⭐️LOSE IT! January Jumpstart 2026⭐️

[TheRealHousewife]

⭐️ Open to All ⭐️

January 2026! Following on from LOSE IT! 8 Week Christmas Countdown

Fresh Start, New Habits! To reach optimum health and vitality (as well as a trim body) we need to focus not only on our food intake; but movement, our 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 have a 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) that’s based on several sensible principles including:-

1. Eat a variety of real whole foods such as fresh vegetables, salad, berries, beans, nuts, eggs, lean meat, good fats etc.

2. Reduce sugars, simple carbs, alcohol and UPFs.

3. Plan your meals & log your intake. Also be mindful of portion control.

4. Intermittent fasting - research suggests (Zoe study) that adhering to an eating window of 10 hours can have a positive effect on health, wellbeing and weight loss. I personally have a eating window of approximately 7hrs - 12:00 - 19:00.

5. Stay hydrated! 💧

6. Move as much as able. Particularly strength based exercise. Muscle keeps you strong as well as revs up your metabolism.

7. Get the fibre in! Great for your gut biome as well as 💩

8. SLEEP! Good sleep hygiene and a regularly sleep routine can be beneficial to weight loss. I’m always more hungry following poor sleep.

9. Be mindful about your own mental wellbeing and try not to eat your feelings. We’ve all been there!

10. Be kind to yourself. One or two slip ups won’t undo all your previous efforts. Just check-in with yourself, reinforce your good intentions and carry on.

I calorie count based on a lower carb Mediterranean diet. I intermittent fast and eat twice a day. Im a long time healthy eater and overall I’ve lost over 3 stone. After having been on the wrong side of 12st Im now hovering around 9st 2lbs.

Are you in?😊 What food plan will you be following? What do you want to change and why? Any recipes/workouts that have worked for you, you’d like to share?

28,211 steps yesterday/10.5 miles. I got the bus to my mum’s otherwise it would be 2 miles more. It’s more anyway because it’s measured by my phone only so only when I’m carrying my phone. I slept like a log last night for the first time in weeks. Food was terrible and I skipped dinner so today I’m going to do better.

Good Morning Everyone

The last few days I’ve seen the New Food Pyramid that’s being promoted in America. They have literally totally turned it on its head and is opposite to what our NHS promotes. I think they are on to something and it’s how I’ve eaten for years 👍. What does everyone else think?

Menu
Meal 1 - GF Seeded Sourdough topped with avocado & scrambled egg. Pecans.
Meal 2 - Roasted vegetables and spicy chicken balls. Kefir & blueberries.
Drinks - Tea, black coffee, hibiscus flower tea, water.

Good morning all!

@TheRealHousewife That certainly looks a lot like how I am trying to eat at the moment with protein pride of place! And your daily menus always look so good - I was drooling over that frittata pic 🫢

@TheRealHousewife that’s very interesting thanks for sharing.

Weighed today and I’m 0.5lb down from last weeks average. Feel like things are balancing out after Christmas excesses. I should probably adjust my goal downward as I do want to be below it, but I like Fitbit giving me a daily star for being at goal!

Hello!

Checking in with food plan:

L - thin bagel with ham, reduced fat soft cheese, rocket and Dijon. Side of picked onions and cherry toms, and a banana
D - lasagne, big salad with balsamic glaze drizzle. Greek yogurt with pomegranate seeds and blueberries.
Snacks - tbc

Annoyingly I hurt my arm at the weekend, I thought it was ok but it's got worse over the last couple of days so I've had to miss my beloved classes and have limited movement. But my willpower at the moment is feeling good so hopefully I can tip the scales a bit and add the movement back in when it's better.

Checking in with my meals! Feeling pretty happy today, been feeling less hungry while sticking to calorie count which is good, urge to snack has lessened and feeling the benefit of lots of fruit and veg and yoga and no alcohol as well!

L - 2 egg omelette with feta, red onion and coriander leaves, kimchi on the side
D - Curry with tofu, broccoli, coriander, small portion of rice and onion bhaji

Drinks/snacks - coffee, tea, herbal tea and might treat myself to a calorific Biscoff Egg thing I saw in Tesco! Like a Creme Egg but filled with Biscoff - only one though 😂👍🏻

That food picture does look a bit more like what I’m trying to do. Although I can’t see the left over Christmas chocolates in it 😂

Day 8 of my yoga challenge is complete and I’m meal planning and sticking to my calories. Weight was lower this morning which means things are going in the right direction for the first time since November!

@LemonDrizzle23 Mumsnet definitely needs a laughing emoji for posts 😂

Your menu looks very tasty @HappyLittleTreeFriend 😋I just burped the kimchi I’m making and it stung my eyes it’s that spicy 🌶️ 🥵😅. I’ve not mixed any more cabbage in as I didn’t want to spoil the fermentation levels. At the point of eating I’m going to mix half and half to 0% fat Fage and have it on the side of whatever.

