't hungry so it was daft.

SW 88.8 kg
CW 79.6 kg
TW 76kg
I should've recorded yesterday's weight😆

Plan for today: tomato and spring onion omelette for lunch (I'm in Australia so tomatoes aren't extinct here) and Ginger and lemon grass barramundi w stir fry greens and a small serve of rice for dinner. And no snacks!

Delicious Weatherwax I have menu envy! See you all on the March thread!

Hovering within the same 1kg range for the 5th week and realised I'm obviously eating at maintenance level. Bit slow on the uptake sometimes !
50th birthday this week and not at 75kg as I'd hoped but that's ok. Couple of meals out this week so from Monday I'm going to tighten up the rules again as I definitely want to hit TW 74kg before going overseas 28th May. It's completely doable, just need to commit!
NSV lovely old bangle I prised off (barely) last year has just slipped on quite easily. Really pleased as it was a 40th gift from DH. And he's just given me a different one for my 50th which was made me think of digging it out:) so I'm happily jangling in my bangles😁
SW 88.8
TW 74
CW 75.9kg
Well done everyone. Keep going. I've had so many blips so if you have too, remember it IS just a blip and get back on the horse. I didn't dare hope when I started 4 months ago that I'd have lost 13kg by now.