Chub Club: Fighting Flab in Aisle Five

[IHaveRunOutOfIdeas]

Right then, here we go!
Me @Obsesetits are throwing ourselves headfirst into the salad aisle and starting the official Chub Club. Our mission: lose a stone at a time (3 in total for me), with full accountability, banter, and possibly tears when someone brings doughnuts into the house.

If you fancy joining us, here are the official Chub Club Rules:

1. All meetings held in Aisle 5 — attendance compulsory unless hiding in the biscuit aisle.
2. Confessions encouraged — especially snaccidents (e.g. finishing the kids’ leftovers “so they don’t go to waste”).
3. Non-scale victories count double — zipping up old jeans = instant promotion to Salad General.
4. Anyone bringing doughnuts to meetings will be banned (or eaten, not sure which yet).

This is a space for accountability, progress (big or small), and plenty of laughs — because if we can’t laugh while eating lettuce, what’s the point?

So… who’s in? Grab a trolley, confess your snaccidents, and let’s see how much chub we can shift together 💪🥦🍫

That sounds amazing @ChelseaDetective. We had pizza last night, supermarket meal
deal, saved the rest for this evening, she was shovelling the toppings on like they were going out of fashion! Usually we would have finished it but dont know if there was just more than usual, or as we are eating better, it made us feel more full.

No loss today, I am ok with that though, I weigh daily to monitor that’s all.

Back to work tomorrow, need to go shopping today and stock
up. I wondered whether changing from babybel to laughing cow triangles would work, they are fewer calories. Also looking at saving some serious cash with the tribe starting and returning to uni. 3 this year, is going to be some doing! I think I will just so Aldi, I do find it much cheaper but I can’t always get what I want, any suggestions?

I do have access to a fridge at work but it’s on the other side of the building so preferbly something that can be kept in my bag, unless I buy ice packs? Freeze a bottle of water? And there’s 3 microwaves in the kitchen with 40ish staff on lunch at the same time so it is hit and miss. If I remember I am microwaving though i move my lunch by 5 mins. I don’t always remember.

Morning all - all the back to school feelings here!! So new starts and all that. I’ve had a good first 3 days of reset and fingers crossed can hold strong at work with all the snacks that appear there! I have my lunch packed and that’s all I will have other than a coffee.

I also weigh daily - but tend to log weekly. Full back story is I lost near on 50kg in 2023, maintained but then crept up 10kg through 2024. Have been on and off this year but the upshot is as of today I’m 16kg up from the original 50 I lost. I don’t want to be this yo-yo person and also managing a wardrobe to accommodate this is ridiculous!!!

so anyway. 16kg to go. Let’s have a strong week!!

Morning @chalkyc2 , September already - I can hardly believe it. No back to school here but the cats go for their vaccinations in September, we’re down to two this year, having lost our 17 year old lad a month or so back.

Work snacks and the wardrobe problem, oh yes. I don’t work in an office but DH does and he says the tins of chocolates and home baking that get brought in is insane. How do you (rhetorical ‘you’) navigate that?

Clothes are not such a problem here, I’m very broad so I tend to just wear a size 14 whether I’m 9st or 11st. The joys of being very short!

Monday morning is weigh day. No apps or devices, just a bathroom scale, notebook and pencil. Two pounds off this week taking me into the 9’s at 9st 13lb - down from a starting weight 10st 13lb three months ago….so a pretty steady loss of about 1.2lb a week, including a week away where I ate a lot of crisps and cake. I didn’t weigh that Monday!

Its getting harder to keep going as the novelty of weighing food, cooking and getting into new routines wears off and the weather getting colder and darker worries me a bit - who wants to eat yoghurt and salad in winter? 🫤

It’s been a busy week so I fell down the takeaway trap! 12st 1 which I will take considering the takeaway.

Made tuna pasta for work for the last 2 days, I could be home for lunch today but will take a cup of soup just in case.

How is everyone else getting on?

Morning @IHaveRunOutOfIdeas

Sometimes you have to eat what is there and make up for it at home, You have a plan for lunches now, which is good.

Cats were at the vet last night for jabs so we were back late. Living in the country there are no takeaways available so I stayed on the straight and narrow with cheese and mushroom scrambled egg on M&S seeded sourdough and a side salad. DH was so tired he even joined me with no moaning or hunting for more bread after the meal.

Much later I had to go into my workshop to set something up for today and ate a packet of Tesco ‘Frazzles’ and another bit of cheese on my way back even though I was done for the day.

As it was only a standard pack though and a small bit of cheese I’m not too concerned. Until three months ago it would have been a buffet sized bag of frazzles and probably a fish finger sandwich as well.