I’ve never made my own kimchi @TheRealHousewifeI’ve enjoyed hearing about you making yours and burping it 😂👍🏻 I’ll have to try making some myself though it seems tricky to get the spice level right! Have you used any particular recipe?

Afternoon all.

I'm still lurking in the background but checking in with a 2.4lb loss in week one. Happy with that!

Well done to everyone else on the losses and achievements! Its hard going when the weather is so cold!

@HappyLittleTreeFriend I will photo the recipe and post it. I knew where I went wrong spicy wise … I didn’t have the particular dried chillies it called for so I used some I’d grown that were in the freezer. It’s clear I under estimated just how hot they were 😅. I’ve since bought some dried chilli flakes 👍

@RedBlackBlue Fabulous progress 👏

No weight loss today but I’m holding steady with pre Christmas weight. I have been to the gym and I also went for a walk to top up my steps to 10k, I won’t lie, I feel shattered. I have stuff to do but I am on strike for a bit.

I like your style @BlackCatFanClub I would try going on strike but my other half wouldn't be pleased. 😅

I can highly recommend it @TheRealHousewifeI have tea, a hot water bottle, a square of chocolate and a blanket. I’m so tired I could cry though, roll on bedtime.

Am very inspired by these pictures and ideas. It's what I'm going for too - lots of protein and veg as it definitely keeps you going for longer. Tomorrow I'm making myself a smoked trout, butter bean and dill salad that will be my lunch for the next few days.

@TheRealHousewife you were asking after thai dressing recipe. I went through various prawn & mango salad recipes and these two look the best. The thai dressing definitely tasted like it had lime juice, fish sauce and some sort of chilli. You know that delicious sweet-salty-spicy-acidic taste. We need strong flavours, I reckon, to make up for the smaller quantities.
Here they are:
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/recipe/thai-style-mango-basil-prawn-salad?srsltid=AfmBOopEOhprnAbCMJHna0ir9tN5wCvl25rEEw2HbJEq_u7PIJZdNZ9T
And here's one with noodles
www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/quick-and-easy/mango-and-prawn-rice-noodle-salad/

Here you go @HappyLittleTreeFriend ⬇️

Thank you @Pollyparanoia , those recipes look right up my street, especially the prawn dish x

Today’s brunch was very satiating and satisfying 😋 The slice of toast is under the avo and egg. I only have small amounts of gf bread as it spikes my blood sugars but I had enough to hit the spot. Believe it or not I only scrambled 2 medium eggs and I added 8g of President grated Emmental plus seasoning. A couple of years ago I heard about scrambling eggs in a splash of boiling water. Yes really. You don’t need any oil or butter. Just keep stirring until all the water has evaporated. You get the lightest waist friendly scramble ever.

@Pollyparanoia I love a Thai dressing, you describe that sweet salty spicy tang so well! I use vegan fish sauce as I don’t eat fish or seafood and it also works well.

We had a lovely (child free!!) brunch today, and dinner will be gnocchi with ragu and a salad on the side.

Today’s menu

B - Toast with scrambled egg
L - home made tomato and lentil soup, some chicken for protein, satsuma, some seeds/nuts mix
D - prawn / chorizo / peppers / rice bake thing

The only snack I’ve had was an apple.

contemplated exercise when I got home, but honestly it’s just too cold to get out of warm clothes into workout clothes. 🥶🥶🥶

I have a mountain of ironing though, so I am going to do that, which should at least burn some calories.

I find I'm eating lots of the same things but am managing to stick to under my calorie goal.

Today I've had:

Banana
Apple
Apple rice pudding
Egg yolk on avocado on halloumi on toasted ciabatta
Half a dragon fruit (£4! If I buy one every few days I won't be able to afford calorific food 😂)
M and s count on us chocolate mousse

I forgot to weigh yesterday so I did it today instead. My WOT (see what I did there?) was 2lb down so I'm pleased with that. Sadly it just means I'm still 1lb up on my pre Christmas weight. It's all in the right direction though.

Good Morning You Lovely Lot

@NoMoreLindor I like your thinking - WOT 👍Congratulations on your loss🥳

@Ehlace Tasty menu! Dragon fruit is one I’ve never tried. I’ll have a look out for it x

@WhatWouldTheDoctorDo Im tackling my ironing mountain today . I count it as gentle exercise. You ate lovely foods yesterday 😋

@biscuitcat Sounds like a Lunch Date ❤️It’s great when you get time together child free.

Im not one for wishing my life away but I’m really looking forward to the lighter mornings and more daylight hours. Roll on March ☀️

Menu
Meal 1 - Mushrooms, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, spicy chicken balls & baked beans.
Meal 2 - Cod, butter beans, garden peas, leeks, feta & side salad.

Drinks - Tea, black coffee, hibiscus tea & water.