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

[TheRealHousewife]

⭐️Open to previous members as well as new members⭐️

Spring is right around the corner so it’s time to embrace a 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

I didn't this morning but will tomorrow. I have a very sluggish system and the GP has taken bloods because I don't normally have any problems. I'm sure it's just less volume in my gut. A chip barm would no doubt sort things out 😁
Today I want cheese. Melted cheese. So I'm thinking ziti for dinner. I've stocked up on Greek yogurt.
Rest day today and a hot water bottle on the sofa due to period pain. I'm watching tv and wishing I hadn't given up chocolate but also thankful I have otherwise I'd be sat here eating loads.
50 miles so far this week which is good going. Might get on my ball later and must try the weights.

I'll have to read back to remember who has posted what but as always: keep going, you are doing great. A bad day is not a failure, it's being human. Life's for living and cake is part of life as is chocolate etc. A small part of course but not an enemy.

I didn't weigh*

My weight is bouncing all over the place. Sharing to demonstrate that weight loss/maintenance isn’t linear.

1st - 9st 5.8lbs
7th - 9st 9.3lbs
8th - 9st 8.7lbs
9th - 9st 7.9lbs
10th-9st 8.6lbs

I’ve been on point this week and weight still bouncing up. I’ll not be weighing until WOW next week. 🤞

Happy Friday everyone. My intentions this week were to do 3 gym classes and 1 long walk. Couldn’t walk due to snow, so forced myself to do an extra gym class instead. Horrible weather here so drove, did 45 mins LBT class, then just 20 mins spinning and a full supermarket shop since I was in the car. Didn’t want to use the bad weather as an excuse and feel better for it. Hard class today and have a feeling my legs will be aching tomorrow, but I’m on a final push for holiday.

Back to my Greek yoghurt with strawberries today. Dinner will be French onion soup with garlic ciabatta. Will try not to have any snacks today. I was looking back at MFP for this time last year (so with just a few weeks to go before holiday) and I was actually only hitting my 1200 calorie goal about 2 or 3 days out of 7. No wonder I plateaued. Logged way too much chocolate and puddings, which were sending me way over. This time I’m more determined to really push for a few more lbs off.
9st 3 today.
Yesterday was a write-off in terms of calories and sugar. But one day is fine, as long as I knuckle back down.

Got a huge corn fed, free range chicken for Sunday roast. Will weigh everything this time though, as last Sunday I was so hungry I ended up having a massive portion of everything.

@greenspaces4peace gorgeous scenery in your photo!

OK here. Food to plan. Extra snacks yesterday on account of being v hungry after run (pate on oat cakes, and then some cheese later on).

B - blueberries & keffir yoghurt
L - prawns, avocado & leftover roast root veg
D - cod kedgeree, extra spinach & peas & broccoli, less rice. Yum.

This weekend I'll be souping.

Sending positive vibes. Keep drinking water.

Cross post - literally Singapore - well done on exercise today. So interesting that you only lost when following 1200 calories v strictly. Just goes to show the "but it's only 1 slice" "I've earned it" etc etc can hinder weight loss.

@buzzofthebumblebee yes, lots of people say 1200 isn’t enough, but for me, that’s the only way for me to lose (at a rate of 1lb per week, roughly). And that’s with exercise too. It’s quite annoying really, and I’ll have to be careful once I want to maintain, to see how much I can increase by.

To be fair, I think I got a little complacent and started having more ‘treats’ here and there, because once you’ve done it once and think it’s not been a hindrance, it’s like I was subconsciously seeing how far I could push it. I ended up falling in love with the Waitrose sticky toffee puddings and Madagascan vanilla custard 😆 and getting them once a week. I’m being much more sensible this time, because I look back on those food logs and think “if I’d cut out the crap, I could have easily lost another few pounds”.

