Come criticise my diet please!

[BrightandEarly]

Why am I not losing weight?? I've lost 4kg but have another 5kg to lose... No progress in the last few weeks. Where am I going wrong?

Breakfast:
Low fat yoghurt with cereal

Lunch:
Pre-packaged (Pret) salad or soup
Two hard boiled eggs
Bag of popcorn

Dinner
Soup or weigh watchers ready meal
Sometimes: two squares of chocolate

I drink tea with milk (2-3 cups per day) and Diet Coke. No water as I just don't like it really.

I don't feel I can eat much less with work and two small DC to look after.

Any thoughts??

[Woopsiedaisy]

Watch the overall sugar content in your cereal, salad dressing, popcorn etc and ramp up the exercise.

Sugar is metabolised differently to other food, causes cravings and leads to fat storage around the middle.

Your diet looks as if it could be pretty low calorie already so hopefully exercise will see off the last 5kg.

[mrsjskelton]

You're possibly not eating enough... Sounds like a good idea for a quick crash but for long term your diet needs reviewing. I'm a SWer every time so highly recommend that. Well done on your loss so far!

[mrsjskelton]

I also second the sugar thing from PP. watch out for low fat too - fat is better than sugar for weight loss!

[QuiteLikely5]

I would look at your sugar intake.....

And at your processed foods

Then go to the low carb board on here! It's great

[BrightandEarly]

Thanks both.

I'm struggling to fit in exercise at the moment, beyond walking with the double buggy which I guess is something at least. Eldest DC is a nightmare at bedtime meaning I'm not usually free to exercise until after 8.30pm at which point I'm too tired (plus chores to be done).

The sugar is a good point - I think my cereal is quite sugary and the popcorn clearly is. Any ideas for non-sugary yet satisfying snacks?

When I first started this diet I had regular 'shaky' periods during the day as I think I was having lots of sugary snacks before - this is an improvement from how I used to eat!

[TeaBelle]

At breakfast you could have low fat naturally yoghurt with fruit. Then carrots and houmous instead of . popcorn.

[QuiteLikely5]

Fat is very good for you, your body burns it so much easier than it does with sugar.

Our diet was not supposed to be slathered with sugar at all

Prawns
Boiled eggs
Ham
Pork scratching
Cherry toms
Roast chicken

Anything natural is good for you.

If you go high fat you will see a massive difference in your weight.

[Lighteningirll]

Unfortunately that day is packed with processed sugary foods, try making your own soups checking salads for dressings croutons etc swoop cereal for wholesale toast and banana and eat more that's really not much food. Another SW fan here eat lots of natural low cal highly filling foods and the weight falls off.

[BrightandEarly]

Ha ha well at least the feedback is consistent! Definitely need to cut back on sugar. I like the yoghurt and fruit idea for breakfast, and adding fat should not be a problem .

Love my popcorn though . Still, I'll make it an occasional treat rather than daily..

Thanks!

[almostthirty]

Could you pop your own popcorn and have it plain?

[BrightandEarly]

Hmm yes that's an idea, thank you!

[RunnerOnTheRun]

Ditch the WW ready meals! Bleurgh, processed junk with no goodness.

If you prep some chicken etc one day, it keeps in the fridge in tupperware for up to 3 days, it is so easy to grab and plonk with veg, salad etc. The low fat yoghurt is not sustaining you either, go for full fat Greek plain yoghurt for sure. Fat burns fat (weird, huh?), sugar grows fat.

[Kirriemuir]

Ditch anything low fat.

Breakfast go for full fat yoghurt - fage Greek is particularly good with some berries. Cereal is just generally rubbish. Or have eggs.

Lunch is average. Packed stuff will have lots of hidden sugars. Take a packed lunch instead. Ditch the popcorn.

Ready meals are full of rubbish. You are probably not eating enough. You don't mention veg. You a re possibly not eating enough.

[BrightandEarly]

I think my breakfast will be easiest to change: I've already ordered Greek yogurt and berries to come with this week's shop.

Lunch is not too bad I think if I cut out dressing and popcorn - the salads I choose tend to involve done combination of avocado / chicken / salmon / prawns / humous, and the boiled eggs are quite good I think.

Dinner is the tricky one as by that time of the night DH and I basically can't cope with anything other than microwaving something. But maybe I'll start having whole meal toast with cold chicken or prawns or something like that more often.

Thanks all

[conkerpods]

Make double batches of meals at weekends (bolognaise/chilli/chicken casserole) and have them on work days so you can just bung them in the microwave. And add a small portion of complex carbs with them (brown rice,you can buy the microwave pouches if you can't be arsed to boil brown rice for half an hour).
Or substitute the complex carbs for loads of green veg or courgette spaghetti.
Eat a small handful of nuts instead of the popcorn.

[stinkysnowbear]

Change breakfast. Low fat options tend to not be healthy and cereal is usually crappy/sugary. Eggs will fill you up more in the morning. I tend to have two eggs scrambled with some avocado or fresh chilli.

Salad dressings are to be avoided. Personally I stick to a small amount of cold olive oil.

More protein, less processed.

[BrightandEarly]

Thanks both. I'm pleased to report in back to losing weight it seems, having made some adjustments to breakfast particularly. I have plain full fat Greek yoghurt with blueberries now rather than low fat flavoured yoghurt with cereal.

For lunch I'm skipping the dressing on the salad.

Dinner is still a problem area as DH (who is on this diet with me) is very fond of the microwave meal option, but I try to go for something like cold chicken and avocado where possible.

1kg lost since I started this thread :)

[BrightandEarly]

*I'm

[RunnerOnTheRun]

Nailed!

[tellmemore1982]

You're eating nowhere near enough protein.

[zoomtothespoon]

If say too much sugar, not enough calories and not enough fluids!

[BrightandEarly]

Hmm not enough calories - even if on a diet? I'm nervous about adding calories back in as need to lose this weight!

But agree more veg would be good, and yes protein too probably.

[RunnerOnTheRun]

You will only know what works if you do this long term. Ie, will you rebound and regain weight because you are restricting too much? Or will you be able to sustain this forever? This is why I make people realise weight loss is a long game, it is never ever short term. So if you think you need more protein to keep you fuller then go for it, adding veg is never a bad thing either. You are heading in the right direction, progress not perfection is a good saying.

[tellmemore1982]

If you are serious about losing weight, eat lean and clean proteins (fish and white meats mostly), whole carbs (brown rice, sweet potato etc) and vegetables for 4 weeks and you'll be absolutely amazed with the difference.

Google clean eating recipes and meal plans, good luck