🥳LOSE IT! 🥳Christmas 2023 Countdown Thread 🥳

[TheRealHousewife]

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN EDITION.

8 week countdown to Christmas. November brings a fresh new month to become a healthier version of yourself. If you’re up for being your best self in time for the festivities you’ve come to the right place.

These threads are for those who’d like to stay healthy, lose weight as well as those who wish to maintain; to encourage a healthy & varied diet and to exercise.

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 8st 12lbs. I had a blip a couple of years ago when my thyroid went wonky but now back (mainly) on track. I Would love to wave bye to another few lbs 😬 The main thing is to never give up! Keep going!

Are you in😊 What food plan will you be following? What do you want to change and why?

PS - Positive thought:- If you were to lose on average of a 1lb - 2lbs per week you could be a half a stone to a stone lighter by Christmas 🎄🥳

Good Morning All

Hi @ImALittlePea Little ones can be such troopers! I’m not surprised you’re proud. Fingers crossed all is good ❤️ Brilliant NSV! 👏

@JustACountryMusicGirlInCowboyBoots @DomesticElf Thank you x

@LeftyLou That is showing restraint stopping after 2 biscuits. Like you say, once the dopamine flood gates open it’s usually game over. Well done!

Welcome to the thread @HunterBidensLaptop . Great that you found us 👍

@DomesticElf Well done on your loss! 👏

Menu
Meal 1 - Home made minestrone.
Meal 2 - Salmon fillet, Mediterranean stir fry and spicy sauce.
Tea, black coffee, water.

Not going to update yet but agree with you @JustACountryMusicGirlInCowboyBoots. bloody huge sharing bags of crisps! I don’t recall in 70s/80s that we had huge bags of crisps, seem to recall it was the smaller one.

My big downfall over the years has dips and savoury biscuits to go with them, plus mini cheeses. I just don’t buy them now!

Actually I will post. Yesterday had:-

dinner:- Bean stew with rice plus avocado cheese and yogurt
Snacks:- half a pack of skinny popcorn, 1 skinny choc crunch bar and bit of cheese plus low sugar digestive biscuit

My snacks as a slim teenager were cream crackers with cheese and spread plus cherry tomatoes, chocolate bars (Kit Kat, Twix etc), larger bag of bbq hula hoops and crème caramel (from shop). I did walk a lot though.

Breakfast:- porridge with blueberries water and splash skimmed milk

Fist weigh in today - 3lb's down.

I wanted more on first week but can't grumble as i've had a stinking cold and have strayed a few times when i was dying in bed 😂

@GonnaGetGoingReturns the crisps back then were a decent size pack so one individual bag was enough. Like mars bars were huge. Seeets like jelly tots were in little bags as were chocolate buttons. Now buttons are giant or mega (and I really love them) and you can only get huge bags. Boxes of sweets and Maltesers were a cinema only thing. Even those were small compared to now.

I went to my mum's straight from the morning school run today so missed by second cup of tea and a Tunnocks. I went to seated Zumba with her so extra exercise today. I can home really hungry and am out of frozen or indeed fresh berries so I've just had a toasted muffin and a big cup of tea with the Tunnocks I missed this morning and I'm really full.

Ive started a Christmas thread for nut recommendations after my cravings last night. I need nut roast recommendations too.

I'm debating Christmas dessert options. Gloves will be off for Christmas eating. Every year I think of what lovely things I'll make and buy yet apart from a bottle of knock-off baileys, some chocolates and sweets I don't tend to have anything overly different. I'm going to start fantasising about Christmas good to keep me on the straight and narrow in the evenings.

@TheRealHousewife i hope your back is better today.
@JustACountryMusicGirlInCowboyBoots Im so excited for xmas food too I certainly will be tucking into everything! I am using it as motivation to stay on track for the weeks leading up to it.
Salad for dinner tonight to try and be extra healthy ahead of tomorrows weigh in hoping for some good results!

Ah sorry I missed your birthday @DomesticElf - hope you had a great day!

How is your back today @TheRealHousewife?

