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 does but there are flavourings you can can to water which will add taste but don't trigger a response. I can't think of the name off-hand but I'll try and find out later.

Some people also use fruit tea tea bags to flavour water too.

Yes I’ve realised it’s carb heavy

omelette! Not had one for years- good idea - I can pack it with veggies as well

How tall are you? I’m 5’1 and currently need to be at 1200cal to be in deficit. This is obviously pretty unsustainable (and miserable!) so I’m working with a pt to strength train and build muscle to up my metabolism. I’m a size 12 and just got my BMI to healthy on 1600 cals a day, 120g of protein.

If you’re not v tall then it is snnoying to hear ppl talk about 2000cals a day as that’s really not advisable for petite office workers!

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

I struggle with plain water*

I’m afraid so, I tend to drink fizzy water with a slice of lime or lemon - I’m not great with plain water either.

I would recommend "Why we eat too much" by Andrew Jenkinson. I lost six stone in a year after reading this

Edited to add - I also have PCOS

I don't know about honey being worse but it is still a sugar and will be metabolised in the same way. It will still trigger an insulin response.

Your body doesn't burn fat when insulin is present in the body.

OP, listen to Dr Jason Fung on Spotify - The Obesity Code. Watch the magic pill on YouTube. There's a really informative low carb group on fb I'd be happy to PM you the details of if you're interested.

I have PCOS and would gain on that, your body can't handle carbs. The only way I lose weight is to stick to 1200 calories fairly low carb (small amount of bread, rice, potatoes etc for one meal a day only and always wholegrain) once I am at goal weight I can go up to 1500 but still low carb and I'm almost 5'10
Edited to add that includes gym/significant exercise at least 3 times a week. It's not fun but it's the way my body works

OP is 6ft.

Instead of sugar free squash, put in cucumber, mint, lime, raspberries etc

That's amazing! Well done.

If you want a plan look at the low carb boot camp threads on here @BIWI runs them regularly. They’re pretty hard core but have helped me lose weight and keep it off.

Well, there we go.

Whole tin of beans are 400cals
50g of cheddar is 200cal
Large jacket potato pushing 300c.

So the meal is around 900 calories. Maybe more if you're having butter/mayo/sauce as well.

Go for a small, potato ½ can beans, 30g of cheddar and replace the rest with salad.
Then you'll be around
200 for beans
150 for potato
120 for cheese
And maybe 50-150 for salad. Go wild have as much as you like.

So approx. 600 calories of more nutrient dense foods.

There's a way of thinking that's helpful for thinking about the foods you choose. Well, it is for me...If you have a chocolate biscuit for 100cals, you'll enjoy it, and possibly grab another one. It's very easy to think "ah, go on, one more"... But if you ate a banana for 100 cals, you'd enjoy it, but you'd be incredibly unlikely to reach for the second banana.

nutrient dense foods have this affect, they satisfy you fully, not just for that moment like a biscuit does.

I echo this, diet drinks and other food with artifical sweeteners are terrible if you are trying to lose weight - they don't help at all, because the insulin response is the same because the taste is the same

People who talk about calories in and calories out don't really understand that humans are NOT machines!

400g tin of beans is 604 calories!
50g cheddar is 201 calories
a large potato is 93 calorie

That’s nearly 900 calories for one meal, which is a lot when you consider you have to eat 2 other meals plus drinks, snacks etc.

I have PCOS and would gain on that diet. I don't have bread or pasta and limit rice. Just really try to limit carbs. Snack on nuts, fruit, Babybel light, yoghurt etc.

You beat me to it - 90cals for tea?! A tablespoon (not teaspoon) of sugar if about 60cals, 100ml semi skimmed milk is about 50cals. If you're putting just shy of a tbsp sugar and 100ml milk in, surely it doesn't even count as tea anymore?!

An OP just seen you don’t eat meat- me neither. My diet was too carb heavy as a lot of my protein sources like lentils & beans are also carbs. So I try to limit bread and potatoes as I’m getting the carbs elsewhere.

I tend to eat v large portions of yoghurt (500g) with fruit for breakfast, omlette with 3x eggs for lunch and then tweak our family meals in the evening. If it’s burritos I’ll skip the wrap for instance, or I won’t have rice with our curry.

My diet was also OK tho- I hired the pt out of frustration similar to you that I was eating (imho) pretty reasonably but one relaxed weekend and I’d pile on weight. She explained I’ve got no muscle and years of lower protein (I was vegan for a bit) had trashed my metabolism. I’d be odds on to last out in a famine situation but in the modern world was predisposed to gain weight v easily!

But, and you have PCOS, it's actually time to look at reducing carbs overall...

But maybe look at the carbs you're eating and replace with better alternatives.

Chuck the granola away, you may as well be eating flapjacks for breakfast. Just have plain oats. Have them with plain ff yogurt and berries maybe.
Ditch the honey... Go cold turkey or reduce over the next two weeks, you'll get used to the unsweetened taste quickly, a D the berries will help.

Ditch jacket potato for dinner. Look at higher protein dishes and more veggies .Things shakshuka are great. Maybe have a slice of sourdough toast with it perhaps.
Omelettes good choice for example.

Try to get to water, flavour with lemon slices, cucumber etc if you must... But realistically you need to suck it up and drink water not sugar free crappy drinks.

I’ve lost half a stone since January, it’s slow but it’s getting there

OP can you say hand in heart you definitely don’t add extra calories without realising? I was going to ask if you have kids then I saw you mention the school run so I see you do. Dish up the kids’ tea and snaffle a couple of spare chips? Clear up the kids lunch and finish off their crusts? Give the kids half a bag of crisps and finish the rest yourself? I am a fiend for this! Other ways- clear up from tea and there’s an extra sausage left that no one finished so you pop it in your mouth instead of the bin. Someone’s birthday at work and there’s cake out in the kitchen. Hungry waiting for tea to cook and have the block of cheese out from grating some, and cut off a slice/chunk to nibble. Stop for petrol at the petrol station and grab a chocolate bar or crisps.

Also OP, have a look at volume eating- larger amount of food for less calories, rather than calorie dense foods for more calories for a smaller amount. I’m vegetarian too, OP.

There's nothing green in it. No leaves, no green veg, nothing. I would add some greens (specially dark greens). People say that a healthy diet is a colourful diet, so I'd also add yellow (corn?), red (peppers?), etc

It's very easy to find lists of low carb vegetables online. They tend to include green leafy veg, cauliflower and above the ground veg.

Peas, sweetcorn, carrots and parsnips are all higher carb.

Some things eg red peppers and tomatoes can be eaten in moderation.

Swedes are a good alternative to potatoes and can be roast and mashed. Some people bake turnips instead of potatoes. I've never tried it so can't vouch for that!

Swedes are an underground veg but are much lower in carbs than potatoes.

Another vote for looking at the low carb bootcamp threads here on MN, from someone who struggled for years (decades) eating too much 'healthy' food and piling on the pounds.

Now I eat according to how I'll feel after I've eaten. The way of eating (low fat, honey, oats, bananas, bean, potatoes ) in your post would make me ravenous a few hours after eating them.

More leafy green vegetables and reasonable portions of fatty meat (and butter in the veg) satisfy my appetite and avoid the roller coaster of high and low blood sugar which earns my brain I'm about to starve even though I have ample reserves of fat.

Hope you find what works for you.

There’s also a list of low carb veggies in BIWI’s Low Carb Boot Camp topic.

Baked beans are not 600 calories a tin!

Just looked at 3 types all under 100 calories per 100 grams