The dreaded DIET thread!

andy700 said:
Simple Keith - its carbs, carbs, carbs:D:exit:
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Don't say that! There's bags of crisps, popcorn and jellies here belonging to the kids and they're out atm! :D

Nod said:
One of Mrs Nod's victims students swears by fruit leather as a snack. Keeps for ages apparently. Only had a moment to chat about it - I'll try to find out more when we get back from holiday.
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Fruit leather?? I was thinking of getting some little packs of beef jerky or similar, hard to find decent stuff that hasn't got added sugar as preservative though. I had packets of dried bacon a few weeks back, can't remember where I bought them but must find again! they were great. I also have baby bell cheeses that are handy when munchies hit. But the more variety the better
 
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The way she put it was along the lines of making jam with no added sugar then keep reducing until the result sets like the sour sweets that sometimes get stuck in ice creams. No added sugar, just what mother nature stuck in the fruit! She was also talking about dried apples and pears, again, no added sugar.
 
Nod said:
One of Mrs Nod's victims students swears by fruit leather as a snack. Keeps for ages apparently. Only had a moment to chat about it - I'll try to find out more when we get back from holiday.
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That is really popular in Iran. It comes in strips and is really chewy and healthy because it doesn't contain any other sugars. Sour cherry and pomegranate are really popular, and I am sure that we must have a few flatpacks hiding somewhere in our cupboards
 
Nod said:
The way she put it was along the lines of making jam with no added sugar then keep reducing until the result sets like the sour sweets that sometimes get stuck in ice creams. No added sugar, just what mother nature stuck in the fruit! She was also talking about dried apples and pears, again, no added sugar.
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Sounds tasty, I have to be wary of fruits too though. The natural fructose in a lot of them can spike insulin levels just like added sugars, I think berries are about the best, the odd apple or pear couldn't really hurt either
 
Cagey75 said:
Don't say that! There's bags of crisps, popcorn and jellies here belonging to the kids and they're out atm! :D



Fruit leather?? I was thinking of getting some little packs of beef jerky or similar, hard to find decent stuff that hasn't got added sugar as preservative though. I had packets of dried bacon a few weeks back, can't remember where I bought them but must find again! they were great. I also have baby bell cheeses that are handy when munchies hit. But the more variety the better
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You can get the so called fruit leather in international shops (as I call them), basically any shop which sells a good selection of foreign foodstuffs - Polish pickles, Turkish halim, cheese, baklava, olives, Iranian tea, dates, dried mullberries etc. They are a fantastic source of interesting and very tasty foods. We got back this afternoon, having spent a horrendous £15 - yes I kid you not a whole £15, on flatbreads (yes I know I bake bread, but this is fantastic), mixed pickles, pickled gherkins, a kilo of mixed chillis, peaches, figs, cherries, red and white onions, 2 melons, coriander, parsley and dill, feta cheese, 500g tea leaves (Ceylon Cardomom), and they are all better quality than the supermarkets.
 
andy700 said:
You can get the so called fruit leather in international shops (as I call them), basically any shop which sells a good selection of foreign foodstuffs - Polish pickles, Turkish halim, cheese, baklava, olives, Iranian tea, dates, dried mullberries etc. They are a fantastic source of interesting and very tasty foods. We got back this afternoon, having spent a horrendous £15 - yes I kid you not a whole £15, on flatbreads (yes I know I bake bread, but this is fantastic), mixed pickles, pickled gherkins, a kilo of mixed chillis, peaches, figs, cherries, red and white onions, 2 melons, coriander, parsley and dill, feta cheese, 500g tea leaves (Ceylon Cardomom), and they are all better quality than the supermarkets.
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There's a Polish shop just down the road from me, must pop in next time I'm passing, see what they got. I love pickles! especially gherkins. I also love feta cheese and olives as a snack. I buy the olives in brine, nice and salty and softened - also pitted. It can get fair pricey on these diets, I spent €80 the other evening in Tesco and there wasn't much to it, this was on top of our usual weekly shop! I need to get more savvy when it comes to doing supply runs
 
I love Lidl's gherkins. Reasonably cheap and very tasty! Not too many calories either, although since I like to eat them with small chunks of spicy smoked sausage, the calories do add up!!! We tend to buy olives when we're on holiday - again, Lidl have a selection (in Greece) that don't appear on our local shelves but are tasty and relatively inexpensive.
 
