⭐️LOSE IT! January 2024 Reset & Renew⭐️

[TheRealHousewife]

⭐️Open to All⭐️

January 2024! Fresh start & develop new habits. Join-in to reset & refresh and become a healthier version of yourself. These threads are for those who’d like to lose and those who wish to maintain whilst eating a healthy varied diet.

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 9st. I had a blip a couple of years ago when my thyroid went wonky but now back on track.

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

👋 to Buzzofthebumblebee & Imalittlepea & RealHousewife - thanks for the lovely, warm welcome back. I'd rather not be back 🙄but hey ho!😀. It's just lovely to see some old friends, as well as making new ones.

Everyone seems very motivated, which is just grand. I've been fine since Monday. Still lots of activities & socialising going on here as school/ work not back until Monday. We still have the panto tomorrow!

IF been going well, except for Tuesday when I was in the pub with my 2 favourite ex-colleagues until 8pm (I don't drink, so no temptation!)& came home ravenous!

Meal 1: Tried the banana pancakes a PP posted (banana/ porridge oats & egg) with raspberries & greek yogurt. Very tasty. 350 cals in total, so not mega low, but felt like a treat.

Meal 2: Squash, sweet potato & peanut butter soup (large portion) with one tiny piece of crusty bread & a slither of real butter. Soup is quite calorific (over 300 cals a portion but protein keeps me full).

Snacks: 3X Babybel light/ low fat yogurt/ 2 cups of tea with milk/ Raspberry Ruffle Bar (aiming for v low sugar, but I needed some & it's dark choc).

Finished at 1300 Calories & not hungry 💪.

I'm off to chill & use my Shakti mat (Xmas Present & I love it!).

Need to move much more, will start in earnest come Monday.

Back at work today, didn't want to go back but tbh it's good for me, I don't think about food as much when I'm at work and my job is reasonably active, should help a bit.
Have definitely felt more positive today and whilst I'm still drinking, cutting from a bottle of wine to a glass is a really good change for me.

B toast and hummus x2
L quorn salad roll
D viv steak with spinach, cauliflower & broccoli
S waves crisps and glass of wine

Oh and i nearly forgot one of my clients made me an oat milk latte

@Patchworksack stopping evening snacking has been the one thing that's really made a difference for me but it's so hard to stop!

The only way to get rid of my cravings was to cut out upf snacks completely, then I snacked on fruit/unsalted nuts in the evening, then replaced with herbal tea.

I now feel shocking if I eat anything like crackers or crisps or salted nuts, cheese after dinner.

LemonDrizzle23

Do you mind saying what the you-tube channel is for low impact cardio you mentioned, I have a bad knee and can't do any exercise where I need to be on my knees

@HighlandCowRose try The Body Project they do loads of standing low-impact workouts. I did one today! Also have a dodgy knee.

Weighed yesterday (Wednesday 3/1/23) but didn’t manage to check in
Weight BC (before Christmas) 12.0
SW12.5
CW 12.2
so lost 3

however here I go again and ate loads today so need to get back on track now

@HighlandCowRose - same recommendation as @afaloren !
The Body Project is who I found. They specifically label their low impact workouts.

Hi all!

Great to read all your tips and inspiration.

I was in the right frame of mind and was watching my food intake, and trying to move as much as possible but today have spent 3 hours in a&e with it turns out a stress fracture!

Been told to rest it as much as possible and should see some improvement in a few weeks. So my exercise plan is out of the window andnim afraid to say as I was in a grump I gave into a takeaway tonight (in my defence I chose chicken tikka with salad!).

The posts below about low impact cardio sound really helpful as I'll be using those until my foot feels better.

However I have lost 2lbs this week and I'm very close to my next stone bracket so I'm keeping that in mind!

Thank you afaloren & LemonDrizzle23

I'm going to give that a go this weekend, I'm not known for my willingness to exercise

Several pages ago a couple of people were talking about tempeh, I've had some in my fridge for a while but never got round to doing scything with it, hoping to make this this weekend

frommybowl.com/slow-cooker-tempeh-pot-roast/#tasty-recipes-6780-jump-target

Oh no @GrumpySausage , how did you do that?!

