⭐️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 👍

@SingaporeSlinky we do have ham, but I don't really like it. Protein is a good shout though, I might have an omelette with the jacket potato 👍

(And thank you!)

@TheRealHousewife forgot to say well done to you for your 1lb. Like you say, at your weight that’s a good result as you are IIRC mostly trying to maintain.
Can I ask, when you post your meals for the day, do you ever snack in between? Or is what you write out actually all you eat?

I finished the bingo despite those big numbers! I'm feeling quite pleased with myself today

The vibe on here is so positive this week even those who haven't had losses are upbeat and staying strong. I'm feeling quite emotional about it all. Must be my hormones making me soppy!

@ImALittlePea - good luck at trial job. Omelette a good shout. So obsessed by food I can't think apart from the obvious (for me!) = nuts, fruit & yoghurt, apple & peanut butter, almond butter on crackers etc

@SingaporeSlinky - perhaps gym sessions are converting fat to muscle, so no actual loss on scales, but a stronger, leaner, healthier you ? In which case you will probably need to maintain calorie intake to keep feeling this new fired-up muscle, and hope a whoosh will happen soon. How do your clothes fit?

@TheRealHousewife - thx for top tips. I'm not short of any of those things - but surely can't over-do? I def need to learn to relax generally though, de-clench my tummy (I'm sure it's not normal to constantly hold my tummy in) and sing Let It Go... ; )

@AutisticLegoLover - sending you a big squeeze, awwwww!!

Just updated MFP before getting ready for the shift - assuming nothing else passes my lips tonight then I'm ending on 1160 cals for the day. I had a bowl of Greek yoghurt and fruit after my lunch earlier, and had the omelette with dinner tonight. Just realised I've only had two teas today so far as well, which is very light for me! Feels like a well rounded day nutritionally, now for the steps! Wish I had a Fitbit or Garmin to track them 😆

Hi please can I join? I'm determined to get this weight off and think this thread will be super helpful.

I am doing the Fast 800, started beginning of January and aiming to go to end of February when I have several social activities and a couple of nights in Paris so I think I'll move onto doing 5 days of 800 and 2 days of non calorie counting.

I'm 5ft 6in
My starting weight was 12st 6
Today's weight is 11st 10
Target weight is 10st (anything in the 9st bracket would be a bonus)

Today's food:

Breakfast Berries, chia, Greek yoghurt
Lunch Fast 800 shake (Salted Caramel)
Dinner Scrambled eggs, cheese, broccoli, spinach
Snack Square of dark chocolate
Drinks loads of water. 4 cups of tea

Calories 810

I struggle to exercise as I have ME but have managed 2 slow walks (one to do school run) and 10 minutes of yoga with 20 squats at the end

Forgot to mention I am also doing TRE (16:8)

Cheesed off! Have put 1.4 lbs on since last Weds and have been sticking to 1200 cals per day!

WOW! (Bit late today!)

SW: 66kg
CW: 65.2kg
TW: 60kg

I've been poorly all week with laryngitis and comfort eaten crisps and drank brandy to try to get my voice back (any excuse!!!).

Must try harder.....

@buzzofthebumblebee no change in how my clothes fit, for now. I do feel lighter, which sounds weird. It’s probably not feeling bloated I suppose.

Today I weighed out my Greek yoghurt, granola, strawberries and seeds just to make sure I’ve not been increasing my portions without realising. Whole thing came to 444 cals. I’ve had 1 coffee with milk and sugar, 1 green tea, and water. So I have plenty of calories left for dinner, which will be pasta bake.

I don’t think I’m building enough muscle for it to be cancelling out any fat loss, weight wise. I’m wondering if the sugary coffees and chocolate was enough to just stop the ketosis thing, because every time I’d start fat burning, I was refuelling with sugar and hindering the process (maybe?).

@ImALittlePea I hope you enjoy your trial shift and that it goes well.

Welcome to the newcomers, I hope you find this a great thread.

No loss for me this week and still not under the 10 stone but have felt I’ve had an indulgent week in my eating window and no regrets! Have been doing a bit of exercise which is my February goal.

