I’m a Pear/Apple - Part 5. Still going!!

I have found since stopping counting calories daily, but still being careful with what I eat, some of my old habits and longings for food have returned 😳

One of my mantras was (eat nothing between the end of my evening meal and breakfast the next day). Well I find myself having an occasional sweet or chocolate, or some fruit. It’s not a good sign.

NanKate I always found it unfair I lost weight of my boobs when I hadn't got a lot to start with and could see weight off my rib bones . While my stomach and thighs still flabby and saggy. 🤣

Been baking but lost 1lb this week. It was my last sit fit yesterday . We did sit down dance to staying alive it was fun .
. I made gingerbread all went but I ate few chocs and Mr Kipling lemon slice . Today last move it or lose it made gingerbread to take to them .

Tomorrow last craft group so made brownies and gluten free brownies to take . Then in the evening our Wombles Christmas dinner having aricina with tom and basil,nut roast and black forest cheesecake 😋😋😋. Then normal eating until Christmas day with my daughter and family. And friends for new year's eve lunch .

Hopefully lose couple more pounds by Christmas. Have a good week pears . 🎄

Yes the friendship and help we all give each other is especially good on this thread 👍

I noticed recently whilst getting dressed my breast bones are very evident. But my hips are still fatty. It’s not fair ☹️

MayBee that's brilliant. Hope you feel fitter to. I tend to have my lunch and dinner same time everyday . My breakfast can be between 7-8 depending if I do a few jobs before having it . But saying that do miss lunch Mondays and if I am doing something else at 1 my lunch time . But I don't feel hungry think it's having porridge every morning made with oat milk keeps me full.

Stayed the same this week which was good . My brother and sister in law came yesterday made a veg ,Quorn mince pasta bake but used more cheese than normal plus dotted the top with Abergavenny soft goat cheese . Made a big enough one so the they seconds I only had one portion but got enough left over for 6 dinners. Made a Panettone bread and butter pudding made with double cream and eggs little bit of skimmed milk. But must say it was delicious. Weighed myself this morning put on 2lb shows why I have to be careful with my food . Back to normal today . Will calculate cals in pasta bake today . Be higher than my normal dinner just cut back on having low cal instant hot chocolate.

At high school our Home ecc teacher was very hot on cooking from scratch and having a balanced diet . And keeping fat intake low. But I was brought up cooking from scratch but we had cheaper cuts of meats ..But breast of lamb was cut into ribs and cooked on rack and cooked both sides so most of the fat dripped off same with belly draft . But we did have as a treat and piece of bread dipped in the roast pork juices once cooked and rest put into a dish . Lovely brown jelly on bottom and layer of white fat . Dripping on toast was a treat . The jelly was always twice the thickness of fat.

Haven't eat meat for 5 years and stopped buying chicken breast . I like Quorn mince , chicken pieces . Quorn sausages browned in oil . All into stew or pasta bake .lots of veg . Soup always contains red lentils and whatever veg I have in . Love pearl barley. If my cal counting is low add 100g of precooked rice . I boil 500g of long grain rice once cold pack it into 100g and freeze . Always have gnocchi in the freezer and bulgar wheat in the stock cupboard.
Using rice and my mango chutney can change my portion of stew into curry. 😋.

I used to have Nimble bread and those carnation drinks that was supposed to be a meal . PJL was horrible but in the 70's it was supposed to dissolve fat . But then again there was lots of nonsense diets,grapefruit and boiled egg , cabbage soup diet etc
but didn't do either.

The worst thing my parents told me when I said I wanted to diet when I was 13 it's puppy fat and will go. But I now understand why they said that . After having my diagnosis of HPX and finding out the difficulty parents had getting HPX babies and young children to eat . I was very skinny compared to my brother and think they where just happy I was eating more .

