What steps are you taking today/tomorrow (and how did it go)?

[Peae]

An accountability/planning/thinking-out-loud thread. State what you'll be doing today or tomorrow towards your weight-loss and health goals. Then check-in afterwards and let us know how you did.

Please say hello and tell us a bit about yourself...

Thank you for asking.

Are you likely to get back to your pre-illness state?

Do you have anything you're looking forward to in the next few weeks? I usually have a break/adventure booked to look forward to.

@Peae sorry to hear you're feeling low. I rely a lot on exercise for stress relief and it's so hard when it's not an option.

Sometimes if I'm feeling down, I find it helpful to have a little wallow, accept the fact that I don't feel great and try to be extra kind to myself (whilst trying to avoid eating my bodyweight in chocolate). But the wallowing has to be time limited, so after my pity party is up, I try and take small steps to get me back on track.

I've felt a bit meh all weekend (mainly due to hormones, bloating and incredibly achy, heavy legs) so I've not been as restrained as I would have liked. On the plus side, I swerved the cheesecake for pudding tonight and had some fresh pineapple and yoghurt instead.

But as Yippee said, it's a marathon not a sprint and any changes we make should be the sort of changes we can stick to long term - I don't particularly want to give anything up entirely. (I just need to learn that a treat is precisely that and not an everyday occurrence).

Tomorrow is a rest day for me, exercise wise so I'm just aiming to get out for a pre-work walk.

I've prepped some homemade soup for a couple of lunches (not exactly seasonal but I forgot to soak some beans 🤦, so it was quicker).

Going to try and aim for 11k steps per day this week.

Also, am planning on trying to abstain from chocolate tomorrow (I managed the entirety of lent, but have been unable to stay away from it since!!)

@Peaesorry to hear you’re still not feeling right.

my steps this week:
back on my whole foods healthy diet and no crap
run Monday, Weds, Friday, sunday
gym Monday and Saturday
my big goal this week is to drink more water- 2 litres every day at least
and to eat more veg

I’m going to sign up for a local half marathon on 15th June which is 7 weeks from today so my long term goal is to train for that and be 7lbs lighter by then!

Thanks Gang, I did read your replies before now and it was food for thought. @YippeeAbsentmindedly I'm not sure about my symptoms, but I'm hopeful they won't be permanent. And I have a holiday booked in a couple of weeks. Your post made me count my blessings. @SaggyOldClothDog you're right - I fight the urge to wallow and I don't think it's a successful strategy. I think some of it was Sunday blues. I felt better today and was at work really early.

I've had another coke today, but I'm still sugar-free. A bit of snacking/grazing over the weekend but I've a good day today with lots of plants, fibre and protein.

In awe of the half marathon @thenewaveragebear1983 !

Wow! That's very impressive, @thenewaveragebear1983!

How are you feeling this morning Peae?

I've got a busy few days coming up, as I'm travelling to London for work. My overall plan is just to try to eat as healthily as possible. They provide breakfast and lunch, and there are apparently salad options so should hopefully be achievable.

Plan for today:

• Protein shake for breakfast
• Lean protein and veggies for lunch
• Lean protein and veggies for tea. I'm planning to have chipotle chicken traybake with sweet potato wedges, roasted broccoli and lime yoghurt. I'm hungry just thinking about it 😋
• 10k steps. Should be achievable as I'll be dragging myself across London tonight.

How's everyone else's week looking?

Morning all,
thanks 🙏 I used to quite a few half marathons but not done one since September and before that it was over a year, so it’s a good target for me to be “race ready” for.

i had acupuncture last night, I slept so well and feel quite bright and breezy today, I’m sat outside listening to the birds and drinking my coffee. It’s my office day today, always a long day!

steps today:
drink 2l water at least
aim for no UPF- managed it yesterday, more difficult today as if there is treats at the office it’s harder to resist
ds and I want to take the dog on an adventure walk after work, the forecast is beautiful today and I want to make the most of it before it ends. I don’t usually walk on a Tuesday because she goes to doggy day care.

food will be a chicken leftovers salad for lunch, and dinner something from the freezer as I haven’t shopped yet (luckily I freeze portions of good meals for this exact eventuality!)

Still here. Good day. Two healthy meals, minimal UPF (lime pickle) and no sugar or Diet Coke after a couple of lapses on the coke. 11k steps and had another afternoon nap rather than going to the gym. That was probably due to the 11k steps.

