What difference will it make?

I've just started an exercise programme, not to lose weight but to tone up and to feel healthier. I'm three weeks in and it's been a bit up and down getting my food intake right, especially after doing weights i'd feel starving and knackered! I'm having a healthy snack eg some cottage cheese, spoon of nut butter if I need it after a workout and that's really helped. I would say don't be disheartened if you don't get that energy rush as others have suggested, I don't seem to get this, just use healthy snacks if needed and don't be tempted by the junk on a bad day!

Other than that I've also been doing no snacks (apart from the ones mentioned above) as @Cormoran suggests. It's so hard to break at first because I loved my chocolate on the sofa in the evening but I try to eat three full meals instead and I'm getting used to it! (I would previously "save space" for my naughty snacks lol). Love the suggestions for the vinaigrette and the veggies, I'll be trying these! I'm also v jealous as I love Monaco, please give it a wave from me today 😁

I don’t want to undermine Cormorons advice because there’s a lot of sense in it, but I also just wanted to say - it’s ok to change things slowly.

These things tend to go hand in hand ie) once you start feeling good from exercise you want to continue that with your eating.

In a perfect world you would have the perfect diet, but we are none of us perfect and this world is messed up! You’re allowed comfort, in the form of food if you choose!

One thing at a time, don’t set yourself up to fail.

I am from Monaco, so French way of eating and I don't know/see a single adult who snacks, it is a different culture.

Careful with even healthy snack, because you are maintaining / encouraging the habit and now you are eating veg and cottage cheese, but one day you will crack, and it will be back to a packet of some sort.
Why not try to free yourself from snacking. Go the French way. We only eat seated at the table, not in lounges, bedrooms, cars, walking, bus, ... A week should suffice to break the habit.

Sauces in jars or sachet, dry or not, are pure rubbish, a combination of cheap fats, sugar of some sorts, and a ton of chemicals.
Here are a couple more tips. Vinaigrette : take an empty jam jar, add a generous tablespoon of dijon mustard, then salt ( a must otherwise it won't emulsify) , and 2 or 3 fingers of extra virgin olive oil , a vinegar you like, close lid and shake (above sink safer) . When doing salads, start with tomatoes first, chop or slice them, put in the bowl, and sprinkle coarse salt and add olive oil. The tomatoes will sweat and make juice. Then prepare and chop the other veggies on top, including some fresh onion.
For a chicken breast, you can again chop a tomatoes, onion and why not black olives , sauté them in a pan wit a bit of oil, salt, clove of garlic, then push everything to a side of pan, add chicken breast sliced, brown it and when almost cooked, mix with he veggies. IF the veggies are stuck to pan, a bit of water will make a lovely juice.

Lemon juice, fresh parsley, fresh rosemary, good quality extra virgin olive oil, and - of course - dijon mustard . Put the tiniest amount of oil, sauté your chicken, when cooked, add a spoon of mustard, squeeze a lemon and if you have it a dash of white wine, high flame, mix done enjoy,. Salt and cracked pepper in all recipes of course,

Treat yourself in the true sense of the verb treat as in heal, instead of treat as a noun which attributes some emotional justification for crap.
Treat yourself to a good quality steak, grass-fed, a small piece, the size of your palm, so aim at quality and not quantity.

Embrace colours and discover new flavours combination. Pick one veggies you have never tried before or a new way of cooking one your knew, so raw cauliflower, shaved with a vinaigrette in which you have crushed some garlic, an artichoke , and so on.

What I am trying to say is to not make this change about restrictions or punishment but freedom and new additions to your diet.

A book I really recommend is " On the side" www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XYR6VPX/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1?tag=mumsnetforu03-21 to discover new way of cooking vegetables. Of course, you will have to make some adjustment to reduce butter/oil, but sometimes, just use the real recipe and have half a portion. The celeriac cooked in salt and the okra chips were a revelation.

But careful, when aiming to lose weight, you know you have to eat less quantity, but by having great taste, you won't feel deprived.

Giving up ultra processed food, fried food and added sugar is the right step. Careful not to go for sweeteners as an alternative to sugar free.

