Hi Dawn. I love the idea of a daily post so will try to do likewise, but will do mine in the morning. Get that sparkly chart done! I have a spreadsheet with targets and different colour formatting indicating whether or not I have met them. Be nice when there’s not so much red text and exclamation marks on it . . .

Had a middling day yesterday: got off to a good start but went a bit downhill later. But there’s a little drop on the scales this morning. My mini goal this week is to get back to 144lb, where I was just 2 weeks ago. Am currently 2lb away but it’s very recent weight gain – hopefully mostly water from my carb fest – so seems do-able if I can just get back on track again. And will then actively pursue my 1lb a week target loss for the rest of this Christmas journey.

Yowzer, great to have you back on board. Here’s to loose coats all round!

Cathy I hope you are doing well and still Covid-free? I have my booster jab booked for next Monday so will be thinking of you.

Hello to everyone else on this thread and here’s hoping we all make some progress this week X

Hi all,have had another quite good day today and have next two days menus loaded onto MFP.Still haven’t got my sparkly chart done but will do it tomorrow,DCT your spreadsheet sounds great.Feeling sleepy so will have an early night I think.Hope everyone has had a good day.Dawn X

Hello All – just checking in. So happy to see your support for each other – it really makes all the difference. I’ve had a few ups and downs which has lead to a few glasses of wine…and a sausage roll 🙁 However, hopefully back on track – couldn’t face a weigh-in on Friday but will do it this week. Really busy week but in a non physical way so that wont help….I find the long nights after the clocks change a real struggle – is it just me?

Morning all

Antigone I completely get it about the long nights. I just feel like hibernating BUT also snacking! I need to be careful to time my evening meal right so that it is early enough not to start craving snacks beforehand but late enough not to crave them afterwards . . . yet not too late that it’s too close to bedtime!

Dawn I am finding it invaluable to track my food as well. I’m not very disciplined about doing that, but am always glad when I remember to do it and can see the calories and carbs there right in front to me. I use my Fitbit. Not only is it good to keep track of each day’s consumption, it’s also really educational about carb content. I’ve been amazed to learn how some foods are unexpectedly high in carbs – for example kale is much higher than I expected but is one of those things I tend to pile onto my plate. Who knew?!

I had a decent day yesterday and there is another slight downward shift on the scales this morning. Reflecting on this, I think there is a vague formula to my weight loss and gain. For me there seem to be three factors involved:
1. keeping carbs low;
2. not drinking wine;
3. getting a decent slug of exercise.
In very general terms, if I stick to all the above three for a couple of days or more, I start to lose. I can get away with breaking one or two for quite a while and just about manage to maintain. Ish. But if I consistently break them all then after a week or so the weight starts to go up again.

So I know what I need to do and not do. It’s just a matter of doing it! I now have another incentive though. I’d not bought any new clothes since before the wedding but had a bit of a splurge last week and ordered two items on line. One a skirt, one a pair of culotte style trousers. They have both come, and are both a bit too tight around the waist! I could just about wear them but it wouldn’t be comfortable. Sending them back seems like admitting defeat. even more so when I measured my waist and found I’ve gained a couple of inches over the last few months (I’m not very good about keeping track of measurements). So that’s another goal on top of the weight itself: I want to fit into both those items comfortably by Christmas.

So here we go. Hope everyone else is doing well this week X

Hi all,I’m a bit late doing my nightly check in, I almost forgot! Haven’t had as good a day today as I’ve been at my Mum’s for a lot of the day and she has a lot of tempting stuff in the house but I could have been worse and I’m all set for tomorrow.Hope everyone has had a good day.Dawn X

Dawn I can sympathise as I didn’t have a good day either, actually am having a bad week tbh… nothing major but some work stresses, family issues and then yesterday my middle daughter was really ill with what turned out to be a nasty kidney infection and I spent much of the day and night in the emergency dept of the hospital with her. She was discharged around midnight, so it meant I missed eating my planned healthy lunch and dinner (had a packet of vending machine peanuts, a muesli bar and a mini dark chocolate bar instead, followed up by toast and butter at 1am!).
It made me realise just how much easier I find this WOE to stick to when life is going smoothly and I’m organised (don’t we all!). With the other issues I was dealing with I had one particular day where I felt stressed and my carb monster reared it’s ugly head, urging me to eat anything sweet I could find, which wasn’t much to be honest as I avoid buying in my weekly shop so I’m not tempted. However I did find a couple of chocolate biscuits, some orange and green jelly babies (daughter buys packets of sweets but always leaves orange and green ones as she doesn’t like those flavours) and toast and jam 🙁 it was like a compulsion… I followed all that up with pie and chips for dinner! but I felt awful the next day and really bloated, so not going there again!
Anyway after the week I’ve had I’m not expecting a loss at all, but hopefully the damage isn’t too bad and I’m back on track today 🙂

Aaw Sue bless you,what a stressful time.I hope your daughter is ok,I’ve had urinary tract infections which have moved to my kidneys before and they can get really nasty.I’m not surprised you were unable to stick to healthy eating and had to grab what was available. The first time i followed this woe a few years ago it took me a few weeks for my carb/sugar craving to leave me and,until last years Christmas Countdown,I never managed to reach that state again then went completely off the rails over Christmas and it snowballed from there.I’ve decided that I’m not getting any Christmas sweet treats in for DD and DH until the last minute as I got two chocolate oranges in last month and put them away but I ate them!!!!!yet on the CC last year I think I was at the stage where I could have anything in the house and not be tempted so I know it can be done.Sometimes it doesn’t matter how organised I am either,though it does help normally,but if I’m particularly stressed I can still end up having stuff I shouldn’t so I know what you’re going through.I’ve said it before that if it wasn’t for you all on this forum I wouldn’t have even attempted to lose weight/get healthier during the past stressful 19 months.I hope you manage to have an easier day today Sue,take care,Dawn X

Morning everyone. Dawn and Sue I hope you both have a better day today and that your mum and daughter respectively are doing ok.

