🌟LOSE IT!🌟Optimistic October 2026🌟

[TheRealHousewife]

⭐️OPEN TO ALL⭐️ Weight Loss, Wellbeing & Motivation Thread To Support Healthy Habits. Following on from 🌟LOSE IT!🌟Superfood September🌟

Goodness me, October already 😮! About 12 weekends of the year left!🎄

To reach optimum health and vitality 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 (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?

Am in

Checking in at 75.9kg for October!

SW 79.1kg 10/08/26 (BMI 29.1)
CW 75.9kg (BMI 27.9)
GW1 67.9kg (for a BMI under 25)
GW2 63.5kg (BMI 23.3)

I try to eat 3 meals a day, limited snacks, stay away from UPF as much as possible, no caffeine after midday, no eating after dinner, no alcohol.

Have another 8kg to lose and hoping to make a dent of 1-1.5kg in that this month.

Hello!

Just checking in for October! -30lbs and hoping I can maintain it if not get a bit further.

Checking back in after a September that was a bit all over the place! At 75.4kg, hoping to drop to 74 in October!
Well done everyone who stuck with the good habits in September and best of luck for October!
Oh editing to add I'll be calorie counting, aiming for the gym 3 times a week, and walking as much as possible!

Checking in for October, I want to be really on it this month after being a bit slack with snacking lately.

SW: 111.05 kg (4 January 2026)
CW: 86 kg
GW: I’d love to get to 80 by 4 January 2027 but not sure if this is realistic - will keep plodding on and see!

Am not tracking anything though I’m eyeballing calories and keeping a loose tally throughout the day. Eating lots of fresh unprocessed food and fewer carbs (though no foods are off limits as I want this to be a change for life, not a diet!) and aiming for 10k steps a day ideally. I do try and weigh myself every morning. Have lost 25 kg this way so far this year but not sure if it’s going to keep coming off, let’s see!

Signing in 🙏💕🙌

Thank you for the new thread @TheRealHousewife. Nice to see everyone staying on board.

September was a complete disaster diet-wise for me. I have been madly busy, feeling very burnt out and in desperate need of some routine. DH has got a stressful two months coming up at work, and we’re both ill again 🙄 So we have made a pact to slow our lives down as much as possible until December. Both of us have a tendency to over commit in order to not let others down, so hopefully we can just focus on ourselves (and DS) for a couple of months. That is the aim anyway….

Hi everyone, can I join please?

I really want to get back to prioritising my health and fitness more and feel (a lot!) better about myself. CW is 55.5kg and on the cusp of overweight according to bmi. GW is 50kg. Other goals are to reduce sugar intake, get my 5 a day, drink more water, 10k steps a day and generally take better care of myself e.g. New clothes (have been putting off buying anything and living in old leggings and t shirts that are wearing out now!) and much more self care type stuff inside and out.

Good luck to everyone! 🍂🎃☕

Good Morning All

Welcome everyone 😊

Belated WOW - 3lbs on 😮😮😮 I’ve recently had my thyroid medication reduced due to abnormal test results and I think it’s due to that. Diet is as nutritious and sustaining as ever, so no change there.

Welcome to the thread @HealthierAndHappier 👍Great to have you on board!

You’re very welcome @LemonDrizzle23 Sounds tough at the moment for you, I hope you’re both able to create some much needed peace & calm ❤️

@PipkinOfPepper Sounds like a plan 👍

@CinnamonSweet73 Exercise will certainly help! I’m hoping to get back into some light weights/stretches/yoga etc now the worst of the sciatica has gone.

@FridayNighFeeling -30 is fantastic! You’re health and wellbeing will be so much more improved 👍👏👌

Sharing Action for Happiness Calendar.

Thanks for the new thread @TheRealHousewife

September is best forgotten! Trying anew for October.

You’re welcome @Fellsbells For a variety of reason there are a lot of us that is happy to see the back of September ❤️. There is nothing like a fresh start and a new leaf to motivate us all into positive action 👍

After saying that I'm going to be more disciplined this month, the start of October has coincided with me being very premenstrual and then getting my period, so I'm not off to a brilliant start. Need to pull it together, though I'm seeing friends for dinner later which is not great for weight loss - will try and find something healthy ish to eat, and limit the number of drinks I have.

Solidarity with you @PipkinOfPepper! Also not off to a great start over here despite only being a couple of days in!

