Healthy eating 2021

[Skips]

Well done to all the losers.

I have gained all the weight I lost. I want to lose weight but I also can't be bothered. Unfortunately not being bothered is winning and it's easy to grab and eat a pack of jaffa cakes.

[nineseven]

Week 5 weigh in: -0.75lb. That’s officially 10lb off and possibly the first time ever I’ve lost every week for five weeks (even in painfully tiny amounts).

[Estrella]

10lbs in 5 weeks is brilliant, Nine. How are you feeling?

I genuinely feel so much better having lost weight/eating more healthily and exercising. I’m 11.2kgs down now (since mid-Sept). My weight loss is slowing right down as I get closer to goal (I’m about 1.5kg away from where I *think* I want to be) but to be honest I’m ok with that.

[nineseven]

I feel great, thank you. Really loving my veg box and basing a lot of meals around that. It will take me about a year to get to a healthy weight at this rate (0.5lb per week) but at least it’s manageable. I’m zigzagging my calories and eating a weekly average which seems to have helped with a consistent loss.

25lb in four months is a great achievement - it must feel good to be so near your goal! Do you have a maintenance plan?

[Estrella]

Maintenance has always been a bit of a problem for me. I find it hard to balance but I’m going to keep my WW membership and keep with the way I’m eating, but more relaxed at weekends.

[nineseven]

I've been reading about it and one article I read suggested raising calories gradually over several months to find the sweet spot. It's basically dieting for a lot longer though.

[Estrella]

I’m kind of in the mindset that I have to be tracking what I eat as an ongoing thing. It’s the only way. But the way I’ve done it this time and the habits I’ve formed seem a bit more sustainable. I’ve been making sure I eat quite a lot of protein and veg and it really makes a difference to how full I feel. Last time I attempted to lose weight I stopped as I had no energy to run. But this time I’m full of energy and feel stronger.

[Skips]

Est, which plan have you been following on WW? I see they now have a choice of three.

[ParisGal]

Can you get Kind bars, PG? They are pretty good from a nutrition perspective and genuinely tasty (my favourite are the almond and salted caramel ones). They’re not cheap, but worth it as a treat.

I couldn't get them except at even greater expense, but they look really nice. So I have decided to go for a better compromise and rather than trying to be overly worthy and make things out of bananas rather than normal baking ingredients, I will make some cookies with lots of nuts, chickpea flour, oats, and maybe chocolate chips, but low sugar otherwise. I like sweets but don't usually like snacks to be very sweet (and obviously don't want to have too much high sugar for health reasons).

[Estrella]

Est, which plan have you been following on WW? I see they now have a choice of three.

I’ve been doing the Green plan and really like it. Mostly because it gives me the most points to play with for weekend drinks :chinchin:

PG, my current favourite snack is Skippy protein bars. Also unsure if you can get them but the raspberry cheesecake ones are amazing. They totally don’t taste like protein bars at all.

[ParisGal]

Locally I don't think we can get anything except Gerlinea stuff which I've not properly investigated but doesn't attract me really It looks like Skippy is possibly Aus only any way? Unless it's the same brand as the peanut butter? Which is another thing that's much less popular in France than in the Anglophone world.

[geek_kitten]

That sounds like a good plan PG. I only tried the Kind bars because they appeared in my gin box one month (!?); I kept buying them because I couldn't be bothered trying to replicate them!

[nineseven]

For treats I just have a 100 cal piece of proper Cheddar cheese (about 25g/an ounce), or four little squares of nice chocolate (I'm currently obsessed with a tiny Welsh company that makes amazing chocolate bars) that come in at about 70 cals.

[ParisGal]

I was doing the 100cal serving of things I like to snack on (nuts, chocolate, 4 sweets ), but I do like to have biscuits, and as I'm still avoiding gluten and dairy as much as I can, the shop biscuit offering is close to if not zero.

Also I seem to have gone off chocolate on its own Not sure if it's just my tastes changing or recipes being cheapened. I've never found a chocolate I loved here, and have always just stuck to Dairy Milk. I recently found a supermarket that stocks it, so bought a bar and it was totally meh. Maybe being off milk for so long has changed my preferences... Whenever I've allowed myself any other dairy products recently I've enjoyed them just as much as before, so it doesn't seem likely to be that.

[Estrella]

PG, yes, Skippy is the PB brand.

I am also a fan of chocolate. I favour the Aldi Moser Roth dark with salt or chilli. They come in little mini bars which are a nice serving size.

[nineseven]

My ex colleague who is losing 3-4lb a week had asked us to share weekly updates. She's just told me she wants to stop as I'm losing too slowly to motivate her I think I upset her when I said IME maintenance is harder than weight loss

[nineseven]

Just hit another mini goal - a new stone bracket, which is 12lb off. I’m really trying to get more protein into my diet and have upped the cardio a bit alongside shred. How’s everyone else getting on?

[ParisGal]

Terribly I mean, I'm generally eating healthily but still snacking like a demon. I've eaten all the chocolate and sweets now though, and won't buy any more. My main meals have been a bit smaller so I'm not gaining weight, but if I'd just stop the snacking I'd be fine

You're doing brilliantly, is the exercise enjoyable?

[nineseven]

Are you tracking calories or just aiming to eat more healthily?

The exercise really is enjoyable. I do still have to make myself do it some days, but working out at home is a revelation. I’ve never had the space before and I always hated gym classes. The gym is fine but I only really got results with a PT which isn’t very affordable long term. Doing DVDs or YouTube videos really suits me.

[ParisGal]

I want to lose a bit of weight, and also generally be healthy but specifically reduce sugar, so obviously something inside me is rebelling

I am seriously considering trying an exercise video in the kitchen as it's the only room with enough clear space