I completely understand how easy it is to get derailed by the ups and downs of life. But on the positive side this WoE is very forgiving: I like to think of it as an old friend welcoming us back with open arms. Like you say Sue, I feel awful if I slip off the bandwagon – bloated and sluggish. But things happen, and every day is a new day.

Dawn I agree with you that the support of this forum is invaluable. And what I particularly like about our journeys and threads is that people are able to be honest and know they won’t be judged or patronised. When I first joined the forums for my initial 8 week challenge (nearly 5 years ago!! can’t believe it) I was scared to say much – especially about my “failings” as I then saw them – because I assumed everyone else would be sailing through with no issues whatsoever and would have no patience with a plodder like me. But this turned out to be completely the opposite. What I love about this WoE and the forums is that almost everyone – including Michael Mosley and Claire – is very down to earth and accepting that we are all trying but sometimes things don’t go according to plan for all kinds of reasons, and you just have to shake off the dust and start again as soon as you are able to do so.

If anyone is feeling disheartened about lack of progress, we do still have 5 weeks to Christmas. Which is plenty of time to lose a couple of pounds or inches or whatever it is you’re hoping to achieve. Good luck! And keep posting X

Hello everyone

Dawn Sue and Dreamscometrue- we are all having a little blip! We have to stay strong and keep going as well as is possible in these still trying times. I’m still plodding away! I’m thankfully still testing negative for Covid!! If I am still negative tomorrow I’m going to have my Covid booster. Weigh day tomorrow again for me. I’m not going to get to or below 150 this week as I had a blow out last Saturday after my disappointing weigh in on Friday. I went out with a friend and had a lovely lunch and a couple of G&Ts. I just thought “what the hell”! I’ve pulled things back since then and been on track and had a couple of long walks so if I manage to stay the same then hopefully if I am good next week I may achieve 150 or less. I’ve probably put even more weight on- if I work hard I still put weight on! I just don’t seem to be able to get the excess weight off my body! I am going to have to revise my 144 lb goal for Christmas and just aim to get in the 140s! I really did think it would be possible to get to 144 when I started this Christmas reboot but my body is not shedding the weight as I had hoped and anticipated. I am going to keep going until Christmas Eve and then allow myself a week off plan. I really do want to get to my ultimate goal weight of 138 lb but it’s proving virtually impossible and I really don’t know why my body isn’t responding! I got as low as 130 lb in 2017 and it really wasn’t this difficult……….

We can only try and We know that if we don’t try we will put more and more weight on and be heavy and uncomfortable and unhealthy and unhappy and so we will keep plodding, chipping away and doing the best we can.

Hiii my friends and fellow travellers! We ‘re all struggling at the mo,me included. The long dark nights don’t help,like ANTIGONE said
You know what,I don’t think it helps either that all the Christmas goodies are now on the shelves and being advertised on tv. I’ve stayed ‘ good’ so far,as I know when me and DD celebrate our belated bdays this weekend I’ll be indulging then.
But I’m hankering after mince pies,christmassy drinks,crimbo cake etc right now!
DD has a good saying,Delay not Deny. I don’t want to have to wait til Xmas but trying to tell myself..you’re going to have those nice goodies soon,but just not today.
*** Also I read this from waaaaaaay back on this forum 2016. I can’t remember who said it but I kept it and have just come across it again. I think it was Lucky Maneki’s words of wisdom but I could be wrong.***
“I don’t think of it as self-sabotage — you are not your own worst enemy — it is a powerful biological system that drives us, combined with a lifetime of habits and food choices. Your body is frustrated that it doesn’t have the old flow of sugars and easily-digested carbs — even if all that was killing you. And your brain is frustrated that it’s old comfort system (eating sugar) isn’t available any more. Your choice to start this diet and struggle through the days is already changing your body and mind but it takes a bit of time for it all to catch up. Don’t despair and don’t think that you self-sabotaged — just start again and again and again — you are going to surprise yourself one day soon when those treats just look kind of boring and you prefer to wait for a healthy meal coming up.”
Hope that helps! 💜💕❤️
SUE is yr DD feeling better now?
Hugs all round xxxx

Hi all,I’ve had a better day than yesterday,Yowzer well done for resisting the rhubarb crumble,it’s one of my favourites so I would have struggled!Cathy I’m pleased you are still Covid negative.Off to bed now.Will check in again tomorrow.Dawn X

Morning/evening everyone.Even though I ‘rebooted my reboot’ on Monday I’m back to Friday weigh in so that I weigh myself on Christmas Eve.I think I must have been holding a lot of fluid on Monday as I’ve amazingly lost 5lbs since then.I’m still taking it as a loss though and am relieved to be back under 12st.This will hopefully give me the push I need to have a really good week coming up!Dawn X

Ooh fantastic news Dawn! I’m so pleased for you. I hope it gives you the impetus to charge forward into next week. And I do hope you’ve filled in your sparkly chart!

I didn’t quite make my target this week, but not too far off. So am determined to catch up next week and be at 143lb by next Friday. Fingers crossed . . .

