Sustainable and not overly ambitious weight loss 2025: 1 stone by June - anyone care to join?

[OMGitsnotgood]

Happy New Year!
I started this thread back in June in an attempt to lose a stone by the end of September. I wanted to do this through making better food choices and exercising more, rather than following a rigid diet. (Read the old OP for more details). Posting made me feel more accountable and made me rethink my eating after a calorific day (or week! )
I didn’t lose a stone but did continue to lose weight slowly, gaining some weeks but overall a reasonable loss.

Time to refocus after the excesses of December, and it would be great to have some company.

Welcome back to those who kept me motivated on the old thread and welcome to anyone new - you don’t need to ask to join, just introduce yourself and tell us what you are trying to achieve, and hopefully the encouragement and support we can give each other will help us all.

This is my info, feel free to post whatever helps you to keep track and use this thread as you see fit.

Height: 5’4
Heaviest ever: c 13st 4
Weight June 24:: 12st 8
Lightest since June 24: 11 st 11
Current weight: 12 stone 1/2lb - which is hardly surprising, i didn’t watch what I ate or drank for most of December. I think some of that will come off easily when I refocus. Going to have a few days away visiting various friends so expect that won’t help but I don’t want to be able to enjoy those times, and be extra careful at home .

My short term goal is to get back under 12 stone by the end of January..

My dream would be a stone by June. I'm not optimistic but a reasonable goal to aim for.

Had a resting weekend, did very little apart from read and drink cups of tea. TOTM so not weighing this week. It’s cold here, the fire is already on and I think I’ll make rock buns with the kids later.
Cauliflower cheese for lunch, and salmon for dinner. School starts back tomorrow and the weather is getting even worse…ugh.

@MadamTeapot it's good to have some downtime, I think we often expect ourselves to be on the go all tbe time. That said, I find I'm tempted to snack more when it's cold outside and I'm not doing much.

I have eaten a lot this weekend, meals out with friends Friday and Saturday and family over for a roast yesterday including pudding. I did do a couple of gym classes and family walk yesterday but not enough to entirely undo the damage! I need to put together a healthy meal plan for this week and keep up the gym classes..

I've been getting such a buzz from being able to fit into some of my lovely old clothes, so rewarding. I've a couple of my favourite summer dresses that are almost there, need to exercise some restraint to get into them in the next few months.

Definitely didn't stick to the diet yesterday as had chocolate cake for my dad's birthday, and quite a bit of cava! But back on it today. It was lovely though!

@AnonymousBleep who wants to live a life where you can't have cake and fizz to celebrate a birthday? The important thing is to enjoy these treats, guilt free, and balance out with healthy foods over the week.

@OMGitsnotgood its sooo nice when you can fit into favorite outfits again. I hope you get there for the summer.

I had a blow out weekend for various reasons, but back to sensible eating today.

I looked at my weight over the last 4 weeks on my fitness tracker, its definitely a very small gradient, but its a decline not an incline so I shall be satisfied with that.

I was away for the weekend and walked, managed a run (I am so not fit), I brought some of my own snacks and didn't "let up" with my health efforts. I wouldn't have enjoyed feeling like my efforts earlier in the week were invalidated. It felt good to get away and the healthy choice thing didn't get in the way thank god (that was a big relief as I was unsure how it would go). We went to a fresh fish restaurant on the coast and I had cod and chips - child portion and didn't go mental with ketchup. On the long drive I managed to get a fresh salad made up with felafel for some bulk, and a squeeze of lime instead of a calorific dressing. I still had my regular breakfast, lattes, omelettes etc. it was do-able.

Happy to see a 2lb loss again this week!

SW - 12st 7
CW - 11st 12
Loss - 9lb
TW - 10st 10

@twoforj0y that is excellent! Just shows how a few tweaks help without feeling hard done to

That's a great result @twoforj0y !

We've been away for a few days visiting family who like to cook, so I've eaten very well! But we've been for some long walks together too, hopefully that's evened things out. I haven't weighed myself for a few days, I'll jump on the scales at the weekend. It's been a tiring few weeks for a number of reasons, and I feel really run down, so I am trying to treat myself well - nourishing food, early nights, fresh air, exercise... I feel quite motivated because I know it will make me feel better.

@twoforj0y well done, I’m glad it went well.

@Hedonism that’s a great mindset, self care Will help to replenish.

I had a lovely positive day yesterday, met up with a friend in the morning for a catch up - we decided to go for a swim and steam room and are going to start up doing it weekly, it was really nice. Did a yoga class in the evening, ate well with plenty of protein and veg, and just enjoyed a day of my body feeling good.

@Hoolahoophop I think taking a 4 week view is very sensible. The occasional blow out within an otherwise sensible diet is good for us I think.

Unfortunately I've had too many blow outs over the last couple of weeks so have just been giving myself a bit of a talking to!. I've also been quite active but possibly not enough to off-set what I have consumed.

Yes, I think I'm in danger of extending the blow out rather than reining it in.

So back to sensible choices. March is going to be tricky. We have 3 close family birthdays that will require parties and meals out. So need to see each of those as a one off. Not an excuse to overeat the whole month....like December 😅

Paying the price for an overindulgent few weeks and am 2lb up on tbe beginning of the month, but still 1lb down on my post Christmas weight so I'll take that.

Definitely an achievement to be lower than you were at Christmas @OMGitsnotgood , it’s very easy to slide in to adding an extra half stone in the last half of winter, it’s a hard time.

