I’m a Pear ? the sequel part 3 - Wow!

I have just sent Gransnet a message asking about this strange phenomenon and here we are trending but I don’t think they’ve had time to even read my message so I don’t think it’s anything to do with me..😁

From experience on this thread we have quite a few new members at the beginning of each year and a large percentage just drift away.

The stalwarts here about 6/7 of us keep going regardless of the ups and downs of our weight.

IMO the Pears and Apple stalwarts are the true Losers and I applaud them 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

I’m an evening snacker too, it’s a job to find something low carb and not high in calories , the fruit bowl I try and aim for, also at weekends I like a little tipple, then I fancy something sweet , mini meringue nests helps with few calories….

Trying to do lots of batch cooking to save electricity so last night it was really hard baking and not having a cup of tea or a snack. But I stuck to my no food or drinks after 6 pm. It isn’t just snacking in the evening that I’ve been doing but grabbing something to eat when I get up in the night to go to the loo. I’m having to re programme myself to stop doing it.

Hi everyone, I was a regular earlier in the year, but since I achieved target have lurked more often than commented. I want to thank you all for the support that you gave me while I was actively ‘dieting’. I also wanted to say that I’m maintaining at target - just to encourage you all to keep going and let you know that it can be done.

Well done Sarahmob 👍

Well done from me too Sarahmob - I've missed your posts as your 'user name' is listed on my phone contacts being my daughter's name! You have done well - not just reaching your target but also maintaining which can be as hard!
I have remained the same to all intents and purposes this week - a gain of 0.2 of a pound - enough to show a jump up on my chart which keeps me focused but not enough to worry too much about!
Good luck everyone as we have our final push before the sins of Christmas take over !!!!!!!!!!

Morning all. NanKate I do tell as many as I can about the Pears as it's a lovely thread. I even talk about in real life along with other threads but never mention any names.

Some have mentioned fasting tried that in my 20's it was horrible. No 64 no way would I try it. I know it works for some people but our bodies need certain amount of calories to function and definitely all the nutrients it needs . If you don't eat our bodies are very clever and hold on to the energy stored in our fat cells instead of using it. Fasting can kick start a weight loss but shouldn't be maintained for more than a few days. We need food to keep our sorry to mention it but our bowels working properly. If you don't eat or eat enough calories your body needs can lead to constipation.

Even if you drink to much water for days that can lead to diluting your sodium and folic acid levels to much. I know I did that when I had months of UTIs and kidney infections. Got told off by my GP as I had upped my usual 8-10 drinks a day to 12-14 and had to have 3 month course of folic acid tablets. I thought if I drank more it would flush the infection out 🤦 caused me other problems.

But everyone is different and has their own way of losing weight I am not saying whatever way you choose is wrong just be careful and make sure you have all the nutrients your body needs to function.

I do take a daily calcium,vit D and vit K tablet,cod liver oil,vit B12 as I don't eat red meat,folic acid and vit C. No idea if they help but trying to make sure I cover all bases. May be over kill but that's me.

Sarahmob maintaining all that time is brilliant and gives me hope I can do it once I reach my goal even if it takes me another year to get there.

Well I totally expected to have put on pounds this week but much to my amazement stayed the same as last week. I expected the scales yesterday to say one at a time 🤣.

Had emergency phone call from my daughter Wednesday morning she was very ill so was her eldest. Her husband had to go too London for work could I come over. Gladly did it. She did look very poorly . There are different viruses making the rounds at the moment unfortunately they got the sickness one. The little one is very good and when his brother lay on the sofa with his head on my lap he brought toys close by so I could still play with him and look after his brother. Snack was biscuits and because of time it would take had jam sandwich instead of soup for lunch. My thinking was it was my jam and lower cals than cheese. Ok I wanted a jam sandwich but only I slice of bread. More biscuits. Luckily the boys both eat a healthy lunch as I know what they have. My poor daughter couldn't even keep water down until after lunch.