Thanks those who've commented re DS. Sadly he's very used to hospitals and blood tests as he has had them since very shortly after birth (every 3 months, currently) and will do for life. He's not even ten years old but is without a doubt the strongest person I know. Thankfully it's very much a case of 'no news is good news' for the results - they get in touch very quickly if anything looks untoward and nothing as yet.

Also excited for Christmas food! Picked up the Aldi food mag today, silly thing to do really 😂

Woke feeling a tad derailed for the week as yesterday was so 'weekendy', but I didn't do too badly:
L - mini cup-a-soup special (minus the crispbreads and houmous as I was out)
D - bacon, pea, pepper and pesto risotto, with half a piece of garlic bread
Snacks - I had a small plate of chips at work (chef cooked too many 🫣), 5 haribos and 2 celebration chocs. Plus a few teas, a small coffee and lots of water.

All of the above has been logged on MFP and total cals for the day are coming in at 1190. Under target. Hopefully I'll do enough between now and Friday to not gain 😬🤞

I'm ending the day on 1420 calories in and 10.5miles walked along with the seated Zumba. I'll be interested to see if the scales have moved in the right direction in the morning. I hope they have seeing as I denied my self crumble for pudding and had grapes instead.
Good luck to everyone weighing in the morning!

Happy belated birthday @DomesticElf 🎉

Happy WOW!

SW 77kg (beginning October 2023)
CW 73.2kg
GW 68kg

0.4kg loss this week and 4kg in total over the last 6 weeks. My BMI has also gone under 27 this week 🎉
If I can keep this up the next 6 weeks (and not pile it all back on over Christmas) I'll be so happy. Not sure if it's realistic to aim for 70kg by Christmas (3.2kg) as I can see that my weight loss is slowing down a bit. But my goal weight seems a lot more achievable now than 6 weeks ago.

Going to focus on doing what I'm doing (no junk, 3 healthy meals with lots of veg, no snacking, no booze or fizzy drinks) and try to up my water and steps over the next month.

@PatienceOfEngels, that’s brilliant! You’ve made me realise I need to up my veg intake. Going to do a shop today.

Today’s weigh in:

SW: 12 stone 2 (19 September)
Cw: 11 stone 2.5

1 lb off this week and tantalisingly close to my first stone :D

I noticed my bra is too big and measured and I have lost three inches from my cup size! So that’s something else to shop for today.

Well done @PatienceOfEngels! It's nearly party season so your goal might depend on how festive things are before Christmas itself. I don't do socialising or eating out so apart from when I break out the knock off Baileys and chocolates there's no difference to my diet until Christmas Eve. I'm aiming for 2kg by Christmas Eve.

Wow of 56.4kg so down 0.6kg/1.3lb since last week. I'm happy with that.

Have a great day and don't forget your 🍾

Menu for today:

-boiled egg and rye toast, coffee
-rice, egg, spinach, mushrooms, satay sauce
-shoarma in a wrap with veg and garlic sauce (might skip the rice in the side)
-greek yoghurt with honey and H&B green raw powder (only supplement I use apart from a daily multi-vitamin) and whatever fruit is on offer at school today.

Did a 10km walk yesterday for my group walking challenge. DH is out tonight so will do a Get Fit with Rick walking video in from of the TV once the kids are in bed.

https://www.youtube.com/@RickBhullarFitness

@MarzipanKnees I started writing down all the plants I eat per week. Tim Spector advises to try to eat 30 different plants per week to help your gut microbiome. By the time I add in all the different fruits we have at school, mixed nuts and meals where we eat a lot of different veg (like spaghetti bolognese which we make with 7!) it's easy. And also pushes me to sometimes pick up something new each week to try. He says coffee counts as a plant 😀

@JustACountryMusicGirlInCowboyBoots I'm not much of a party girl tbh 😂

I have dinner with a friend next week and then maybe only one more engagement before Christmas.

