⭐️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?

Always love your balanced and thoughtful advice @TheRealHousewife .

A day of ups and downs. Mostly good food, 6km run blew the calories with some chocolate after dinner, but it’s fine. I’m still around maintenance.

My tips for quitting the evening snacking are:-
Brush your teeth.
Drink water.
Get into bed.
Come on here and tell us the kitchen is closed.
Evening snacking is a habit, once you break it (I know, not easy) it becomes the norm.

The house is put back together, tree down etc. outside lights still up til the 6th, but nice to have some inside space back.

Christmas food is officially finished (apart from some Parma ham), so we are back to “normal”, with a grocery delivery coming on Sunday. DS goes back to school on Tuesday, so I’m looking forward to a few more relaxing family days before term starts.

HOT NEWS

I’ve been experimenting with different teas etc. I’d read that Hibiscus Flower tea was particularly high in polyphenol compounds which are good for supporting gut health and boosting brain function etc. I did a bit of research into which one was best to get and I settled on loose organic dried hibiscus flowers 🌺 rather than ‘teabags’. I put a generous tablespoon into a small teapot and add off the boil water. Let steep for 10 mins and have it in a double walled glass tumbler with a smidge of Truvia. It’s a beautiful colour and tastes absolutely delicious 😋 It has a really deep rich flavour (better than any teabagged fruit tea).

As some of you know I occasionally wear a blood glucose monitor as a way to monitor my insulin resistance and I put one on yesterday AM. My registered blood glucose levels were completely in the lower normal range, so much so I assumed my monitor was faulty. My morning bs is normally between 6-7 and this morning it was 4.5 which is bang on perfectly normal. So again assumed my monitor was faulty and have arranged a replacement.

Fast forward to this evening and I’ve done a deep dive into the research to discover hibiscus flower tea may lower blood sugars, may lower cholesterol levels and aid in managing meno/peri symptoms. Who knew! They caveat that with saying if you’re on medication for any of those conditions speak with your GP first.

PS - Controlling blood sugars can aid in weight management/loss and control cravings. Having a brew would make an ideal beverage after your last meal of the day. That’s when I have mine anyway rather than a caffeinated drink.

Sorry for the long post I just wanted to share … 😅. Said Tea ⬇️

That’s really kind of you @Fellsbells , you’re welcome & thank you x I love it when I’ve cleaned and closed my kitchen too (apart from making a hot drink that is).

@LemonDrizzle23 I find I’m as pleased when I take my decs down as I am when I put them up. I’m also having my online shop arrive Sunday. I don’t know about you, I always look forward to my food shop arriving 😅

@FridayNighFeeling enjoy your lunch and cocktails 🍸!

@Franks55 Well done on your 5 miles 😮👍👏

@SockOnHoliday Good to know x

I'm really interested in what you posted about hibiscus tea there @TheRealHousewife where did you get yours from, please?

Hi @NoMoreLindor i got this one ⬇️ from Amazon. Mine was £21.00 for a kilo but a kilo is a lot of petals. I decanted half into a large air tight kilner jar and wrapped the rest up well. I recon it will last me a good couple of months. I think it will be lovely cold over ice in the warmer months. Edited to say I’m not affiliated with any company 👍 PS my teapot has a central reserve so it automatically strains the drink as it pours which I find useful. You could use any small strainer over a cup if your teapot doesn’t have that feature.

Thanks @TheRealHousewife we drink a lot of loose tea of different types so we are well set up - interested as I'm married to a T1 diabetic who is also a scientist. I showed him your thread and he has ordered some now out of interest.

I’m in!

@TheRealHousewife thanks for all the zoe info, shame the app didn't work out as you hoped.

@cakeaddict I do the same with weighing in kg!

Food delivery coming this morning with lots of fruit, veg, eggs etc and very little by way of snacks except a few oat bars. Had family lunches in the last two days with different sides of the family and both my mum and MIL made two different delicious desserts each so I'm basically made of cream at this point! But that's now officially the end of the indulgence.

Someone (can't remember who, sorry!) posted something about evening snacking being tricky - it is for me too. I've started saving healthy snacks recipes into a collection on Instagram, things made with nuts/dates/yoghurt etc. If I make any that are good, I'll share here. This seems like such a lovely supportive thread, glad to have found you all!

Hi @NoMoreLindor I saw your post last night but I was too tired to reply and your post was the first thing I thought about this morning. I’m mean the following with good intentions and not wanting to be patronising. I’m not medically trained but I understand type 1 diabetics is an autoimmune issue that warrants lifelong medication and type 2 diabetics is more of a metabolic issue generally caused by lifestyle choices. I’m really worried about the fact your husband is type1 (and with be on meds) taking something that could affect his wellbeing if it puts his system out of kilter. Like I said in my post yesterday I’d read it was recommended that people on meds for any of the conditions hibiscus can effect discuss it with their GP first. I’d hate any harm to come to anyone ❤️

Good Morning @JuniorMint14 Your post made me laugh when you said you were basically made of cream at this point 😅. It’s a blessing to have family to celebrate with and that will outweigh any harm that arisen from having some delicious cream laden desserts. x

Ugh blimey, all this talk of evening snacking and I ate basically everything yesterday - frustrating as I knew when I was doing it that it was stupid and didn’t even really feel good 😩. I felt overfull when going to bed. New day today, so a fresh start - but annoyed and frustrated with myself from yesterday.

