Six months to lose this weight... gently!

[Swearwolf]

Anyone want to help me stay accountable? Today I've weighed in at my heaviest - 67.9kg (I weigh in kg because it doesn't have the emotional attachment for me that pounds and stone do, it's pure numbers). I'm short and small-framed so it's a lot for me and I'm visibly overweight.

I know what I need to do, and extreme diets don't work for me so I'm aiming for half a kilo per week - in six months' time I'll hit my ideal weight for my height (54.9kg).

I know why I've gained the weight, it's part greed and part lifestyle. I work from home and sit down all day, and some days I struggle to get in 2,000 steps. I also live very rurally and have to drive everywhere (literally outside my driveway you're straight onto a windy 60mph road with no paths). I know what works I just need to do it:

• Eating moderately. I eat pretty well but just too much of it. Being at home all day it's really hard not to snack. If it's cold, it's too tempting to cook pasta or something for lunch instead of soup.

• Back to exercise 3 or 4 times a week. I do yoga once a week and run, but due to an injury I had a whole month off back in May and it's a struggle getting my fitness back. I try to go 3 times a week and that helps with everything, my mood and motivation to eat well.

School starts back tomorrow and I'm aiming to get back into a decent routine of scheduled exercise, making overnight oats, and buying sensible lunches.

Anyone want to join me in a gentle slide down the scales?

I'll join if you don't mind OP, I need to lose approximately 5 stone and whilst the temptation is to crash diet to lose weight I know this will lead to binging.

I lost 8 and a half stone over a couple of years. I lost half with low carb but when that stopped working I resorted to cutting calories, they doing One Meal A Day. It did work BUT I found myself having binge days and thinking "I'll just go back to OMAD tomorrow" but then the binge days turned into weeks then months and before I knew it I had gained back over 4 stone.

I started again at the start of the year with low carb for 3 months but didn't lose a dot. Got so fed up I switched to Slimpod for 3 months which really helped with the binging but I GAINED 3lbs. So here I am at 16st 3lbs (lost 6lbs over the past 2 weeks) just plain old calorie counting. It has made me realise that when I was doing Slimpod and "eating mindfully", I was still consuming too many calories even if my food choices were better.

I've also got 3 set days a week I do some weights, and so far over the past 2 weeks I haven't missed a day or made an excuse (because I have worked my exercise days around my hair washing schedule and I don't want to mess that up! 😁)

Anyway, sorry for War and Peace. The short version is: I'm in 😂

I'm in! I gained 2 stone in the last 12 months. Currently 13.5 and would love to get down to 11ish stone.
I'm looking at the Mediterranean diet/way of eating and have rejoined the gym.

Me too. I'm 86kg and really more comfortable at 80-82kg. I'd actually like to be 75kg but as a 50 something woman this might be a step too far! On the plus side, a few.weeks ago I was just under 90kg so it's starting to go down.

Hooray, thanks for joining! I'm starting off well I think, no snacks and a reasonable breakfast and lunch. I've bought some nice juice to help any boredom cravings for something sweet (I know that's not great for me either, but I'm just talking a shot glass at a time).

I ran on Sunday and planning to go again tomorrow morning. Building it into my routine is key for me and wfh definitely helps with that, as I can combine it with the school run on the days I do it and make up the time later.

@pumpkintits that's an amazing amount to have lost, I'm sure you will get back there again. Hopefully we can help!

Thank you! It's just rubbish that I gained so much back as I still feel like the slim version of me sometimes, then I catch sight of myself in a picture and I want to cry!

Relatively good day food wise, stuck to my calorie allowance and even had a tiny slice of angel cake because I haven't had a carby sugary not good for your body type food in ages

That's great! I had a pretty decent day too, didn't have a gin in the evening though I did have a few mini weetabix as I was super hungry. Back to school and work today so hoping I can break my daytime snack habit now I'm back to being home alone all day.

I definitely find it easier to avoid snacking when I'm at work, if I'm in the office I only ever take my lunch and an afternoon snack and then stick to the fruit bowl if I_m really hungry. When I'm at home I'm able to just avoid any thought of snacking. It's normally when I'm not working that I find myself thinking more about food and roaming the cupboards 😰

Good food day today, made a butternut squash and bacon soup and had some for lunch followed by an apple and an almond milk latte.

2 boiled eggs for an afternoon snack.

