Diet for Christmas Challenge 2023

[bigdecisionstomake]

This is a continuation of the Diet for Christmas Challenge thread started by @OhFatty in 2022 and the Diet for Summer Challenge thread started by @Dashel earlier this year. Thank you to them both.

It is open to everyone, whether you have a lot to lose, just a small amount to go or you're at target but facing the enormous challenge of maintaining your loss ongoing.

It is a thread for positivity, support, cheering each other on and the very occasional kick up the bum if and when requested.

Hopefully previous members of both threads will join us again and new members are always welcome.

Morning all

Sorry you're struggling this week @Gemzee the dark mornings really are pants, particularly for early exercisers like you and me. Hope you manage to find your rhythm again soon. How is the squat challenge going? Just seen your update that you exercised this morning - well done 💪

Sounds like a good calorie day @SnuggleBuggleBoo and well done on the jog attempt! Which Joe Wicks workouts did you do during lockdown? A 3 stone loss is really awesome! I'm not so keen on his HIIT workouts although I do do them occasionally, but he has a 21 Days of Strength Challenge on his channel which is a really good introduction to strength training which is my go to when I've got out of the habit for a while. If you want to firm up a bit some strength training might help with that and if you're consistent with it you will start to see your body shape change.

If you're looking for fun workouts then 'Get Fit With Rick' has a lot of music themed ones if you scroll down on his channel and 'Up to the Beat Fit' has some good dancy ones. EMKFit also has some good music ones. I like Olivia Lawson too but not sure I would class her as 'fun'. I love that aerobics video, I am old enough to remember doing Jane Fonda workouts at home with my mum when I was a teenager so that stuff is really my era - gosh I'm old 😂

Great that you've had a better day @LBB2020 . Same as you my work is likely to be busy now until Christmas so I'm doing my best not to let it derail me. Would really love to feel confident in a Christmas Party dress this year - I definitely didn't last year!

Thanks @Refire how are you getting on?

@Yocal I agree, 30 minutes is a total win!

I ended up over calories yesterday as I couldn't make it through to tea without a snack so 100 calories made up of a babybel and a couple of small squares of Green and Blacks crept in on top of the small amount I was already over with the calorific evening meal. The Hello Fresh meal was a Miso Mushroom pasta and was really delicious though so I have to say it was worth it!

I've got Doms in legs and arms today so have just done a 5000 (4375 according to my Fitbit) step walking workout again this morning. I may do the Day 3 Joe Wicks chest workout tomorrow though as hopefully my arms will be starting to subside a bit by then.

Have great days all!

Hey all
Still here. Bit lurky. Mostly maintaining, thoigh sciatic pain has derailed exercise and sleep so comfort eating has crept in.

Oh well.

Hi and thanks for reaching out and sharing your news, thoughts and strategies x
im doing well with my weight shedding. My approach is not one of calorie counting. I tried that in the past and it was joyless for me.

I began this journey by adopting the principal belief that ‘my weight does not determine my worth’. I have used that to dig deep to uncover and unmask my inner blocks. I use my therapy practice to refire my connection with all that is good in me and to love myself fully. A large part of loving myself is feeding myself good nourishing food. Not eating crap cos it makes me feel like crap! For me the choice to love and accept myself as flawsome has changed my need to eat too much and drink too much. The weight is going by itself.

Hey everyone. 👋

Just quickly dropping in with my weight.

Start Weight 14.4st
Last time Weighed 13.12st
Current Weight 13.12st
First Goal 13.4st
UltimateGoal 10st-9.7st

I keep swinging between 14st and 13.12st, because life has just been non stop chaos! Hopefully this week things will start calming down🤞

Hi guys. I've just had the best news ever and I really want to share, so I hope you all don't mind?
My mum got taken by ambulance to hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning with severe side/lung pain. She has bone marrow cancer and after Googling what the pain could be I've been terrified the cancer had spread to her lungs. I've been praying to God, Jesus and the angels that it's not that. She had her CT scan today, and it's NOT cancer!!!! I'm so relieved! Thank you God, Jesus and the angels! She has an infection in her spleen. At the moment they are treating it with antibiotics. She sees the 'big' dr tomorrow to see what they are going to do going forward. But I'm so relieved! So relieved! Thank you God, Jesus and angels again!

@Openmouthinsertfood , that’s really great news - I’m so pleased for your mum that it’s not cancer in the lungs. I hope the dr appointment tomorrow goes well 🤞

Thank you. 😁

@Openmouthinsertfood How incredibly stressful! Your poor mum,, and poor you. So glad it's not that the cancer has spread.

