⭐️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

Good Morning Everyone

Hi @AutisticLegoLover that is a significant loss. You do do a lot of exercise which will burn up a lot of energy/calories. How are you feeling in yourself? We have a sprinkling of snow; not enough for a snow ball fight or a sledge ride unfortunately. Not enough to make the garden picturesque either.

@TheRealHousewife I feel fine. Apart from last night I feel like i have more energy lately, and I sleep well.
Day off of sorts today with my final trip to the dentist for this filling. Then I'm making butternut squash soup, and lentil soup. The snow is due to be heavier mid morning so when I'll be walking to the dentist 🙄

@AutisticLegoLover I’ll let Pea respond on her recent jeans, but I often get mine from H&M because they do them by waist size and in different ankle lengths so I go in and try on loads of pairs. But the ones I like are actually a mixture between jeans and jeggings, so fake front pockets, real back pockets, look like jeans but much softer, and slim fit. Only about £13 iirc.

@ImALittlePea @AutisticLegoLover I quite like m&s jeans, usually go for high waisted skinny ones as they suit my figure best but the have a full range of styles and I find they last well for the price. I wear a size 10 and tbh they're a little on the big side but I find m&s sizing very very generous when it comes to Jeans. I think the same pairs would be a 12 elsewhere
@TheRealHousewife hope you get the blanket of snow soon (if you want it!)
We are praying for rain here, not a drop in 3 months now and endless hot 28 degree + days. As much as I love the sunshine nature is really suffering.

Plan today
Lunch- Quesiladas
Dinner- Roasted Sweet potato, butternut and greens. With some sort of home made salad dressing

I miss Gap for their curvy jeans. Even a standard 30 waist wouldn't fit my thighs. Curvy cut were perfect. Well done on your size 10s though Pea - well deserved.

Psyching myself up for a 10k run. It's so miserable out though.

B - egg & spinach
L - leftover salmon & roast root veg. Made enormous batch yesterday.
D - cod & aubergine/pepper/tomato. More leftovers.

Digestion still at a standstill, despite tailored diet on advice of specialist gut nutritionist. It's really getting me down. They've pared me back completely, so no raw veg, no nuts or pulses or grains, or anything that will aggravate my gut. Just good, basic well-cooked veg for the next 3-4 weeks. No over-the-counter artificial stuff either, as need to get my gut working for itself. My little blip (whole box of dates) hasn't helped either. Sorry folks for overshare. Other than that though I feel great in myself !!

Keep at it everyone.

Good morning all. Day off for me, snow day for DD. These are dangerous days, they tend to lead to cake and snacking. Might look and see if we have ingredients to bake a GF cake.

Anyway.... if no baking happens, the plan is to have left over risotto and salad for lunch and get your greens pasta for dinner.

Dog is loving the white stuff!

Watched Lorraine earlier and saw Dr Amir doing a ‘busting weight loss myths’.

Myth 1 was ‘Intermittent Fasting will help you lose weight’ so I wondered why this would be a myth. In fact he said “there are some benefits to IF - when you do fast, your insulin levels drop, your human growth hormone levels go up, and both of those things mean that your stored body fat is more accessible to metabolise, so you do lose weight that way. IF and fasting in general does promote some cleaning up inside of your body cells, they get rid of damaged proteins…”. The ‘myth’ part seemed to be that he followed this by saying it’s not easy, or sustainable, you’re often hungry for large parts of the day, which can cause headaches and mood swings. Also not advisable for pregnant or breastfeeding women, or children or anyone on insulin.

Have to disagree with this, I got used to IF within a few days and find it very sustainable, never had headaches or mood swings and the benefits are absolutely worth it to me. So not sure he’s proved it’s a myth!

Good Morning Part 2

@AutisticLegoLover Thats good! Don’t want you under par 👍

@Allthegoodnamestakken The snow has arrived! And still falling 🥶 I love what you’re having for lunch … although I struggle to spell it correctly 😬

@buzzofthebumblebee My digestion is very sluggish but it’s due to nerve damage. I totally understand how it can get you down. Hope you find some relief soon!

