Can anyone help me with what food to eat for weightloss

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I have 10st + to lose. Unfortunately I have lost all thought of what is nutritional, healthy and good food.

I need help

I need ideas of what to eat for lunch and dinner (I don’t tend to eat breakfast or if I do then I will have porridge...that much I can figure out!)

I know this sounds ridiculous but god, my entire adult life if eaten like crap and now I’m 30 I need to change, I’m so scared of the consequences if not but I don’t know where to start

I don’t want to go on a crash diet, I want to make long term changes but starting where?!

TIA

More than anything, you need a routine and plan. It’s almost impossible to stick to a diet if you haven’t got a plan and organised yourself.
Plan your breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks, get your shopping in, get prepped.
Do that for the week. I’m sure there’ll be people here who will help you plan if you let us know what kind of plan you want to follow.
It also depends on what kind of food you would enjoy eating.

As for diet, eat mostly veg. Half your meal should be veg. A quarter protein and a quarter carb, whole grain is better (or less if you want to do a lower carb way of eating).

Using MyFitnessPal is a real eye-opener - it's incredible how many calories are in certain foods.

Use MFP to help you stick to a calorie "budget" of 1500 a day - so 500 per meal. Then get yourself a Fitbit and work out how many calories you burn during an average day.

The much-quoted calorie requirement of 2000 a day for women is so much horseshit - most of us now lead such sedentary lives we'd be lucky to use up 1700. I run three miles a day, then walk another five or so on top, cycle a nine mile round trip commute and spend eight hours endlessly lifting heavy boxes on and off a desk (I work in a warehouse) - and my Fitbit tells me I rarely use more than 2400 in a day.

I run five miles on Saturday and Sunday morning but do little else for the rest of the day. I almost never pass 2000 calories on those days.

The blunt and brutal truth of it is that you cannot just blindly shove whatever you like into your mouth and hope to be slim, especially as you get older. I was three stone overweight during my twenties (11and a half stone) and i looked and felt awful.

Use MFP, get a Fitbit, set yourself exercise targets, remove pasta, rice, potatoes and bread from your diet almost completely, switch to skimmed milk and take sugar out of your tea and coffee, don't have junk food in the house, have one night a week as pudding night, measure portions....and watch the weight fall off.

I'm a firm believer in going back to basics rather than going on diets...

Only eat when you're genuinely hungry. By that I mean when your stomach rumbles.

Eat slowly so you recognise your body's "full up" signals before you've overeaten. Stop as soon as you are no longer hungry even if that means not clearing your plate. This will take some determination at first until your stomach gets used to the smaller portions but stick with it.

Do not eat between meals. This snacking culture we have is relatively recent but IMHO plays a massive part in the obesity crisis. Snacks tend to be energy (calorie) dense but nutrient poor (eg chocolate, biscuits, and crisps) and were things considered treats when I was a child. You can still eat them but just not as often. Recategorise these food from everyday items to treats. You'll find you'll be eating fewer calories without even having to think about it, and you'll probably appreciate them more when you do eat them.

Thank you so much! I’m really enjoying reading your thoughts and suggestions, very much appreciated!

Hi notanurse! How are you x

Right, I’m having some chicken breast done in the oven, some rice and green veg for lunch. I’ve weighed it out (sob!) and added to MFP

I’m planning chicken and veg stir fry for dinner but I don’t get in from work until about 8/830 so what is good to have about 4ish because I eat lunch at 11/1130 and then it’s a bloody long time until I eat dinner! I know otherwise I’ll stop off for a sandwich meal deal on the way home then have stir fry or McDonald’s and then eat so much I don’t have stir fry just a ton of mcds

thank you!

I would just eat food as close to its natural state as possible - so the less processed the better.

That would mean cutting out cakes, sweets, crisps for example as they have gone through several stages of processing and alteration. So eat fresh cooked chicken, but avoid chicken nuggets. Go for wholegrain pasta or instead of pasta, go for fresh salads or cooked veg.

And yes, I would cut out bread, potatoes (especially the processed kind) and read labels for hidden sugars.
I lost a stone by doing a combination of low-carb and whole foods(i.e. food as God made it)

If you are ten stone overweight your maintenance calories are going to be a lot higher than someone who is only looking to lose a few pounds. Don't cut your calories too drastically as you will end up in a cycle of depriving yourself and then overeating.

Check out Team RH on facebook. Sensible, healthy eating which will educate you about nutrition long-term

I've to lose even more than you, but after years of eating crap I'm getting a handle on it. I'm down over 2 stone already, and doing grand.
I have eggs every morning for breakfast in work (my cholesterol is perfect luckily). I snack on some fruit then for lunch I'm avoiding sandwiches, and have curry with rice or something that I've made for dinner the night before.
I'll have some blueberries in the afternoon, then have a big dinner in the evening. Like you I always ended up binging rubbish at night...but find if I fill up with dinner I'm not hungry at all later on.

