Is this too calorie heavy for weightloss, feedback welcomed

[Onemonthatatime]

I think some quick results would give me a boost. I’m quite tired so fasting wouldn’t work. I need an easy and cheap plan for the week to kick off weightloss. No added sugar almond milk to make porridge and coffees, oranges, bananas, frozen berries, low fat yoghurts, salad, tinned tuna/mackerel, lentils, humous and brown bread. I know fizzy drinks aren’t great but a Diet Coke keeps me happy when I’d normally have crisps/snacks.

i have a busy week and will cook properly for the children so looking at no prep food for me.

Well how much of it are you eating?

Can you track calories on MFP? Because it would depend on the quantities of these things which are all reasonably healthy themselves, maybe check the sugar content of the almond milk?

The number of slices of brown bread per day will make all the difference!

Ok that’s a really good and obvious point!!! Depends on quantities! I will get adding up.

I did say I’m tired 😂

It's a bit hard to say as you've not said quantities - those foods aren't what I would eat for weight loss, hummous and brown bread are treats! But for you this may be very different to what you eat usually. I wouldn't see what you have listed givig fast results.

You can generally fit any food into a calorie controlled diet and make it work, you just have to make annoying and often boring decisions.

So if having a fruity smoothie makes the long term likelihood of you sticking to the diet more probable, then just account for it by having a more vegetable heavy meal that day.

I love iced coffee, I refuse to give it up and feel hard done by, which means that on the days where I have more iced coffee, my lunch is a warm salad of green beans, mushrooms, asparagus, sugar snap peas and wafer thin chicken. I can have a big bowlful for about 200 calories.

Think I will ditch bread. I will find bread the biggest test to willpower so probably better not to have it at all.
I should probably be doing more salad/vegetables for fast results.
I got as far as thinking if I have an exact easy plan, no thinking to do, I might stick to it.

You have an internal calorie counter that's much more accurate than any number of charts - your sense of hunger.

If you're feeling hungry each day, that's your body telling you that you're going to lose weight unless you eat more. It's like a danger signal.

If you're not feeling hungry, chances are you're getting enough food to maintain your current weight.

Bananas, hummous and bread aren't low calorie. You need to track what you're consuming if you want to lose weight

Haha I'm laughing at brown bread and hummus being treat foods. I'm not saying people can eat them in bucket loads but they're hardly of the same ilk as treat foods.

hummous and brown bread are treats

Dear God.

You've said as a response to this thread that you're cutting out bread and going to find it really hard op. Are you going to cut it out forever because if you restrict your diet to lose weight but you're miserable, you'll eventually put it all back on. This is why diets nearly always fail.

You can eat a slice of brown bloody bread. You need to find a way of eating which supports a healthy weight and you can sustain. Cutting out everything you love will not work. It simply will not.

You need to ditch the bread and the bananas completely.

Ditch the low fat stuff - it’s usually loaded with sugar. Eating fat does not make you fat, eating sugar does.

Brown bread is a treat???

F that.

Go to a TDEE calculator and figure out what your BMR is. That is basically the calories you can eat and stay the same weight. Anything below that should result in a loss.

Don't cut too low or you'll end up feeling crap, get sick of being hungry and bingeing.

I'm 5ft 8 and can lose weight eating 1600 calories a day so you don't have to eat a starvation diet.

Then look at what you eat now and could easily give up without missing it, things like full sugar coke, lots of teas with sugar....

Then work out what you can't see yourself completely cutting out and give yourself a 'ration'or an alternative. If you love chocolate for example would options hot chocolate meet the need? Instead of spaghetti or in addition to spaghetti could you have half a portion and top up with green beans in your plate. Less calories, same amount of food, more nutrients.

Full fat, high protein will fill you up for longer and make your body process glucose better so you feel less hungry. Low fat, high sugar is a false economy, technically less calories but you'll be hungry sooner and end up eating more.

I have lost lots of weight in the past using the above methods, didn't stick to it ultimately and regained some and now I have diabetes and have ended up on Mounjaro for glucose control which does make it easier to reduce calories.

Dieting is hard and it's a long game, if you have multiple stones to lose then you realistically are looking at multiple months to lose it, so make a plan you can stick to until this time next year.

To be fair it it's toasted and slathered in butter and zesty marmalade... 😋

My approach is to increase the proportion of salad and vegetables, eat good quality protein and fats and reduce (not eliminate) the portion size of carbs. Also increase gentle movement.

I've learned that there's some times of the month that I'm more focused and make more process, and certain days where it's just better to listen to my body's desire for carbs. Over the month it balances up.

As others have said l, all about portion control. I don't change what I eat but monitor how much I eat. My standard breakfast for example is porridge (made with water), peanut butter, chia seeds, blueberries, honey and cinnamon. That could be 360 calories or 600 depending on portion size. I recently lost 10kg eating all my favourite foods, avocado, hummus, chicken, rice, lentils, fish (lots of fish), eggs, chickpeas, chicken, full fat cottage cheese, loads of veg, even the odd square of dark chocolate. Never felt like I was missing out. People are more successful at loosing and keeping weight off when they develop good and consistent eating habits and a healthy relationship with food. Watch out for liquid calories and sugar (addictive). If you fancy more food after or between meals make yourself wait 30 mins. If you are hungry and the craving hasn't gone then go ahead. More often than not after 30 mins then craving subsides. Good luck.

Those foods are fine, but as you say, it's about portion size. Fruit can be quite high in sugar and therefore calories.
Lentils are also calorie dense so a couple of tablespoons is plenty for a meal.
Try adding more veg, and maybe more protein. Tinned tuna is great, but also eggs are filling and quite economical.
Have plenty of salad and greens on each plate. I love mushrooms and add them to stuff, or just fried in a tiny bit of oil. They are very low calorie. Maybe try and stick to one slice of bread per day. And drink loads of water. Peppermint tea is great as well.