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?

Sorry I've not RTFT just op posts and skimmed a few others. I have pcos plus under active (but treated) thyroid, small and 63 which doesn't help...

As many have said, it's about lower carb, more fibre, enough protein, healthy fats. The other thing that was a bit of a game changer for me is some sort of intermittent fasting - I did 5:2 some years ago, it was effective for shifting some weight. Now it's just making sure I stick to a sensible 'eating window' but the good news is that doesn't have to be extreme - the evidence supports 8-12 hours. So that mainly means don't have your evening meal too late and no snacking afterwards (including calorific drinks) and/or late,or no breakfast.
Essentially it's just having a 12-16 hour break from eating. Apart from automatically helping limit calories it may improve insulin sensitivity.

As you don't mention an evening snack you may already be pretty much on track with that one, OP.

The other thing is exercise... getting in a reasonable amount of walking makes all the difference for me in the calories in/calories out balance.

On foods, you need something sustainable so starting with food swaps rather than trying to change to something radically different can help.

Perhaps

Breakfast - that's not bad but maybe try the same calories-worth of full fat yogurt, and ditch the honey. (I've ditched breakfast entirely, just have a nice milky coffee mid morning.)

Snack - fruit is good, but fruit balanced by a bit of full fat yogurt and some nuts is better. Maybe have your breakfast combo later?

Lunch
I like a rather odd combo of half a can of Heinz 5 beans with some smoked paprika and/or Tabasco stirred in, and an egg poached in it. With some lower GI bread (we make oatbran flatbreads).
Snack
Ditch the kitkat. Work on switching to the 'small quantity of high cocoa plain chocolate' plus nuts idea for something that's both healthier and more sustaining.
Dinner
Try to find alternatives for the potatoes. They (along with other 'white carbs' just aren't a good idea if you're insulin resistant.
How about a sausage and bean hotpot with lots of green veg? (Canned unsauced beans are an excellent combo of high GI carb, fibre and protein)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7014832/#:~:text=Ingestion%20of%20these%20artificial%20sweeteners,activity%20due%20to%20insulin%20resistance.

Apologies, I've just seen this has already been posted.

Lots of carbs and sugar (granola is usually shocking for that)

If you like a sweet treat, try this grate an apple and a carrot into a small dish. The sweet juices from the apple and the nuttiness of the carrot mmmmmmm, it’s delicious, very satisfying and up your veggie intake

When I have sausage and mash/roast pots I usually add broccoli, carrots peas etc so I do eat veg

I just think my portions of carb and sugar are way too high

Yeah your right right I probably would nibble left overs

it’s so hard isn’t it

It's the PCOS that's the kicker. It's so hard to lose weight when you have it.

Your diet sounds reasonable but obviously we have no indication of portion sizes for dinner.

Maybe think about getting some help from a nutritionist or a PT? Or think about the things you can swap out for healthier options? Eg fruit for Kitkat, more protein with breakfast etc?

If it makes you feel any better I'm a fatty, a typical day would be 2 weetabix, lunch is usually homemade soup (( vegetable with some sort of lentil chucked in, a couple of wholemeal crackers and one cheese triangle)) dinner would be something like stir fry, meat, veggies and new potatoes. Have pasta once a week maybe but not huge amounts (( weigh out 75g each )) Snacks are usually fruit, pombears or a 2 finger kitkat. I don't drink alcohol, just tea (( half a sugar )) water and the odd diet coke. Usually have a yogurt or something after dinner, once a week we'll have a stodgy pudding with custard. Usually on a Sunday.

I walk four miles to work and back each day where I slog my arse off lugging heavy boxes, I'm on my feet continuously for up to 10 hours (( I work in Aldi, no rest for the wicked ))

And yet I'm still bloody fat. Yet my manager Mr two pasties and a Mars bar for lunch is as skinny as a rake. And he spends most his life hiding in the office, it's not on !

@ErrolTheDragon yes - this fits with my experience - have lost nearly 4 stone in 9m doing intermittent fasting as well as the lower complex carbs/high fibre/higher protein/no snacking thing. Am also insulin resistant (was previously put on diabetic meds as a precaution, but came off them as I felt as a non-diabetic it was silly when diet/exercise had less risks/side effects).

There are about 350 calories in a pint of full fat milk, so unless you are using a quarter of a pint of it in every cup route a way off 90 calls (assuming no sugar - but as that’s 16 calls a teaspoon it’s not contributing a lot). I think you miscalculated your tea…

You need to reduce your sugar intake. You are eating loads of sugar every day. Low fat products are rammed full of sugar and crap. They might be lower in calories but they aren’t healthy. Stick with full fat ones, which will actually keep you fuller for longer and have much less sugar. Granola, low fat yoghurt, berries, honey, apple/banana, Kit-Kat, baked beans all full of sugar.

Where are the salads/vegetables? Where is the quality protein? Where are the flavours?

This is like a student’s / child’s menu.

Would keto be tricky as I don’t eat meat or fish?

it's pretty healthy, but not enough fruit and veg. Low fat yoghurt has loads of sugar, you don't need honey and granola. I'd switch to muesli and normal yoghurt. If you're veggie, you need to look for meals that are high in protein but don't use ultra processed meat alternatives, like chickpea curry, lentil ragu, chilli with beans.

