To ask what kind of meals you ate to lose weight?

[Waxonwaxoff0]

I want to lose a bit of weight. I'm not hugely overweight, my BMI is 26.3 so I need to lose about a stone to be healthy. I do a lot of walking as I don't have a car, probably about 2 hours a day.

Food is my downfall though. I don't eat a lot of junk food but I probably eat quite a lot of calories. Yesterday I ate -

Breakfast - 2 poached eggs with a slice of toast and some orange juice
Mid morning snack - Nakd fruit bar
Lunch - chicken soup with a small portion of salad, handful of grapes
Afternoon snack - latte made with whole milk and a rice cake with peanut butter
Dinner - spaghetti and meatballs

I have quite a big appetite so I find restricting my calories really difficult. Anyone have any tips?

No snacks and lots of veggies on the side instead of carbs is how I’ve lost almost 9 stone. I can recommend the Hairy Dieters cookbooks, and also the Fast 800 Cookbook for filling low calorie but huge flavour recipes.

I would have thought some small adjustments would help you lose weight over time.

So, the example you gave,

Breakfast: Ditch the OJ - full of calories and sugar.
Afternoon Snack: Americano rather than latte. Ditch the peanut butter.
Dinner: Smaller portion? Less pasta?

Acrasia That's amazing well done!

I do low carb high fat coupled with intermittent fasting and this stops me being hungry all the time, stops cravings and helps me maintain my weight under 10stone
Low carb bootcamps on here are about to start a new cycle I think. I got into it through this and have kept the weight off for 18m plus now

I recently lost 25kg. I have a big appetite so concentrated on eating low calorie foods but lots of them... So loads of veggies etc. Also tried to up my protein intake and have fewer carbs. Pasta is a real weakness of mine, I loved having huge bowls of it... so I now only allow myself to have pasta when I eat out. I also use my fitness pal which I find really useful.

You could easily cut things like the orange juice, whole milk and nakd bar which would save calories. Maybe make an omelette for breakfast.

Download my fitness pal so you can see where your calories are going and work out where you can make changes from there.

What i learned is everyone eats differently so there's no one answer.

I’d get rid of the OJ for water, no morning snack.

Lunch berries instead of grapes.

Dinner, v small portion of whole meal carbs, abd either make it a veggie option or something with a leaner meat. Loads of veggies to fill up.

Occasional nakd bar as treat. Not every day.

Thanks all, some great tips. @Acrasia that's an amazing achievement!

I use my fitness pal as well but make sure you weigh everything so its accurate. I thought I was eating healthy for ages but turns out I my portions were nearly doubling my calories!

What you're eating in itself is absolutely fine particularly if that's what you like - obviously, because this is MN, you'll get lots of people telling you that carbs/juice/whatever is the devil! Presuming you enjoy your food, portion size is going to be the big thing. I fill half my plate with salad or veggies before serving.

I eat the same breakfast and lunch I've always had, but dropped most of the snacks and instead of a 'fork and knife dinner' I have a pot of fresh soup from the supermarket. Current fave is asda 'gorgeous greens'.

Then some berries and a small bit of chocolate for nibbles.

@mynameiscalypso I think portion sizes are likely to be where I'm going wrong, dinner is the big problem. I do eat quite hearty portions!

I just adapt the meals that I make for everyone else, they’re all quite simple, cheap meals. For example, lunch is usually sandwiches (quick and easy when both WFH with 2 DC) and where DH would usually have crisps and a banana with his, I’ll have apple slices and carrot sticks. The carrot adds bulk but far less calories. Dinner is chicken, baked potato and veg, so I’ll have a smaller potato, slightly less chicken and loads more veg. I have one snack a day, between lunch and dinner. I don’t have a morning snack which easily saves 100-200kcal. I drink a lot of Diet Coke!

Another vote for my fitness pal. It will help you to track calories and manage portion
sizes.

I have used it before and always done well with it.

I have about a stone to lose at the moment due to overeating through a stressful period over the last few months. I am using mfp, cut out chocolate (my weakness) and alcohol and drinking lots of water.

I've started running again too and in a week, I have lost 2.6kg so I'm pleased with that.

Your diet sounds fine so it's probably just portions that are causing the issues. The only thing I would say could change is the whole milk in the latte -could you have a skinny latte instead?

I still have hearty portion of spaghetti But it's only 120g (cooked) spaghetti and the rest are courgetti. I was surprised how good it tastes.

I second My fitness pal. I can recommend planning on it. So for example I think what i will eat next day and log stuff in the evening before.

Maybe batch cook a bit, count cals, and portion it into the freezer. It REALLY helps with portion control which was my downfall before too.

Good luck!

Those nakd bars are full of sugar. Won’t be helping at all.
Swap it for a piece of fruit

I would suggest that you don’t drink your calories - ditch the orange juice and latte.

