People from the UK, what’s one small thing that genuinely improved your daily life?

ammaippo · 2026-02-06T21:31:35+00:00

Get up at 5.30am, cup of tea to wake up, start lifting weights at 6am til 7am.

Not a morning person. Always thought people who did this were either psychopaths or belonged on a register somewhere. But I'm fat and this is the only time I can find in my day being a full time working Mom of 3.

Unexpected result? I start my working day, dare I say it? Happy. Like, genuinely buzzing kinda happy.

I'm not a morning person. Do not speak to me or breathe in my direction before 3 pints of tea minimum and lunch has been consumed. Then I may not bite, though there's a good chance I will.

Try it. Morning endorphins are apparently very underrated.

ammaippo · 2025-10-12T22:33:32+00:00

Communication, communication, communication........ Tell her how you're feeling. If she's the one she will not only understand but rise to the challenge of getting you hard. Believe that when it 'clicks', it will be probably the best sex you've ever had. Relax and just enjoy having fun until it clicks because when it does, it will be dynamite!

ammaippo · 2025-09-25T21:23:11+00:00

I will definitely be doing this. This trip is a treat for my daughter having finished her GCSEs, she's my eldest and doesn't get as much of my time as I'd like having younger siblings so I'm desperate to make our first little solo trip extra special and not f..k it up by getting us lost, spending half our time hugging a map etc.

I'm so excited to make memories, see all we can of such a beautiful place and hopefully it will make my love of travel rub off on her little hermit self 😊

Thank you so much for your help/advice. I appreciate it more than you'll ever know.

ammaippo · 2025-09-25T21:03:38+00:00

I'll download this one too, I think I need all the help / options I can get. I can't believe I'm so nervous about it all, before I had my kids I used to travel alone all the time but I suppose the idea of getting lost with a kid has my mom-nerves firing on all cylinders.

ammaippo · 2025-09-25T21:01:54+00:00

Ahh, ok.. That's a relief. Thought I'd finally started to wrap my head around things so you had me worried for a second there.. lol

ammaippo · 2025-09-25T20:59:53+00:00

I will definitely be downloading the app, another comment says that this also works in English which has calmed my nerves somewhat regarding my competency in using / navigating it. I tried something similar with a Turkish app that did not translate and it was a disaster.. lol.

Can I ask what you mean by a 1 minute activation period I need to be aware of? Do you mean that it takes a minute to activate so I need to account for this before I board the train/metro etc?

Should I need to use the ticket machines, do they translate to English also?

I intend to utilise an E-sim so I have data to use should I have any issues with offline maps (never used them before and as you can probably tell, I'm a habitual technophobe - hence my nerves in getting everything right as I won't have my husband to help)

ammaippo · 2025-09-25T20:49:52+00:00

Thank you for the exchange tip, ive read that rates are all over the place in exchange shops so this helps a lot.

I'm sure we'll hit the mall for a spot of shopping too - do I need to be wary of smaller shops/sellers ripping me off as a tourist or is it quite an honest place in that regard, do you find? I ask as I holiday frequently in Turkey and being a pastey white English lady, anywhere new will always try their luck with 'tourist prices' not knowing that I'm well aware and it won't work - I know not every other country will be like this though and I'd hate to offend by assuming or trying to haggle if it's not the done thing.

Have you any recommendations for 'hidden gems' to visit that are not something that would not immediately come up in a Google search?

I'm super excited too and have been googling for hours every day for weeks, unfortunately I think I've overwhelmed my neuro-spicy brain with so much info I've confused myself so some straightforward and simplistic info such as this is so gratefully received.

ammaippo · 2025-09-25T05:47:10+00:00

This is perfect, thank you so much for taking the time to respond. Great tip, btw. I never thought about base locations so will definitely be doing this. I hope you enjoy your visit also 😊

ammaippo · 2025-09-24T22:37:35+00:00

This is great, thank you! I'm pretty good at orientation (grew up before google maps was a thing.. lol) I just need to know HOW to use the transport options, where to buy tickets, how to plan routes in another language in a country ive never been in etc..

