Back at target, still thinking...

[Scrumbles]

Well, I did blow my deficit on Saturday BUT I stayed just below maintenance, so I'm okay with it. And I enjoyed the wine, which is the important bit, lol!

Sunday was better - 1470 calories, so a little more than I'd have liked, but not bad for hangover day

Today I'm aiming for 1430 calories and tomorrow slightly fewer, but we'll see.

Suddenly, for no particular reason, I'm feeling pretty relaxed about it all. My deficit feels perfectly doable and I'm not over-hungry or fretful. Funny how it goes like that!

Long may it continue...

 

[Scrumbles]

Still chugging along. Some days are better than others calorie-wise but they average out okay, so I'm happy.

It's just over a week until my official weigh-in. Another sneak peek a couple of days ago indicates no loss yet for this month, but I know that for me the weight tends to leave all of a sudden, so I haven't given up hope. Quite honestly, given my lack of consistency with my eating this month even a couple of pounds would feel like an achievement!


Onwards and downwards...

 

[Scrumbles]

No loss this month. Nada. Zilch.

Can't say I'm all that surprised considering the number of not-so-good days I've had, but I was still hopeful of losing maybe a pound. Sigh.

It would appear that I need to semi-starve myself to get a loss at this point, but I'm just not in the right mind space to do that at the moment, so where does that leave me?

I think I'm going to carry on as I am for the time being and just see if anything eventually happens. The bottom line is that while I might not be deliriously happy at this weight, I'm not seriously unhappy either, so if this is where I'm comfortable(ish) maintaining maybe I need to accept that and make the best of it? Life is there to be lived, after all.

That sounds like a plan. I'll aim for 1400-1500 calories as a normal day, and hopefully that minor deficit will cover the days when I end up letting my hair down a bit.

Onwards and...um...yeah...

 

[Scrumbles]

Been thinking about re-starting this diary since January, but for one reason or another I haven't.

I think mostly it's because I've been successfully losing without needing to do any more than log my food on FitDay, so why change a winning strategy, eh? And sometimes I think writing things down might almost be counter-productive for me: it can actually make me feel "pressurised", like I have to get results, or something - not a feeling I want when I'm trying to keep my head in the weight loss game!

But lately I keep coming back here and re-reading what I wrote last year, and I've been so struck by how different my experience has been this year that I don't really want to leave my "story" where it was, so perhaps I should fill in the very big blank of the last year and a half.

2015 was pretty much a write-off dietwise and by January of this year I'd eaten and drunk my way up to 190lbs and had a LOT of work to do!

So I kicked the booze (quite easy, 'cos I was fed up with it after the festive season!) fired up my FitDay account and set myself an initial limit of 1300-1400 calories per day.

That was fine, but it was only part of the plan. The other part was to have another crack at intermittent fasting to see if I could finally make peace with it and use it as an aid to weight loss, and, going forward, maintenance. My thinking was that when I've tried fasting in the past it's always been at a time when I'd been in a deficit for a while and was already struggling to stay within my calories owing to hormonal issues (most probably), so perhaps if I started it at the beginning of the diet I might have half a chance of embedding it as habit before my body kicked up a fuss!

So I crossed my fingers, ditched breakfast and started eating just 2 meals per day plus a couple of snacks - the 16:8 protocol, more or less.

To be honest, though it was easy at first, I didn't think it would work long term and that after losing x amount of weight my acute hunger problems would return and have me reaching for the porridge oats again, but miracle of miracles, here I am in November and I've stuck to it for over 10 months and am now so out of the habit of eating first thing in the morning it feels quite odd to contemplate it!

So that's one very obvious change from before.

Another one has been brought about by my acquisition of a Polar Loop activity tracker in April.

I had always suspected that I led an extremely sedentary life, and this nifty piece of technology confirmed it for me. There are probably senior tortoises that move further in a day than I used to: I only averaged between 2000-3000 steps daily, and I avoided strenuous activity like the plague!