SW: 146 lbs
CW: 141 lbs
GW: 132 lbs

Evening All 👍

@SingaporeSlinky Snack? No not really. Perhaps very occasionally if someone offers a crisp or chocolate I might take one. On the whole I try to eat enough protein with each meal that it sustains me to either my next meal or the following day. If I say so myself I’m in a pretty robust routine and way of eating. I don’t expend a lot of energy due to not being as active as I once was. I move as much as I can though 👍

@afrikat Welcome to the thread. The plan you have outlined appears to be successful so far … 10lbs lost this year so far! Well done 👏 Paris in spring (nearly Spring 😬), how lovely 🥰.

@Shortkiwi I hear your frustration! We all have to remember that unfortunately weight isn’t static and it has natural fluctuations. Look at the long term and if the trajectory is downwards overall you're winning 👍

@ndo4000 Well done on your loss. Sorry to read you’ve been poorly. Wishing you a speedy recovery!

@SingaporeSlinky Sugary coffee and chocolate could be problematic. Depends how much of each you are having. It takes a surprisingly small amount of calories over our TDEE to gain. Moderation is key 😬

@Aftertheharvest Some weeks we don’t lose, especially if we let the reins go. Like you say, don’t regret it having enjoyed it and tomorrow is another fresh start 👍

I’ve come to bed early as feel under par. Hoping for a good sleep and looking forward to waking refreshed tomorrow 🙏

@TheRealHousewife wow that’s amazing that you don’t snack. I guess it gets easier as you get used to it, but I’ve always been a snacker. Must try harder.

I’ve been having some chocolate probably every other day. It’s probably too much sugar in the coffee too, I have a sweet tooth so 1 very heaped teaspoon.

Gah, forgot to weigh this morning. Not expecting a loss, I overindulged at the weekend again as we were at a big party.

But I have adjusted my nutracheck goals to give me fewer calories in the week and more at the weekend (but the same overall for the week.

Aside from forgetting to weigh myself I started off my 'week' well

B - boiled egg, toast, hot water with lemon

L - low calorie home made tomato and lentil soup, few pieces of cooked chicken, satsuma

D - potato, kale, broad bean, chorizo dish we do in the pressure cooker.

That's all come in at less than 1000 calories so far, so I'll have a protein-y snack later on.

Completed a Les mills Core class and walked wrong the block a couple of times at work.

Off to catch up on the thread!

@SingaporeSlinky It’s true. I really ought to weigh a lot less; no such luck thanks to under-active thyroid, inactivity, menopause, poor muscle tone … < These were the reasons I got to 12st + in the first place. Now I eat between 1000 - 1100 cals daily and I’m still dropping, albeit slowly 👍

@WhatWouldTheDoctorDo Your lunch and dinner menu sounds right up my street 😋

so many positive messages and great progress today!
i have put myself in the corner with my overnight oats @Cloudberries123 😂
hope you feel better in the morning @TheRealHousewife

I’m right by your side @TheRealHousewife slow but enjoying the challenge most days.
yesterday was a dental day; 3 very old fillings redone. I requested drugs and it was perfect! I remember zero, dh obviously guided me about like a limp rag doll but highly recommend it over being “brave”.

Good morning all!
60.4kg today. It's moving well now this weight.
Hope the sleep did the trick@TheRealHousewife

@ImALittlePea how the shift? Hope I've got the right person!

@greenspaces4peace they give drugs in Canada for fillings? I got novocaine last week and that was all. It was a lot of drilling because the tooth had decayed at the side of the temporary filling. It was supposed to be just a chip they were refilling but it's turned into an infill. I wish they offered good drugs here! I'm glad you had a good experience though as 3 fillings sound very traumatic.

If anyone hasn't looked at Happy Scale yet I highly recommend it. The graph is great and really motivating. You can choose from different colour schemes and change various things but the happy scale graph is my favourite thing about it. It makes a small amount of weight loss look huge and you can see the lovely downward progression and when you will hit your target. You can split your target into as many as 10 steps so that each step feels achievable and it gives you a percentage of how much of your goal you've achieved so far. I'll attach mine. I only downloaded it this last week so there's not much data on there yet but what is on there is very encouraging. It's free too.

My oats and chia are soaking. I'm still getting up early to have peace but ds has cordoned on to this and now wakes up as soon as I sit down with a cup of tea. He's playing on his DS quietly so he is sill allowing me some peace bless him.

