I need to lose a stone - how?

[Miaou]

Stupid question I know, but I have never watched my diet and I'm a bit clueless

Currently 9st 5lb, would like to lose a stone (possibly a stone and a half but will see how I feel at a stone less). Am only little so I'm not exactly going to look waiflike

Diet fairly healthy but obviously could be improved:

Breakfast: cornflakes with a teaspoon of sugar
Midmorning: cup of tea and chocolate biscuit (at playgroup)
Lunch: sandwich (ham or tuna mayo) or homemade soup and a roll, and yoghurt
Tea (at 5pm with kids): homemade pizza, chicken curry, pasta with pesto, scrambled eggs etc - depends on how big lunch was. Yoghurt/chocolate mousse afterwards.
Evening: previously, chocolate - have had some hints on more healthy snacks on another thread!
Drinks: plenty of cups of tea during the day. Don't really drink much water except 1/2 pint with each meal. Have knocked wine on the head (not that I drank much anyway).

Exercise: walk to town most days (2 miles and a hill involved plus push a buggy); exercise class once a week (can't afford to do it more often).

Congratulations if you haven't fallen asleep yet

Oh I'm still breastfeeding too, not sure if that has an impact - ds2 is 9.5 months so it's not his only food as it were.

I'd rather have a non-drastic change to my diet and it take longer to lose the weight than feel miserable about it, but any thoughts are really welcome!

Am off out now (to my Tae Bo class ) but will check back later. Thank you very much for help and suggestions!

Oh ps not sure if my age is relevant, I'm 36.

[blisscake]

I 'm doing slimming world - its excellent have lost 10lb in seven weeks, still able to eat choccy and drink wine but have to learn how to food optimise. It's v easy once you've got the hang of it and is basically healthy eating rather than dieting. You're never hungry and can eat all day if you want to. Not sure how it fit with BF but because it doesn't involve calorie counting is probably ok. Good luck.

[blisscake]

I 'm doing slimming world - its excellent have lost 10lb in seven weeks, still able to eat choccy and drink wine but have to learn how to food optimise. It's v easy once you've got the hang of it and is basically healthy eating rather than dieting. You're never hungry and can eat all day if you want to. Not sure how it fit with BF but because it doesn't involve calorie counting is probably ok. Good luck.

[avenanap]

How tall are you?

[Booboobedoo]

Weightwatchers is wonderful too. Just teaches you how to manage your intake, without cutting anything out.

I've been a member for eleven years, and have maintained a weight I'm happy with.

[Michaelangelo]

Would recommend the GI diet lots of variety get one of the books that have lots of recipes which my kids love too, have never felt hungry on this and its easy to maintain long term.

[mckenzie]

I would love to be able to help you more as this is my 'thing' (currently doing my Personal Trainer YMCA exams and Nutrition is part of it) but I am swapped with case studies and practical exams.

At a glance though, swap the cornflakes for porridge oats. Proper ones that you cook with milk in the saucepan, not the ones that come in individual packets to microwave and are full of sugar.
Have a different topping to suit your taste buds each morning, raspberries, dried fruit, banana etc. Full of healthy soluble and non soluble fibre so great for your digestion and complex carbs so will release energy slowly. If you need a kick in the morning to get you going then add something with a little sugar (golden syrup maybe or honey, but just a little).

Swap the chocolate biscuit for a healthy snack like a banana, piece of fruit, home made oat cookie or a plain biscuit.

Swap the tuna mayo for tuna and sweetcorn or tuna and pepper, add salad to make it more filling.

My Mumsnet time is up. Back to study - sorry.

Good luck and keep up the exercise.

[Miaou]

oh sorry I should have said, I don't want to do slimmers world/ww etc, I want to make changes to my diet, not "go on a diet". I need to feel it's a permanent solution. Also I don't have the time/money to pay to join such a club.

Don't fancy GI diet - isn't that the one where you eat no carbs just lots of meat?

But thanks for the advice

Avenanap, I'm 5'2" and "petite" (ie small frame).

mckenzie, that's the sort of thing I need to hear - porridge is such a good idea, I like it and though I couldn't bear to eat it unsweetened I could eat it with a tiny bit of honey. Always make it from scratch so that's not a problem.

I could have a piece of fruit/apple with my tea in the morning - playgroup is hard though because I'm surrounded by lovely biscuits and I have no willpower! I will try hard to do that though.

I made a big fruit salad and had a bowl of that when I came in from Tae Bo, so that was my snack tonight! I might get some oatcakes and make some humous too (lurve humous). See if that helps!

