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.

That's AMAZING! Well done @MadamTeapot !

I did my monthly weigh in yesterday too, I'm down 1.9kg since the first of January, which I'm quite pleased with. I think what I'm doing is sustainable, I'm a bit off the wagon this week as I'm having a perimenopausal mega period (exactly the same as a normal awful one except I'm REALLY pissed off with the whole thing now).
My February aims are to keep tracking my food, stay off the UPFs (especially, Ben and Jerry's ice-cream), and continue going to the gym at least once a week. I'm hoping I can loose a similar amount of weight next month too.

Today's food:
B. Toast and marmalade
L. Cheesy oven chips with pickled onions and a bowl of homemade vegetable soup
Not sure what to have for dinner, possibly more soup, possibly something from the pub.

@Hoolahoophop the veg in my toasty are peppers, garlic, carrots, onions, tomatoes and a random left over parsnip. I just chopped them up, mix with a bit of oil, salt pepper & rosemary and roast in the oven. Those ones were leftovers and I just put them in a cheese sandwich and cook it in a pan to make it into a toasty. You have to squash it down with a fish slice to make it stick together.
I wouldn't recommend the parsnip tbh! I just needed to use it up.

@MadamTeapot yes not the best way to lose weight but perhaps a positive side effect might be being used to eating less?

It's fantastic when you reach a goal such as being able to ride again. Hopefully tbsp will spur you on to keep going. Unintended pun! I believe riding is a good calorie burner too?

When I put on a lot of weight and couldn't wear a lot of my clothes, I held onto the good stuff that was too small I stored it on a big bag, graded according to how much 'too small' they were. So the stuff on the top was 'just too small', the stuff at the bottom is 'way off fitting' I have been able to put the top couple of layers back in my wardrobe which is a huge victory. A way to go to get back into al of it but it's a wonderful feeling when an old favourite fits again.

@Igglepigglesgrubbyblanket that's a good result, especially as you're not being massively restrictive in what you eat. Slow and steady will help keep it off I reckon.

I've been trying to reduce my bread consumption, which is hard as I love it. I've had a turkey bacon and ketchup sandwich for lunch, and had weetabix for breakfast. I'll be well and truly off the wagon tonight as out with friends for food and a few drinks.

Well done to everyone for their achievements! And that is for sharing, it's so encouraging 😊

I skipped breakfast and had cake for elevenses today. Soup and a bread roll for lunch. Planning a chilli this evening but instead of just using mince I am going to bulk it out with some more veg, and maybe have broccoli on the side.

How is everyone's weekend going?

We had drinks and a curry with friends last night, no 'better choices' made but thoroughly enjoyed it!

Today I've had cereal for breakfast and a couple of slices of toast for lunch as I realised I hadn't eaten and had 10 mins before I needed to leave for an appointment.
Prawns, courgettes, mushrooms and pasta this evening, with sauce made from low fat cream cheese. (Wish I'd known about that when the kids were little and needed food in a hurry)
Aerobics class this morning, so overall not a bad day.

We've a busy day tomorrow for a number of reasons. DH keen that we go to a local eaterie for Sunday dinner tomorrow night. We rarely do that, usually make a roast at home, expect I'll be easily swayed when the hunger kicks in!

@OMGitsnotgood sounds a nice weekend. Do you just run the cream cheese through everything at the end?

I’ve had a relaxing day today, lovely hour of yoga and an hour walk then lunch out by the sea…had a jacket potato with bean chilli and it was so tasty. Quiet night in playing backgammon with DH and DS. Bought some chamomile and passionflower tea, it’s a nice evening drink.

@MadamTeapot I like the sound of your weekend too!

Yes, I just cook up whatever ingredients I am using while the pasta is cooking and tben add in the cream cheese, stir til it melts a bit then thin it with some of the water from the pasta (or some stock or milk) You can use whatever ingredients you fancy. I quite like bacon , leek and peas.

Hi all,
That pasta sauce sounds good @OMGitsnotgood - I haven't made anything like that in ages.
Yesterday's food:
B. Granola, berries, yoghurt
L. Homemade vegetable soup, toast, apple & peanut butter
D. 3 tacos, a margarita (night out with my husband)
S. Slice of bread with pb & j
Total calories 1800
Just a very hungry day really. I did do quite a bit of 'exercise' as in some volunteering which involves a lot of walking and carrying things.

Today I'll have some smaller portions, lunch will be a jacket potato I think and I'll defrost some salmon for tea

Hi all,Quite pleased dropped to 12 st 6lb from 12st 8lb at the start of this - just sensible eating - lots of fruit and veg and not much booze! I have a theory that my body has a set point weight and I have to loose very very slowly not to bounce back up!

Any suggestions what I can replace a glass of wine with? Hate the empty calories but I like the special, weekend feeling that it gives to a meal.

Today's food in the end
B. Yogurt, walnuts, honey, slice of bread with pb&j
L. Jacket potato with cheese & beans
S. Smoked mackerel & spinach
D. Salmon, cup of rice, peas
Total calories 1760
I'm still feeling hungrier than normal, not sure why, but I'm just eating a bit more.

@Uol2022 I like impossibrew in place of beer, I've not found something good instead of wine.

@Uol2022 sparkling water works for me. I think it's because I get a little kick at the back of my throat when I'm drinking it!