Hope everyone else is doing ok. Have a wonderful weekend X

Oh Dear, it’s sad to see that it isn’t just me struggling at the moment, but well done everyone for sticking with it.
That is a great loss Dawn, great news!
I have dropped 1.5lb this week so I am still on target for my first goal of losing 4.5lb by next Friday. I find it so much easier to be strong when I start to lose so finger crossed that this determination with stay with me.
Have a good weekend everyone.

DAWN that’s fab! What a great incentive for you!!! That sparkly chart will be looking good!👏👏👏👏👏👏XXXX
LAURA congrats,you’re well on your way to next fridays goal 👍👍👍👍XXXX
Got fingers crossed for you DCT! Keep strapped in on the luxury coach and all will be well ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️XXXX
CCATHY! glad you ‘re safe so far covid wise,please stay safe! XXXX 🙏🙏🙏🙏XXXX hope booster went well today!
Hope all good in the Hood with everyone and have a good weekend my buddies XXXX

Wow Dawn- that is a fabulous weight loss this week! I am so happy for you.

Laura- fab weight loss for you- good luck for this week and I am sure you’ll be at your first goal of losing 4.5 lb next Friday.

Dreamscometrue- good luck for getting to 143 by next Friday. I am hoping to get to 149 by next Fridat. I lost a total of 0.2 lbs this week.

I lost a total of 0.2 lb this week! I weighed in at 151.4. last Friday I weighed 151.6 what do I have to do? My hope is to get to 149 next Friday!

I had my booster today at work and am hoping I don’t get any side effects this weekend. I am planning a quiet weekend as I am back working again Monday and Tuesday. Boosters are keeping me in work!

Yowser good to see you back on the bus with us and cheering us all . Glad you’ve recovered from having Covid.

I am going to work really hard this week to achieve my first goal of getting under 150lb .

Good luck everyone. Five weeks until Christmas Eve. I really hope my weight starts shifting soon! Am starting to worry about what more I can do.

Thank you all for your congratulations on my weight loss😃 tbh it’s probably because I was eating so badly leading up to my weigh in on Monday so I probably won’t lose that much again in four days!Have had another quite good day today so fingers crossed that continues.My eBay sweater came in the post today and is lovely but shows off my enormous middle so is another reason for me to stick in! Will check in again tomorrow.Dawn X

Yowzer thanks for asking after my daughter – she is feeling much better although still in some discomfort, but at least the antibiotics seem to be working.

Dawn – well done on your weight loss this week, sounds like you’re off to a great start 🙂

Cathy – hope you are feeling well after your booster – mine is booked for the end of January. I received another Covid alert yesterday – we may have come into contact with an infected person while at the hospital on Wednesday, so need to monitor for symptoms. I’m not too concerned though as it’s a large hospital and there would have been hundreds and hundreds of people there that day.

I’ve had a good day today. I did put on a kilo over the last week, but this is the usual pattern for me, I’ll have a whoosh and a fairly big loss, then my weight goes up again before it settles down to the new lower weight.

DCT – I found your post interesting as I’m the same – best weight loss happens for me when I skip wine and keep my carbs low!

Today I popped into one of our local charity shops and bought two lovely summer tops for $2 each – one is a red, silk sleeveless top which will be perfect for Christmas events and the other a blue linen shirt – both size 16, so I’ll need to keep my weight on a downward trend for them to still fit 🙂 I also found a really good book for $5 all about healthy food prep and batch cooking. Basically it’s a 3 step method, after you’ve planned your meals for a few days you prepare your proteins (things like boiling eggs, baking salmon, poaching or roasting chicken, make fish cakes etc), then prepare grains like quinoa and overnight oats and wash & cut up veggies. You can also make up sauces & flavourings and put into containers, Then each day you can quickly put together meals with your prepped ingredients. I’m going to give it a go anyway. This afternoon I started by cooking up a batch of roast Mediterranean veg (red onions, tomato, capsicum, eggplant, zucchini & mushroom) – I used some as pizza toppings for dinner tonight, and the rest I put into a container to use in salads and as a frittata/quiche filling. I also boiled some eggs, cut up some ham & cheese and put this into a divided container with carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers – I’ll use this as a base for lunches or snacks over the next few days. Tomorrow I’m going to make a few breakfasts too. I feel better when I’m organised and in control 🙂

My Daily walking had come to a standstill too over the last week, so today I went for a walk with my youngest daughter – we did 7,000 steps before it started to rain so we headed home (I hadn’t brought an umbrella with me), and we are going to walk again tomorrow.

Just remembered another positive – I had received some money as a birthday gift from my MIL a few months ago and didn’t know what to use it for, then when I was in the hardware store last month I saw a raised garden bed on legs, so I bought that, some potting mix and some herb seedlings. I now have spinach, 3 types of basil, oregano, parsley & chives growing – also mint (which I hadn’t bought but it’s found it’s way in there somehow!) I’m going to get some tomato plants this week, then I’m thinking of getting another one to grow lettuce and chillies.

