DIET FAILED AGAIN thread 5. Everyone is welcome to join our very supportive and friendly group without any judgement.

[poorpaws]

Thread 5, everyone welcome!

@Sedgwick ...😁i thought you meant you'd gained cus the plumber was there...I was going to suggest you put the plumber down ..

@Theredjellybean 😂 gained 1.5 lbs. Just not feeling it at the moment. Lost my mojo. Plumber wasn’t terribly helpful, quizzed me on valves, took a lot of photos and left.

Blame it on the plumber...

Hi everyone

I think (hope) I'm back!

So far this has been the year from hell for me. The family, a virus, a really bad cold, awful sinusitis where I struggled to breathe, dp ill (he's never ill), dd ill, dgd ill, 2 out of 3 dogs very ill for over a week. Then the bloody microwave decided to break down and was only just out of guarantee. I could go on ...

I'm still nowhere near 100% but today I feel a little better for the first time. I've not had the energy to get dressed until today. I've not walked the dogs (dp has though) until today. I was absolutely drained after a dog walk, I'm really out of condition.

Anyway, I think I doing ok now, enough to join 7/7 I think. I started today (obviously one week late) and I've done pretty well. Made a lovely chicken stir fry and really enjoyed it after all the junk food. I'm eating loads of blueberries and oranges for a vitamin c fix.

I braved the scales and I'm 10 st 13.75 lbs, so really back up to 11 sts. This is going to be hard but I'm back with you.

I've read your posts tonight and some of you are doing so well. I'm off to bed now because I'm still exhausted most of the time.

So 7/7, keep going, post daily for accountability and we'll see how we do. It feels really good to be back 😘

Welcome back @poorpaws , just take it easy on yourself. You’ve had a horrible start to the year and it sounds like you still need to rest and recover.

@Theredjellybean Amazing! What a brilliant result, thoroughly well-deserved.

@poorpaws I could have written your post. 2024 has been absolutely hellish so far for me - one illness/problem/crisis after another. Glad to hear you're on the mend but as others have said make sure you're still taking it easy and not putting too much pressure on yourself.

@Sedgwick Really relate to this! Just don't have my head in the game.

I had a bit of a revelation (involving many tears!) last night - realised that my eating is actually a bit pathological at the moment, in terms of the compulsion to binge. Have managed to get a cancellation appt with a therapist specialising in binge eating today. It's just a one-off consultation but I think it's what I need and really hoping it will help me out of the hole I'm currently stuck in. Nervous though!

@Mattietoes good luck with the therapist and don't be nervous, you are paying for this. Let us know how it goes, it sounds very interesting. I binge a lot! Less than I used to before the lovely people on here talked me down but yes I still binge eat quite a lot. Being happy, miserable, ill, bored, unhappy, anxious, any emotion (mainly negative) makes me run to the cupboard/fridge for comfort.

Last night I was watching a documentary on my iPad about super morbidly obese people which I found interesting and could easily relate to. I can eat constantly and never feel full no matter how much I eat. These people were the same, they were killing themselves with food and they under-estimated their weight. One lady thought she was 33 sts when she was actually 35.5 sts. She was young and had children and a loving husband but it was still so sad.

When dd was staying here, her meals were a quarter of the size of mine and then she couldn't finish hers and of course I finished mine. She is too thin in my opinion and isn't interested in food and forgets to eat whilst I get up in the morning just because I can have breakfast; I obsess about what I eat.

Wow, where all that came from I'm not sure. But today I am eating healthily (another chicken stir fry and fruit instead of chocolate).

Have a good day 7/7-ers (and anyone on here who isn't doing 7/7), keep posting for accountability and as I always say, do your best.

I binge too. I was talking about it today funnily enough because I was saying about how I am giving up online shopping for lent, previous years I have given up sugar (very successfully) but this year I want to learn to moderate. I am very able to completely cut x,y,z out of my life, but i cannot moderate. I’ve gone 44 days without a drink, for example, but if I had a small glass of wine I’d drink the bottle. The psychology of binging and moderation fascinates me, I think it is a symptom of some mild adhd- for me, I binge because it takes away the ‘will i, won’t I?’ Little voice in my head, the moderator. By binging I remove all chance of moderating, so decision made. I am really working this year on just either deciding not to have something, or having it, but not to-and-fro-ing constantly. It’s really helping me. It’s also really helping me to have what I want, not a substitute- and really enjoying it. But it’s really hard sometimes. It’s my little dopamine hit and I crave that rather than the actual food. I’d love some proper therapy but I can’t afford any so I have to just analyse myself!

