🥳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 🎄🥳

Plan for the week is to clear out some of the freezer and have some easy meals:
-beef goulash and rice
-pea soup and bread
-spaghetti bolognes
-meatballs in gravy
-soup or pumpkin pancakes for lunches

Have lots of peppers to use up, maybe in a chicken bhuna 😋I love eating 😅

Day 2 done. Stayed within calorie allowance, no booze and did 14,000 steps.

Usually I only last about 3-4 days before giving up, but I’m determined to keep going this time!

I have (I think!) mostly broken evening snacking issues.
We had got to a stage where DH would potter up to the coop almost every evening! Now we just don't go. Don't have it in the house, and just don't go! You do stop missing it fairly quickly.
.....And if you do go get a single chocolate bar / pack of crisps, which will only be about 150 calories, not a share bag / bar of anything.

The past few days I've had a stinking cold however, and eaten too much crap and not done any exercise. So I think snack rules have gone out of the window. Going to focus on nutrition from tomorrow, until I can get moving again.

Butternut squash, carrot and orange soup made today ready for the week ahead. It's falafel wraps tomorrow though.
I've got a bonus long day off and apart from allowing myself an hour of hot water bottle and tv therapy with a cup of tea I'm going to be having a major sort out of the room of doom.

That weekend was so super busy, no major snacking (barring DD's birthday party) and no takeaways or anything, but the normal amount of wine.

I feel awful though. Bloated, wobbly, huge. So this is my officially reaffirming my intentions and getting back on it.

> No more midweek wines, also going to stop the casual weekend wines unless we have plans for a bit
> No bread or crisps
> Upping water
> Tracking everything on MFP

I need to get this 1/2 stone back off. Not even all of it; 5lb to target.

Today:
L - loaded scrambled eggs
D - baked potato, beans and cheese

Let's do this!

You can do it, @ImALittlePea - 5lb will
come off in no time.

I’m finding it harder to stick to my diet today - I’m determined not to fall off the wagon but I’m so hungry! I’m keeping my motivation up by googling before and after weight loss pics!

I had pretty much given up on several days in the last week, my routines so disrupted. Gained back the 4lb I lost the week before!! 😑

Lunch was a bit big today, tried the new seeded baguette from Lidl. But dinner is planned. Busy planning everything into my tracker and if I follow the plans, the rest of the week up until Saturday is good, Sunday going to in-laws, so who knows what it will be.

Good Afternoon Everyone

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Lovely to see so many people supporting each other ❤️… I’ll be back later to catch up and reply :) x

Hello, my scales do not budge. I have been on plan so far today. If I do not lose anything in the next few days I think I will have to step up my game and start moving.

Hi all! I know it's a bit contentious but I've decided to weigh every day, this stops me feeling gutted if I'm anticipating a loss on a planned weigh in day and it's not the case, I'd rather see the general trend go down if that makes sense

Day 1 - 66kg

This was Day 1 for me officially as the weekend was a write off. I just was feeling really ill from Covid (urgh, it's been going on for weeks now, miserable) and just low moodwise so decided to eat all the crap in the house. Good thing as there's none left. But meant a gain this morning and so much bloating. What can you do 😛

But Day 1 has gone well - generally stuck to plan except for some reason salad is making me feel really queasy so I just had third of a pack of gnocchi with a healthy veggie sauce DH made for dinner. The main thing for me is Intermittent Fasting and not having chocolate etc. at night. The most I'll allow for now is honey in my tea. Treated myself to have cosy autumn/christmas spiced teas really looking forward to them actually. Did some cardio in the gym but wasn't feeling it much tbh, did about 20 minutes, mainly walking on the treadmill, and then took my old girl for a walk which was lovely (it's very beautiful this time of year in our area).

