Those of you who lost weight through eating better - what was your main "weight loss" meal?

[CatsNotDogs]

Looking for inspiration 😄

Definitely salmon or chicken with veg. Love baked Aubergibe with chopped tomatoes and a bit of cheese, chilli, paprika etc.

Also I love cereal so often have low carb Yoghurt with low carb Granola (paleo something) or I Unsweetened Almond milk. I don't do official low carb but just the Almond milk has saved me loads of calories

Following as I can always do with more inspiration!

Roasted veg with loads of spices and then roasted fish is my go to. But basically low carb does it for me.

More veg on every plate less carbs
More fruit

Salmon egg fried rice off of tinterweb

Lots of swapping carbs for green veg. E.g. bolognese and lots of green beans (no pasta 😭), substituting rice with cauli rice etc.

I have 2 slices of turkey bacon and a 2 egg omelette for lunch often.

Eggs.

Eggs are so amazing. They're so rich that I can't over eat them at all, and they leave you feeling full for hours.

I did low carb high fat and ate eggs with just about every protein.

Also a fan of cauliflower cheese.

Large skinny cappuccino shuts up the appetite
Frozen fruit to snack on
Chicken breast and eggs
No bread if you can help it that only seems to open up your hunger.

Puy lentils are lush with feta and onion!

Honestly? My main issue was portion control. I suspect this is the same for most people really.

Anything pre-made like the m&s "Balanced for You" range was really helpful for me because they are high protein, filling, around 300 calories in a pot. I ate lots of them for lunches at work where I'd usually have a sandwich, crisps, etc and end up eating over 5/600 Cals easily. I know pre-packaged food isn't ideal but it got me on the right track.

So my main advice is to find meals that are really easy to calorie count.

Some others were things like - salmon fillet, half a jacket potato and green beans with garlic

Breakfast was one piece of rye bread (high calorie but SUPER filling) with peanut butter and a banana. This kept me full for ages.

Sorting out breakfast and lunch worked for me.

Yoghurt with berries and a spattering of hot chocolate powder for brekkie instead of my previous basin of cereal.

Then binned off the meal deals and had soup (sometimes homemade, but often tinned) soup with tattie scones or a whole meal roll at lunch. Or salad but I didn’t find that as filling.

Protein pizza! The base (flour and Greek yoghurt) is surprisingly good and it’s been a life saver when everyone else is having takeaway.

Laksa noodle soup with grilled salmon or chicken. Easy on the noodles and low fat coconut milk, lots of spice and veg (bean sprouts / mange tout etc)

Roast cod in a spicy seed mix (in a tub from the spice section in Sainsbury’s, it has black sesame seeds in it), dry roast sweet potato wedges and veg. Sweet chilli dipping sauce for the wedges.

I eat a lot of pulses. Daal in industrial quantities. Lots of spicy veggie chillis and curries.

I love Asian food too. That’s very easy to make healthily with loads of veg and tofu. Wagamama cookbooks are great and I really like ching he huang too.

Spaghetti a la Norma (aubergines, chilli, olives, capers) but strict portion control on the pasta.

I took care with breakfast and lunch and mainly ate ‘normal’ meals in the evening but in modest amounts with extra veg. I now eat half the amount of pasta and rice I used to eat, have half a pizza but with a side of salad.

tiny portions of chips / fries

I am used to it now and don’t feel at all short changed.

B: Overnight oats using high protein/low fat Skyr yogurt, frozen mixed berries and half a banana.
L: Lean protein (chicken breast/egg and salmon) with vegetables and 100g of 'good' carbs, like quinoa/brown rice/sweet potato. I will meal prep 4-5 of theses in advance. Sometimes I used Chinese flavours, sometimes Mexican, sometimes just garlic and seasoning.
D: A protein and vegetables/salad. That honestly covers an awful lot. So today was chicken parmigiana, yesterday was duck tamarind and stir fried vegetables, the day before was balsamic pork chops with apple slices, swede mash and greens.

If I am doing a lot of exercise the next day, I will add a baked potato to my dinner or other healthy type carb.

I can eat the same breakfast and lunch day in and day out but I have to mix up dinner. I exercise a lot too so that gives me a little extra. When I stick to this and don't drink alcohol, I lose 2-3lbs a week.

Oh I forgot to add, I am a greedy bastard, who will still eat whilst painfully full. I find the above keeps me satiated and energised.

@BarryTheChopper
Tell me everything about your pizza base! Can I use gluten free flour (I have a wheat intolerance)?

Thanks for all the great ideas!

I ate all my normal meals but just smaller portions.

Instead of snacking on crisps I ate apples if I felt hungry.

Stopped drinking alcohol

Lost nearly 2 stone quite quickly.

[quote ChewedClickyPen]@BarryTheChopper
Tell me everything about your pizza base! Can I use gluten free flour (I have a wheat intolerance)?[/quote]
I can answer this, yes it works with gluten free flour. Jamie Oliver has a recipe for the non gluten free version but it's basically the same,

Big mixed salad - green leaves, plenty of peppers, tomatoes, carrot, cucumber, tonight also with mummy beetroot. All topped off with roasted chickpeas and feta. Sometimes with a little wholemeal couscous, sometimes without. Desert is plain Skyr yoghurt with fresh berries.

Home-made tomato soup, more like a broth really, in the same vein as some swear by cabbage soup this was just a version of that but with tomatoes because I couldn't have stood the cabbage farts 😆
Used to make a large vat of it for the week and have every day with 1 slice of wholemeal for lunch. Lost quite well. Thinking of making some now actually!

I lost loads of weight, but more importantly, felt loads more energetic, by cutting out wheat, especially flour and fat combo (pies, pizza, cakes, pastries). Oats, nuts, fruit for bfst. Lunch is big bowl of raw veggies and hummus, dinner rice or baked potato with beans & veg. Occasional fish & chips but not in breadcrumbs. I feel it now (lethargy) if I have pasta.

At the moment, breakfast is about 3 tbsps of Fage 0% yogurt with a small amount of blueberries, blackberries, strawberry etc. I sweeten this with a tsp of sweet freedom syrup (various flavours available) This will keep me going till lunch as the Fage is high protein.

Today, baked potato with a tin of Stagg vegetable chilli.

I have been having a protein shake late afternoon with 1 scoop of powder, a pear and a banana and made up with water. This will tide me over till late evening meal of salad and lean chicken or prawns or salmon etc. Careful not to use too much dips etc but I have had some hummous with celery

Eggs for breakfast
Spinach & mushroom saag for lunch
Chicken/steak with salad/veg for dinner

Cheese and or cream to bulk up meals. Lots and lots of veg.