⭐️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?

@cakeaddict thank you for doing KG - it also benefits people like me who never got to grips with lbs! Good luck with your start.

Thanks @TheRealHousewife that makes sense! We were out yesterday so whilst reasonable calories, definitely not nutritious meals!!

To combat evening snacking I used to bounce on a gym ball while watching tv. It burnt calories, added to my step count, improved my core and meant I didn’t snack. Now I tend to be in bed by 9pm at the latest except on the weekends sometimes and although in the covid years I used to eat lots of snacks reading in bed I stopped that. I think the bouncing disrupted the routine of the snacking so I no longer associate reading in bed with large bags of Maltesers or popcorn or revels or lentil chips. Cutting down on UPF foods helped massively.

@BraceFace92 I also find evening snacking is my downfall! DH works away a few nights a week and it’s especially tricky when I’m home alone, which tells me that for me, boredom is definitely an element!

The things which help me are having a hot drink (herbal tea or decaf coffee usually) and planning in a dessert most days so I don’t feel deprived, usually something relatively low in sugar, or with sugar paired with fats, so it won’t then make me hungry again by messing up my blood sugar! My favourites at the moment are dates with butter and 90% dark chocolate, berries with dark chocolate and cream, or Greek yoghurt with berries and a crushed meringue. Having something to do with my hands rather than just watching something also helps.

My little NSV for today is I’ve hardly slept (went to bed too late then all 3 kids up in the night, and the baby up for the day pre-6am 😩) and everyone was on one this morning, but I didn’t eat my stress and stuck to just a tea for breakfast. Spanakopita and salad for lunch then will see how I’m feeling for dinner, maybe eggs and bacon with avocado.

Good morning and happy new year.

First time on the scales since October today. In the meantime I had eaten mindlessly with lots of high calorific food plus I was told no tennis, pickleball or badminton and only gentle walking and I was on crutches for a while.
Today is day 1 when I’m allowed back on court (and likely to be cancelled due to snow!)
Today is day 1 of mission possible for me.

start weight today - 70.6 kg
interim goal for May - 65 kg (my teenager weight)
end goal weight 60 kg

My plan is to eat more mindfully , track food, sleep, exercise, be accountable, use my journal as a focus.

Thanks for this , really appreciate it!

Honestly @TheWayTheLightFalls i really wouldn’t bother. I think we’ve missed the boat. The previous Zoe Study programme was far more comprehensive but that has now ceased. The users who have migrated from the original app (abruptly shut down) to the new app don’t seem to have anything positive to say. I have also been following Dominique Ludwig (a certified nutritionist) on social media and I’m considering joining one of her courses. It’s a bit pricy but comes highly recommended. If I’d already received my refund from Zoe I’d have joined. That said, DL shares loads of free content that useful/interesting.

Welcome to the thread @cake Being peri is known for disrupting eating patterns… pesky hormones! It can make it harder but not impossible x

@Andrea87 Sounds like you’ve had a rough time of it. Great to read you’ve been given the green light to get back on the court. Hope the snow stays away so you can complete your mission 🤞👍

Interesting to hear your verdict on Zoe @TheRealHousewife - I was on the verge of signing up in early December after it got heavily pushed at me in online ads, but I'm glad I didn't bother now! It does seem to have changed a lot in what it offers.

It sounds like a few of us have similar challenges - I'm also in the group with thyroid issues, perimenopause, emotional eating. I think last year I finally managed to get all of these under control (thanks to adjusting my levothyroxine dose downwards (surprisingly), a fortuitous GP chat during an appointment for something else and subsequently HRT, and starting to use chatgpt for in the moment emotional support when I feel the urge to respond to stress by eating) - but I'm all too aware that complacency is dangerous so very happy to read about what others do!

Out for lunch today with my kids but have inspected the menu and found a super green bowl which sounds tasty (and I can add protein to). Just need to not eat any of their leftovers and all will be good!

