⭐️ LOSE IT! February 2024 ⭐️ Fit & Fabulous Edition ⭐️

[TheRealHousewife]

⭐️ Open to All ⭐️

Following on from the January thread.

February 2024! Start to get Fit & Fabulous by adopting healthy eating habits & moving more. 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 generally 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 I’m back on track.

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

Follow along to get Fit & Fabulous in readiness for the long awaited Spring and a bit of sunshine ☀️

@ThreeRingCircus re getting the spices right - it's useful if you can get hold kashmiri mixed spices or basaar. As then you won't need any of the dry spices separately. It is pre mix, for most curries.

If at the end you're not happy with seasoning - finely cut green chilli to boost spice. Tablespoon of milk or butter to reduce spice. If it's a runny curry like daal a peeled potato plopped in for 15 - 20 minutes will also draw out too much spice.

Hellooooo everyone else, I've not caught up yet. But hoping you're all sparkly and smiley this week! ✨️ 😊

SW 15st 4
CW 14st 8
GW 11st 11
Loss this week 1lb

Slightly disappointed with a loss of 1lb as I've had a good week. But every little helps! My latest small change is to swap my morning cappuccino for a mint tea 🍵

I'm exactly 1kg up from last week. Don't mind as I had my birthday, and then yesterday was my eldest daughter's. She requested butter chicken as her birthday meal, so I rustled that up along with onion bhaji and some samosas. The samosas were a hit regardless of the different sizes and shapes I ended up with. Not getting out on my daily walks this week as when I was doing a run/walk hiit on Sunday, I felt a twinge in my knee which turned into hurting when having to climb stairs. Not great as my house is over 3 levels. Just trying to give it chance to get better but I feel very sedentary. Went for my first ever mammogram today. Built it up in my head and didn't want to go, but it was so quick and easy I feel a bit silly now.

Thank you @AnnieCambs that is really helpful, I appreciate you taking the time to type that.

Today's plan:

B - milky coffee
L - greek yoghurt, raspberries, flaxseed and honey
D - garlic pasta with mushrooms, peas and red onion
E - a walk on my lunch break

@afaloren those fishcakes sound nice. Did you make them yourself?

@ImALittlePea good luck for your interview. I am sure you will do fab

@VallesMarineris that is a fab NSV

@LegoTherapy sounds like you have done amazing going from a bmi of 26 to 21. Don't let it get you down. You will look more amazing than you realise. I know feeling it is more important and I think you will get there 💐 also fantastic news on the all clear.

@AnnieCambs thankyou 😊 to be fair I haven't actually done squats everyday but I am happy with what I have achieved so far. Will share my results at the end of the month.

I am weighing in this evening 🤞

hi everyone
I've lost 2lbs this week. Quite happy with that as I've eaten less but not been that rigorous. Thinking of trying 5:2 diet but not sure I can stick to it

SW 11:13. ( on 2nd Feb)
CW: 11:11 (7th Feb)

GW: 10:02 by 15/07/24

I'm going to weigh in Friday, no idea what it will be like, after eating cake, but also not eating at all for most of Sunday/Monday... who knows!

Been for a walk this morning, got a few more bits of party food and spare block of butter for making buttercream just in case. I'll freeze it if we don't need it. Got cute heart shaped crumpets from Aldi.

B: kidney bean burrito
L: not sausage patties, English muffin, tomatoes
D: miso peanut tofu, broccoli.

Morning all.......lovely to see you all here, still plodding away.

WOW

SW (June 2023) - 93kg
First Goal - 72kg (achieved Christmas 2023)
CW - 68.3kg
GW - 55kg

A loss of 0.7kg for me this week.

I finally threw out my big jeans. I know it's a bit bizarre but they were like a mental crutch for me, something to wear should I ever get fat again. I'm not going to get fat again so out they've gone.

Apart from that I'm still just keeping on keeping on. I am getting a bit bored with it all though so trying to think of ways to change it up a bit without falling into bad habits again. It's almost spring so that's something to look forward to, I've missed the sunshine.

@WeirdPookah I'm going to weigh on Friday too this week. A sneak peak on the scales last night shows I haven't done too much damage after the parties this weekend but I think it's the amount of walking I did on Monday and Tuesday that's helped there. We'll see!

@talkingdeadscot I think I need some ideas to help change things up too. I'm eating a lot of the same meals (soup, greek yoghurt with fruit, eggs, tomatoes or mushrooms on toast etc) as it's easier to not have to think about food or count calories as I know what's in them but I can tell I'll get bored and that's dangerous for me in terms of starting to slip up. Other people on here posting meals is definitely helping in terms of ideas, I need to start noting them down.

Managed to put in half a pound this week 😞 so have resorted to the biscuits to cheer myself up. I need to find a more sensible response but completely fed up.

@LegoTherapy sorry to hear you feel that way. My stomach looks better under clothes when I lose weight but it actually looks worse when I am nude because my stretchmarks are more visible and the wee pouch I have still from pregnancies looks deflated and loose. I use sweet almond oil and palmers stretch mark butter on my stomach. I think exfoliating and moisturising would be great for you. I would also buy new togs, it will be amazing how much better you feel to be wearing something that fits.

@Stripyunicorn i find a couple of strong coffees always helps me when I am a bit constipated. You could also try taking fibre supplements?

Oh man. First period this year and I could eat everything in the house! I’ve just about held it together but have made room for several hits of chocolate in my calories! This explains why I felt so snacky yesterday too.

B - Protein yoghurt, banana
L - Chicken sausages, salad
D - Haddock fishcake, sugar snap peas, chocolate protein pot
S - Skinny hot chocolate, Freddo
E - 2 x dog walks, ‘yoga’ (it was more like meditation today), cardio session at the gym.

