Help with my diet!!

I'm quite fussy so I tend to eat the same things most of the time. It helps to try and get in as much protein as you can as it fills you up and choose things that are low effort,

For me, this looks like:
Breakfast - protein yogurt with berries
Snack - protein bagel with peanut better
Lunch - pitta bread with hummus and some tomatoes and olives
Snack - protein flapjack/ banana
Dinner - salmon with salad/ jacket potato and peas

Drink as much water as you can. I have a couple of coffees in the morning but no fizzy drinks.

Probably could be a lot healthier, but better than crisps and chocolate. I think the only way to stop eating those is to not buy them, if I have chocolate in the house hen I have to eat it!

People find time if they try...

And you're supposed to spend time with kids. Kids love baking stuff!

Don't pay for those rubbish foods, you shouldn't eat them even if they were free, why pay for them on top and feel rubbish?! Get properly hungry and then eat the healthy food. Repeat

It sounds like you prefer to snack/graze rather than sit down and eat a meal.

Could you possibly over cook for your kids and either eat that too or pop in the fridge for when you are hungry, and snack on that rather than crisps and choc?

things like pasta (either reheat or throw additional salads bits in and have as a pasta salad)

couscous with veggies and feta/ other cheese mixed in

pre cook some jacket potatoes and keep in the fridge so you can reheat in just a few short minutes.

good luck with the changes!

It's hard to change your diet overnight when you are stuck in your ways, and just eating carby junk food.

Change just one thing this week - it might be a healthy breakfast, or eating some of the fruit that you cut for the kids. Make sure you do this one thing every day, for perhaps a couple of weeks.

Once that's become a habit, change one more thing - perhaps make sure you've got some 'grab and go' protein - a hard boiled egg, some pre cooked chicken, a handful of nuts, a protein yogurt - that you can have in place of crisps or chocolate.

Once that's a habit, look at eating healthier overall, stop buying so much junk so you can't have it, eat with the kids if they are eating healthier. Allow yourself some treats (perhaps just one a day) and don't be too hard on yourself if it occasionally goes wrong.

Change is difficult, but breaking it down into small goals will make the whole process less of a challenge.

This!

I too was 8 stone until I reached my late 30s (post 3 kids), now mid-40's and I am 10st 8lb. I'm only 5ft 2 so its very noticeable and I am overweight.

What small changes do you think you can make?

Probably weight! It will pile on when you are older and the bad habits will be harder to shift as they’re so ingrained.

Why are you grabbing and running if you have the time to cut up fruit and prep healthy foods for your kids? When you do this, set always aside a portion for yourself to snack on. As I asked above, what do you like and dislike? I know you say your kids don't notice because they're young, but they will be registering that their mummy doesn't eat the same as them. As they become older, they'll question it and then it becomes a problem.

You need to radically change the way you see your body. It is the most important thing you have, so why are you treating it so badly? You're going to need it to keep functioning for maybe another 60 years if you're going to be around for your DC and their DC, enjoying life to the maximum so you need to care for it properly. Just as you would anything else that was precious and essential. Its just as easy to grab and run healthy as unhealthy. A piece of chicken breast, a banana, a bag of carrots, a pot of natural yoghurt. Nuts instead of crisps. Replace your white carbs with whole grain/brown versions. Whatever junk you reach for come up with a substitute and buy that instead. It doesn't have to be complicated. You could even make healthy smoothies so you could get your 5 a day in a drink.

So the thing is, most people given the choice would choose a kinder bueno over a stick of celery (cue the MN mummys telling me their 3 year old would always choose the celery...), but you're the adult here. You need to parent yourself the way you parent your children. You wouldn't let them eat the way you do, so just don't do it. What is a jambon? I'd have guessed ham?

Do you have a partner? Could you do hellofresh or gusto? If no partner you could get the meals for two and take the leftovers for lunch. Cuts out so much mental load and forces you to eat what you order or see it go to waste.

Caught up with me as in I was really skinny and ate loads of junk. Got to mid 40’s and put on 3 stone.

You need to start modelling healthy eating for your children.

she has no time, and baking requires even more time with kids!

I'm a big snacker too.

I swapped crisps for lentil chips (they taste close enough to crisps for me to actually choose them rather than buy them and ignore).

fruit & seed oatcakes (effectively biscuits, with more nutrition and less sugar).

I prep veg weekly in little pots ahead of time so I have no excuse even when I'm in a rush, even if it's just carrot sticks - you could do this since you do fruit anyway.

I buy high protein yoghurts. Houmous. High protein bagel with cream cheese or cucumber, or your choice of topping.

M&S do a great veggie breakfast in a box you can just microwave in 2 mins and it has protein, veg etc and actually tastes really nice. They also have a bunch of healthy snacks, like boiled eggs, pre-done high protein overnight oats etc.

Well you know that this cannot go on if you want to model healthy eating for your children. It is important for you to eat well to give you the energy that being a mother of young children entails. You will continue to feel sluggish eating like this. Are you in the position of having a family member who could help you with cooking tips etc?

How old are you?

I used to be like this and it caught up with me

The best way to start and to get some specific suggestions is to give us a list of the healthy foods you do actually like?

A multi-vitamin is a good idea, but don't be fooled into thinking it will make the crisps and chocolate OK. It helps, but you need to focus on your food.

Sorry but the easiest solution is not buy any of that crap. And don't just take a multivitamin, they shouldn't used to make up for a poor diet. You need to improve your diet for the sake of your kids, they will follow your eating behaviour. Work out what you do like to eat, and work backwards from there. Meal plan for the whole family, get kids involved. I'd be very worried about your dental health as well!

It might be easier to work backwards.

What foods do you like?

Also a daily multivit with minerals wouldn't be a bad idea.

Your kids are young enough to not notice what you eat now, but that won't last for long so well done for identifying that this is something you want to improve on!

I don't even have this junk in my house. Stop buying this processed crap!

Bake with the kids. Cheese straws or savoury scones to eat!

Don’t buy the crisps and chocolate. Honestly that sounds like a lot of junk food to keep at home. The problem is you’re grabbing what’s easy and in the cupboards. Work out what healthy snacks you enjoy and only have them available - you say you’re fussy but can you start with anything that is healthy and you already like? Then you can start to expand from there and maybe introduce some more new things.

write a list of things that you do like / will eat and go from there. Limit yourself to a certain amount of the junk food a day - eg one bag of crisps and one chocolate bar (a twirl sized one rather than a family sized bar).