To think finding the time to lose weight is IMPOSSIBLE?!

Agree with others - if you start fasting you save time!! Less cooking / eating / clearing up. Omelettes are super fast and can pack full of veg and protein. Ditto a sort of rice bowl: rice / steamed veg / frozen chicken defrosted and a squirt of soy sauce / hoisin / sweet chilli etc

boil a pan full of eggs whilst sorting toddler breakfast I do 9 at a time - then have 2 a day as snacks.

Pot of cottage cheese - straight out of fridge, filling and protein. Mini cucumbers, celery sticks, tomatoes a d sliced ham - a meal!

As well as all the change your diet advice that everyone is giving, is there a way to work in some exercise to your life, even if it's gentle and in short amounts?
A walk around the block with your toddler before you go into the house to do bedtime? A quick Joe Wicks youtube workout a couple of mornings or evenings a week?
A longer walk and play in the park after nursery on your day off?
A bit of football or bat and ball when you're off, or a set walk you do every weekend together? New forests and national trust places to explore in your holidays?

If your day off is consistent, can you join a sports team that meets on that day, or a gym class whilst your toddler is at nursery?

I think you'll find that a bit of exercise is a great start, and will make it easier to get the momentum going to introduce more when you have the time.

I do think you need to stop beating yourself up about this - your weight is consistent (not increasing)!

Also, just to add to my comment, all the research they've done has shown that exercise doesn't actually help weight loss because it burns calories but also spikes your appetite.

The only thing that helps weight loss is undereating - so I wouldn't even worry about exercise for now if your goal is to lose weight.

I had an appt with the MH team last month and they seemed very interested in how I had lost weight on the meds.

Mine is olanzapine OP, in the same class of drugs, they tried me on metformin too but they stopped that when I started mounjaro as the GP said it would be 'far more successful.

I've since lost 4 stone, since last September, BMI from 40 to 28 so not far until my goal now, thinking of staying on it alongside the meds as my yearly bloods (for the olanzapine) were much better (cholesterol and blood sugars)

Here is a link about them being recommended with these meds. Hope this helps

https://www.stah.org/who-we-are/latest-news/weight-loss-medication-what-it-could-mean-for

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/10/weight-loss-jabs-may-be-good-for-mental-health-research-shows

I've found success after a baby by prioritising as much sleep as I can - and then just swapping out my lunch for a pile of mixed veg (which I take out of the freezer and heat up). It takes 3mins to get ready and keeps me full. I don't think about my diet and it doesn't take much time. I eat breakfast and dinner without restricting anything, and if I get hungry in the evenings I have another plate of mixed veg

The easiest 'time-free' way I found was to have a very structured approach.

Breakfast was either: home-made granola (all the healthy nuts, grains etc and NO sugar) with fullfat greek yogurt, and maybe some berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, balckberries - freeze dried are OK too). OR egg on toast. I used to alternate M W F / Tu Th S, then have some thing different on a Sunday.

Lunch was the healthiest meal I could find (but maybe a smaller portion?): chicken curry in the hospital canteen, a buddha bowl lunch take away. I tried not to eat the carb heavy stuff of sandwiches.

Dinner was soup. doesn't matter whether it's home made or bought. Sometimes with toast, sometimes without. Maybe a grating of cheese.

No snacks. Nothing after dinner. (but if you needed something have apple segments and peanut butter, or prawns and cocktail sauce - you can buy these from M&S, or you can have them ready in you your own fridge)

Once I had lost weight I found it so much easier to 'move more'. God I even ran for a bus!

Be kind to yourself. Your brain and body have been through a really rough time, and you've got enough stress going on.

Try and reframe it as looking after your body. Nourish it with foods good for your health. Aim for more managable movement snacks- they're the best time: benefit ratio for people struggling. Frequent bursts of movement are good for keeping your metabolism raised. Try and get active with your toddler rather than having "exercise" as a big intimidating block of time that you struggle with. If your toddler still does the pushchair, walking parkrun could be something more formal that you can go to together.

Little 5 minute habits of self care here and there when you can fit them in; a glass of water, a dance in the kitchen, a breathing exercise can do a lot for your health and well being (and managing weight could be a nice side effect)

Don't worry about exercise. Try to eliminate most of the baddies from your day to day diet. Like biscuits, cakes, pastry chocolate, crisps. We all know what they are. Then stock up on lean meats and veg. Maybe try an online slimming group.

@Fat40Unhappy Hello. Just came to recommend Grow with Jo workouts on YouTube. Whilst not the same circumstances, I was also struggling with time to exercise. So I started doing her ten min workouts in the morning (I’d get up 15 mins earlier) or do one in the evening while dinner was cooking or before bed. I realised that not giving myself 10 minutes was a sad indication of how I felt about myself. I loved them so much that I started doing 20 min ones about 3 times a week (also in the morning by getting up a bit earlier) and then 2 longer ones on the weekend. I’ve had incredible results and love her videos. She has everything from 10 mins dance workouts to 1 hour intense walking workouts - something for everyone. My body shape has changed, I’ve lost weight and I’m healthier and happier. I also eat healthily but note that eating isn’t an issue for you. Feel free to PM me if any of that is helpful and you have Qs x

For me time would mean being able to plan meals and stick to the plan. As opposed to planning and then being too exhausted to cook even something basic.

In lockdown, and before the shit hit the fan with DS, I was batch cooking, using the slow cooker, lots more cooking from scratch. Feeding DS was always difficult as he's moderately restricted in what he'll eat.

