Crazy life of Chilli

[ChilliQueen]

Hello

I've been around years ago but lost my log in details, typical serial dieter really. I managed to lose lots a long time ago with a VLC and my body just doesn't seem to respond to slimming world etc because I think they are too free with carbs.

Whenever I've tried losing weight the only thing that seems to work is lower carb so I'm going to try mostly following the fast 800, However I need to accept I'm in this for the long haul so if I need a break now and then that's fine just aim not to regain. I've also signed up for a dog walk fundraiser that will run for March so that's something to get me active. Keeping a diary also seemed to help so... here we are lol.

I've cut myself a lot of slack the past couple of years, having gone through a marriage breakup and now all this covid stuff ongoing but I think it's time for me to start to take care of myself and create a healthier future. I have 2 kids, a dog and work so life is a bit busy! I'm 45 and feel so old and unfit at times I want that to change.

I will weigh in properly and measure everything tomorrow, would like to have as much motivation as possible going forwards so if the scales aren't doing it the inches might. I probably need to lose about 65lb's to be properly healthy but for now I'm going to take it in small chunks. Any loss means I'm healthier than I am right now after all.

I don't mind my progress being slow, so long as I'm doing something, even 2 or 3lbs a month is going to mount up isn't it?

Chilli

 

[ladyfelsham]

Hi Chilli and welcome back!

I'm the same with SW, and losing weight in general, as you - lose then gain. It's so frustrating isn't it, after all the hard work. But I hear good things about Fast 800, so I'm sure you will love it and do really well on it. I'm doing IF - but not properly, the house had an influx of sweets and other rubbish, and they are all nearly gone now, so back in focus this week I hope.

Well done for surviving what sounds like a really challenging home situation - and good luck, we'll be cheering you on!

 

[ChilliQueen]

Morning Ladyfelsham thanks for your support. I'll likely add in intermittent fasting as well it's easier to manage less calories that way anyway and I do keep hearing good things about it.

So I weighed in this morning and turns out I'm 5lbs less than I was at the beginning of the year when I last weighed in so thats good, that being said I still have lots to lose and my measurements are just the same so no wonder I hadn't noticed bodies are funny things are they not?

Today I weigh in at 186 lbs and at my lofty height of only 5ft that puts my bmi 36.5. My waist is 38 inches, boobies 45 and those wobbletastic hips are around 30 inches.

Here is Scotland we're still on lockdown and have had bad snow so my pup has only had teeny walks, but as of today I hope to motivate myself for longer walks in prep for my March walking challenge - it's only 100km in March so completely do-able and I may challenge myself to double it. It's a juggle because I work and have homeschool with the kids at the moment, but hopefully they will allow them all back to school soon which makes it easier as my son doesn't like coming for a dog walk very far.

So far today I've not eaten anything, just a cup of tea (with milk and stevia sweetner) not actually hungry so I think I'll wait until around lunchtime and perhaps make an omelette, although we've no cheese but cheese is high calorie anyway.

Planning Gammon for dinner so I'll have it with veg instead of the usual potatoes/rice/pasta

My target for long term is to be 126 lbs so that's 60lbs away. I know people all use different numbers to motivate themselves I'm going to take this in 5lb chunks. So as of today my interim target is 181 lbs.

 

[tipperary]

Hi @ChilliQueen and welcome to Minis and more specifically WeMitts. I'm actually shorter than you at 4'11", not a massive height difference to some but is when you are short. And I'm a total Humpty Dumpty so am jealous of the fact that you seem to have a waist. Lockdown has really presented us with challenges and changed how we function every day and has really become wearing on us.
A 5lb loss is a great start and 5lb milestones sounds very doable. I look forward to reading your posts and celebrating successes with you.

 

[ChilliQueen]

Hi @ChilliQueen and welcome to Minis and more specifically WeMitts. I'm actually shorter than you at 4'11", not a massive height difference to some but is when you are short. And I'm a total Humpty Dumpty so am jealous of the fact that you seem to have a waist. Lockdown has really presented us with challenges and changed how we function every day and has really become wearing on us.
A 5lb loss is a great start and 5lb milestones sounds very doable. I look forward to reading your posts and celebrating successes with you.

Hi Tipperary, nice to see you, we are off course undertall and not overweight at all

I guess I'm lucky to have a waist, I miss-stated my hips though I said 30inches which isn't even an aspiration lol, they're 50 quite bottom heavy.

well so far today I did well having a yoghurt, then a 2 egg and onion omelette with a grilled tomato and 3 slices of bacon. I then managed to drag my son out on a dog walk which was nice but when we get home - old habits die hard - we had options hot chocolate! not a big deal I know but I didn't plan to I'm just used to having it when we come in all cold. Calorie wise they're not much, but a lot of carbs. In any case I am not going to overthink it, if I have gammon with veg for dinner I'll still be a lot lower in carbs than I usually am and I did manage not to eat the biscuits I usually have with the hot choc... currently on 520 calories and 51g carbs.