Dinner was a sweet potato and chickpea curry with wholemeal rice, followed by a bowl of grapes with some green style yogurt.

I made the kids some Reese's peanut butter fudge, had 2 squares and it was amazing! I didn't work out the calories of the fudge because I wasn't planning on eating any, but I did have a fair amount of calories left over so I have added a random portion of fudge to My Fitness Pal to try and stay accountable. Usually I would have that "screw it I've ruined it may as well eat all the fudge" moment so I'm pleased with myself for sticking to just a small helping and keeping on track.

How has your day been?

My gym & diet plans are on hold for a bit - I've got Covid tested positive last night and feel like death warmed up.
That said I've got absolutely no appetite so I might lose a few cheeky lbs (every cloud and all that...)

@pumpkintits - I was a lot more disciplined when I was in the office too. I love WFH for family-life flexibility but it's a lot harder to stay disciplined.

@Swearwolf do you WFH also?
I'm thinking about getting one of those walking pad things on Amazon. Have you seen them? They fold away easily. I have a lot of long conference calls each week where I am on mute for a lot of the call so thinking it could be a way to get some steps in.

Oh no @sunshinenshower, I hope you're feeling better too! Definitely a silver lining that you may be able to make use of the loss of appetite though.

I do WFH and have toyed with the idea of a small treadmill too. I have a setup with a monitor etc on my desk, so it would involve a new higher desk or somewhere to put my keyboard.

Sadly, I was no more disciplined in the office. Surrounded by people talking about food, people bringing in cake, and lack of interesting or healthy lunch options. My office is on a big soulless business park too, so there is nowhere to walk at lunchtime. Home is marginally better for me!

I'm not doing too badly so far this week. Still had a couple of snacks, a mini Twister after lunch because it's so hot, but no gin in the evenings and I have reined in the snacking a bit. I ran yesterday morning and am going again tonight. Feeling pretty positive! How is everyone else doing?

Had a bit of a dodgy food day, had soup for lunch followed by an apple.

DH was out with friends for tea tonight so bought a huge pizza for the kids and I decided I fancied some. Had a quarter (still over 500 calories, it was a big pizza!) It tasted lovely but I really badly wanted the other quarter, and I definitely didn't feel full.

Then had a portion of popcorn and some Halo top ice-cream. I was really in the mood to "treat myself" so stuck to the low calorie ice-cream. I've never had it before and to be honest I'll probably just stick to normal ice-cream, the sweetener had a kind of...zingy aftertaste. DD didn't seem to care, she was like a baby bird waiting expectedly every time the spoon went in the tub 😂 top tip, reduce portion sizes by having a hungry 5 year old who wants everything you're having!

Finished off the day by having a bowl of greek yogurt with some pineapple as I was still hungry. So overall still within my calorie allowance, however the pizza and ice-cream wasn't worth it for how hungry I now feel (and watching MasterChef doesn't help!)

Hope you both have had a good day 🙂

That sounds pretty good to me @pumpkintits! I'm all about not denying yourself things, just being sensible about it.

My day went alright too, I had breakfast quite late which always helps me avoid snacking, and my lunch was pretty reasonable. DH tried to pour me wine with dinner and I said no!

I run with a group on a Thursday evening and still went yesterday despite the heat, we only did just under 5k but still better than not going. To be clear, when I say I run, I run pretty slowly and no more than 10k, usually 6 or 7. I'm not a natural!

@Swearwolf I really need to get used to the frame of mind, I'm more a "give me all the junk food all at once" type person which is how I got to this stage!

It's my day off today, just dropped the kids off at school so now I'm at home, about to drink my second cup of coffee and wonder where life went wrong before starting on the housework!

Housework will be great exercise! I'm trying to undo little habits and jam in small amounts of movement where I can - don't collect things on the stairs to take in one go, take things as needed and get lots of stair climbs in! I'm hoping that every tiny thing I do that's healthier than before will make a little bit of difference.

Weighed myself this morning, I've gained 4lbs 😔 I genuinely don't understand how as I have tracked my calories! Had I think 2 days where I went over by maybe 70 calories.

I'm hoping it's just water weight as I finished my period on Friday but bloody hell it's so upsetting to see that number on the scale when I've been trying so hard.

I never see results that quickly, my body takes a couple of weeks to show the efforts of my healthy or unhealthy eating. The 4lb are almost certainly water. Keep going and weigh again in another week!

