Sustainable and not overly ambitious weight loss: 1 stone by September- anyone care to join?

[OMGitsnotgood]

I’m 5’4 and 12 stone 8lbs.
I exercise regularly now, and am slowly losing weight ( almost a stone over a year), I now need to reduce my calorie intake to increase the weight loss. I enjoy my food and drink, so a very restrictive diet isn’t going to work for me, plus I want it to be sustainable.

I want to try to lose a stone by September. In itself that shouldn’t be too much of a challenge but that time period includes a holiday and lots of social activities which will involve food and drink.

The approach I want to take is making healthier or at least lower calorie choices.
So for example, Weetabix and fruit for breakfast instead of toast and lashings of butter; soup or salad for lunch, with the occasional sandwich rather than sandwiches every day (and always tempted to have crisps with sandwiches); evenings have a ‘normal’ meal but consider the calorie content when meal planning or when eating out. Gin & slimline tonic instead of wine etc
I don’t want to be counting calories but am aware of what foods/cooking methods are higher in calories than others.
I’m good at not making or buying cakes/biscuits/ puddings - but if on offer will eat them - and want to be able to within reason.

I don’t want to join a group such as Slimming World, but know the weekly weigh ins have helped friends stay focused and accountable, so thought I’d give it a go on here to see if there are any other reluctant dieters who would find this gentler approach in the company of others helpful.

Anyone want to join in?

@dudville hello! I like your plan, might pinch that idea. I don't buy sweets but if someone brings some as they did earlier this week I don't have the willpower. Understanding what our pitfalls are and working out how to address them is key I think. I'm not drinking alcohol during tv week unless I'm out for a meal. Unfortunately summer is turning into a bit of a social whirl so I am not doing as well weight loss wise as I might. But going back to the purpose of this thread, for me, it's to try and find a sustainable way of losing weight in a sustainable manner.
This week I'm focusing on lowish calorie meals when not out and trying to be a little more sensible than usual when I am out .

Thanks for the welcome @OMGitsnotgood !

I’ve just done my end of July weigh in and have lost the grand total of one pound! If I can lose one pound a month - and more importantly keep it off - then I’ll be at my goal weight and back in the healthy bmi zone by August 2025. It’s a long haul but I’ve just signed up for nutracheck to keep me on track for August👍

Well done @Bloodylovecake , but it is painful isn't it!

I'm just starting page 2 (100 posts per page) of this thread, but wanted to start gathering some thoughts. You've all inspired me to add to my gym, I can walk the long way home.

Yesterday was an ok first day considering that when I went to bed the night before I didn't know that I was waking up to a diet. I don't plan to be carb free but I did yesterday, had a large omelette (3 eggs, 1/2 c spinach, 1/2 cup mushrooms, 1/2 cup tomatoes) and a large bowl of porridge (made with soy milk, raisins, a seed mix, apple and banana with cinnamon). I finished the day with 3 glasses of wine, that was stupid, and not my intention. I think it was the combination of a nice summer's day and also I was trying to hide from the desire to have an evening snack, and failed, but I had watermelon and an apple, so not too bad. I came in under my TDEE so I'm ok with Day 1.

Last night I wondered about having a fast day today but I think I'll wait. I've only done a few of them, but found in the past that they've really helped me to alter my relationship to food, reduced my fear of hunger, reset my blood sugar levels, gave me a renewed sense of control over urges, etc., but it is a big thing to do and if I can get started on a few days like yesyerday, minus the wine, then I'll have achieved a lot of that. My goal is to feel a little hungry from time to time as opposed to full most of the time!

At the moment I'm replacing hummus with kimchi since it's hard for me not to eat my weight in hummus. And I'm avoiding butter and peanut butter altogether until I can be sensible about it.

Maybe I just missed the link, but @Noshowlomo , what is this turtle thing? I just googled "turtle diet" stupidly, and went down a little rabbit hole about the lives of turtles.

@Noshowlomo , ignore that, just got to where you explain it!

Tip of the day is don’t weight yourself and think you’ve lost 2 kilos in 2 days (yeay) and then realise you have your hand on the bathroom sink.
still the same weight really.

That gave me a good laugh @ItsBinDayToday !!!!!!

@dudsville i love it! So liberating after years of “syns”

@Bloodylovecake a pound a month really adds up over a year!

Sounds like a good start @dudsville ! Wine is a definitely not your friend when trying to lose weight and I bloody love wine! I've been having gin and slimline tonic rather than wine if just out for a drink. Can still easily get through a lot of wine with a meal though.