I've had a decent day again.
Turkey with veg for lunch, sausage mash and veg for dinner. Hard boiled egg and chocolate cookie for snack. Around 1300kcal overall.
Not done my yoga yet today though, I might do a short 5 minute before bed stretch one as I'm very tired!

I love tofu (J Basket particularly) but am not fond of tempeh.

Everyone is doing so well on here!

Can I ask if anyone has small children how do you do mealtimes in terms of cooking multiple dishes? My kids are nearly 4 and 2 and they won't eat stuff I want to eat but also having a child with multiple allergies makes mealtimes a nightmare in itself so we eat the same meals week in week out but I'm so bored of them and theres a lot of pasta based ones etc.

We eat meals as a family of 4 so I don't want to make myself a completely separate meal to everyone if I can help it.

shearwater2 out of interest, what didn't you like about it, I've never had it but read (I think on this thread) that's you can treat it the same as tofu, which I love.

B: coffee with cream
L: poached egg barm
Snack: banana
D: 1/2 cornish pasty with mushy peas and gravy.
Snack: chocolate and low cal crisps

Exercise: 40mins walk & 56min gym session.

Successful day, even though I had some small unhealthy snacks this evening. I got my 10k steps in, had small meals today and smashed the gym.

I'm 1lb down this week which has given me a boost.

Not a bad day apart from a sausage roll for breakfast! - 450 calories with coffee

No meat Monday and chicken gyoza for lunch from Itsu - 650 calories

Veggie chilli and baked potato for dinner - 600 calories

So about 1700 for the day, no wine and no crisps! About 500 calories less than any other day this week, probably since about 21st December.

Exercise calories - 459 (10,500 steps, ten minute run in the gym then yoga class)

The type I had was a weird consistency and aftertaste- reminded me more of a building material than food!

@GrumpySausage oh no! Hope it heals quickly and you're not in too much pain.

I've eaten more chocolate today than I have in weeks. Not ideal but nevermind. I had less than 5 hours sleep last night and my final step count is nearly 25,000 and was hungry. I had chia porridge for breakfast, Greek yogurt, chia, honey and berry compote for lunch and homemade lentil and vegetable soup with 2 little soup rolls (no butter) for dinner so I've had 3 healthy meals which is a vast improvement over the past 3 weeks. I'll do better tomorrow on the snack front.

@abbs1 my kids are older now (9 and 12) but except when weaning I've always cooked us all the same. They both struggled with the texture of meat when they were little (obviously processed nuggets are so much easier to swallow and chew!) so I would be realistic with their portions and cut up small. We also used to avoid very strong or hot curries - in fact we stopped that when I got pg as I felt nauseous at the smell of spice and my DH got used to adding hot sauce at the table.

I avoid being too experimental with them and often try to make sure that the rice/pasta isn't slathered in sauce, but I do also make them eat what we eat. We try to rotate rice/pasta/bread/potatoes. I would see what you can add to your plate to reduce your pasta portion and/or switch to wholewheat pasta (honesty - we don't eat brown rice or pasta!). I will also do things like fajitas where I can have a wide range of veg (tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, lettuce, avocado) but the kids pick 1 or 2 veg to have with theirs. Or when we do homemade pizza, everyone gets to choose their toppings as long as it includes 1 veg and I pile on more for me (my kids are nuts about olives). What allergies are you dealing with? What type of things do they like to eat?

Mine are pretty easy eaters but both dislike the texture of mushrooms. I make a bolognese where all the veg is finely diced so they don't even notice it's there (Jamie Oliver has a good recipe for a 10 vegetable sauce where everything is blended). We do eat a UPF meal maybe once a week (sausages, burger, crispy chicken, smoked sausage, fish fingers) but it's the exception rather than norm. I tend to make my own potato wedges rather than pre-prepared. Sometimes when getting a take-away I will have some fries but then make my own meat/fish part and add some crudités. Today we're having a chinese and I will probably steam some broccoli to add.

