DIET FAILED AGAIN - maybe this time we're 7th time lucky, all are welcome

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Roll up roll up, it's time for thread 7... everyone is welcome here on our lively supportive chat thread.

Love to all. I made quite a good Xmas dinner, although I'll try to remember to start cooking the parsnips a little earlier next time.
I ate three Xmas dinners yesterday, which seems to be the main reason the scales are showing a few lbs higher recently. As usual, forgetting to drink plenty water, so will try to drink plenty today.

Happy Boxing Day everyone.

@thenewaveragebear1983. 1st January it is! My only problem is that I like to weigh on a Monday morning so I’m not sure whether to weigh on the Thursday and then again on the Monday or just weigh on Monday 5th. I think Monday fifth of January is a bit too far away from the first. Are you having a regular weekly weigh-in and on what day?

i’m having a day out at the sales with my daughter tomorrow. I don’t need anything and I don’t particularly want to spend much so I’ll just be following her around with her Christmas money. 😁

I hope you all enjoyed Christmas Day and Boxing Day, it will soon all be over.

@poorpaws I usually weigh on 1st each month regardless of the day, and I weigh on a Monday for my “official” weigh day.

I had such a lovely day yesterday but my goodness it is exhausting hosting. I was up early with the dog and making tea for my parents who stayed and tidying up. House looks like a bomb has gone off. I had a lovely nap earlier with the dog watching some Christmas telly. I’ve eaten loads today, probably more than yesterday, but I have done 2 four mile walks with the dog. We have had lovely Christmas food and cheese, and tonight we will be having dinner leftovers from yesterday.

Tomorrow the boys and dh are going to watch a local football team and I am meeting dd in town for a mooch round the sales. I think tomorrow will be my last day of gluttony and drinking tho.

Evening all. I'm up a stone from a week or so ago, so a little miffed. I think it's because I've been eating a lot of rice recently, which I plan to try put a stop to. I've had alcohol also though, but not much and nowhere near my previous levels. Made a batch of soup tonight and haven't had any for a while so maybe the soup may help me lose the stone.

Just stocked up on fruit. About to embark on a 24 hour shift. I'd usually take a lot of heavy food as I used to get really hungry, but I seem to be feeling less hungry recently so just taken a few bits of fruit with me and not too stressed about it.
I forgot I'm having a little friendly weight loss competition with a client to help motivate me also. I aim to weigh in a couple of weeks if I feel I'm losing weight.

Good evening ladies

today is my last day of gluttony, I feel so unhealthy now even though I have actually eaten less than previous years partly because I haven’t had any gluten stuff and also because we condensed our social events into one big Christmas Day. Looking forward to feeling a bit fresher tomorrow and although I am not looking forward to it, I am doing my post Christmas run and I know I feel so much better after that.

I went to the sales with dd. I bought a couple of nice bits, some thick winter leggings for workouts and dog walking (my old ones were so comfy but threadbare but I couldn’t stop wearing them until I replaced them), a nice candle, some bedding, and a lovely bright orange running top.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I feel so unhealthy too.

i went to the sales and bought two pairs of very unsexy warms pjs (half price) and a thermal long sleeved top. Everything to be warm not to look good.

tomorrow I’m hoping to do very little but I really should do a post Christmas clean, we’ll see.

I need to start to think about healthy eating and soon.

Hello. I signed up to some other thread, but I forgot which one😂 can I join please? I gained 4ib at christmas. Was worth it though, but need to go back to dieting. I put loads on weight this year. Mostly due to stress and tiredness.

Hi and welcome @xogossipgirlxo you certainly can join us. We’re a very small but tremendously supportive group.

i’ve been sitting here tonight, quite depressed, thinking what a hell of a failure I was this year. It’s been an horrendous year, one of the worst ever, and I think I’ve just eaten my feelings. So now it’s time as we go into 2026 to be positive and do something about my weight. I really have to succeed in 2026.

Hi @xogossipgirlxo, welcome! We are a small group as poorpaws says, but actually I like that because it’s not so fast moving. I can keep up to date with the posts! I reckon I have gained more than 4lbs over Christmas but my official weigh in is Monday and I do hope to have a healthier day tomorrow.

@poorpaws you have had a difficult year and I don’t think it’s unusual to have eaten your feelings through it. But you can definitely feel better with a few good days and weeks on plan and you’ve definitely done it before and smashed it.