I like that this is a friendly thread, and we’re not pulling each other down for what we eat and telling each other to do weight training all the time…yeah, I know its a good thing but I just get so fed up of reading it!

Fage Fat Free with my apple just now. I won’t get it again, it’s so claggy!

I have an audiobook credit to spend and want a book about food. I know its usual to recommend the book by Chris Van Tulleken on here but I’ve decided I don’t really want to read that so I’ve gone for ‘This is Not a Diet Book’ by Bee Wilson. The preview looked more up my street that ‘Ultra Processed People’ and living in what can sometimes be a bit of a food desert I’ll admit I don’t really want to know some things!

I only weigh on Monday so nothing to report there. In Non Scale Victories though I can now fasten my size 12 hacking jacket and my size 16 Mom jeans need a belt. I’m unreasonably thrilled about both!

I’m on PPA so have come home. Didnt have the cup of soup and also didnt snack on shite! DD had made some chilli chicken strips in the air fryer so I nicked a few.

I love frazzles and could also demolish a party sized bag! Onion rings too! I’m on Aldi French fries though at 70cal a bag, they were recommend here I think last week.

Hope the cats haven’t been too much of a problem since the vet visit. We have 2 dogs, one is absolutely fine and gives zero shits about going. The other will sulk for about a week 😂.

And no judgment on what goes in your mouth, I think we judge ourselves enough without some stranger on the internet putting their 2 pence in. And yes, we all know we need to exercise and do cardio and all that jazz but life doesn’t work like that. Great if it does and crack on, but it doesn’t for me.

I don’t know what PPA is but I hope its nothing bad!

The cats are sore and sniffly today, as usual after their jabs. They don’t normally leave their own beds at night (they’re indoor cats) but one of them got in with me last night so I’m sore too after not wanting to shove her off my arm 🙄

I don’t know what dinner is going to be today. I ran out of ideas after last night’s omelette. Probably soup and random stuff out of the fridge but staying off the bread today - bread seems to be the thing that stops me losing, however little I have.

Friday (tomorrow) is my shopping day so I’ll just see what needs eating and try and plan better for next week.

Haha PPA is my planning time, I’m a teacher. We love PPA as I get to come home and have lunch with my babies.

DH is ordering takeaway again! Will split over 2 nights. I did take some peppered steak out of the freezer on Monday evening but that’s been out too long for my liking.

Pic of one of my boys.

Sunday is shopping day usually. DH is working Saturday though so I may go then instead.

Right, I need to check the freezers and see what we have, I know we have enough meat for the week, but we’ve been using mainly frozen veg for convenience so need to check what’s left and what needs topping up.

At most, and this can change once I take my lazy backside to the kitchen, this is my shop for today.

Mixed veg x 3
Frozen broccoli x 2
Frozen green beans x 1
frozen sweetcorn x 1
wholegrain rice microwave pack x 4
frozen mash x 1
Babybel pack of 10
French fries pack of 10
Corn cakes lightly salted
tangerines x 2
bananas
strawberries
low fat yogurt x 3 date dependent.
salt and pepper crackers
milk x 2
Curry ready meal as I know there will be a night where we want a takeaway and this will stop that!

I will check the new Aldi Diner range and see what the calories are like, but won’t buy unless it’s low enough

Have I missed anything? We usually just walk around and chuck stuff in but I am trying to avoid waste and also be mindful of what I am spending. DH is working this morning so I will go alone, does mean I will end up paying but it is probably long overdue 😂

He’s a handsome lad!

Looks like you’ll be able to make a few decent meals out of that list @IHaveRunOutOfIdeas, 💕 that’s a good idea to go through the freezer and use stuff up. Its cupboards with me, I’ve a strange fondness for buying dried foods and then leaving them there for years because they don’t ‘make a meal’!

The curry sounds good too - Sometimes having that easy option really helps you keep going. I don’t know about you but I find making choices all the time is exhausting.

Not a bad weekend here. I weighed this morning and am one pound down on last week, making a total of 16lbs off since 30 June and a current weight of 9st 11lbs - I’ll admit to having hoped for more as I was quite hungry last week (!) but its fine.

Went shopping on Friday and bought fish, chicken, green veg and lots of apples (and babybels!) for the week - trying to plan a bit more for weekday meals.

It started well with yogurt and strawberries for breakfast, a salmon, egg and cucumber rice bowl for dinner tonight and apples for snacks, but DH is away on a business trip until Friday and I’m sitting here watching television and thinking about the pizza he has stashed in the freezer. Arg!

This is tomorrow’s lunch to stop me buying a sandwich and crisps after a meeting in town - the leftovers from tonight’s dinner, wrapped in a sheet of seaweed and a bit of greaseproof paper. Fingers crossed it will keep alright in the fridge.