My son in law was worried I had been there from early morning so sent in the support team in the shape of his parents at 5.30. And his dad took me home. As I always have portions of my dinner in the fridge always means I have a healthy meal waiting.

Thursday over indulgence on the biscuits at craft group. Then Friday had been invited to one of my old exercise class friends home for cheese and wine lunch one was ill so there where 4 if us. It was lovely there where 6 different cheeses and had plenty of all of them plus bread,crackers ,butter, lemon mousse and cake. As I don't drink just had tea. Had a wonderful time . I had been shopping before hand and it had hailed but got dry and warm . By the time we left it was dark and raining again. Got to the bus stop and saw the bus to get me home was only 15 mins wait. Another bus I could have caught which would have dropped me on the main road came at 5 but thought only 11 mins for the bus that drops me off at the end of my road so I waited. Normally I would have caught the other bus and walked up. Anyway by half past my bus still hadn't come but one that dropped me on the main road did so got on that one as by then I was so cold I couldn't feel my hands and feet and was wet. If only I had caught the other bus I would have been home earlier 🤦🤦🤦. I was so wet I put my PJs on and hooded oversized blanket then put my dinner in the oven to reheat while I had hot drinks. After a hour went to get my dinner guess who didn't switch on the oven. Luckily I have an induction hob so dinner quickly heated.

You will ask why I didn't do that in the first place but I have to have my heart tablet a hour before eating so that's why I reheat in the oven after taking it.

Saturday I made chocolate brownies ready for my craft group secret Santa on Thursday as I am at a funeral on Wednesday . I licked the bowl which I don't normally do plus eat the bit of left over chocolate. Didn't cut the brownie just put it into the freezer while.

Hence my surprise I hadn't put weight on. As per usual I have rambled on but as I have said before that's me in real life.

NanKate,Four,May ,Allsorts , Shinamae and all the rest of your have a good week Christmas is fast approaching.

Was travelling yesterday so healthy diet wen out the window. Then weighed myself on different scales and was much heavier than the ones I used over the past couple of weeks. Thankfully didn’t quite do what I’ve done throughout my life which is to get disheartened and overeat massively ( although I did eat a large slice of cake). Have done a 16 hour water only fast again though so will start again today. I listened to a ZOE App podcast about sleep last night which said how our body craves different food when we’re tired ie sweet food when what we should eat at those times is protein and I had had a very late night prior to travelling. And the cold weather means I won’t be walking for a while.

When I was 17 I put on a lot of weight very quickly one summer. Then met the man I eventually married: I was never thin enough for him and went on the Doctors Quick Weight Loss Diet (which was mainly just protein) and lost stones very quickly. I think that ruined my metabolism for life ie my body held onto any fat it could in case of another starvation period, so I agree that fasting in that way can do long term damage. I’m very lucky that I didn’t damage my kidneys because I didn’t drink the amount of water you were supposed to and my breath had a horrible acetone like smell to it. Years later when I had some toning sessions on my thighs at a beauty parlour the lady there said I was out of proportion because I was underweight and she was right. I should have tried to maintain a body weight of 9st throughout my life instead of trying to be 8 stone ( or even less: I did go down to 7.3 at one point). I definitely had an eating disorder throughout most of my adult life albeit not being full on anorexic but more of a binge eater. I do think that a mini fast fir a shirt period of time can be beneficial, though. I used to get bad migraines every so often and always felt better after a day of not eating because of them. Not possible if you’re working or looking after children, though.

Hi All now lost 6 pounds. Slowly slowly! Amazed how my long help chocolate cravings have calmed down helped along by an occasional Alpro Cocolate Soya dessert..low calorie but gives a mini choc fix as an occasional treat!

Just wondering what plans people have over Xmas, for eating nicely but not ruining all the great efforts?