Anyway that’s my update 🙂 hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Laura – meant to say well done on your loss too 🙂

Hi everyone
Sorry I’m so intermittent on here, I don’t honestly know why. I read everything and cheer or commiserate; I always think I’ll post after so and so, and then don’t (often because I fall asleep). Will try harder!
Yowser – good to see you’re recovering from covid. Hope you and DD enjoyed your belated birthday celebrations.
” Happy birthday to you, you belong in the zoo, with the………..” how’s that one go? Anyway, happy birthday to you both. xx
Dawn – 5lbs – wow, that’s a great weight loss. Water-schmawter – who cares. Woo-hoo! Btw, I’m enjoying reading your daily updates.
Laura – hope the weekend has gone well. It is great when you start losing isn’t it? Like you, I do like a weight target to work towards – think I’ll set some more myself. Here’s to that 4.5lbs Friday goal
SueBlue – that’s an interesting idea about the 3 step method for your meals. I think I’ll give it a go this week. Your posted quote about making a daily effort really resonated me. I can often fall into the habit of doing just enough to get by, and it’s not working. So, your method’ll be a good way to start making more effort. Glad to hear about your daughter.
Cathy – keep going (I know you will!), you’ll get there. I wish I could find the image I once saw of ‘a weight-loss journey’ – it was a pink squiggly line drawing which was scrawled up down and all around the paper like a child’s crayon drawing. Keep on keeping on as sunshine-girl says! Hope you had no ill-effects from the booster (I had mine on Wednesday and other than a very sore arm I’m better than I was after the other two, and very grateful to have had it). I went to one of the big Nightingale centres and the people working there were all really helpful and lovely. I think the work you’re doing is great!.
Onwards and downwards everyone. Have a great week
Jennie xx

Hi all,thanks Jennie and Yowzer.Didn’t get chance to post over weekend but I’m going to try to post every night this week as I really think it’s helping me focus,though didn’t have a great day Saturday I did better yesterday.I’m going to bake this week (I love to but really try not to as it’s all too tempting but it’s mostly stuff to give away so I’m hoping I can resist,I will be freezing some stuff too) so,apart from that,I think I have no days where sticking to food plan should be too hard🤞Going to local garden centre with my Mum and sister this morning but no cafe there so that makes things easier!Hope everyone has a good day/evening.I’ve given DD and dog their breakfasts (DH gets his own! ) so going to sit now and fill in next five days menus on MFP 😀 Dawn X

Hi Dawn and good luck this week. I think it’s a great idea to do a daily post to keep focused so I’m going to do the same. Today I’m getting out my pedometer and I’m going to start counting my steps again. 10.000 a day target.
I’m also going to stop having tea and coffee (with milk) which I’ve slipped back into doing. That will be a challenge!
For food, I’m going to look at how I can incorporate the 3 step method of food prep SueBlue mentions. At least having some stuff ready or pre-prepared will definitely help me.
A lovely fresh new week. Hope everyone else goes well.
Jennie xx

Morning everyone, I’m back to my daily posts too. Not much to report this morning other than that I am determined to make this week better than last, when I really did lose my way a bit.

So for me it’s back to strict carb & cal control and no wine. I like the idea of your 3 step method Sue – it sounds practical and flexible. Let us know how you get on. I’m also going to be more disciplined about food logging this week. I know it helps me enormously to log all my food: I’m always horrified the way carbs and cals can mount up so quickly without you realising. Recording absolutely everything you eat and drink can seem a little obsessive, but it really helps to spot the danger zones!

As well as the WoE, I need to drastically up the exercise. I’ve fallen horribly behind on various fitness challenges I’ve been doing, so need to reverse that this week.

Easy really!

How are you after your booster Cathy? I get mine this afternoon! And Yowzer, hope you had a lovely weekend’s celebrations?

Go well everyone, and see you tomorrow X

Evening all (it’s 7.20pm here), I might try updating daily this week also to make me more accountable 🙂

I’ve had a good day today, I don’t work Mondays but I was busy catching up with housework, shopping, errands and visiting MIL. I always have a cup of tea with her and she offers me biscuits, today I took some veggie sticks & hummus, cherry tomatoes, cheese cubes and ham (prepped yesterday) with me and had those as my lunch.

Breakfast was a piece of low carb seed toast, avocado and an egg with some Dukkah sprinkled on top and a coffee – I’ve calculated that my Nespresso coffee and milk is 34 calories so I make it part of breakfast :). Lunch was the veggie sticks & hummus with a cup of tea and for dinner I had some baked chicken and coleslaw & salad with a couple of baby potatoes. I know that the potatoes aren’t on plan but I found them in the fridge and really wanted them! The coleslaw was a packet of prepped veggies on clearance in the supermarket today and I made a dressing with Greek yoghurt and a small amount of bottled coleslaw dressing. The chicken was from the batch I had prepped on the weekend and just required reheating. So far the prepping is helping – if I didn’t have my lunch already prepared I would have been tempted to just have a couple of biscuits instead as it was late (3pm). Breakfast was at 9am and dinner 6pm so I’ve managed to keep my eating to a 9 hour window. I bought some peppermint and licorice tea bags today so will have those tonight if I feel like something else. I’m going to prep my lunch for tomorrow now (the last of the baked chicken in a salad with avocado & bacon – based on a recipe in one of the Fast 800 books).

Dinner tomorrow I’m planning to have the Pesto fish from the F800 easy book – I cooked the veggies on the weekend, and also made some pesto with herbs from my new herb garden. All I have to do is cook the fish and reheat the veggies.

I managed to fit in an hours walking this afternoon , so my steps today were 7,500. Not quite the 10,000 I wanted to do, but am going to put my alarm and get up early to walk before starting work tomorrow.

