Help me choose a diet

[baconsandwiches18]

I'm 5'1 and 10 stone 7lb.

I have a two year old and before my pregnancy I was size 8. I quit smoking when I was pregnant.

My brother died last July and I now have his two children 4-5 days per week so I'm bereaved and stressed. I'm tired.

I feel like shit. My hair is long and mousy. My stomach hangs out and I hate having sex. I'm trying to keep everyone fed and safe. I'm trying to keep on top of the house work and I'm working two days.

Help me choose a diet. I need to feel better about myself- I need something easy- no complicated meals. I have to cook for the kids and my husband and I can't make multiple meals.

I understand the need to feel better, but please be kind to yourself- sounds like you've had a really rough time.

The simplest thing imo is intermittent fasting. It takes up no headspace at all really, and no real alteration to what you eat, only to when you eat. It requires a bit of willpower but not for long, because it soon becomes habit.

16:8 is the easiest one to do imo. Essentially, only eat (and drink calorie-containing drinks) within an 8 hour window. That's it. For most people that means skip breakfast (which is surprisingly easy after a few days), have lunch, maybe an afternoon snack if you need to, and dinner and don't snack after dinner. There are threads about it on here.

Thanks is for this. I was kind of toying with the idea of some kind of fasting.

What I don't understand is, if you don't count your calories how will you lose weight?

I also don't eat breakfast anyway. I never have so is there a stricter one?

I'll look in 5:2 I think as well.

Thanks though you're making me think I'm along the right lines.

I also just wanted to know how does everyone calories count big family meals?

I have a lot of mouths to feed and I do a rotation system where I make set meals each night of the week. This way people can eat it when they need it and the kids can eat early, grown ups later. I make cottage pie, lasagne, risotto, casserole, fish pie etc. All things the baby can eat and everyone else can help themselves to.

How do I work out the calories in a portion? Do I literally add up one onion, a tbsp of oil ? Etc. This must take ages and then how do I then work out a portion?

This seems overwhelming to me right now.

Firstly you are amazing, really wonderful.

Secondly, I think you will loose weight if you implement a no snacking policy and use a smaller plate/bowl to reduce portion sizes.

That way you can eat the same stuff without having to worry about every onion and spoon of oil. You can do this!

I’m really sorry to hear about the loss of your brother. With regard to dieting, I really like slimming world. They will be going back to face to face meetings hopefully on the 17th May. I’ve just lost a stone and feel much better and have followed their diet before and lost weight. I’ve never had more than just over a stone to lose and largely keep myself to myself but can see that other people completely make friends there and support each other. They really are a friendly group with pretty everyone having emotional issues that lead to their weight loss. I’m a bit reserved and would need to see people a bit more than once a week to open up.

www.slimmingworld.co.uk/

I’m also 5’ 1” and started off just under 10 stone and am now 8 stone 9lb. I would never be an size 8 because my general build isn’t small enough but am now a 12, whereas before I was a 14.

The diet really only focuses around eating healthy and is very easy to follow. A lot of people cook from scratch but I don’t have either the time or the inclination. I tend to eat a lot of omelettes, jacket potatoes and salads. Some recipes are very quick and easy though - there is specifically a quick and easy recipe book. In short though, any vegetables, fruit and carbohydrates and non fatty meats are fine.

I suggest that you join your nearest slimming world and take it from there. I am still losing weight but start a new job on Tuesday and have just found a whole wardrobe of work clothes that I had outgrown and that I can now wear. It really does make you feel so much better. It obviously won’t help your bereavement as such (I’ve also got my own issues going on) but it can help to lift your mood generally and help you deal with the loss.

Thank you so much for that- really helpful. And thank you for you kind words of encouragement.

I'll look into slimming world but I think I'm going to try the no snacking and smaller plates, skipping breakfast first :-)

I think I need to try make small changes.