Well, today I started on Slimming World! Hopefully over the coming weeks i can post good progress! Lager and cider will now be replaced with JD if I go out and it will be hard cutting down on some of the junk food but the good thing is many things I like are fine, especially eggs, bacon, pasta and curry!
 
cambsno said:
Well, today I started on Slimming World! Hopefully over the coming weeks i can post good progress! Lager and cider will now be replaced with JD if I go out and it will be hard cutting down on some of the junk food but the good thing is many things I like are fine, especially eggs, bacon, pasta and curry!
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Best of luck!

Not had JD in a long time, must get a bottle - I switched from Bulmers, IPA and wine to Voddy, soda water and lime, need a bit of variety for the weekends. JD and 7up free on ice sounds good.
 
Cagey75 said:
Sounds tasty, I have to be wary of fruits too though. The natural fructose in a lot of them can spike insulin levels just like added sugars, I think berries are about the best, the odd apple or pear couldn't really hurt either
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Rasps. & strawbs. are about the only low carb fruits. even then you can only have a small portion.
 
Cagey75 said:
But the belly is starting to take over and I passed 19 stone a while back - that's a stone [or two] too far.
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Bit of a milestone update, bought a new scales the other day, first stand on it I was 18st 8lbs so I wasn't exactly ecstatic but it was still a come down from 19st 6lbs from last month! , and today I weighed 18st 2lbs! [256lbs] It's working! :)
 
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Cagey75 said:
Bit of a milestone update, bought a new scales the other day, first stand on it I was 18st 8lbs so I wasn't exactly ecstatic but it was still a come down from 19st 6lbs from last month! , and today I weighed 18st 2lbs! [256lbs] It's working! :)
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I think you can take plenty encouragement from that reduction. Don't think you need to drop weight at a faster rate. Even 1 - 2 lbs per week is fine. For consistency it is best to always weigh yourself (minus clothes) at the same time of day. Lowest weight probably first thing in the morning after toilet.
 
arclight said:
I think you can take plenty encouragement from that reduction. Don't think you need to drop weight at a faster rate. Even 1 - 2 lbs per week is fine. For consistency it is best to always weigh yourself (minus clothes) at the same time of day. Lowest weight probably first thing in the morning after toilet.
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Good tips, cheers. The first time I weighed myself I had clothes on, the second I was in me boxers [nice image for you all there, just think Homer Simpson!] :D I will do just that, I'm pretty regular, so I have the scales in the bathroom, and will use it after my daily visit.

Btw, do any of you own glass scales? I was terrified I was going to break it the first time I stood up on it :eek::D
 
Cagey75 said:
Good tips, cheers. The first time I weighed myself I had clothes on, the second I was in me boxers [nice image for you all there, just think Homer Simpson!] :D I will do just that, I'm pretty regular, so I have the scales in the bathroom, and will use it after my daily visit.

Btw, do any of you own glass scales? I was terrified I was going to break it the first time I stood up on it :eek::D
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Scales :banghead: ............ I am not impressed by their accuracy. I have weighed myself then stepped on and on again .... different reading. That has now happened with digital and analogue scales.
 
arclight said:
Scales :banghead: ............ I am not impressed by their accuracy. I have weighed myself then stepped on and on again .... different reading. That has now happened with digital and analogue scales.
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Yeah I know, I'm not 100% going by it, I just needed to see some kind of progress, I have no other way of knowing really. I felt I was getting nowhere.
 
Cagey75 said:
Yeah I know, I'm not 100% going by it, I just needed to see some kind of progress, I have no other way of knowing really. I felt I was getting nowhere.
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Yes, the problem is one of perspective I think. If you are 19st. and aiming for 12st then losing 1st. is only one seventh of the journey. If you were 15st. and lost 1st. then you would be a third of the journey towards the target. A 15 st. man losing a stone will notice that easier than a 19 stone man losing a stone.