We had had a shocking week but it’s only a blip. Cooked a beef joint yesterday so will have the rest of that tonight.

A loss is a loss no matter how big or small, and if you want that pizza, have it! I have a slice of pizza that has saved for my lunch today, although I don’t know if I want it. Microwaved 2 day old pizza doesn't exactly sound appealing, however it was done with the best intentions. I forgot to take lunch yesterday so ended up having a pot noodle, I need a new lunch bag for work as mine is a little tatty now, not having it on the side as a reminder to pack it contributing to poor lunch choices.

How are we doing? Things are slipping around here, The weather has been appalling, a proper storm for the last 24 hours and Dh isn’t back until Friday so…I’ve eaten his pizza.

I don’t even like pizza 🙄

Of course an hour later I was starving so it was followed by an evening of snacking in front of the TV.

It’s just a blip though, I had one last month on holiday and as long as I get back on a more even keel by the weekend it will be absolutely fine. Keeping up the detailed food diary even if I’ve gone way over my intended calories always helps a lot with this.

In two days I’ve had a pack of malteasers biscuits that DH bought last week. Last night was the curry night, really pleased that we had the ready meal over the take out though. Progress seems to have been slow, back down to 12st this morning which seems to have taken forever since my weekend drinking!

I have suggested we start swimming but I need to travel further afield as I don’t want to bump into children and their parents!

Not sure what to have for our evening meal, quite fancy fish today. I will have to check the freezer for some before I leave.

Blips are fine. I think you’re right about the food diary. I was losing 1-2lb a week last time when I was logging everything. I need to carry on with this.

Victory today!!!!

11st 13.75

A quarter of a pound in, but I’m in the 11st club! I haven’t been here November 2023.

Next target 11st 10. Aiming for 4th October (DD birthday)

Aaah, a mission accomplished is a great incentive to carry on @IHaveRunOutOfIdeas, seeing that first number change is a boost. 💐

Slowly getting back to normal here after a couple of days of too many snacks and white carbs which according to my notebook doubled my daily calories so it needs to stop - If I’d not kept up my notebook I would not have known this and probably just gone back to eating that much.

Back now to beef, chicken, fish, soups, fruit and vegetables, and to looking for some new recipes.

I forgot to take anything out of the freezer but I have some cook from frozen fish so we will be having that for this evening.

I bought some new trousers yesterday. I didn’t really want to be buying with me trying to lose weight but I feel my wardrobe for work is desperate! Picked up a 14 and they are quite tight. Managed to wear them all day, but I will have a non scale victory when they are little more comfy!

How is it Monday again? Up one pound on last week - totally expected.

The really annoying thing is that I’m having trouble getting back to what was working for me.

Having pizza, a bit of bread, a packet of crisps and the odd extra bite of chocolate last week was a mistake I think. There was no problem sticking to meals and one bedtime snack when I was ‘in the swing’ of keeping carbs down but now I feel like I want to look for food all the time.

sigh.

I totally get this!

I’ve been buying the monster munch and French fries as they’re low calorie, but then had a pack of normal walkers just because. Last night we had cake and custard even though we had fresh fruit and yogurt but you know, a treat won’t be too bad. We’ve just got home now as we nipped (4 hour from start to finish) to Cheshire oaks so we are now ordering curry!

I am half a pound into my ‘club’ though which is partly motivation but met with I deserve a treat, so I can’t win 😂.

I will do better!

My weight has really fluctuated this week. Weekly weigh in is a half a pound loss. (Usually weigh on Thursdays but forgot yesterday as we were up at 4 to take DC1 to Bath ready for uni) I might stick to Fridays now though. I need at least 1lb off by next week.

Going in the right direction, @IHaveRunOutOfIdeas which is a good thing. Don’t let a small loss get you down. Sometimes I find a long plateau can be followed by a large loss seemingly overnight.

Not a good week here. Snacking has continued and I’m losing interest in meals again.

After the pound on last week I’m considering not weighing on Monday and just trying to do better with the food.

Another pound off today which is what I wanted.

It really is taking some doing though. We are out again this weekend for a friends birthday so I will be playing catch up next week. No chance of another 2lb off by Saturday, that just won’t happen.

Still the same this week which is annoying but also good as I have been terrible!

We have no electric going to the oven, hob is fine so no excuse, a huge leak somewhere using 1800 litres of water per day, and a poorly dog.

Today is my WFH day, so need to stay away from the treats. Might nip to Tesco and do a slow cooker curry or something simple.

You have been quiet so I am assuming you’re still in snacking mode?

2lb off since last check in. It would have been 3.5 as I was lower than today earlier in the week but we were out again this weekend and lots of alcohol consumed.

Next target is 11.7 for 31st October how are you doing @ChelseaDetective and @chalkyc2