Let’s see if I can make it to bedtime without stuffing my face!

@LeftyLou I buy the fish cakes from Tesco, they are often on an offer and I find them such an easy quick dinner with some veg.

WoW today 64.4kg
SW 70kg
TW 60 then 56 kg

Drawing a line in the sand, 2024 starts properly here! I’ve been too busy to give any time/effort to this, but now we’re into Feb I will start. I’m happy I’ve stayed under 65kg 👍

@ThreeRingCircus there's a good thread in Food / Recipes, called 2024 Meal Planning that I stalk watch. Endless meal ideas in there, it's really helpful for inspiration.

I'm still managing to carry on with my swimming. 1km swim and nearly 15,000 steps today. Not going to lie, I lay on the couch and shut my eyes for half an hour before school pick up this afternoon...

WoW- 0.2kg off of my GW

I've been here at this weight ish since about two weeks ago now, I weigh daily to monitor trends and my weight has fluctuated a bit based on type of food eaten/cycle as expected but I'm generally maintaining.

I've found this week and last I've been hungrier compared to normal and that's made weight loss difficult as I'm eating at maintenance calories which naturally explains the maintainence in weight. I'm not unhappy about this but I am finding eating in moderation and having a variety of food difficult as some foods are calorie dense and not filling so it's eaten in small quantities which isn't exactly conducive to satiety but the flip side is no regrets as it's delicious and I'm not stopping myself from having treat foods as long as I meet my weekly calorie intake and don't exceed it.

I've learnt more about tracking steps and calorie intake daily, having a weekly goal for both and aiming for this which is so helpful as it's reduced guilt over eating more on cardio and/or strength training days or being quite sedentary other days.

Well done for those with losses today!

Today's menu:

B - boiled egg, seeded toast, lemon water with chia seeds added for extra fibre

L - homemade leek & potato soup, apple, packet quavers

D - black-eyed beans with halloumi

S - home made banana, pecan and date muffin (not bad for a healthier sweet treat)

Exercise - stretch class and Les mills shapes class.

@wiltingflower that's a really good point about having weekly rather than daily goals, I think that would work better for me too really. Room for say some extra snacks on a Saturday evening with a movie by compensating over the rest of the week.

I can tell my period is ending, I'm so much less hungry than I was at the end of last week. Way under on calories today but no hunger so I'm taking it as a way of compensating for the past few days.
I'm thinking about varying my calorie targets depending on the time of the month. If the week after my period I can stick to 2-300 cals a day less, that means when I'm on my period I can eat extra without beating myself up because it will average out at a deficit.

Completely agree on weekly goals @Stripyunicorn @wiltingflower - I use nutracheck and you can set 'easy days' which gives you extra calories on those days by reducing the others. It also has a week view which has a total for the week as well as individual days. I tend to plan for very low calorie days on mon/tue as they're at the end of the week in the app (can set the week, I choose Wed - Tuesday to tie in with WOW at the end of the week.

Weighed-in again today as yWoW was skewed. Looking better, with only 1/2 lb on, and not 2 1/2! Long run yesterday, but another sedentary work day today. Food - no idea. Nothing in fridge so will be freezer surprise.

SW 12 0
CW 11 7.5
GW 11 2

@WhatWouldTheDoctorDo thanks for this useful info. I've been using nutracheck very basically for a few months, but haven't dug into it properly. I've made some tweaks now - week now starts on Wednesday and I have an easy day on Saturday!

It makes it very mathematically clear actually why, if you go over your calories significantly a couple of times in one week - and don't pull back on other days - the weight doesn't come off!

It's also tracking my BMI for me, and I can see I've gone down 2 BMI points since starting on this thread. Good non-scale victory.

The weather is utterly miserable. No walk today.

Just had a oatmilk coffee, put the cinnamon swirls in the freezer for birthday breakfast, as they were supposed to be rather than as a treat for braving the sleet.

B: kidney bean burrito
L: vegetarian chili, small baked potato, cottage cheese
D: roast vegetables, chicken

2.5 lbs loss for me yesterday.

I have booked half days AL today and yesterday was planning on some longer walks. No way today. Anybody think the snow will be gone by tomorrow?

Good Afternoon … anyone got snow. ⛄️ Winter wonderland here which is great if you don’t need to go out and about.

@LeftyLou @EmmaGrundyForPM @MrsPepperpotty @NothingTraLaLa @EndlessGuineaPigCycle Fab progress 👏

@WeirdPookah Lovely menu, sounds delish 😋

@WhatWouldTheDoctorDo I really enjoy black beans & halloumi! 😋

@wiltingflower Well done! Nearly there! 👍👏

@Stripyunicorn Staggering your calories over the month to accompany hormonal cravings/nutritional need's is a fantastic idea 👌

@buzzofthebumblebee Thats a relief!

@Newname2308 Welcome back on board!

@Bethechange2024 Sorry to read about your small gain or to reframe it it’s a fluctuation which is completing natural. Try not to eat your feelings, up your protein, healthy fats, fibre and plenty of water. That should help keep you satiated and less likely to snack. ❤️

@talkingdeadscot Youve made consistent steady progress! Well done on your loss! 👍

@ThriceInALifetime @buzzofthebumblebee Small gain, stayed the same = Just keep going. 👍

Menu
Meal 1 - Porridge (no sugar or sweetener) Splash of fresh cream.
Meal 2 - Mushroom omelette and large salad including chopped pecans.

Tea, black coffee, water with acv.

We have sideways blowing sleet. Soggy and grim.

The winds is coming from the East, so rooms that are normally ok are cold tonight, really cold. Both my daughters rooms are at the back of the house, and they are so cold tonight.

Sorry to hear that @WeirdPookah. Have you extra blankets, hot water bottles etc? There is nothing worse than a cold living environment.