Apart from weight it is worth keeping a diary of your size. Waist, chest (uninflated), neck and wrist circumference .

Certainly best to keep a record, because seeing evidence of weight loss is very encouraging. That is especially so if you feeling content and satisfied with the amount and type of food you are eating since the way is clearly open to succeed.
Folk that are losing weight, but feel ravenous much of the time have a huge struggle on their hands.

Seeing weight going back on is soul destroying............. therefore do not weigh yourself too often since body weight naturally fluctuates (maybe 2 - 3 lbs per week in your case). Probably weighing/measuring once every two weeks is plenty.
 
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I just said that to my partner yesterday, it was her bought me the scales, because I asked not because she's pressuring me lol. I said that despite having clearly lost some weight according to the scales, because of my high start point, it's not that huge a deal, and I want to lose at least that much again if not more. It is encouraging though, when you see smaller numbers on the screen
 
arclight said:
Scales :banghead: ............ I am not impressed by their accuracy. I have weighed myself then stepped on and on again .... different reading. That has now happened with digital and analogue scales.
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Doug, that used to happen a lot before we had the bathroom floor tiled. Now the readings seem to be within 100 grams.
 
It says in the manual for the scales I have that it is not to be used on soft or uneven flooring. Like lino or carpet, I know this is obvious, but it should definitely be dead level without any wobble.
 
Update.

Started SW on Bank Holiday Monday, crazy as at the pub in the afternoon but stuck to JD. Weighed on Weds night and was the same - 16st9lb - disappointed as even though it had only been a couple of days, had hoped for a lb at least!

Anyway, went to CenterParcs at weekend so had to plan meals a bit better. Overall a good week, 25 syns under what I was allowed (allowed 14 per day so averaging around 10.5) - weighed last night and 5lb lost.

I did notice that last week when I weighed myself in the morning I was 2lb lighter than previous night and this morning was 2.5lb lighter than last night, so guess I could say its 5.5lb. Hoping for a 4lb loss this week.

For someone who loved bread and using oil with everything, who ate crisps and chocolate daily its not too bad, surprisingly easy to adapt and fortunately not missed out too much.

At work we get free breakfast and lunch so have been having a slice of toast with beans, poached egg and bacon each morning with a little HP, boiled/jacket spud with meat and salad at lunch then a healthy SW type meal, last night steak and lentils (which is something I ate before, just using less feta and oil now). Tonight its pork fillet with veg, a bit like a roast dinner, tomorrow paella. It just takes some more thinking and adjustments to meals. Do feel a lot better for it!
 
cambsno said:
allowed 14 per day
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Out of interest Simon, how old are you (if you don't mind me asking)?

I was allowed 20 Syns per day and only weighed 6lbs more than you at the start. Wondering how they work out syns allowed :/
 
I've just read through all this... and I'd like to say Congratulations! to those losing weight or at least trying hard to.

I have the opposite problem in that even at the age of 57 I have to eat a lot to maintain weight and if I ease off I lose weight. It's a problem I've had all my life and despite all of the build up / weight gain diets and exercise routines nothing really works and I stay at about 10st (at 5'8'') with about the same build, although I am quite fit and do have a six pack :D Being slim to thin doesn't cause too many issues these days and whenever I've had a medical I've been told I'm in good condition but in my teens and twenties I took a lot of flack for being skinny.
 
keef32 said:
Ah, you're shorting yourself by 6 syns there my man. ;)
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What.... so I should be allowing 20 syns???? Thing is, I am at the moment coping fine, and probably could cope on 10 per day! On things like this I tend to take things quite literally, and by the book, so there is a danger if I allow 20 I will probably do 15/18 just because I can. Maybe I can just store them for the snooker/lager/curry afternoon/night with the boys in afew weeks!
 
woof woof said:
I've just read through all this... and I'd like to say Congratulations! to those losing weight or at least trying hard to.