@SingaporeSlinky @buzzofthebumblebee Im the same. If I eat more than 1100 I gain. I try to eat between 1000-1100 daily. I’m 5ft tall on a good day, disabled and a small frame. It’s tough being consistent unless absolutely weighing everything out which isn’t always possible. It gets tougher to lose the nearer to goal you get too. I lost the most when I did the fast 800 Mediterranean plan for 12 weeks. The weight loss was great but the low calories caused hair loss 😱

My BMR is 1,235 and I do take exercise calories with a little pinch of salt. Because I’ve done long walks recently which have said I’ve burned 1,000 cals, and that’s on top of my usual amount of steps, with school run etc. But I’m pretty sure if I ate 1235 plus over 1000 cals extra on those days, I wouldn’t be maintaining, I’d be gaining.

The oatcakes with pâté sounds lovely buzzofthebumblebee

i am feeling very tired because of 2 rubbish sleeping children and when I’m tired I confuse my signals and feel like I’m hungry all the time even though I’m not. I’ve stuck to my menu apart from a spoonful of coconut plain yogurt after my dinner as I wanted something sweet so decided something creamy would help and the worlds largest portion of sprouts. Haha. Dreading tomorrow due to the sprouts but hoping it will fill me up and hope I don’t snack later. Early dinner with the kids done, now to try to avoid food until bedtime!

Pate very calorific Lionnose but (for now) health benefits - B12 & Vit A & Iron - to fuel my metabolism,& digestive tract more important Well done for restraint on the snacking. Hope you all get better night's sleep.

1200 isn't much at all Singapore or TheReal. Kudos to you both.

Friday evening. Feeling nibbly. Resisting.

@buzzofthebumblebee I keep reading comments about your digestion & metabolism… do you have a specific condition you are trying to manage? Apologies if that’s an invasive question or that you’ve already shared it and I’ve missed it.

I’ve been meaning to share Zoe Nutrition Podcasts all day. I listen and read the transcripts at the same time. Weird I know but it goes in better 😬. They are really good and science based pieces about all aspects of lifestyle, nutrition and gut health. The excellent Professor Tim Spector is joint founder of Zoe (also collected data about Covid) and he knows his stuff as do his guest speakers. PTS advocates for eating a large variety of fruit/vegetables/pulses/legumes/herbs/spices … up to 30 each week. Well worth a listen/read 👍 I’m not affiliated in any way and as a Celiac I’m disallowed from accessing his gut testing/plan that is available. However, all the podcasts and transcripts are freely available.

Thanks for sharing the real housewife, I love things like that and I love your reading and listening at the same time I think I will do the same!

I hadn’t thought about the calories in pate buzz of the bumblebee but agree that the extra nutrients make it worth it.

weekend for me means I have no idea what I’m going to eat. Trying to avoid banana cookies while deciding on what we will all eat for breakfast. (DH still in bed & two kids padding about will probably get grumpy for their breakfast very soon but I’m feeling lazy this morning!)

Good Morning All

You're welcome @Lionnose, happy to share. I’m always either reading, listening or watching something … even when doing jobs 😬

Menu
Meal 2 - Spanish omelette. Pecans
Meal 2 - Chorizo GF Pasta. Chopped apple and blueberries with Greek yoghurt.
Tea, black coffee & water.

Hows everyone? What’s on your menu?

i listen a lot too, it makes housework possible. I don’t think I could face it without listening to an audiobook!

A gain of 100g that I assume is đown to AF as I'm bloated. I am so tired despite a good sleep. I went to bed early and was asleep around 10.30pm and didn't get up until 9. Lots of walking today due to swimming followed by some gardening. Tonight Dd and I are having our Silent Witness catch up night. Without sweets! It's very tempting but I must resist. I might bounce on my ball unless it will annoy Dd.

