To ask what you think of my average "working day" food?

[Stamen196]

Just got off phone to doctors. BMI is 37 and I need to get it down to below 30 for many reasons.

Background: I carry my weight relatively well so am a size 16, but this doesn't help as I just let it creep up without many people seeming to notices. I have PCOS, not planning on kids so no particular issue with fertility, but it does affect my ability to lose weight and metabolism.

I would say this is my average working day:

• Breakfast: 6.30am. porridge with honey or fruit and fibre with milk). Cup of tea.

-Snack: 10ish. Usually a mini kit kat or apple, or both if I'm hungry!

• Lunch: 12.30. Soup and bag of low cal crisps such as pop chips for lunch, and maybe a yoghurt if I'm home or an apple. On a particularly bad day, a couple of biscuits.

• 3.30pm: Afternoon snack. If I'm out it's a skinny cappuccino. If I'm in, whatever is in house. I am tired and energy levels low and so reach for 2 biscuits (not if I've had biscuits at lunch though). 🙄

• 8pmish: Dinner. Usual types of thing such as jacket potato, mushroom risotto, salmon stir fry or pasta, but probably a bigger portion than I realise. Veggies in there though. Some sort of sweet thing afterwards... Usually chocolate.

I only drink wine at weekends but I tend to stick to 1 glass. But my weekend diet is probably way worse with a meal out or takeaway featuring at some point!

What do you all think of my average day of eating compared to your own? Is it awful? Any tips would be very gratefully appreciated.
Do you worst....I need it!

Trying keto for a while might be a really great shout for you. Agree portions are likely to be the issue, once I found out what a ' recommended' cereal portion was I realised I was having three times that amount!

I would definitely mirror what everyone else has said with regards to tracking.

I don't eat badly and normally maintain my weight without having to worry but found I was putting on weight even just missing my commute in lockdown as some days I wasn't even leaving the house. The most steps I was getting was up and downstairs from my desk to the kitchen lol.

Started tracking really loosely about 6 weeks ago and have lost the weight I had put on (about 10lbs) quite quickly without any real increase in activity.

I don't track cooking oil, oat milk in coffee, salads or flora as I find if I track everything I get too obsessed and it isn't good for my mental health and attitude to food and weight. But tracking portions for meals and snacks has really made the difference.

I would say it would help to go low carb too. I'm a size 12 and active but only lose weiggt if I consistently drop below 1000cals without cheating.

If you have PCOS you should eat like you have diabetes.

www.dietdoctor.com/diabetes/diet#diabetes-diet

@blue25

Your dinners are high on carbs. I lost weight reducing my carbs, so have lots of veg like broccoli, kale instead of potato, pasta etc.

Obviously cutting out sugary treats like biscuits will also help.

I have PCOS too and for be it's a balancing act with reduced carbs. I had to cut right down on the proportion of pasta to protein in the sauce for example so quite often I'd have bolognese sauce over steamed green beans. Risottos were out, jacket potato a rare treat

15,000 steps is great IF it's not just meandering around at work or leisurely strolls. You need to be getting out of breathe (but can still talk) for stretches of at least 10 minutes at a time.

Thank you SO much everyone. I really appreciate the time people have taken to post such great, helpful replies!

I will be posting an update tomorrow evening with my food for the day so you can all see the better direction I'm hopefully going in!

I think there is a lot of carbs and sugar in your diet. I would not have the Kit Kat, crisps and biscuits everyday. I try and stick to something sweet 2/3 times a week. Carbs definitely make you hungrier, I totally notice it when I have carbs. Try having more veg for tea. I find roasted veg really fills me up.

When I was trying to loose weight, If I want a sweet pudding I have Greek yoghurt with fruit, nuts and honey. It satisfies me that I have had something sweet without the ice cream or chocolate. I also started having portions on side plates, particularly anything with carbs.

My day is

Breakfast- two pieces of toast with marmalade.

Snack- if I need one but not every day. Fruit.

Lunch- fruit, or 4 crackers with hummus and feta cheese slice.

Tea- meat/fish with roasted veg, stir fry, sometimes curry, spaghetti bolonaise. Greek yoghurt With fruit, nuts and honey.