Today:

Breakfast: Smoothie - 150

Snack: 2 spinach and cheese mini muffins - 100

Lunch: Lentil and vegetable soup - 200

Snack 2: Timeout biscuit - 100
Turmeric immunity shot - 50

Dinner: Large flatbread and butter - 250
Houmous - 200
Olives - 100
Sweetcorn - 50
Cucumber - neg
Feta - 100

Dessert: Pear - 100
Activia - 50
Cake bar - 100

Total: 1550. And no exercise whatsoever. I know it's still a deficit but I really wanted to limit myself to 1350 a day. I've love to be back down to a size 14 by Christmas. I'm still really hungry and may end up having another snack before bed!

@SnuggleBuggleBoo what you ate today sounds nice. What are the immunity boosts/shots you have at 50 calories?

@Openmouthinsertfood I hope you are having an enjoyable evening after all the stress.

I hit a plateau at 93kg, have been stuck at it since last month! I broke through to 92kg today. (Even though I'm not meant to be weighing myself so often). I'm very relieved. Aiming for 91kg for the 26th Nov. Then 89kg.at Christmas. So in total 12 kg since I started....which is nearly two stone in old money. I've booked myself a nail treatment for Christmas as my reward!

Thank you both so much. Now to lose the 4lb I put on stress eating! 😧

@Openmouthinsertfood what a relief for you and your mum!
Brilliant @Yocal! Plateauing is so frustrating, I’ve been stuck at 10st12lbs for the past 4 weeks!
Keep going @Backinthedress
@SnuggleBuggleBoo you really seem to have found your groove, you’re doing amazing!
@bigdecisionstomake well done on the exercise. Same here, I have a few Christmas get togethers and would love to feel happy and confident in what I’m wearing!
A decent day for me yesterday. No exercise but I hit my steps and food was ok. I have my PT session today and am out for a meal this evening so hopefully the two balances out!

Morning all

Sometimes you just have to give yourself a break @Backinthedress sorry about the sciatic pain, I get it occasionally as a result of my hip problem and it can be really nasty so take care of yourself. I know it's tempting to eat all the junk when you're in pain and if that's what you need right now then go with it but sometimes I can pull myself out of that mindset by thinking about nourishing my body to help it heal. Hope it sorts itself out soon and do what you need to get yourself through 🤗

@Refire lovely to hear that you've found a way that works for you and the weight is coming off.

Oh the horrible bouncing around between two weights for what seems like ever - we've all been there @LostNoMore you have my sympathies. If things are calming down give it a really good push and see if you can put some ground between you and the 14s once and for all 🙂

@Openmouthinsertfood great to hear from you and you must be so relieved about your mum🤗Hope the appointment today goes well and the infection can be sorted in short order for her - thinking of you.

@SnuggleBuggleBoo I agree with @Yocal your menu sounds lovely today. I saw someone make some breakfast muffins with cheese, eggs, spinach, broccoli, peppers etc... and I'm going to give that a try when I have some spare time as they would make a nutritious quick and easy breakfast. Keep going, slow and steady wins the race and at least if it's some form of deficit you are losing, even if slower than you wanted.

@Yocal Huge congratulations on breaking through the plateau - it's a given with weightloss for me that there are plateaus every now and again but such a good feeling when the scales finally move again - great work! You really deserve that treatment if you hit goal - I love a good non food reward for hitting target!

@LBB2020 it sounds as if you're really being consistent, well done. Enjoy your meal out tonight and make sure you squeeze as much benefit out of your PT session in advance as you can!

I had another good day yesterday with food and exercise so I'm happy with that. I'm too am out for dinner tonight with some friends so difficult to count calories today but I'm going to try to eat mindfully and not go over the top with alcohol. I have extra bad DOMS in my legs this morning (having to hobble up and down the stairs 😩like a 90 year old) so have just done a 40 minute walk this morning rather than any sort of formal exercise. It's given me an additional 250 calories to play with so hopefully tonight won't be a complete disaster if I can keep on track with my food in the earlier part of the day.

Have great days all 😄

@Yocal the immunity shots are these ones (or similar). They're VASTLY expensive but I have an absolutely non-existent immune system so I need all the boosting I can get!

https://mojudrinks.com/products/ginger

My 'diet' has gone totally hay-wire today! I met a friend for brunch and well... you can imagine.