anyhoo- I had a good day today. Stuck to plan, lots of protein, rest day so no run/workout and I didn’t even walk the dog as she went to daycare and it was wet and miserable this evening. Had my dinner, which wasn’t actually that nice (seasoned my chicken badly and it tasted weird) and had 1 pancake which I weighed the flour for and synned properly, with banana, lemon and sweetener on. 😇

tomorrow it’s run in the morning, then more of the same. I’m really enjoying my overnight oats so I will have that for breakfast, salad and tuna for lunch and mince/bolognese for dinner. I’m actually looking forward to weighing in this week as I’ve had 9 straight days 100% on plan 🤞

@thenewaveragebear1983 It's really great to look forward to weigh-in and you seem "on it" as far as the self-analysis goes. I know on our previous 7/7 I'd done everything right and couldn't wait to weigh and share my success, sadly I think that might have been a one off.

I did ok yesterday with food, considering I'm still not really well. Exercise was a completely different matter, it was cold and raining and dp took the dogs out as I couldn't face a long walk. I'm having to go easy on myself as I've been a lot more ill than I originally thought. I'm doing what I can when I can but I'm constantly worn out and I'm sleeping a lot. I'm not complaining though because I feel tons better than I did.

I hope everyone is healthy and happy and doing well on 7/7.

@Mattietoes how was your therapy session, any good?

@Sedgwick Thanks for checking in! It was good, actually - helpful to reflect and she had some very useful insights. Not something I can afford to do weekly but it was a good one-off, gave me lots to think about.

@thenewaveragebear1983 That is exactly how I feel re the 'will I won't I' voice - feels like at least if I binge the decision is made and I can stop obsessing about it! I also find it much easier to cut something out completely or have it all, being in the middle can feel really agonising.

I'm making a big effort to get back on track today - weighed myself this morning and my weight has shot up to 73.5kg from all the bingeing, so I do really need to get a handle on it as otherwise it looks like I'll be gaining weight indefinitely!! Managed ok so far, trying to drink lots of water. Haven't managed more than a day or so on the straight and narrow in about 2 months now (!!), so if I can get through the next couple of days I think I'll feel like I've broken the recent cycle. I was going to say 'fingers crossed' but that implies it's down to luck and not in my control - actually it's completely within my control! So I'm determined to do it!!

I don't know if it helps @poorpaws but when I've binged (a rare occurrence now) it's often because I've gone too far with undereating, denying myself nice food that I love.

I do think the key for me is that nothing is banned or forbidden. And I do actually enjoy a lot of foods that are nutrient rich and more helpful for my diet.

Sometime I've got it right nutritionally and still go a bit mad though. The best thing is to work out what that feeling or trigger was that led to it. On Nutracheck you can make a note of emotions or food triggers if it's helpful.

Today I've had or got planned:

Breakfast - Hovis Granary toast with cheese spread, large conference pear (this is not my most fibre or protein filled breakfast but All Bran is a bit much to have every day). Black coffee. 389 calories

Had a mug of tea with sugar mid morning - 44 calories

Lunch - Crab meat, prawns and chopped up boiled egg mixed with mayonnaise, wasabi and soy sauce, small avocado (I weighed it), celery sticks, cherry tomatoes. Cup of miso soup. 506 calories

Dinner - Home made veggie (lentil) chilli with rice, grated cheese - 424 calories

1365 calories, 55g fat, 130g carbs, 85g protein, 27g fibre, 47.6g sugar (90% from plants) 9 portions of fruit and veg.

Room for more if I'm hungry. Exercise is walking and yoga today.

Very dull story warning but I need to tell someone!

I’ve been logging my weight sporadically for 7 years on an app (aktiBMI). A few days ago I noticed I had 42 apps with ‘update me’ messages so I pressed update all. Went on to log my weight this morning and my weight app tried to make me go from the free version (which I’ve used for years) to a monthly subscription version. I said no thank you and now all my weight history is scrambled, it’s says I am a male and I can’t make any sense of the data. Every screen is completely different. Spiteful of it. So all my weight tracking is lost.

Wondering is this a sign, am I being tested. Haven’t been able to do c25k for over a week as my knee is sore. Bloody technology. I am a real notebook and pen girl but it’s a bit undignified to have a book full of measurements. Open to wise words or suggestions.

