To think “healthy eating” isn’t the best way for lose weight?!

[dontchasewaterfalls]

I did Slimming World for a number of years and I managed to lose 3 stone and keep it off.

Since having my baby at the start of the year, I’ve gained 2 stone.
Since Slimming World classes were shut, and I wanted to try something different, I decided to just try and eat healthily rather than actually following the Slimming World plan.

I’ve been doing this a few months now and I’ve only lost 5lb, which I could easily lose in a week following Slimming World!!

So what exactly am I doing wrong??

Here’s what I’ve eaten today -

Breakfast
Two weetabix, topped with a handful of raspberries and a small banana. (Semi skimmed milk)
Cup of tea.

Lunch
Tuna (1tin made with light mayo) 80g Wholemeal pasta(dried weight) lettuce, tomato, pickled beetroot. Light Mayo.

Dinner
Fajitas.
Chicken breast, peppers, onions, mushrooms (dry fried) 2 x small wholemeal wraps.
Handful grated cheese.

Snacks
Pomegranate seeds
Large orange
Chocolate fudge Alpen light cereal bar

That’s a typical day for me. I do occasionally have some chocolate or a pack of crisps.

Once a week, usually on a Saturday night, we will have a takeaway. Hubby and I will share a pizza and chips, or I will get chicken tikka pieces in a pitta with salad.

I don’t drink any alcohol. I have at most 3 cups of tea a day and the rest of the time I drink water.

I don’t do any organised exercise, but I do go for a walk every day which is usually 45-60 minutes.

I’m not counting any calories, just trying to eat sensibly. But it’s not working well.

What do you think I’m doing wrong?
Should I just go back to Slimming World?

It goes in the fridge for the next two days

I ate plenty of carbs and lost weight. I would go by what food you enjoy, some people do well on low carb, but it's not for me. Maybe the takeaway is pushing you over. If your calorie deficit is small a very high calorie meal can wipe that out in one go. The chocolate bars or crisps can add up.

If you're breastfeeding, have a bit less to lose and you're presumably also now a bit older then I'm not sure that following the exact same diet as you did on slimming world would have the same results so your expectations might be off. As a pp said while some women find they lose weight very easily breastfeeding others find it much harder than usual.

Sad to say but the only way to loose weight is to consume fewer calories than you burn.

Weather the food is healthy or not is irrelevant.

Upping your protein will keep you feeling less hungry, i have two poached eggs on a small piece of toast for breakfast and full until lunch,

@LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett

You don't say how long ago you did slimming world or how long it took you to lose the weight. If you're still BF-ing then there's potentially a hormonal thing going on too, and I'm guessing you're not as active as you were when you were doing SW either.

What I'm saying is that sometimes you can just 'think' the weight off and at other times, it's a long, slow burn. The good news is you are going down! So it's a case of sticking at it.

I hate faddy diets, but think the overall advice here is good: check your TDEE to find out how many calories you need to eat to lose weight, track every single thing you eat on my fitness pal (boring AF but necessary) then see where you can make changes. And add more exercise wherever possible.

It's dull. Embrace the dull. The quick fixes just don't work.

@LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett

I lost the weight in 6 months on Slimming World and I continued to follow it for nearly 2 years.

What is a TDEE?

@motherofawhirlwind

So from a SW point of view you've had 4 HExB's (Weetabix, wrap x 2, Alpen bar) or 2 HExB's and potentially 18 syns in wraps, depending on the type.

That'd stop me losing!

@motherofawhirlwind

Hmm seeing it like that does make me realise I’ve had too much haven’t I.

Eat less calories. The end.

Fewer.

OP I think the problem with Slimming World is that it doesn’t educate you about healthy eating. Your meal plan seems high in carbs at the expense of fats. The low-fat mayo is an indicator of this.

I would keep on as you are, but make one change at a time. Eg month 1, replace the weetabix and milk with some full fat Greek yogurt. Month 2, halve your takeaway each weekend. Month 3, replace your lunchtime wraps with a couple of eggs...

You eat a LOT of food on an average day, plus a takeaway once a week, and do no exercise... yet you wonder why you're not losing weight?

I couldn't eat all you do, and I run most days.

Everything I have read always states that breakfast is an important meal of the day, plus I don’t think I could skip it.
I’d be too hungry

Hunger is controlled by a hormone called ghrelin. Ghrelin is released at the times of day when you usually eat. This is an evolutionary trick to make sure that we eat when food is available.

You can alter your ghrelin within a few days. If you normally eat at 12pm and wanted to change that to 3pm, you would have 3 or 4 hungry early afternoons, but then it would change.

There is no science behind any time(s) of day being better to eat than others, aside from the fact that it is best not to be trying to sleep/exercise and digest at the same time.

Carbs make us release insulin (because they are sugar) Insulin regulates sugar control within the body to make sure we prioritise using the sugar in our system rather than having it lingering around. In prioritising sugar use, we limit fat use. Thus when you eat carbs, you won't burn much fat.