Xxx

Just to add op that I do the no snacking (some days I just have to settle for trying to not snack!) and I eat the same meals as my kids which are cooked from scratch but I weigh out the portion size. Then I log it in an app which estimates the calories for me.

I also have a hectic life and completely understand that you need something which will take no time at all to implement. I have (very slowly) lost a stone since the beginning of January and I have 8lbs to go until I am in a healthy bmi for my height.

I am 5ft 5 and eat 1,400 calories. I think maintenance for me will be around 1600 calories because I am late 40s and enjoy sitting down to much

I wanted to avoid a faster weight loss because I have spent the last decade overweight and figured I would be better to permanently change the bad habits I'd got into rather than loose it in a way that was unsustainable for me to continue.

The best diet I've ever done is Slim n Save (sns.co.uk). It's a hard core vlcd ('very low calorie diet'), tough to do mentally but once you get into it it's becomes much easier and the weight loss really makes you want to stick to it. You buy their meals/shakes etc so don't have to calorie count so it's easy from that perspective.

Meant to say I also skip breakfast but that is mainly so I can factor in a daily post dinner mint magnum...

Slimfast for a quick start then move to a more sustainable diet? I'm slimfasting now as I am really busy workwise and don't have time to plan/cook. Plus if I have to make a meal I get confused over calories. I've lost a stone in a month, it's quick and easy especially to take to work, plus no thinking involved! Tesco do their own range which is 40p a meal so I've saved loads of money this month. For dinner you get 600 calories which is plenty and you can have snacks too. This would enable you to have the family evening meal so you wouldn't feel like you were losing out but you wouldn't have to do separate meals for breakfast and lunch. I do think you should try to eat breakfast to get your metabolism going - a shake might be all you can face. Good luck.

What I don't understand is, if you don't count your calories how will you lose weight?

As one expression goes, weighing your pig doesn't make it fatter! It's what you do, and how successful you are at carrying on doing it that matters, not how you measure it. To put it another way, it's the habit that matters, not the goal. Almost all diets fail. Not because people aren't counting right or weighing food accurately or eating 50g too much of one food group per day, but because they give up because it's too hard!

Some people may find counting and measuring helpful and motivating. I find it tedious, time-consuming and unmotivating. I want to do something which I know will reduce my calorie intake without having to actually count anything. Besides, calorie intake is important, but it really isn't the whole story. You only have to try eating 500 calories of a non-sugary protein-based nutritious breakfast vs 500 calories of Haribo and seeing what happens to your appetite, mood and energy for the rest of the day to see that.

Download MyFitnesdPal, it will work out thr calories for you so eg lasagne for six people it will work out calories for one serving.
Input all your measurements on there and your goal weight and it will set you your goal calories for each day. Log everything you eat on there.

Download MyFitnesdPal, it will work out thr calories for you so eg lasagne for six people it will work out calories for one serving.

Only if it's a ready meal or if you painstakingly put in all the ingredients and amounts you used to make it. MFP is a pain in the arse if you cook from scratch. There could be 100s of calories' worth of difference between one person's lasagne and another's. And you have to weigh portions of things. It certainly works, but dear lord it's time-consuming!

Blimey - you are doing such a great job and have such a lot on - I would just be wary of doing anything that will stress your system, like fasting or v low calorie.

Ranjan Chatterjee’s book Loose Weight Feel Great is not a diet, but great on general principles, tips and mindset to set you up.

If you want a guide you could just use NHS guidelines combined with Nutracheck calorie counter (much better than the American (MFP), or look at Second Nature (moderate low carb), or slimming world (low fat), or weight watchers (a few different programmes). I did second nature for a bit to get the idea and now just use their moderate low carb approach combined with nutricheck

I think a few simple changes will make all the difference which is why I’d start with the Chatterjee book.

Have you consider watching your portions for a week and the just take part off? So you don't have to have different meal, do calories etc. Just smaller portions (which are often the problem) and see where it goes. Sounds like the easy way so you don't have another big thing on your mind