 

[tipperary]

No biscuits is a win as far as I am concerned

 

[ChilliQueen]

oh yes I definitely see the lack of biscuits as a triumph! I had a few spoons of rice with my dinner too, much less than I usually have though. In the end I've had 779 calories and 78g carbs, but 25g of those was the hot choc! I won't eat anything else tonight.

I've made an effort to drink more too, so all in I do see today as a real win

 

[ChilliQueen]

Good morning from the crazy house of Chilli. sitting nursing my first cuppa of the day (tea with milk and stevia) with my filled water bottle beside me.

Having decided yesterday was a good day to begin, I've now realised I don't have that much of the right kinds of food in my house and will need to get some shopping, which I hadn't planned until later in the week. I may struggle with the low carb side but will keep to the 800 calories anyway. Have no eggs left and not much veg left either.

might need an emergency trip to the local shop lol. Also the son doesn't want a walk today

 

[ChilliQueen]

sooo. I've been reading stuff and apparently anything less than 130g carb is considered 'lower' carb and in any case a lot lower than what we're usually eating, so that makes yesterday look pretty good really. Also apps seem to vary so much - the app I was using was stuck on one day, I couldn't move to the next day so I've decided to just try the app that comes as standard on my phone the samsung health one. It puts yesterdays carb count lower... 56.9g calories around the same. I guess it's all a bit hit and miss.

Today, due to lack of forward planning and shopping I'm really just aiming for 'not eating ****' and was doing ok. I had an actimel yoghurt drink and then I made some soup. Not especially low carb - onions, carrots, lentils, garlic, chilli, beefstock all cooked and blended. 40g carbs apparently and 245 calories, but I didn't have the bread which I usually would have reached for and when you consider how much bread, pasta and potato we typically eat (certainly in the UK) I guess we are usually having 200g carbs or more easily.

I did however slip, stupidly... my son was eating cheese twists and I thought I'll just have one - thinking that won't be much... OMG they're 350 calories for ONE TWIST!! No wonder I'm a chubster I would easily have eaten 5 or 6 of those at a time. I had no idea they were so calorific. At least I did only have one, but my calories today will definitely end up over 800 now. No more cheese twists for ChilliQ

I seem to be making one error per day... I guess I will learn!

 

[DeeOne_UK]

Hi Chilli, welcome back.
Im doing the fast 800 /IF with an 8 hour eating window. I'm in week 10 with a couple of weeks to go. Its working well for me even with a few hiccups, looking forward to following your progress
Good luck!

 

[ChilliQueen]

Hi Chilli, welcome back.
Im doing the fast 800 /IF with an 8 hour eating window. I'm in week 10 with a couple of weeks to go. Its working well for me even with a few hiccups, looking forward to following your progress
Good luck!

thanks DeeOne, looks like you're doing great hopefully I will follow in your footsteps!

 

[ChilliQueen]

well, tonight we had chicken burgers, and beans, and I had a teeny portion of chips, like about 6 chips lol. I know it's not low carb, it's not 800 fast friendly, it's nothing. Other than the fact I would have had a chip mountain usually. I did nip to the shop tonight for a few things but I'm short of cash till Friday. My calories today after that stupid stupid cheesy twist are about 1200 and around 130g of carbs. However - in the past I would have seen this and my obvious lack of planning and starting on a whim as an excuse to put it off for another week or three. This time I have just decided nope, this is the right time and it doesn't matter that I don't have the right stuff in. I can still make an effort to eat less, I can still make an effort to drink more, I can still make an effort to walk more, and I can suck up my mistakes.

I'm only 2 days in, but I have definitely eaten less, drank more and walked more, and by Monday I will have a bunch of better planned shopping to commence next week with.

I haven't mentioned yet but I work night duty, usually 6 in a row followed by 8 off. Any tips for turning an eating plan around by 12 hours without eating twice? tips for stopping grazing through a shift? thanks in advance.

night night minimins peeps.

