Is this too much lunch for a diet?

[Hatehooveringsomuch]

Trying to shift a couple of stone.
I eat v healthily, but probably too much, I don’t work out normally, but have started again.
I’m a person who has to cut back a lot and not eat much/work out daily to stay slim.
In the past when I was v slim, I went to the gym and had less carbs & smaller portions. I’m trying fasting also.
I’ve had no breakfast, just got in from school run, morning work and walking the dog.
Is this too much?
There’s two tins of tuna and two crackers, the rest is just salad? Assuming that’s okay?
Dinner is broccoli, cauliflower, carrots & chicken, piece of fruit afterwards.
I’m attempting to cut right back on carbs, my portions seem big though 😂but I’m hungry
Desperate to lose weight

Portion size looks fine. However your carb intake for the day is 2 crackers? No breakfast? To me this is an unsustainable and probably not that healthy fad diet. I presume you’re aiming for very low carb, high protein? Why not add some whole meal carbs to fill you up?

😂

Hey OP, I didn't;t bother reading all other replies because I just know some of them will be telling you to cut back even further! This is not a salad for 4!

Suggestion for flavour on your salads and meals, balsamic vinegar! You can get all sorts of types and flavours and its much better than anything with oil. Oil is heavily refined and calorific for the portions we tend to use. Cutting carbs while still consuming oil may not be that helpful overall. Healthy whole carbs are not something to cut completely, we need carbs for all sorts of things but brain function too and I think you're going to end up putting weight back on if you eat in a way that isn;'t sustainable. I limit oils, refined sugars and salt, and this has been more helpful than counting calories and cutting carbs- which just made me moody. Take it easy on yourself and get good sleep, lack of sleep piles on the weight too.

Two tins of tuna is enough for a family of four!

Goodness. Not my family of four it's not but we are all adults.
I have one to myself in a wrap or a salad.

I'm definitely not anorexic but 1 small tin of tuna would be enough for me, no mayo but a good drizzle of balsamic vinegar. I'd also have a slice of bread....

It looks lovely @Hatehooveringsomuch ... I'm free for lunch Friday if you're having the same again? That's one of my favourites! 😁

Surely you’d count up your calories and macros and make a judgement based on that?

just eyeballing food and asking if it’s ‘too much’ doesn’t make any sense. You’ll end up vastly overeating if you are just making judgements based on perceived quantity

Olive oil and especially extra virgin oil is really healthy for you, it’ll keep you fuller for longer too.

Agree with you, and eating just a salad all day is a sure fire way to get into an unhealthy binge restrict cycle when your body starts craving the calories it needs in the evening!

you huge hideous wench

😆

That's for pudding 😁

I use french style dressing on salad, yummy.

I'd go one can of tuna but other than that, it looks fine.

Same! A tin between 4 my god 😂

I would do a spoonful of Greek yogurt with some cumin or lime in instead of mayo.

You could add an egg or chickpeas roasted in spices.

I prefer a base of spinach as I find it more filling.

Add some seeds

I like Cougette, aubergine, squash etc roasted in my salads. Very tasty

Also, don't get hung up on calories. Things like avocados, nuts etc are high in calories, but your body metabolises them differently than the foods full of sugar or processed food with the same amount of calories. You should eat things like chickpeas, edamame beans, quinoa, couscous, nuts, grains, avocado etc to fill you a bit. No one can live on leaves with a load of tuna.

Yes, but only if you like those foods and find them satisfying. I had wholemeal/seeded toast with butter and cheese spread with blueberries on the side this morning as bread is comforting and satisfying for me and stops me diving for crisps or other snacks by 10.30am. Filled me up to lunch, whereas with kefir/porridge and fruit I'm hungry again in an hour. And I ran 5k at 11am then walked the dog- I had enough energy to do that from all the carbs in the bread and the fat but I was hungry and ready for lunch by 1.15pm.

Then I incorporate crisps as part of my lunch, because I want to have them in moderation, so had some on the side with a mackerel fillet on (one slice of) rye sourdough toast with a blob of mayonnaise (but no butter), three sticks of celery, a big tomato and some spring onion. Nice and filling and I definitely won't need anything until dinner. Probably quite salty but I have low BP and eating salty food makes it normal.

A good balance but also realistic food for me. I'm actually not weighing myself at all but have really upped the exercise in the last six months and am trying to eat what I need to fuel my body and plenty of food I enjoy.

Chickpeas, falafel, hummus

Just one tin of tuna should be fine. There's 100 cals in a tablespoon of full fat mayo. You need to be measuring it really. Is it the reduced cal stuff? The extra light is only 15 cals per tablespoon. Not as nice but it's ok. Lidl does a nice fat free salad dressing where the ketchup is stocked.

Completely agree with that though.

I think it's worth using something like Nutracheck to make sure you are getting a good balance of food, and for checking portion sizes. I just check in with it every now and again these days.

Yes, but only if you like those foods and find them satisfying. I had wholemeal/seeded toast with butter and cheese spread with blueberries on the side this morning as bread is comforting and satisfying for me and stops me diving for crisps or other snacks by 10.30am Of course, I'm lucky as I actually like the food i mentioned. I don't eat like that for weight reasons, more for health, but I only do it four days a week and Friday to Sunday I eat what I like, although still tend to choose healthy breakfasts and am not a massive snacker, apart from crisps which I love!! I often eat peanut butter on toast for breakfast too, which is great if you're going to be burning the calories.

I'd eat that, plus two boiled eggs and a couple more crackers. Don't like mayonnaise, but that's just preference. I'm in my late 40s and a size ten. Some people on here's metabolisms must be absolutely fucked from years of low-calorie, low-nutrient yo-yo diets, interspersed no doubt with binging on mars bars when their miserable diet gets intolerable. Read Why we eat too much by Andrew Jenkinson for some of the latest thinking on dieting and metabolism. That salad is fine. Some of the batshit advice you've received is straight out of the 1980s.

Don't fast! It doesn't suit a lot of women
I agree with the posts above about adding in beans or chickpeas. Also nuts and seeds, and hummus or guacamole. Have as much salad as you want:
Peppers
Tomato
Sweetcorn (tinned)
Cucumber
Mushrooms
Courgette (raw)
Salad leaves

Have virgin olive oil, or tahini on top.;Or you can get pomegranate molasses which is delish and you just need a drizzle. Ditto marmite - just a smidge needed. Also seaweed (if you like it. Lots of trace minerals). Finally, nutritional yeast. Looks like fish food but again is really tasty if you like it.

So I would suggest you don't fast, and eat breakfast- I find if I have porridge or granola (unsweetened - Nigellas recipe, very easy) I dont need a mid - morning snack.

Two tins of tuna is enough for a family of four!
adding mayonnaise adds a huge amount of calories.

Tell me you’re a MNer without telling me you’re a MNer. This must be the only place on earth where two cans of tuna are viewed the same as 4 Big Macs.

I've just had one tin of tuna, half a tin of lidl mixed beans and loads of lettuce and tomato. Salt pepper a bit of cider vinegar and a spoon of full fat mayo. Made a great big bowl, was tasty and filling and less than 400 calories according to MFP.