You can do keto as a veggie by eating lentils, tofu, eggs, yoghurt and paneer.I don't eat a British diet though, so my suggestions probably useless.

OP my go to high protein veggie meals if it helps:
Shakshuka (no bread) as a treat weekend breakfast
Homemade 3 bean chilli for wraps/on jackets/with lotsa spinach in a salad bowl
Dhal w/baked homemade bhajis (gram flour=protein)
Meera Sodha’s chilli tofu with lotsa spinach
DH makes a korma with quorn chicken & yoghurt instead of cream that is super high protein
Frijoles with fried eggs & chilli sauce
Tofu ramen w hard boiled eggs & lotsa garnishes

I don’t tend to have rice, pitta or wraps as standard since working with my pt as I see now the protein coming from legumes has carbs in, but if I’ve had no extra carbs earliar I sometimes have a little if I really fancy if I’ve not had toast for breakfast for instance. It’s not my assumed normal any more tho if that makes sense.

Get an Asian cookbook if you are willing. You can have completely veggie meals with zero quorn or fake meat or UPF crap. Just reduce the rice or noodles you eat alongside.

My views below (in case helpful)

Breakfast
25g granola or oats - oats are fine but if it’s plain oats that just sad. Granola is usually very high sugar and carbs
Low fat Greek yogurt /- likewise, can be high sugar
Berries - likewise high sugar and some are v. High carb
Honey - just sugar.

Snack
Banana / apple - more sugar

Lunch
Beans/egg on whole meal toast - carbs and sugar.
(Small amount of real butter)

Snack
Kit kat and a cuppa - sugar.

Dinner
Jacket Potato cheese/beans - carbs and sugar.
or
Sausage and mash/roast potatoes with veg - carbs and sugar.

It’s a very high carb diet (as many PPs have said). But also very high sugar - which isn’t good.

You need to try and bulk out with more vegetables. Try more satisfying meals etc use chickpeas and grains (brown). Eat more veg. Cut down on the sugar.

I think sugar is your main issue here tbh…

@Bibblybumblebee

Similar size and health issues.

On my WW app I have 25pts a day and 28 weeklies (treat points)….

Putting in your diet you are ‘spending’ 35 points a day, which puts you 42 points over - likely to gain or maintain weight.

Cut out the Kit Kat, change the red meat for fish, chicken or turkey, and have less potatoes - try an omelette for lunch or salad. Then you will lose.

Those saying it’s too carb heavy, too little protein

what would you suggest??

like for breakfast? For lunch? For tea?

it’s very hard to avoid carbs

I eat a lot less than that and am not really losing weight. I don’t have breakfast and often don’t have lunch as well

sadly I think only intermittent fasting works for most people. Three meals a day is an outmoded idea we were brought up with, ( when levels of physical activity were higher and food was not packed with UPFs): but will lead to weight gain for most people now

@LuckySantangelo35

Breakfast: fruit salad, poached eggs, Greek yoghurt

Lunch: turkey wrap (in spinach tortillas), mackerel and beetroot salad

Dinner: chicken curry with cauliflower rice, veggie stew

yes, it is. And it takes a certain amount of effort.

Personally, I can't avoid them in the morning - I feel sick if I eat no carbs in the morning. So I've given up even trying. I DO try to mitigate with less sugar and sometimes do a low carb meal in the form of cracker bread, cream cheese and avocado.

Lunches lots of people have suggested soup. Sometimes it's just about cutting back - so swap the huge jacket potato for a slice of toast with the beans. Up the veggies. Or stick with the jacket but have a smaller one and add a salad and add cheese instead of the beans.

Dinner - stir fries, fewer potatoes and more veg. IU'm not a vegetarian so frankly, I don't have a lot of suggestions on low carb veggie meals but I'm sure OP can come up with some ideas around reducing the potatoes/rice she eats by adjusting quantities.

This is what I eat. And as I said, I eat mostly veggie Asian diet but have to keep carbs down because diabetes runs in my genes.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with berries or scrambled eggs or two boiled eggs.

Lunch: Omelette stuffed with spinach, mushrooms or peppers
Or Paneer in a chappati with peppers, onions, tomatoes. Or a quesadilla stuffed with black beans and lettuce, peppers, onions, tomatoes.

Snack: almonds or pistachios. Or cheese. Or greek yoghurt. Or a satsuma. Chocolate and crisps only on weekends, and mostly not even then.

Dinner: Stir fry with more veggies, and egg or tofu for protein. Daal with spinach or other veggies. Chickpea or kidney bean curry with very little rice, sometimes brown rice or wholewheat chappatis. Various Asian dishes all of which have veggies and /or protein. Always raita with yoghurt and cucumber/carrots/aubergine to finish.

It’s not that hard to avoid carbs and sugar if you learn to cook differently and work with vegetables, eggs, white meat/fish, wholegrains….

It won’t be as easy as bunging chicken goujons in the oven…. But a slow cooker and air fryer can really help.

I eat more than I used to and lose weight now. The amount I had reduced to meant I was moving less and had reduced my metabolism.

I’ve gone from 1200 to 1600 but upped protein and do 10 mins strength training (like a few planks, callisthenic stuff) 5x a week