I'm going to wait and weigh myself next week for the same reason. I'm still doing alright, but definitely not doing anything that might resemble a diet. Mostly, I've been eating fairly sensibly.

Yesterday was tricky - I was at a kids party over lunchtime and we were given party food to pick at for lunch, and it was a million degrees so I had an ice cream. But, I dont think I went nuts with it. In the evening we were at another party, and I had pizza, nibbles and three big gins. And again, I have definitely eaten and drunk a lot more in those situations and I didn't have any cake (it didn't look great and I wasn't hungry, but I would usually have some anyway).

So not great, but I'm calling it a win because I only ate what I actually wanted to. I'm off for a run this morning and feeling positive.

Urgh, I've done exactly the same thing and weighed myself again - half a kg gained! I feel like this always happens though, and hopefully will have a big drop later.

It's rubbish isn't it? I know I should just avoid the scales, but the last time I did that was when I did Slimpod and tried mindful eating. I didn't weigh myself for 3 months. Gained 3lbs 😭

Sunday was a bit of a write off because I wallowed in fudge but back to business on Monday. Monday and Tuesday are always a bit rushed for us with longer work days so ended up having some filled pasta last night for tea which was nice. I had 2 slices of seeded bread toast, scrambled egg and beans. I was really looking forward to a simple, comforting student type meal. Turns out Aldi beans are rubbish!!

Planning to have a light hot chocolate and a bowl of greek yogurt with some frozen pineapple for supper.

Hope today has been a positive day for you 🙂

I'm glad you're back on it! I'm trying not to let small indulgences set me back too much. I've generally been alright, though I had wine with dinner last night which I'm annoyed with myself about, I'd been trying to stick to weekends only for alcohol. But it was just one night!

Same here, I'm so used to the mentality of "I had a slice of cake, I've blown it so I may as well eat whatever I want for the rest of the day" mentality!

I really didn't want to exercise today, when I remembered it was an exercise day I had told myself that I would skip it because I wouldn't have time and we had taken the kids out for a walk so I had done something. And then I did the exercise anyway! So unlike me, normally I'm great at listening to lazy me who doesn't like moving 😁 dis get tempted by a few pieces of fudge (really just need to chuck it out, it was a new recipe I tried and not very nice) so had to guess how many calories that would have been. With my days food I think I should be ok, but it's the little things that I shove in my mouth that are probably hindering my progress (kids crusts, leftover chips, a block of chocolate here and there that doesn't really count)

Hope you enjoyed the wine though, I am less annoyed at eating something or drinking something that isn't great if it tastes really good 😁

That's great! I always talk myself out of exercise so find I need to have a plan I can't get out of, like running with a friend.

My thinking is, you would have eaten that fudge anyway, so it's better that you ate it and did some exercise than ate it and sat on the sofa. If you're anything like me, if you'd thrown it away you would have been thinking of nothing but fudge until you got some more. Better to have a bit and be underwhelmed and stop!

I weighed myself yet again and am 0.3kg down. It's nothing, but it's a downward trend so I'm happy. I'm feeling healthier and fitter, I can't possibly be yet but I feel it. It's massively helping my mood and I'm totally in the right frame of mind! I can definitely keep this up.

Surprisingly I've found that having set days every week has really helped me just stick to it. Because when I don't want to and think "I'll just do it the day after" it then ruins my routine that works well with work and life.

Going to walk to Aldi today with the kids (teacher training day!) to get some stuff for homemade soup and pizza. I've found the bacon and butternut squash soup is the only one that satisfies me and keeps me full until late afternoon so I'm going to make it again.

Made pizza for the first time with greek yogurt and flour, it tastes just like a normal pizza and the kids loved it so glad to have found a someone healthier version of their favourite food!

Also I'm too scared to weigh myself again incase the scales tell me something I don't want to see like they did last week 😰 you would have thought that after seeing a higher number last week I would have been sticking to my calorie counting properly but I went the opposite way and most days I've only half tracked and eaten things I know aren't best for me so I'm not looking forward to weighing in on Sunday

That all sounds great! I've been really sensible about alcohol, and have definitely cut down on snacking. Hope the weighing goes well, though if you're worried about it maybe you could leave it another week or two so you're more likely to see a good result?

I'm doing park run this morning with my 10 year old, it's hard to keep up with him! Hopefully that will set me up well for the day.