Need to lose 1 stone? Gather around....

[froidIci]

Not sure if this will get any clicks, but I wondered if there are folks who need to lose about a stone or a bit this way or that who might want some accountability?

BTW When I say "need to lose a stone" this means basically a stone to get to your own, individual target (which could be a random number, a random BMI point, just anything).

For me - 1 stone off takes me to weight before conceiving Baby 1, and 1.2 stone off takes me to my lightest adult weight and a very comfy size 10-12 as opposed to a size 12-14. I have added motivation that a 40th birthday tails off 2024 for me, so I've got a deadline.

My downfall? Carbs. Salty carbs. My body absolutely magically loses if I cut out rice, pasta and potatoes. And yet, alas - it specifically is those that I crave.

Anyone want a loose accountability thread?

Welcome!!

I think …. The general principles that are emerging for this group are -

1. Aim to either not eat after dinner OR eat a very specific thing if at all in a very specific portion
2. Aim to have more days following your plan and way of eating in a week than not (whethwr that’s low carbs or IF or calorie counts etc)
3. Allow a treat if life events occur but then not go totally insanely overboard
4. Recognise that even if progress by number is slow/stilted - progress also occurs by habit ie a good habit is better for us than bad habits.

Feel free to add more!

1st to loose here too. I'm trying to reset from tomorrow with a three day juice Cleanse. Never done one before but ate and drank more over Christmas so hoping it starts me on the right track

Scales in action so did a morning weigh in, came in at 9st 9 and a 1/4 - so I’ve put on compared to my last weigh in data on Nutracheck which is telling me last August I weighed 9st 5 - that’s also when I stopped calorie counting and then also let weight come back on again, I knew I was drinking more/snacking loads over the whole Christmas period! So sticking with the good habits approach and also calorie counting again, determined to get down to 9st and then maintain 🤘🤘 yesterday was fine, I have really been doing well with less coffee/tea (which I have with milk and sugar) and herbal teas instead, I didn’t realise how many calories I was drinking!

Morning everyone, weighed again today and the scales are showing 9st11, Monday was 9st13. My first goal weight is 8st10 and then reviewing from there. I’m one of the people who prefers to weigh more often as I don’t want the pressure of a weekly weigh in being the only data available, what with time of the month/water fluctuations so prefer to see a general trend of weight loss.

Today is day 3 of IF, and it’s historically what I’ve found the hardest day to adjust to, so I’m hoping to keep busy with some cleaning and lots of water and peppermint tea.

Does anyone else plan out their days eating on their notes?! I feel better having a checklist that i can tick off when I’ve had a glass of water, tea etc and my preplanned meals for the day, it stops me from going to the fridge/cupboards and thinking about what I could potentially have, as what’s available today is on my list.

Morning! Yes, I plan out my days like this and add the time I'll eat too. That makes me less likely to binge because I know that I have a planned meal or snack coming up soon. Today looks like this:

Overnight oats (8am)
Energy ball (10:30am)
Leftovers for lunch (1pm)
Eggs and crispbread (3:30pm)
Chicken and veg for dinner (6pm)

I've just been on the exercise bike while DD2 slept so I feel quite virtuous today!

I wouldn't usually go so heavy on the snacks but BF makes me hungry and I find myself eating out of boredom too.

Boredom is such a trigger for eating isn’t it? I think any point in the day where I get to sit down, I get that feeling that something to nibble on would be so much better!

Do you manage to drink a lot of water during the day? I actually found writing my 500ml of water x4/6 on my list really improved my intake, and I always then have a reminder to drink the whole thing before I go back to foods.

Oh me please! 5ft 6, started on 4th Jan at 10st 10.5lbs, making veeeeery slow progress as I've currently lost about 2lbs. Doing it through lots of walking (which I've struggled to do the past week or so due to snow/wind!) and making better choices with my diet, but like a lot of people here struggling with my snacking. After reading through some posts I'm going to try not to snack this week after my tea. Also doing dry Jan so think that is helping a title bit too. I got down to 9st 7lbs a couple of summers ago and felt great so hoping I can get to that again.

