What do you all eat

As a rule I don't eat breakfast but do love food so tend to go something like today which is
Water All Day
USN Lean Protein Shake
Cup of Coffee
Mango or Melon with Greek Yoghurt around 11
Lunch will be either chicken salad or halloumi and spinach wholemeal pitta
Greek yoghurt and raspberries
USN Lean Protein Shake
Cup of Coffee
Tea will be homemade burger (no bun), with cheese, onion, spinach, tomato, light coleslaw and sweet potato fries
Snack Peanut Skinny

Excercise this week will be have been 30 min sessions of
Spin x 3
Total Tone
HiIT x 2
Bootcamp
Box Fit

Also everyone is different, the one thing that made me ravenously hungry was Body Pump, and I didn't get on with it anyway.

Running and anything that gets my heart rate up to about 140bpm actually shuts off hunger, I find and the weights I do doesn't seem to add to hunger pangs. Feeling hungry is a good thing - you don't want to let it get to the stage where you are hangry and eating everything in sight though.

Doesn't sound too bad, OP.

I would just say lentils are your friend (if you like them) the sachets are so convenient, and try to incorporate as much green veg as you can.

I've given up with weight loss diets at the moment and am just trying to eat mindfully and 80/20 "clean" and the right amount.

I don't agree with the advice not to do any cardio as heart health and overall fitness is as important to me as being strong and flexible.

Lots more veg would be my tip, you need the fibre. Salads, soups, olives, fermented veg. Beans and lentils.

And some carb - you need it for energy.

The amount of protein you need is exaggerated really...and too much isn't great for you - so getting protein from natural sources is the way to go. Unless you are a super athlete

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/apr/15/truth-about-protein-how-to-get-enough-every-age

Agreed.
Also it’s just ok to get used to feeling a bit hungry.
Glass of water and an apple will see you through in between meals.

You're eating a fair amount of ultra processed foods - granola, wraps, protein puddings, protein shakes, protein bagel. I'd really cut those out, for your health, stick to whole and unprocessed foods.

I don’t eat back my exercise calories either and I agree they are depressing reading wtf

I don’t do just cardio as that makes me starving this is why I do weights too

I eat carbs and lost weight on them, it’s water they hold that causes the scales to go up they aren’t fattening per se, just they can be so more ish so yeah I eat the brown versions of everything carby

I eat fruit and yoghurt for breakfast
sushi or poke bowl for lunch, or naked burger salads (my fave)
salad salad salad - I eat a few red peppers every day for snacks. Cheese
Eggs, protein bagels, turkey bacon, avocados, salmon, rice, veg, chicken, soup
no limits in that respect I just don’t eat junk food very often

vegan protein is way better than whey, the whey makes me feel ill!

Wrong thread

Today I've had..

Coffee and a high 5 energy bar for breakfast.
Carrot sticks, houmous, bbq chicken breast, light babybel and 2 pieces of fruit toast with light butter
Dinner will be rice with petit poit, plain chicken breast and sweet chilli sauce
Large glass of wine

My exercise today was a 15 minute slow run to get to the park run location. 5K park run then a 15 minute slow run back home. Covered around 11K but some of that was wandering around waiting to start the park run.

Tomorrow it will be almost the same apart from I might not have the toast and I'm at the gym lifting weights instead of running.

Carbs are high, protein 120g, fibre is terrible at 9g. The only time I hit my fibre is when I have raspberries. Calorie total 1624, goal is 1600 for weight loss and I've done well this week, lost 2lbs so I can afford to up my calories because my current weight is low so I don't want to lose muscle.

I tried a diet plan that had a fairly high daily protein goal (125g from memory) and 1700 calories a day with a step target of at least 10k a day and 3 weights sessions a week (people might recognise it!). I lost the will to live as I can't tolerate much dairy including protein shakes and puddings etc unless they're the vegan ones and then they don't have as much protein. I also don't think they're particularly healthy and it's not a long term solution. Like you, i found that the only way to hit the macros was to eat chicken and tuna to excess or I went over my calories allowance, and I was always bloody hungry!! I run longer than 5k a few times a week and it just wasn't sustainable.

Im no expert, Im learning as I go, and Im learning on a tight budget so cant be buying shakes and protein puddings so my go to for filling me up and pumping in the protein - BEANS . Full of protein , fibre and Vit B - cheap as chips and so very filling

I make a salad based on Mexican Caviar ( loads of recipes online ) - black beans, black eyed beans, sweetcorn, peppers and use a good serving of that with every meal till its gone ( Im the only one eats it ) Ill add more protein by adding tinned fish ( very cheap protein source ) Its also good to snack on with toasted tortillas

I also make my own yoghurt, strained over night and its that thick its slice-able. The strained whey I use to make bread and pancakes

My daily meals would be usually a big bowl of berries and HM yoghurt with 40grms of oats or oatmeal ( I prefer oatmeal ) . Lunch would be an open sandwich, wholemeal bread, cheese spread instead of butter, piles of leaves, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, pickles then top that with the protein, turkey, ham, chicken, cheese, bacon, tinned fish, eggs, - whatever. Then dinner, again a lean protein like chicken or turkey, more grains and veg. Evening meals I cook for a family so it has to be adaptable , so say I make a chicken curry, then in goes the veg - loads of spinach, onions, garlic, chickpeas and now its brown rice instead of basmati. Spag bol is made with turkey mince, has lentils added to bulk it and served on wholewheat spaghetti

Any mince dish I add the lentils, they cook down and become invisible really, even the grandkids eat not knowing its not all meat.