I was kicking myself about the wine. What a way to self sabotage right at the start of a diet! I know that having that amount will make me ravenous the next day, but I managed to keep in under my calories yesterday and go to the gym. I really want to make the most of this month.

Love wine too and yesterday was mainly wine sadly.

I am now a smidgeon under 12 stone. We have an old style scales (my digital scales spent about 3 months under a loaded the washing basket and now tell me I am anything from 5 stone to 18 stone so I have reverted to DH's scales).

@dudsville I bought kimchi this week from Aldi and tried for the first time. I really like it!

In this heat I find I am eating just once a day so plan to keep that up for as long as it feels natural to me. But yesterday I got max nutrient bang for buck by eating rattatouille, beans, potatos and sweet corn.

Plus the fermented grape of course.

Have a great day everyone.

I’m still on holiday in France but I am having very little alcohol (it’s actually too hot!) and doing lots of walking - weigh in when I am back next week 😱

Enjoy the rest of your break @SheilaFentiman

So today seems to be about getting to grips with not snacking and remembering that it's good not to feel so full. I drink a lot of water anyway, but even more so as a result of these two factors. I'm so glad for now that I've only signed up to doing this for a month, as opposed to the goal being a certain amount of weight loss. Somehow knowing I can revise this commitment come September helps me. It's made me think that, like a dry Janary, it might be helpful to just have a diet month or two a year going forward.

So far, early days but I definitely feel less bloated, and some of the water weight loss at the start of a diet has kicked in, which are great motivators. I was reading this morning about why fat loss is harder and takes longer, so, you know, looking forward to that, but joking aside I'm feeling better prepared.

Isn't kimchi delicious @ApresSailingQueen1 ?! I need to get some more as used the last of it up today with my omellete and salad lunch. I started this diet on a whim so hadn't planned food in advance.

I love Kimchi but it does affect me - unpleasant side effects for a few days...

That's a shame @OMGitsnotgood! Whar are your go-to for seasonings? My others are chili flakes, soy sauce, salt and pepper of course, smoked paprika, but the kimchi is really nice for the omelette. For me it's garlic and onion that I struggle to tolerate.

I've put some low fat turkey rashers and turkey mince in the shop this week, for some reason that's a go-to diet food for me. When I had to go very low fat last year the turkey rashers on carefully selected bread with a bit of brown sauce was a delicious treat for me, so I'm hoping to rekindle some of that enjoyment. Anyone else have foods that they particularly enjoy whilst dieting?

@dudsville I love smoked paprika in almost anything! I've been using balsamic drizzle sparingly on salad to give it a bit of zing.
Shame about garlic and onions for you, I use them lots. Can you tolerate chives instead?

Oooh, chives, i forgot about them! That reminds me about parsley too, thanks @OMGitsnotgood !

I fell off the wagon tonight with a curry but it was chicken shaslick, salad and daal with one poppadom. It was delicious. I now need to come up with a reasonable estimate of the calories. Any ideas?

@dudsville I would just say you've enjoyed the meal (sounds fab!) and tomorrow is another day, start again. We need to be able to enjoy food, but try to be sensible most of the time

Another 0.1kg. It’s really not coming off fast! I wanted to be another 2kg lighter before my holiday but it’s not going to happen.

I am getting fitter though. The thing that’s holding me back now (which I remember before) is the weight I am carrying so I don’t want to hurt my knees. It’s a vicious circle. I wanted the equivalent of a stone off before I joined the gym so I can make good use of it. But that’s 6 kilos and I’m at 1.6kg. Bit of a way to go.

@ItsBinDayToday , is it that you don't want to hurt your knees with the exercises at the gym? If so, I can sympathise. I'm new to the gym, only started in December. When I had my induction I said that I wouldn't be doing any squats, lunges or jumping or picking stup up from the floor, planking. My list was long but I do want to keep my knees and back from hurting!

I've estimated last night's delicious curry dinner and tallied up my calories so far this week, and I think over today and tomorrow I might be able to "accommodate" that calorie overspend.

in other news, I recieved the low fat turkey mince in todays' shop... it looks pretty unappetising and I regret the purchase. It's in the freezer for now.

@dudsville yes, especially as I want to do classes. I tried to do a bit of a run yesterday and it made me very aware of how much weight I am carrying.
If I’m paying I also want to be getting full use out of it.

Im also meant to be having a takeaway tonight, but I’m not that fussed on them so it’s never a big meal for me anyway.

@ItsBinDayToday swimming is good, if you want to minimise impact on your joints. Joe Wicks also has some low impact workouts on his YouTube channel, I'm pretty sure one of them is specifically knee friendly.