Hey, I’m a stone over what used to be my target weight although I think losing about 9lbs is more realistic.

i really like the mindset in this thread. I used to have quite disordered eating as a young adult so I try to steer clear of rules and drastic diets. I also would like to eat more healthily and mindfully and drink more water. Crisps are my downfall while watching telly in the evening so I need to distract myself somehow…

I’m 5’8” and run a lot so I can get away with eating a fair bit, but not as much as I have been. 11 stone as of this morning and aiming to get to around 10.5 by summer.

well done to all of you that have already made a great start!!

@froidIci Bit of a follow on from 3. and 4. really but I would say no crash diets or extreme measures which are unsustainable in the long term. When you only have a small amount to lose it's so tempting to do something drastic to get it off quickly. But you haven't fundamentally changed habits so that stone goes back on again.

I have become an expert on losing and gaining the same stone for the last 15 years! Maybe I've finally worked out how not to do that.

Well done everyone! And hello to new joiners!
at work away day today and managed to entirely avoid breakfast pastries (I don’t eat breakfast regardless but I normally would be tempted by hot pastries), and lunch also avoided sandwiches and rice and had lovely salad, grilled cheeses, grilled meat and dips which was excellent food at an excellent venue!

Just found this thread - ok to jump on board??
This is exactly me. Need to drop a stone and I will be at a weight where I feel healthy.
I'm currently 10st 12 but need to be no more than 10 st
I've been doing dry jan , but also not had one bit of chocolate or any sweets/cakes since 01 Jan.
I've not dropped a single ounce

I do one meal a day way of eating. I'm so much better if I don't start eating -as once I start I just graze all day.
I exercise most days - some days it's a class , some days a walk but most days is something. I do have a desk based job.
I know I need to up my water intake, but that can't be the only thing stopping me from losing ??
I will eat pasta, brown rice and wraps. Hardly have bread ever. Will have fruit yoghurts and plain biccies. Tonnes of fruit & veg
And have been conscious of my portion size
What am I doing wrong?

When I was on a fertility diet which consisted of 3 proper meals a day and 3 healthy snacks (good amount of Cals too - think stuff like nuts), my metabolism was at its very best. I’d go on hen weekends with a few meals and not gain a thing. So I really believe in keeping your metabolism ticking over with regular food tbh. Have you considered trying something else to one meal a day?

Welcome @ohyesohyesoh - wonder whether you’re actually eating enough for your metabolism to be working at its best?

I take on board the comments - thanks. Part of it for me is will power though. Once I start eating I find it hard to stop
if I do cave I will try to snack on unsalted nuts or grapes.
I do wonder how people seem to drop so many pounds on SW or WW ( I'm not thinking about doing something like that , as I don't think long term it does work)
Saying I haven't lost an ounce , I've got some jeans and work trousers that seem a little less constricted

About SW and WW, I think the answer is they don't. Both are based on business models that require you to come back time and time again. They rely on your initial motivation to diet and improve your eating but they don't work longer term.

I've tried WW a number of times in the past but it just doesn't work for me, especially in its current form. The free foods and points system force me to make better choices but the plan doesn't reduce my calories enough for me to actually lose weight and keep it off.

Some really good comments on here. It's great to see mindsets!

I've just booked some a b6 injection, because I think I need a boost.

And it made me realise I've started paying attention to my body and how it's fueled. So my desire for chocolate has waned, I'm now wanting to choose protein based stuff - still sweet stuff but then I see it as a healthier choice.

I've also bought a selection box of tea from Tetley so trying that out.

Basically, I'm bored of feeling ill and it's making me far more conscious of my body.

ALSO bought a walking pad which I've used today every time I've been on the phone, and rocked up 10k steps, a whole 9000 more than I'd get on a normal day at work!

checking in! welcome to new joiners :)

Weight is now about 1.3 kgs down from when I started this thread.

I noted two distinct moments yesterday were the specific urge to eat something delicious fatty and sugary/savoury - was huge - and required great self control.

