☀️LOSE IT! Active August 2026☀️

[TheRealHousewife]

⭐️OPEN TO ALL⭐️ Weight Loss, Wellbeing & Motivation Thread To Support Healthy Habits.

Following on from ⭐️ LOSE IT! July Jumpstart 2026⭐️

Here we are with our Active August LOSE IT! Thread. 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 12stone.

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?

Some excellent weight loss posts. Very encouraging.

I thought I would weigh on Wednesday too. Started on 1st August at 151.4 pounds and today I am 150.6! So 0.8 loss, which is much better than a 0.8 gain.

Have not managed to do my normal 11,000 steps a day over the last couple of days as the weather is dreadful. Really cold and wet and forecast the same tomorrow. We are in winter so I should not complain, I could do with a bit of the heatwave😁

This week I lost a grand total of… 0.25lbs 😂

Still. Downward, went over the 10kg threshold and the 14s are in touching distance.

I measure in both because I need something to cling on to, more small victories if I just use all the measurements 😂

Better week next week, hopefully!

SW: 16st 10lbs (106.14kg)
CW: 15st 1.75lbs (96.05kg)
Total: 22.25lbs (10.09kg)

14 stones this morning. I suspect, however, that I might have lost a bit of muscle weight from not being able to do all my exercises.

I'm really not sure of a goal weight, to be honest.

My start weight was above 16st 4 lbs,

I'm setting myself an interim goal of 13 stones 6 lbs, purely because that was my (over)weight when I got married.

I have a friend who keeps urging me not to lose weight. She's much slimmer than I am.

I'm lying and saying that I'm only working on strength and muscle. Is that bad?

I’ve got a friend who has been forever slim, who tells me I was fine as I was and I shouldn’t feel the need to change, etc.

Nevermind the liver and pre-diabetes, apparently.

She asked me my calorie target last week and said it’s “too low” (it’s not).

I limit what I tell her, so no - I don’t think it is bad if you’re not being entirely truthful with your friend.

@WearyAuldWumman. Why is she telling you that? She should be supporting you.
well done on your loss, and tell her little as possible about it you’ve no need to lie at all

I'm not sure. She's also been commenting that another woman at our gym class (on Mounjaro) has been 'overdoing it' and looks 'gaunt'. In actual fact, the other woman has done brilliantly and look so much healthier.

I've actually been downplaying the number of classes I've been going to - there were comments about people being 'addicted' to the gym.

The sad fact is that since my husband died 5 years ago, I've become something of a recluse and getting into the gym has helped me to get back into the world.

ETA She doesn't know that I joined the gym running club. That might come out: they're talking about interviewing me for the website, since I'm the oldest member at 66 and recently did my first park run after not running for 40+ years.

Is anyone here on HRT? Did you find it helped you lose weight or made you out it on?

Yes and yes it helped me to stop gaining weight and start to lose it. I was exhausted and miserable before hrt.

Of course what you’re saying to your “friend” is fine @WearyAuldWumman I’d also add bone and mental health to your reply.
My neighbor widowed 2 yrs ago swims twice daily; aquafit lesson in the am and laps in the afternoon.

At one point I was unable to lose at all, but that was before it was adjusted. (I'd had post menopausal bleeding and was getting extra progesterone. Once that was balanced, I started to lose again.)

Oh that is good to know! If you don't mind me asking, are you on oestrogen and progesterone?

Yes I started looking once I was on HRT. Mainly because I feel happy, more motivated and feel good in myself.
I take oestrogel and progesterone

Yes oestrogel and oral progesterone. Try it for a few months and see if it makes a difference.

Congrats on the weight loss ins WOWers. I did weigh in this morning but didn’t get round to posting it. Lost a pound. Which is great. Took the dog on a 5 mile walk and then swimming.
Need to start adding some weights to my weekly routine.

Well done on all the losses 😀
@WearyAuldWumman are you sure this person is your friend? Don't listen to her!!

Today was :
B- spinach and beetroot smoothie
L- falafel wrap
D- homemade carbonara and meatballs
Snacks - olives and cheddar, homemade gingerbread cookie

30 min hiit with dumbbells ✔️

She's actually been very good to me in many ways: she and another friend took it in turns to phone me day about when my husband died during lockdown.

The bizarre thing is that she's relatively slim, but has said that she'd like to lose weight herself. I gather that she was a beauty when she was young, so maybe that has something to do with it - I've never had that issue.

She did say a couple of months ago that my face had slimmed down, so that was a positive comment from her. At the time I told her (truthfully) that my weight hadn't changed at all.

So far as the weight loss is concerned, I have had that weird phenomenon where my weight has stuck for a while and then gone down with a bump.

So far as the 'obsessed with gym' comments are concerned, she's made that comment about a few people.

Yes that’s strange about your friend @WearyAuldWumman, do you think she’s trying to make you feel good about yourself by saying you’re fine as you are? Or maybe she is slightly competitive but fear-based and doesn’t like anything to change?

great you’re keeping your head down and focused on what you want to do in any case. And that’s so positive about getting out more to the gym. It sounds like you’re working really hard to keep your own life going since your husband passed and that can’t be easy 💐

i’m in a slightly similar position in terms of using my running club as a crutch to help me get back on my feet.

I just came back from visiting relatives and realised I had nothing in the diary from now on to see friends or do anything social at all.

I then realised it’s the august bank holiday coming up and I had absolutely no plans at all. Then I realised there are several runs taking place that weekend so I’ve signed up for them all. So at least I’ll have a bit of purpose over the weekend. And it’s good it’s an emotional crutch that is good for me too.

so my weight today is 74kg.

caloris were lower today after a few blips so far this week.

@Joyful26 I'm not sure what's going on - just that she talks about people losing 'too much weight' and being 'obsessed with the gym'.

Perhaps she is trying to be positive with me, but the comments about others make me wonder. She's made the comments about gym obsession with regard to both men and women all about the same age as us - either retired or about to be retired.

To be honest, for many of us going to the gym is a good way of getting out and about.

As I said, she's been a good friend to me, so I'm just keeping quiet about weight and talking about building muscle and strength.

@Joyful26

I'm hoping to get the confidence to do some Parkruns independently of the gym running club. It's supposed to be re-starting at some point in August, but in the meantime I'm using the Couch to 5k app to motivate me to use the track at the gym - I find the track much easier than a treadmill.

@WearyAuldWummanwith parkruns a good way to get your confidence at a new one, or any one really would be to volunteer as a tail walker, that way you’ll walk the whole course, meet some other volunteers, and still be walking a 5k. Then you’ll know the course when it comes to running it.

Good idea! Thank you.

Good morning! Still 14 stone 9, but I have done precisely zero exercise this last week because it's rained solidly every day. I did have a swim though.

Home tomorrow and shall be back into my usual routine.
Hope everyone has a good day!

I’ve just measured my waist, I’ve been struggling to see any difference in myself so thought it might help.

Turns out, I’ve lost 6inches off it since the doctor measured it at the end of April.

Pleasant surprise!

@DreamingOfGeneHunt it’s the opposite reason for me, no exercise because it’s too warm! I can’t face lifting weights in the heat. I am also having a swim after work though!

@ChunkyMonkey36 that’s a fab result! I’m an “Apple” and the tummy fat is so bad for you. It definitely seems to be the last place to be slimming down for me 🙄 although to be fair I haven’t measured - maybe I should.

Had a lovely day out in the sun with family today. Have bought fixings for home made chicken burgers for dinner so I didn’t feel the need to get a takeaway at the end of a long busy day.