My w/e turned into a bit of a BSD minefield, with one take away, two meals out, two glasses of champagne and two margaritas! As far as the meals go, I tried to make BSD friendly choices and avoid unnecessary carbs (obviously ignoring the alcohol here), but I’m still dreading stepping on the scales tomorrow morning. Really pleased I have one day in hand to try to pull myself back on track before the end of the challenge. Will report in on Tuesday morning – hopefully not with a horrendous gain!

Fingers crossed for you, SunnyB, with the fingers on my other hand crossed for me.
Never mind my Friday night fish and chips, that was then, last night was pizza, followed by icecream, with the family for Fathers’ Day.

A minimalist day today, that’s for sure, for both of us.

Minimalist day for many of us after two Cornish pasties in two days for me (and wine or beer every day over my holiday) back to work today with a Fast day, then back to badminton tomorrow and Wednesday to try to show myself holiday time is over for at least another six weeks. Back to my routine and to work, with a weigh in tomorrow to assess the weight I have to get rid of to get back in my zone during the next challenge. Plan is 2 fast days this week, if I still need to lose weight then 3 fast days next week, and if still high after that 5 fast days the week after, back to 2 fast days the week after that if okay again. Of course if I am surprised by still being in my zone after this holiday I will just keep on keeping on with 2 fast days, but I am currently pessimistic as I feel slightly heavy and am looking forward to my fast day.

Hi everyone, I have still only lost 3.5 lbs but hoping for a small result tomorrow. BG still around 5.0 so happy enough with that. Just looked at Le Meteo (weather forecast) and it says 25 and sunny so how come it is p….ing down. Oh well no swim again today.

I will be starting a new thread called Keep on keeping on… and hope to see you all there for this new 4 week challenge.

Will be there s-g, am already gritting my teeth in anticipation of tomorrow’s weigh-in and closure of this challenge. See you all tomorrow.

OMG – another crappy weekend – too much food, too much booze!! Dreading weigh in tomorrow but am relieved it’s the end of the challenge so that I can draw a line under it and start again!! Saints preserve us, it’s gotta be better than this one’s been!!!!

Lots of us with you, TC. My w/e was not as BSD friendly as I’d hoped and I have an awful feeling that at best, I’ll come in at exactly the same as last Tuesday. Just hope I haven’t completely wasted another week, as my time for building some wriggle room before our holiday is fast running out. Hopefully the next challenge will see us both right.

I’m with you too, topcac and SuunyB. Not a good weekend bsd wise – though great in all other respects. Daughter’s 40th birthday celebrations lead to a little too much food and a lot too much wine 😈 Started weekend with 3lbs wriggle room so hoping, against hope, that I will still come in under target at tomorrow’s weigh in. But watch this space. …….

Oh, I seem to be the first to report in on the last day of this challenge, but I am thrilled to say that, despite all our guests and mad social commitments, including my lovely daughter’s 40th birthday celebrations over the past weekend, I am concluding this challenge at exactly the same weight as I started it – 8st 4lbs (116lbs), which is 3lbs under target weight 😆 My challenge was to maintain (though quite how I’ve managed it, I’m not sure😉) so think I can count it a success. Doing the happy dance 😃

I know some of you have been struggling but take heart, this WOE and the consequent weight loss really is sustainable long term, even with parties, dining out and loads of social engagements thrown in. So good luck to everyone on next month’s challenge – we can, and will do this.

I’ve weighed in at 9st 5 & a half lbs this morning so not only did I manage to not put weight on in France I’ve ended the month 2 & a half lbs lighter!
But the real reason for my happy dance today is that I have just entered the ideal BMI category! I’m right at the top of that now so I’d like to lose a bit more and have wiggle room but none-the-less, very happy to be here! Going to buy a new dress from Seasalt to mark the occasion 😉
Well done to you Hotel Theodora! How’s everyone else doing? See you on the next challenge!

Hi everyone, today is the end of this challenge and my final weigh in is a loss of 3.5 lbs, not bad as I have only done the last 2 weeks. It shows it can be done and I am going to be really good for the next 4 days (including today) as I have an appointment with my doctor on Friday and hope to be another 1.5lbs down. Fingers crossed.

BG was very low this morning at 4.0 so hope that bodes well (sound like a Victorian novel) for my HbA1c tomorrow. See you all over on the Keep On Keeping On…. 4 week challenge. Good luck everyone.

Well done Theodora – don’t know how you’ve done it but I definitely need lessons. I finish this challenge a whopping 4.5lbs heavier than when I started it. Even my size 10s are beginning to feel the pinch. I have precisely 25 days before my ‘sun’ holiday and I am despairing – i’ve basically lost my mojo and my will power and good intentions have left with it. I have a long weekend in Madrid to contend with, plus two weekends when we are entertaining. So I’ll see you on the next challenge and will set out my stall for all to see there!

