Weight loss and healthy eating for a debt free life

FreetodoasIlike

Hi Everyone - I saw your idea @CRANKY40 on another thread and I was hoping you would start it so I would like to join too, if I may. Is the idea for everyone to identify what they want to lose on or after 6 April? I ate my last Easter egg yesterday. It was a HUGE posh (ish) one with lovely chocolates. I was only planning to eat a few chocs, but somehow I managed to eat the egg as well!!! 

Today I have dug out my (very old) fitbit, charged it up and had to re- synch it with the ap (that just shows how my exercise regime has lapsed!).

I weighed myself today and was shocked that I had put on half a stone since I weighed last time (about 2 months ago - been avoiding the scales!). I already needed to lose a stone, but now I have to lose another half a stone. I’m not particularly overweight (but not very tall either - average I guess at 5’ 4) so my ideal weight (for me) is around the 9 stone mark (quite small boned) but would happily settle for 9 1/2, as my clothes just don’t fit me at present. I think the trick is that when you manage to lose the weight you only allow yourself 5 or so lbs over and then get it off, as it’s so much easier to lose just a few lbs than a few stones. (That’s my theory anyway!)

This is a great support group and I look forward to hearing of everyone’s progress (or lack of!) and tips on healthy eating and exercise. Let’s cheer us all on the way.

FreetodoasIlike

PS - I agree that exercise is not the be all and end all (thanks @beanielou and @Cranky40 for pointing that out) as I know that some people are not able to do much exercise due to medical conditions or other reasons. Me? I have no excuse whatsoever, I’m just lazy and would rather go on-line or read my books, rather than go for a walk. So I’m going to try and do that (hence my Fitbit) and see if it will help. I don’t intend to join SW or WW (either at a group or online) but hope to get support from evergone here).

CRANKY40

It's whatever you want to make of it @FreetodoasIlike. Some people may not even need to lose weight but just need a more balanced approach to buying food and cooking. I weighed myself last Saturday (I ate my one and only Easter egg Friday evening) as I do want to lose weight as well as being more sensible with food.

I know that for me overbuying food is linked with potential debt and I also want to be healthier so I need to try and make sure that if I buy something I can turn it into a meal without adding a whole load of expensive ingredients.  

KajiKita

Well done Cranky - sounding like good progress 👏 And thank you for sharing that you and HT (what does this stand for btw, have been puzzling over this for aaaages 😉) eat different things.

I have booked the toscos delivery and shopped ‘the basics’ but without any of the snacky stuff (biscuits, nuts, crisps etc.) - Yee Gods! The cheapness of the shop so far … wow … Told Mr KK over dinner and he was a bit anxious about going cold turkey on *all* snacks - so I suggested that as well as no alcohol or nuts for him, also just having plain salted crisps in for his packed lunches and plain digestives for biscuits with coffee rather than the myriad of varieties we normally have in. He agreed to this as a compromise 😊

For myself, I think the key thing is to start eating better quality food and more pulses. We do eat a fair amount and variety of veg during the week (could do more) but starting on pulses for me and then more veg for both of us as time goes on would work okay I think. 

I’ve realised that giving up sugar is going to be hard for one fairly major reason - there is a ‘snacks bar’ in work with mini chocolate bars provided by the site manager’s PA. That quite often trips me up …

KK

FreetodoasIlike

I agree that I buy too much food, and some goes to waste (first world problem I know and we should be very grateful that we have that choice). I think for me, meal planning is the way forward. Well done @KajiKita for cutting down on the snacks - I’m sure you will save a fortune. Giving up sugar will be hard - well done on only planning to buy basic biscuits and crisps- you can’t go cold turkey!!! Maybe the first week, but not forever 😢

redofromstart

I found dried mango (without added sugar) quite useful when I was cutting down on processed sugar @KajiKita . Sweet and chewy and slow eating but felt like a treat, and easy to take to work.

Baked chickpeas might work too? Drain and rinse a tin, bit of oil, cumin and salt, shake, 15 minutes in the oven. Don't store in fridge as they go soft. 

Great suggestion with the peanut butter into the soup @Less_Talk_and_More_Action , I only have chunky but will need to blend the soup anyway. 

I should have an old Fitbit somewhere. Used to wear mine all of the time till the software stopped working properly but I just want to track not compete now. 

I vaguely think HT = House Troll and refers to Crankys son but I might be very wrong. 

beanielou

Amazed to report a 1 lb loss tonight so that's me off to a wee start.  As I am right at at the top of my target bubble I won't have to to pay so very money saving 

WinterWarrior

Another vote for nutracheck here. Calorie counting is the best way for me as I am addicted to snacks and all bad things. I do need to make a big effort to eat more veg and fruit and much, much less ultra processed foods. I was reminded today of how bad butter spreads are rather than butter. I ran to the fridge and my butter spread is in fact 50% oil. 50%!! I remember changing to butter and then slipping back because of the spreading difficulty, so I definitely need to do that again. Laziness is no excuse.
HT is indeed the house troll 😁

KajiKita

WinterWarrior said:

Another vote for nutracheck here. Calorie counting is the best way for me as I am addicted to snacks and all bad things. I do need to make a big effort to eat more veg and fruit and much, much less ultra processed foods. I was reminded today of how bad butter spreads are rather than butter. I ran to the fridge and my butter spread is in fact 50% oil. 50%!! I remember changing to butter and then slipping back because of the spreading difficulty, so I definitely need to do that again. Laziness is no excuse.
HT is indeed the house troll 😁

Thanks for the HT clarification 😊

I had that issue with butter - a butter dish from land of lake was a revelation 😊

KK

KajiKita

Thanks @redofromstart, will try that 😊 Sounds like a helpful alternative to the chocolate temptation during late work afternoons. 

KK