Funny how one thing here can trigger memories .. That's the great thing about the pears we share tips and life experiences . Plus the help , support and most importantly of all friendship. 💞

Cheese in toast with Lea and Perrins, Yum as my grandson would say. 😀

I don’t eat as much cheese as I used to ( it’s my favourite food; I could live without meat but not cheese). A few weeks ago I had a craving for cheese on toast, either with marmite or French mustard so I ate that for a few days! I’m eating full fat Greek yoghurt though. I don’t like fat free yoghurt. I think the Zoe podcast said that was ok ( I need to listen to it again). There are loads of recipes on instagram that I’m trying. Avoiding additives etc seems to be a big thing at the moment. I seem to be able to eat things like beans and lentils that used to trigger my IBS at one time. I wish we were all better educated about nutrition when we were young. My idea of dieting was eating slimcea bread and chewing AYDS before meals ( I’d eat the whole box!). Or have a packet of ‘ slimming’ biscuits which were just over packaged expensive biscuits! My main aim being, if possible, to not eat anything and starve myself.

That's great Maybe. You are not alone in trying to reduce cholesterol by diet. I found the "Zoe" Youtube video helpful. Interestingly the experts say cheeses are OK because cheese is a fermented food but of course it's high in Calories..

Very well done Maybee. I agree so much with your approach. Eating between set hours. Analysing your previous diet and enjoying your food. A success 👍💐

Well, having changed my diet in an attempt to reduce my high cholesterol I now weigh less than I have done for twenty years, and that is without getting hungry at all. I suppose it’s down to reducing fat and sugar and sticking with not eating after a certain time, then starting the day with a glass of water. I’d always thought I ate reasonably healthily ( when I wasn’t binging on crisps etc) but looking at my diet now I realise it wasn’t. I’d got into the habit of eating lots of white bread ( now switched to wholemeal sourdough). I hadn’t realised that having a cup of tea or coffee with meals stopped your body absorbing any vitamins or minerals so I now wait an hour or so. And I’m eating lots of flax and chia seeds and adding them to cakes ( still eating cake every day). I can’t find Edam cheese anywhere but have realised you can buy reduced fat cheese. And I’m using Benecol instead of Clover or butter.

NanKate everyone has things in there lives that make life difficult. It's just I talk about it . A friend from GN who I see for lunch every couple of months told another GN friend that how I write is how I am in real life . But I do write as I speak . So my rambles are like I am talking 😂. Expect my writing doesn't stutter ,or get slurry but I do forget my words or found I had written something that makes no sense . 😱.

CocoPops well done losing the 2lb. Put 1lb on this week went out twice last week for meal . Going out again on Friday for lunch .

Back on track since Sunday but got other meals out planned next couple of weeks . Went out 6 days last week out 4 days this week. Since moving here my life has never been busy 😀.
Better time flies by than drag .
Have a good week fruits 😊

Well done on the loss cocoapops .
Was my birthday Friday.hence went ‘off piste’ so darent stand on scales, will wait till next week. Back on track today though after having a couple days off.

Can hear the rain now so spose it will be another rainy day.

Yes, the above is the 16:8 diet and I found that it works. Providing I stick to it of course! Anyhow miracle of miracles I lost 2lbs this week because I cut out bread, rice and spuds. Weight 138 lbs.this morning. Went out for a family brunch today and scoffed some bread though. Oh and a Mimosa to drink. Back on the wagon now.

Agree about leaving a gap between dinner and breakfast is that 16:8? Eat within 8 hours and don’t for 16 hours? Not forgetting the importance of hydration.

Nankate you are a little older, but am 77.5 so only just.

I don’t usually eat after dinner, ( apart from occasionally) which is earlyish generally around 6 pm, nor do I generally eat between meals.
Evenings are always the most difficult but sometimes I don’t have breakfast until mid morning, 10/10.30 then dinner around 4.30/5 pm which is only two meals that day, and after a decent dinner I don’t usually feel tempted in the evening, but if I am, having missed a meal, don’t feel a small treat is too bad.

Thanks for the book info Whiff. It’s incomprehensible how hard it is but I soldier onwards and downwards with a bit of upwards on bad weeks.

Whiff you have had so much to put up with in your life. I admire how you never give up.

Silverlining48 I suspect I am older than you, 79 and still breathing 😉.