 

[tipperary]

Yep, that's the attitude, a mistake doesn't mean waiting to start over again, it means a mistake and just continue on. Start writing a shopping list now for Friday, it will be easier to stay within budget than if you go prepared and not be tempted by random things. In fact, sometimes if I'm not feeling strong either food wise or money wise I give my list to another family member to do the shopping for me so I'm not tempted. Do have a few treats available though as I have found if I have a chocolate craving and have to go to the shop for some that it's not just one bar of chocolate I will buy, oh no, it will be 3 bars of chocolate, a multi pack of popcorn, a sourdough loaf and a bottle of wine.
I've no suggestions for switching meals from night shift

 

[ChilliQueen]

' it will be 3 bars of chocolate, a multi pack of popcorn, a sourdough loaf and a bottle of wine. ' oh that gave me a good giggle haha. Thankfully for the moment I really don't have the cash to consider that, so weirdly that might help. I definitely think twice at the moment before taking my card out.

I'm getting off lightly this stretch with my nightshifts because I'm only doing 3, as I've got a week off next week using up holidays. Due to starting Friday night though, shopping will wait and I'll get a click and collect after my last shift on Monday morning - so plenty time to plan and arrange the list.

I was thinking the other day, in the past I would have tried to motivate myself with rewards, ya know if I lost a stone I'd buy a few new clothes etc. I really can't do that this year but I mostly make my own anyway - sadly the price of fabric doesn't make this cheap, but it does make them fit! For the next 6-9 months in particular it's likely I really need to hang on to my cash as much as possible. I do have some fabric sitting that isn't used though so I think it's time to be more inventive. I'm gonna aim for 175lbs then I'll make something from my stash. Should be heading for nicer weather by then, I definitely have 2 pieces of fabric I bought last year with dresses in mind. I haven't often worn dresses my entire life - I'm trying to be different! More open to change, less open to the negative opinions of others I probably have fabric for at least 5 or 6 pieces if I get my imagination out ...

Food today well... Still using up the contents of the house but I did buy some eggs yesterday.

So in a bit I'll have brunch, perhaps boiled eggs mashed up with a bit of salt and pepper, maybe a slice of bacon and some fried onions. Probably a yoghurt at some point (I don't have much calcium other than a little milk in tea generally) Dinner later is going to be either breaded fish or chicken pies as that's what's left in the freezer. I'd usually have them with chips/potatoes/pasta/rice but I'll have extra veg and either none or just a little of the carbs, especially with the pies as they have pastry obv. On saturday we're having pizza, but there is a lone chicken breast in the freezer that isn't enough to make a dinner for 3, so I'll have that when the kids have their pizza. Go me woohoo forward planning In other news inspection of the jar instead of the app I binned tells me that options hot choc is 7.6g carbs per portion and not 25 so actually I could still have that now and then I think.

I'm going to get some gram flour and coconut flour and experiment with recipes to make lo-carb crackers. I did this last time I lost weight but with almond flour, but it's more expensive and harder to get. At this stage I can't afford to be too fancy, but gram/besan is pretty cheap in tesco and so is coconut flour. I really like a cracker with cheese, or something to dunk in me soup.

You know my life has changed so much in the past 2 years, I've been really pushed to tap into my inventive creative side, forced to embrace the unknown. The thought of it made me so uncomfortable, but now that I'm 'in' it... well... I love it. There's no going back. I've fought against this kind of lack of sureness about how to manage and what happens next my whole life, always needed things to be ordered and planned, but I've found such freedom in letting it go, falling into the craziness of really having no idea what I'm doing from one week to the next, but it has so much potential in it! So much choice, so many unexpected solutions. I'm happier than I've been in years even with my huge ass.

I didn't mean to turn into Ms philosophical, but I do like to ramble.

Have a nice day all

 

[tipperary]

Great read, I love to sew too but I can't make clothes. I tend to stick to patchwork and crafts and things that don't need accuracy or straight lines.

You certainly seemed to have found your mojo with being forced to be creative, sometimes we need something like that to encourage us to think outside the box.

 

[ChilliQueen]

I'm sure you could make clothes if you wanted, mostly I use a site called patterns for pirates, very user friendly they are.

I definitely found my mojo yes

So food for today - boiled eggs bacon and onion, actimel yoghurt drink, a satsuma, fish, beans, sweet potato and parsnip fries. 880 calories and around 70g carbs. All good enough.

Took my son to get his eyes tested today all OK. We went for a walk at the beach whilst we were there, so at least that's 3 days of reasonable behaviour

 

[ChilliQueen]

hmm, well I had a mid-week weigh in and apparently I've gained 4lbs
I can only assume that either

a) my scales are wonky.
b) I am wonky.
c) something supernatural is afoot.

Any could be true... I am menstruating and did feel a bit bloated yesterday, but I don't usually gain 4lbs. I think my scales might be wonky and I can't justify buying new ones. I would default to a weekly weigh in at the chemist, but I doubt their machine is open in the current climate and I wouldn't want to go there every week anyway. I'm just going to go with the flow, there's no way I could eat what I've eaten in the past few days and gain 4lbs for real, so I'm not going to worry about it. I'm just going to keep going anyway, forward motion is inevitable. I'm going to measure weekly too and I know there's nothing wonky about my tape measure.