I hope everyone has a fab day and keeps up the good habits. You all eat so much better than me but then I have my restrictions due to autism and being veggie so my choices are limited. Why can't I have an aversion to chocolate or crisps instead of eggs and raw tomatoes? I like the taste of eggs but they just make me want to vomit. Even in cake and biscuits if I can taste them. I bought some vegan pancake shake in the bottle mix from Asda yesterday and will see what that is like. I make banana pancakes otherwise. I love pancakes with banana and copious amounts of maple flavour golden syrup. Pancake day is coming 🥰

Ah AutisticLegoLover reading about pancakes before I've had breakfast has got me drooling! 😁 I might have to make some over the next few days. I'm that odd person who grew up having savoury pancakes as well as the usual jam/lemon and sugar, so sometimes I'll crave a pancake with cheese on, or tuna and salad!

I was at a social thing last night and am proud that I chose a low-calorie dessert option and a cup of tea instead of booze. Still was lovely and indulgent but I was realistic about the large dinner I'd already had at home, and that felt good.

Today;

Breakfast - coffee, eggs, sourdough toast

Work snacks - banana, satsuma, water

Lunch - might end up being café food as I'm out then

Dinner - tbc

Have a good day everyone and especially to anyone weighing/measuring x

@AutisticLegoLover I’ve never had drugs before and thought no harm in asking. He prescribed me 2x2.5 mg of Haldol (I think it’s an antipsychotic) 1 hr before. I was out within 30 minutes and remember almost nothing.
lots of dentists here offer sedation dentistry. I can’t find a family Dr. for love nor money BUT excellent dentists all over town.

@Cloudberries123 an ex-boyfriend of mine loved cheese and onion pancakes. I used to make them for him every time he visited. I never tried one though. He was over 6ft and skinny as a rake and would eat at least 4 fully loaded cheese and onion pancakes. 3 cheeseburgers from McDonald's plus a milkshake were a regular thing. I dread to think what his cholesterol is like these days. He'll be 48/50 now so middle age has probably caught up with him. He was an abusive shit so I hope it has.

Thursday again. It's a busy day usually but less so today because mum doesn't have physio this time. Ds has swimming and we get you have a beautiful walk from the train station down a big gorge with a river and weirs and ruined mills. It's amazing. We even saw a fish trying to jump up the weir once. There's rabbits and a variety of wildlife to be found if you are lucky. There's lots of pieces of old pottery in the river and under the bridge arches to find and ds found an amazing and quite big fossil whilst paddling. I sent photos to the natural history museum and they replied telling us all about the fossil.

Ahh shame SingaporeSlinky - wishful thinking ; ) But you HAVE to be doing something right. Due for a whoosh I am sure.

Hope you had a good sleep and wake up brighter today TheRealHousewife.

My food plan for today:

B - run then home for eggs & spinach on sourdough
L - home made chicken soup
D - salmon, roast veggies, brown rice
S - berries & yoghurt

I was down another 1lb this morning - also daily weigh - but given state of digestion I really don't know where I am weight wise. But so long as it goes down between the ups, then overall trend is the right one.

Have a good day everyone. Warming cups of tea / herbals instead of calorific snacks ; ). Think of the longer term goals of looking - and feeling - FABULOUS come the summer

Good Morning All

@Ninjachicken Thank you.

Hi @greenspaces4peace Hope you’re feeling ok after your dentist trip ❤️

@AutisticLegoLover Happy Scale is great! Love your display! Your walking route today sound idyllic… seeing fish jump upstream is awesome! Enjoy!

@Cloudberries123 Well done on making healthy choices and like you say you still had a good time 👍

I’ve not posted links for a while. I’ll re-post NHS Lose Weight and NHS Fitness Studio for those who would like a refresher.

Menu

Meal 1 - Halloumi Stir Fry.
Meal 2 - Chorizo, Chicken and Mushroom Pasta in a spicy tomato sauce.
Tea, Black Coffee and Water.

Exercise
Session 1 - Yoga
Session 2 - Walking Video if time/energy permits.

Whatever you are doing enjoy your day, the weekend is around the corner 👍

Cross posted with you there @buzzofthebumblebee Thank you. I did get a better night and feel ok, definitely better than yesterday! Your menu sounds delicious 😋 And a big well done on your loss! I agree, imagine looking fabulous in your spring/summer wardrobe and just loving life!