Need serious inspiration regarding weight loss

[sillylily23]

Posting here for traffic.

I've seen a photo of myself today and am shocked and upset at how round my face is. I knew I'd put weight on but I guess you can ignore the number on the scales more than being confronted by a picture of yourself looking gross.

Basically, I eat shit. I love carbs and white stuff (bread, potatoes, pasta). I eat too much convenience food and I don't enjoy or have the time for cooking. Dh is the cook in our house and loves adding extra oil/butter/cheese to everything.

Please please please can someone help me devise some sort of meal plan for weight loss. I need to feel full, if I don't I'll just binge eat. But I need to be feeling full on healthier things than stodge and sugar. I usually do around 10k steps a day but I know weight loss mainly comes down to diet over exercise so I really need to make some changes.

I would be so grateful for any advice.

Hopeful bump

Follow mellymaeweightloss on tiktok/insta. She's lost 10 stone in a slow, manageable way and has a lovely positive vibe. I'm on a mission to lose quite a lot of weight and she's been a breath of fresh air away from slimming world and the like.

Also, and I'm sorry I didn't lead with this, how round your face is doesn't demean who you are. Weight loss is an uphill emotional battle and it's easy to forget that the core of you is a wonderful and valid person no matter what.

I follow weight watchers. I never feel deprived and I have a big appetite so need to feel satisfied. Worth giving it a look, there new plan is really good and I’ve stayed motivated to continue and lost 2 stone.

Everyone I know swears by slimming world I’m going to join on Wednesday

Best advice I was ever given.
Choose whole foods, if you find something to be a problem, if you must have it, have it at the end of your day so you have to contend with the wants for more for only a few hours before bed.

When I'm on it, what I have.
Grilled steak, and vegetables for breakfast.
Between waking and having lunch I have 1l of water.
Lunch, grilled chicken, any vegetables I fancy with it.
1tbsp of a fat, so mayonnaise, olive oil, hummus butter, or 20g of cheese.
Dinner, a lean protein source, veggies and no more than 1/3rd of the plate of rice/pasta/potato.

By the end of the day 3l of water.

Snacks,
Fruit and dark chocolate. (Only after dinner)
More vegetables.
Yoghurt
Lean protein sources, like chicken breasts.

I don't tend to weigh things except for the tbsp of "fat"

Not all calories are created equal......if you want slow steady weight loss without having to eat cucumber stocks for every meal, try switching to non UPF (Ultra Processed Food) as your primary source of calories. Drastically reduce your refined sugar and then see how you get on.

I've just started trying to eat porridge/overnight oats most mornings with various fruits, chia seeds, cinnamon etc added for taste, lunch might be sour dough with avocado and salmon .....I'm just starting though as I'm in the middle of reading "Why We Eat (Too Much)" which I'm finding so interesting.

I also listened to the podcast "A Thorough Examination' on BBC Sounds, it's hosted by a pair of identical twin doctors and looks at UPF as one of the twins is obese and living off a heavy UPF diet. Horrifying when you have a listen!

In saying that though, You could eat a chicken breast or fish, With a bit of steamed pumpkin squash on the side if you don’t want to eat potatoes and lots of salad that would make you feel really full
Lentil pilafs /Dhall With salad on the side can also help you feel really full
Cracked bulgur wheat is delicious and filling, and stewed or curried chickpeas Are also really filling and tasty

For breakfast which keeps me full for ages ( I got this recipe from the European women’s bodybuilding champion) I make old fashioned porridge oats with water or semi or skimmed milk or nut milk, grate in half an apple with skin on, and sprinkle generously with cinnamon
you can add a little honey or even a tsp peanut butter

My brother visited from abroad in May. I didn't want to be on any photos even though he was meeting one of my sons for the first time. It was a huge wake up call. End of May 2022 i decided I needed to lose 5 st. That would still take me to a stone heavier than I was at my lightest and happiest pre-kids. I figured it was a good target and good go further if I ever got there. I've lost a total of 3 stone and 1lb now or 19.5kg!!! Size 20 to size 16.

So I read a book called 5:2 intermittent fasting. I fast 2 days a week around 500-700 calories (sometimes more jm not super strict) this absolutely is not for everyone... but even if you don't want to fast I highly recommend the book it literally rewired how I think about food. The studies it refers to are fascinating.

On top of 5:2 I calorie count aiming for around 1500 calories on the other 5 days. However, I have the odd 1 day a week where I hit 2000 and that's fine. I exercise 2 or 3 times per week. Just little workouts in my front room.

Today I have ended on 1500 calories. I've had 2 peices of toast with butter and marmalade, cups of tea, half a Greg's sausage roll (kids leftovers haha), a bag of crisps and a whole pizza. I don't buy slimming food or the food slimming world raves about. I don't buy low fat cheese. I calorie count and portion control everything.... carbs are my downfall so weighing what I have is a must! I have failed on slimming world possibly 40 plus times because i would eat endless 'free food' that i now know is hugely calorific like pasta. I just feel different doing this!

Fill up on protein so increase protein and reduce carbs would be my tip. But I'm no expert and just use trial and error. I will say that on the fasting days I feel hungry... but I like it to some extent after years of gorging and feeling unwell.

