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...

I enjoyed my day in the end, dh cooked a delicious roast and I ate my Easter egg. I didn’t run or walk the dog, I had a total rest day. I still feel quite delicate and I’m also having a flare up of a rib condition I suffer with. I listened to the podcast I think was recommended on here with dr chattergee, really motivating and definitely it has spurred me on to do at least 10 days but ideally 30 days of a whole food detox including no gluten or dairy. My shopping is coming at 9am and I am starting tomorrow.

my plan is:
walk the dog, and run a gentle 5km
b- chia, coconut milk, frozen fruit
l- leftover roast meat with salad
d- not sure.
snacks- fresh fruit, hummus and carrots.

lots of water with lemon

I will need to prep for the week so I’ll also: boil some eggs, make carrot sticks., make my chia pots etc

overall I am feeling very motivated to give myself a bit of a shake up. I have been really struggling recently and I would very much like to get my sparkle back and feel a bit better.

Oh and I also aM going to weigh in, then hide my scales!

@YippeeAbsentmindedly that sounds like a really good day, and I'm glad you ate last night (and something so good for you). I once weighed myself every hour (naked and with an empty bladder) for a day (and a bit during the night too, basically anytime I woke up). This was about two decades ago, but I now know how much our weight fluctuates over the period of a day.

Your post reminded me that I was supposed to make some Thai curry paste @thenewaveragebear1983 (it's currently one of our few UPFs). I'm glad to read you are having such a positive reset!

Yesterday:

• 16hr fast @✅
• eat three meals, plant-based, low UPF etc. @✅
• lots of water ✅
• really take relaxation seriously. ✅

Today my plan is:

• 17hr fast
• dinner tuna salad, tea ??
• lots of water
• really take relaxation seriously
• do foot mask and gua sha
• make green Thai curry paste for the freezer

I'm still missing the gym, and now I'm missing the sunshine (I'm in the north, and it's not been warm for over a week). Then I remembered that whole idea of not complaining to yourself and not relying on things like excellent health or good weather to be happy. So, I'm going to start counting my blessings and look for reasons to be happy in my recovery and cold weather.

How far North are you Peae? I'm near York and we had some lovely sunshine yesterday afternoon. Off to the coast today and we've already had a sprinkle of rain 🙄

There's a relaxation plan or something where you take 10 minutes at the end of the day and think about 3 good things that happened today and 3 things you are looking forward to tomorrow. You could include them in your daily posts?

Glad you managed to have a good day despite a rough start, Average.

Plan for today:

• Protein shake for breakfast
• Avoid ice cream/candyfloss/donuts
• 10k steps
• Enjoy my birthday and don't think too much about losing weight today

@YippeeAbsentmindedly Happy birthday!🎂

Yesterday was ok, got my workout in and just scraped my 10k steps.

Lunch was a roast, and I tried to maximise the meat and veg (although I couldn't resist the roast potatoes and mashed potato!). That was followed by a slice of fruit tart - I'm taking that as restraint.

I had a lighter tea but followed it with a v dense, decadent cake involving mini eggs. Then a couple of drinks to round the evening off.

Mondays are my easy days exercise wise, so did low key cardio and some stretching. We're also taking DCs to play badminton this morning. It tends to be good for getting steps in but generally isn't very intense.

Food wise, will be pretty much back to normal (albeit aforementioned decadent cake will need finishing).

Am determined to have some more time away from my phone as getting increasingly aware of how much time I waste doom scrolling.

I also need to batch cook some lunches to take to work this week.

Really good day for me today. I respond very well to strict rules and regulations, clearly. I have had zero UPF today and have stuck to my calories. Went for a run and 2 dog walks. I gave batch cooked a few things for the week.

tomorrow-continue! I’m at the office but I have made chia and coconut milk pots so I will eat one before I leave. I made scotch eggs with turkey mince so will take one for lunch with salad. Lots of fruit. Dinner will be leftover roast meat from Easter Sunday, probably with new potatoes and salad. I already know I need to drink more water, I feel really thirsty!

Thank you for the birthday wishes Shaggy.

Average Turkey mince scotch eggs sound a great idea. I might have to give them a try next time I have some time for meal prep.