Checking in! Had a lovely Christmas, did treat myself but didn’t go totally crazy, I’m still going to avoid the scales for a few weeks though - intentions are to get back to calorie counting and also to restart my daily yoga practice which dropped off entirely in December due to a combo of being quite poorly in the first week and then just wanting a break for the rest of December! I am struggling a bit with thinking about all of life’s worries and stresses coming back from Monday onwards, have been living in a lovely little family bubble the last couple of weeks and now I’m finding the usual old problems creeping back - we want to move house this year and that’s a big stress, I feel a bit useless because I’m trying to build up work around the kids and I am but it’s a worry and it’s hard, I worry about me and DH a bit not having time/energy for each other (though we have had a lovely Christmas time but it’s a general worry), I worry about myself not being able to stick with good habits and I worry that I will never achieve any of my more creative ambitions - now I’ve written all that down it’s a lot of worries 🙈🙈 I know that getting back calorie counting and exercising will make me feel good though so that’s two good habits I can maintain 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Hello. I'd like to join. I'm at my heaviest weight ever. I feel like I have disconnected from myself. Not sure how I reached this weight. I'm not happy, I know what I need to do, but I am not doing it, and so the cycle continues. I am starting today. I am setting my self a hopeful target of 6lbs a month to lose, with June hopefully seeing me at a happy weight/size.
SW 13st2lbs
1st goal 12st

The scales are starting to come down!
i also have a food shop coming Monday and am
aiming to build on last years good habits and reduce upfs in our diet. I am still unwell so no exercise yet but managed my 10k steps yesterday

Thanks for your concern @TheRealHousewife but he's quite an expert inT1 and is very sensible, and also wears a GM so will treat it as a bit of an experiment to see if it impacts his blood sugars. I'll let you know what we find!

Morning All,
I am back in the North after an incredible New Year! It's so cold 🥶
(Not in the north, like the whole country is cold omg). @Andrea87 whereabouts are you that there's snow? (You don't have to say exactly, obviously, but omg!)

I hope you all had a good new year and Happy 2026 to you all. Hello to all the new people as well. I'm trying to catch up on posts but I get distracted by bits of air and stuff. I have 0 concentration skills. Maybe that can be something I can work on this year!

Weighed myself this morning and I am 9,10.5 (61.9kg) - not too bad really. Time to get on it seriously now and get to that 9,5 (59.4kg) by the end of the month 🤞🏼 most of the Xmas food has gone, but we still have a chocolate log (which will probably get eaten today) and some boxes of chocolate. Woops. Not a good start. Will try and get out for a walk but we'll see what happens!

@TheRealHousewife I love the flavour of hibiscus. Your tea sounds, and looks, amazing!

Happy January everybody 🥳 here's to a happier and healthier year!

Good Morning Everyone

Hi @biscuitcat I hear the frustration, try not to be hard on yourself. Like you say clean slate, fresh start 👍

@HappyLittleTreeFriend That’s a lot to worry about. Sending a hug although I realise how trite that sounds in comparison 💐

Welcome to thread @FreshLemonZest These threads are a great place for support and accountability. Have you decided on a plan?

@socks1107 Great news re:- the scales coming down 👍 It’s very impressive getting 10k steps in when you’re poorly. I can’t do that many when I’m well 😬

Menu
Meal 1 - Chicken, veg & bean soup. Pecans & walnuts.
Meal 2 - ???? Unusually for me, nothing planned and remain undecided.
Drinks - Tea, black coffee, hibiscus tea, water.

That’s a relief … I can’t get over anxious and over think things. I was imagining getting arrested for causing harm 😂

@Marshmellowbunny Sounds like you’ve had a blast! 🥳. Welcome back x

Morning all, just checking in before I start in earnest on Monday. Am still away visiting family so no scales or control over the food shop until then.

Found the threads so helpful last year from Sep onwards where I started at 13st 7 and my last weigh in before Xmas was 12st 12 (although an unwelcome dose of tonsillitis may have helped with that!)

Plan is to get back to intermittent fasting and trying to be more consistent with exercise - whether that is yoga, Pilates, swimming or running I’m aiming to do three sessions of something a week.

Should read *I CAN get over anxious.

Morning all, we’re back home now after a really lovely break away. My diet has been pretty poor but I’ve averaged over 11,000 steeps per day so far this week. We are spending today packing away Christmas and getting ourselves ready for next week. I’ve been through my cook books and planned meals for next week/booked an online food shop. I will weigh myself either tomorrow or Monday (I am dreading getting on the scales!). Have a great weekend

Checking in! January always a funny month for me. Just had a birthday with another in the house on the way next week, so find it tricky to clean up post Christmas when we've still got so much lovely grub in the house. We also had a bereavement this time last year and DH is now unemployed (contract finished before Christmas) so definitely a bit of a weird time. Managed to put on 1.5kg over Christmas and now almost back where I started.

So probably not starting properly till Tuesday (work meal Monday as well!) or even Monday 12th after following the next birthday and a super stressful week back at work.

But really do want to start something:

• no post-dinner snacking as it really does make me feel awful
• get outside everyday, even if only for a short walk (have already done 5km in the snow today).

There are a million other things: journal, yoga, branch out with reading, running, no UPF...but I really don't have the headspace to commit to them all now.

I already read every day and am teetotal (almost 2 years I think?). Both help me stay more relaxed an reduce anxiety.

☺️