Who is up for 40 good days on plan before the summer hols

[thenewaveragebear1983]

My goal this year was to lose 23lbs in 2023, and prior to coming away on whitsun holiday I had lost around 14 of those… I dread to think how many I have regained while I’ve been away but 🤦‍♀️

Anyway- I turn 40 about 6 weeks after I get back, and this is my final strong push. I’m challenging myself to have 40 good days on plan before I turn 40, which conveniently ties in with the dc breaking up from school and our summer holiday.
the plan:

• I am going to try to cut UPF out of my diet completely
• try to reduce alcohol down to a very occasional drink.
• I already exercise a fair bit but I’m going to do a specific 30 days programme alongside my running and classes.
• i need to control my portion sizes, my snacking, and my overall calorie intake.
• I like IF and especially on weekdays it really works for me to skip breakfast
• I’m going to eat real food, (no protein shakes or things like that)
• I need to eat more veg
• I’m going to cut out dairy and bread, both of which I really shouldn’t eat and do, so I always feel better when I cut them out.
• I’m going to track on nutracheck with a goal of 1500 cals

I have more than 40 days to play with so that does buy me a couple of ‘nights off’ for significant events if needed.

and this is the biggie…… I’m not going to weigh myself. I’ll weigh at the start and hide the scales. Maybe do measurements as well.

anyone who would like to join me for a chat thread and accountability please do!
for reference, I’m 5’7, and prior to this week I was 154lbs. I’ll update my starting weight on Monday 5th June.

Day 11 for me and I've also succeeded to the scale 🙄. I'm annoyed with myself for how motivating I find this.
However I was 65.5kg on day 1 and this morning I'm 64.5kg. Really pleased with that.

That should say succumbed!

@thenewaveragebear1983 I hope you enjoyed your drinks and pork pie!

Yes. I have just over 5 weeks until my next holiday and I don't want to feel as insecure as I did this month 😞 hoping to lose a stone so around 2.8lbs a week.

Annoyed with myself as I’ve had another pretty crap day today. I think largely driven by hormones. As I am getting older I seem to have my previous 5 day period condensed into one horrific 12-24 hour , and I woke twice in the night with flooding, the second time was 6am so that was me up. I didn’t run because I felt so tired. Then dh and I have been decorating ALL day, literally 8-5 on this scorching 28* day. My food was good up until dinner, I was so exhausted and dd offered to cook so we had burgers in brioche buns which were lovely. Then I wanted something sweet so I had 2 bourbon biscuits. And I had 2 glasses of wine. So….. not exactly a great day on plan!

Tomorrow, we have more decorating to do, I need to do the 2nd coat on the walls in one room, dh is doing the other room so I’ll just leave him to it. After 5 months of building work, I’m just sick to death of the mess, the dust, the piles and piles of stuff everywhere. I want it all done now!! Just a couple more weekends of effort and it will all be done (and worth it)

I am meeting my family for a meal tomorrow as a family member is back from America, so I have preordered sea bass and new potatoes, which will be my evening meal even though we’re meeting at 4.30. I’m going to run in the morning, definitely this time as I need to get some miles in. I intend to have a very light ‘brunch’ and my meal at 4.30, and that be it for the day.

So I’m finding the weekend challenging, tempting and as soon as I get like that I want to do two things: write down all my food to keep track, and weigh myself. I did loosely track it in nutracheck but it’s a bit pointless unless you weigh everything, and I am really determined to break my addiction to the scales. What I actually need to do is drink some water, stop eating crap, and try again tomorrow.

Crap day here too. We had an away day at work yesterday and most of my team is so miserable at the moment that it turned into quite a tense event (which necessitated a gin fuelled post-mortem with some of my immediate colleagues). We also had an activity in the afternoon which involved a lot of walking/standing so my back has been killing today. As a result of all of the above, I've mainly spent today lying down and/or eating toast. I do not feel good this evening. We're also out for lunch tomorrow with some family so another day of eating ahead but hopefully I'll at least be in a better mood than I have been today.

Oh and well done on the kg off @MakeYourself, that's great work!