1. The first occurred at a time when I normally don’t eat (ie morning time), but because I was at a work conference the hotel venue kept supplying freshly baked pastries from 9 am up till lunch and everyone was piling their plates. It took very significant self control. That moment was about sheer temptation.
2. the second was as per usual. 9 pm - felt this huge need to walk to cupboard to find Snacks. I was very full from dinner but still. It took a huge amount of control to work out that I was exhausted with work, worried about a friend/colleague’s wellbeing issues, kids had been most non useful in terms of listening at dinner time, and - I felt like I surely really deserved a big treat? I literally sat on my sofa and refused to walk to cupboard. By 10 pm the intense need went away

This morning I feel so much better for it but temptation + exhaustion clearly can cause “need” to eat as both moments above show!

That sounds like an emotional food cycle, have them myself. Major well done to resist!

You’re so right about our relationship with food not just being about hunger and nutrition, but emotions/hormones, as well as just basic habits and routines.

I think that’s why the platitudes of ‘move more/eat less’ from people who’ve never struggled with their weight can be so grating. We aren’t stupid people, but food can become such a comfort blanket in our minds, and cause genuine chemical reactions in our brains that takes a lot to unravel and a lot of will power to ignore. We won’t always undo those choices every single time, it’s nearly impossible, but I think just being consciously aware of your choices is a huge progress for most of us here.

I also think the mammoth effort of constantly being ‘switched on’ and aware of your choices/eating can become exhausting quickly, particularly when losses are slow.

Agree about patronising comments like “eat less and move more”. As if we’d have an obesity problem in the UK if it was so simple. I know exactly how to lose weight - and quickly too - having done it my fair share of times over the years but I simply love food: rich, delicious food. It brings me even more joy when already celebrating something, comfort when I’m anxious about something (usually my kids…) and distraction when bored. I could go on but quite simply I eat no matter how I feel. I was able to moderate this before kids. I was vain and had the time to go to several classes a week. Now if I’m worrying about my DC, I don’t really care about being a bit heavier than I’d like to be. Also agree about the brain chemistry - sleep deprivation is a bugger for altering this so we can blame the kids for that too! 😁

Thanks for the tip to note meals and snacks. It’s helping.

Havings kids and gaining weight is definitely entirely linked - and not just the pregnancy weight gain.

Kids = so many many emotional stressors (sleep deprivation, kids' needs, their development, their issues from playgrounds to beyond, balancing work and life, the little time for proper hobbies/relaxation, budget pressures - the list could go on and on!) and so many emotional stressors = delicious comforting food!

12.7 today so half a stone from the start of the month which is good. Just eating healthily and not pigging out. Slowly getting through couch to 5k. Figure there is a lot I can add in or improve with exercise when I plateau. Am eating the mumsnet classic every lunch of a massive salad. Seems to work!

Woohooooooo half a stone off already in jan is INCREDIBLE!

I've actually found it better if I give in to it sometimes (if it's something I really like and well worth the calories) and adjust elsewhere. I used to see it as pigging out, oh no I'm off the wagon and it would throw me off for ages.

Like yesterday at work I had a nice healthy lunch then ate a sausage roll and a mini quiche left over from a meeting later. So I just decided not to have any dinner as I was full, well, just had a light vegetable soup and still stayed within my calories for the day.

If I go over for the day I can have less the next day, and so on.

Well done, @Passthepickle , that's amazing! And also to @froidIci

WW worked for me when I was younger - I kept it off because I carried on eating the same way, maybe just slightly more. I then only put weight on with having children in late 20s to early 30s. Then had all sorts of hormonal stuff going on, work stress, depression and endometriosis, and have struggled with my weight since, only barely touched BMI 25 a couple of times in 15 years basically. And my average weight has been 8kg more than I weigh now.

Nowadays I prefer to know the macros of what I'm eating. Calorie counting gives me more freedom. And I find Nutracheck just a better app both on my phone and online. At one point WW online was all there was, pretty much - it was 20 years ago now, first time I did a proper "diet". Basically I'd put 1.5 stone on in two years on due to FT work in a desk job.

I lost weight in my late teens to early twenties by doing more exercise and consciously cutting down on junk. Now I need a more structured approach or I just kid myself I'm eating healthily but still too much. And I don't get away with eating as much of course, in spite of doing a fair bit of exercise still. I sit down a lot and that won't change. I'm not going to be getting a standing desk, I bloody loathe standing.