Heading to the office tomorrow bright and early as I've a series of meetings. I wrk in clinical governance so we can have meetings sometimes up to 6 hours long which can be very draining, and ALWAYS tons of free food to keep us going. So I'm bringing in my PB sandwich and fruit and I've also treated myself to some vanilla flavoured coffee which feels a bit 'more' than the normal stuff. There's a little onsite gym so will nip in before I go home.

Looking forward to planning xmas for the kids - anyone started this? I might treat myself this

Another aside about weight, and the weight I'm at right now. Other than being pregnant, I've reached this weight a couple times in my life, and it was a low ebb which involved bingeing, and depression, it was miserable. I've felt such sincere gratitude for myself for the times when I put my foot down and lost the weight. That feeling of 'feeling like myself again' and not letting food control me was.. I dunno, kind of life changing.

Late to the party but can I join please, it really helps motivation. Starting from today.

SW 11st
CW 11st
GW 10st 10lbs

Today’s food:-
breakfast porridge, skimmed milk and blueberries
2 x digestive biscuits as snack
lunch bowl Chinese chicken soup plus 2 ryvitas with spread and marmite, 1 Ryvita with cheese 3 cherry tomatoes
dinner: bean stew with Greek yogurt and grated cheese and small portion basmati rice
1 twix
apple and cheese
2 plums

@coffeecupslinedup - I wouldn’t weigh every day but every other day. Every day for me means you can get slightly obsessive over weight and scales then if you don’t lose you can feel bad.

Herby lentil and halloumi salad for dinner so I feel like the week is off to a good start!
Ive also squeezed in a 15 minute beginners dance workout on YouTube.

@coffeecupslinedup those sound nice any particular teas? I’ve got a vanilla chai tea in the cupboard and a spiced ginger which I’ll be trying this evening instead of hitting the snacks!

Hope everyone has had an okay Monday! I do like hearing what everyone’s had for meals it definitely gives me ideas to try! I’ll be using this thread a lot this week I think to keep me motivated and on track.

@secondtimemumma your dinner sounds delicious! I’m afraid you won’t get any exciting meal ideas from me - most of my meals are in the form of protein shakes until I’ve kick-started the weight loss!

Day 3 done. Felt hungry in the middle of the day but by this evening I feel pretty good. Managed around 11,000 steps and an hour’s reformer Pilates class and stayed within my calorie allowance.

Enjoying reading everyone's updates. Definitely helping me to stay motivated as well. We watched Eat, Pray, Love last night which is a TERRIBLE film but love the section in Italy where they talk about food all the time (and the bits in India and Bali also make me want to eat certain foods).

Feeling healthy and stronger food-wise. But DS has given me his cold (or DH!) 🤒so exercise/steps taking a back seat.

Yesterday
-boiled egg and rye toast
-pumpkin pancakes, greek yoghurt and honey
-spaghetti bolognese
-fruit for snack (we get fruit/veg provided at work - yesterday had 2 apples, a satsuma, pineapple, melon and carrot sticks in my breaks)
-coffee with breakfast and herbal tea/water the rest of the day.

Today
-boiled egg and rye toast
-creamy tagiatelle with spinach, mushrooms, lemon
-goulash with extra peppers, rice
-snack -maybe mango and banana smoothie (with milk, greek yoghurt, honey, cinnamon) - I tend not to need a snack on non-work days. Just have to control my desire to pop to the shop and get junk food.

Looking forward to weigh-in tomorrow. I definitely feel a change in my body the last month (has it only been a month I've been actively trying to lose weight!). This time last week I was pre-menstrual, and suffering from extreme exhaustion, I couldn't even think straight. I've really noticed a change in how hormones affect me within my cycle the last 5 years. I never used to have PMT and now I'm just on my knees every month. As soon as I get my period I feel better (and even better once it's gone!).

No exciting meals from me either. We are off to the big city today and ds will want McDonald's but I'm going to say no. I don't want to see McDonald's for quite some time as we had a few recently. I might have bubble tea for dinner instead!
Weight down this morning and don't want to spoil that with anything salty today.
Have a great day everyone and remember your 🍾 I went overboard with the 🍾 yesterday and got out of bed 4 times to pee before I could sleep 🙄 less 🍾 after dinner me thinks.