Yes, there are things I could do better, better choices I could make but I'm exhausted, anxious and depressed - sleep wise it's like I've had 12 and a half years of looking after a new born, with the added stress of them now being a pre-teen and suicidal, and being made redundant in a few months so have to add job search to my stressful to do list.

I've been on quentiapine before and seen what it does to other people. Even maintaining weight on it is hard! You're starting from a very unlevel playing field.

Zero fat cottage cheese is good. Also high protein zero for Greek yoghurt. I guess I'd also go for Tofu in place of scrambled eggs.

Walking pad is a great idea. You can also get a stand for an outdoor bike that you use indoor - much cheaper than Peleton. It's a Wahoo Kickr and then think you can get a subscription with Zwift or another one.

I also got a national disability card with a doctors letter which got me a heavily discounted Better You gym membership.

As many have said, diet is the key to weight loss, and you've had lots of good advice already. If you are time and energy poor, planning and preparation is key. Try cooking two portions, and then save one to reheat another day. It takes no extra time to cook but gives you some time back for yourself.

Exercise may be good for your sleep and mental wellbeing. Perhaps try 20 mins of yoga, weights or hiit training at home. There are loads of free classes on YouTube. Start small - be realistic about what you have time for. Perhaps take a longer walk on your day off.

Would echo PP - I have lost 25ish lbs since February and it was entirely diet rather than exercise.

At the moment you don't know how much of your weight gain/difficulty in weight loss is down to medication, because it sounds like medication + bad eating habits are working together here. In your shoes I would calculate your TDEE (the number of calories you consume just being, with sedentary levels of activity), minus 400 calories a day, and stick to that limit. Weigh yourself again in three days and then a week, and see if things are slowly shifting down.

Bloody hell op, I really hate to hear the way you talk about yourself and call yourself disgusting! Please please start your weight loss journey by being a little kinder to yourself!

And ignore some of the negative comments on here!

I think you are amazing for “just” holding down a social work job while being a single parent to a toddler! Social workers get such a lot of crap but what they do is absolutely incredible, not to mention, horrendously stressful. The fact that you are managing all of this, despite the horrendous time you have had recently, with the loss of your sibling and a relationship breakdown, and a serious mh condition is truly impressive! You should give yourself a massive pat on the back!

You are NOT disgusting! You are a sleep-deprived, grieving, stressed, busy, single parent with a mh condition. If you had an overweight friend juggling all of that, would you call her disgusting?

You don’t want to add to your stress, so I would start at aiming to establish a few healthy habits which you build up, like swapping out the fizzy drinks for water, and introducing more veg every day, say a salad for lunch not a sandwich, and an extra veg at dinner, rather than slamming yourself with too much change too soon. Do you get a lunch break? Could you walk for 30 minutes? Cut out biscuits etc and add in frozen berries or nuts and seeds,

The most important thing is your sleep, it’s much harder to restrict your food intake while tired, so I would devote all of your energy in to getting your toddler to sleep during the night, Maybe a new toddler bed, and some sleep training by sitting by their bed not talking, with lights down low, then sit in the middle of the room, then sit near the door, then on the landing etc. And if they wake up, they go quietly straight back to bed, no talking. Keep repeating this until they sleep through the night.

little one goes to bed quite late. Could your mum feed and bathe the toddler when it’s her time with them on the four days of the week you are working, then dress them in pjs, so they go almost straight to bed with a story following a little down time with you when you get home? That would give you more of an evening to prep veg and batch cook?

Good luck 💐

Personally if on antipsychotics (and sadly I have been on these vile drugs) I wouldn't want to add anything else to the mix.

It doesn’t really need time - you just need to be in a calorie deficit. Ask Chat GPT what your calories should be at your weight and height and explain the medical condition.

I think the WLI are what you need too.

Aside from the weight loss element they do feel quite calming anyway. The compulsions are all quietened be in food or drink or whatever . You feel more in control generally I think.

I lost 3 stone and didn’t do any exercise. It’s all a out what you eat

Weight loss is 90% about what you eat so whole family eats healthy , easier for you you’re making one meal and you’ll lose weight at the same time.

This reply already shows a shift in mindset 👏🏻 I agree… I’m not sure the use of the peloton shows on the scales but it does a lot more for me than that. I would definitely invest in something easy you can do at home. You definitely don’t need hours in the gym to feel better in yourself. Good luck OP x

@Fat40Unhappy give ChatGPT or the like a go, they can be really useful just for generating a few ideas. You might not end up with a perfect meal plan but you can usually get something of value,

if you put a prompt in like:

Design a 7 day meal plan including quantities and recipes to meet the following criteria:

each day should not exceed 1500 calories
comprise 3 x meals and 2 x snacks..

Macros - moderate low carb, moderate high protein and fibre
Allergies - Egg, nuts
Dislike (do not include as main component to any meal or snack) - avocado, cauliflower, fish, kidney beans, coconut milk, creamy sauces.
Likes - Mexican, Italian and Thai cuisine. Pork, beef, chicken breast, tenderstem broccoli, babycorn, red lentils, bell peppers, tomatoes. Highly seasoned food, strong savoury flavours especially spicy,

I’ve attached an image of the results for day 1 just to illustrate the kind of output you might get

Op I know you're on medication for a mental health issue, do they also check your bloods for your general health? Your life as a single parent and being a social worker is really tough and stressful. And enough to be exhausted. But do get your iron levels checked etc. Just so you know that you are as fit as you can be..I was very anemic and felt horrendous. I've signed much more energy now my iron levels are within a normal range.

If you can curb the fizzy drinks I'm sure that would help. I have a really high fibre diet to counteract the heavy iron pills I'm on. So a fibrous breakfast.. then salad for lunch as carbs at lunch make me so tired in the pm xx