I have the opposite problem in that even at the age of 57 I have to eat a lot to maintain weight and if I ease off I lose weight. It's a problem I've had all my life and despite all of the build up / weight gain diets and exercise routines nothing really works and I stay at about 10st (at 5'8'') with about the same build, although I am quite fit and do have a six pack :D Being slim to thin doesn't cause too many issues these days and whenever I've had a medical I've been told I'm in good condition but in my teens and twenties I took a lot of flack for being skinny.
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I so wish I had your 'problem'!!!
 
cambsno said:
What.... so I should be allowing 20 syns???? Thing is, I am at the moment coping fine, and probably could cope on 10 per day! On things like this I tend to take things quite literally, and by the book, so there is a danger if I allow 20 I will probably do 15/18 just because I can. Maybe I can just store them for the snooker/lager/curry afternoon/night with the boys in afew weeks!
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At 17st 1lb I was allowed 20, and she said it would stay at that for a while, when I dropped to 16st it was still the same 20 so I'd day so.

To be fair, I do all the cooking in our house so everything was catered to the Fiancé and her 15 syns so only ever went over when it came to having a drink.

Can give you some tips for a decent under 15 syn Curry with rice, "Naan" and poppadum's if you ever want it? :)
 
cambsno said:
Update.

Started SW on Bank Holiday Monday, crazy as at the pub in the afternoon but stuck to JD. Weighed on Weds night and was the same - 16st9lb - disappointed as even though it had only been a couple of days, had hoped for a lb at least!

Anyway, went to CenterParcs at weekend so had to plan meals a bit better. Overall a good week, 25 syns under what I was allowed (allowed 14 per day so averaging around 10.5) - weighed last night and 5lb lost.

I did notice that last week when I weighed myself in the morning I was 2lb lighter than previous night and this morning was 2.5lb lighter than last night, so guess I could say its 5.5lb. Hoping for a 4lb loss this week.

For someone who loved bread and using oil with everything, who ate crisps and chocolate daily its not too bad, surprisingly easy to adapt and fortunately not missed out too much.

At work we get free breakfast and lunch so have been having a slice of toast with beans, poached egg and bacon each morning with a little HP, boiled/jacket spud with meat and salad at lunch then a healthy SW type meal, last night steak and lentils (which is something I ate before, just using less feta and oil now). Tonight its pork fillet with veg, a bit like a roast dinner, tomorrow paella. It just takes some more thinking and adjustments to meals. Do feel a lot better for it!
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Nice, it's great when you start seeing results on the scales. Mine has kind of plateaued but I haven't lost anything back. I have started intermittent fasting, 16/8 - I stop eating at 10pm, and don't eat again until around 2pm next day. I can have coffee/tea and water until I eat. I do feel hungry around 10am or so, but it passes. I watched a video recently on this fasting and it states that hunger doesn't actually worsen, and it usually hits around the time you habitually ate before. Your body knows it's time and thinks you should eat so gives you the signal [hunger] but that decreases quick enough and once you know this in advance it makes it so much easier. During that 8hr window I eat until full, I have 2 meals and can snack too, still sticking to Keto.

woof woof said:
I've just read through all this... and I'd like to say Congratulations! to those losing weight or at least trying hard to.

I have the opposite problem in that even at the age of 57 I have to eat a lot to maintain weight and if I ease off I lose weight. It's a problem I've had all my life and despite all of the build up / weight gain diets and exercise routines nothing really works and I stay at about 10st (at 5'8'') with about the same build, although I am quite fit and do have a six pack :D Being slim to thin doesn't cause too many issues these days and whenever I've had a medical I've been told I'm in good condition but in my teens and twenties I took a lot of flack for being skinny.
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I used to have this very problem funnily enough! I got so tired of people telling me I was too thin, that I should eat more etc .. that was up until my mid 20's. I wish I had my mid 20s body now! :D
 
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cambsno said:
I so wish I had your 'problem'!!!
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I think it's still been a problem though and those carrying a little too much weight maybe can relate to the years of worrying over it and the not always good natured teasing.