Hope everyone else has a good Monday 🙂

Hi all,lovely that quite a few of us are doing daily posts to help us focus.I’ve had quite a good day.Managed to get some menu plans put onto MFP and I’m food shopping tomorrow.Am feeling determined to get more weight off before weighing myself on Friday.Off to bed now.Will check back in tomorrow.Dawn X

Hi All,
Nodded off on the couch so wide awake now and thought I’d update too. I managed to go out for walks ( twice – once this morning, and then after dinner). It was very cold but I quite enjoyed the freshness. Cursed under my breath in steep streets!. But did 11, 702 steps. Hurrah. I made some homemade mackerel pate (mackerel fillet, yoghurt & lemon). Had some with sliced cucumber for lunch & will have some tomorrow too. My husband cooked a chicken and so I’ve got some cold chicken in the fridge for over the next few days. I’m also putting soup ingredients into my shopping basket to be delivered early Thursday and am blocking out Thursday to batch make soup which I’ll freeze in individual portions then pull out for lunches as I need. Failed miserably on stopping milk in coffee and tea – had lots. But still, pretty pleased.
Jennie xx

Jennie I love milk in my tea and coffee so just allow for it in my daily calories. I only have a small amount in tea, so usually it’s about 100-150ml a day. I think of it as going towards my dairy serves. 100ml of full cream milk is only 61 calories – well worth it in my opinion! Having a coffee with milk this morning at 7am meant I could delay having breakfast until 10am, which shortens my eating window for the day 🙂

Morning everyone

Lovely to hear some positive progress on here. That’s great news. To me, there’s always something psychologically boosting about the beginning of a week – fresh start and all that. I had a good day yesterday too: stuck to plan and also got out for a run which, together with my daily dog walk, took my steps well over my 10000 target.

Hope I can keep the momentum going and see a good loss by Friday, especially as my weight shot up again over the weekend. Not sure what’s going on there. I confess I did veer off plan but with me that happens fairly frequently and I still manage to maintain. But over the last month or so that seems to be changing and the weight is piling on. SO I’m going to be careful and log everything this week and see how we go.

I had my Covid booster yesterday, and feel absolutely fine so far. Well done Cathy for being part of this enormous initiative.

I’m also loving all the food planning and preparation going on and will definitely follow some of your examples here.

Go well everyone X

Hello and it’s lovely reading the posts every day on this thread keeping us all motivated and on track. I’m not weighing until Friday. However, my work trousers definitely felt bigger this morning when I put them on so I am hoping that I may have lost some weight when I weigh in.

DCT- I had an incredibly painful arm on Saturday after my booster but to be honest I wasn’t impressed with my colleague who vaccinated me!! It really hurt as she injected me!!! Ouch!!
I felt a little tired and under the weather so had an early night the following evening but was back at work yesterday feeling great. So happy to have another level of protection!!
Keep going everyone- it’s so encouraging to read how you are all coming up with ways to boost our Christmas weight loss. The positivity alone is encouraging.

Have another good day everyone x

Cathy glad you are feeling better today 🙂 I must admit I’m looking forward to having my booster at the end of Jan just to have that extra protection 🙂

I had a good day today, I got up at 6.30am and went for a walk for an hour with my daughter. I love walking early in the morning, don’t have to worry about the UV rating, wear sunscreen etc but it’s also so much quieter, you can hear the birds and the air feels fresher 🙂
I started work at 8.30 and so had my breakfast during my morning break – a piece of low carb seed toast with vegemite and avocado and a boiled egg, then lunch at 12.30 was the salad I made last night (chicken, avocado & bacon), in the afternoon I was craving something sweet so had a couple of tablespoons of Greek yoghurt with some raspberries and blueberries. For dinner I made tuna pasta bake for my husband and one of my daughters, and some pasta with pesto & roast veggies for my youngest daughter. I decided to have that too, but just a small amount of wholemeal pasta and I added some tuna to mine. It definitely helped having the veggies already prepped and roasted as well as the pesto I made on the weekend. My calories came in at about 1,000 today with tea and coffee.

It was a busy day as after work I had my online grocery order delivered and had to sort and out away all of the shopping, plus take my MIL’s shopping to her – luckily she lives close by. It’s now 10.30pm and I’ve finally got to sit down!
I’m not working tomorrow so it should be a less hectic day – I want to fit in a longer walk and also do more food prep. I’d like to be able to do a whole weeks worth at once but just don’t have the room in my fridge for all the containers I’d need!
I’m not going to weigh until Friday but fingers crossed I’ll have a loss – at the very least it’s been good being more organised 🙂

Just a quick check in,hope everyone is having a good day/evening.I have had an ok day food wise but could have been better so aiming to stick to my food plan 100% tomorrow.Dawn X

Trying hard as I approach my Friday morning weigh in to ensure I stick to my plan! I desperately hope to weigh under 150 lbs this week. Today I fasted until lunchtime and had some cottage cheese and quorn ham slices followed by Greek Yoghurt and raspberries. Evening meal was roasted sprouts and two quorn sausages. I will fast tomorrow as long as possible and have an omelette and salad for my evening meal.
If I can get to 149 lb on Friday there is a very slim chance I can get to my Christmas goal of 144 lb.
I think my face looked slimmer today when I saw myself in the mirror. I will weigh myself first thing on Friday and post my weight. I am going to York for a couple of nights on Sunday. I am going to be very mindful when I am away and stick to my plan. I can’t scupper things for a couple of nights away.

Hope everyone is doing well. Eyes on the prize!