Yours mopingly

TC

Well done, Theodora – how did you manage to do that?! Well done too, to sunshine-girl and Maisie. Commiserations with those who have not done so well on the challenge.

I’m reporting a small loss 0.8lb for the week – the w/e messed things up a bit. However, overall for the whole challenge, I can report a total los of 2.8lb. Given that I am now in the situation of being under target and building some wriggle room, I’m content with that progress and happy to be closing out the challenge on an up note. See you all on the next challenge ……

A total weight loss of 3.8 lbs on this challenge which I am delighted about. Started at 141.6 and today am 137.8. I have managed to stay below 140 for the last four week! Hurray!! I don’t honestly know how some of you manage to eat and drink socially and still lose weight and I am most envious. I feel this challenge has been a good one for me and am happy with my weight and ready to move over to what I hope might be my final weight loss challenge before moving over to maintenance!

posted by Marsie
on 13 Jun 2017
Starting this challenge at 63.1kg.
The above is what I posted on 13th June. Since then I’ve done a whole heap of soul searching, setting new directions etc, with, apparently, much denial and rejection/self sabotage in the aftermath. Weighed in this morning at 64.6kg. 3 months now in the wrong direction. With you mopingly, TC.

So well done to Theodora, MaisieMouse, sunshine-girl, SunnyB. I’m definitely not jealous or envious of your outcomes but I am admiring of the commitment leading to your results xx

Oh Marsie, whilst that result is not what you want, it’s not a disaster and over a three month period not a huge increase. So join the Keep on Keeping on …. challenge, refocus and get right back to the 800 – that 1.5kg will soon be history. It’s tough facing the self doubt and trying to marshal the motivation, but we’ll all be there to help push you along. We all KNOW you can do this, now you just have to believe you can achieve your goal and it will all start to happen.

See you on the Keep on Keeping on … challenge and be ready to achieve great things!

Hi All. So impressed with all the success. I need to learn from all of you.My weight is static at 82.8. Kg. Week day eating is fine untill after dinner when snacking urges are a real problem.last weekend we had a two meals out and I had wine. So Im undoing all the good work
Also not excersising I have osteo in my sacro illiac joint quite painful and seeing the physio .As soon ad she clears me Im going to start a serious walking program .On the positive side I bought a dress for my sons wedding in size 16.so Im down 2 dress sizes since I started last year. IT’S a bit snug but Im using it for motivation.see you all on the next challenge.

Well done MM, s-g, SunnyB and CC.

Commiserations to TC and Marsie, I’m sure the next challenge will be better for you.

Butterlover, staying the same is far better than gaining and, frankly, not being able to exercise must make things far more difficult. Well done on the reduced dress size – your son’s wedding is such an exciting time for you and hopefully a great motivator.

To be honest, I’m not sure how I’ve managed either – not only to maintain but even keep some wriggle room. I confess that at one stage during the challenge I went one pound over target 😱 As you know, July and August have been absolutely manic socially for me, but whenever I’ve had a day or two between guests / social engagements (approx 1 day a week on average ) I have thrown in a total fast day of liquids only, if only one free day, or a couple of 800 days if a couple of free days on the trot have been available. This, and walking about 10 miles a day on hilly coastal paths with the dogs (which takes me only half the time now I don’t have all that excess baggage to carry 😉) seems to be doing the trick. Long may it last – because, apart from staying off the white carbs ( apart from the occasional frites with my moules😃) I am eating to satiety and have had wine (sometimes far too much) on every day apart from the fasts/800s. I think the secret may be to get rid of any small gain immediately and not let it “settle”. May be talking complete rubbish here though – I’m no scientist so only speculating on what seems to be working for me.

Good luck on the next challenge everyone
– I’ve only maintained for 18 weeks so far so certainly not sitting on my laurels yet, as things have a habit of turning round and biting one in the bum!!!

You’re so inspiring Theodora!

‘not let it settle’… I love that!
I think that hits the nail on the head for me… I have to keep on weighing myself… most days if I can! That keeps me focussed.

Oh, and reading the emails from you all helps too!

But apart from enjoying chips occasionally at restaurants I’m not tempted by bread, pasta, cakes etc… I just love the way my clothes fit now and I don’t even hate my reflection/photos anymore and if that means never eating those things again I am totally happy to do that!

Weighing myself daily certainly helps me to keep focus, Maisie. Regardless of whether the result is up or down, it spurs me on either to build on the loss or get rid of the gain.

