⭐️LOSE IT!⭐️Optimistic October & 12 Week Countdown to Christmas⭐️

[TheRealHousewife]

Following on from ⭐️LOSE IT!⭐️ Slimmimg September 2025⭐️

⭐️OPEN TO ALL⭐️

Where did September go? There is a definite chill in the air some mornings now 🥶 I always feel when October is here it’s the start of the 12 week countdown to Christmas!

It’s never too late to make a change, to make a difference and feel confident in your body. To reach optimum health and vitality we need to focus not only on our food intake; but movement, mental health and sleep quality too!

Who doesn’t want to feel good and energetic as well looking great! Get on board to reset & refresh and become a healthier version of yourself.

These threads are for those who’d like to lose weight and those who wish to maintain whilst eating a healthy varied diet.

As no one size fits all, members need to follow their own way of eating. This thread aims to offer guidance, support and a bit of hand holding.

We generally have WOW (weigh on Wednesday) day each week. However post and share your progress as often or as little as you prefer. Do what works for you.

The important thing is not to think of it as a diet (based on deprivation and unsustainable) but more a way of life (sustainable & enjoyable).

I calorie count based on a lower carb Mediterranean diet. I intermittent fast and generally eat twice a day. Im a long time healthy eater and overall I’ve lost around 45lbs.

I’m mainly maintaining but I would like to get back into the 8’s 🤞(I briefly dipped into the 8’s last month but the scale showing 9st 1lb this morning)

Are you in😊 What food plan will you be following? What do you want to change and why?

New members … Give it a go; it’s never too late! You'll be pleased you did 😊

Thanks for the Nutracheck recommendations! I'm using MFP at the moment and it's alright, does the job but there's so many entries for the same thing sometimes it is difficult e.g. hundreds of different entries for cooked chicken that will all have different calories. Maybe it's time for a change!

It was hard to calculate my steak dinner just because it was sharing style- I couldn't really weigh my portion and it was cooked with so much butter 🫣 but I don't know how much of that I ate iyswim. I'm not too bothered about it though, I'm not actually that strict (yet- I will tighten up if i don't lose!).

@biscuitcat I have the opposite- I can stay on track perfectly when DH is away but it all goes out of the window when he's home!

Nutracheck is definitely better for ingredients @Vapeaddict It isn’t free but I think it’s maybe around £25-ish for a year? IIRC MFP has a lot of user generated content hence all the variations.

@biscuitcat I'm the same when I have time alone in the house.

Got out for a walk in the wind and drizzle. Feel better for it.

Korma just finishing. Oven on for potatoes. Might make a caramel sponge pudding with custard for tonight. Feeling utter exhaustion today (been a long week and period crept up on me again).

The dcs have eaten all the double chocolate magnums so I’ve had a better day. I didn’t have a Yorkshire pudding at lunch time and I made my own small batch of reduced oil roast potatoes so I’m within calories for the day (despite eating a full nann with dinner)

Sounds like the change of season is impacting other people as well! As soon as it’s get cold and dark definitely want I want to eat changes. I’m going to try and concentrate on lots of roasted veg. Nice and warm and garlicky. Squash is supposed to be good as very filling but low in calories.

We’ve had a bit of a weekend away, so a couple of meals out, topped off with chocolate and fizzy drinks. Not going to panic, just getting back on it tomorrow.

Haven't weighed since Thursday, but my lovely, comfy big pants are now falling down inside my trousers everyday, so things seem to still be going in the right direction. And it’s probably time for some new pants 😂

Hello. Weekend was ok but not brilliant - quite a lot of walking / moving as I took one child to central London and the others pumpkin picking but there were meals out everywhere.

Tomorrow's my OMAD day. Haven't got much planned so it's likely to be eggs and beans or similar. Possibly a healthy ready meal if there's one in the freezer I've lost track of.