I'm not long home from nipping in to work to get my second dose of covid vaccine, so I know I might feel a bit yucky later or tomorrow, so I know I need to really stay focussed the next couple of days, but I'm grateful to now be fully vaccinated.

Food wise today I've had an actimel yoghurt. I'm toying with a lunchtime experiment - I have a small butternut squash, I may take half of it and bake it with a bit of salt pepper and garlic, then have it stuffed with a can of rattatouie, obviously not still in the can might be a little high in carbs but it's all good carbs, not the simple sugar spiking ones. I'd have some cheese on top but I don't have any... Dinner will likely be chicken pie and veg. I'll try to have more water/fluid as well. I've definitely drank more than I usually do but it's still probably not quite enough.

 

[ChilliQueen]

well another good albeit compromised day due to the 'Old Mother Hubbard' syndrome affecting my kitchen contents

I had half a squash with half ratatouie at lunch and actually really enjoyed it, I just halved and deseeded, added salt and pepper and a little lazy garlic, popped it in the oven with a little water in the dish covered in foil for 45 mins. Removed the foil and water, added the ratattouie and back in the oven for 15 mins. it was only 103 calories and 11.9g carbs, so when I have cheese I can bump up the calories a little next time. Would be lush with some cheese, can imagine stuffing them with all sorts of yummy stuff.

Had 2 small chicken pies for dinner 520 calories and 44.8g carbs which isn't great but I am getting through the freezer. I also had a hot choc and am sitting on 740 calories for the day and 76.6g carbs which overall I don't think is awful.

I just had a chat with my kids (aged 16 and 8) to make a food plan for next 2 weeks and one of the things I'm doing is ONLY buying snacks for them and not a generic pile for all which is the norm. They have each chosen their crisps and biscuits and will have a box each being allowed one of each per day. I have so often in the past just helped myself to crips etc but I won't do that when I know it's designated to each of them. They have access to as much fruit and yoghurt and proper meal food as they like.

As for the food plan I'm about to make a more complete one, to introduce more lower carb options for myself, and the kids can try them too as we go. I don't want to make life too difficult but for example if it's spag bol we're having I'll make pasta for them and perhaps roast veg for me, or even another squash to stuff etc. A bit of planning and it should be ok. I have until Sunday night to complete me shopping list and I'll pick it up after my nightshift Monday morning.

Then I'm off work for the week and the way my shifts work it means I'm off for 12 nights so that should let me really get myself sorted.

I'm feeling very positive and motivated

 

[tipperary]

That sounds like a great plan for meals and shopping for the week and getting the children involved is genius. No way you will be raiding their snacks if they have them picked and allocated to a day. That squash sounds delicious a d as you were saying cheese on top would be great I was thinking an egg cracked into it a baked would be wonderful too.

 

[ChilliQueen]

yeah the squash was lovely, I'll have the other half for lunch today. I've kind off automatically fallen into almost intermittent fasting as well - I only have lunch and dinner so I'm only eating really between 12pm and 8pm, I'll see how that goes.

So other issues about Chilli not probably mentioned so far - probable ADHD (my daughter is diagnosed and we are the same) thus my sudden decisions and jumping around, but I like it. PCOS and insulin resistance, probable pre-diabetic as had gestational diabetes in first pregnancy.

Weighing and measuring on Mondays isn't really going to be consistent I realised last night as every 2nd Monday is after Sundays night shift. I'm going to switch my day to Friday, because I never typically work on Thursday nights.

I've weighed both kids and myself again on my scales and they seem to be working ok, I have no idea why I weighed in so light on Monday, but I'm just going to let it go - I am not 5lbs lighter since beginning of year and I actually have no way of knowing what my weight actually was on Monday. I wonder perhaps if a corner of it was sitting on something giving an odd reading? I did find a cotton bud on the floor.

So if I just kind of recalibrate from today I'm 190lbs, waist and hips the same and down 0.5 inches on my bust, and reconsider my target for 186 making the assumption I started at 191. Really it doesn't matter, I'm motivated by numbers but I don't mind not knowing some details. Eating this way is bound to bring results regardless of where I started.

Today is likely to be yoghurt, squash and ratattouie, dinner I'm not sure but corned beef hash is happening for the kids. I may or may not join them, first night on nightshift tonight so I may try to make lunch later, skip dinner and make soup to bring to work.

In the meantime homeschooling beckons, dog walk and I need to nip in to work for routine covid test.
Have a nice day all.