The tip I would give anyone on this journey of Eating Less for Life, is to stop eating after your evening meal. I used to eat chocolate, nuts etc in the evenings. It took me about 3 - 4 weeks to stop this habit. The late Dr Mosley said the longer between your evening meal and breakfast is good for you. I finish eating at 6.30 and have nothing but water and a cuppa in the morning until breakfast at 9.00 am. He said this is a type of fasting.

Thanks whiff. I am supposed to be following the SW ‘diet’. I have struggled with weight for 40 odd years so know my way around. Have always eaten sensibly, cooked fresh from scratch etc last takeaway 35 years ago, yes really, so havnt had to make too many changes to my already healthy diet. Have reduced portions which help, and hopefully I am out of my bout of the munchies.
It doesn’t help I am very short and every pound shows. It’s not fair but then life isn’t is it. If I were 6’6” I would be a perfect weight.
I started SW in January and have lost just over a stone. A young woman ( in her 40 s maybe) who started with me has lost over 8 stones. She has done brilliantly and looks so different. She went from a 26 to a 12/14. My realistic goal woukd be a 14, from current 16. Only one size difference but nearly a year to get even close.
I know you have lost similar whiff, well done as it is harder the older you are, and I am quite old.

https://signal-corridor.live/uploads/talk/202511/medium-5p7ge5-img-20251121-131635395.jpg%3C/span%3E https://signal-corridor.live/uploads/talk/202511/medium-7cluo-img-20251121-131450327-hdr.jpg%3C/span%3E

Silverlinings this is the book NanKate recommended it's brilliant. Also has lists of foods dry and cooked weight .

Silverlinings I have had the same problem not pre diabetic but since coming out of hospital in January found it hard to not over eat . I don't buy things in I know I can't leave alone . But when out I should just have a drink but find myself wanting a cake and most times I give in 🤬🤦.

The stroke neurologist said it was a migraine . I was in hospital for a week .They ruled out heart attack after angiography. But my own neurologist knows something happened. When he saw me he said what's happened to you. Had MRI on my brain and cervical cord. Turns out I have a lesion/cyst under my scalp. The CT scan they did in January they didn't do my whole head. But I don't even remember having it done so something was off . I had a headache that wouldn't go and pain down left side of my neck.

I have lost strength in both arms and from the elbows down they do thrown things . The tablet my neurologist put me stopped the limb jerks I had for 32 years and 4 seizures. So for 5 years they where controlled. Plus my speech is effected it can get stuttery,slurry or I can't get the words out. 🤬.

At move it or lose it found out I can't pop bubble wrap or close a clothes peg. We where using them for finger exercises. Found out in July I can't clap my hands repel eachother mad I know .

Silverlinings well done with the loss this week.

NanKate good loss as well hope you are feeling better.

Lost pound this week so pleased about that .

Had my last singing and exercise class on Wednesday. But still have my sit fit class and move it or lose it each week plus the exercises I do at home daily and my 500 rotations on my static pedals. Tried 600 won't be doing that again .

Keep up the good week Christmas will soon be here. 😱.

Well done silverlining48. 👍

I have lost 1lb but only because my appetite hasn’t yet returned since my recent bout of the flu.

Lost 1.5 this week. Need to keep on track and focus on the next half stone. It’s only 5.5 lbs more, but seems so far away.

Thanks Nankate,

Silverlining48 it’s hard this losing weight lark but you are fortunate to have been warned about being pre-diabetic, because you really don’t want it to move onto diabetes. My DH was told he was pre-diabetic, even though he only weights just under 10 stone, but it was a wake up call for him and he has cut back a lot on sweet sugary food and is no longer pre-diabetic.

For both Whiff and myself counting the calories was the way to get some control over our weight.

Best of luck to all our Pears and Apples.

After losing a stone I have been stuck fir many weeks now, up one, down a half , up a half, down one, up one etc and having recently been diagnosed as pre diabetic need to get a grip as I want to avoid diabetes.
I am craving things and giving in to food which I can usually resist. H e l p !

The cold weather has signalled to my brain " you must hoover up all food"

Finally got some motivation back and lost 1/2 lb. Still struggling with the evening munchies sometimes though. 😩 Battle on ladies.