Moderate March

you can google the Plank. Nothing to do with pirates....

Kim19 When you said how your eating habits had changed and mentioned walnuts (yum yum) I thought I'd ask you for some help please!

Do you have any diets or recipes or whatever to get me started? I am mobility limited (disabled) so weight loss really is governed by food intake for me. I do not like eating meat but can substitute it in recipes quite easily.

Thanks for your post. It inspired me!

Please may I join? I've been 'trying' since January and have made zero progress, so perhaps I must try harder!! I would be happy if I lost 1lb per week, but not the same pound every week iyswim !!
Thank you

schnackie "I am the most sedentary person on the planet." You say? NO you're not! It's me!

Tegan2 Please Miss, What are "plank exercises?"

(Is is as scary as it sounds?)

I was very pleased to have lost some weight but have been rather self-indulgent of late. When I went out and braved the blessed snow I rewarded myself with a mandarin trifle. Today I had to go out again and along with the essentials I treated myself with some white chocolate shortbread. Oh dear. Will I ever learn? Some serious self discipline is required.

Tegan, what is the’Plank” exercise? Also someone mentioned a Stepper they got from ASDA. Was that you?
What is that please?

Hi Schnackie. Not sure I agree with you re exercise being the only way to shift the weight. Have you seen Michael Mosley (Trust Me, I'm a Doctor) at all? His advice is to exercise little and regularly in short, sharp bouts.

For me, it's doing the Twist to Let's Twist Again by Chubby Checker, three or four times a day. At 70, I'm knackered after each three or four minute session.

When I think, at 17, I could' twist' all evening.

Ah, me.

Hi All! I have just found this thread and would also like to join. I am 'vertically challenged' (4 foot 11 inches) so every single pound is noticeable, usually on my chubby little face.
After drinking a few beers every single day for years, I gave that up, and after 6 months, I lost a total of 4 pounds. (Did not make me go back to drinking, lol.) I know exercise is the only thing that will shift it for me but I am the most sedentary person on the planet.
Looking forward to following this thread.

Hello OM and thank you for this. Happily I've jogged along nicely and am continuing to lose a nice 1lb a week. As you so rightly say it's a total change in attitude to eating. I don't do much by way of breakfast but always eat a few walnuts to make sure the metabolism kicks in and doesn't go into conservation mode. I also feel so many of us try to lose too much too quickly and this often ends up in disappointment and a huge feeling of deprivation. I moved into the 8:16 recommended by Jane10 a while ago and I haven't looked back. As everyone so rightly says it's a case of finding out what works out best for you both mentally and physically. After that success can only be the result but undoubtedly never ending vigilance is the name of the game. My eating habits are now unrecognisable to a couple of years ago but, hand on heart, I'm missing nothing. I'm also appreciating many of the obvious health benefits. I'm not even remotely smug just very, very grateful. Go for it ladies.

My ploy re sweet things....only eat what you bake/make yourself. This works because I’m not a natural baker, I don’t much enjoy it, so when I have made a batch (usually biscuits) I eek them out. I also give some away. If I feel like a snack at night I don’t resort to chocolate.

And finally I know exactly what’s gone into them.

Sounds odd that I’ve started baking to lose weight but works for me.

Wow and welcome to all younewcomers and the ‘dropped off the wagoners’ ?

I have also started calorie counting although I need to have fewer than 1500 calories to lose weight, probably caused by years of dieting and different diets. I have found this easier to do by writing everything I eat and drink down and it is easier to work out the calories nowadays as most things have the calories on them and there are also lots of resources on line to help you work out the calories of other foods.

I have recently stopped having breakfast and drink only black coffee until midday when I have my first meal of the day. I try to have my main meal by 6pm and drink only water or tea with a small amount of skimmed milk before bed time. If I limit my calorie intake to approximately 1300 calories a day and am honest about writing everything down I am able to lose one pound a week, sometimes more by these measures.

Of course I have occasional lapses but try to get back to counting calories as soon as possible. I have lost 16 Pounds over about 12 months which may not seem much but I do feel better and will continue until I have a BMI Of around 25.