I am also really glad to see the back of 2025, it’s been a long and very anxious year for me. I think my mental health has been as bad as it has ever been, although towards the end of the year I have improved a lot. My 2026 is going to be one of new adventures and self care and looking after myself.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I’m looking forward to seeing you grow in 2026. You have done brilliantly in your career and you had so many health problems in early 2025. We’ll be strong together moving forward, we’ll make the new year a much more positive year.

I needed to be a chapperone to the local supermarket and nearly succumbed to Chinese takeaway ready meals. I ended up having a chicken dinner one. Not great choice, but an improvement. Ate all my fruit tonight before realising I was to keep some for tomorrow morning. Not to worry. I'll just go without until I get home.
I don't know what to make of my 2025 diet. Drank a lot less alcohol and junk food, but not much weight loss.

Thank you @poorpaws and @thenewaveragebear1983 , sorry to read you both had bit rubbish year. Mine wasn’t great too hence weight gain. I was doing stressful course in uni, which I suspended for a year but I don’t think I will go back to it. It doesn’t work with my current situation of having young child in nursery, bringing bugs constantly. I am not able to keep up
with the deadlines. I was so stressed I was eating my emotions away in the evenings. I’m 69kg, I used to be 56 before pregnancy and got to 58 after pregnancy. Can’t believe all went to waste. I tried my old clothes today, I look hideous, swear to God

Morning all, I am actually quite glad I’m back to work tomorrow, I need my routine back. I’m going to walk Maggie a nice long way this morning, it’s gone really cold here but dry. I must do a run as well but I hardly ran at all this month and I feel very unfit so I am not looking forward to it.

are you making any New Year’s resolutions? I always make a couple and stick to them. 2026 I want to be more adventurous and try new things. So far I have booked a Nordic walking session with a new friend, and I also really want to try a choir and am looking for a local one to join.

My other one is to really focus on self care and nourishment over weight loss. I know that when I eat well, limit processed foods and limit alcohol , and sleep more I feel so much better, and actually lose weight. I’m feeling so much better now I have started iron tablets and collagen, and my hair looks and feels better. Giving gluten has really helped and I’m keeping that up in 2026.

I am also going to do a 30 minutes a day challenge in January- 30 minutes of either strength training (low level, some body weight squats or press ups etc) or stretching (a YouTube video) every day for January.

Morning all. It's only been a couple days of eating a lot lighter, but I feel like I have a lot more energy.
I really fancy an alcoholic drink but the thought of the groggy after feeling is putting me off a little as well as the weight gain.
2026 target is to try and get a lot more steps in as I'm realising how few I have done over the last many years.

New Year’s resolutions, where do I even begin.

1. I want to increase my steps on the dog walks (used to do 3.1/2 hour walks until Molly was old). Having had two very active collies I had to walk and run them for a long time. Now with an old collie and two lazy greyhounds, one very injured so can only do very short walks, my step count is terrible. I need to be out with them for 2 hours every morning (with the sick one in her buggy).
2. i need to lose 2 stones but in small chunks. I don’t know what I weigh until my new year weigh-in but my first goal will be to get down to the next stone bracket (so into the 11 sts), then half a stone and then review.
3. I want to spend A LOT less and create an emergency fund. I had to finish work due to illness and I don’t claim benefits so my income is low but I need to improve my vet fund significantly (spent around £5,000 on vets this year).
4. Do an exercise video or similar at least four times a week.
5. As well as my normal cleaning routine do a timed 1 hour extra clean (getting nose prints off glass) to keep on top of the jobs I don’t do enough. Do this four times a week minimum.

i could probably be doing a lot more but the above would be an amazing start.

ive said on here before i am a very visual person so if i write things down i am far more likely to stick to the plan. I’ve bought a budgeting book and a weight loss journal so hopefully this will help. I’ve also bought sugar substitute.

its my lovely Sunday today where most rules go out of the window and I have a peaceful day away from everyone.

have a lovely Sunday.

a

I also want to spend less @poorpaws, one thing I have done recently is set up a new account that’s not linked to any of my Amazon/vinted accounts. I leave everything in my current account and only move my ‘pocket money’ to this new account, and it’s really helped me not to just tap away my money. Our other big spend is food shopping, and I am determined to cut that down this year but it’s hard, we already buy own brand and cook from scratch a lot. Definitely doing one ‘cheap meal’ a week (baked potatoes or pasta bake) helps and we are going to increase this to try to cut back a bit.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I am so boring with food, I put it down to living alone. I live on baked potato with cottage cheese, mixed salad with bought dressing (I mean not home made) and protein, either chicken breast, burger, sausage etc. i find it saves waste. A few weeks ago i lived out of the freezer and had home made cottage pie, fish pie, spaghetti Bol, slow cooked beef but I wasted so many vegetables, especially potatoes so if I stick to my jackets, salad, protein I hardly waste anything.