@Igglepigglesgrubbyblanket agree the non alc beers are pretty good now. Just would be so nice to have a wine alternative. Maybe flavoured water could do it.

What about just getting one of those small bottles of wine? You can pour out a glass and freeze the rest to use for gravy or stew or save it for the next night. That's only going to be 200 calories at the most, might be worth it to make the diet more sustainable.
This is the sort of thing I've been doing, but in a less disciplined way - I have managed to stick with it for 13 months - weight loss is glacial though!!

@Uol2022 what about flavored tonic water? I drink quite a bit of alcohol free gin and slimline tonic so I don't feel like I'm missing out when Dh is having a drink in the evening.

Then we bought a huge selection of flavored tonics, lemon, mint, fruit etc. I like them better than a normal flavored water as they have a bit more bite to them, less sweet so better with food.

I had a rubbish weekend, but ate well.

Saturday
B: Toasted muffin with baked tomato and scrambled egg.
L: Made up roll from the local bakery, like a fluffy cloud!
D: Bacon and lentil soup, thick and chunky and with French stick a solid meal.

Sunday
B: American pancakes with honey yoghurt and raspberries
L: Toad in the hole with loads of veg
D: Bake at home rolls

Might have also had some wine, crisps and a mice pie. But overall the food was the highlight of my weekend.

I've just caught up with the thread, well done everyone.

I've had a slow start to January, it's taken me a few weeks to find my groove and I have lost 2.4lbs since 6th Jan. So not brilliant but could be worse. I find now at my age that I never get those big losses at first, it's a more steady and slow rate.

What really really helping me is planning all my food. I have always loosely planned but this time I have planned all meals and snacks for the whole week. I've streamlined my meals as well so I have batch cooked baked oats and bought individual 100g pots of Greek yoghurt, have those with fruit for breakfast every day. Then for lunch I batch booked a curry and a Thai prawn rice, all calorie counted in nutracheck and I have one of those for lunch with a steam bag of veg. It means 2 meals are sorted every day. Then for dinners I have been using the chubby cubs book and creating them as meals in NC so the calories are all tracked. Then for snacks I've had Ryvita and cream cheese, or carrots and hummus, or boiled eggs. It's really stopping me from just mindless eating, and they are actually filling snacks like a mini meal

Went back to the gym after 6 weeks off and did a short run as well last week, my legs are aching so much today! I hope to run on Wednesday and Friday this week, then gym again on Saturday.

I'm aiming for 4lbs in feb like a lot of others on this thread. I worked out it was 12 weeks til Easter and 25 weeks til my birthday (this was last week) so that's a really good chunk of weight off by those milestones if I could lose 1lb a week consistently. In fact, 25lbs would be target for me which would be a lovely birthday gift to myself!

4lb in Feb has a nice ring to it, I'd be happy with that 😀

@Hoolahoophop mice pie 😳😉.

I’m just ticking along. Having chicken salad for dinner tonight after a couple of hours of yoga, can’t wait. Still need to actually drink more water!! Maybe some ice cubes would help.

@Hoolahoophop g&t is a good idea, i could make that feel special. Thanks 🙏 I’m early days in this weight loss thing so focusing on improving habits mostly. Dropping daily desserts, or replacing them with something tiny, has been easier than anticipated. Reducing takeaways, no problem. But wine has tripped me up a couple of times already and it feels like such a stupid thing to waste calories on. So sorting that out is my top goal for the next couple of weeks. I think I could enjoy mixing up mocktails and experimenting a bit.

Beware through mocktails with lots of fruit juice are painfully high in calories

Yep fruit juice is one of the things I’ve had to cut out of my diet 😭 honestly it’s been crazy realising how many calories I get from drinks. As well as the wine, I love orange juice and hot chocolate and lattes. So easy for all of those to add up and ruin what’s otherwise a very sensible meal plan

@thenewaveragebear1983 you sound very organised, I definitely need to get better at that!

Haven't had the best day myself, made 'healthy' granola this morning with mashed banana, oats, maple syrup, olive oil, cocoa powder and seeds and didn't really think about the fact that although it has a lot of goodness it also has a lot of calories (especially when it's so moorish eaten straight off the baking tray!).Then we had macaroni cheese for dinner which is my toddlers favourite but hardly slimming, though I did add cauliflower, broccoli and blended squash so at least it had plenty veg!

Even when eating better than this, I'm struggling to loose much at the moment but I do feel better than I did so focusing on that. It's my birthday later in the month so aiming for a good couple of weeks in the run up to mitigate the inevitable cake damage 😏

@jill5676 I don't know if it's organised so much or if I've just stripped all the choice/decision making out of it. My breakfast is exactly the same every day, my lunches are one of two choices (I bought really nice freezer pots with compartments so it's all in one tray, frozen with the veg as well like a ready meal), and my snacks are worked out and I just pick 2 a day, so either Ryvita and Boursin, big rice cakes with cheese, carrots and hummus etc. (I also got some 100 calorie sweet popcorn and some small cake bars for sweet treats). I know it may sound quite boring but it's actually really helping.

Feeling a bit down today but I managed not to treat it with chocolate or cakes from the cantine.

B. Toast with peanut butter & half a banana
L. Vegetable soup & a vegan patty
D. Half a pizza & some fruit & yoghurt

ETA total calories 1490