30 day challenge - want to join?

[YouBelongWithMe]

Backstory - I've been quite ill for about a year, and lost about 8kg through being unable to eat. I was then put on medication and feel fantastic, and have been living life to the ultimate full - out for coffee and cake, extravagant dinners, I've basically been in 'treat yourself' mode foe three months.

I've out on 7kg in three months 😬

I'm need to do something but want a set a short term goal. Next month it's my birthday, and in that week I'm off to see Taylor Swift with my daughter and also have a glorious London trip booked with my mum. I'd like to see what I can lose before then, to feel a bit more like myself again.

Anyone want to join? I'll update daily with what I'm doing, eating and how I'm getting on.

Today has gone ok for me.

13000 steps

Breakfast - half a bagel (ds leftovers!) and a small bowl of blueberries and yoghurt.
Morning snack at work - apple and a soreen bar
Lunch - a yo sushi chicken bowl that was delicious and only 400 calories!
Late afternoon snack - 3 cocktail sausages, small piece of cheese and some humus.
Tea - roast chicken, veg, roast potatoes

That probably sounds like a lot for someone who is supposed to be on a diet but I can assure you it is much less than usual 🤭

@YouBelongWithMe yeah if you weigh peanut butter, seriously that stuff is dangerous. It’s about 100 calories a teaspoon!! I don’t buy any form of nut butters now, I could eat a jar in a day with a spoon!

I need to kick my own Backside a bit. I go away in 17 days (we’re going on a city break to Edinburgh) and I really feel like I could do one last serious push to get past this block (mental/physical block) I just seem to be dithering around this weight constantly, I put on 3lbs every weekend and lose it but not actually losing anything overall. Next weekend I’m doing a charity hike so my food might be a bit off plan, but other than that there’s nothing in my way so I need to get past that mental block and have a few really good weeks! I think it’s the sugar and bread for me, because I am allowing myself some in my calories, I find it really hard to moderate it especially at weekends, and I’m not really sticking to my calories.

I’ve adjusted my nutracheck settings to allow a few more calories overall and set 2 “easier days” for the weekend, so I can have a bit more without completely writing off my day, and I just need to get my head down and actually do it now!

Yesterday i had:

Breakfast - 1 slice toast with peanut butter
Lunch - tuna salad
Snack- chocolate oat bar
Dinner - bacon, cabbage, small bit of mash
Evening (my worst time) - popcorn, 3 potato waffles, another oat bar.

I came in under calories but need to improve my evening binge eating. I need something that's nutritious with minimal effort.

What do you have in your tuna salad @Greenmayleaves ?

Edinburgh is my city @thenewaveragebear1983 I won't tell you all the lovely places to eat 🤣

Today I've had:
A smaller portion of overnight oats (had raspberries, blueberries, half a banana, some oats flaxseeds and linseeds, less peanut butter and some yoghurt). Oat milk latte.

Salad for lunch. A bag of rocket and spinach leaves with some grilled chicken, feta cheese and lots of pomegranate seeds. Had some carrot and cucumber sticks.

Dinner - DH is making some kind of Korean beef dish. I'm so choked up I'm not sure I'll manage it. Might even have to be off work tomorrow. Have had about three litres of water to try and replace the fluids running from my nose 😭

No @YouBelongWithMe , please tell me! We have a table booked at Gordon Ramsey burgers but other than that my menu is looking sparse!!

I’ve ended up on 1300 calories today. 142g protein. I ran 5km and walked the dog and we are out at dog training tonight. I feel really really tired, don’t know if it’s the heat, or it could be because I’ve had no iron tablets for 4 days as I ran out. I’ve replaced them now so I’ll take them tonight.

Edinburgh Street Food is excellent. Lots of choice. Bonnie and Wild also great for options. The Basement does great Mexican food and margaritas. Wahaca also fab for Mexican.

@YouBelongWithMe it's a pretty unadventurous tuna salad at the minute but I will start expanding it to add peppers/sweetcorn etc

Yesterday went well and I came in just under 1500 calories. Small DC came home sick from school so meals had to be easy. Breakfast and lunch were the same again. Dinner was pork medallion, roast baby potatoes and mushy peas. Mushy peas are very high calorie so I'm glad I checked first to have a small portion.

Snacks were: chocolate oat bar, 83 calorie crisps. In the evening I had 2 bacon medallions (35 cal each), 1 egg, and 2 white pudding (48 cals each) on top of 2 potato waffles. That was about 450 overall but evenings are my downfall so I always save a lot for then.

I also managed a 4k walk with a steep incline which I am really happy with as 2 weeks ago I was really sedentary.

I hope everyone has a good day today and sorry for the spacing issues. Mn keeps adding auto spaces and when I delete them they go back in.

Can I join please?

I've got approx 20lbs to lose.

Started my first proper fast last night. Started at 6pm. Currently sipping peppermint tea

Going to do high protein low carb, 1300 cals

Probably go for a walk/run tonight.

Keep going everyone, you're inspiring me.

@goingdownfighting how long is your fast for ? I’m feeling a bit queasy today so haven’t eaten anything since dinner which was about 9pm last night, so I’m kind of accidentally fasting!

16hours.