Cathy – I’ve got everything crossed for you for Friday morning. you only need to keep going tonight and tomorrow – you can do it! (Lucky you going to York – one of my favourite northern places). Oh, and snap. I had my booster jab (Moderna) last Wednesday morning and I also had a really very painful arm. It lasted right up to Saturday. Fine now though and really grateful to have had it.
SueBlue – good tip thinking about the milk just going towards my dairy intake. Getting a good range of nutrients is one of my goals; I’ve always had a tendency to eat the same things over and over. I used to measure out my milk when I first started BSD so am going back to that. I’ll start with 150ml and see how I go.
DCT – I’m with you. Not weighing and logging means I can very easily (and quite happily tbh) put just that bit too much on my plate, so along with my reduced milk allowance I’m going to weigh, measure and log everything! I know it works just got to do it!!!.
Food preparation is going well and tomorrow I’m batch cooking soup using one of my favourite cooking techniques – bung it all in and give it a stir!
Steps today – 10,390, yesterday – 12587 – so pleased with that but ooh, it’s been cold.
Yowser, Laura, Dawn, everyone – good luck for the rest of the week – and happy thanksgiving to one and all.
Jennie xx

Hi all,sorry totally forgot to post last night,didn’t have the 100% healthy eating day I had hoped for so trying for that again today,I will be pleased to just have lost any weight at all when I weigh myself tomorrow as I feel my week could have gone much better but I’m keeping up the daily posting,when I remember!Cathy,like Jennie,I’m keeping everything crossed for your weigh in.Dawn X

Hello all a quick update from me too.
It’s Thursday evening here and I have 10 minutes until the season finale of Home and Away starts lol! Have been watching it for many, many years although not as regularly nowadays, but as it’s the final episode I’m going to watch.
I had an okay-ish day yesterday, managed to eat healthily and to plan – until the evening when my husband was having a few beers so I joined in and had a couple of glasses of wine, then some garlic bread and pastizzis for dinner – oh dear 🙁
Today was better, but turned out to be a day of leftovers. For breakfast at 10am I had leftover cheese and roast veg omelette (the roast veg I made on the weekend really lasted the distance!), then lunch at 1pm was a half serve of Lentil Dahl from the freezer with some cauli rice and dinner at 6pm was a bit of a leftover buffet – coleslaw, wholemeal pasta salad (a VERY small amount), some Camembert cheese, olives and a vegetarian sausage, followed by Greek yoghurt, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. One thing I love about this time of the year is the fruit that is in season – mangoes, apricots, nectarines, peaches and of course berries. Not all of them strictly on plan but when I eat them I have as part of a meal and/or with yoghurt.
Good luck for your Friday weigh in Cathy, I have my fingers and toes crossed for you – and for me as well!

Morning everyone. I realise I forgot to post yesterday too. But nothing much to report here. Having a so-so week, been feeling a bit lethargic. Seem to be stalling a bit at the moment but will keep going! I had a lovely meal last night of baked cod with my home made attempt at Sag Bhaji – didn’t have all the ingredients but turned out pretty well regardless.

My main weakness and sabotager is snacking. “Just” a small bowl of nuts and the calories rocket! Sue I’m always amazed at how well you plan your food. You seem to eat really well and still keep the calories down; whereas I’m a bit all over the place. I seem to eat less “proper” food than you, but more snacks and my calories are still way higher than yours. I really must follow your planning example. It was also interesting to read about how well your advance food prep is lasting, as I’d wondered how you would manage to use everything within its appetising window! Well done: I wish I could just come and live in your house until I reach my target 🙂

Cathy good luck for tomorrow, I really hope you see a well-deserved loss. Jennie well done with the steps! And Dawn I hope your week picks up again today.

Hello everyone else, sorry not to mention you all by name but I’m scared I’ll either forget someone or lose this message if I scroll back! But do keep posting, every one is read, and – speaking personally – I always react to what is posted, be it admiration or empathy or a great big cheer, even if I don’t get round to posting back!

Lots of love and here’s to a happy weigh in day tomorrow X

DCT the main problem so far with the advanced food prepping is my fridge Is full of containers! I’m definitely going to invest in some clear ones (preferably glass) so I can see what is inside!
The book I mentioned a few days ago did suggest prepping all meals for 5 days, but I didn’t do that much as I just don’t have the room, plus like to have some flexibility (although not always a good idea as last night proved!)
I’ve found most meals freeze well – curries, bolognaise, chilli etc – so I always freeze extra, even if it’s a 1/2 sized portion, as they are good for lunches or quick meals when I don’t feel like cooking.
But the roast veg kept really well – I had cooked a tray full of zucchini, onion, mushroom & capsicum and used them over 5 days in different meals.
I do eat really well (perhaps too well at times!), and don’t tend to snack much at all, I don’t feel the need to most of the time as my meals are filling for the most part. If I do it’s often more out of stress or boredom to be honest, or craving something sweet.
I’m going to have an “off plan” weekend as it’s another family birthday and get together, but I’m going to try and be sensible as I want my November weight loss to be better than October, and of course still want to reach my 2021 goal before Christmas.

Just quickly popping in,on my way outdoors while it’s crisp and bright weather!
Just leaving hugs and Thanksgiving hugs xxx
Keep chugging along on our Terrific Transport,the Christmas Coach. Soon be time to decorate the windows xx🥳

Looking forward to getting the Christmas decorations up on the Christmas bus Yowser and also having a festive singalong too! We are all working so hard this week as we head towards Christmas Eve.

I’ve had another good day. Cottage cheese, some nuts and yoghurt for lunch. Evening meal is Halloumi ratatouille bake from the fast 800 cook book. I can smell it cooking in the oven and I am so hungry. I really haven’t eaten enough this last couple of days in order to secure what I hope will be a weight under 150 lb tomorrow morning! Can you imagine if I’ve put on again!