Hi all, sounds like we are all doing our best, it’s not easy at this time of year. I hope you’re all keeping warm, it really is bitter out there tonight. I have been out to my youngest granddaughters nativity which was lovely but I’m glad to be back in the warm.
Sounds like you got chilled to the bones the other day Whiff glad you managed to warm up. The brownies sound delicious. We had a little party at our craft group on Monday, a glass of Prosecco and lots of little nibbles. We had a chocolatier in and we all made a lovely chocolate Christmas tree, it looks too nice to eat but I will give to the grandchildren to share.
You have done very well to lose 6lb Madgran77 slowly slowly wins the race.
I think we definitely crave sweet things when we are tired Maybee70 I know I do and it’s easier to just grab stodgy sugary things when you’re feeling exhausted.
Over Christmas I’m going to have a few treats but will try not to go too mad. I’ve been making lots of homemade soups & stews and have frozen several portions. It is the sweet treats that draw me in though. I’ve brought a few bags of nuts but will try and limit myself to a small handful at night as a snack. I seem to be maintaining at the moment but definitely need to knuckle down after Christmas and seriously shift some weight ready for the spring.
Good luck to everyone over the next couple of weeks.

I’ve now managed to get my weight almost down to the pre travelling weight. I don’t understand how my weight can go up so quickly but, as I mentioned I think crash dieting in my youth ruined my metabolism. Even now, throughout the pandemic, my weight has yo yo’d quite a lot. I do envy people like my daughter who seem to have maintained the same weight through their adult life.

At Christmas time I allow myself 3 or 4 days of eating what I want then I cut back until NYE and NYD and repeat the process. Then I go back to eating sensibly. It usually takes at least a couple of months to lose the 6 days of indulgence!!

I’m not recommending this.

That’s more or less what I do NanKate although it has been known to take me until Easter to shift the extra Christmas pounds. I suppose this is how the weight gradually creeps on year by year!

I lost 2lb this week which I was pleased about. I am still having my Marks & Spencer’s treat, carrot cake and a decaf coffee once a week and also I went to an event and had a scone with jam and cream (well half a scone actually)and a mince pie. I love mince pies and normally by this time of the year I would’ve ate about 30 mince pies and a whole Christmas cake to myself however I have been very good,I have bought 12 mince pies and a small Christmas cake and I will start Christmas Eve to eat that I’ve not bothered about putting on a couple of pounds over Christmas because I can show that I can leave the sweet stuff alone because I have done it for over a month ..(previously I would sit and eat a whole angel cake to myself in an evening🤦‍♀️the shame..🫣) I do hope everybody will indulge themselves in some sort of treat over Christmas. Best wishes to you all…❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

😁🤓

Shinamae

I lost 2lb this week which I was pleased about. I am still having my Marks & Spencer’s treat, carrot cake and a decaf coffee once a week and also I went to an event and had a scone with jam and cream (well half a scone actually)and a mince pie. I love mince pies and normally by this time of the year I would’ve ate about 30 mince pies and a whole Christmas cake to myself however I have been very good,I have bought 12 mince pies and a small Christmas cake and I will start Christmas Eve to eat that I’ve not bothered about putting on a couple of pounds over Christmas because I can show that I can leave the sweet stuff alone because I have done it for over a month ..(previously I would sit and eat a whole angel cake to myself in an evening🤦‍♀️the shame..🫣) I do hope everybody will indulge themselves in some sort of treat over Christmas. Best wishes to you all…❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

I can eat a whole cake to myself, too. I don’t seem to have the ability to say I’m full so not eating any more.

