Diet and exercise

[ElizabethCage]

Posting for traffic!

I hate cooking, I find it boring, there are no meals that I look forward to eating.
I don't exercise, again, boring and makes me feel crappy.
I have pcos and need to lose weight. I also want to set a good example for my children.

So quick, simple meals that are gluten free, vegetarian and dairy free if possible.
What exercise can i do? How do I make it more bearable?

Tips to break the habit of existing on crisps and coke?

Genuinely please help

Well you eat crisps so you must look forward to eating them? Are there no meals you like? If so, get those calorie controlled ready meal deliveries. Do you want quick stuff? If you don’t care what you eat the Covent Garden soups are always on offer and quick and low fat. Just walk places instead of trying to exercise if you don’t enjoy it. Kills two birds! Diet will do more for your weight than exercise.

Go out for a walk with the children for exercise. Depending on their age, let them cook a recipe of their choice and give them free rein to cook. If they’re toddlers, just pick a pasta dish and let them help you cook (I’m celiac too, just use gluten free pasta and let the 3yr old stir the tomatoes and diced vegetables on the hob).

In terms of exercise there are two main things I would recommend.

Firstly, sneak more exercise into your day surreptitiously. Park at the far end of car parks. Walk the long way round instead of by the shortest route. Instead of just going for a walk, walk somewhere you haven't been before to explore and find new places.

Secondly, try parkrun. You don't have to run, I've gone and walked the 5km before, but I find that being part of a communal experience is much more motivating than trying to do the same on my own.

Thanks, the crisps are mainly because it's easy, filling and something to do when I'm bored which is terrible I know.
Soup is a good idea thank you!

There's not a park run near me but I'm always seeing people run so there might be a running club or something? All shapes, sizes, ages and I still think that I would be the one who would get laughed at.

Salmon in the oven
Brocoli florets
Spinach
Quinoa, brown rice, etc
Porridge
Raw veggies, assorted
Chicken breast
Sweet potatoes
Boiled eggs (protein!)

Eat those on repeat. Also lots of green tea, peppermint tea, etc.

For exercise, look up "yoga with Adriene" on YouTube, she has a "yoga for weight loss" playlist. Aim to do one practice with her every day.

I am a regular gym goer and it really helps my MH and my fitness. The biggest thing for me is I have a really comfortable set of noise cancelling headphones and I listen to podcasts. You could start by doing this by just going for a walk. The couch to 5k app is excellent too

Just came here to say, I don't know anyone who would laugh at someone doing exercise regardless of size, shape, age or experience. (Except internet trolls!). You will get respect and solidarity from others doing park runs or in running groups. Also, when you start exercising, progress is very quick at first so that can be motivating in itself. When you exercise most people naturally start to eat healthier.

I always find to get off coke - first switch to coke zero, then find a different caffeinated drink that has a different flavour, then switch to squash or herbal tea (nice now the weather is getting cooler) - just sub in something else gradually. Same for crisps. Find something else like rice cakes or crackers topped with something such as cottage cheese or hummus then get rid of the crackers so you snack on cottage cheese, or carrot sticks and hummus. Don't just deny yourself but make small gradual changes.

Also log what you eat for a week. Everything that enters your mouth. You will get so bored of logging you'll probably eat less and also you'll be embarrassed by how much you do eat. Works for me every time I need to get out of a rut. Hope this helps 🙂

Omelette and salad
Baked sweet potato and cottage cheese
Beans on a slice gluten free toast
Poached eggs and avocado on a slice of gluten free toast
Homemade soup - roast the veg e.g. tomatoes and onion or butternut squash and onion in the oven for 30 mins. Then transfer to a pan with veg stock and a can of canelini beans or lentils to add protien.

For exercise just get moving to begin with, evening it's walking. Try lifting some weights, you can find beginner work outs on you tube.

You have to find something you like or you won’t stick to it. Do you prefer to be outside or in? Told what to do and motivated externally or choose your own pace and movements? How do you feel about getting hot and sweaty?

Wrt the food, can you afford a gusto box or something like that? They send you everything you need, people I know say it’s great for time-poor who want to eat well.

Don't eat quinoa, life's too short for that.

Maybe try following some simple healthy food pages on the socials so the algorithm starts to send you that sort of stuff. There is the possibility it might start to influence you to want to cook a bit more potentially-it’s worked for me! I follow a page called Mob who do quick, healthy meals and the food (which is heavily veg based) always looks so appealing I often end up copying and roping the kids in too. They love it. The eldest even bought me one of their cookbooks with his paper round money for Christmas so it’s worked on all of us! Also second Yoga with Adrienne. She’s great!