If you could give up snacking all together, your cravings would probably go as well. It is out of habit and not hunger that one snacks. Because you are used to eat while watching tv or other daily gestures. By cutting snacks and adding veg, you will change your gut bacteria and get rid of craving. I would even give up the weekly fried food until you reach your weight because it will only feed your taste for such food. Your gut bacteria will shout and scream to receive the food they like, so to really change those scream , you need to change what you eat, not reduce it because it will only make the screams louder.

Go for variety as much as you can, so yes to an enormous amount of vegetables. Boil 1 kg of green beans and leave them in fridge ready. For dinner have them with a boiled egg in a version of the classic nicoise salad. Have a cucumber-tomatoes -tuna- onion salad for lunch. Have grains - cereals only once a day, so pick if you want them for lunch or dinner. Consider soups a couple of evenings per week, possibly homemade and without cheese or bread.
Don't give up on taste and go for fresh. A fresh butter lettuce will taste so much different than a salad in a bag. Make a mountain of grated carrot, add fresh parsley, and then extra virgin olive oil and a bit of vinegar.
Boil a whole cauliflower and eat it with some sautéed lentils on the side.
Have some boiled cod in the fridge and you can crumble a piece in salad cold.

Try to add new veggies you haven't add for a while, so asparagus, roasted zucchini.

To make a meaningful change, you need to get rid if the usual sauces that cover your meals if you are used to them. You don't need a jar or sachet to give flavour to your meats. Coat a plate with mixed herbs, a bit of smoked paprika, and flattened a chicken breast on both side until totally covered. Then put on oven tray layered with baking paper and cook in oven.

Buy some moringa tea, and when you are going nuts about having some junk, make a cup, drink it and chances are your craving will be gone.

It is quite simple to state and even if it seems difficult at first it comes down to eat real food, mostly plants and not too much, as Michael Pollan said
But make it happy, so challenge yourself to discover new vegetable. Okras in a pan with garlic and soy sauce and enough water so that they don't burn, a fennel salt with squeezed orange, roasted leeks covered with smoked paprika and nutritional yeast, kale chips, ...

Soups will be your friend. Look for nice recipes, because taste will be your ally if you don't want to fail
Good luck @Changedusernamehahaha

Exercise is great for physical and mental health, but won't make big differences on the scale. For that, you need to focus on the food. Eating well means very different things depending on what one defines as well.

How have you changed what you eat? What have you removed and added?

It will change you physically and mentally. Exercise has kept me sane and happy before and during lockdown. It has such a positive effect on my physical and mental health, can't get enough of fresh air and exercise. I run with my husband or alone but cycle or walk with friends and it leaves me feeling great. Good luck.

This lockdown I’ve been counting walks of 3 miles + as 'exercise' because they help my head as much as my body.

Also I find that if I spend all day sitting down I really feel the effects of a workout more so getting out for a decent walk helps me to feel less stiff.

Good luck with your workouts! It’s a really positive lifestyle choice to be making. I feel so much better when I exercise and I think you will feel the energy level benefits pretty quickly.

Your fitness will improve quite quickly. You'll hurt a fair bit after the first time but that's the only time it'll be that bad and the next one will sort it.

Don't up them until you're ready. 3 is plenty to start with. You'll notice a change in sleeping and general well-being/mental health far faster than an obvious change though.

As a PP said don’t do proper fitness sessions in between if you are doing 3 sessions a week. But you might want to think about having a decent walk on the other days. There’s a lot to be said for general level of activity and if you are working from home or have a desk job it’s really difficult to get your calorie burn levels up if you don’t try and get out most days.

Actually I noticed pretty quickly-within three weeks I knew there was a difference. You definitely will.

Ratio, not ration

You may not necessarily lose pounds initially but you will lose inches and tone up as your fat/muscle ration changes.

3 sessions a week will give you results pretty quickly. In a couple of months you should really see a difference. Good luck.

It’s really hard not to be pleased with yourself when you’ve done something you thought you couldn’t do!

@Changedusernamehahaha don't do additional sessions, your body needs rest days otherwise you'll do yourself an injury and won't be able to perform as well in your paid for sessions as you'll be too tired and muscles too achy.

You will notice things like improved sleep, mood and confidence sooner I reckon.
Massive bonus.