Shinamea loved your cartoon and like you I feel we shoud indulge ourselves a bit over Christmas and the new year. It can be a depressing time for some who have family problems etc. added to the state of the country with strikes etc. so we do need a bit of cheer. We needn't overdo things but 'a little of what you fancy does you good' as my Granny used to say!
I received this today and thought it was a bit of encouragement for us all

fourormore

Shinamea loved your cartoon and like you I feel we shoud indulge ourselves a bit over Christmas and the new year. It can be a depressing time for some who have family problems etc. added to the state of the country with strikes etc. so we do need a bit of cheer. We needn't overdo things but 'a little of what you fancy does you good' as my Granny used to say!
I received this today and thought it was a bit of encouragement for us all

😁😁😁😁

Is it not typical - I have been struggling and struggling to get the scales to show a reading of anything under 180lbs! Even 179.99999999 would do! Ok so this morning it showed 179.6.
You would like I'd be pleased - but why this week when I know I will be spoiled rotten from Friday onwards!
Ah well I will try to be good until Thursday but no promises!
Also I will NOT be weighing next Sunday!!!
Merry Christmas and Happy new year wishes to all my fellow strugglers! Have a great time, spoil yourselves a bit and we will start again in the new year!!!

fourormore

Is it not typical - I have been struggling and struggling to get the scales to show a reading of anything under 180lbs! Even 179.99999999 would do! Ok so this morning it showed 179.6.
You would like I'd be pleased - but why this week when I know I will be spoiled rotten from Friday onwards!
Ah well I will try to be good until Thursday but no promises!
Also I will NOT be weighing next Sunday!!!
Merry Christmas and Happy new year wishes to all my fellow strugglers! Have a great time, spoil yourselves a bit and we will start again in the new year!!!

And I have decided that I am not going to weigh now until the New Year, I usually weigh stark naked in the kitchen every Sunday morning but for the next couple of weeks I will not be doing that. I am not going to have a free for all with the Christmas food but will have what I want in moderation…🤗😁

Morning all…..stayed the same…..won’t be popping on the scales now till NY, that will be interesting lol.

Hope you all have a happy Christmas x

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202212/medium-852944-img-20221215-161129155.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202212/medium-684923-img-20221209-072731461.jpg

MayBee well done with the 6lb.

Glad to see everyone has a strategy for Christmas and the new year.

Well weighted myself as usual expected the scales to say one at a time please. But as expected put on 2lb this week. Been stress eating. Which I haven't done for years. My friends husband's death has brought back all the feelings of my husband's death and the weeks afterwards. Been trying to help her through this awful time.

My daughter took me to the funeral on Wednesday. Left here giving us 2.5 hours to get there giving us an extra hour on journey time. Good job we did as the traffic was awful lots of road works. We made it to the church just as the vicar started the eulogy my friend had written. That was it I was a sodden mess. We have known eachother since we where 18 now both 64. She had been with her husband 38 years and married 36. So they both knew my husband very well. What she had written was beautiful. There was a poem about love. Hymn which I didn't sing for one I was crying and I am an atheist so as I am not a hypocrite don't sing or pray or even bow my head. They had season tickets to there football club and the song that was played at every match was played it was in Welsh. The burial service only took 10 mins which was good as it was -5°. Where they live is very rural. Must say and may seem odd but it was the loveliest funeral I have ever been to. The coffin was beautiful it was made of wicker. The flowers from her was colourful and had sunflowers in it. There was a small one from her husband's family. I never buy flowers so gave donations to the 2 charities they support so did everyone else. The wake was held in a lovely pub. I recognised his brother straight away as he is the image of her husband. Last time we met was their wedding day.

We sat a large table and an ex neighbour and 2 of her ex colleagues joined us. Funny to think of the 53 people there me and my daughter had know my friend the longest. Unfortunately she has no blood relatives alive. My daughter is 39. The food was brought round by waiters and was the best food I have ever had at a funeral or some weddings. Here husband would have loved it. As he had 3 loves her ,food and his football team. Depending on how hungary he was which came second.

The wake was filled with love and laughter . But seeing how broken she looked torn me apart. She said us going made the funeral as it wouldn't have been the same without us. Took us 3 hours to get home.

