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?

@Lockdownhairdontcare

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?

Thank you.

Yes I could definitely cut back on the treats.
It’s usually on a night when the baby is in bed. I have a cup of tea and some chocolate.

It’s also become a habit to have our Saturday takeaway. We haven’t eaten out since having our baby so it feels like a nice alternative.

I do always try to opt for the chicken tikka with salad and pitta, over the pizza and chips.

I should maybe try cooking a healthier version of a takeaway, but I think I’ve become too accustomed to having a meal being delivered to us once a week. 😬

I'd argue that it is working. You are definitely not on a diet, not doing any exercise, but you are losing weight. It's just much slower coming off, and probably your eating habits are more sustainable. You say in a week you eat pizza, chips, crisps, have snacks every day and don't work out. So the pounds won't melt away easily. But you are reducing.

Eat loads of green veg like lettuce, cabbage etc.
Easy on the bananas.

I haven't read the whole thread OP but wanted to let you know that last year I joined with DH to keep him company while he changed his diet as had been told was pre-diabetic, and needed to do something about it. We loosely followed the ideas of Dr. Michael Mosely, and although I was not trying to lose weight, I did pretty effortlessly,and so did DH. All we did was cut out carbs and sugar. In my case I was not eating sugar anyway. We had lots of vegetables and limited fruit to just one or two pieces a day of non-sweet fruits (say apples, raspberries, strawberries), no juice which is pure sugar really. I lost 12kg. doing this, and he lost 14kg. and it was really no effort. Better still his glucose readings became normal, so he is no longer pre-diabetic. You just literally cut out carbs. I feel masses better for doing it and more energetic, and it was unexpected. Hope it helps.

@QueenOllie

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

@QueenOllie

I really do think I would be SO hungry if that’s all I ate in one day.

Do you think my body will eventually adjust to such little amounts (compared to what I’m
currently having)

I’ve got a very disordered relationship with food but I have twice lost weight consistently and kept it off, first time until I fell pregnant and second time until my father died and my partner had a breakdown in the same year.

The first time I ate the same thing five days a week - yoghurt, granola and berries for breakfast and a salad of salmon, feta, cucumber, beetroot, tomatoes and lettuce with dressing for lunch. Dinner was whatever I fancied but often beans and egg on toast and definitely no red meat. Fish or chicken. I also went to the gym once w day and did a lot of walking the dog.

Second time it was religiously calorie counting on my fitness pal and making sure I did some sort of activity a day as well as hitting my step target.

What I would say is, looking at your food, there are a lot of ‘empty’ calories. Weetabix, pasta, wraps. The nursery manager at my DS’ nursery announced ‘i don’t believe in pasta’ when I asked about the menu there and I realised actually, pasta is just a vehicle isn’t it?

When I’m thinking about weightloss or trying to be healthier, I look at my meals and try to ‘level up’ if that makes sense. If you’re consuming calories then they should be doing something good for your body as well, so if you’re having breakfast could it be granola instead of weetabix? I find a decent non sugary one with nuts and seeds needs a smaller portion, fills you up and has a bit more nutrition maybe? I would ditch the pasta at lunch and have a fuxking massive salad with the tuna, that way you can have the whole tin and a bit of mayo, maybe half? If you make the salad in the morning and give it all a good shake, any juices will mix with the mayo and make a little go a long way.

To me that's a lot of food per day!

Also, if you cut down gradually, you can retrain your body so that less does not automatically mean 'hungry'.

If I feel hungry between meals, a drink can often stave off the hunger pangs. Not many calories in your tea, after all.

Also, I was always so hungry breastfeeding and couldn't lose weight so I think you need to give yourself a bit of a break as well. You are losing weight at a healthy pace. I couldn't lose the baby weight until I stopped breastfeeding (18 months as my DD was a cup/bottle refused!).

@HyacynthBucket

I haven't read the whole thread OP but wanted to let you know that last year I joined with DH to keep him company while he changed his diet as had been told was pre-diabetic, and needed to do something about it. We loosely followed the ideas of Dr. Michael Mosely, and although I was not trying to lose weight, I did pretty effortlessly,and so did DH. All we did was cut out carbs and sugar. In my case I was not eating sugar anyway. We had lots of vegetables and limited fruit to just one or two pieces a day of non-sweet fruits (say apples, raspberries, strawberries), no juice which is pure sugar really. I lost 12kg. doing this, and he lost 14kg. and it was really no effort. Better still his glucose readings became normal, so he is no longer pre-diabetic. You just literally cut out carbs. I feel masses better for doing it and more energetic, and it was unexpected. Hope it helps.

@HyacynthBucket

Oh I watched a really good programme Micheal Mosley did. It was helping people to lose weight post the first Covid wave.

That does help. Thank you. 😊

refuser!

Oh my. Enjoy getting overly anxious from here🙄
Microwave rice is 2 servings. Everyone on MN can feed a family on it... and if you eat bread you will never fit your arse into any jeans again.

Eat proper food. Full fat yogurts, fruit, potatoes, rice, whatever works for you. But! Eat it sensibly. Someone doesn't eat breakfast. I do (bread ha)so I am not having "hunger eyes" at lunch. I am losing kilo a week(admittedly I am large and not just in a character)🤷🏻 And I... Prepare for the horror... Snack (timed and pre planned)...

For someone keto works, someone else it makes sick. For someone counting calories work. For someone it doesn't. And so on.