I accidentally started yesterday. I last ate at 6pm last night and broke my fast at 10:30am.

My mental block is my morning coffee which I swapped for a peppermint tea. I also had one before bed last night.

Not long now, keep up your water intake - that will help with symptoms.

Try and distract yourself or keep busy if you're working.

You can ease into fasting. Some people stay at 12:12 and work their way up.

You could see how far you get today and call it a day. A 15 hour fast is a great start.

Thanks for the tips , I’ll go fill my water bottle up. I’ll probably break my fast once my work meeting finishes at 1pm.

That's great. And well done. How do you feel about doing it again?

It’s quite freeing in a way, I usually think about food so much but have barely thought about it today. Not particularly hungry still…just came off a work call and I’ll do a bit of laundry before eating a light lunch later.

I might try and do it a couple of times a week from now on and see if I can have two meals a day with one snack instead of three meals a day with 2 snacks on fast days. I WFH so fairly sedentary and not sure if I really need 3 meals at all tbh.

How about you? Will you do it as a regular thing?

Not having to think about food all the time is a good benefit of doing it. It's easier just to to say no to food instead of trying to figure out what I can and can't eat and then get obsessed. Although my husband said sweet dreams last night and all I could think about was sweets!

I'm going to try and do it every day with high protein, low carb.

There are some hard core people (Rishi Sunak?) who do it for up to 36 hours. I wouldn't be fit to run a bath let alone a country if I did that but it is becoming more and more appealing the more I think about it.

Does body brushing help @Fullfatandfortyplus? I've heard people talk about it vaguely but I haven't really read up on the benefits...

Anyway I have been here lurking in the shadows but my days have been the opposite of this thread!! Today is DH's birthday and we had a good few hours out playing disc golf but we also had McDonalds and a ridiculously large red velvet cake (we love baking) - though I did take a much smaller portion than I would have normally thinking of this thread! Tonight's tea is also on the high calorie side, pasta with pancetta, asparagus and cheese sauce.

I need some good snack ideas for mid-afternoon, I've tried skipping it but then I get queasy so I need something. But probably something healthier than biscuits! What are all your go to snacks?

@SuspiciousLampshade I always have a cold can of diet sprite or vimto mid afternoon, it helps my sugar cravings (although I know it’s not very healthy!). If I’m really hungry I try to have protein and fat so either something savoury, or I’ll have Greek yogurt with a scoop of protein powder and fruit.

Day 4 for me.

Overnight seed pudding for breakfast (a mix of raspberries, blueberries, pomegranate seeds, half a banana, yoghurt, flax seeds and chia seeds. Oat milk latte.

Salad with rocket and spinach leaves, chopped red pepper and cucumber, a smashed avocado with lime juice and fresh coriander, feta cheese, chicken meat, pomegranate seeds and a handful of trail mix.

Dinner is a two GF pitta breads with lamb meatballs, mango chutney and salad.

Have a chocolate covered rice cake for later.

Not done a big walk but was quite active at work.

I was tempted to go to weigh in tonight but after the temps ramped up, I’m bloated and it won’t be good, so will go early Saturday morning instead. As a result, my foods been quite light so far today as I thought I was on the scales!

tonight we’re having toast chicken, salad, and tandoori cauliflower. @YouBelongWithMe your dinner sounds delicious!

Day 6 - down three pounds.

I have taken the dog for a big walk this morning and am going to have some avocado salad for lunch. Something light for dinner because it's bloody roasting!

This hot weather makes it so much easier to eat less! All I’ve eaten so far today is a small ham and egg salad and a lolly!

Weighed myself this morning and I’ve lost 2lb since the start of the week (although that’s the same 2lb I’ve been losing and regaining for months now 😐)

Well done @Tacocatgoatcheesepizza This time we'll keep going together and you'll keep it off.

I agree about the hot weather. Today I've had a cheeky oat milk caramel latte from the nice coffee shop at the beach (walked 8k steps with the dog), some watermelon, one square of some healthy flapjack thing my husband made, and an apple. Will hold out for dinner and that'll be it today (no idea what it is yet)

@YouBelongWithMe @Tacocatgoatcheesepizza

Yes the weather is helping. My social life however, isn't. Had an Indian yesterday (put me 400cal over) and brunch this morning which will take 45 mins off my fasting period. Not bad damage but I've seen an uptick in the scales this morning bringing my first weigh in at down 1.2lb which I'm happy with.

I have also set a mini goal - I'm seeing a relative in a few weeks who I haven't seen in years so want to be 10st by then. It's a bit ambitious but I can hope!

I'm very seen a dress that I like which I'm going to buy once I reach that.

Morning, we ended up in a beer garden yesterday and I drank 6 pints of cider and had a pub dinner 🤦‍♀️ I had reset my nutracheck to have 2 “easier days” with more calories, and I hadn’t used them all on Friday so that, combined with yesterdays allowance, I was possibly ok. But I felt dreadful this morning!

been for a run and done a workout this morning, had my protein shake for breakfast, and will have a salad for lunch and dinner is steak and salad. So I should have a pretty good day. I did weigh myself this morning, the combination of the excess yesterday plus the heat making me bloat- I’m about 4 lbs up. I need to drink loads of water today to get rid of some of this water retention.