And I think there is some wisdom in dealing with any gain swiftly, Theodora, rather than it being consolidated or compounded by more on top. Like you say, not sure there is any scientific validity in that reasoning, but psychologically I think it feels easier to lose any gain as promptly as possible, rather than letting it hang around before trying to lose it. It’s probably a motivation thing, but regardless of the reason, to me it makes sense to ditch any gain quickly. You’re doing brilliantly, Theodora and I’m sure you have a good enough handle on things now, to feel comfortable in maintenance. Hopefully I’ll be able to join you there before the Festive Season. The next challenge and the holiday will have a great baring on whether or not that will be the case.

Maisie and Sunny, so pleased you can see where I’m coming from and didn’t think I was talking complete twaddle 😉 I also find it helpful to weigh daily.

I haven’t faced a festive season yet, so that may be a challenge as we always have a houseful ( 12 – 14) staying for Christmas and New Year. But will face that come December – don’t even want to think about it yet 😱

Sunny, I have every confidence that, holidays notwithstanding, you will slide comfortably into maintenance before December. Go girl 😃

I agree with you Maisie, the thrill of fitting into small clothes, enjoying our reflection after years of avoiding it and, most importantly, feeling healthy and energetic far outweigh any carb temptation. Let’s all move forward together and look forward to enjoying a healthy future.

Such good sense in the above conversation, thank you.’

This is a wonderful example of WHY I LOVE this forum. Despite my lack of ….. well, I don’t know ….. whatever it is I’m lacking, I can see a clear pathway to success in what others share. It’s my problem that I’m unable to continue for long enough on that path for myself. That’s rather garbled but I’ll let it stand. And as I wrote above, this isn’t envy it’s admiration.

My morning weigh in was a bit of a shock, although having been away from my scales for several weeks, eating loads of things that have the demon carbs in and drinking wine with no balancing fast days it was not unexpected, so I am at 11 stone 5 pounds, which is heavier than I have been since Christmas. So now comes the instant reaction that needs to be part of my life going forward, two fast days this week, three next week if still over and five the week after that if required. I will sign up to the next challenge as well, with some weight to lose this time. Time to get back to my target and get a little bit of sub target wiggle room back again. The good news is that I still fit into even my tightest clothes, so the damage can’t be too bad.

MnM my morning weigh in was a shock too – a 100g gain on last week. It was a pleasant shock though as I’ve spent the last 6 days away interstate on holidays. I didn’t stick to plan, ate what I felt like (including Burgers, fries, pizza) and drank beer & wine! I fully expected a few kilos gain so was really happy at only 100g 🙂
Although I wasn’t strictly counting calories old habits die hard and I logged most things in MFP. My daily average was 1200-1300 calories. Also, although I did eat some not so healthy foods, I did start each day with a BSD breakfast (usually porridge and berries or eggs). I also only had one big meal each day – so if lunch out then a healthy snack for tea, or dinner out then just a coffee at lunch time. I think the other thing that helped was all the walking we did – 105,000 steps in 6 days.
So my total loss for the 4 weeks was good (for me) at 1.4kg which I think is 3lb thereabouts.
Now that holidays are over and my birthday and anniversary are looming I’ll definitely see you all in the Keeping on thread 🙂

First morning on the new challenge and 1.2 pounds lighter so at least some of that gain was water and short term, I will post daily for a while there, just to keep myself focused.

Haven’t logged in for a while – but have been reading this very inspiring forum every day. I decided to allow myself to comfort eat over August – but only on BSD friendly food. So I ate too much nut butter spread on 90% Lindt and way too much cream and cheese and chicory coffee. Weigh in yesterday was a 6lb gain at 9st 13.75lbs. Decided to drop to 1200 calories and today am 9st 12.5lbs.

Husband is recovering well and has ditched the crutches for walking sticks. Daughter and family are coping well after the horrible dog attack – although still really sad about the death of their little dog. I am back at work after the summer vacation and life feels as though it is getting back to normal. August was a horrible month for us and I am glad it is over.

It was a relief to get back to normal eating and it felt as though my body sighed with relief that I wasn’t eating so much. So goal is now to get back to 9 stone 7lbs.

I am late signing out from this challenge and following a turbulent month of up and downing(?), today I weigh three pounds more than 4 weeks ago. So I yet again it seems as though I am maintaining although I have at least another three stone to lose!
We are off on holiday in two weeks so I will not be joining the next challenge, but will be lurking around to see how you are all doing with Keeping On Keeping On.
I will not give up on this as I know that without you all I would end up gaining back all the lost weight, plus more – so I will keep on keeping on one day at a time.
Thank you for being there.
X B

Nice to see you again, KrysiaD, have wondered how you and your family were after all the upsets. Happy for you with the signs of their progress, and sure you will succeed with your new goal x

Enjoy your holiday, busybee, we’ll still be there on the next challenge, keeping on keeping on……

Marsie – surprisingly I am another pound down this morning – especially as I have only reduced calories down to 1200. I realised this week that over August I hardly drank any water at all – so maybe this has helped.