My day was okay:

Protein shake for breakfast ❌ I prepped it in advance of the drive to the coast, so I could have it a bit later when I started getting hungry. I also add psyllium husk for fibre and a multivitamin powder. My protein powder is cranberry flavour, so is pink. It goes a bit paler when I add the psyllium and vitamin powder and today I have discovered that the longer I leave it after adding the other powders, the darker it goes, to the point that it was muddy brown after an hour and by the time we got back to the car around 3 it was black 🤢 Shan't be doing that again!!
Avoid ice cream/candyfloss/donuts ✅
10k steps✅
Enjoy my birthday and don't think too much about losing weight today✅ I had a bacon sandwich for breakfast (justified because we went on a short boat trip and I needed something to line my stomach), fish and chips for lunch (because it was the seaside and I wanted them!) and then when we got home I jumped in the hot tub and had a gin and tonic and a very restrained amount of Easter chocolate.

My daily calories were just over 2000, but I've had a significant deficit the rest of the week so I'm happy with that!

Back to work/school tomorrow. I have boiled eggs/feta/salad/avocados in the fridge and cooked chicken and gammon in the freezer so I usually grab a bit of each for a salad for lunch on work days, and then I have courgettes to make courgetti to go with the Bolognese I'm planning to make for dinner.

I did my first WLI this evening. Not had any side effects yet. It'll be interesting to see how I get on, as I've managed to lose half a stone so far this month after two years of not being able to shift anything, so I'm hoping the injections will help me keep up the momentum.

Morning!

@YippeeAbsentmindedly I'm not far from York. It's been bright and sunny here but so cold! I'm sorry I missed your birthday yesterday, it sounds like you had a great day though. (I took my second jab yesterday, hope you don't have bad side effects).

@SaggyOldClothDog screen-free time should definitely be a goal for me. Unable to walk or go to the gym - don't know if I've mentioned this(!) - I've been spending far too much time in front of screens. Even jigsaws are a bit too much. Do you have any screen-free tips?

@thenewaveragebear1983 sounds like you had a good day too. I'd kill for a roast, I think Christmas was the last time I had a roast dinner.

Yesterday:

• 17hr fast❌only 16, but that's fine.
• dinner tuna salad, tea ?? ✅Dinner was salmon salad and tea was chicken and salad wraps (bit UPF-y)
• lots of water ✅
• really take relaxation seriously ✅
• do foot mask✅but forgot gua sha ❌
• make green Thai curry paste for the freezer. ❌Totally forgot again.

Haven't thought through today as I'm focused on getting to work for the morning. Unfortunately lack of planning does not lead to success...

Enjoying this thread - some nice meal ideas and it resonates with my take each day at a time approach.

Today I’m fasting for 16 hours which is until 12noon.

Then I plan to have two meals - blended berries overnight oats and rice and mackerel with chickpeas and mixed veg. A apple and maybe more veg later for snacks.

Not a fan of artificial sweeteners but I ordered some zero calorie fizzy drinks arriving today, to try help satisfy the sugar cravings I get the week before my period.

I’m back down to 10 stone 4, I was here before about 5 months ago but then Christmas came and I went between plateauing and putting on a few pounds. So this time I’m really trying to keep it going so I get below 10 stone.

Sorry for the random post. MN is not liking the fact that I changed my username to join the weightloss chats 🤨 and then I got caught up in the back-to-school morning chaos.

Thank you for the birthday wishes, Peae. Wonder if we're just more sheltered than you. It's looking brighter today, at least.

Anyway, hope yesterday went well for everyone.

Plan for today is:

• Protein shake for breakfast (I'm at work from 9, and learning from yesterday will be taking the powder in a separate pot to add as I'm ready to drink it)
• Lean protein and salad for lunch.
• 8k steps (some working days I can get out and about, but others I'm very sedentary and I've a feeling today is going to be one of those days. I have 9 days of emails to catch up on and a monthly report to write!)
• Courgetti Bolognese for tea.

Today was a bit of a milestone for me:
SW 14st
CW 12st 7
CGW 12st

1 and a half stone lost. I've been here before, last October I think. Another pound and it'll be the lowest I've been in years.

Well done Peae! That's really well done, especially considering the difficulties you've had! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that next pound disappears in the next few days and takes a couple of friends with it.

I really want to see 11 as the first number on the scales. Haven't been 11-something since May '22. I put on 2 stone in 6 months and all the GPs would say was 'eat less, move more' 🙄

Not only was it Easter but Good Friday way my birthday and the 17th was my wedding anniversary. So i overindulged. Which took me by surprise tbh as I have been quite in control and just not partaken in food indulging. I assumed i would have a couple of cheat meals but wow i went very overboard.

So many people bought me food gifts so i spent basically the entire easter holiday just grazing - cheese, cured meats, bread, so much wine, chocolate, nuts etc. Plus very heavy meals out. It was a bit out of control tbh.

Not good.

Only eating protein and veggies today as i feel so guilty.

Please don't feel guilty. It's very, very difficult to overcome our environments.