My lovely friend has just completed her second week of radiotherapy/chemotherapy and has four more weeks to endure. It makes my weight loss journey seem ridiculous doesn’t it? She is so brave.

Hope you’re all doing well and I’ll be posting my weight on here tomorrow morning……… I sort of dread getting on the scales!

Hi All
Sorry I haven’t been posting, I must try harder! I do read all the posts every day or every other day. It’s just we haven’t been sticking totally to the diet each day. We’re quite good BUT some nasty carb treats are creeping in – mainly due to us buying some treats for the nurses who have been dressing Carl’s leg for the last 4 months & scoffing some (let’s be honest – half) of them ourselves – Those chocolate Almond & Hazelnut Florentines from Aldi are our greatest temptations. We also found a box with 6 unopened boxes of biscuits – 4 large Victoria & 2 Foxes chocolatey ones – these are slightly out of date, otherwise they could go to the food bank & they are sat downstairs tempting me as hubby pulled them out of the box & put them on the table. I just wish I could give them away.

To be honest I think we’re both quite happy with our weight loss (I wanted to get down to 12stone & hubby to 16stone+ & we’re both below our initial goal weight) & because we’ve had SO many memorable dates in November to celebrate we’ve gone off the straight & narrow. The last date was yesterday – when we went to Sainsburys restaurant (Oh the high life!) for their Christmas dinner lunch – which was pretty poor – a few brussel sprouts, a tablespoonful of cauliflower cheese, 4 very small roast potatoes, 2 small Yorkshire puddings, a small amount of Turkey with cranberry sauce, 2 small pigs in blankets & a teaspoon sized stuffing. this was us celebrating Thanksgiving in the US so HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone that is still celebrating it in the US.

My water tablets (the pharmacy is now sending me drugs from a different manufacturer) they are now not working, my ankles, which are normally very slim, are so bloated sometimes I can hardly walk. Spoken to the pharmacist & told him BUT although he’s normally very good I think I caught him on a bad day. Myself I think they forgot to put produce in or were making placebos & somehow managed to put them in the sleeves, as happens sometimes! Working as a Senior Analyst for a major pharmaceutical, the worst I remember was when sleeves of birth control pills kept coming back. Myself & my best friend Sue used to test all customer complaints & about 2/3rds of them contained no produce at all! EEK!!! Sadly they had a ‘company man’ analyst who then got given them to test. He used to spend more time on the calculator than doing any assay work & somehow ALL of his were 100% – absolute bullsh.t as he couldn’t assay to save his life! We used to scrawl ALL over the paperwork – NO produce. placebo etc. but we suspect that they made new paperwork & took his results only. OMG I could tell some tales!

Anyways despite my crap water tablets my weight is staying pretty good at about 11st 10lbs & I know I should be quite a bit lighter. Despite being lighter I sat on the loo yesterday & slowly sunk down until I was nearly on the floor. OMG we had a leak at the back, thankfully clean water going into the cistern. I always thought the cistern had a hole below it for the waste but found out it’s behind it instead (now sealed off with rags). I haven’t phoned a plumber yet as I know we needed to get the dehumidifier on to dry it all out before we can really have anything done. It’s also gone though the kitchen ceiling, great joy of joys! We need a new kitchen too but also needed that before this happened. We also need to have a whole bathroom redesign – either a wet-room or a large shower instead of a bath with shower over. We also need to have our warm air boiler & a new combi boiler water heater replacement before we do this (we want a power shower) as the pump has just given up, making it toasty warm upstairs & cold downstairs. I’m doubting very much that we can have this done for a few months so I’ve ordered a Thetford portable toilet (similar to the one in the motor-home) to tide us through this.

It’s been a long old day & it’s now 2am so I’m off to bed. Yowser I just hope your daughter doesn’t end up with long covid. I had that & it’s NO fun – the main problem was the severe breathlessness. Cathy & DCT – good luck for the weigh ins. SueBlue – you are SO organised, you put me to shame. Jennie – you go girl & everyone else, keep on keeping off peeps.
Linda XXX

Morning all,well it’s supposed to be my weigh in today but I’ve woken very bloated so am putting it off as a gain could deflate my enthusiasm! Will maybe weigh tomorrow or wait until next Friday and hopefully have a big loss😀Keeping my fingers crossed for everyone else weighing in.Dawn X

Hi everyone

Good luck Cathy for your weigh in. I hope you see the results you are hoping for and that you deserve.

Dawn that sounds sensible and I hope you’re feeling better and less bloated soon.

Linda great to hear from you and glad all is well. Enjoy the maintaining but just be careful about too many treats . . . I speak as one who knows 😉 I’ve found its very easy to slip back into the habits that got us here in the first place. But equally it’s lovely to be able to celebrate happy times without being obsessed with what we’re eating and drinking: life’s too short! Hope you get your toilet and ankles sorted. I was really interested – and horrified tbh – to read your inside information about pharmaceuticals. Could explain a lot.

Yowzer we love the decorations 🙂

Mixed scales results for me this morning. I’m 145lb which is much better than my rapid gain last weekend, so that’s good and it could have been worse. But I’m quite a way from where I want to be. As much of my weight gain is very recent I’d still like to aim to get under 10 stone again by Christmas if I can, but I’d settle for anywhere between 140-142lb as second best. Much of this is my own doing though, as I have been pretty wayward recently.