I've decided I'm going to try calorie counting again even if just for a short period of time because just trying to eat a bit healthier is not working for me at the moment. I'm making too many snap decisions about food while super tired. I found it relatively easy to lose the weight after my first baby (well it was hard work but I had more time and energy to devote to getting back on track even if I didn't know it at the time) but this time around I am rushing around like a headless chicken and need a different plan I think.

Am going to try and pick a few meals and snacks to rotate just for a little while and do some super easy meal prep - like having hard boiled eggs and pre-prepared chicken and salmon in the fridge on hand see if I can make some healthier choices instead of snacking on chocolate and crisps. Have also bought some herbal tea for the evening as that is a weak point for me. Might even try and use the walking pad in the evening instead of snacking. Worth a try!

Any super easy filling meal prep/snack ideas worked for anyone? Grab and go type stuff when you don't have much time to stop?

I’m in please! I used to be on a lovely fasting thread with similar ethos, which sadly drifted off. Although im not fasting at the moment I am thinking it might be a good idea to reintroduce it, but I might feel less of a failure on a thread where fasting isn’t the main focus! I do get a bit bored and like to try different things i hear about on YouTube or whatever.

In honesty everything in your opening post has typically worked for me in the past @TheRealHousewife but my problem is keeping good habits going, but hopefully some accountability will kick me into line!

Welcome to the thread @Clearingaspace! The ladies on here are supportive and motivational, simply lovely peeps 🥰

Thank you for your kind words @TheRealHousewife I love the autumn. It’s definitely the right time of year to find a bit of peace, quiet and coziness!

Afternoon all! It's a glorious autumn day here so we've had a long walk and picked some sloes. Dinner is green lentil bake, new potatoes, mixed veg, and then apple yoghurt. I'm not sold on the lentil bake but I've made 4 portions and I'm not wasting it.

Morning! 85.8kg this morning which means I’m just 0.15kg off having lost 4st since January - hopefully will hit this next week (I realise I’m mixing units here, but I have both kg and stone goals despite only weighing in kg, more things I get to tick off!)

Ok, 5th October and I’m back in the land of the living. Cough sounds like I smoke 40 a day 😂 but otherwise feeling much better!

Have batch cooked some meat and veg for lunch. Ate some with a load of M&S pickled sweet dill cucumbers (which are gloriously tart), and I guess count as a bit of a ferment. Currently stewing some fruit. Did 40mins of yoga this morning and will head out for a walk while the fruit cools.

I had a rummage under the bed today and found a number of jumpers that now fit. So that’s a nice autumn bonus.

Hope everyone is enjoying some autumn sunshine!

@PipkinOfPepperThat is seriously impressive stuff, well done! Any tips or tricks would be very welcome here 😆

@moondip ahh thanks. It's so boring and basic and absolutely nothing new, but:

• Eating less in general (especially snacks, though I still have them if I really fancy them)
• Eating way fewer simple carbs: swapped toast for yoghurt and fruit for breakfast, swapped sandwiches for salads, soups, or cottage cheese bowls etc for lunch, having curry or pasta sauces with a tbsp of rice / pasta and extra veg
• Drinking more water
• Walking more

That's really it! Still having treats / alcohol sometimes because I'm trying to see this as a lifestyle change rather than as a diet. Really need to start adding in more proper exercise soon. For transparency I also took the jabs for the first 6 weeks of the year but I hated the side effects so came off them v quickly and was only ever on a low dose.

Evening/afternoon! I've got the bloody flu that's going around. So I've been off work. Sadly no lack of appetite though!

That's brilliant @PipkinOfPepper well done!
Hope you feel better soon @LemonDrizzle23 and @DreamingOfGeneHunt !
Ok day here, a lot of work stress so nit feeling too motivated but didnt do too badly!

Hi everyone, I completely missed the new thread (!) only just realised this morning when I went to post an update.

Need to catch up but I’ve been tracking my eating, my moods, my sleep and my weight through a journal and I am definitely following a pattern linked to monthly cycle. The effect on mood and eating has a really strong connection, which I suspected but it feels really good to have that confirmed. I’m on the ‘up’ stretch right now, hence having the motivation and energy to post. All I have to do now is work out how to extend the highs and reduce the lows. I seem to be on a high for between one and two weeks before my mood drops and then my bad habits creep back in.