We do a weekly soup night which is always packed with veg. The kids will eat more bread with theirs and I'll have an extra scoop or two of soup.

You can also offer yourself more variety with your lunch. If there's something I really want to try and I know the kids won't eat it, I will often do a batch cooking session and portion for freezer lunches. I did a Thai pumpkin soup that I knew would be too spicy for them for lunches. Atm I have harissa chicken with orzo and vegetarian scotch broth in the freezer for my lunches for the next week.

@abbs1 I'm also past the young children stage, but back then, we all ate together, and we didn't make many adjustments, beyond reducing salt.

What kind of meals do you want to eat, that you think they won't? I'm focusing on healthy meals for dinner that aren't too calorific, so we're all still eating the same food (it would be different if I was following a specific diet or low-carbing though), but DC will have a post-school snack and a bit of supper, so not missing out on the calories they need while growing.

Maybe start rotating some into your weekly meal plans to get them used to some new foods?

I weighed in and I'm 11 pounds down in 4 days!!

The bloating from salt and carbs over christmas was unreal! I had a LOT of bathroom visits. I feel a lot more emotionally happy with what I want to get down to as a first big goal and feel it's achievable.

@PatienceOfEngels I made a batch of my version of that sauce yesterday!
@abbs1 my children do eat the same as me for the most part, yours are absolutely young enough to get onboard with eating vegetables as a normal part of everyday eating. You just need to make it a part of it.
I then add them some carbs I'm leaving out, like we have peanut miso tofu with broccoli, they (and my husband) get noodles too. Or I have pasta sauce and cheese over lots of broccoli, and they get a little broccoli and pasta. Curry, I have cauliflower, they have naan. Kimchi, eggs and veg, they get rice too. I leave rice out of my poke bowls, they get it.

Roasted vegetables are really easy and adaptable, we have it at least once a week, seasonal veg, seasoning of choice, and serve with some protein, add a carb for the children if they need it.

I don't like tempeh, tried it several times. I love tofu, tempeh has a weird texture, and an odd bitter taste I couldn't even get round when slathered in BBQ sauce.

Many thanks to whoever recommended Nutracheck. I joined and finding it really helpful. Hope I won't regret saying that when I weigh in again on Monday!😁

I have been making this lasagne for ages and the ragu, which you could definitely use in a bolognese, is so so nice. https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/vegetarian-lasagne.html

Good Morning

Hi @LeftyLou I eye ball ingredients for sauces; dill sauce - start with a very small amount of butter & olive oil. No more than 10g in total. Sauté a very finely chopped shallot until translucent. Add a couple of tables spoons of double cream and a tablespoon of cream cheese. Add dried dill & salt and pepper to taste. Literally takes 2 or 3 minutes. This amount will easily do two people as you only need a drizzle.

@shearwater2 @Sunshineofyourlove Youll both soon be in a regular routine and seeing results 👍@shearwater2 great step count! 👌

@LegoTherapy Well done on your 10 mile walk … it might be the walking that’s increased your appetite.

@PatienceOfEngels Fantastic progress as demonstrated by your body measurements 👏👏👏

@Ivy09 As daunting as it was the main thing is you’ve made a start! Well done 👍

@Patchworksack @WhatWouldTheDoctorDo Well done on getting your exercise in! 👏👍👌

@DomesticatedPickle I hope you soon feel better!

@LemonDrizzle23 Awesome amount of steps 👏

@Puffalicious you are absolutely welcome 😬❤️

Oh no @GrumpySausage! Hope it’s soon fixed! 💐

Menu
Meal 1 - Minestrone Soup
Meal 2 - Chicken tray bake.
Tea, black coffee & water

I would like to say it’s admirable to see so many people embracing a healthier lifestyle and just getting on with it. Life’s tough at the best of times and it’s refreshing that you’re all taking some time to nurture yourselves. The payoff will be worth it! You’ll be fitter, healthier and feeling and looking fantastic. Roll on the sunshine ☀️

Cross Posted

@WeirdPookah You win the thread! 11lbs in 4 days. Simply wow 😮👍👏

Thank you for sharing the recipe @Penguinmouse 👍