So Sue I’m going to follow your example and do some proper meal planning. I tend to plan my main meal but ad lib the rest and it’s not working. What also isn’t working is fasting too long. I usually skip breakfast and have a light lunch but when I hit mid-afternoon I’m craving food and then the snack attacks start. So I’m going to go back to three nutritious meals a day and borrow some of your recipes Sue to get me going again. That was how I started BSD and had a rapid initial weight loss. And even though I’ve done 16:8 and sometimes 18:6 since then – with some success – I just seem to need to eat more regularly at the moment. Whether it’s the cold weather or because I’m now that little bit older I don’t know, but that’s my plan for the remaining 4 weeks of this journey.

Good luck everyone X

Morning everyone

Dawn- I think your right to put off your weigh in this morning- I know only too well how a gain can upset the rest of the day and be a massive disappointment and set back.

Dreamscometrue- well done on your loss and I have no doubt that you will achieve your Christmas goal. Just keep being good!

Lindaandhubby- lovely to catch up on your news. I am being particularly frugal this year in what “Christmas goodies” I buy. Every year I over buy and end up eating it all throughout January. That is not happening this year. I am only going to cater for a one week window of festivities and allow myself one week off plan and then it’s straight back on the January Bus!

🥁 🥁 🥁 🥁 🥁 🥁……………I’m 149lbs this morning so I have reached the first step on my six step plan. I was so happy to break the 150 lb barrier at last. So far in this challenge I have lost 7.4 lb! I am so happy with that. My next goal is to get to 147 lb. Thank you everyone for your continued support – it means a lot to me.

Tomorrow I am seeing my son and his wife as they are now out of isolation and we are having a piano concert at home and “afternoon tea”. That could be a challenge! I will surreptitiously avoid the clotted cream scones! On Sunday I am off to York for a couple of nights but I think I’ll be able to reign myself in and obviously I’ll be walking around. It does mean that when I get home on Tuesday, I’ll have three days to fast and behave and ideally I’d love to shed another lb this week. There is always something to try and scupper us.

Anyway, hope to read some more success stories his week.

Have a great week everyone and keeeeeeeeeep focused!

Cathy great news!!!! So happy for you. And I’m sure you’ll shift another pound this week despite the celebrations.

Well done, and well-deserved.

Good luck to everyone else too X

CCathy I’m so happy for you after your hard work! I had Couple of absolutely awful weeks- why?- no reason just ate too much of everything I shouldn’t. I’ve been good this week and I think all is well though I haven’t weighed, clothes don’t feel any different. Still here though so I guess that is a positive.

I’m actually posting from a party. I’m being good as far as food goes but I have a glass of champagne in front of me 🥺

Yay! Well done CC!
I have been anxiously awaiting your news. So pleased for you 🙂

So glad you got under 150 CCATHY! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 huge applause! Those numbers must have been a very welcome sight on yr scales! X 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
DAWN i agree,best not to weigh today,as disappointment can lead to discouragement,and then eating the wrong things..I have done that too many times in the past! Weigh again when you’re not bloaty!X
DCT! Keep going and hope you make 140! A nice well deserved Xmas present but yes just a bit above wd be good too! X
MARIET youre so disciplined ! At a party but only a glass of champers! Enjoy it,savour every sip,and I’m glad you haven’t denied yrself that one treat. Like CCATHY said.. Life gets in the way at times and messes with our plans.
One glass can’t do much harm tho and it’s fun! ( hic!) X
LINDA ..Belated Thanksgiving wishes! 🥳
the biscuits..that’s a dilemma..I feel for you,I wd be very tempted to put the kettle on and dig in.
Wd trying to think of them as just a bag of sugar and some fat help? I’ve done that a few times and it’s worked for me.
Not always tho I hasten to add. Have you any slim friends or neighbours, or just happily larger,who would take them off your hands?
Your ankles,mine are always swollen due to lymphedema,and it does affect balance. Hope you can get that sorted soon
Well that’s enough from me for today..SUEBLUE!JENNIE!ANTIGONE! And all..keep going..onwards and downwards!
As for me,haven’t been weighed for ages ( in fact my scales need a new battery)but three people have commented this week that I look slimmer and I know from how my clothes feel that I’m doing ok ( ish)!
CCATHY you’ve got me excited about the January bus! I know Xmas will do some damage,good to know we can board the New Year bus and rectify it!X
PS got my first Xmas card today..🥳🎶 deck the halls with boughs of holly..tra la la la la…🥳🎶

Hi all and very well done Cathy🎉🎉🎉 I’ve had an ok day but feeling pretty washed out as woke at 4 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep.Really windy outside tonight so think I will put earplugs in otherwise no way I will get any sleep!Will check in again tomorrow.Dawn X

Hi DAWN.,weathers very stormy here too.I must admit I love being in bed all cosy and listening to the doors and windows rattling and the wind in the trees! I hope you can catch up on your sleep tonight XX nighty night and sleep sweet XX

We are having issues with the weather here too – record November rainfall which is causing flooding in some regional Areas and may affect parts of Sydney too. I honestly can’t remember a November like this one before – it’s late spring so usually hot and sunny but we’ve had lots of cool rainy days – it was only 16 degrees when I went out this morning.
Cathy – huge congratulations on your achievement this week 🙂
Dawn – I’m going to join you in waiting till next week to weigh in as I just KNOW I haven’t lost this week… I was so organised as the beginning of the week but it went downhill from there – dinner last night was KFC chips and a piece of chicken for example!
Yowzer – I’m looking forward to decorating the bus, I’m putting up my tree on Wednesday as it’s the first of December – we usually do it on the first Sat in December but as I’m off on Wednesdays now we’ll do it then.
Have a good weekend all!