It's so tough at the weekend to stay on track isn't it!
Had a bit of a rubbish day yesterday too, probably ate half a loaf of white bread with copious amounts of butter and peanut butter and 3 raspberry cakes amongst other things.

We went to a festival thing and my god it was hot. Didn't get there until after 4pm but was hard work chasing around after 1.5 year old but kids had a good time. Only drank a small cider and half a pint all day though so that's good. The beer was warm so left half.
Hoping to eat sensibly today and then will weigh tomorrow. I must admit I had a quick weigh Fri morn and was showing a few pounds off but it's probably water, or more accurately sweat!!

Hope everyone has a good Sunday, it's so hard when social occasions mainly involve the ingestion of calories in one way or another!
Headed out with friend and kids later but between lunch and dinner so I'll take healthy snacks (that's what I'm telling myself anyway)

Morning all, day 7 today . I got up early ish and ran 12kms, i swear the temp rose 10 degrees in the hour I was out and by 8am it was baking hot. I’m decorating again today then going out with family later, my food should be fine as I have pre-ordered.

food so far:
sausages, spoon of quinoa. Lettuce. Tomatoes and mayo.
Greek yoghurt and frozen raspberries.
tonight: sea bass and new potatoes.

Thank you @mynameiscalypso ❤️

My DH is away this weekend so I'm missing my usual gym session and not walking as much distance as I usually would.

I'm on a work conference the next couple of days, so hopefully I will be able to resist the biscuits etc. Lunch is provided so I'll try to have a lighter dinner than usual for balance.

Day 8

last night I had a really nice meal, no dessert, and 2 glasses of SB at the meal out. I am actually pleased with that, the calories were on the menu and I am quite glad as it made the dessert decision easy (every single option was more calories than my main course 😱). I had a further glass of wine when I got home.

this week is my optimum week for weight loss in my cycle so I am fully on board to maximise that this week. I went back and read my opening post to remind me of my mission statement!

Targets this week:
-2 or 3 healthy meals each day
-as little UPF as possible.
-exercise could be tricky due to the heat, it restricts running to mornings but I could do classes in the afternoon maybe if I can fit it in. I keep intending to start a home workout/30 day thing but can’t quite muster up the energy for day 1!
-drink lots of water
-try not to track my calories but instead be guided by my appetite
-keep away from the bathroom scales! I did weigh last week, twice- better than every day, and I had actually lost some weight so that’s good, but it annoys me how dependent I am on them and if I hadn’t have lost, would it have affected my success/made me binge?

my food today will be salad and tuna and homemade mayo (I didn’t cook a roast yesterday so have no leftover meat), then some combo of meat+veg for dinner depending on use by dates! I do have some Greek yoghurt left and some frozen berries as well.

have a great week all, enjoy the sunshine!

@MakeYourself hope the work conference goes well. Hopefully they've got some healthier choices there
@thenewaveragebear1983 meals out is something that I struggle with massively- I just think that I may as well binge for the whole day. Sounds like you found the perfect balance between treating yourself whilst staying in control

I weighed this morning - loss for the week of 3.4 lbs. Pleased with that but know the first week it comes off in bigger numbers.
Eldest off school with sick bug but has been a mild one thankfully.
Plan to keep plugging away this week

Well done @Jeds55. That initial loss is really motivating isn't it?

Well done @Jeds55 , that’s awesome 👏

Day 9: good day on plan
went to the gym at 6am, it was a no cardio class due to the heat.
chicken and a banana for a snacky breakfast
Lunch- chicken, salad, mayo, apple, pear
small homemade cupcake at work
pear and slice of cheese when I got home
dinner- thin cut steaks, salad, feta cheese, mayo.
strawberries

i feel like I’ve eaten a lot but when I see it written down I think I have made good choices and got a lot of value for my calories today, with lots of filling healthy food. Except the cupcake I guess, but even so I’m better to have a homemade one that a shop bought thing so that’s ok. I feel absolutely bloated by the heat though, my rings feel tight on my puffy little fingers! Just need to keep drinking lots of water and eventually it will all settle down!

tomorrow I’m at the gym again. I’m wfh so I will go for a walk at lunch if it’s not too hot and I will try to get out for a slow run after work as well if I can be bothered.