To those saying it's as simple as calories in/calories out, it isn't. 100 cals of carb gives us 90ish carbs to use.100 cals of fat gives us 65ish. That's a big difference. CICO is concerned with energy intake, but disregards output.

I would consider trying intermittent fasting ... eating in an 8 or 10 hour window.... eg I eat from 11.00 to 7.00 pm and feel consistently full and satisfied. It's meant to have huge health benefits too.

Perhaps consider Michael Mosley 800 diet - ie eight weeks of 800 calories a day? His philosophy is you shed it fast, don't get bored and then go on maintenance... has worked for thousands and got diabetics back into non-diabetic status

I think you need to think of your week as whole. While today’s calories may have been 1500 (or whatever) adding an takeaway, crisps and chocolate bar to the weekly total. Average that out daily and you may not be in a calorie deficit.

If you’re still breastfeeding I think you still need to keep calories up from my understanding but I would think that all the carbs are making you crave more carbs and sugar , I think because they release sugar. Maybe swap them to slow release carbs like sweet potato and whole grain rice / pasta - more filling and keep hunger at bay Breakfast seems big - to have 2 weetabix and 2 pieces of fruit which are also sugar though natural. Lunch sounds quite large more like a dinner size meal, agree with others if that’s main meal then dinner needs to be smaller or lighter in carbs and higher in protein. A lot of diet foods like those cereal bars and low cal Mayo etc are loaded with sugar which again causes spikes that make you hungry again. Good luck losing what you’ve lost so far is all going in the right direction for sure !

@MsStillwell

Eat less calories. The end.

Fewer.

OP I think the problem with Slimming World is that it doesn’t educate you about healthy eating. Your meal plan seems high in carbs at the expense of fats. The low-fat mayo is an indicator of this.

I would keep on as you are, but make one change at a time. Eg month 1, replace the weetabix and milk with some full fat Greek yogurt. Month 2, halve your takeaway each weekend. Month 3, replace your lunchtime wraps with a couple of eggs...

@MsStillwell

I think I would have to agree with you.

The plan works and I lost weight, but do feel I haven’t really learned much.

Out of interest, wouldn’t a low fat Greek yogurt be better?

I eat a very similar diet to you OP and not for one moment do I think it's particularly healthy. It's not BAD but it's certainly not going to help me lose weight. More exercise I think is what would help me...and cutting down on carbs.

What do you think about soup? I quite like it for lunch. No bread. Veg based with a nice chicken stock. Maybe pearl barley or lentils in it. Good way to use up left over chicken too. Hydrating. Part of your 5-a-day. I use the slow cooker for mine.

Breastfeeding definitely makes you hungry. Genuinely try my carb suggestion and look at portion size, if having rice maximum half bag.

3pks of crisps and 2 chocolate bars a week is around 1000 calories almost a treat a day including your Saturday take away (around another 800-1200 calories). Could you cut back here?

@willowmelangell

What do you think about soup? I quite like it for lunch. No bread. Veg based with a nice chicken stock. Maybe pearl barley or lentils in it. Good way to use up left over chicken too. Hydrating. Part of your 5-a-day. I use the slow cooker for mine.

@willowmelangell

I do actually really like soup. I’ve just never been particularly good at making it.
I did make a veg soup once and it was lacking flavour. Just tasted like veg and water.🙄

I think I need to brush up on my soup making skills.

Try my fitness pal to keep track of your calories. You can still have healthy days but also have normal food too.

One high calorie takeaway a week can undo a whole week of healthy eating. Can you find lower calorie replacements for the takeaway? Even something like fried egg and oven chips would be way less calories than a takeaway pizza and deep fat fried chips.

Or make pizza using wholemeal wraps, tomatoe puree and grated cheese, with whatever toppings you like on top. You can either bake it or if feeling really lazy whack it in the microwave for 1 min!

Here's a day I had just over 1200 cals for an idea of what it looks like!

B - 150g 0% fage yoghurt, 100g strawberries
L- tuna fridge pot, Caesar dressing and salad (mixed bag, cucumber, tomatoes etc)
T - gousto butter chicken with a steam bag of veg
Snack - light babybel and a Freddo

And just over 1400 cals

B - Apple with peanut butter (15g PB)
L - 100g feta, salad and lemon juice as dressing
T - gousto 3 veg pasta bake and a steam bag of veg, 50 cal yoghurt
Snack - light babybel and a freddo

I am hungry so I tend to bulk stuff out with steam bags of veg, salad bags, cucumber etc etc. Light babybel or a boiled egg are also good snacks for me
The steam bags of veg I chuck in everything as it's volume/filling but low calorie

Don't cut things out completely - just cut down.

Eg, 1.5 Weetabix for a while, then drop to just 1. 1 wrap instead of 2. If that's too hard to begin with, just cut down every 2nd day initially.

Yes it may be slow, but it's sustainable, and that's important if you don't want to put it back on.

Tomato not tomatoe!

My fitness pal calculates how much weight you want to lose over how many weeks/months and works out your daily calorie total. You’ll be amazed how many calories you’re having based on what you’re eating it also adjusts the calories to how much daily exercise you do.