Good morning, yesterday went well but I hit the max of my calories to end only very slightly in deficit. Zero UPF though. Probs didn’t manage my water goals.

today: water 💦
calorie deficit and no UPF - 1200 cals max?
I’ve a real hankering for a tuna salad so will have that for lunch.
dinner- I’ve now eaten all the chicken tray bake i made, that really kept me going for 3 days! Still haven’t shopped so I will enjoy a freezer meal instead and do a shop order for tomorrow to see us through the bank holiday.
going for a run when I finish this coffee to get it in before it gets too hot.

Confession time. The last two days have not been good, thanks to my inability to know when to stop (helped by some packets of mini eggs that were going cheap 🙊🐽. If only I stopped there).

As a result I feel bloated and annoyed with myself. I'm going to draw a big thick line under today and start afresh tomorrow (at least I've finished the mini eggs so that particular temptation has been removed).

Plan for tomorrow is no junky stuff, 12k steps and hopefully a trip to the gym after work.
I generally work out at home in the morning but try and to supplement it with some interval training on the machines (that I'm not allowed to have at home as we have zero spare space😂) when I can be arsed.

Evening all. I am now 11.5 stone so a total loss of 4.5.

Hello All, I seem to have cheered up. Got a couple of 20-hour fasts under my belt, still sugar- and Diet Coke-free, gym session today and 12k steps despite driving my commute.

Still stuck at 12st 7lb. It’s definitely my set weight point. I am determined to break through it.

Starting May weighing 11.2.8 /156.8lbs which is pretty much exactly where I started April, although I have been as low as 155 and as high as 161 in the month!

my steps in May are going to be:
stick to a decent calorie deficit and actually lose some weight
drink more water/eat more veg ( 🥱)
sign up and train for local half M, I’d like to get my total km for the month up to 80-90
keep trying to cut the UPF, stay off alcohol ,sugar, bread and dairy - that does sound restrictive but basically it means no processed convenience food, snacks and junk. My meals can be and usually are, UPF free. I do miss cheese though (although when I stop eating it, the thought of it turns my stomach)

I’m going to fast through necessity this morning as we have no food in! Shopping coming later with nice salad, tapas and other bits, so that’s my lunch today, and dinner will be chicken, new potatoes and salad. No running today. After seeing the chiro yesterday I feel like I’ve done a few rounds in the ring so I will take my doggo for a nice walk and have a rest day today.

hope you all have an amazing month - this year is thundering past isn’t it? Cannot believe it’s May already!

The countdown to the summer holiday is on! My main goal for the month is try and keep up the momentum of the better habits that I had earlier in the year. Less sugar. Less mindless gorging.

Weightloss seems to have pretty much ground to halt, slightly short of what i would like. Ideally I'd like to get below 70kg possibly to 68kg, but attempts to to this in the past stopped my periods (despite this still being the top half of my healthy bmi), so obviously my body isnt happy with going that far. I think (hope!) I've gained muscle since the last time i was that weight, so maybe it's no longer realistic for me.

Still, I'm aiming to stick closer to the lower end of 70kg for now and see how that goes.

Exercise wise, i've just started a summer workout programme, so I'm aiming to stick to that, supplementing it with the occasional run and gym session. Topped off with increasing my daily step average.

Went out for drinks with friends last night, so aim of today is to focus on nourishing food and rehydrating 😂.
I'm also hoping to hit 100k steps for the week so that means I've got to do about 27k steps by the end of tomorrow...

Hello all, still here and plugging away. Been able to get to the gym once or twice a week, and had a few days hitting 10k steps. Symptoms still present, but there are periods of the day if I'm quiet and still that I can forget them.
I've been really good with my eating, lots of plants and protein, minimal UPFs. Still no sugar (must be coming up to a month) and may be a can of diet coke a week, rather than 3 or 4 a day. Unfortunately, I've also hit a weight loss plateau of nearly 2 weeks, which I'm hoping shifts next week as I'm a) back on the wli minimum dose, and b) due my period. I've also noticed that a weightlifting session puts a temporary pound on the scales the following morning.

I like the idea of having goals for May, so will give that some thought.

I was at the hairdressers this week and the staff all seem to be signed up to some kind of Nutrition group. Seems to involve a lot of high-UPF shakes and bars and teas and aloe vera. It was a bit depressing really.