I dont exercise as much as you, I dont do weights ( shoulder injury ) but I can walk 5k in 42 mins :) I average 10 miles a day walking , some just strolls - ie dog walking but at least 4 miles at least 4 times a week at 14 - 15 mins a mile

I did a 26 mile hike 2 weeks back, cross county, and was really pissed to find out 62k steps burned me the grand total of 3000 calories !!! I still scoffed the chocolate bar DH had for me at the finish line :)

I can't function without carbs either. I know sugar is demonised, but we run on it ...

Pasta sized bowl of fruit salad for breakfast, a big green smoothie with chia seeds/flax seeds for lunch, and supper is big salad with alfalfa sprouts/sprouted beans/lentils, avocado dressing and either more fruit beforehand or potato (either white or sweet) with the salad. Sometimes fruit and potatoes.

So much more energy eating that way ... I'm not perfect, but it's simple, and filling too

I don't count calories but follow a low saturated fat diet. I rarely have red meat or processed meat, avoid cheese except feta and low fat cream cheese and eat wholegrain. An example would be

Breakfast

Coffee

Smoothie- frozen fruit, natural yoghurt, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, almond or oat milk and fat free Greek yoghurt

Or

Porridge made with almond milk with blueberries/ frozen fruit/ nuts and seeds

Or

overnight oats with the same ingredients as porridge and a spoonful or two of fat free greek yoghurt

Lunch

Dhal
Soup
Beans on wholegrain toast
Poached egg and avocado on wholemeal seeded toast
Chicken salad wrap/ sandwich on wholemeal seeded bread or a seeded wraps

Dinners

Marinated Chicken breast with salad and brown rice

Chicken egg fried rice (with loads of veggies through it and using brown rice

Veggie curries

Chicken curries

Salmon and stir fried veg with brown rice or noodles

Veggie burgers, salad and homemade airfried wedges

Edited to add snacks

I rarely snack but if I do I will have sweet chilli rice crackers (Lidl)

Apple and peanut butter

Fat free greek yoghurt and fruit

A few squares of dark chocolate

It's working so far as my cholesterol has dropped by 1.5 and I w lost 4kg in less than 3 months

So what is the issue? And what are your goals?

Are you looking to lose weight?

Or to build muscle/fitness?

To be healthier?

Or to just be a slim as possible?

I do a lot of exercise(cardio and weight baering) and eat quite a lot of carbs (things like oat s, bread, potatoes) and over the years have decreased my fat percentage and increased my muscle mass and metabolism

I pretty much eat what I like, including carbs, and listen to my body . I am not skinny-skinny but a healthy weight and bmi of 23 which I am happy with

The way you eat sounds quite hard and not fun, and forcing down tonnes of protein , whilst currently fashionable, is not optimal for everyone

Can you try a more intuïtie way of eating and less restrictions? For me, eating carb+ protein+veg/fruit three times a day gives me great energy levels for my sport and keeps me in shape in my 50s

Forgot to say Tesco, and Waitrose both do strained Greek yoghurt that doesn't appear to be the style type. It might be worth checking them out op, if you haven't already.

Oh I didn't realise tnat either! Well I learn something new every day ! 😂I'll still buy it though, as we like it! Can you not just use protein powder?

Omg OP don’t beat yourself up about running, running 5k is amazing no matter the time!! I started running properly 3 ish years ago and it took me a year & starting to run longer distances to improve my 5k time! Now I’ve had 9 months off for pregnancy and started again 3 weeks ago once I got signed off at my postnatal check there are slugs running past me but at least I’m out trying, that’s all any of us can do! X

@Whatwouldscullydo - I tend to make it up as I go along but this is quite a good approximation for relative quantities of veg to lentils. You can play around with the veg depending on what is in the veg drawer at the end of the week so I might add a sweet potato or a squash instead of swede etc etc. I tend to just blitz in the food processor rather than chopping up.

I rarely have the spices in the recipe so I might just use what I have - so a mix of fennel seeds, cumin, tumeric, garam masala

It freezes well

thedoctorskitchen.com/recipes/swede-and-yellow-lentil-dahl/

You burn appropriately 100 calories per mile run... doesn't matter the pace.
So sadly 5 km is not much...
I'm marathon training and am starving hungry all the time but gaining weight not losing it which was the goal, so I understand the OPs frustration.