Louise Parker fans - fancy another spin?

[BatFaceOwl]

I've set up a new thread because I'd just lost track of the last one and well .. we all love a fresh start dont we?

For accountability purposes, I've put back on all the weight I lost last year. Every single lb

Currently a chubby size 14 and well, I'm not happy about it

I don't know why I lost focus but I do know I really really want to get back on the horse and I'd love to see my old pals on here

Anyone welcome of course / let's do this!

Hi @christine1521 , meal planning with family is a little tougher, I agree with you, cooking several different meals is NOT sustainable. My family are thankfully relatively unfussy, plus I don't allow them to be 😂, so main meal wise I do a LP recipe and add a side of potato wedges, or rice or something for them, or I cook from a different book and remove or replace the element that's not on method for me. Lunches I tend to just chose a couple of salads that I want to try and make up enough for 2 or 3 days at a time so I'm not constantly prepping. Sometimes the others have some, sometimes they have sandwiches etc.

I am not the best example of LP right now, had a couple of days of wallowing in chocolate and alcohol for reasons I wont bore you all with but I need to get my butt back in the circle RIGHT NOW!

How's Easter been for everyone? Period started for me and/so I've been starving for white carbs .

🤨🫣😬🤐🤐🤐

Well, Easter has been a nightmare. Is it unethical to chuck out chocolate simply because you can’t bear the sight of it?

I meal planned last week and spent a load of money on groceries and now I feel like I have nothing “in the circle” to eat. It’s all magical disappeared. I’m going to prep some Bircher for the next few days tonight and try to invent a salad of some sort, or maybe a frittata for lunches. Dinners? Who knows?

Nah but if there's a food bank and stuff is in date and wrapped that might help you feeling ethical about getting rid. Or just bin.

Probs bedtime soon. I'm struggling with mindless grazing presently.

Hi all, I've been lurking from way over in the US can't find anyone here who knows who Louise Parker is! I just wanted to add about Easter I intentionally stepped out of the circle yesterday to make a small dessert I found on BBC Good Food-- it was one of the lower sugar ones I could find (and had coconut and carrot, so I decided it was health food).

I'm on week four but know I'll need more than 6 weeks. Coming up in May we have Mother's Day over here, plus our anniversary and then my daughter's high school graduation-- all within one week. At the end of the week we leave for Hawaii.

I figure I can stay in the circle as much as I can but then take a tiny step out to enjoy a celebration.

I did absolutely NO "loose" candy for the kids' baskets this year. (Such as filling plastic eggs, which I have no idea if that is done in the UK.) I just bought already portioned candy and called it a day.

Glad to finally have joined. I've been reading here for awhile.

Hi @MisshapenHat! I’m an American expat living in the U.K. I started LPM while living in the US and it was fairly unheard of. Well done on 4 weeks in the circle!

(plastic filled eggs are relatively new and not very common; although you can find them. We did them and filled with wrapped mini dairy milk chocolates)

I actually find that Mother’s Day is more of treat when we do something “healthy”, so I ask for avocado toast instead of eggs Benedict or waffles and we go out for a walk either in the countryside or at the botanical gardens. Remember Mother’s Day is actually about you, so make it a great day for yourself 🥰

Hi all, having been all over the place in he lead up to Easter, Easter weekend itself was actually ok. We are not big on the whole chocolate for Easter thing in our house so that helps. Kids had 3 eggs each from other family members, and my Mum brought round some chocolates for me and DH. I took some out of the box on Sunday, put them on the table, made myself a cup of tea and told myself to leave them for 20 minutes to help decide if I really wanted them. I rode that wave, realised I could cope with it, put them back in the box and moved the whole box to DHs study where they remain.

Yesterday was out with family and friends, we took packed lunches so that was easy, I had a box of salad in mine. I managed to get round the moment when everyone else decided they needed cake at the cafe by just having a coffee. Had had a cooked breakfast and then in evening DH cooked curry, no rice on my plate. Had a snack of nuts and raisins (ok technically raisins not on method but that was my compromise!)

Now to keep that momentum going....

Well done @ElvenDreamer for avoiding the “oooh, shall we have some cake?” ritual. I think it’s some culturally-ingrained requirement any time you’re at a National Trust estate 😆

This was my first full day in the circle and I feel awful. Perhaps sugar withdrawal? I felt great until lunchtime when it all went downhill.