Re winter/weather and habits - I used to be a huge fan of the Starbucks xmas drinks - cinnamon coffees with cream etc. That at least I've knocked on the head, I just find them too sweet and sickly. I will stock up on some of the more interesting fruit teas (with vanilla, cinnamon etc flavours) in the coming weeks and make sure I have them at work and at home. Plus a good soup on the go at all times.

I’ve mostly been busy packing to go on holiday next week and finishing swapping over my wardrobe to full on autumn / winter clothes. I’ve been ok calorie wise, I’m almost 500 over for the week (since Wednesday) which isn’t brilliant, but not a complete disaster.

Yeah I think the user generated content is the biggest issue @WhatWouldTheDoctorDo does Nutracheck not have that then?

Argh I was having a really good day then it all went wrong at the end, the chocolate monster got me and I couldn't seem to stop. Probably 300cals damage. Taken myself off to bed to get away from the kitchen!

I don’t think so. I’ve never not been able to find a uk supermarket ingredient, and there’s not lots of version of the same product with different calorie counts.

Back from holiday, 4lbs up after a great week away and lots of food and alcohol. Reined it in today only ate one brownie!! I’ll be honest and say I felt great on holiday, didn’t even think about wandering around in shorts or my swimming costume, it was well worth the nine months of calorie counting and has motivated me to do the last stone.
next focus is my daughters graduation in 4 weeks.

hope everyone else is ok I’ll catch up over the next few days

Well I've not had a great few days. Depression creeping in with the shorter days and felt I needed a sweet fix, so had some melted chocolate - only had galaxy in the house as I dislike it but melted it was quite nice. Luckily haven't gained this week but haven't lost either, although had lost an inch off my waist. Them today was my mum's birthday and I had a piece of birthday cake, which really wasn't great, so total waste of calories! Also had a glass of white wine and soda two evenings running. Need to get back on track!

I had a pumpkin spice latte the other Saturday as I always liked to treat myself to something from Starbucks when heading off on my own with no kids (doesn't happen very often). OMG it was vile. I couldn't finish it! A treat for me seems to just be a cup of tea in peace, noise cancelling headphones and a good book on the train now!

It's been funny looking at the scales this last few days as my body reacts to being back in routine.

75.5 (pre-trip)
76.8 (after 5 days in the UK in a hotel)
76.5 (back 1 day)
76.3 (back 2 days)
76.2 (back 3 days)
75.9 (back 4 days)

I never usually weigh myself daily but this is quite satisfying 😂

Today have a full day of work and hobby in evening. So not much chance of a walk unless I go out during a break this afternoon (which I may do if not chucking it down).

B - boiled egg, rye toast w butter, 2x small coffee with milk
S- fruit/veg plate
L - leftover roast potatoes with korma sauce
S- greek yoghurt and honey
D - chicken korma with rice and broccoli
Dr - herbal tea and water during the day.

That's really useful to know @WhatWouldTheDoctorDo it's my biggest annoyance on MFP that there's loads of versions of the same thing. Weights are often in ounces or cups as well now I think about it.

I wasn't sure if I'd stick to this for more than a couple of days but it'll be a week tomorrow and I've tracked even bad/difficult days so I'm feeling quite pleased with that alone 😆 hopefully weigh day will reward me too.

@PatienceOfEngels roast potatoes and korma sauce sounds like my kind of fusion food- delicious! Hope the scales continue downwards for you.

I've been having the same breakfast/more like brunch everyday but struggling a bit with lunch so my aim this week is to actually eat lunch. I get panicked that I won't have enough cals left for dinner so a bit of meal planning is required I think. And I'll make a pan of soup!

0.9lbs down this week, very pleased with that, 5lbs off in the last month. I’ve started looking in to the possibility of liposuction for thighs as I’ve shrunk considerably everywhere else - you can have it done awake nowadays which I didn’t know and makes it far easier as an option as a single parent.