Breakfast: Green smoothie - 100

Brunch: American pancakes with syrup and sliced banana - 600
Hot chocolate - 300

Snack: turmeric immunity shot - 50

Dinner: Metric tonne of roast vegetables - 450
Veggie sausage - 200

Dessert: Activia - 50
Cake bar - 100

Total: 1850

Fuckity fuckity fuck. Why do I have no self control?!! I haven't even had any exercise today either, besides a little stroll to brunch.

I would say 'back on the horse' tomorrow but I'm going away for the weekend and ALWAYS go and binge when I'm away.

I hope everyone else is chugging along ok?

I put on a pound probably due to too many carbs and not enough exercise this week. Actually not too bothered, as long as I stay the same or lose a pound next week, maintenance is going well (as I lost a pound last week).

Roughly the same weight. Been back on the horse the last couple of days so hopefully the weekly calories will work out.

I've buggered my hip somehow and the physio has banned me from running for now. Am gutted. Did a bunch of very dull, but necessary housework today which used up some energy. Just hope I can keep strong enough for the next month that the dress looks OK at the party, as I've nothing else to wear....

Toad in the hole for dinner. Luckily it was soup for lunch and I have about 1000 calories left to eat. So freaking tired though. Why is it always so tiring to have a day off work?

Thanks @bigdecisionstomake, I am ready to go again! 😊

I think I am going to see if posting my daily food intake here for a while will help me keep on track better. Aiming for roughly 1400cal per day averaged out over eight days. So today I had…

Breakfast N/A

Lunch. Mini Fry up - One egg, half tin of plum tomatoes and 2 slices of toast 300cal

Dinner. Miso Soup with Noodles - 400cal

Snacks - Popcorn Bag 65cal
Two Soreen LunchBox Loaves - 92cal x 2

Drank only water today. 0cals

Total 949 cals.

Off to a good start 😊 Hope everyone has had a great day today 😊

OK. I need your opinions. Do I get this in this size for a 2025 day and hope that I maintain the current weight loss and that I lose the weight in the right places (ie round the waist of the dress which was a little tight) and where the straps go as, again, I was worried I'd bust it open....)

I wasn't sure whether those points were more ribcage than squishy bits...

Hey @Backinthedress, I think that if the visual aid of the dress will help to motivate you with your weight loss goal and you are absolutely determined then yes, get the dress now. If however, there is a chance that it will cause you upset further down the line because you then feel that you are not loosing the weight quick enough or that it still doesn’t fit right etc (I’ve been there and it’s really upsetting), then I think you should wait until closer to the time and pick out something else.

Food wise, today I had…

Breakfast. Cheese and Tomato Sandwich 400cal

Lunch. Mini Fry up - One egg, half tin of plum tomatoes and 2 slices of toast 300cal

Dinner. Banana 100cal

Snacks - Two Popcorn Bags 65cal x 2
Soreen LunchBox Loaves - 92cal
Mini haribo bag - 50cal
Rocket Ice Lolly - 40cal

Drank only water today. 0cals

Total 1112 cals.

Early days but feeling strong 😊

I had a day of just eating exactly what I fancied, including chocolate and cheese and carrot cake.
I just totted it all up and I have 6 calories left. Fluke. Yay.
Plus lost another 100g. Now 70.7kg. Not sure I'll make it to 60something before the Christmas do, but I'll keep trying!

My sister said much the same thing. Sigh.
I think you're right. With nearly 18 months to go I think I need to let this one go for now and just see if I can find something that's right and a good fit nearer the time

A couple of not the best days with food here, not completely disastrous but not great (cake, Chinese takeaway, wine etc). I did go to the gym yesterday so that’s something at least!
Back at properly on Monday!

Hey @CatMattress, hopefully🤞you will hit the 60s kg range by Christmas - but if not, you’ll have made excellent progress towards that goal 😊

@Backinthedress, when it gets closer to that event in 2025 I think you’ll find the perfect dress 👗

@LBB2020 , I think having a couple of ‘off days’ is really good for the mental health side of things, and helps to prepare you for the next round of weight loss. 😃

Morning everyone

weekly weigh in is here again.

sw 154
cw 149
gw 140

It’s a slow game this weight loss. Two pounds down this week but I get the feeling I’ll be gaining and losing the same few pounds for eternity!😂

Still managing to stay alcohol and sugar free this month - I’m going to try different things each month to keep the whole journey interesting. I’m thinking of some form of beginner weight training exercise programme for December, any suggestions gratefully received.

Have a good day all.