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.

@MadamTeapot you will feel so much better soon! It hard to eat healthily and exercise when you are feeling exhausted.

I had a long chat with a friend yesterday about food and nutrition and energy. It has really helped my mindset, hence no snacking today 🙌🏼 ...baby steps!

Today's food
B. Bagel with butter & honey
S. Apple & peanut butter
L. Smoked salmon & avocado salad
S. Apple & peanut butter
D. Slice of pizza.
Bit of an odd day as I worked late & then went straight to swimming & yoga so I had dinner really late.
Total calories 1673

I'm so happy the weather is mild again as walking will be much easier and more pleasant!

I'm finding the Glucose Goddess really helpful. I realised I was eating very little in work (and all quite carb based) then coming home from work and eating everything I could grab. So my new plan is to have some kind of high protein snack when I get home from work to buy time until dinner.

I decided to pay for upgraded My Fitness Pal as a way to make myself more accountable. It will probably pay for itself if it makes me less likely to eat snacks! It also means I can track intermittent fasting in it.

I'd love to get a new digital scale that would weigh me and beam my weight and body fat etc straight to MFP app. Does such a scale exist?

@Jabtastic yes!

I have been looking at the Garmin one as I have a Garmin watch. But its £100 which is an awful lot for scales when I already have some that work well enough.

Best smart scales 2025: Top digital body composition scales | TechRadar

@Jabtastic it is great when the weather warms up isn't it? I've been out for some walks today too.
Today's food:
B. Slice of left over pizza & a latte later on.
L. Toast with mushrooms and bacon, greek yogurt and fruit for afters
S. Christmas cake
D. Salmon, avocado and cucumber rice bowl (surprise as DD decided to cook)
Total calories, I reckon about 1700-1800 as there are a couple of unknowns in there and I feel really full so maybe it was more. I had intended just to have an apple after the Christmas cake but you can't look a free meal made by your teenager in the mouth.
Hope everyone is well!

@Jabtastic your plans sound good. I quite often keep boiled eggs/cooked chicken in the fridge for after work - I snack on them with raspberries and it fills me up well.

@Igglepigglesgrubbyblanket anything made/done by a teenage, voluntarily, needs to be truly appreciated 😆.

Tomato Soup at lunch time. Did a good, hearty chilli for dinner, had it with a small portion of brown rice, and salad. I’ve done a couple of hours of yoga and had a nice walk on the beach, burnt a fair few calories!

I'm on the NHS diet folks so will report back after my hospital stay.

Oh no! Hope you're ok @Mrsredlipstick
I weighed myself today - I'm 1.4kg down since 1st January so I'm happy with that. Hopefully I'll make it more than 2kg down by the end of the month

I hope things improve for you 🙏

I have finally dropped a half pound which may not sound anything to shout about but seeing that number feels miraculous after being stuck for 7 or 8 weeks! I just need to drop 2lbs to see myself into the stone below!

I'm using MFP and Glucose Goddess tips combined with a bit of intermittent fasting. It's tricky because I eat a somewhat restricted diet to manage a health condition so I find protein tricky to get.

We're on our way home after a lovely but calorific week away, so just catching up and looking at what people are eating to inspire the shopping list I'm compiling while DH drives.
Our last hosts of the week made us a massive full English this morning to sustain us on our journey - and packed us off with some of the pizza left over from the takeaway we had last night. She also packed some Christmas cake. So you can imagine I'm not looking forward to weighing myself! I didn't replace my scales when they stopped working so weigh myself at the gym once a week (ish), will be a couple of days til I can get there so maybe I can undo a bit of the damage before then!

Slow and steady wins the race 😁

Today's food
B. Toast with pb & j
S. Mocha
L. Carrot & cucumber sticks with hummus & tzatziki & an apple with peanut butter
D. Homemade celeriac soup with a slice of toast & boursin, other slice of toast with butter & honey.
Total calories 1505

Happy weekend everyone!

Finally a reasonable day for me:
B: weetabix and banana
L: smoked mackerel, tomato and cucumber
D: Turkey mince chilli and baked potato. Resisted grating a mountain of cheese on the top (unlike DH) so that was a win for me

Quite a nice day here today and had a bit of a walk so am pleased with that too.

I was 27 calories over today but I can live with it on a Friday night! Happy weekend!

I had a day off yesterday
B. Avocado toast & an egg
L. Slice of Christmas cake & a latte
D. Chicken schnitzel, chips, salad with half a brownie for pudding and 3 pints of lager in the pub
Calories unknown but likely far breaching my no more than 2000 plan

Then this is the perfect thread for you @Igglepigglesgrubbyblanket !

I want a life where schnitzel & chips, brownies and a few pints of lager can be enjoyed and not felt guilty about. I think the odd day off helps you eat more sensibly on other days. It's also spurred me on to exercise more because I love food, so if exercise means I can eat more so be it.

That said, I've had most of December and January off so far. Will weigh when I go to the gym later.

I need to up my exercise. I'm so rubbish in the winter - I just don't want to leave the house and get cold so I've been doing YouTube workouts at home, but it doesn't quite hit the spot like a run or a swim.

B: muesli
L: halloumi and chickpea salad
Snacks: still finishing off the quality street, most of the best ones are gone now so temptation is reducing
T: homemade curry with rice and probably a glass of wine or two.

I made some chocolate chip cookies earlier to fill the cake tin, DC say they are good but I have resisted so far!

@Hedonism avoiding homemade choc chip cookies is impressive!!!

We had a nice, but cold, family walk on the beach today, 3 miles, and I’ve done half an hour of yoga, but other than that I’m having a day relaxing. I had two chocolate fingers yesterday, which surprised me as I can’t remember the last time I reached for chocolate, maybe September lol, but today TOTM appeared and I was “ahh”. I’m going to weigh tomorrow as I like to on a Sunday, but already feeling bloated.

I've had a good day today:
B: weetabix
L: smoked mackerel sandwich
T: pork stroganoff
No alcohol, which is unusual for a Saturday but we've had a boozy week
Also no snacks but there is an opened box of celebrations left over from Christmas winking at me ....

Also did a gym class

Need a quite few more decent days to undo the damage of the last few weeks.

Disastrous day today about 400 calories over. So I'm going to try to drop to 1400 for 3 days this week.

@jabtastic I firmly believe that for weight loss to be sustainable, you have to be able to eat anything and everything you want some of the time.. Don't look at it as disastrous, it's not, it was simply a higher calorie day. You can get yourself back on track. Yes, it might take longer that way but you're more likely to keep it off - and enjoy your food without beating yourself up.

@Jabtastic I agree with @OMGitsnotgood. Please don't spend 3 days punishing yourself, all you need to do is start back on track today.

One day of blowing the diet will make no difference, it's if you do it every day that it becomes a problem. Just like one exercise session won't make you fit. It's all about consistency. So don't down-talk yourself! Not a disaster, just a day of a day of being more lenient with yourself, and back on it today.

Yeah I agree, it's not what you eat one day, it's what you eat every day that matters. Don't beat yourself up @Jabtastic it's a long term change so there have to be allowances for you to slip.
Maybe look after yourself for a few days rather than reducing calories, do a relaxing yoga class or go for a swim or something.

Thanks all. I think this is where I go wrong with calorie counting- it becomes punitive rather than information gathering. Thanks for the reminder ❤️