You do what works for you. Main thing is to get balanced diet. Do you have that? Now just make your portions bit smaller. Is it working? It will, I bet ya. Be careful when trying extreme restrictions diets. It's usually better to be sensible. Especially because you already seem to be on the way! Add some veg though or fruit. Switch some of the crisps for an apple, some chocolate for a pomelo. It's good for you😁 You want to create sustainable lifestyle change. Something what you can keep long term to feel good long term.
And omg. Full fat, probiotic yogurts (live cultures!). So good for you! We do forget about our gut health often with everything being pasteurised and sanitised and so on. My health and immunity improved considerably with range of probiotic bacteria!
Good luck!

My food today came to just under 1100 calories.

8am Breakfast, Smoothie- strawberry Whey powder, berry protein yogurt, frozen berries and almond milk.

12.30pm Lunch, Cajun chicken salad- chicken breast, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, feta and lemon juice.

Snacks, 3pm cashew nuts, 5pm fulfill bar

8pm Dinner, Turkey meatballs in a tomato sauce, bulgar wheat, spinach and tender stem broccoli.

Unless you give the weights of everything eaten nobody can really comment helpfully as we have no idea how many calories you're consuming.

Maybe try Nutracheck or My Fitness Pal for a week or so and see what you're averaging? Of you're not losing and want to you just need to cut your calories.

@Lockdownhairdontcare

My food today came to just under 1100 calories.

8am Breakfast, Smoothie- strawberry Whey powder, berry protein yogurt, frozen berries and almond milk.

12.30pm Lunch, Cajun chicken salad- chicken breast, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, feta and lemon juice.

Snacks, 3pm cashew nuts, 5pm fulfill bar

8pm Dinner, Turkey meatballs in a tomato sauce, bulgar wheat, spinach and tender stem broccoli.

@Lockdownhairdontcare

This all does sound very nice, and healthy.

So where does a takeaway or chocolate (or treat of your liking) fit into your diet? Or doesn’t it?

Breastfeeding does make you incredibly hungry.

I personally wouldn't skip any meals while breastfeeding, I spread my meals out more.

I normally have:

Morning snack
Post workout smoothie
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Bedtime snack

I would reduce the amount of rice and pasta you're having. I go for lower calorie foods and then I can eat more of it. So if I have a salad with no dressing, there's more food on my plate than if I have some chips.

I also find that by eating regularly and keeping myself full, I'm less likely to eat excessively or go over my calories.

I've lost weight doing this while eating 1900 calories and exercising daily

Studies have shown that most healthy breastfeeding women maintain an abundant milk supply while taking in 1800-2200 (or more) calories per day

Consuming less than 1500-1800 calories per day (most women should stay at the high end of this range) may put your milk supply at risk, as may a sudden drop in caloric intake

I realise that your baby is 9 months old at least so not exclusively breastfeeding, but it’s worth noting that a sudden drop in calories may effect your milk supply.

kellymom.com/nutrition/mothers-diet/mom-calories-fluids/

Sorry forgot to post link

I'm unfortunately an emotional eater so at times of stress I eat very little. Usually this is extreme, like when my mum passed away or relationship breakdown but I've never been underweight. I'm ok now, podgier than I'd like at size ten (I'm very short) but I've realised that 'portions' that i consider normal when I'm not stressed are clearly more than I truly need. Pasta for lunch would be too much for me for example, even though it's a common lunch option in shops!

Weight Watchers has helped me, it is restricting your calorie intake but promotes healthy eating

I can't believe how many people are getting hung up on the light mayo and completely skipping over the one takeaway a week. OP, if you dropped the takeaway, you'd probably see much quicker progress. I went through a phase of (unintentionally) eating around 1000 calories a day, but with a takeaway once a week. I stayed the same weight. A takeaway pizza genuinely sees me gain a couple of pounds that week (leaving it a few days for the water retention to pass). But I also think 80g of pasta at lunch is excessive. Have a higher protein breakfast, you'll naturally drop a a portion of carbs per day too. I aim for carbs with 2 out of 3 meals.

I also walk a collie cross and cycle daily and am a teacher so don't really sit down all day. I definitely need to be eating less.... 😁

I honestly think suggesting a grown woman, especially one who is breast6, should eat 1 Weetabix or half a tin of tuna is ridiculous.

Far better to eat as you are already eating OP, but just change the Takaway to "Fakeaway" 3 weeks out of 4, don't eat after 8pm, and try some weights (free mobile app , and 2 bottles of water if no equipment) - I bet you would still lose weight.

I too think you’re just eating too many calories. My food today came in at 1100 calories as follows:

B: one boiled egg

L: wrap with 20g grated cheese, lettuce, cucumber and salad cream. Crisps.

D: Chicken Kiev, one potato waffle, baked beans.

Snack: one biscuit

I wear a FitBit and did a spin class followed by aerobics. My calories burned today is 2410.

I can’t lose weight any other way other than tracking calories in v calories out.

I have been thin my entire life. I workout five times a week. Today I ate:

Protein bar and kombucha

Salad of chicken, tomatoes, avocado, poached egg, cucumber, sprouts, olive oil.

Raspberries and blueberries with coconut yoghurt

Dinner was Mongolian beef, creamed spinach (made with coconut cream) and sweet potato mash.

I eat large portions, but don’t eat many snacks.