i want to improve my desserts. Atm it’s always plain Greek yogurt mixed with cherry yogurt and grapes. I need something sweet but low cal.

i should save an absolute fortune on chocolate, sweets, biscuits and cakes because i swear i spend more on them than “proper” food (as my mother called all non-snack food).

im sitting here quietly drinking coffee thinking of the future me. Oh and the lattes have to go because i always want chocolate with them, so it will be black coffee in the new year.

@poorpawsyes it’s always the other things not the meals that cost the money, especially trying to get everyone’s personal treats that they like, eg I like my rice cakes and other gf things, the kids like cereal and dh likes savoury things. We all need a total overhaul. 2 years ago we did a 150 fruit and veg in January challenge (which is only 5 a day really but it sounds good) and the kids enjoyed that, so I might do that again this year.
for desserts, could you do those pancakes made of banana and egg? With fruit? Or I treat myself to some really nice yoghurts, I like rhubarb ones which the kids won’t eat (they have sugar in though) - I am hoping that by cutting out the sugar for January I end up avoiding a lot of these things.

I really am craving normal food today, I’m going to defrost some mince and make a bolognese and put loads of veg in it to get some vitamins into me!

My only resolution is to survive 2026🫠 It doesn’t look like it’s going to be particularly easy in terms of my husband’s work. We’re still in the trenches of toddlerhood. Maybe I would want to get a bit of my old-self back again and will start through weight loss. I’m starting new job in January, so that’s quite a big of change already. I will be working in nursery. I always had office jobs, so that’s quite a change.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I not really a fan of pancakes or battery type products. What I’m hoping to do whilst it’s cold is make one of those sugar free cakes with bananas but tweak the recipe so I’ll enjoy it more and make some white sauce with sugar substitute. That should make a delicious warm dessert I think.

no doubt on lazy days I’ll still reach for the yogurt and grapes 🙈

@xogossipgirlxo a new job is so challenging but I hope you enjoy your change of career. Surviving 2026 is a good plan, I’m hoping to survive too and weight loss is a massive boost for your self esteem I feel.

i just hope 2026 brings more joy and less boredom.

@poorpawssounds good. You could make a fruit compote with a granola topping like a crumble, some of those nice granolas are really good. Then your pudding would be mostly stewed fruit but with a little extra? You could sweeten with stevia then phase that out once you adapt?

we were going to be on track today but to be honest we were having such a nice chilled day, we watched Jurassic park 111 with both boys and the dog on the sofa all under the duvet, fell asleep and had such a good nap, now playing some pool and drinking a little wine watching Victoria wood. Happy times.

Back to work today. It felt weird to be working with Christmas decs all around and still in Christmas mode. I have a really really sore eye, I think it’s like a stye as I have very gently squeezed a load of yellow gunk out of it, but my sinus and cheek on that side feel really tender. I did go for a run today and took Maggie for a short walk after work.

my food has been ok except for a big chunk of delicious homemade Christmas cake, it’s always my downfall because it’s so bloomin delicious. I weighed in this morning and I have of course had a big Christmas gain, although I am reassured by the fact that it’s probably a lot of water retention. I will do my official weigh in on Thursday.

tomorrow I have a meeting at a local coffee shop which means probably a few coffees but probably no lunch as they don’t do gluten free. And I’ll try to fit another run in, despite being hungover and out of breath I actually enjoyed it today.

The Christmas cake got me again today, 🤦‍♀️ and tomorrow is inevitably going to be high calorie and boozy as we are out to see the new year in. I am strangely looking forward to Thursday, it’s been weird working while everyone is still In holiday mode.

tomorrow I have a shopping order with green healthy foods coming. I have planned a few nice tray meals, they are easy to prep and can get loads of veg in. I’m going to try to skip breakfasts for the next few weeks, to give me a shorter eating window and hopefully a bit of a boost of weight loss. But none of this will start until Thursday

tomorrow I am working but I will walk Maggie a long one after work as she will be left for a bit in the evening. I will also try to squeeze in a lunchtime run to end the year. It’s been my worst year for running miles but I have walked nearly 1000 miles with Maggie so that’s probably balanced it out