So, little by little, I started trying to move more. I would do silly little dances around the kitchen whilst preparing meals or drying up. If I needed several things from upstairs I would get them one at a time. I would march on the spot whilst doing simple tasks - anything to keep moving, really.

I built up my step counts day by day and now, several months on - and many pounds down - I've progressed to doing half hour aerobic dancing sessions in my living room and hitting between 8000-10000 steps every day. I've even been flirting with the idea of starting running, which is unheard of for me!

What my Polar Loop has also enabled me to do is eat a lot more and still be confident that I'm in a deficit.

I decided the most sensible way to lose the last few pounds (I'm 8lbs from my goal of being 10 stone 10lbs) was to run a very small deficit and make up the rest by being active. My Polar Loop gives me a pretty decent idea of the calories I burn every day (about 1950 on average), and from that I subtract 250, so I aim to eat somewhere in the region of 1700 calories per day to lose half a pound a week, and thus far it's working a treat! In the past I would never have known how much exercise/activity to do to boost my calorie allowance this high, with the result that I would normally try for too big of a deficit (to be "sure") and end up feeling constantly hungry, tired, irritable and generally rubbish.

With my hand on my heart I can say that I've never felt this good at this stage of a diet (10 months in and less than 10lbs to go), so I must be doing something right this time...hurrah!

So that's it. From 190lbs on January 4th I'm down to 157.8lbs as of this morning (6th November) and feeling much more confident of getting to my target and staying there than I ever thought I would be.

Onwards and downwards...

 

[hotsue67]

This is like reading my own story...
My journey is so similar to yours! I lost over 5 stone by calorie counting and exercising ... Kept it off for almost 2 years and thought ... That's it.. I'm naturally slim... I'm ok...!!but I got complacent and the pound s crept on as I gradually ate more and got more sedentary... 10-10 is where I was most comfortable but I crept up to 12 st.
I'm now 11-13 and just really want that stone off to see 10 something again...
Your post is really inspiring... Thank you!!

 

[Scrumbles]

This is like reading my own story...
My journey is so similar to yours! I lost over 5 stone by calorie counting and exercising ... Kept it off for almost 2 years and thought ... That's it.. I'm naturally slim... I'm ok...!!but I got complacent and the pound s crept on as I gradually ate more and got more sedentary... 10-10 is where I was most comfortable but I crept up to 12 st.
I'm now 11-13 and just really want that stone off to see 10 something again...
Your post is really inspiring... Thank you!!

Hi hotsue!

I remember we chatted in here last year - lovely to hear from you, and thanks for your kind words

It's frightening how quickly those lost pounds find us when we take our eyes of the ball, isn't it? Well done for taking control before too much damage was done - wish I had, then I wouldn't have had to spend yet another year of my life in my Bridget Jones knickers, lol!

I still don't know whether this latest plan will work long term, but I reasoned that if I want a different outcome, I'd have to try a slightly different approach.

I never wanted exercise to be part of my weight loss plan because I'm frankly rubbish at sticking with it - I start out brimming with enthusiasm but give me the tiniest excuse and I'll stop. However, having the activity tracker has taught me that I don't actually need to make a special effort like going to a gym or a fitness class or even stepping outside my front door if it's cold and dark and nasty and I'd rather not: all I have to do is get off my ample backside more often and shimmy around a bit, lol! It's been quite a revelation, I must say.

Good luck with your continued weight loss...we can do this!

 

[Scrumbles]

Welcome back! We spoke before, I've just changed my name I too was struggling with the snacking.

I'm trying healthy eating atm, but years of CC are still helping as it's making me more aware with what I'm choosing. I'd still like to shift another stone but I've just had enough of counting. I aim to swim three times a week (breast stroke for an hour each time) which I know burns approx 600 calories. I really need to be more active on the other days, I'm just struggling as I'm currently job hunting and it's cold outside. I did google earlier some good local walks, but I think having a tracker might make me more likely to get outside. Do you know if there are any good cheap trackers that count your daily steps and tell you how many calories burnt? x

Hi cynicalgirl, I remember you...lovely to hear from you too!