Quark, slivered almonds and frozen berries for breakfast…so yummy.
Lunch - homemade sweet potato and red pepper soup, ryvita and hummus
Dinner - Salmon and green veg
Snack - dipped almonds and a nice cup of tea

No problem @Vapeaddict - I think maybe nutracheck do a free trial so you could compare?

I am now 700 over my calories for the week. 🙄 But instead of going fuck it like I usually do I am still tracking and aiming to be better this week before I go on holiday.

Today’s menu:

breakfast - porridge with chia seeds, flax seeds and frozen berries
lunch - home made lentil & bacon soup, falafels and humous, satsuma
snack - deliciously Ella almonds
dinner will be salmon, rice, and some veg.

@Vapeaddict I really rate Nutracheck, so much more user friendly than MFP!

@WhatWouldTheDoctorDo not going fuck it when you’ve gone over is the key I think! Months of good work is not going to be undone by 700 calories.

DH away and so far I’ve not snacked like mad, but after the kids’ bedtime is the real test…

Just catching up with the thread.

@Marshmellowbunny I really hope you are ok, it’s sad to read you’re feeling so down.

@TheRealHousewife your soup sounds delicious I make a similar one last - do you roast the veg? I love a good soup!

I’ve been a bit AWOL first few days of the month. Weight is clinging on but I will keep on keeping on and hopefully see some progress this month.

PS jigsaw people … can highly recommend Vinted for buying them! Cheap as chips. I need to get a smallish table for my living room as don’t like doing them on the dining table or the fold up mat thing.

Thank you @Determinedloser I thought I was doing okay today and then I just ended up sitting at the train station crying my eyes out! 😂🙈

Thanks for the Vinted recs for jigsaws as well. I'm going to have a look now 👀 I was going to go and trawl the charity shops but that's a much better idea!

Been on counterweight a week and have lost a stone!!! Still 5 to go but I am pleased it has come off.

Well done everyone who is losing and also everyone who is sticking with their healthy eating or calorie counting and not giving up when they’ve gone over 🤘🤘🤘

my food today:

L: Creamy tomato soup, slice of toast with butter and marmite
D: Thai fishcake, green veg with soy sauce and a fried egg
Snacks: Coffee with oat milk and cucumber and houmous

That is excellent @flea101 and a great menu @HappyLittleTreeFriend !

Omad here. Steak with grilled toms and a lambs lettuce salad, around 10am. Then just coffee etc. Next meal 9am ish tomorrow.

Hi all, just checking in. Couldn't believe how early it was dark this evening SAD gets me some years, not so much others, so will see what this year holds.

I had a moment of panic about weighing on the uneven bathroom floor this morning, so did it in the kitchen and got the same lowest weight so far as the other day after having had a Twister wrap thing from KFC yesterday - 500 and something calories! 7.1kg/15.6lbs down in total.

The key is definitely lifestyle change/not going f* it when the scales fluctuate as well as just getting back on the bandwagon after slipping up. We can do this. I'm hoping tomorrow morning's reading may be even lower, but I'm going out for cake with a friend, so that is probably going to by my WOW for the week.

Rambling now Good luck to you all

@FridayNighFeelinghope your cake was delish, we do all need to have treats built in too - I really fancy a nice dessert this week, I’ve been thinking of trying making a miso caramel and chocolate tart this weekend!

@TheWayTheLightFalls love steak and tomatoes - think I’ll do that for myself and DP later this week!

Today’s meals -

L: Leek and potato soup with some
sourdough toast
D: Jacket potato with cheese, bacon, sour cream and salad
Snacks: Grapes and baby plum tomatoes

may treat myself to a scoop of vanilla ice cream with some canned peach slices after dinner too!

Everyone’s meals are sounding lovely!

Mine today:

B - seedy toast with preserved watermelon
L - leftover mini toad in the hole with red cabbage
D - tacos with guac, tomatoes, etc.

I’ve been very efficient and my dinner is already made as otherwise I know I’d be far too tired to do anything proper after the kids are in bed!