Breakfast: Deliciously Ella Bircher muesli with yogurt and a chopped strawberry
snack: oatcakes with sweetened lightest Philadelphia and banana slices (kids gave this a 10/10!)
lunch: “my chop chop salad” with pineapple instead of yellow pepper because I did not read the recipe correctly 😂
snack: 1/2 a deliciously Ella snack bar, not exactly on method but close enough and it was there and was not Easter chocolate
dinner: LP-style bubble and squeak

I also drank loads of water and didn’t have any sugar in my tea. Hopefully tomorrow feels better.

Ahh, I think I need to move in with you in the UK, @christine1521 . I'd actually be in much more trouble, chocolate-wise, if I lived overseas, with Cadbury and Ritter Sports and Haribos much cheaper than what we pay here. Every time we've headed to Europe, it's like an all-you-can-eat chocolate buffet for me.

I know I'm doing well...somewhere between 4-5 pounds lost total (in my fourth week), but at this rate, I would have only lost 6 pounds in six weeks. Six pounds is more than I ever thought possible (if I'm honest) and I maybe needed only to lose 10-12...I guess I shall keep going until I've hit 10. If I'm honest, there's some secret part of me that thought I could hit the 10 pounds down in six weeks.

As for Mother's Day- you're right. I just need to tell them, please, please no chocolate, gin or Pimms this year. I live in Arizona, so it usually hits 100F/37C right around Mother's Day each year, so outdoor activities are typically over. It is 96/35C today and I'm not looking forward to summer.

Oh guys, I need a hand hold. I've been massively kidding myself these last few weeks. Just put on a pair of work trousers which are frankly normally a little generously sized and they were so tight they showed every last underwear line etc I wanted to cry. Instead I have changed, hidden the offending trousers and am trying to pretend all is ok in front of the kids. I NEED to do this and get it right this time. Day 1 anyone? I will report back tonight, and this time I'm not just going to focus on food, I need to nail it this time. I'm sick of being a shadow of my former self. (wrong analogy given I'm twice the size of my former self, but you get my drift.)

I’ve been lurking but-Yes, yes, yes to a Day One.
I need to start and do this!

@ElvenDreamer I haven't posted on this thread but I just wanted to say that you are being really hard on yourself. Reading between the lines you have children (that you probably put above everything else), a job and other responsibilities. It just sounds like you need to prioritise yourself a bit more, carve out some time to care for yourself as well as other people.

You don't need to get it right all the time, just be consistent about 80% of the time. You can get back to your old self or a new improved version!

I lost 3 stone last year by keeping it really simple; nice food that I like to eat (I like some LP recipes) but in a consistent calorie deficit and walking for 1 hour a day. That's it. Anything else (2l water, eating uber-healthily etc.) was a bonus. It really helped me to simplify it to just 2 things that were manageable.

Good luck. Time to put you first.

@ElvenDreamer here is a handhold. As well as what @TheOriginalMrsMoss says about being hard on yourself (which you are as it sounds like you've been dealing with a lot), is it worth going back to prep week and thinking about the whys and hows? I neglected this for a good whack of my initial 6wks last may which was daft in retrospect.
Are you planning on doing lpm exercise or something else? I really had to work out when I could fit exercise in but it's so good for stress once you get your head round starting!
One day at a time with good vanilla paste at the ready !!!

@ElvenDreamer I think most of us probably were (are?) where you are. I had that moment...five weeks ago. I thought I hadn't been gaining weight (the scale, which was higher than I liked, hadn't budged). No...I was gaining tons of fat, lost muscle, and the inches were bigger than ever. I was holding pants together with hair ties.

I get it. We really all do.

I'm on the beginning of week five. I've lost five pounds, which makes me feel happy. But...I feel better eating better food, not giving into sugar/carbs.

Find foods you like and eat smaller portions. Always think of protein and find some sort of exercise you enjoy doing.

Me? I do an app called the FitBody app, which I bring to the gym with me. It's more weight lifting than I've done in forever, but it works. I also alternate with Rosemary Conley videos on YouTube. I like the music, the pace and her attitude.

But you have to find something YOU like doing otherwise it won't be sustainable. Same things with eating...you have to find a way to enjoy what you're eating.

For me, this feels sustainable and I can see myself doing it in years to come.

Just restart. Don't wait. Do what you can today. You can do it!