I'm afraid the only tracker I know about is the one I own, the Polar Loop wristband, and it wasn't especially cheap (about £45 on Amazon when I bought it this spring).

And although I love it, and it's great for general movement and cardio exercise, it has its drawbacks. For instance, if I clap my hands it will register that as steps even if I haven't moved. I've also noticed that when I'm tearing up cardboard for the compost bin it registers that as steps too - a lot of them! - so I take it off now when I'm doing that sort of thing. I wear it on my non-dominant hand (as you're supposed to) and it doesn't go bonkers adding phantom steps when I'm doing normal household chores (cleaning, vacuuming), but anything with a percussive action seems to fool it.

As for calories burnt, as far as I understand it, even some of the fancier trackers are ballpark at best. Because I track my food pretty accurately and weigh myself every day, I've been able to determine that my PL underestimates my calorie burn by 50-100 calories a day, so I can factor that in to my eating target, but I try not to think of it as gospel truth and give myself a certain margin for error.

Unfortunately, I think the most accurate are those with a heart rate monitor included, but they are the most expensive, so I won't be trying one

That probably hasn't helped you one bit (sorry!) but that's the sum total of my knowledge/experience of trackers. Even with its glitches, I wouldn't be without mine because it gives me mini goals to aim for every day (1000 steps by coffee time, 3000 by lunchtime, 6000 by dinnertime, etc.) but I guess a cheap pedometer might do that, so maybe that could be a place to start?

Anyway, all the best for the job-hunting, and for losing that stone! x

 

[Scrumbles]

So, this morning I weighed in at 11st 1.2lbs, which makes a loss of over 2 pounds in the past week.

I won't be getting too excited about it, however, because I know it's mostly due to hormonal monthly fluctuation - I fully expect a pound and a half (or more!) to be back on again by next Monday - but it's nice to see a lower number, even if only for a day.

The overall trend is still downwards, though, and as I'm eating around 1750 calories per day at the moment, I don't feel remotely deprived.

In fact, I can honestly say I don't feel like I'm "dieting". I don't feel that desperate need to get to the end so that I can start eating "normally" again: this is normal.

Well, normal apart from the fact that I'm weighing, measuring and tracking for England...if I can ever stop doing that I'll be home and dry, lol

 

[Scrumbles]

One week on and that drop in weight more or less stuck: this morning I weighed in at 11st 1.4lbs, so only 0.2lb up on last Monday Quite surprised by that, actually.

I've done some number-crunching and in the past 4 weeks I've lost 3.4lbs, which is 1.4lbs more than my figures were predicting, and over the past 8 weeks I've lost 6lbs, which is 2lbs more than expected.

Just goes to show that none of this is a precise science: I'm either overestimating my calories in, underestimating my calories out, or, most likely, a bit of both!

Since I'm only trying to lose 0.5lbs per week at this point, I guess the good news is that I get to eat a bit more - or move a bit less, though I don't really want to do that because I'm quite enjoying rediscovering that I have some muscles, lol

So I'll bump my calories up to nearer 1800 for the next 4 weeks and see what that does. I won't change my 16:8 eating schedule - I'm very happy with that - I'll just be a bit more generous with my cheese, meat, eggs...oh, and, um, possibly chocolate...

 

[Scrumbles]

Weekly update: that pound that I thought I'd lost found me...the very next day, heh.

And the little beggar has decided not to leave as yet, so this Monday weigh-in I am exactly one pound up on last week at 11st 2.4lbs.

I have gone ahead and upped my calories to an average of 1760 for the past week, but I don't believe that that is responsible for the gain - it'll just be cyclical water weight I expect.

All the same, it's never fun to see the numbers go up, even if you're pretty certain as to why. I know from my last go round that the closer I get to a healthy BMI the more "stall-and-whoosh" my weight loss pattern becomes to the point where I can maintain/gain for 3 weeks in a row before dropping 4 weeks' worth of weight almost overnight (it's one of the reasons I could never join a slimming club because I'd hate having to explain to the assembled company what "went wrong" 3 weeks out of every 4 when I would know that actually nothing had gone wrong, and that's just the way my body drops weight - suddenly!).