Is there any reason ( apart from ethical) why you are vegetarian iĺpf you have dairy and gluten intolerance? Vegetarian food requires a lot of prep to make tasty and if you are also restricting to gluten free and vegan you will be doing a lot of cooking instead of sticking a chicken leg and some veg on a plate.

For exercise. Do walking.

This week I've started to start work earlier so I can finish at 3.30/4pm and go out for a walk, then come back and cook dinner.

Next week once the clocks have gone back I hope to start back at the gym in the mornings and still do the walk in the afternoons (I'm struggling with the dark mornings).

I also walked to the supermarket (a 40 minute walk) the other day.

For food I'm rubbish, I just find I can't be bothered but I hope once I've worked exercise back into my life the food will follow.

Make overnight oats for next day breakfast. Porridge oats, topped with low fat yoghurt (non dairy) and frozen fruit, raspberries or blueberries are good. Leave in the fridge overnight, no excuse not to eat breakfast.

Home made soup with lots of veg, stock cubes are g/f. Blend or chunky. A great way to get veg into children. I’m not keen on cooking either, but soup is an easy win.

quick, simple meals that are gluten free, vegetarian and dairy free if possible

Jacket potato

butternut squash, chickpea, coconut curry - nice to cook it for a while but not ages of prep time

Roast (get some GF/DF nut roast or other protein element!)

Eggs - omelette with fake cheese? (I’m only GF so not clued up on DF)

Sushi (vegetarian)

Basically think of rice and potatoes as your carb element and build around that. I live off a lot of salad so no carb there.

Check out the Low Carb Bootcamp threads on here? I’ve not done it myself. Low carb is meant to be good for PCOS. Maybe not though as veggie, GF, DF and low carb though is going to be TOUGH!!!

It’s all about having a routine for me or I will just snack when I’m home alone. I had to drum it in that 5-6pm is dinner time to make sure I cook.

Also, buy a rebounder. Such a good form of exercise. High intensity, low impact, fun.

I'd focus on the diet first, you don't want to try too much at once and it's diet that'll bring your weight down. I know it gets banded around a lot but maybe try reading ultra processed people to see if it can reset your thinking on food, sounds like you mostly eat UPF.

If you can afford it, maybe a hello fresh subscription.

Google quick, simple meals that are gluten free, vegetarian and dairy free if possible.start walking. Buy some dumb bells and do some you tube videos.

Get a bike

I also think a lot is down to how you feel.

Earlier this year I was really happy, life was going well, I was exercising 6 days a week, out on my bike twice a week, eating well. Then over the summer life just went to shit and so did my diet and exercise. I retreated in to myself, and now take aways have become a regular thing, I don't drink enough water (and I'm a water fiend usually), drink lots of coke and eat lots of chocolate and rubbish.

But add on to that, I've stopped caring about myself. So I also need to start caring about myself and being kind to myself.

It's hard to get out of that way of thinking ( I want to lose 3 stone by this time next year so I have to).

I agree a Hello Fresh or Gousto box could get you in the habit of cooking as you’re starting from scratch. You can keep the recipe cards and graduate to buying the ingredients yourself from the supermarket once you find meals you like and get more confident.

I always recommend Rukmini Iyer recipe books on this sort of thread - the Green Roasting Tin is all veggie and the Quick Roasting Tin all under 30 mins. All the recipes are basically chop some stuff, put it in a tin, chuck it in the oven.

Where I live there are women only walking clubs. I found them on Facebook. They run at different times through the week and have different ability walks, that be worth a try?

I think you feel bored and like you can't be bothered because you're stuck in an unhealthy rut. What I've found about healthy eating and exercise is that the more you do it, the more you want to do it.
Rather than trying to find extra time for exercise I just incorporate it into my daily routine. I was never going to join a gym or go running but I walk to work each day, which is 50 minutes each way, and gives me 14000 steps. At first it was a bit of a slog but now I love it. Wakes me up before work and helps me unwind after work. The thought of taking the easy option of driving is now so unappealing. I'd feel stodgy and lethargic and would quickly put on weight.
It's the same with food. Once you start eating good, nitritious food, you go off the unhealthy stuff. Just Google healthy recipes. Look up Delicously Ella. All her recipes are vegetarian, gluten and dairy free. If you get her app there are lots of quick and easy recipes.