We are coming back to the UK for a week in the holidays though and this is always my downfall. At home my freezer is stuffed with healthy homemade meals or small lunch portions. When we were in the UK last summer I invested in a bread tin so we will end up making our own bread (UK supermarket bread is grim and doesn't agree with any of us). I might try to make sure we pick up ingredients to make/freeze vegetable soup. We often end up eating big meals (and later than we're used to) at my mums. In the old days when I first moved away I would go mad when we went back to the UK, eating all the things that I can't get (cheaply) here - crumpets, english cut bacon, wheel of stilton, salt and vinegar crisps, pear cider - but the temptation has got easier to resist as I know it makes me feel shit and put on loads of weight! Will help that my DBro is also trying to lose weight this year. My birthday is after New Year and I don't want to get to it and feel terrible about myself.

Well done on your losses @JustACountryMusicGirlInCowboyBoots and @MarzipanKnees

That sounds like a great idea @PatienceOfEngels. I can be really samey in what I eat. Trying for 30 a week will inspire me to try some new fruit and veg and really nourish myself.

(And if coffee counts, I’ve had one serving today 😁)

Still tracking downwards .... so slowly.... 0.7kg down this week
3.4kg to go - don't think its doable by Christmas
Will take a week off over Christmas. Hope I don't increase by too much!
Any ideas for maintaining when there's so much lovely food around?

SW 11st 1lbs
CW 10st 12lbs
GW 10st 10lbs

Lowest weight I've been for years 🎉 I've really struggled to break the 11st barrier. I use MFP to keep my love of carbs in check. I'm also on a mission to up my veg intake, some gorgeous winter veggies around right now.

Weigh day!!

Starting weight: 75kg
Current weight: 68.1kg
Target weight: 65kg

A loss of 0.8kg this week- happy with that!!
Another week to try and focus on keeping the momentum going. I’m feeling a lot healthier in myself and less bloated by working on the portion control.

@PatienceOfEngels thanks for the link I’m going to try and do one of those videos this evening!
@fedupofbuilders not sure how I’ll maintain over xmas but it’s definitely going to be a big challenge!

well done everyone on your losses!

Good morning, I need go catch up with all the new posts in the evening. Now just a quick update.
Starting weight 61.2 kg
WOW 56.6 kg
That's 1.1 kg loss this week, I'll take it.
Well done to those who managed to lose some! Keep on going!

SW- 11st 6Ibs
CW- 10st 13.4

Hello, I'm just under 11 stone but its something! Have been eating too many snacks this week although had a couple of days fasting for 15- 16 hours. Have done a couple of short jogs too.
Need to stay under the 11 stone now!

Well done everyone and thanks for the support and inspiration!

SW:- 10 stone 11lb
CW:- 10 stone 11lb
TW:- 10 stone 7lb

Dinner yday:- cod fishcake, half potato, cheese sauce low fat cheese, broccoli and carrots
Snack:- skinny chocolate bar, half tub reduced fat houmous and Ritz cheese crackers

Breakfast:- porridge with water, blueberries splash milk
Lunch will be remainder of houmous and ritz crackers plus soup.

Well done everyone! My main thing is I’m not working this week so tend to snack more then.

SW 70kg
WoW 65.9kg
TW 60kg

I’ve been very ‘hands off’ this last week due to lots of overtime and ending up off sick yesterday 😩 but brewing a cold from Sunday. So I’m delighted to still have lost 0.4kg since last WoW 🌟
Out of interest checked my BMI on the NHS website, even though I know it’s only part of the picture. I’m still just into the overweight category, but only just. NHS suggested losing 3.3kg which actually isn’t as drastic as my arbitrary 60kg figure, so I’m happy to keep that in mind as a more realistic target weight. 62.6 kg will be what I head for now, then reassess.
I will keep doing IF, keep booze just for Fri/Sat, and keep limiting takeaway coffees to once a week 😁

Hi all, I dropped off the thread this month due to moving again and being away
i have still been watching what I eat and weigh in today was either 53.3 or 54.2 kgs
scales seem to be playing up!
trying to eat better and make healthy choices. I would really like to be at 52 kgs for Christmas
well done to everyone losing !