⭐️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?

Action for Happiness Happier January Calendar 2026

Thank you @TheRealHousewife - back to reality now! Even though no routine again yet 😢 I like your Monday graphic though! Your Kimchi sounds delicious. I keep meaning to make some, but I haven't got round to it. I got a tea calendar for Xmas (obviously too late to countdown for Xmas, so I'm having them in January instead) and today's was hibiscus and rose. I drank it and thought of you. Hibiscus really is a delicious flavour!

Thinking of you @thewaythelightfalls 💕 hope everything goes well! It's good that you're still keeping your sense of humour about it 💪🏻

Snow day today! Will probably have a cancelled driving lesson tomorrow...annoying because I finally decided to REALLY commit to it this year.
I'm too old for this. Seriously. Why am I doing this to myself. Oh well, soup for lunch and I've found some chicken breasts in the freezer for dinner. Not exactly sure what I'm going to do with them, but I have them!

Hope you're all having a lovely day and, if you finally got some snow, you've got enough to get a day off!

Hi everyone. So I did a 12km hilly walk yesterday and really felt it at times. Today I did a reformer Pilates class first thing so feeling good about that. Now I just need to get my meal plans sorted so I don’t fall off the wagon. I’m aiming for 1400 calories a day, high protein which I find quite difficult to be honest. I am veggie but usually eat very little dairy and am finding myself eating yoghurt and cottage cheese to increase the protein but not sure my tummy likes it. I am eating a lot of tofu too but it’s still not easy to get up to my target of 120g protein. Any recipe suggestions most welcome. Had tofu stir fry last night followed by yoghurt and hemp powder with blueberries.
Today I had a smoothie with yoghurt and banana, chia and more hemp. It wasn’t that delicious but was about 27g protein which I wanted before my class (I cycle to the class too, so needed the banana)
Good luck everyone

Good Morning @Marshmellowbunny what a lovely post ❤️ Hibiscus really is a lovely taste. I tasted a minute amount of the kimchi today when I ‘burped’ the jar. It really is too hot 🥵. I’ve some more white cabbage that I’ll put through the brining process and add to it to dilute the strength. Here’s hoping you still get your driving lesson🤞

Thank you for lovely welcome.

Aiming to loose 1.5lbs per week as a starter but will adjust up or down where I feel it is needed haha.

Beginning is calorie counting, my aim from today is to cut out fizzy pop to 3x a week instead of everyday! (can keep sparking water!). Also stopping the snacking!

Currently WFH so can meal prep a bit but also making sure to take the dog out at lunchtime.

We will see how it goes haha

So trying to get back to my pre Christmas weight and back on track. I’m currently half a kilo heavier than I was.
struggling today. It’s cold and I am starving, had to have my lunch early! But I’m also very busy so hopefully they will help, went back to the gym yesterday and I am sore!

Thankyou @TheRealHousewife

💕

Omg that looks so good. We keep buying the tiny jars at the supermarket and it's never enough! I need that amount in my life. You've inspired me to make some for reals this time. I'll pick up the stuff next time I'm at the supermarket 😍

Oh & @TheRealHousewife good luck with making it less spicy!

My instructor has just messaged to change the time of my lesson but hasn't cancelled yet. It's a difficult one because I really don't enjoy it, but I know it'll make my life easier!

(Sorry for the double post, I saw your jar of kimchi and just got way too excited)

Hello all, well done in the various progress! I had a bit of a cheat on Saturday as we were treated to a meal in a family members very posh and expensive restaurant, would have been rude to not indulge! I did have a mini breakthrough though in that when D's had a doughnut later that day I also bought one for me, but on first bite it wasn't great so I decided rather than eat it anyway as I normally would, I would save the calories. Small steps!

Otherwise I've been good at keeping under 1400 cals. I've tried to be more aware of when I want to eat out of habit rather than need.

Also just done a little 7 min pilates starter on my lunch break so feeling positive!

@Marshmellowbunny its really easy as long as you follow all the steps, especially rinsing the salt of the cabbage before putting it all together . I remembered at the last minute 😅.

Well done on swerving the donut @Ehlace 👍

You’re welcome @TealSloth @romantasylife 👍

@BlackCatFanClub Have you access to a nice hot drink ☕️?

Thanks for the reminder. Now that you've said it, I probably won't forget! 🤣🙈

Although I do often forget to wash off leeks when I've chopped them, so I might 🤣🙈

That’s a big one @TheWayTheLightFalls and quite the way to start a year. I hope it all goes well, and that the only way in 2026 will be up from then on.

@PatienceOfEngels I’m enjoying her style - it’s not too spiritual, which I wasn’t looking for - so I would be tempted to explore some of her other stuff.

Day 3 of the yoga challenge completed today. DS joined in for a bit - he is double jointed and very flexible so it wasn’t really a fair competition 😂

@TheRealHousewife that kimchi looks fierce even in the jar 😬😬

My dog walk this morning was glorious, perfect way to start the day. It’s honestly amazing how school starting back has been like a switch flipping for me and my snacking urges have just reduced massively - I’m clearly quite routine driven!

@TheRealHousewife - I just can’t get on with fermented things, luckily I love anything pickled which I think is also good for gut health! Have you listened to the Michael Mosley podcast about the benefits of fermented food? It made me wish I could like it!

