To think what I eat in a day is ok?

[Bibblybumblebee]

So I’m overweight and yes I’d like to loose some weight but I honestly don’t think my diet is that bad. I tend to eat the same most days

Breakfast
25g granola or oats
Low fat Greek yogurt
Berries
Honey

Snack
Banana / apple

Lunch
Beans/egg on whole meal toast
(Small amount of real butter)

Snack
Kit kat and a cuppa

Dinner
Jacket Potato cheese/beans
or
Sausage and mash/roast potatoes with veg

We only ever have a takeaway if it’s someone’s birthday

and we only have a pudding on a Saturday night which will be something like ice cream or cheese cake

In a size 16/18 and I do have PCOS

It might not be the healthiest but also it’s not horrendous surely?

it's not great. Loads of sugary stuff, loads of carbs. Is there nothing fresh (apart from the banana and berries)? No veg, just potatoes and bread. Nobody needs a chocolate bar every day especially not when trying to lose weight. make that a weekly treat.

sausage is just processed crap. Why not a proper piece of meat instead (steak, chicken). I would definitely include a lot more veg, reduce bread, cheese and potatoes, include olive oil instead.

@GreyCarpet I'm not sure I understand. You talk about eating inbetween your BMR and TDEE, but then say this isn't a calorie deficit. If you are eating under your TDEE then you are eating less calories then you burn during the day so ARE in a calorie deficit. Just a healthy calorie deficit as opposed to being below BMR which is an unhealthy to low deficit.

Get rid of the honey on your breakfast . Replace the granola with the apple and banana you usually have for a morning snack -ditch the snacks completely so you have just 3 melas a day - feeling hungry between meals isn’t a bad thing it’s when you will burn fat and lose weight.

Got a source for the last paragraph?

*meals

@TerrierOrTerror how is a cup of tea 90 calories. I have about 9 cups of tea with full fat milk a day…really?

I'd say there used to be a real lack of vegetables. I'd lose the kitkat and honey too. Have the chocolate occasionally, not regularly. But in terms of quantity it isn't high. It helps to think of plate eg quarter protein, quarter carbs, half fruit and veg (mainly veg), and a small amount of fat eg olive oil or the butter you mentioned.

Don't have sugary or even diet drinks. Measure milk quantity.

I agree with this.

The full on low carb thing doesn't work for me - but making sure that only one of my meals has "proper carbs" (I don't fret about carbs in fruit and veg) does.

I also virtually never eat anything sweet - pretty much just close family birthday cakes.

I’d start by working out the calories of what you eat over a typical few days. So get the scales out, weight/measure everything and write down the calories. My dh did this as he was over weight and it was shocking how many “hidden” calories he was eating. The odd extra piece of toast/biscuit/glass of wine, and big portion sizes meant he was hundreds of calories over what he should have been eating.
He joined NOOM just before Xmas to record his calories and has lost two stone since then.

Got a source for the last paragraph?

Here you go, it’s a study based on insulin resistant diabetes, PCOS is also insulin resistant so same principles apply.

Affects of sweeteners in insulin resistance

You're diet if you're realistically sticking to that doesn't sound too bad, only things I would say is up your protein (chicken fish tofu) and fibre (vegetables) intake to feel more full, need less snacks.

How much exercise are you getting?

I've struggled with my weight since the pandemic when I started wfh almost every day and still do now - it stopped all the exercise built into my day. I have to really force myself to exercise more now, two walks a day and gym once a week is helping me maintain for now

My diet has remained fairly consistent throughout but it was reintroducing more exercise that affected my weight

Poster NOT mentioning portion size are way off the mark no matter what the rest of their post is. Portion size is SO important!!

If you're 6ft & a size 16/18 you'll look in proportion surely? You mustn't be much overweight?

You're rght but it's hard to judge exactly what our BMR and TDEE is. We can only go by calculators which is a fairly blunt tool for determining. Just look at BMI which doesn't take muscle mass or body frame into account for example.

If you eat more than your body needs, the excess will be stored as fat.

So aiming for between an estimated BMR and TDEE is a good place to start. People can then individually adjust what they are eating to see what impact it has.

Eg some people find that diet drinks/certain sweeteners won't trigger an insulin response; in others it will. Some people can eat dairy and still lose weight, others find that dairy stalls their weightloss even if they are eating within the range.

No approach is a 'one size fits all'. But if one approach isn't working then it might be worth looking at something different. Particularly where there is an obvious hormonal element.

Ffs some people do put weight on on a lot less than it takes for others to maintain -.op has pcos.

Op I feel your pain - I have hashimoto and pcos (both diagnosed) and would put weight on with that - I only need 1000-1200 calories to maintain -.it is really shit. At 800 calories I lose about 1 lb a week sometimes 2. But I can easily put on a stone in a week (example was a 5 day cruise - I was 2 stone heavier on return - 1 stone of which was water and the remaining stone took 10 months to re-lose). It is awful to considered to be lying/stupid/delusional/greedy by people who refuse to accept that you are not eating more than you claim.

Not all bodies.and metabolic systems are equal.

The PCOS is critical here

You need to eat a diet to help PCOS and exercise LOADS more

It depends how much milk you have in your tea. But it's a lot higher than most people think.

It’s not horrendous, but I can see why you’re not losing weight. It’s very high in carbs and sugar. Plus no need to snack.

Yes 400g of beans and I’d probably estimate about 50g of cheese
I also always choose the biggest potato 😅

Your body does release hormones in anticipation of digesting sugar in response to sweet flavours- that was gcse biology

I didn’t know this about diet drinks - does that include sugar free squash?

I struggle with plain water

For portion size, try the hand portion size method - there’s loads online about it. Helps you easily determine how much to eat without weighing.

Low carb, high protein is the way forward. Switch low fat yoghurt for full fat (lower carb), make your own beans (less sugar than tinned) and cut out starchy carbs like potatoes and bread.

As you’re vegetarian, you should be looking to beans, lentils, soya etc for your protein. If you want to eat an entire tin of something, make it a tin of chickpeas or cannoli beans.

Have lots of healthy, low carb, high protein snacks ready so when you feel hungry you don’t grab the nearest carb.

It’ll be tough for about 10 days, then you won’t miss them at all. If you’re serious about losing weight, no chocolate, booze or fizzy drinks.

For me, weight loss is all about diet - I can do 3 or 4 intense gym sessions a week weight training and doing cardio, but if I’m eating badly, I stay fat. That said, you do need to do some exercise otherwise you’re at risk from other medical issues.

Everyone has been so helpful!

So i don’t exercise - apart from everyday walking (school run)

Ok so I need to cut my carbs down - thank yoi

That broadly sounds similar to what I'd eat - along with sone nuts and a snack of cheese and crackers and a bag of crisps and plenty of cups of tea with splash oat milk in each

Occasionally have salad for lunch instead

Sausages would be once a month at most and evening meals tend to be veggie - so lentil bolognaise with pasta or veggie chilli with rice

5-6 healthy weight not hugely active during working week

I'd say too much sugar and nowhere near enough greens - honey is really bad for weight gain, far worse then refined sugar. Also fruit every day isn't great - you should be eating vegetables