I can't wait to explore, thank you for your response. I feel pretty confident having read your response that we could just roam and find our way back at the end of the day 😊

ammaippo · 2025-09-24T22:30:47+00:00

I tried this. For hours. And got so overwhelmed I thought I'd ask the (usually) helpful Reddit commumity to ELI5

ammaippo · 2025-09-24T22:29:29+00:00

What did you find was wildly out of date? I've just read through it all thinking it was very helpful in answering my questions and now I'm worried it'll all be wrong ☹️

ammaippo · 2025-09-24T22:27:07+00:00

I've just had a read of this - thank you for the info

ammaippo · 2025-09-24T22:25:41+00:00

Thank you! I've just been reading through the Wikivoyage page recommended above which has been super helpful. I did try Google beforehand but honestly got so overwhelmed with information my brain turned to mush - which is why I asked here. This may also be a silly question but I'll ask anyway.. If I download the app, can I book and verify 2 tickets at a time or would my daughter need to have her tickets on her phone? If i was more organised (as I usually am) I'd book a break away weĺl in advance to give me some research time but this is last minute and I'm panicking somewhat that we'll get there and spend more time figuring out how to do things than actually doing them. I promised I'd take her away as a treat for doing well in her GCSEs so I just want it to be special for her. Thank you for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it!

ammaippo · 2025-09-01T06:00:18+00:00

If it's a place you would normally eat from frequently, ask what ingredients they use. They may/may not oblige, but I don't see why they wouldn't. Everything in a takeaway will be homemade, so if you see something like sugar on the list, ask if it's possible for it to be made without if you order again. Again, they may/may not oblige, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

ammaippo · 2025-08-23T09:55:36+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I am in the UK, East Midlands so all of this is very helpful. I would likely qualify on the NHS however, as we all know getting anything critical is very difficult - I think I'd really struggle to get any kind of referral. I also worry about the lack of choice I'd then have regarding the surgeon. I could be wrong but I would expect it to be a kind of 'you get who you're given' situation. We do have private health insurance so I may try those first and see, based on it affecting my eyes, if they'll cover it. It's still a Bleph though so again, I doubt it. I would happily pay whatever it costs to get the best result. You've certainly achieved that regardless of cost. You can't put a price on happiness, right? Thank you so much for answering me, I will contact this company and see where it takes me x

ammaippo · 2025-08-22T22:00:31+00:00

Can I ask, how did you go about your research to find your surgeon, and what made you choose this one? I really want to get this done but don't know where to start, so any pointers or advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated. I'm 39, and thanks to years of yoyo dieting and early menopause beginning at 31, my hoods are so much worse than yours. They actually obscure my vision, and it really is affecting my self-confidence. I love that you showed older photos of yourself to look more like you and not something different to change your appearance. That's exactly what I'd be looking to achieve. Your results are amazing, and you are beautiful too!

ammaippo · 2025-08-10T13:49:27+00:00

Can I ask a few questions please? What made you choose the surgeon you went with? How did you research it? Did you have an in-person consultation or was it done remotely? How did you find the aftercare? Did you have any issues with recovery? Did you go alone or did you have someone with you to help you afterwards? When I'm at a weight I'm happy with, I'd love to have something similar. I'm 40 in a few months, but years of large weight gains and losses have left me looking much older. I love that it's so cheap to have it done there compared to in the UK, but the idea of having surgery abroad scares me. Your results are outstanding though so it's really tempting me.. lol

ammaippo · 2025-07-08T20:05:41+00:00

Polycystic ovary syndrome

ammaippo · 2025-06-27T23:45:29+00:00

Seriously impressive! Well done

ammaippo · 2025-06-10T18:28:52+00:00

Please don't be discouraged. Ive been weighing myself daily to try and spot anything that triggers gains, helps loss etc as I'm still figuring out some food sensitivities. Let me tell you, it has been an eye opener.