A lot of people say that you should always have breakfast but the fasting method I use has been tried and tested by Doctor Michael Moseley and this method works best for me.

BarmyOldBat, my husband has a very sweet tooth and is also very slim with just a little excess fat round his middle. I am always gently cautioning him about his eating habits and when he saw the doctor this week about something else the doctor said his urine looked as if he may have some diabetes so he has to go for a blood test as soon as he can get to the hospital. Hopefully if he is diabetic or pre-diabetic it can be remedied by a more careful diet. We stopped buying sweets, cakes and biscuits years ago but has recently got in the habit of buying cakes far too often. I’m sure your idea to limit cake and biscuits will pay dividends and nip things in the bud for you both.

Hello again everyone. I'm afraid I fell off the wagon somewhat in February due to being on hols till 7th then too much eating out when we returned home.

It is no hardship for me to forgo breakfast and not eat till lunchtime. So I don't think I've put any weight on, just not actually lost any. This spell of bad weather is putting paid to eating out for this week anyway. I'm thinking that will give me a head start for Moderate March.

Hey Ho!

Hi I’d like to join as well please. Just turned 70 last month and I’m so unfit though I did ask for a Fitbit watch from my children for my birthday and went for a walk along the seafront with friends this week and ended doing nearly 20,000 steps that day. I know I need to exercise and keep snacking I’m afraid. I’ll try and do the plank and see how it goes. I’ve been a vegan for 14 months after being vegetarian for over 29 years which was so much easier. Not sure how to join though. Good luck to us all x

On the subject of calorie counting, there was a programme on TV a while ago about the habits of seemingly "naturally slim" people and what they did differently to us chubsters.
I have adopted a couple of their strategies, and find them useful.

1. If you really really want/need cake/biscuits/other "bad" food, have it, enjoy it, but have it as a meal. Not as an extra.
2. If you have a day of over indulgence, cut back the next day. If I have a big meal in the evening or go out to eat and spoil myself with pudding, I find the next day I can't face breakfast and wait until mid morning or lunch time to eat.

The people in this programme ate all sorts of stuff, healthy and not so healthy, they just seemed to space it out more and so the calorie count evened out over the week. And they stayed slim.

We are both slim, very active and eat Ahea.thy diet but have a sweet tooth. So it came as a shock to. Learn that we were both at risk of diabetes because of our sweet tooth. So now we are on a a cake or biscuit once a week diet which is going to be hard with Easter coming up

Nothing to say on Moderate March-I'm waiting for Avaricious April!

thanks Millbrook. Got it now.

Morning all.

Welcome GrannyBettie...I'm quite new to posting too, and have only just discovered the 'I'm watching' button. That will send you an alert when there is activity on your chosen thread, so you. Am keep track of what's happening.

Good luck with Moderate March!

Sorry about the bottom bit, blame the cat for leaping on me in the middle of typing!

I’ve just found this thread, please my I join? I think I may be a little different to most of you in that I an 80, have had both hips done, and have asthma and an under active thyroid.
I need to lose a lot of weight, so any tips I can pick up on here will be gratefully received. Someone mentioned weights.....what exactly do you DO with them?? I have a couple of grandchildren getting married next year and do not want to be this size then. Vanity....and at my age too!


I need to lose a lot of weigh

Thanks Cambia, my injury happened on week 1! So cross, especially as I’d roped in DD to do it with me and now she’s going great guns on week 5! I don’t like being 60?

I'd like to join in this ladies if I may. I am a new Gransnetter (well lurked for sometime with only one or two posts) so not sure how to pick up threads - advice most welcome. I will weigh in today and see how I go. Many thanks in advance. I think the support on the site will assist.........

My knees hurt HenHarrier24 when I am doing Couch to 5k. This is the third year of attempting it. I always get to week 7 and have to stop because my knees hurt so much. Hoping when the weather warms up, so will my knees! Well done for sticking to 1500 calories, not easy at this time of year.