Went out for a meal last night with old friends. Had a great time and don't regret a single calorie.

Morning! Lost 0.5 kg! I know it is not a lot but it's a move in the right direction. Puts me in the upper range of healthy BMI!

This thread is amazing at keeping me motivated and on track!
Thank you for all your advice on how to wrangle hunger, it has really helped.

I stuck to my plan and did well this week. My Tuesday weigh in:

SW: 70kg
CW: 62.5kg!
GW: 50kg

I am surprised in a good way, that's 2.5kg loss 🥳 I had to step on the scales few times to make sure it wasn't my scales having a moment. Mechanical scales, so fairly reliable. My milk supply is also ok (touch all the wood).
Onwards and inwards with carb restriction and portion control.

I've joined and dropped out of these threads more times than I can count.

BUT I'm here, making no promises but a good intentions and determination. Aiming to lose 4kg before Christmas, 14 overall.

Through trial and error, realised I love yoga, pilates and weights, so doing those with an aim of 3-5 times a week.

Happy to be here (again)😊

I think this thread is a bit like the WW group I go to. Helps to keep me on track and gives me ideas around food.

It’s good to see weights and losses too.

Breakfast:- Vogel soya and linseed toast with apricot jam and spread.

I'm in. i have 4st to lose

I joined SW online yesterday so today is Day 1. So far so good 😂

I don't know what's wrong with me but I can no longer eat the usual amount of porridge for breakfast. I end up feeling sick and leaving part of it so I've swapped the usual half cup for a third cup and that seems much better.

How many calories in a dirty Oreo bubble tea do you think? They are so nice.

65.5kg
You're right - this thread is really motivating. I hopped on last night before bed to stop the cravings. Back at it today with successfully completed fast despite LONG 4h meeting and Costco treats in the middle of the table. Must admit that seeing everyone eating them that were overweight (I am also, I don't want to make it seem like I"m judging or whatever) but it did feel motivating!

@secondtimemumma My fave is twinnings biscuit one - it's vanilla and biscuity- hard to explain but it feels like a treat with milk! I have it just before I stop eating to start my 16h fast.

@DomesticElf Hurrah for milk-supply. I'm also breastfeeding so it's good to know that it hasn't been an issue for you.

@PatienceOfEngels sorry to hear you're sick! it's so frustrating.

@GonnaGetGoingReturns I understand what you mean about obsession but I feel like I'm the other way when I don't weigh regularly. I will look forward and speculate and if I don't hit my perspective target I'll feel really down. So I accept that I will fluctuate daily but I think if the general trend is down I'll feel OK about that!

Funny how taking care of myself by dieting is already having an impact on my self-esteem. I put my makeup on this morning carefully, and selected a nice outfit. I'll head to the gym at the end of the way and shower, wash hair and blow-dry nicely. These are things that had been feeling like a shore. It's a really great shift in mindset already!

Evening!

Stuck to plan yesterday, all things logged on MFP and came in at 1151 cals. I've set my target to 1350 per day. I also did an exercise class first thing, and two shifts at work which is active/on my feet the whole time.

Today I've come in at 1310 cals:
Lunch - wrap with loads of salad, grilled chicken breast, a little bit of grated cheese and Caesar dressing
Dinner - chicken Kiev, new potatoes and peas

Plus lots of water and a few cups of tea. No exercise but a busy shift, I wish I had my Garmin still to track steps!

I'm weighing and measuring all of my ingredients or meal elements again, which is helping me to refocus on portion sizes.

Let's hope the renewed effort pays off; it definitely feels harder to restart than it did to start at the beginning, and especially at this time of year, but my focus and motivation is definitely building so I hope that I see what I want on Friday 😬🤞