Thanks @MakeYourself and @thenewaveragebear1983 it is motivating but had a very snacky day yesterday. All OK snacks but didn't really track calories. Really craving salty food.
You're getting some great exercise in @thenewaveragebear1983 - I really need to start training for a half marathon in the autumn but this heat putting me off running at all. I should go out at 5am when the youngest invariably wakes up!

I hope everyone is having a good week.

I'm staying on my plan, despite big temptation at the conference (pastries and doughnuts 😩) and at home (my daughter made butterscotch brownies 😩😩).

My boss is a real feeder so there was loads of chocolate and biscuits in the office today. Fortunately there was also some lovely fruit, so I tucked into that.

My summer clothes are definitely fitting better, which is motivating.

That's some will power @MakeYourself the butterscotch brownies sound amazing!
My shorts are getting a bit loose here too

I've been following a mainly UPF-free diet since the beginning of March, keeping carbs low and probably eating about 1600 cals a day.

If I've had a night out/special occasion etc then I will drink alcohol, eat crisps, choc etc.

So far I've lost 1 stone 5lbs and it's been quite easy as I feel so well eating this way and also full up so not tempted to snack.

I'm treating this as a way of life now, rather than a diet, but will up the calories a bit if necessary when I've reached my target (2 stone).

Good luck to everyone!

I struggled to stay on track yesterday, and ate a cookie and a solero. For the first time since starting, I did loosely tot everything up in nutracheck, and I just about came in at tdee so I think I probably saved it, but only just. So day 10 was questionable. I just need to remember my ‘rules’ and not snack- as always, my meals were great, but the little bits in between bumped me up several hundred calories

day 11 today, I really intended to go out for a run but I woke up feeling very uncomfortable on our lumpy mattress so I’m struggling to muster the enthusiasm. I’m going to drink my coffee and see how I feel after that.
I’m struggling with lunches today because we just seem to have eaten SO MUCH salad this week, the cupboards are looking very bare. Dinner is sorted , Thai green chicken and cauliflower rice, but lunch I have no idea except for a weird little fridge ends salad before I go shopping (but I swear I only went on Saturday and Ive done a top up since then as well).

another weekend also looming away… we have the football team awards day for our boys on Saturday (bbq and drinks) and then Sunday is our wedding anniversary AND Father’s Day so… - I have bought dh a gas bbq for a combined gift so we will bbq Sunday night as we’ll probably just to try that out.

Another weird day today. I had a long day at work and the heat is getting to me a bit, I feel very tired and washed out. I struggled for food as I needed to go shopping. As a result I ended up Having probably too much of the wrong things I guess, although after just totting it up my meals were technically ok.

for breakfast I made a chia seeds and ground almonds overnight oats and added a scoop of protein shake powder- it was nice, but it was very sweet and pudding-y. Lunch was just some ham and cheese. Dinner I had chicken and salad in a pitta and a whole avocado, and 2 glasses of wine. I have now been shopping so tomorrow I can be much better ‘on it’. I did run today after I posted, it was hot and I felt quite unhealthy but it’s pretty much the only steps I did today so I’m glad I did it.

my plan for tomorrow is:
fast as long as I can, then probably chia seeds, Greek yog and fruit (no chocolate powder!) , maybe with some peanut butter.
lunch- salad, avocado, some protein (maybe tuna)
dinner- steak, salad.
I will see how I feel tomorrow whether to run or rest, I’d like to do a long one at the weekend as well so maybe a rest day is needed although I do struggle to get my steps in without a run.

I still feel really bloated due to the heat, I did drink loads of water today so hopefully I will flush it out a bit.

I've probably eaten up to tdee today (the butterscotch brownie finally called to me!) but that's ok. Think this process is much more sustainable when I tune into my hungrier days.

I had a great session in the gym this morning and kept my steps up. I've felt tired today and I'm really looking forward to the weekend.

Following, what a great idea for a thread! Would love to find out more about avoiding UPF. Is cheese okay?