Lovely photo @ginsparkles . I agree that snow days are dangerous. OH has just asked if we have anything to nibble on … he’s angling for me to bake! If I use regular flour I’ll save myself 😬👍

@SingaporeSlinky I agree with you in disagreeing with the doctors ‘myths’ about IF. I find IF really easy in part due to not being able to face food in the am so I naturally eat in a smaller window. I’ve done it for several years too. I agree about the insulin/blood sugar comments and find that aspect would benefit anyone who ate IF. That said if you were to gobble down 3000 calories whilst IF you would still gain weight.

So MN glitched me this morning while replying to @AutisticLegoLover about the jeans 🤦‍♀️

I got two pairs. The first was Primark's £16 'mom' style high waisted jeans. Tbh, they're probs not the most flattering style ever, but very wearable and do me well for day to day. I've also found this particular type of jean from Primark actually lasts really well, I wear jeans every day and wash/tumble, and the last two pairs have lasted well over a year. Not bad for budget!

Second pair was DKNY from TK Maxx. I don't normally shop there, or do bigger brands, but I have to say these are lovely. They are skinnier and have a bit more stretch, and are far more flattering than the mom jeans.

My go-to used to be Tesco, but since they haven't reopened their changing rooms I haven't shopped there; jeans definitely need trying on and I can't be bothered with the faff of having to take several pairs home to then go back with returns.

Thanks all for the NSV cheering - it's given me a(bother) much needed boost out of the doldrums. Very much of the attitude that tomorrow's weigh in will be what it is, and I'll move on from there. DH and I are away for a night at the end of the month so now is the time to focus to trim off a couple more lb if I can!

Today's meals:
Lunch - cup-a-soup, dairylea triangle and some crispbreads
Dinner - risotto

@SingaporeSlinky that's really interesting, thank you for sharing. Also agree that it wasn't really debunked as a myth using that argument! 🤷‍♀️

@TheRealHousewife ooooh I can see the gif! They was me on Sunday 🥴

@ImALittlePea thank you, that's reminded me that I have some DKNY jeans somewhere in the loft that I brought back from New York 20 years ago. I think they were a US7 so a ?9 here if we did odd numbers which I wish we did. No matter what I weigh I'd wheats be the 9, 11, or 13 rather than 8, 10, 12, 14. I wish M&S still did 10-12 instead of 8-10 too small and 12-14 a bit big. I last word rose jeans 6 weeks after dd2 was born. I'll see if I can find them. I loved them so much.

It's so cold out there and I've already been out 3 times. I really don't want to do the school hike today. Af turned up and I want to hibernate in bed or at least on the sofa with Murder, She Wrote or similar. Ah well, off I go.

Catch up properly later.

Well my rest day has gone to pot. I’ve had biscuits with coffee, more coffee, crisps, more coffee, buttered toast and 2 Kit Kats. I’ve ended the day on about 1800 cals.
Have booked onto a class tomorrow to try and make sure I’m back into a deficit. Tomorrow is a new day.

Evening all

very interesting to read about the jeans. I have some hush trousers and they are very generous! They are a size 10 and there is no way I’d be wearing a 10 in any other brand. They are really comfortable. I will have to have a look at the primark & M&S jeans as I really need some new ones. I have one pair that fit ok but they are a few years old Betty Barclay ones. Their style has changed now so I can’t get another pair. Always seems to happen when you find something you like, they change it just when you need a new one!

today has been lovely but not great diet wise. I think I managed to stay away from processed food but too much picking. Glad I avoided it tonight other than a tiny bit of plain yogurt left over from making my lunchbox for tomorrow.

I had avo toast, massaman curry with sprouts. Random but very tasty & veg stir fry. But snacked on too many dried cherries and almonds and ate my sons leftover stir fry. Need to try to eat more fruit and veg tomorrow. although on the plus side my watch says I’ve burned 748cals today.