So I shall plough on as I am. I'm making sure my daily calorie burn according to my Polar Loop is always north of 1900, and as long as I'm achieving that, I feel reassured that I won't be gaining any actual fat no matter what the scales say.

Hope everyone has a great week! x

 

[Scrumbles]

Weekly update: still half a pound up on my lowest weight at 11st 1.8lbs.

No loss for a couple of weeks now. I did raise my calories, but I'm still 99.9% sure that I've been in a deficit all this time, so I just have to be patient - as always!

Something I ought to have mentioned is that I entered perimenopause a year and a half ago, and that has made things even more dodgy than they were weightloss-wise. In the past year I've had a couple of episodes of apparently accelerated loss followed by a longish period of staying the same, so I may be experiencing another of those. Hard to tell really.

Fortunately, I hadn't set my heart on getting into the 10's before Xmas, so it's not as if I'm about to be heartbroken or anything.

I'm happy doing what I'm doing, and as long as I keep going with it I'll eventually get there. It happens when it happens, basically!

 

[Scrumbles]

Missed my Monday update, but I did weigh in and I was back down to 11st 1.4lbs, which is where I was 3 weeks ago.

Doubtful if I'll lose anything this month, but I'm pretty much resigned to not doing so at this point. All the figures would suggest a loss, but, unfortunately, as we know, weight loss doesn't happen on paper (!), and real world factors are playing their part, I feel, namely, my wonky cycle.

Still, I'm keeping going with the exercise/additional movement and feeling better for that even if the scales refuse to cooperate!

Onwards and downwards...

 

[Scrumbles]

Well, I did lose a little: 1.6lbs, which takes me to 10st 13.8lbs! So I scraped into the 10's before Christmas by the skin of my teeth!

Only 3.8lbs to go to get to my target of 10st 10lbs (very top end of normal BMI for my height), but with the Festive Season now in full swing I don't anticipate losing any more for a while...gaining some back, most likely

And when I restart in January I will be carrying on exactly as I have been for the past 6 months - running a small deficit boosted by a bit of exercise and not looking to lose more than half a pound per week - so I'm looking at at least another couple of months to get to my goal weight.

But this has never been about speed. I want this weight to blimmin' stay off this time, so the slower it comes off the better I suppose. What I'm doing now does feel sustainable for the long haul: I'm eating foods that I enjoy in sensible quantities without craving or obsessing, my appetite is under control, and I'm nowhere close to the hangry mess that I was the last time I got down to this weight a couple of years ago. I've also increased my activity to a level that's enough to make me feel more sprightly without risking damage (I injure very easily!) or becoming tiresome, so I'm hopeful that I can continue with it long term.

If I don't pop in again this year, I wish everyone here at Mini's a very happy Christmas and a fabulous 2017! x

 

[ladyfelsham]

Hello Scrumbles - remember me from the old Atkins days? .

Am joining you in Jan on calorie counting and MFP, think it's the only feasible way forward for me, after years of trying different eating plans and losing a few stone, putting them back on, giving up, gaining more...and repeat.

Have a lovely Christmas and see you for the restart! xx

 

[Scrumbles]

Hi Susie!

I certainly do remember...those were some fun times with some wonderful folks back in 2012! Can it really be that long ago?? Crikey! I often wonder what happened to everyone, so it's lovely to hear from you!

Will be great to have your company in 2017. I confess that I'll be eating my own weight in mince pies, christmas pudding and Thorntons choccies until at least Jan 1st, but after that I'll need to knuckle down and get back to logging and exercising so that I can a) undo the damage, and b) finally make my goal of being comfortably in the 10's. And then of course, I'll have to perform the minor miracle of actually staying there for more than five minutes , so I shall be sticking around

Hope you're having a fab Christmas and wishing you a great New Year! x

 

[ladyfelsham]

Yes we did have a lot of fun! I'm still in touch with a couple of people - Vicky and Linzi - and they are doing well.

