Making a "healthy" meal plan is futile

[MooseBreath]

I'm trying to lose weight. Over my 20s and after having 2 kids, I am no longer a good weight and I am trying to fix that. It is entirely because my portion control is crap and I love crisps.

I'm trying to eat healthier with weight loss in mind, without letting my children see their mother struggling with food. I also want them to know that moderation is key. We walk the dog every day for 45 minutes and have frequent dance parties and play active games throughout the day.

I thought my plan was healthy, but when I add up calories, it just works out that I won't be losing any weight at all (1722cal). No crisps, no sweets, no baked goods. But I don't know what to cut out without losing the energy to care for my boys and dog!
Breakfast: Raisin granola in a cup of milk
Lunch: Scrambled eggs, baked beans, and avocado with a slice of toast
Snack: Carrots, cucumber, and celery with hummus
Dinner: Baked gnocchi casserole with bacon

I don't see how I can make this better without starving myself. AIBU that demonstrating moderation will never work while I'm trying to lose weight?

You'd be better off following a stable blood sugar/insulin diet.

If your bmr or tdee is 1665 and you eat upto 2000, you won't lose weight. Unless you eat under your bmr/tdee, you are eating too many calories for you.

If you want to eat crudités, swap the hummus for tzatziki. Cuts the calories to a quarter of what hummus would be, I'd imagine.

Do 16:8 and also vary your calories each day to do alternate day fasting too, so 1665 one day and less the next, then back to 1665.

Humous without olive oil?

Bit joyless for me. Makes me think of my mother making us all choke down mashed potatoes with no milk or butter when she was on one of her endless diets that fucked her metabolism.

And she was still big when she died, bless her.

I find porridge the opposite of filling, as in if I have it, I'm starvingan hour later. But a lot of people feel it's a good breakfast
Absolutely this for me too.

I've had to cut wheat and sugar from my diet as rather bizarrely (or not) my knees swell up like painful balloons if I have either, in even a small amount. ie a piece of toast. The effects last for 24 hours - or longer - depending on how much I have indulged...

The joys of arthritis and being 58 years old are not always apparent to me. On the plus side though - I weigh 10 stone 7 lbs and I'm 5'8''. I couldn't give much of a shit for the amount I weigh, but do appreciate being able to walk.

Sorry OP - not entirely relevant.

Lots of good advice here. 16 to 8 fasting is very good. I'd say cut the snack completely. Have 2 good meals a day with no snacks.

I agree with all the others that some small switches on the food will leave you feeling fuller. But it doesn’t take much to then up your Calorie spend by walking for an extra 15 minutes.

1720 in/2000 out seems sustainable to me.

Avocado, beans, carrots, cucumber, celery, and broccoli were all on yesterday's meal plan (6 a day). Apple, avocado, tomato, cucumber, black olives, orange, red pepper and onion are on today's (8 a day). Why am I lacking vegetables?

OP good for you for getting started. Some of the replies on here are ridiculously harsh. Depending on your current weight and height you will lose weight if you stick to that number of calories, especially if you’re active. It’s also sustainable as it’s not starvation rations. Go for it!

Happily up it. I easily do 10 a day because I swap bits for veg.
Like instead of 200g rice I have 150 but add 70g+ in veg on top of the usual veg. I don't count onion. Don't take me wrong! It's veg 😁 but I think it's like medium onion per portion so never actually counted it because that is lots of onion per portion and I don't fit that.

Unrelated kind of but how much of the olives do you need to eat for it to make 1 veg portion? I always thought it would be loads!

Also good for you for not cutting out carbs completely. It works for fast weight loss but is always unsustainable. I’ve been there many times.

And avocados are great! Full of good fats, vitamins and minerals and very filling.

Whatever menu you post you’ll get some people telling you it’s wrong.

How tall are you and how much do you weigh at the moment?

I'm 5'2, but I haven't posted my weight because I genuinely don't own a scale (and when pregnant, closed my eyes when the midwife checked). I go by whether or not my clothes fit, and at the moment, they're very snug and I'd like to move down a couple sizes. I think if I knew a number, I would become obsessive.

I meant its a lot for one portion of humous, most people would have a little bit.