Cagey75 said:
I used to have this very problem funnily enough! I got so tired of people telling me I was too thin, that I should eat more etc .. that was up until my mid 20's. I wish I had my mid 20s body now! :D
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I've tried everything over the years from force feeding myself through exercise and anything else I could think of and nothing works. Even now I have to eat to the point of being uncomfortable to maintain 10st. If I just ate what I'd think of as normally I'd drop to something between 9 to 9 1/2 st. On the plus side I don't have to worry about fish and chips, pizza, ice cream or cake.

Sorry to post this in this thread but maybe it's worthwhile remembering that weight issues and being unhappy with body shape comes in all shapes and sizes.
 
woof woof said:
I think it's still been a problem though and those carrying a little too much weight maybe can relate to the years of worrying over it and the not always good natured teasing.



I've tried everything over the years from force feeding myself through exercise and anything else I could think of and nothing works. Even now I have to eat to the point of being uncomfortable to maintain 10st. If I just ate what I'd think of as normally I'd drop to something between 9 to 9 1/2 st. On the plus side I don't have to worry about fish and chips, pizza, ice cream or cake.

Sorry to post this in this thread but maybe it's worthwhile remembering that weight issues and being unhappy with body shape comes in all shapes and sizes.
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Not at all, it's all about health, whether too thin or too fat, what drove me to even try a diet for the first time ever was health concerns. I don't care so much about appearance, well, I do but health will always come first. I just knew my way of eating was rubbish, I was a horse for bad food. I was becoming a bit of a human dustbin at dinners, eating other people's left overs, still feeling hungry not long after. Ever since my mother died 3 years ago from a massive heart attack, I have become much more health conscious. She wasn't even a big woman, just standard body type I guess, she did smoke like a Trooper but it wasn't the cig's that killed her. They reckon a blood clot formed in her leg and traveled to the heart, it had never been detected even though she was in for tests at the time. She had been laid up for a few weeks with depression and the lack of activity was blamed on the clot forming.

It's not about body size, if you don't feel healthy then it's time to act, when is the last time you've had full blood work done?
 
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Cagey75 said:
Not at all, it's all about health, whether too thin or too fat, what drove me to even try a diet for the first time ever was health concerns. I don't care so much about appearance, well, I do but health will always come first. I just knew my way of eating was rubbish, I was a horse for bad food. I was becoming a bit of a human dustbin at dinners, eating other people's left overs, still feeling hungry not long after. Ever since my mother died 3 years ago from a massive heart attack, I have become much more health conscious. She wasn't even a big woman, just standard body type I guess, she did smoke like a Trooper but it wasn't the cig's that killed her. They reckon a blood clot formed in her leg and traveled to the heart, it had never been detected even though she was in for tests at the time. She had been laid up for a few weeks with depression and the lack of activity was blamed on the clot forming.

It's not about body size, if you don't feel healthy then it's time to act, when is the last time you've had full blood work done?
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Smokers have a much higher risk of clots forming in blood vessels (since they are highly likely to have been damaged by smoking). When a clot forms (as in deep vein thrombosis in a leg) it can break away then lodge in somewhere vital like heart, lung and brain. That is very, very dangerous.
 
arclight said:
Smokers have a much higher risk of clots forming in blood vessels (since they are highly likely to have been damaged by smoking). When a clot forms (as in deep vein thrombosis in a leg) it can break away then lodge in somewhere vital like heart, lung and brain. That is very, very dangerous.
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I thought this too, the doc's said it wasn't the smoking, but it wouldn't have helped, that was how they put it at least.
 
Week 2 Update (technically been on this for 2.5 weeks now) - slightly disappointed with the weigh in - 3.5lb lost this week, was really hoping for 4 as that would have taken me from 16st9 to 16 dead rather than 16 and a half. Still, that's 8.5lb lost in 2 weeks which is ok. Not gone over my syns any day and overall for the week I was around 20 under. Have not missed bread and crisps as much as I thought but at times really do fancy them. Still able to enjoy much of what I cooked anyway, just less oil and less sausages!