Signing in to 2026! I didn’t curb over Christmas so being only 1kg up is not bad. I have been going to the gym to get some cardio going, would like to lose some weight before I start on weights. I have also bought some lovely clothes in the sales that I want to feel confident to wear by the summer ready for a big family wedding g
SW 89kg
CW 86.1kg
GW 70kg
mini GW - under 75kg by 1/8/26

@WoodlandDragon Blummin’ savvy algorithms cost me a fortune … once they’ve sussed your interests/weaknesses they love bomb you with temptation 😅

Welcome to the thread @Sukiesue12 , you’ll soon see results if you remain consistent with your healthy habits 👍👌

Lunch today was sans quinoa as I forgot to cook it. ⬇️

@TheRealHousewife thanks for the Zoe app review, that must be so disappointing. I love the podcast and had considered the app but I won’t bother now as I’m not sure how it would benefit me. I think I get enough from the podcast at the moment.

Your lunch looks amazing, what was in the spicy Marie Rose sauce?

Hello all. Haven’t done one of these before but having psyched myself up to weigh myself to discover (not very surprisingly) that I am only just the lighter side of 11st. I’m more comfortable at 9.5 or so. I’m not very tall. Ouch. This has clearly been going on for longer than I thought and I very much suspect I’m now at an age where I cannot continue to ignore the impact of bad habits and hope it all sorts itself out. So here I am. I’ve never been up for intermittent fasting before but a ten hour window seems like something I could try. I’m reasonably active in my free time but work predominantly from home in a sedentary role which is likely to be quite full on this year. I don’t want to track everything I eat because that is psychologically unhelpful to me and potentially to the younger family members around me. So I shall see what I can do around that. But I do spend a fair amount of time in unforgiving sportswear so hopefully that will keep some motivation going - at the very least I don’t want things to go in the wrong direction.

Hi @stealthninjamum thank you - mayo, salad cream, Greek yoghurt, tomato ketchup, sriracha sauce, lemon juice, paprika & pinch of salt. The Zoe thing was disappointing. They’ve dumbed it down and it’s been gamified! The app awards you ‘beans’ for each log in that bounce along down a path … with no reward other than levelling up with no reward. Utter tosh!

Welcome to the thread @SockOnHoliday 10 years ago 😮 when I started these threads. I was where you are but I was a lot heavier than you and probably somewhat shorter. I had gained weight quite quickly after becoming partially disabled at 50. Previously I’d been slim, toned and physically fit all my adult life. I didn’t go for a quick fix or look for a magic bullet. I decided to read up on nutrition, insulin sensitivity (and resistance) & anti-inflammatory foods. I’m still about half stone too heavy but I’m nearly 4 stones lighter but unsurprisingly I’m still short 😅. There have been blips along the way but the main thing was I always get myself back on track sooner than later. I tell myself if I didn’t take action when I did my weight would have continued to rise and I’d be morbidly obese. Investing in yourself, adopting a healthy way of eating, exercising if you can will all help your health markers and your older future self live a healthier & longer life. Socks you can do it! And only you can do it! 👍

Tips from Top of this Thread:-

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.

Thank you @TheRealHousewife! I really appreciate the cheerleading! I already do many of the ‘right’ things; I eat healthy meals, I’m toned and strong and reasonably fit, I just eat too much of some things and particularly carbs when I’m tired. So it’s doable to change, at the same time there’s no great fun in learning to love new things! Just discipline, discipline… and perhaps rather less (gluten free) toast which I do like but recognise has little nutritional value 😬. Everything to play for though…

Starting today! Big challenge as period has arrived and don’t feel great. But I’m not letting that stop me. 10k step target today and eating within my calories

Welcome @Bringmebacktothe90s 👍 I love your tag and I agree. The 80’s & 90’s were awesome 🤩

Apologies @SockOnHoliday on reading my post back it could read as patronising and I’m sorry x

Afternoon all. Even though I’m not properly restarting till Monday, I’m checking in to help me gear up! Got out for a bracing walk today as I’m trying to at least get some movement in every day to help me start to build my fitness back up.

No sorry, it wasn’t @TheRealHousewife I was just in a rush! I didn’t say how impressive a 4 stone loss is - and to keep it going. Well done, if that isn’t patronising!!

@WhatWouldTheDoctorDo It sure was bracing today 🥶 Well done on braving it!

@SockOnHoliday as long as you weren’t offended … 🙂

Not at all!

I’ve walked 5 miles today, but had lunch out which involved bread and chips!

I have added it all to my calorie counting app. Soup (homemade) for dinner.

I need to do an online grocery shop.

Gosh the footpaths were icy today! Really not looking forward to the week ahead. Keen to get back to a routine though, after tomorrow's lunch and cocktails out

Have a good weekend all, will check in with a WI on Monday and then probably daily TBH