I am on a VLCD so my meals are all around that amount to make up the days worth. I have 3 meals a day and 3 snacks a day.

I am on a VLCD so my meals are all around that amount to make up the days worth. I have 3 meals a day and 3 snacks a day.

How low cal? Just curious about this number of meal on VLCD. I had that on 1700 and on something under 1000 I would find it hard to split the cals into 6

Granola aside (unless home made), the rest genuinely are healthy. They are full of all the right things that nourish our bodies but can be considered to me calorie-dense due to higher fat content (especially avocado and humous).

Since having children, I mostly got my appearance back to what I was happy with by making the vegetables the star of the meal and restricting the portion of the white carbs/switching to alternatives such as quinoa. I love my sauces and dressings so I still enjoy them but I make at home so I’m in control of what goes in them. I was initially desperate to lose the final bit of fat on my stomach for ages but came to the conclusion that the level of restriction I need to achieve this is not worth the sacrifice. I enjoy some sweet things, I despise weighing and tracking and when I eat out, I don’t want to be thinking about calories. I am generally healthy and have accepted the changes I made to meal content are sustainable

Yes its very low, so each meal is around 200 or 250 and then about 200s worth of snacks on top.

But I was morbidly obese, have dropped several dress sizes, I lost quite a lot of weight and then a couple of months ago had weight loss surgery, my diet hasnt really changed to be honest as I was eating like this for some months before the op in preparation and to get a good start.

But in comparison I have colleagues at work who will eat a tin of soup and toast and its not different to my cals at lunch although their other meals will obviously be vastly different.

I tend to batch cook meals, divde them up, keep them in the freezer and then they're all ready there and I know whats in them nutrition wise.

That's very low. Is this your BMR or TDEE?
I can easily lose weight on 1700 calories so there is nothing wrong with your food plan in principle if you burn enough calories.

Healthy doesn't mean low calorie

You aren't!

If you don't know your weight, how did you come to the 1600 calories a day figure?

It all depends on your build but if you drop to 1500 cals, in theory you'll start to lose. If it were me, I'd drop the granola for breakfast and switch it for porridge or eggs. Dinner, instead of gnocchi casserole have something like chicken breast with veg and potatoes. I'm currently trying to lose weight and I love doing potato wedges in the air fryer and have them with baked chicken breast (bit of light cream cheese/garlic etc on top) and serve with veg. All the extra protein will keep you filled up.

If you plan well, you can definitely eat 1500 cals a day and not feel hungry. I'm currently on 1200 but I bulk out with protein, veg, zero fat cottage cheese, yoghurts etc and it's very rare that I'm hungry. Good luck OP! It's not easy but it IS possible.

A friend calculated it for me at her house. I stood on her scale with my eyes closed and she worked it out.

You need to take a bit more responsibility here. What calculation did she use? I'm really sceptical of that figure (unless you're about 9 stone already and walk less than 2000 steps a day??)
You need to calculate TDEE not BMR.

At 5 ft 2 unless you have a very active life 1600 could be your maintenance calories ( which would also expalim your weight if you routinely overestimate what you need)

( typical woman 1800 plus 200 if you are quite active less 200 as you are short )

Loads of veg help

And yes it's hard
And yes you are likely to feel hungry

My friend is very into her health and is a scientist, so has a good understanding. I trust her. I am not being irresponsible. I do not want to crash diet. I want something sustainable to continue whilst raising my children.

I'm 5'1 and yesterday I was 198.2lbs.

My tdee for maintenance is about 1400 so I think you will definitely struggle to lose on 2000 (might even gain, I do) and even 1700 a day.

I don't know where that 2000 figure came from, it's not correct for a lot of women. Probably from a food industry study to push us to buy more. Or maybe it was from when we did a lot more physically? Doing all the housework manually, the way they did back in the day would require more calories than we need in our lifestyles today. Or maybe it was after rationing? When they needed to feed people up?

A tip that might work for you is to start meals with crudités or a side salad. Coleslaws etc are good starter salads and you can make a few days worth.

Or a veg soup.

That way you're upping your veg and filling up a bit before you eat the main part of the meal.

Calories in carbs are a lot for little nutrition.