Scales are showing a negligible loss this week (down 0.2lb) but I feel positive as I know I exercised well this last week and ate healthily…also, have had to tighten my belt a notch so that’s a nice NSV. Focus this week - walking more, swimming twice if I can, drinking more water.

Having had a pretty bad week, I am working on a new plan. My biggest hurdle is that I am petite and therefore don't need as much food as my family who are big.

But if I have different food, or tiny portions I feel like i am missing out. So my new plan is to fill half the plate with salad, or veggies whatever the meal. Then the other half with a small portion of whatever everyone else is eating.

Normally we all eat a massive bowl of pasta and sauce, Saturday I filled half the bowl with salad then added a small portion of pasta and sauce. I enjoyed it and didn't feel like I was missing out.

Does anyone have any ideas for pre-prepped interesting very low calorie salads or veggie dishes I can make one day then eat for the next few days?

I was thinking roasted veg with various different flavorings, Mediterranean herbs, or curry spices, or honey and garlic.

I'd like something more interesting than just Lettice cucumber and tomato's! Maybe a low calorie slaw? Some kind of chopped salad mix thing that keeps?

Any ideas?

@Hoolahoophop hey! I am very clueless in the kitchen but I am time poor, so, I have a constant supply of eggs for eggs/banana and cinnamon pancake, soups from Lidl, skinny bagels and mushrooms and red peppers and baby potatoes. Oh and pitta! I will knock up quick lunches for myself while I work from home. Mushrooms and red peppers, fried in 1-cal spray, and almost calorie free. I love felafel in pitta, which has calories, but I bulk it up with cucumber, cherry tomatoes, tiny cubes of low fat cheddar, and balsamic - balsamic is very low cal.

Like I said, no culinary skills here! But that's how I'm managing to get fairly healthy foods into me (I don't eat meat).

I'm having a bit of a wobble this week. My mind is so distracted, wandering, can't seem to complete tasks or if I do it's a real struggle, my attention is hopping left right and centre. And all I want to do is sit and graze and space out. I smacked today and realised the act of snacking didn't relieve the urge, I could have kept going on for hours more. Gawd.

Anyway, I then decided to clean my son's room. So I got a little bit productive, but not much to be honest!

@Hoolahoophop I air fry a bunch of mixed vegetables with some Cajun or Italian seasoning and keep in a Tupperware in the fridge, add it to anything as a side. Coleslaw is a good idea too, even just making it with a low cal salad cream.

@twoforj0y well done on the little bit of productivity, I really think we are all a bit run down.

Today I’ve done very little apart from my yoga class, just felt drained and heavy. Hoping that by resting today I’ll feel brighter tomorrow, and that it’s not my anaemia returning. Had tomato soup with toast and cheese spread followed by a protein yoghurt for lunch, and tuna & egg salad for dinner.

@twoforj0y I've had a shocking few days and I was also sliding into stress snacking. Last night I started cleaning the bathroom instead and that felt much better! Perhaps tonight when I get the urge to eat chocolate I could tackle the spare room 😁

I've also started taking vitamin D and iron tablets in the hope that that gives me a bit more energy... Otherwise it's off to the GP for blood tests.

Food wise I'm not doing too badly. I've dug out my Joe Wicks recipe books for some healthy meal ideas, they are quick to make as long as you have the ingredients in.

Well apparently the secret to weight loss is to get norovirus 😭 obviously wouldn’t actually recommend it, but a week with a very unhappy tummy has cured me of any desire to drink wine and made it seem totally normal to have tiny portions. Finally seeing some losses

Oh @Uol2022 definitely wouldn't wish that on anyone. Your priority now is to look after yourself and enjoy your food. Nutritious if possible but otherwise whatever you fancy. Let us know how you're doing x

@Uol2022 sorry to hear that, hope you are feeling better soon. Norovirus is rubbish.

@Uol2022 hope you recover quickly!!

I’ve had a good few days food wise and okay for exercise, have upped my water which is great as I’d gotten really bad with it, I don’t know why.

@Uol2022 hope you feel better soon!

I let the stress and busy-ness get the better of me and have consumed a lot of sugar this week. I'm a bit scared to stand on the scales tomorrow 😭

@Hedonism I've had a lousy couple of weeks food and drink wise too. I'd put on a couple of pounds when I weighed last weekend and think I am going to skip weighing this weekend, try to get my eating under control again next week. Or maybe I will weigh myself to give myself a kick up the backside!

i was mesmerised by another 2.6lb loss this week. I didn’t expect it but I can’t explain it - I don’t trust yet that I can lose this weight. I’m so used to trying and having NO POSITIVE RESULT. I’m now down 12lbs.

work continues to be stressful and the food noise is strong. I find it hard to stay focussed when there is so much to do and I want to wander about, snacking and thinking what the solution is to the work, but I can’t do that. These are hard habits to break and I have defo not broken the association yet!!!

does anyone have suggestions for very low calorie snacks? I need to restock on the low Cal jelly!!!!

Wow @twoforj0y that is a fantastic loss! I'm guessing that you are generally making better food choices, possibly subconsciously given that you weren't expecting it.I've slipped back into snacking of the high calorie variety and need to fix that. I'd also be interested in suggestions for low calorie but satisfying snacks. I do like carrot sticks so will make some tomorrow and dip in a little humus. I also don't mind celery. I mean it's not the tastiest crisp/biscuit replacement but at least satisfies tbe need to munch!