I find being prepared is the biggest factor. If I haven't meal planned, batch cooked or have something ready then I'll buy crap. I make sure I plan the week out (Monday-Sunday) on a Wednesday (its just my free evening) and then do a food stop on the weekend. I'll batch cook on sunday. So this week I've started again as I've had an awful few months with depression etc and literally had 2/3 take aways a week!

I make overnight oats but take them to work, I don't tend to eat them until 10.30/11ish, if you can't eat first thing this might be helpful. On a weekend I'll have something like avocado toast with a poached egg. If I don't I'll eat biscuits and cereal bars at my desk which are just sugar basically.

Lunch all this week is veggie quiche (no pastry or cheese used but I sprinkle feta on before eating) and salad or homemade soup. If I don't take in decent meals I'll go to tesco and get a sandwich, crisps and pop which is easily 1000 calories, quiche and salad is under 500 and just as filling.

Evening meal is varied. A slow cooker / instant pot is great if you're on limited time. Some examples this week are beef stew, garlic and mushroom risotto, balsamic quorn suffed peppers etc.

Protein is the best hunger squasher. Eggs, Nuts, Greek Yoghurt etc, lean meat if you're a meat eater.

I've got loads to lose too, and my eating habits when bad are similar to yours. What I find is little changes are more manageable. So, start by just ditching processed foods and make things from scratch. Then when that becomes a natural habit, look at what you're drinking. Ditch the evening glass of wine or reduce your sugar in tea / coffee or every other coffee have a green tea instead. Then again, in a few months look at portion sizes, increase your exercises etc. If you go all in blazing it's such a shock it can be too hard and you give up.

Oh and drink looooads of water! It's not only good for curbing 'hunger' (which is often mistaken for dehydration) but is brilliant for your skin, hair, brain and normal bodily functions.

Have a look at Terri-Ann 123 diet xx

I’m so hungry! Not in a terrible was that means I’m going to quit before I’ve started but i truly can’t think of the last time I was hungry, actually stomach rumbling hungry. I eat so much throughout the day that I get a bit hungry and immediately shut it down and eat something but I’m proper hungry.

Is it weird that it’s a feeling I’m quite impressed by??

Hi OP. I've lost around 4 stones , admittedly slowly.
I use a dessert plate (about 9" diameter) to help me with portion control. This would be an average days food for me.
Breakfast (after swimming, about 10.30 am) - 1 slice of wholemeal toast (no butter), half a tin of beans, 1 poached egg. A piece of fruit.
About 2 pm - a mullerlight yoghurt, a banana. Or homous with pepper sticks and cherry tomatoes
6.30 pm (approx) - dinner, usually vegetarian on my small plate. Make sure you get 2 -3 portions of vegetables. In the very hot weather I usually had a sandwich made with 2 slices of wholemeal bread , houmous, cheese or egg, with salad on the side. Once/twice a week I have a tin of mackerel.
If I'm still hungry in the evening I'll probably have a slice of toast and marmalade.
Exercise - swimming, lots of walking.
This is so easy, I don't have to count calories or follow any plan and I don't really feel hungry.

You can eat ANYTHING! You just need to be burning more calories than you eat.

Thank you everyone so appreciate all your help and inbox messages, you’re all very excellent people!

I think it’s easy to forget what being a little hungry feels like. It is normal to feel hungry near the time of your your next meal.

As you have 10+ stone to lose your calorie allowance must be quite high? So if you need to keep the hunger at bay it’s more than ok to have some veg sticks, piece of fruit, rice cake ,jelly pot, boiled egg, some cooked chicken.

You keep going love, after a few weeks it does get a LOT easier and you will be so proud of yourself

Get a Wii fit. That and a low carb diet helped me lose 3 stone in 6 months, and I kept it off.

You need to do this in a way that you can keep it up or there's no point. Therefore make the changes gradually this will help you stick to the changes and not too much of a shock to your body so it won't go in starvation mode and save calories.

The way that worked for me was first to cut out the snacks and the treats. If you do decide to have a treat make sure that's what it is, if it's regular it's not a treat it's a habit.
Then cut down on meal size and swap some of the items for a healthier option.
When you're happy at this stage start looking up healthy recipes for the food you like.
You will really need to back this up with some exercise and walking one of the easiest, cheapist and available to most people just try and walk at 100 steps per minute, this is a reasonable pace but won't make you look daft. Try and do this pace if you're walking for exercise or to the bus, shop etc.

Oh and if you're starting your day with porridge make sure it's not a packet one full of sugar.