Running is going well, picked this up again towards the end of August - did Cambridge Half in 2016 and 2017 and hope to do it again next March. Started back struggling to do a mile, and did a good 3 miles last night, had done 3 on Sunday but this was 30sec per mile quicker. Definitely felt lighter (although brand new trainers may have helped). So far this month have done 56 miles on the bike to work, so should break 100 miles this month, although I averaged 102 per month May-Aug - the difference is that some of those were after good amounts of beer!
 
woof woof said:
I think it's still been a problem though and those carrying a little too much weight maybe can relate to the years of worrying over it and the not always good natured teasing.



I've tried everything over the years from force feeding myself through exercise and anything else I could think of and nothing works. Even now I have to eat to the point of being uncomfortable to maintain 10st. If I just ate what I'd think of as normally I'd drop to something between 9 to 9 1/2 st. On the plus side I don't have to worry about fish and chips, pizza, ice cream or cake.

Sorry to post this in this thread but maybe it's worthwhile remembering that weight issues and being unhappy with body shape comes in all shapes and sizes.
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I am 5ft 9in and at the moment I am 9stone 4lb. I feel well and I am fit and I do not feel the need to eat more to increase my weight. Just eat sensibly and as much as you feel comfortable with and let your weight stabilise at its natural value. As long as your blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar levels etc. are OK you will be fine.
 
cambsno said:
Week 2 Update (technically been on this for 2.5 weeks now) - slightly disappointed with the weigh in - 3.5lb lost this week, was really hoping for 4 as that would have taken me from 16st9 to 16 dead rather than 16 and a half. Still, that's 8.5lb lost in 2 weeks which is ok. Not gone over my syns any day and overall for the week I was around 20 under. Have not missed bread and crisps as much as I thought but at times really do fancy them. Still able to enjoy much of what I cooked anyway, just less oil and less sausages!

Running is going well, picked this up again towards the end of August - did Cambridge Half in 2016 and 2017 and hope to do it again next March. Started back struggling to do a mile, and did a good 3 miles last night, had done 3 on Sunday but this was 30sec per mile quicker. Definitely felt lighter (although brand new trainers may have helped). So far this month have done 56 miles on the bike to work, so should break 100 miles this month, although I averaged 102 per month May-Aug - the difference is that some of those were after good amounts of beer!
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I'm at a stale mate here too. I hit 18st for the first time in years, but I'm swinging up and down between that and about 18.4 - I'm not putting anything back on which is good, but I seem to have hit a bit of a wall. I need to up the exercise, unfortunately my b*****d sciatica is roaring atm, my whole left side is on fire a lot of the time and it's stiffening me up pretty badly. I'm still cycling daily, but I really need to get back into weights and some tougher exercises like push ups and some jogging
 
Got back yesterday from two weeks in France, having enjoyed some nice food in Burgundy, Alsace, Black Forest (five day trips over the Rhine - absolutely fantastic weather and scenery) and Champagne, and I am half a kilo lighter which really surprised me. The poor old missus is two kilos heavier, but then I suppose that having a dessert after every meal probably didn't help her, whereas I don't have a sweet tooth so missed out on the Black Forest Gateaux.
 
andy700 said:
Got back yesterday from two weeks in France, having enjoyed some nice food in Burgundy, Alsace, Black Forest (five day trips over the Rhine - absolutely fantastic weather and scenery) and Champagne, and I am half a kilo lighter which really surprised me. The poor old missus is two kilos heavier, but then I suppose that having a dessert after every meal probably didn't help her, whereas I don't have a sweet tooth so missed out on the Black Forest Gateaux.
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That'll be it then, not having those hefty desserts. Though, I've not been big on dessert for many years. When we are out for a meal I am much more inclined to have another glass of wine for 'dessert' where my missus has her usual choc fudge or Baileys cheesecake. What I did do though, was eat half of her meal on top of mine when she was 'saving room for dessert' :D
 
Well, not sure if its the new trainers, or the weight loss/healthier eating, but my run went well on Sat. Having done 3 miles twice in the last 6 days (at 11.46 & 11.13 pace) I set myself a goal of doing 4. But I did 5, and didn't feel to bad, and the pace was 11.11 which I was very pleased with! Have a nasty feeling the loss this week is slower, but resisting the urge to try the scales till Weds night!
 
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