I've no idea about dinner but leaning towards the ziti I didn't have yesterday. I had butternut squash soup instead. Yesterday I made leek and potato soup and I'll freeze some of that. I now have quite a few healthy things in the freezer and I'll tidy it this weekend as it's messy. My whole house is messy to be fair. I'm a slattern😩

Good morning all! After my not so great weigh-in last weekend I made a real effort this week, and it has paid off, 1 lb loss this week. So I tried to walk every day, and managed about 20 km over the week (I still can't run much due to the knee injury, but that does feel as if it is getting better), which given the snow and all that feels pretty good to me. That does not include walking to work and walking at work (I have a fairly active job). I saw my physio again and she told me that she could see a weight loss, and told me that losing a bit more would definitely help with the knee recovery, so I left that meeting feeling very motivated.
I am also starting to feel that some clothes are feeling a bit looser.
What else? I made sure to batch cook soups and stews last Sunday, and then had them for lunches at work during the week. And I cut down again on the carbs - still have some, but not too much. And also made sure to have breakfast every day (porridge). I completely agree with the not demonizing any type of food, @AutisticLegoLover - I try to have just a little bit of things so stop any cravings.

Anyway, have a great weekend everybody and keep posting - I find this thread very motivating even if I only post occasionally.

SW: 11 st 6 lb
CW: 10 st 12 lb
CW: 10 st 6 lb

Good morning from CA.
Supper will be a mushroom and rice bake, I’ll enter it into my app and portion it out.
B: yogurt and fruit
L: red pepper cup with ham and cheese, cut veggies.
exercise: a steep uphill challenge! New one for me, I’ve done it on my e-bike but never on foot. I’ll do my best to log the altitude change. Same ladies group, not planning it to look like a funeral procession. I’ll do it alone if need be. It’s road/sidewalk so footing not an issue.
dh got a job! Which meant lunch out and decadent dessert. It’s a nice feather in his cap, provincial government bee inspector for the region.

Well done @menomonster it’s great when the effort pays off with a loss on the scales.

@greenspaces4peace good luck for your challenge! I’m sure you’ll more than burn off the dessert, and good news for your DH.

We’re having roast chicken dinner today instead of tomorrow, so I’ve been on a walk to get some calories in the bank. Nearly at 15,000 steps so I’ll enjoy my roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding 🙂

Should come in on about 1200 cals today

262 calorie homemade ziti. All measured and in a size 2 mason cash dish.

So glad you got the loss you deserved @menomonster . I want to be 10 12. Must work harder !!

So I find myself home alone this evening. Bliss! My house also a tip Autistic- but not much I can do about it until dripping roof fixed, decorators finish inside, and I can shift everything back to its place. Half tempted to stay sitting on my backside for the rest of the day. But potentially lethal - I associate sitting / TV / netflix & relaxing with alcohol and snacking. May need to give myself some jobs to do keep busy and away from temptation.

No specific condition @TheRealHousewife - just chronic constipaiton (sorry TMI folks). Nothing to do with my diet, apparently, but just in the mechanics / mobility, hence a kick from dietitian to get all of my gut / liver functioning properly and metabolism fired-up. Sorry for overshare. I don't like to make a big issue about it IRL. But it's really annoying ; )

B - blueberries & yoghurt
L - leftover kedgeree (just as yummy!) with extra mushrooms and spinach
D - no idea - but just cooking for myself !!

Hope your roast chicken is delicious Singapore - same for us tomorrow.

I'm currently working hard to resist the left over smarties and maltesers that didn't fit on DD's birthday cake. I polished off the melted chocolate yesterday and ate a piece of cake today. That's not too bad in the grand scheme but I am struggling to draw the line.
Making veg soup to have this eve.

@SingaporeSlinky and @buzzofthebumblebee thanks! It was only 1 lb but it definitely feels like a move in the right direction.

@greenspaces4peace I am in awe of your challenge!
How lovely to have a group to go with - I am doing most of my walking alone, and I have been thinking that it would be good to have company.

I have a 50th birthday party to go to this evening and then a lunch with extended family tomorrow, could not make the best choices, but it will probably be worth it and I will have to make up for it the rest of the week.

@AutisticLegoLover that dish looks amazing! I can't eat normal pasta as it gives me nausea, but I guess that could be made with lentil/gluten-free pasta too?

So; 3.12 miles. 1 hr 14 minutes. 570 ft elevation. Much much easier than the three of us who had never done it thought it would be.
@menomonster the gal who organizes the walks has strong aggressive political views, which can be easily triggered, so the dynamics can be difficult.
Too bad I’m not consistent with the better food choices.