Overnight oats in the morning tomorrow followed by a picnic lunch which isn’t great but I struggled to find food to make a packed lunch as I wasn’t expecting to be out tomorrow (last min plan to meet a friend) but hopefully I’ll be busy all day and therefore won’t snack too much. Will take coffee and water for the long journey (1.5hrs each way with a 1 year old) Hoping that avoiding processed food and snacking less will show a loss next week and I can slowly try other things (keeping an eye on cals/ IF) at a later date.

I feel you @SingaporeSlinky there is still birthday cake in our house and it is difficult to resist !
well done @ImALittlePea great achievement!
love the pic @ginsparkles my dogs have never seen snow. Not sure what they would make of it!
‘amazing loss @AutisticLegoLover I would love to be where you are!
hope you resisted the cake @TheRealHousewife
@buzzofthebumblebee i also have digestion issues , I hope your new eating regime does what you need . Good luck with it!
i still need to lose a kilo of the weight I put on while away. There are many birthdays in march which makes things difficult.
i think it is fair to say I am in a bit of a slump. I need an attitude change!
does anyone have any good tips about coping with lots of socialising and house guests whilst also trying to eat well? I find it really difficult, especially when everyone else is eating and drinking with abandon 🙄

Can I ask you which diet are you doing please? Thank you.

Today I had a healthy breakfast, then I had crisps between meals, I had frozen pizza as a meal and ice cream for dessert. It can't be worst... I dont knowwhy I can't control myself. I wasn't hungry, I was just feeling anxious and when I think about doing low carbs I can't stop thinking about carbs and I ended up eating a lot.

@GoldenFarfalle basically the eat less move more diet. Not a diet really, just a healthier lifestyle. I walk a lot anyway out of necessity (9.5 miles today) and once a week I bounce on a gym ball for an hour or two whilst watching tv. Breakfast is porridge with semi skimmed milk, chia seeds and golden syrup. Lunch is proper 0% fat Greek yogurt with a cherry compote type thing made with frozen cherries boiled up with a little sugar. Or oatcakes, or crackers with babybels and an apple, Dinner is homemade veggie soup, or pasta with homemade marinara sauce and cheese and veg, or falafel, or veg fajitas, homemade pizza and chips, veggie burger and a few chips, veg lasagne, ziti. Sometimes for a rate treat a chip barm from the chippy. I don't eat typical diet food, I eat normal food but smaller portions than I did. Snacks tend to be those jumbo snackajacks, babybels, fruit, I generally don't eat after I've had dinner between 5 and 6pm. I don't drink alcohol unless it's Christmas and have given up chocolate for lent. I don't eat out either. I try to drink plenty of water and apart from tea in the mornings water is all I drink but that's been the case for years, it's nothing new.

I don't believe in demonising food. Carbs are good in my book. Moderation is key as is keeping active. I love pizza and pasta. And ice cream although I don't eat ice cream much now. I would happily but it's gone up massively in price lately.

There were several women and dogs on the walk…took over two hours what easily could be done in half that time. My Apple Watch kept thinking the exercise was over!
it’s a trail I’ve not been on for a long while so pleased I didn’t go alone.
one slippery section but I have spiked boots and a pole to help.
sadly a disappointing calorie burn.
foods fine, although very behind in fluids.
I’ll get on that asap.

@greenspaces4peace that looks beautiful! your pup must enjoy having so much space also. I have added a long dog walk to my list of things to do this weekend I used to do at least 1 long walk every week but have really got out the habit lately.
Office day today so I have breakfast as by the time i've cycled here i'm starving
B- Branflakes, fresh and dried fruit
L- My office day treat ham and cheese sandwich
D- I am out for dinner so unsure yet but will try my best to make good choices

Scales where back down to 65.5 today so thankfully my 2kg gain was just water retention from the wine.

Also @AutisticLegoLover I love your outlook on not demonizing food, I am doing similar and nothing is off the cards, I eat pasta once a week minimum usually have pizza at some point to. If I can do it within a sensible amount of calories i'll eat it!
I find 'diet' culture very toxic with all the rules and it never works for me so glad I found this thread where everyone just gets on with what works for them. In real life I am a bit sick of friends saying ooohh pizza though you where on a diet or no no we can't have pudding where on a diet etc.