Any non-meal snacks should be an absolute maximum of 100 calories - that latte/ricecake/peanut butter thing is probably about 400 calories on its own which is probably as much as your lunch all over again.

I have lost 2 stone so far since the beginning of lockdown. My method is to eat regularly throughout the day as I can't stand being hungry, but I only ever eat a around 200 calories at a time (occasionally straying to 250 cals), and make sure each thing I eat is at least 50% vegetables.

Yesterday for example:

Breakfast - crepe filled with mushrooms (sautéd in fry-lite), spinach and half a tsp of Philadelphia.
Lunch - Fresh tomato salsa with 2 Ryvita crackers
Snack - carrot sticks with a teaspoon of houmous
Dinner - half a jacket potato with a small scoop of chilli-non-carne
Later on - an apple with 30g of blue cheese.

Yes restricting calories is difficult but you can't change the laws of biology any more than you can change the laws of physics. As surely as a dropped object falls to the ground at an acceleration of 9.8m/s/s, so too will a body that is fed more fuel than it burns will store the excess energy as fat.

More vegetable matter in every meal should help. Try roasting some large portobello mushrooms and keep them in a box in the fridge and warm them up one or two at a time to be the substrate under your eggs instead of toast? Try spiralised butternut squash instead of spaghetti?

Lattes were my downfall. I shifted a good few pounds cutting them out. You can dilute your fruit juice if you don’t want to go without. Your main one will be portion size though. Try using a smaller plate.

Stop snacking is a good one, or at least swap for fruit and veg only. No lattes just coffee with a dash of milk. Coffees are good as a snack replacement too. Eating later in the day helps me reduce calories, a bit like the 16/8 diet but we always eat dinner late. Always monitor portion size and have a low calorie pudding to look forward to and cup of tea.

Low carb is great as it keeps hunger and cravings under control. It’s just hard to keep up longer term. Losing just a stone when not very overweight is really tough in my experience. You have to go lower on calories as you burn less off at a lower weight.

Mostly it’s will power, even when the scales don’t move for a few weeks.

I eat an actual mixing bowl filled with salad for lunch everyday. Not even joking. My coworkers laugh, but I eat half a grated carrot, handful of cherry tomatoes, half a cucumber sliced with half a can of mixed bean salad and half a can of tuna in spring water. 3 tbsps of fat free dressing. About 300 calories and I don't feel hungry after. I need large quantities to feel full to, but I make them protein and fiber heavy rather than carb and that helps me lose weight.

I like big portions too which is why intermittent fasting suits me.
4 days a week I only have water and black coffee until my evening meal, which is substantial and anything I want. The other 3 days I eat as I please. I lost 3 stone of baby weight that way and have been maintaining for around 6 months now following the same plan. I tried lots of different approaches first and this was the only one that worked out for me. I'm too lazy to count anything and I like food too much to cut anything out.

Breakfast - crepe filled with mushrooms (sautéd in fry-lite), spinach and half a tsp of Philadelphia.
Lunch - Fresh tomato salsa with 2 Ryvita crackers
Snack - carrot sticks with a teaspoon of houmous
Dinner - half a jacket potato with a small scoop of chilli-non-carne
Later on - an apple with 30g of blue cheese.

Can I ask how many calories that comes up to? It looks like about half of what I eat and I am on 1400-1500

I'd drop the ok,latte and snacks.Have grapes mid afternoon to stop any energy drop.I would also have a slice of bread with my soup or I would be very hungry in the evening.Then measure your pasta as this is probably where the issue is.

Some good ideas on here.

I do Keto - have done for years. If I’m getting carb creep I got straight back to MFP and reset. Also helps with calorie creep - Keto is great for hunger regulation but you can get complacent and cane the cheese and nuts - which is my issue.

I also run between 20-30k a week. I eat back my exercise calories so the running is for mental health and so I can eat more!

Find a regime is my advice, one that you believe in. Otherwise you’ll find yourself doing low carb and intermittent fasting and low fat and everything else!

You don't have masses to lose so your diet just needs a few modifications, it looks sensible already. Maybe increase your fruit and veg intake and weight out your food for a bit to ensure your portion size is OK.

Breakfast I'd either have 1 egg on toast or two eggs with no toast. 150ml only of orange juice or swap to a solid piece of fruit to increase fibre.
Midmorning snack I love a nakd bar so am not going to say anything wrong with that, you could try swapping to fresh fruit or veg with some cheese for the sake of your teeth, (I tend to have nakd bars as a pudding at mealtimes)
Lunch just check your portion size but sounds good
Afternoon snack the latte or the peanut butter on rice cake, not both
Dinner sounds delicious, make sure you bulk out with lots of veg and watch your portion control.

Drink lots of water, don't have seconds, try and reduce snacks (I find this hard so try and eat healthy snacks). Move more.