I'm 15 days free of Diet Coke, but this weekend there were two occasions when something happened and I went to the kitchen for comfort. If there'd been a Diet Coke in the house I'm not sure I had the willpower to resist.

Today I was busy at work. I forgot to eat my breakfast until midday (20hr fast!) and couldn't refill my bottle. Trying to make up for the water now to fight the dreaded constipation.

Typical food day for me when eating 3 meals (often I only eat 2 and skip the dairy-based meal):

• Full fat Greek yogurt, kefir, defrosted berries, almonds, golden flax and half a banana.
• Salmon with lettuce leaves, cucumber, green beans, broccoli, mange tout, sauerkraut (homemade), beetroot (😣), pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts.
• Green Thai curry (yes, I made the paste) with turkey, sweet potato, coconut cream and green beans. Served with brown basmati (about half what I used to eat 😳) and lime pickle (probably UPF but I love it).

Would love to see others' typical menus!

My meals today @Peae

chia pot made with coconut milk, raisins, mixed seeds with raspberries and blueberries
I made scotch eggs yesterday with seasoned turkey mince, had one for lunch with salad, homemade mayo and some leftover roast meat.
after work I’ve had an apple and almond butter
dinner will be a simple chicken thighs and brocolli with lemon and garlic.

I’ve had no UPF now for 2 days, my hands are already less achy and my rib pain is decreased to about half what it was, I can’t believe that could be just down to food but it’s the only variable I have changed 🤷‍♀️

That's an interesting side effect, if it is due to no UPFs, Average. At some point, I hope to reduce them in our diet, but I think I'll end up on a thread about 'Why don't my DC talk to me anymore' if I tried to deprive them of crisps in their packing up. I console myself that most of the food they eat is homemade and they only have crisps 2-4 times a week.

Peae Today I've had homemade gammon and feta salad (360 cals) blueberry wheats with oat milk as a snack (200 cals), courgetti Bolognese for tea with feta (298 cals), plus two protein drinks (150 cals). I mostly cook from scratch (Wednesday is freezer tea for the kids as we don't get in from swimming until 5.45 and DD's bedtime is 6.30, DH and I will usually have leftovers of some description), but happy to share my daily menu. I'm always looking for new recipes to change it up a bit.

Zing as long as you enjoyed them, don't beat yourself up. Life would be pretty joyless if we just ate plain chicken and veggies every day!

• Protein shake for breakfast ✅ although it was at 1pm.
• Lean protein and salad for lunch.✅
• 8k steps ❌ today has been particularly bad for steps, only done just over 6k. I won't be able to go for a walk later as DH is going out, so undecided whether to get the treadmill out to do the arbitrary further 2k, or wait for my tea to settle and then do a pilates workout or something 🤔 Courgetti Bolognese for tea.✅

Thank you for the daily diets, we're all quite similar I think. Well done on the homemade mayo @thenewaveragebear1983, that's still one of my regular sources of UPF. Talking of which, I finally made the green Thai curry paste and it was a revelation! Absolutely bursting with flavour and without that weird glutinous mouth feel of shop-bought. Only problem was I didn't make more, just one portion in the freezer. Can't remember why I ever stopped making it from scratch in the first place.

I've hit 6900 steps today. Not up to normal levels, but still an improvement on the 10 steps of a fortnight ago! Aiming for a gym session by the end of the week. I'll just do seated cable machines, but still.

Oh, nearly forgot. @YippeeAbsentmindedly I reckon some of the ready salted crisps are not UPF. The cheaper brands tend to be better than the well known ones for just having 3 ingredients (potato, sunflower and salt).

I just checked out of interest and you're right Peae. The 6 bags for 85p ones from Morrisons are indeed only 3 ingredients. I feel a bit better about those, at least. Obviously I was concerned about UPFs and not just being cheap when I bought those 😁

I remembered I have some work to do before Thursday night for my side-gig so less than 6.5k steps and no home workout today. Tomorrow should be better as I'll be at my desk less and then we will be swimming after school.

I am fully in the throes of detox now and have a stinking headache! I had a spoonful of almond butter and a couple of pieces of fruit after dinner.

homemade mayo is so incredibly easy and so much nicer than shop bought. I just get 1 egg, 300ml olive oil, put it in a deep narrow jug and use a stick blender and pulse it until it emulsifies. Don’t jiggle. Then add salt and juice of a lemon, then blast it again with the blender. As long as your egg is super fresh and everything is room temp, you’ll get perfect mayo every time.

Thank you for the mayo recipe, that sounds very do-able 🤔.

Do you think there’s anything in particular you’re detoxing from in the UPF? Sugar? Caffeine?