☀️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?

Update

Went to Active for Life class today and was dismayed at being out of puff after only 10 minutes on the treadmill at speed...but heart rate was only 74 at the end.

Did some leg extensions and leg curls and had a break before Senior Flex.

Our regular instructor - also the running coach - was back. He's told me that he's doing the local park run tomorrow, with the intention of accompanying me round the course.

I was in two minds, but I've told him that I'll walk it if I have to - I know that I need to try to keep up my stamina.

After Senior Flex, one of the other women told me that she'd noticed that I can now do star jumps when I couldn't manage them at all months ago.

That all sounds like excellent progress!

Measured myself for a new bra today, and am now 36E, down from 38FF! Lost 9 inches altogether from my chest.

Slipped back for a while. Now need to get focused again. Have been to the Gym 3 times this week though.

SW 14.4
CW 13.11
GW 10+

@LemonDrizzle23 me too! My stomach is my problem area. I look like a potato on legs atm.

Heading back home tomorrow and can't wait to sleep in my own bed and get into a better routine with food.

I think I’m meant to be hourglass, if I wasn’t a blob!

My stomach is lower than it was, but that lower area is stubborn!

@PatienceOfEngels and @ChunkyMonkey36 maybe by the time I’ve lost the necessary weight and toned up, I will be less potato on legs 😂

Nice relaxed start to the weekend. Packing tomorrow to go away. Excited for DS to witness the solar eclipse next week! I hope it’s a good one.

Too smoky here to exercise and I’m not in the right mindset.
i have however eaten carefully and been swimming every 2-3 days.

Still 14 stone 9 this morning. I made a huge pan of curried lentil and carrot soup last night and now I'm home I'm going to get back into my routine.

In spite of the weight hardly shifting, people keep telling me that I've lost weight. However, my belly sticks out - more noticeably now, I feel, since the sides have come in a bit.

Also, I had an Inbody scan in April and that told me that I have the highest possible measurement for visceral fat.

@LemonDrizzle23 Potato on legs? Yes, that's me!

I did the Parkrun yesterday - two minutes slower than my first time.

I was lapped by a woman with a dog, a 7 year old and two dads racing one another.

How did I know that they were two dads? Each of them was pushing a buggy containing twins!

@WearyAuldWumman I have that! The sides have come in but the front is still there 🤔 I think it’s probably time to focus on some muscle building. I am smaller all over, but soft.

Horribly hot this evening. Thankfully we went and got a load of steps in this morning. Now just existing in front of a fan and refusing to move….

That’s excellent @WearyAuldWumman , keep at it. I did couch to 5k and when I compared my time to a 75yo friend she diplomatically let me know that I was rather slow

Back from hols and attempting OMAD (while working and TOTM and nothing in the fridge… hmm). Holiday was fine food wise - I never felt like breakfast so I skipped it; other meals were inevitably less healthy than usual but we also moved more and I improvised a gym session each morning with my body weight. Curious what the scales will say.

@LemonDrizzle23 I have my eclipse glasses that I ordered for us to all have a look. I was just telling DC about watching it last time in 1999 and realizing I was 18 then and closer to their age than mine now!

@WearyAuldWumman I am regularly overtaken by pensioner cyclists 😂(and I'm in my mid-40s). Well done for getting out and doing Parkrun! I definitely couldn't run 5k at the moment.

Potato on legs is my new official slogan (and mantra that might keep me away from the biscuit tin?)

Okay, post holiday weigh in at 79.1kg. Over 1kg up in the last month. Heaviest I have ever been (bar 9m pg with DC 2 who is now a tween).

Back home and will get a shop in today. Going to clean the fridge before we go and defrost the freezer later.

Lots of vegetables on the list, chicken and fish.

Going to use up some mince from the freezer to make beef/bean burritos for tonight.

Filled in an NHS health questionnaire and it told me well done for not drinking, smoking, sleeping well and moving enough (not sure about that last one!) but that I should reduce my dairy or switch to low fat - they're right on the cheese so need to watch that. I also need to reduce my pasta/rice/potato portions. Cut the junk (the last 2-3 weeks have been awful for snacks) and no eating after dinner.

Any ideas for what goes well on ryvita that isn't cheese? 😂I have an open packet from holiday to use up but the camembert in the fridge is off the menu for me. Perhaps some kind of roast veg/pulses dip?

Well, my car wouldn't start today so no big shop with lots of veggies. Instead a cycle to the shop for essentials for today.