We had decided not to give presents this year. But because she wouldn't have anything special from her husband. Made up a hamper of some of my jam, marmalade and chutney, chocs ,biscuits ,soap and body cream from a site off Etsy she likes. I brought her a hamper of their soaps for her birthday and loved it. Few other goodies and a small bottle of prosecco. Put a card on it explaining why I had done it. My daughter gave it to her nephew and I asked him not to give it to her until Christmas as I didn't want her to feel she had to send me anything. I would rather give than receive . I always worry about what people spend on me.

For my craft group secret Santa part had made brownies,cheese biscuits and sweet potato and my mango chutney filo samosas. Everyone brought things in they had brought. So I eat what I wanted. Even bringing chocolates home 🤦. Had a lovely time. The picture is of my secret Santa gift. I had named him Pix the pixie but my grandson on Saturday renamed him Elf on the shelf so that's his name. The other picture is of the secret Santa I made. My friend who received it loved it.

Watched my youngest grandson for 2 hours Saturday morning and my daughter and other grandson when they came had lunch with me . So had made more goodies.

My brother and sister in law can't come before Christmas but will be here in January sometime.

My appointment to see my cardiologist on Wednesday got cancelled yesterday as he's got Covid. Lovely woman phoned to tell me. I treat people the way I want to be treated so am never nasty to people unless they are to me. Told me I would be on priority list for new year. As per my usual self had a little chat and as we ended our chat before she ended the call I heard to say to someone what a lovely woman. Thought that was lovely as she didn't know I heard. Proves politeness and manners can make an impact plus they don't cost anything.

I had been shopping on the morning and got chatting to 2 men in a cafe where I treated myself to a hot chocolate made with real chocolate and a warm brownie.

Funny since moving here I live my life to the full no longer just exist. Will be with my daughter and family Christmas day. I didn't assume I would be invited never do. She asked me on the way to the funeral if nut roast was alright for lunch and did I want bacon or some turkey. Said I didn't expect to be invited and she said of course I was. She makes her own nut roast it's lovely. I gave up eating meat this year just eat chicken and Quorn sausages, mince or chicken pieces. I hardly eat any meat and it was always stewed because I can't cut meat using a dinner knife. Plus because of never being the same each day as said before cook a stew or lasagne that lasts 6 dinners and lunchtime soup does 6 times.

Because of my strength in my hands can no longer peel butternut squash, squashes,potatoes, sweet potatoes or swede. So wash them pricked all over out into a foil lined tin with water and cover with foil. Apart from potatoes which I bake as normal . Hour in the oven and all soft enough to scoop out into bags and freeze. Can manage to peel carrots and onions, top and tail a leek and cut in half to wash but can't cut up so they go into stews and soups whole. I blitz soup with a stick blender. And stew's cut into it with kitchen scissors once cooked.

If you have physical problems then you have to make your world suit you. My husband was brilliant when my health went downhill 34 years ago he just said we alter our way of life to suit you so we can be a normal family. Because of him I knew what adaptions I needed to my bungalow as he had things done in our house. And learnt over the years how to make life easier for me so I can do all the things I want but my way.

Well rambled on was usual take care everyone .

Love the sound of the M&S carrot cake and coffee Shinamae The cartoons made me smile too. I’m afraid Ive had a week of indulgences, including afternoon tea with Santa Claus with my youngest grandaughter and a pie supper at a Christmas quiz night!! Im also getting over the awful cold that’s doing the rounds, it hasn’t stopped me scoffing I’m afraid…..feed a cold et al!
Sounds like you are a great support to your friend Whiff and she will much appreciate it I’m sure, it must have triggered so many memories for you but sounds like she gave her DH a really good send off. Christmas isn’t all joy is it, she will just get through Christmas in a daze, I know that’s how I was last year.
I don’t seem to be very organised this year. Ive been late buying & distributing cards and presents etc so a busy few days ahead. I did manage a trip to the M&S Food Hall yesterday
Have a great Christmas everyone and enjoy a few of those little treats. We can all knuckle down in January🎄