[pinkspottywellies]

I've lost a stone or so since January. I realised that I never got hungry - I think from the early days of breastfeeding I anticipated being hungry so I ate and was having snacks that I really didn't need and eating in the evening if I was a bit peckish rather than just going to bed.

I think the porridge sugggestion is a great idea. Do you have skimmed milk? And do you have sugar in your tea? I find brown bread helps me lose weight. Bulgar wheat is also a good alternative to pasta/rice/bread. My sil swears by it for 'weight maintenence' and she's a size 8-10!

I've also started running - half an hour 3 times a week. I did the couch to 5k programme and it's amazing for building up stamina for running.

Good luck!

[mckenzie]

Miaou, I just came on to check if you had replied before finishing for the night. Try the porridge with the fresh fruit too - you might be surprised and not need anything else to sweeten it.

Putting your cutlery down between each mouthful is a good idea to make sure you don't rush your food and do try to mentally ask yourself occasionally through the meal if you are really hungry still.

Also, maybe try doing a food diary for a few days and compare it to the healthy pyramid (there is one shown here - northumbria.ac.uk/sd/central/hr/oh/eating/) or go to www.eatwell.gov.uk which is part of the Food Standards Agency. It might just give you some ideas re portion sizes and what food groups you should be eating more of and/or less of. Dont be scared of carbohydrates if you are exercising, as long as they are the complex starchy ones.

Good luck and well done pinkspottywellies - hope you're enjoying the running.

[Miaou]

Thank you mckenzie and wellies - good advice there!

I have to say, things like portion control and not rushing my meals I'm ok at - it's evening nibbles that are my downfall I think. Food diary is a great idea and I will look at your link later to see how my diet shapes up to their recommendations.

I had a ham salad sandwich for lunch today but I did put a squirt of salad cream on - about half a teaspoonful. But then I'm thinking that surely some calories are allowed - I still want to enjoy my food!

[mckenzie]

If it's evening nibbles then perhaps you are not having enough starchy carbohydrates at tea/dinner time to keep you feeling full. Or you need something else to do with your hands in the evenings so that you can't pick at nibbles at the same time. What do you usually want to have for your nibbles? Sweet things or savoury?

[NappiesGalore]

ooh, am looking at tips with interest as want to do same thing...

[tori32]

I would say your diet is basically ok. I would just try not to eat carbohydrates after your lunch, so sandwich is fine for that. Just have meat/fish with lots of veg. Cut back on cheese with pasta/pizza.
Snacks I would recommend fruit instead of biscuit, such as cherry tomatoes/ satsuma/apple but not bananas. I would cut out yoghurt/choc mousse short term and have fruit.
Try toast for breakfast instead of cereal.
Your exercise seems good.
I lost 4.5stone in 16mths doing this.

[tori32]

If you need to nibble, I used to cut up a plate of carrot sticks/cucumber and munch that.

[CombustibleLemon]

You could try having a large bowl of salad/veg with your dinner- it sounds silly to say eat more not less, but it should help. Also, if you're eating at 5pm, try to have a planned evening snack at a regular time.
Changing to skimmed milk with your tea as others have suggested would be a quick and fairly painless way to cut calories + fat intake.

[Miaou]

Thanks folks. Re carbs at teatime - I probably don't eat enough for tea, it tends to be a fairly rushed meal I have to say. Tonight we are having haggis, neeps and tatties (yes, I know haggis is probably full of fat, it was bought pre-diet!) but I shall eat plenty of veg with it!

Evening nibbles mckenzie previously consisted 100% of chocolate . I am a serious chocoholic! Someone suggested freezing it and having one chunk at a time, but I know I would give in and defrost it and eat the lot!

I think the humous/carrot/cucumber thing is a really good idea - I am going to buy humous and oatcakes at the weekend.

I don't think I eat a lot of cheese really (which is where the food diary will come in handy I think) - we have pizzas once a week (that's a family ritual!), and I tend to put pesto on pasta. I have stopped having cheese sandwiches though.

Lemon, I'm not sure if I could bear to have skimmed milk. If I make macaroni cheese I use powdered skimmed milk, but otherwise that's it. I suppose I could use it to make porridge ... will have a think about that.

Must go, dd1 wants some of my time

[Michaelangelo]

Gi isn't loads of meat its a very good balance you can eat carbs - pasta, granary or wholegrain bread and rice its 1/2 of plate veg 1/4 protein and 1/4 carbs

[Miaou]

Oh, am I getting it mixed up with another diet then? Which is the one that says no carbs? I had a friend go on it and she was having fried eggs and bacon for breakfast and no bread at all.

(just googled, I was thinking of Atkins Diet, sorry!!)