B - 2 small cups coffee with milk, 1 boiled egg, 2 slices small wholemeal bread with butter.
L - 2 x ryvita with thin slices cheese and a sliced tomato
D - 2x beef bean burritos with lettuce, grated cheese, cucumber, tzatziki (usually have cream fraiche but will make tzatziki with greek yoghurt/cucumber instead). Have written 2 but going to see how many calories it is!

Snack - 1 x pear ice lolly.
So far, half a litre of water.

Am going to log back into MFP to try and keep track of calories and get a better idea about portion sizes and what I'm eating. Harder to do when someone else is cooking but I will probably be the chef for the next 2 weeks anyway (on school holidays and DH is working).

I will do something else to move my body today - yoga or a short hiit video, maybe a walk. Also want to take my measurements.

I'm feeling very fancy today and I've made a courgette and tomato galette, and poached greengages.

argh my weight is either stable or going up.
the air quality is horrendous the lack of rain is scary and swimming just isn't cutting it. the workouts just are not showing any results on the scale although i do believe it's healthy.
i need to get back into the indoor fitness walking (at the very least) but my zip and drive hasn't shown back up from when i lost it mid june.

OMAD done - big omelette with cheese plus baked beans, hummus and bread around 09.30am. Just black coffee and water since, one glass of Diet Coke. Will weigh in the morning.

Morning all!

@BreakingBroken it's really disheartening, but remember that diet plays the larger part in weight loss, though movement is of course crucial for so many other health factors besides weight. Keep going with the swimming and future you will be very grateful.

@TheWayTheLightFalls I'm not sure I'd cope with OMAD!

Yesterday went really well food wise. Kept within a decent calorie deficit as even though evening meals was a lot, didn't snack except one pear ice lolly and NO EATING AFTER DINNER even though DH sat and ate a packet of crisps while we were watching TV.

Dug out my Shred DVD and did workout 1 (which I can already feel in my calf!). Did some self-care to relax - soaked my feet, watched a cheesy teen film, did some reading, got a good night's sleep.

Plan for today:
B- boiled egg, slice wholemeal toast butter, 2x small coffee with milk.
L-not sure.....omelette with peppers or BLT but need to pick up some bits at supermarket.
D-fishcakes with vegetables

Going for a low impact bike ride with DC in a minute (not many hills here and will keep it super flat along the canal today).

Oh, and just measured myself for the first time in 2 years. Have put on quite a bit on waist/hips/thighs. Arms and bust pretty much the same.

Am going to try and only weigh once a week and revisit measurements in 4 weeks (maybe 8) if I can resist.

Will only track calories properly until school starts again to give me a better idea of what I'm eating.

Morning! Scale hovered over 14 stone 8 today! I would really like it to start moving down properly again.

Morning, so starting the glp1 tablets has appeared to have broken the six month plateau I was in. I’ve lost 3.5lbs in two weeks and I’m not yet taking a tablet every day, increasing back up in the next week or so.
that leaves me with 2.5lbs to the goal I always set myself - quite what I do at that point I’m not sure, continue with the glp1 until new year or move to just maintenance which I know works well as this year has shown me! The tablets shut off any thoughts of food and I’ve been at a 1400 calorie limit easily, I’m eating full meals every day so I’m not cutting food out at all. Feels too good to be true after the last 19 months but I am still cc every mouthful!

That’s great news @socks1107

I really need to get back to a strict calorie controlled diet... sigh

Immediately that I started my regular exercise programme again, my weight jumped up two pounds. I've read that that can be caused by inflammation, but I might be kidding myself.

On top of the dome tummy, I've realised that when I wear a firm bra to stop dance exercise wobbles, my lovely back fat is accentuated.

Good Morning Everyone

I seem to have been on my antibiotics for ever and still have about 2 weeks to go. I’m a bit concerned about wiping out my micro-biome but keep telling myself I will also be wiping out the bad bugs too. When I underwent my Zoe Gut Biome test in Jan my score was very poor with equal numbers of bad bugs as good bugs. So I’m hoping alls not lost 👍

@WearyAuldWumman That person at the gym sounds very unkind. I suspect she doesn’t wish for you to take any of her limelight and she could be feeling threatened by your success. Keep doing you ❤️

@socks1107 That sounds great! Congratulations on busting through your plateau. 👌

Menu
Meal 1 - Seeded bread, sauerkraut, sprouted seeds & salad. Yoghurt, kefir, raspberries & chia seeds.
Meal 2 - Turkey mince spaghetti bolognaise with buttered cabbage.
Drinks - Tea, black coffee & water.