Fierce is the word @LemonDrizzle23 … I think it could strip paint 😅

@biscuitcat That scenery looks so picturesque 😍 I haven’t heard the MMs podcast about fermentation but I will go look for it. Thank you 🙏 x

So I’ve started well and back at a deficit but no exercise yet as now on antibiotics as I’m unwell. Scales really ticked up yesterday so am hoping they start falling from tomorrow onwards

The school run wasn’t too bad today. Got some nice photos on the way back up through the woods.
We have had soup for dinner but early due to Ds having swimming on a Monday. Might need snack when we get back.
breakfast was porridge. Lunch breadsticks, hummus, carrots and peppers, dinner broccoli and cheddar soup and a slice of homemade bread and butter. Six miles walked so far.

@TheWayTheLightFalls my humour would be thinking the same thing. I’m glad your doctor has acted very quickly and you’ll soon have the surgery and I’m glad you’re looking after yourself.

Hello, newbie incoming... can I join? You seem like a lovely bunch.

I've been grappling with not so much food noise as bloody weight-loss injection noise... so many journalists writing stories about how they've lost their menopausal stones and now have a BMI of 21.

Anyway, I put on over a stone post menopause and every single last gram of it is around my waist and stomach. OK there seem to be a few rogue grams in my armpits to spill over my bra. It tipped me into the overweight bracket and made all my clothes unwearable.

After much half hearted failed fasting/dieting and then saying 'oh well, it doesn't work because I'm post menopausal', at the beginning of December I thought, I'm going to give this a proper go. Tracking1500 calories a day, alcohol only at weekends and no snacking. And lo and behold 8lb off in three weeks. Two pounds back on over Christmas, which I was pleased with given the gloves were off and the hands were in the fridge.

Just looked at my years of MFP and I weigh the exactly same now as I did early January in 2023 so on the one hand, great, I've got the same new year starting point. On the other hand, gosh I've lost half a stone in order just to get to the place where I normally go 'eff, I have got to lose all this weight'.

My tactics are mostly eating vast quantities of dense bean salads (I have many recipes if anyone is interested) and overnight oats. Trying to up my protein but I'm a carb woman - if I could I'd eat bread every meal. Apart from the alcohol and the sugar, I'm pretty healthy - lots of exercise and home cooked food.

Sorry nobody wants this essay, it's for me really.

SW in December 160lb, 72.5kg
CW 153lb, 69.4kg
GW 144-146lb, 65-66kg

Well done everyone.

thinking of you @TheWayTheLightFalls and wishing you luck for your operation.

Probably a poor day for me. Stupidly had some chocolate and didn’t stop when I should. It’s left me with no calories for dinner so I’ll be over today by the time I’ve eaten. Onwards and upwards for tomorrow.

So many posts to keep up with. Hope everyone’s January is going well so far. Keep putting one foot in front of the other @TheWayTheLightFalls !

First healthy day of January for me.

menu:

B - porridge, berries & seeds
L - home made leek & potato soup, chocolate covered almonds, cooked chicken, satsuma
D - salmon, rice and green beans

snacks - failed to resist a couple of chocolates in the office. Why does everyone need to bring their Christmas leftovers in?!?

Exercise - first class in yonks! Did a half hour bodypump class. Short class, lower weights, but I need to build my fitness back up. It was tough, but not impossible!

So not a bad first day back on it.

Oh my goodness @LegoTherapy … stunning scenery… can we come and live with you 😍🙏

Well done @WhatWouldTheDoctorDo on getting a Body Pump class in 👍

@Fellsbells We've all had one of those days. Plenty of water and healthy choices for your evening meal will hopefully set you up for less snacky snacks tomorrow x

@Pollyparanoia welcome to the thread :) Don’t apologise for your post, us lot on here love reading about everyones ways/progress/recipes etc. Looking at your numbers you’re off to a flying start. Clearly you know what works for you 👍. I adore legumes and eat regularly. As much as I love porridge my blood sugars don’t. I don’t have sugar in it and my blood glucose levels still rise over 12 mmol 😮. I have the big fat steel cut oats too, so minimally processed. Sadly, for me It’s a once in a blue moon type food.

Had a small alteration to my evening meal. Forgot to put the peas on so had a bit of lettuce and 1 new potato instead.

Thanks for the well-wishes all. Odd time but just carrying on here. OMAD was fine. A delicious Persian soup called Ash Reshteh at a cafe this morning, I could actually eat it every day, it was lovely and hearty. Googling recipes frantically. And then just coffees etc. Bit cold but otherwise ok. Early night I think.

Adding some more well wishes in for you @TheWayTheLightFalls- hope all goes well with your surgery and recovery and that you keep checking in here too 😊💜 I will have to look up that Persian soup!

Mad busy day here today with some unexpected extra chores and hurdles thrown in - winding down now but found it really hard to resist just having a massive cheese toastie for lunch because of the snow and the cold! Still I did manage to resist and looking forward to dinner now and watching some more of the new Harlen Coben show on Netflix!

L - Tempeh, noodles and sweet corn with soy sauce
D - Ratatouille with houmous and maybe some rice, I haven’t decided yet 😂