Symptoms are raging today and I'm feeling sick and really fed up. Can't wait for my doctor's appointment on Friday - I really hope they can come up with something. Hoping to get to the gym this afternoon for a back, shoulders and arms workout 💪.

@Peae I often think that about these protein products, they are the most unhealthy UPF filled crap ever. Sweetners and chemicals bulked out with whey powder 🤮 so many ‘healthy’ people relying on them to get their protein quota up, and it’s so unhealthy!

we had a bbq last night so I went over on calories and ate loads of rubbish. Today I’ve been a bit better, plus ran 11k and walked the dog twice (done 25k steps today!)

How's everyone getting on?

This last week has been chaos, with all sorts of mini-dramas, coupled with the fact I somehow managed to knacker my back. I'm an emotional eater (any excuse, really 😂), so it's not been a great week progress wise.

While I tried to still get some movement in, the intensity was definitely lower than usual. Hopefully it's on the mend now so I can start to get back to normal

Food wise, calorie tracking has completely gone out of the window (my enthusiasm for it only lasts so long). But, hopefully it's given me a greater awareness of how much the mindless grazing adds up calorie-wise, that will help me longer term.

I'm trying still trying to focus on protein and veggies. Hopefully if I can get that right, the rest should fall into place.

Aims for the week are to prioritise sleep, keep an eye on snacking and get my exercise levels back to normal.

I agree a lot of the protein/health products are very UPF -ish. I used to take protein shake in an effort to reduce snacking but had to stop as it made me a bit queasy.

Aims for the week are to prioritise sleep, keep an eye on snacking and get my exercise levels back to normal.

This sounds like a sensible and manageable approach @SaggyOldClothDog . Hopefully it will help you get back on track. I eat so much more if I’ve not had enough sleep.

So, I have been frustrated at my weight gain/plateau. I’ve been bouncing from 10stone 4 to 10 stone 8 this past 6 months and in the last week or so I’ve plateaued at 10 stone 7.

I really wanted to be 10 stone or less by my birthday which is in a months time.

I was so frustrated that on the weekend I joined a gym even though I don’t think I’ll be able to actually start until later this month.

One thing I’m feeling hopeful about though is a fairly easy way to create a 500 calorie deficit this week.

Unbelievably I’ve worked out I was often eating 400-600 calories worth of seeds every day. I find them moreish so starting today I’ve thrown the rest out and committed to not eating them at all for the next 4 weeks.

If I manage to do that and not replace them with other snacks/meals and keep up my 7K daily steps, I’ll have created a significant deficit.

I’ve also ordered a new scale which shows things like body fat and body density. I know these home devices are of limited accuracy, but I suppose if I use the same scale it will at least show gains and losses in the various areas. One day I’ll take a DEXA body scan and compare the stats!

Hey all,
I’ve had a bit of a turnaround this past few weeks and decided to ditch SW after stallingand frankly finding the whole thing hard work and also accepted that I just can’t fit in /lost interest in running.

I am however still committed to losing weight and getting healthier so been following an at home strength workout plan which I’m really enjoying (& amazingly actually managing to stick at) and just going for high protein lower fat and avoiding upf. I’m not being militant about it which is a breath of fresh air after a year on SW but already feeling better and 4lb down in 2 weeks. I definitely agree about the whole upf thing and the replacement meals and shakes just don’t seem sustainable.

@SaggyOldClothDogi see you’re upping the protein - aside from eggs and chicken anything you can recommend? I’ve recently gone back to sardines on toast after avoiding bread for so long but decided that actually a slice of decent wholemeal bread really isn’t the end of the world and a small tin of sardines has nearly double the protein and less fat than 1 egg.

Hello thread, I've been in the wars a bit with my symptoms and a very frustrating GP appointment and general fed-up-ness. Managed to seek a second opinion and get a result. I am on holiday and on my period and finally cracked with the sugar and Diet Coke. I'm hoping I can get back on the waggon tomorrow - fibre, 30 different plants a week, protein and lots of water.

Protein - I find cottage cheese makes a change to eggs and meat, and I also aim for two fillets of salmon a week as my two portions of oily fish a week. Lidl used to do a palatable smoked trout too to mix things up but I haven't seen that in months.

SW 14st
CW (well, pre-holiday) 12st 5
CGW getting below 12st

Also, I'm a nosy bugger, what did AnnAnth post?

@Peae an advert for an AI powered nutrition coach 🤣