Don’t know what to eat for weight loss

[Unhappygirl1]

I am currently on maternity leave (twins) and 9 months in just weighed myself. I’m 5ft 3 and the scales said 11stone 6 today. I’m pretty shocked that after birth the weight dropped right off. But through sleep deprivation, boredom, poor choices I’ve put a stone on very easily over the last few months.

So examples of my current bad habits:

-Grating cheese for the kids (weaning) and having a handful to myself
-being too tired to cook so putting pizza on
-husband LOVES JUNK FOOD (won’t eat fruit) so regularly buys family packs of chocolate that we will eat in one sitting

So, I seem to have lost my way and have no idea as to what the he’ll I should be eating for weight loss. It’s mostly dinner I’m stuck with. I’ve got 3 kids and limited time.

Lunch and breakfast I find easier to be healthy but dinner is jars, freezer food and pizza

Please inspire me... what did you eat for dinner to drop the pounds? It needs to be easy! And not require millions of ingredients

I think you need to batch cook / have things ready so you’re not reaching for the junk options - bolognese with veg in, dhal (quick, cheap, healthy and delicious), there are loads of options. Ready meals aren’t a disaster either, just need to choose wisely.

Next time you shop add a packet of stir fry veg, diced chicken and egg noodles to your basket. You have to use the veg within a day or two so you sort of have to have it for dinner that night or the next.

There's a thread called' "Very low effort meals", maybe in classics? Soooo useful.

Very low effort meals thread

I would start but just stopping the handful of cheese and the chocolate/junk. As it went on quite quickly and is a stone, I bet it will come off quite easily but by stopping the extra bits

I think the idea is to not eat

It’s good that you know why the weight has gone on; if you can cut out snacking and all but a couple of squares of chocolate that will go some way towards losing it again.

For your evening meal, could you stock the fridge with lean protein (chicken, salmon fillets, eggs) then as long as you have some veg and salad in you’ll always have something easy to grab.
Omelette or frittata is easy and fast and you can add loads of chopped veg; salmon noodles and peppers, cabbage etc stir fried with some soy sauce and ginger; grilled chicken and salad with vinaigrette, etc.

don't snack.
generally eat less.
always add a handfull of veg to whatever you are having. frozen veg is great for that.

try out slimming world ( easy to do from home for free without paying to go every week). I've lost 5 stone his year.

I still have normal meals ( spag bol, curry and rice etc ) it's just an easy way to get into healthy eating as I've started eating much much more fruit and veg and like I said I've lost 5 stone. As long as you don't get sucked in to buying their own branded sugary crap.

racecar of course everyone has to eat don't be daft

Or download My Fitness Pal and try that. You give them your weight and the weight you want to be and it'll tell you how many calories to have per day to get there. You can scan the barcode of all your food or search for it and it'll tell you the recommended serving size and add it to your food diary for the day.

My calorie goal is 1,200 a day and I will have cereal or toast for breakfast with fruit, stir fry or leftovers from night before for lunch with more fruit and then spaghetti bolognese for tea and I'll be within by 1,200.

I lost postpartum weight with low carb. It’s great because you aren’t hungry and one of the problems of being on mat leave is feeling peckish and heading straight for biscuit tin, piece of toast, which is harder to do when you are at work. Lots of protein, eggs, tuna mayo, (I also drank red wine every night and still lost the weight)

I had a revelation when I realised that evening meal doesn't have to be "dinner food" as such. I have any protein plus veg e.g. pea and feta omelette, any grilled meat or fish plus salad or steamed veg. Not carbs so chicken and salad but not chicken and potato/rice/pasta. Also eat less overall and v few snacks. None of my meals are tricky, just any protein + any veg/salad really.

Ditto "Dancingbea*. Low carb seems to be the key.

Oops bold fail

I was in the same position as you not so long ago. Forget the fad diets, just skim a bit off your calorie intake and put yourself into a calorie defecit. Yes it will take a bit longer but it's more sustainable and less likely to make you miserable. So as other posters have said, stop nibbling on the cheese and the chocolates.

If you're on Instagram check out thefitnesschef_ he does a lot of posts about the amount of calories in food which is definitely an eye opener. Also, James Smith PT has a very simple weightloss philosophy but also has a bit of a potty mouth