And normally I have much healthier meals. Lots of veg etc but today I was indulging myself haha

@Blizzardbeach you eat an animal three times a day? Poor animal , poor planet, let alone your cancer risk.
Not sure how good this kind of advice is ....
Same with those eating " I've had 2 peices of toast with butter and marmalade, cups of tea, half a Greg's sausage roll (kids leftovers haha), a bag of crisps and a whole pizza."

It has nothing with carb @Cactuslove but with crap.

Fruit fruit fruit water less bread and wheat
eggs
avocados
hearty teas
lots of vegetables slow cooker recipes

Cut out bread.

The Noom app. Seriously the only thing that has worked for me.

First hung you can do it swap all the white carbs for wholewheat ones.

They keep you fuller for longer and less

Fill up on nutritious food. Eat before you get really hungry and drink plenty of water.

It's better to have a big plate of protein and veg than crisps or something which would be the same calories but wouldn't fill you up or satisfy you nutritionally.

Maybe try gousto or noom or something like that?

I feel your pain. I'm nearly 57, with a huge appetite & am so overweight. Knees absolutely killing when I have to push myself up, but I'm OK when walking about. I'm hoping weight loss will help this & I won't need knee operations. Waste of time going to the doctors as the first thing he'll say is lose weight before an operation;
So @sillylily23 if you ever feel yourself weakening think about the pressure on your knees & the pain it can cause when you're older, it really does catch up on you.

1. Don't eat until you're hungry. Really, really hungry. It's OK to let your stomach growl for awhile, in fact it's good for you! I like to visualise my body feasting on its own fat .
2. When you do eat, make it a small portion, mostly vegetables, and drink lots of water before and during. If you wait until you're ravenous, your food will taste amazing even if it's not something that usually appeals.
3. Plan everything you're going to eat so at the start of each day, know exactly what you're going to have and when. I do a week at a time when I'm making my shopping list. (This allows you to ensure you consume enough protein and good fats alongside your mostly vegetable meals, and gives you something to look forward to.) If at all possible, don't have other food options available in the house, and plan in advance or take food with you if you'll be out.

IME it takes 2-3 weeks to 'train' your body to stop craving sugar and junk, and to get used to smaller portions and less food overall. It's worth timing your start to fit that in between big occasions etc where you might fall off the wagon. Once you've cracked it you'll feel amazing.

I was a really, really big eater (and am a large person) and now happily fast until noon. I have my main meal at lunchtime, and a light supper (veg soup or protein shake) before 8pm, with just a couple of small snacks in between. While getting used to it I used sugar free gum or a cup of herbal tea to help manage hunger. I'd go to bed super early to avoid snacking.

Not eating after 7pm works well, as does drinking a lot of fluids. Soup could be a meal replacement; soya milk; juice.

Exercise is probably the best, especially if you don't want a meal regime which you hate. Muscle weighs more than fat, but maintaing muscle, even at rest, uses calories, or so I'm told.

Thank you all, some really brilliant advice here and I will be looking into some of the resources you've suggested today.

I did do swimming world before and lost a lot of weight but put it all back on again when I came off plan. It's just not a diet I can maintain long term but once you deviate even a little bit it all goes back on. Calorie counting is probably a good start for me. I think to lose weight I probably need to be on 1500-1600 a day and then throw a lot of exercise in too.

I'm determined to do this. I know weight doesn't determine your worth but since having my second dc I don't feel like myself anymore. I want to feel confident again and hiding my body in baggy clothes and avoiding having my photo taken. Plus the health factor too.

Intermittent fasting works for me. Don’t eat until lunch. Meals on smaller plates no food after 8pm and calorie count. Cardio most days first thing on an exercise bike. Got bmi from 27 to 23 and maintained it. Didn’t change what I ate just less of it!

Imo you need to loose weight slowly or it will go back on 1-2lb a week .
slimming clubs work for motivation but apart from that they are a load of rubbish .
what works is calorie counting , work out what you should be eating for your weight and track it . More vegetables / protein , exercise even if it’s walking .
good luck you can do it .

I have a sort of similar situation in that DH is the cook, meals are fun, and your plan, whatever it is that works for you, will probably have to take into account that you want to eat with your family.

Fair warning: I haven't entirely managed this myself, but if you want to eat with others and eat the same things (because they're there and ready without more fuss and bother), the only way is small portion sizes. Maybe, if there's a lot of butter and cheese, very small portion sizes 😅.

Also, I don't know how hung up I'd get on the weight issue if it's not totally outrageous. One of my yoga teachers was a lovely woman, at least 75 pounds over a "slim" weight, flexible, strong, and her picture is in the dictionary next to "pleasingly plump." Seriously. She was very attractive. ("Was" not because she's passed on but because I moved away and haven't seen her in years.) And she had a delightful round face.

It's advice given to me by a fitness professional, has served me well in fat loss which is what the OP asked about.
I looked at some vegan alternatives, the amount of processing that goes into a lot of that stuff is probably just as bad, if not worse than sticking to lean animal products and vegetables.

Join a gym and do weights. You'll start getting into it and want to have a diet that compliments it.