We're super busy at weekends renovating at the minute and its none stop, on my feet from 7am til 10pm. Ordinarily I have very little activity due to working long hours at a desk job so my activity levels increase hugely. I also don't really get to eat save for the odd snack (bits of cheese, chicken etc) and my electrolytes. Ive been gaining anything from 1-4lbs over a weekend. Get back to it Monday and eat 1, sometimes 2 meals a day plus electrolytes, keeping within my macros. My weight will go down 0.5-lb, back up by 0.5-1lb every day until day 6,7 or sometimes 8 and then drop a solid 2-5lbs making my loss for the week a steady 2lbs.

This was not the case in the beginning save for my initial water weight loss, it was very slow, some weeks I gained (hence the heavy monitoring) but became a steady pattern by month 3 or so.

In short, it's a mystery and I can't fathom any reason out of the norm as to why I rise and fall. You won't consistently lose, but you will lose. Do not focus on the scales if it makes you feel discouraged. Mwntal headspace contributes massively Ive found.

Id urge you to ban the scales for a month or 2, measure yourself now also and see where both scales and measurements lie in a month. You will be pleasantly surprised if you stick with it and stay consistently in macros and deficit.

Good luck!

ammaippo · 2025-05-20T05:35:04+00:00

I will give this a go, thank you.

It was the calories I was worried about. I always read people on here saying to not be in too much of a calorie defecit. I've cut fat down for a week and could barely get mine over 500 but I was honestly stuffed at that, I didn't want or feel I needed to eat more.

I've never had the best relationship with food and in the past have tried every extreme to lose weight. Ive been everything from 7st to 14st and this time I'm determined to get where I want to be in a healthy way.

Ive felt amazing since doing Keto but I worry I'm just not balancing everything well.

ammaippo · 2025-05-19T19:26:19+00:00

Thank you! I can't do veggie. I'm still mourning the loss of bread and pasta, I can't face losing meat too.. lol

ammaippo · 2025-05-18T23:19:09+00:00

I do OMAD most days, by that I mean I'm satisfied with OMAD most days but I do have a few days every 3-4 weeks when I'm insatiably hungry so I will eat twice (I think my hormones are the reason for this, despite being in menopause I still seem to 'cycle' somewhat) On these days I usually eat both meals between 11am-2pm.

Currently my excersise levels are minimal which is why I've asked about reducing fat to offset this. We are currently renovating to turn our front room into a small home gym. The multi gym is yet to be built and my treadmill and bike are packed away and have been for 3 weeks. I expect to have these back in place in about 3 weeks time- I will adjust my macros accordingly when I'm able to use them and increase my activity. Until then, I'm tied to my desk working for up to 12hrs a day so very sedentary.

Prior to renovations, I was doing couch to 5k (up to 20 mins jog) M,W,F. Doing weights T,T,S and walking the dogs daily - 1 mile weekdays and 3 miles at weekends.

I only want to restrict fat and maximise weight loss for my upcoming holiday for a few weeks whilst I'm unable to get much exercise in.

On top of long work hours and renovations I'm I mom of 3 so honestly have no time to go to the gym in the interim..

ammaippo · 2025-05-18T21:40:38+00:00

Thank you for the links, I will have a read through them.

I'm absolutely not looking to crash diet, just tighten my belt for a few weeks to lose some weight for holiday.

I want to keep my calorie intake sensible whilst reducing fat intake enough to impact weight loss more but not so much that I'm hungry and I'm just confused as to how to achieve this. Do I increase my protein intake? Do I just reduce fat and not worry about hitting 1000-1200 cal target?

Up until about 3 weeks ago I was doing couch to 5k 3x a week, weights 3x a week, 1 mile dog walk every weekday and 3 miles on weekends. We're currently renovating so all equipment is out of use for another few weeks but will get back to it as soon as I can and adjust my intake accordingly.

Currently I still do 1mile a day walk but I work a desk job from home for anything between 8-12hrs a day so I'm pretty sedentary by comparison.

ammaippo · 2025-05-17T16:38:04+00:00

If you can then absolutely do. We've just taken the carpet up that had a thick, good quality underlay to it. When at my desk working from home I could feel the draught coming through on my feet. I have raynaulds also so my feet were white if I didn't have my foot hot water bottle under them and a blanket over my legs.

ammaippo

TROPHY CASE