Looking forward to getting back into it come 1 Jan too! And Happy New Year to you too, love xx

 

[Scrumbles]

Happy New Year!

...and thank heavens I can now draw a line under the festive foodie madness, because I've been enjoying it all a little too much!

I've kept a rough track of what I've consumed, and since Xmas Eve I reckon I've had over 4000 excess calories, which equates to slightly more than a pound of actual fat gain - it looks like more than that on the scales at the moment, but I'm guessing there's quite a bit of water weight from all the extra sodium I've been eating, so I won't really know where I'm at until that has had time to disappear.

If it is just a pound(-ish) I can't grumble considering what I've shovelled into my cakehole recently, but it does demonstrate how quickly things can go downhill when I move away from my regular eating patterns. I just hope that I can get back to those eating patterns without too much fuss and carry on as before, because that's the real test of a sustainable plan IMO - how quickly and securely it kicks back in after a break.

So, tomorrow will be my official starting weigh-in for 2017, and I will be aiming for a daily calorie deficit of 250-300 calories, as before. Business as usual, hopefully!

Here's to everyone achieving their goals in 2017...weight loss and otherwise!

 

[Scrumbles]

Good luck, CG!

Mine was pretty much as expected -

Official start weight for 2017: 11st 1.8lbs

Two pounds up on my lowest weight just before Xmas, so probably just over a pound of fat and a bit of excess water.

It'll take me a couple of weeks to undo that, but I LOVE Xmas food (my homemade Xmas pudding was particularly scrumptious this year, though I say so myself!) so it was totally worth it. No regrets!

Now I just have to get back to normal. There are still some Xmas goodies kicking around (half a Xmas cake, wedge of stilton, 3 boxes of chocolates!) but I can incorporate those into my daily plan and finish them off over the next few weeks - OH will "help" with the chocolate but won't touch the Xmas cake or the stilton, so I'm on my own with those (what a shame).

I actually started back on my plan yesterday - I ate/drank nearly 3000 calories on NYE, so it wasn't too hard to limit myself to 1600 the next day as, unsurprisingly, I wasn't very hungry! The real test starts today as I might be dealing with increased appetite after a week of overeating - 1700 calories may not feel like much after regularly eating over 2000! I guess I'll soon know.

I have 1545 calories pre-logged for today which gives me a bit of wiggle room to add/make changes as I go along. If I find it's enough and I'm not ready to eat my arm off by 8pm, I may leave it at that, but I can add another 150 calories if I need them. Probably best to give myself options whilst I'm settling back in to it.

It's a beautifully sunny (though nippy!) day here, so I may head off for a walk soon

Have a good day, folks!

 

[ladyfelsham]

Sounds like you're well on target Scrumbles! Hard to resist the Xmas cake, I love them but they don't do them here (they have panettone and variations but it's not the same).

I'm dealing with the overeating issue too after days of loads of food - but feel a bit more in control today, so am sure you will too x

 

[Scrumbles]

Four days back on plan and I'm feeling....okay..(ish!)

I've eaten around 1600 cals each day and I have to admit it doesn't feel like enough right now. Definitely experiencing more hunger pangs than I was pre-Xmas, but hopefully things will settle down given time.

I am back to pre-logging my menu a day in advance and keeping meal prep as short and simple as I can so that I spend as little time as possible thinking about and dealing with food - that does seem to help me, I find.

It especially helps me to plan what I'm having for my main meal, because then if I get annoyingly hungry during the day, I do at least know that I have something substantial and yummy to look forward to that's worth the wait. If I didn't know what I was going to have, I reckon I'd be much more inclined to pick at stuff and end up over my cals. That bit of structure seems to make me much more relaxed towards the process somehow.

Haven't seen any movement on the scale yet, but it's early days. The way my body works since perimenopause, I may need several solid weeks of deficit before I see any drop at all, so I'm not going to let it bother me.

Sunny and freezing cold here again today. I should go walking but it's not all that inviting, so I'll probably wimp out and do a Leslie Sansone video from YouTube instead.

Hope everyone's having a great day!x