How weird @Sedgwick . Could you try uninstalling and reinstall the app? If your email address and password are stored then it should be able to access you historic data from your account. I am totally a notebook and pen gal. I do use trackers eg on Garmin and the sw app, but it’s my notebooks that I always turn to. It is quite shocking depressing just how many of them I now have in my loft. On any given page you can see basically the same-the irony is I pretty much eat the same and weigh the same in all of them. I don’t know why I can’t quite throw them out….

@thenewaveragebear1983 thanks for reading and responding. I just tried that but it didn’t work, all my data is wiped. It looks like the option to use the app for free is gone now (with the update), you can have a 7 day trial for free but that’s it. I just wanted it for my bmi and weight log, I am not into motivating notifications etc.

Having shared my story I am fine now, over it and moving on. I will just log my weight in my desk diary.

For me, common sense wins against any fancy apps. Just plan sensible meals and remind yourself of all the benefits of making wise choices. Falling off the wagon occasionally isn't the end of the world.

I've recently had a night out heavy drinking but somehow managed to avoid the takeaway on the way home. I have had a couple of takeaways since but my tummy has given me a bit of talking to and making me think twice next time as the food, as lovely as it was didn't agree with me for a few days after.

I'm having homemade soup as my main source of food for all times of the day and the hope it will help me lose more weight is quite motivating to keep on the straight and narrow.

I also have quite a bit of fruit and cook fish and chicken to add a bit of variety.

I tell myself I can only have one biscuit or packet of crisps now and again and try make them last as long as posible.

I've been feeling a bit groggy recently and so a mix of too many late nights and not feeling well has meant a lot of time under the duvet and asleep, which helped me lose a lot of weight the last time when I was somehow able to get to bed early regularly.

Extra sleep and relaxation seem to be the best and easiest way to lose weight, so always make room for this if you want to lose weight I'd say. 🙂

I have to record everything in an app or I wildly over or underestimate my food intake. Nutracheck isn't at all fancy though, it's about as straightforward as it possibly could be. I fully intend to keep using it for a while after I get to goal weight.

Hi everyone

Old fashioned pen and book girl here too, I have loads of them reminding me what a yo-yo dieter I am, as if I didn't already know that.

I've been out shopping all day today and I think it was too soon. I feel way overtired tonight and I'm actually going to bed soon. I've also eaten absolute rubbish all day and because I felt so tired earlier, reached for chocolate yet again. I'm really not over this cold or virus yet.

I'll try again tomorrow but I fear until I feel really well I'm just kidding myself I'll lose weight.

I hope everyone is doing well and keeping out of all this rain (I really hate rain).

@poorpaws I think you probably need to not worry about losing weight right now, and focus on building yourself back up with some simple nourishing foods. Soups, porridge, eggs on toast. You sound like you’re still suffering. I know a few people who had this horrible not covid virus and it seemed to come in and out for a few weeks before they finally started feeling better. Be extra kind to yourself and don’t do too much.

I lost 2.5lbs this week, I really needed a bit of a boost so that is good. I’m now 11st and 0.5lbs so a pound off next week will see me (finally) back in the 10’s but still not quite back to my 1st December weight of 10st12. Could I do 2.5lbs again? Possibly. I’d have to stick to my current quite strict regime, but I also think I’d need to increase my veggie intake- I actually haven’t eaten much veg this week and I could always use a bit more.

I’m feeling quite optimistic. I’m 45 days without alcohol and going to continue, and I feel like I’ve found my groove now so fingers crossed for another good week.

Seconding that @poorpaws you should give yourself a few days to recuperate and focus on good nourishing food.

@poorpaws ... convalescence is forgotten art.... please take it seriously and pace yourself.
Well done @thenewaveragebear1983 . Excellent start to the challenge.
I'm also very impressed with the 45 days.
I've decided to stop drinking wine after last hangover. And now have done 8 days...had a g and t last night..as had had a stressful day, my dsd was texting alot, she's had a bad day, my DP who is usually lovely and so grateful of me supporting his dd, was vile and critical by text as he's away...it was just a bad day all round.
But I managed to have one drink only...so hopefully today is a better day .

@poorpaws Do you like vegetable soup?

Anything with onions and garlic as a base is pretty health-giving and comforting without being immensely calorific.

Good for you @Theredjellybean. I can drink a lot of wine if I just have it in as a regular drink and it adds a lot of calories. I tend to only have it with food when I'm eating out now, or on highdays and holidays.

Sounds daft to say "I have gin instead" but I can really just have the odd gin and tonic. I do have a large one but measured.

@shearwater2 ..I'm same, wine I just guzzle down...but g and t I can have one and be satisfied.
I think it's the sugar in wine...though I know it's fermented out etc etc...but there is something that just is addictive