Oh @ElvenDreamer we are here for you!

I've been dicking around too and today is my one hundredth day one so I'm with ya. We really are mumsnet's shittest dieting group aren't we? 😀

Chin up and let's just get on with this. It's doing us no good at all to keep fucking around

Thank you everyone, you've all made me smile, I felt like crap this morning I can tell you. But I'm not sure what I expected really, eating lovely method meals, doing a little (but not much more than that) exercise, then eating an entire chocolate orange in 1 sitting washed down with a GnT in the name of self care was never going to work!
So, back in the circle, and all guns blazing I hope!

Today's food:
Eggs & avocado on toast
Bean dip with vegetable sticks and a pitta
Banana on oat cakes
Fish and vegetable traybake

A little bread heavy as I'd planned lunch but breakfast was a whim and I hadn't joined the dots at that point...

Morning out teaching then took 20 mins with an exercise app before lunch.

Going to make myself some bircher ready for morning now, and go to bed early so I don't succumb to the evening snaxident situation.

Let's do this, raise a glass of water (and a bottle of GOOD vanilla paste) here's to prep week, day 1, or wherever you're personally at, and beyond into sustainability.

I have a question please. Have seen some amazing losses on these LP threads. Have started a few times, but then if I don't stick to the exact recipes in the books I consider myself off plan and like I've messed up.

You all seem like you're roughly following LP, but really it boils down to you just eating sensibly. Would you say that's right? I feel like on the whole I eat healthily/well, but I just can't lose weight - so can't tell where I'm going wrong (& you're going right).

@Alicay I get where you're coming from! I am EXTREMELY literal and tend to think, "This is how it's written so I have to follow it that way." (Oddly enough, the one place in my life I don't believe that? Recipes.)

To me, it is more about no sugar (for now), and each meal should be about protein and veggies. I use her cookbooks as a guide, but I happily shake things up.

Tonight, for example, I'm feeling like making Tex-Mex. I will do shredded chicken (with tons of seasoning- I think that's were LP is off- she needs more seasonings@), some veggies (bell pepper, tomatoes) and I'm considering making a chickpea queso I saw online.

Watch your portions. Make sure you're not going into a meal starving. Keep the sugars and the high GI-carbs out. You can do it!

Alicay- I think it sort of depends what you are changing. The portion size is important - the reason you don't need to count calories is that that's basically been worked out by reference to portions. pThere's a bit in one of the books which sets out the important bits of the recipe e.g. swapping my coriander out for something less disgusting (to me) is ok if you swap for mint but not if you swap for cheese. (I like a ridiculous example).

If you are not exactly following a recipe because you are putting in more seasoning like @MisshapenHat is you'll be grand; I would say measurements of oils are extremely important because of calorie density - it's easy to go olive oil happy and double a calorie count- portion size of the protein also but salad and veg probably less so.
But the main thing I'd say is don't give up because you think something is off plan. That's not method!!! (I am a cult member and proud).
It's one meal. It doesn't have to spell disaster !!

Or - rereading your post... Do you mean you are not using the recipes and eating other things because that's fine too if you are balancing your meal in a similar way to the recipes and keeping portions similar.

@Megasaur5keeper GOod point. I really should be measuring my oils. I'm the Muppet's Swedish Chef of olive oil. Will actually measure tonight.

Evening all,
Today's food:
A blueberry bircher
Peanut butter and apple on oat cakes
A slice of cheese
Vegetable sticks, pitta and butterbean dip
Cheese on oatcakes
Cauliflower curry (flatbreads added for family!)

On balance ok, snacks were a bit samey with oat cakes twice and the random extra slice of cheese. I'm still quite hungry this evening so may need one more small snack, not sure what that will be yet.

Did a pilates class this morning, was a tough one too, probably why I'm so hungry 😂

Reading the last few comments I agree that overdoing olive oil is definitely easily done, portion sizes generally to be fair, eg I find 'nuts' as a snack can easily become 3 handfuls if I'm not concentrating. Also, don't neglect the exercise and water.
How's everyone doing?

Thanks for the info/encouragement. Noted about the olive oil - I use industrial quantities. I'm eating meals that aren't on the plan - I'll go back and try to balance them according to LPM a bit more.
Perhaps being a bit more zen about eating is more important than trying to take the (doomed) military approach.
i'm going to take a few notes on what you're all eating - the daily meal notes are very useful.