@greenspaces4peace that looks so beautiful. I have some snow this morning but not much. Not enough for school to close. I'm sure half the country is at a standstill. Our officials need to spend time in Canada and realise what real snow actually is and how to deal with it.

@Allthegoodnamestakken that's why I haven't told anyone I'm trying to lose weight and also because I don't want my children to witness any weirdness around food outside of our existing restrictions. @GoldenFarfalle I weigh everything and work it into a calorie allowance based on my tdee. My allowance is 1620 although that's based on a few kilos ago but I'm still losing weight so I'll keep going on this allowance. I'm able to eat a good amount. I'm usually hungry when I go to bed but I ignore it because I'm never ravenous when I wake up so I figure I can't be that hungry at bedtime, more just wanting to eat something.

Nice surprise for me today, just under 1lb off!? So at the bottom of my current yo-yo 😄 very happy with that; just need to figure out how to get off the current range and drop another 3-4lb. A loss 3.5lb will take me to the 2 stone loss mark (since starting Jan 2022), and 4.5 takes me to the 9 1/2 place - will be happy with that yo-yo range, please and thank you!

Got my night away at the end of March, followed by my birthday and the Easter holidays, so if I can hyper-focus until then and get a bit more off, it gives me a bit of wiggle room for all of that.

Agree, lovely pic @greenspaces4peace not a whiff of snow where I am; DS is disappointed, me - not so much 😂

More spring in my step today, buoyed by the result of course, stuck to my plan yesterday and had a great dance class last night. Over 10k steps again for the day.

Today isn't really an on-plan day (despite my intentions above) because of plans..
Lunch - 1/2 a small pizza, small handful of chips, salad (if it isn't manky by now)
Dinner - out tonight with old colleagues so it's going to be a cheap and cheerful meal out, and a few drinks, but already booked my train home at an earlier time than normal as I have a shift tomorrow 😄 (one of my colleagues and I have a habit of missing ALL the trains and then having to get a £50+ taxi home at 2am on these nights out, so I've already warned her we're leaving at 10pm or else 🤣)

Happy Friday all 💗

Good Morning All

@greenspaces4peace Looks fabulous!

@SingaporeSlinky Youll soon be back to it. Start afresh today 👍

@Ninjachicken I did resist! Only because I didn’t make one 😬 To appease his lordship I’m doing a Baked Oat & Blueberry Pot in the Airfryer late morning for a brunch for both of us. Like a lot of these oat recipes it is calorific but I’ve juggled it about a bit and got it down to 275 calories for a small pot. Will have with a tbs fresh cream and 100g of Greek yogurt = 442 calories. In regards to house guests I generally concentrate on keeping everyone fed and watered and don’t really partake in over indulging. If a sit down meal I’ll just serve myself less and perhaps miss/reduce the carby aspects.

@GoldenFarfalle Sorry to read you’re struggling. Is there anyone to share your anxieties with? Can you access counselling? It’s really important to address any emotional issues you may have and find ways that don’t involve self soothing with food to comfort yourself. Easy to write down but it is tough to get down to the nitty gritty in real life. Please reach out. It will be so beneficial for your health and well-being in the long term ❤️

I totally agree with @AutisticLegoLover and I’ve said it many times on these threads that I don’t believe in demonising any food. Moderation and portion control is the way to go 👍

@ImALittlePea Nice Friday loss 👍👏🥇

So yesterday was ok, a few sweets and a hot chocolate, a big long walk to compensate and I finished my book!!

Weigh in up 3lb but to be expected after tooth, night away and girls trip to rocky horror. So this week time to knuckle down!

Salad at lunch and chicken with Mexican rice for dinner. Another snow day but DD is at her Grandparents and DH and I both at work. Ddog gets a well earned snooze!

Checking in and reading along, but things are a bit mad over here so won't post for a couple of days.

GoldenFarfalle I have similar issues with restriction/bingeing. It's still very much a work in progress but I'm getting closer to a healthy mindset, even if I can't always put it into practice yet. The ladies on here are so sensible and supportive about food, so keep reading what they say! 😊