I am size 8-10 but put on over lock down so now my clothes are feeling tight.

Bloody hell, who even runs 50 miles a week anyway? I'm well into running at the moment but 50 miles is way excessive, cmon!

So porridge’s portion is literally on 40g which is a sachet or a half cup (the American measurement) full. Do you buy a ready porridge with honey or use plain oats and add honey? The ready ones can be full of rubbish.

I started slimming world a couple of months ago, have lost 1 1/2 stone and learned so much about nutrition. I didn’t realise my diet was unhealthy because I cooked from scratch etc.

Something like that might help?

Way too much sugar. Eat more protein and fat rather than empty carbs. And Apple or a kit Kat is not going to satisfy your or nourish you. Swap it out for boiled eggs, carrots and hummus or peanut butter, seed crackers with cheese. Same with soup and crisps. Swap that for stir fry with brown rice or cauliflower rice, sushi, low carb wrap packed with salad, Ham and cheese etc.

Look up Nadia Pateguana - I think she has a lot of insight into PCOS. She talks about managing it and the associated weight gain by tackling the root of the problem: high insulin levels. That includes eating foods that have a lower glycemic index, but there are other components that a lot of people don’t think about. If you don’t get good sleep or you’re stressed over a long period of time, that can increase insulin. Also, how often you eat matters.

So probably one of the easiest things you can do is to try to eat fewer times a day. The idea is to still eat a good amount of calories, but get more from fat and protein and stop snacking. It’s not an exact science - just ‘whatever keeps insulin levels in check is good’.

Your dinner is too late and has too many carbs for that time of day.

@1Morewineplease I have no choice but to eat a late dinner. I work 12 hours a day for 4 days a week, so for those 4 days I have to eat at 8.30pm. However I can change the type of foods I eat, which is why I'm here (to gain insight!).

Gentle reminder to everyone that you only have to be eating slightly over your body's calorie needs to gain weight. Eating just 100 extra calories a day could translate to a weight gain of 10kg a year!!

I don't believe these threads.
I eat much more than that with a BMI of 21.
Loads of advice about cutting out snacks etc, but if you really are walking all day a mini kitkat and an apple is not excessive enough to result in a BMI of 37.
You are eating more than you say. You must be.

An Apple cut into slices and dipped in unsweetened peanut butter is really satisfying, and could replace the kitkat. For lunch and dinner, aim for more protein and less carbs. Loads of veg is nice roasted and fills you up without refined carbs.

I’m trying to lose weight and aim for 3 small meals and two small snacks each day, with some form of protein each time. Plus one day a week fasting till late afternoon, I’m going to add another day of fasting once I’m more used to it. DH has a sweet tooth though so there’s usually bad stuff in the house to tempt me off track! I’ve started buying mini portions of sweet stuff like freddo bars and mini ice lollies so I don’t have too many calories if I succumb.

I think one thing that is not helping is that you're having breakfast too early and dinner too late. You're not giving your body a long enough break from food. Not suggesting 16:8 fasting (although it does work!) but really you don't need to eat at 6.30 if you've maybe finished eating at 9pm? You could easily save the morning break calories and just have breakfast s bit later.

In eat a lot more than you and Would probably be hungry eating that

Ops... sent too soon. I am eat a lot more than you and I am healthy BMI so your diet is fine and normal I think.

You probably are eating too many carbs. I also have PCOS and did much better when I reduced the carbs in my diet.

Not eliminate, just a more balanced diet than the majority of your calories coming from carbohydrates.

@askinfforfriend

I think one thing that is not helping is that you're having breakfast too early and dinner too late. You're not giving your body a long enough break from food. Not suggesting 16:8 fasting (although it does work!) but really you don't need to eat at 6.30 if you've maybe finished eating at 9pm? You could easily save the morning break calories and just have breakfast s bit later.

How can people have breakfast later? People have to go to work. Most people have little choice when they eat during a working week. If you work shifts, your eating pattern may be all over the place as well.

It’s pretty similar to what I eat and I’m 9 stone. I think it’ll be your portion sizes.

There is no way you can have a bmi of 37 and be a size 16 unless you are well over 6 foot even than it’s a stretch. How tall are you? @Stamen196