Thread for those who are trying to eat "better"

[Octopus37]

Following on from yesterdays thread "Do I eat too much", which I posted on, I was unsurprising told that what I eat is crap. Have been feeling pretty crap the last few weeks, not enough energy low libido, sluggish, wound up, down - so have decided to see if changing my eating habits can shift things a bit. I'm not overweigh 5ft5, 8st6lbs, (slightly on the heavy side for me), but would be pleased if I did loose a few pounds, trying not to make weight the focus. Have decided to take a vitamin pill with iron every day, last year had v low ferratin levels so had to take iron tablets for a while. I'm not promising to do well every day and cut out sugar completely as I feel that I would be destined to fail. However, I am going to try to I improve. Today have eaten:
1 pack of Belvita biscuits
1 Actvia extra creamy yoghurt
1 large apple
1 Danone (high protein yoghurt)
3 Oatcakes
Some cashew nuts
I am planning on sweet chilli chicken & rice (ready meal cause of money diet) with some stir fried veg for tea and plan to eat some red grapes afterwards. Also may have some sort of a treat on school run. Also aim is to replace the Belvita biscuits with oatcakes for breakfast and maybe eat them with some cheese. Know I'm not doing perfectly but I am making an effort. Buddies welcome.

Oh and WRT the looking after yourself thing, do something every day just for you. For me it's half an hour playing piano or reading, or doing geeky puzzles or maths stuff to engage my brain, or things like using moisturiser which I rarely find time for. I know it's not food related but if like so many of us you struggle to ever put yourself first, it helps, and this can then make it easier in turn to nourish yourself instead of skipping meals. :)

Fuzz, ever thought of doing a job like mine ? Great advice for Heavenly.

Fuzzpig what a fab post.

I'm going to add a 'For me' bit to my daily food diary.

I think doing soup for lunch is a good idea but I am really fussy about soups. There are a few I like so I'll have to stick to those.

The only issue I find with following this way of eating is that I don't lose weight. I guess I should just calorie count it all? That would mean nuts, butter and avocado are out.

Beech how long have you been doing it to know that you don't lose weight? Calorie counting can (though doesn't always) work short term but it's not really any way to live long term, the key is getting properly in touch with real hunger/satiety (slowly and mindfully ), foods that work for us and with what really nourishes us (physically and spiritually). Also regular exercise, which doesn't have to be hard core stuff, but whatever makes us feel good in our bodies-walking, yoga, dance, swimming, or more intense activities.

Sleep I've tried to lose weight lots of times and when I follow low gi diets (my preferred way of eating) I don't lose any weight. When I follow sw, I lose weight. If I calorie count, I lose weight. It might be because I'm 5'2" so need less cals anyway. I just cant stick to anything!

I'm trying to stop thinking about food in terms of weight loss and more in terms of nourishment and taking care of myself but I want to lose weight too.
I really need to for my own health as I'm just in the obese bmi range. Its depressing me. I also think that being down about the way I look and feel is also stopping me from getting the most out of life, which then stops me thinking that I'm worth looking after, if you know what I mean.
I've always loved food and never had weight issues til I had kids so its difficult to deal with.

I know I have issues!

I do try to walk a lot and aim for the gym a couple of times a week. It doesn't always happen though.

Morning everyone !
Fuzz re my son eating better he's 10 and he eats cereal for breakfast I don't buy expensive junk cereal and he moans his head off good lunch homemade at school then supper tends to be pasta so anything better Wd be better if yswim.
Heavenly I lost weight through homeopathy lighter life which took three months have maintained for three years and am now in middle of juice fast day three to kick the last 5 lbs and start healthy food choices and stop my 19 cup a day tea addiction maybe not that much lol I find it very easy to get confused about healthy food but this thread is great very inspiring ! After juice fast I'm aiming to have coffee with coconut oil in am before working out then protein shake after workout breakfast will be full fat Greek yogurt berries and seeds drizzle honey lunch tends to be a latte not so good then supper will be smthg from batch cooking I'm going to do wed with salad so lasagne risotto curry. I really struggle about 10 days before period for a week want to eat all the carbs in the world any tips ?

Beech you've tried SW and calorie counting and lost weight, but then regained it, is that correct? That, to me, tells me those approaches don't work , all they have done, ultimately, is reduce your metabolism .

A method that works, to my mind, means you reach and maintain a healthy weight long term. There is no quick fix for this unfortunately, it takes time and effort to change our tastes and to learn to get properly back in touch with our appetites and what food works for us. That effort is not about controlling or restricting food though. Particularly if you are the type of person prone to binges (and even if you aren't), then control and the sense of deprivation that comes with a 'diet' is generally disastrous because it leads to the inevitable collapse in willpower. It's weird but if you stop banning particular foods and allow yourself as much as you want, whilst keeping in mind that you want to love and respect your body, then those things become much less enticing. A bit like the nasty boyfriend who keeps dumping you as a teenager, you get obsessed with him but eventually we need to grow up, show a little self respect and stop taking him back only to have him treat us like crap again . At least with food when we get to this stage, being friends with it, listening to what our body wants, eating the healthy stuff 80-90% of the time, occasionally we can have a cheeky fling with some cake or a big bowl of pasta and it's fine!

Beech if you imagine life when you are your 'perfect' weight, how is it different from now?

Aw thanks I was actually wondering how you got into that career sleep! :)

Sleep when I've lost weight, I've not actually regained it.
The way it went was I put on two stone per pregnancy (after birth weight and 3 pregnancies) and after each, I tried to lose weight.
(I don't lose weight unless I put effort in) After each, I managed to lose 1 stone or so before I lost motivation.
So now, I am about 2.5 stone or so overweight! At my height, its a lot.
I'm fine at maintaining, just not good at losing.

I know what you mean about the banning food mentality.

When I imagine life back at being a normal, healthy weight, I imagine feeling good about the way I look,
fitting in to nice clothes,
having more confidence,
not getting stressed out when I get an invitation where there are lots of people as I know I'll look horrible in whatever I wear
going swimming with my children (nothing will convince me to get into a swimming costume at the moment)

Yes, a lot of it is based on what I look like!

I'm also an older mum so I want to be around for my kids as a fit and healthy mum for as long as possible.

Are there people you know who are overweight but look good, wear nice clothes, seem happy in themselves?

Fuzzpig I'm doing the online coaching course with the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, I finish in May but have some non-paying clients already. It's not cheap but I hope to make it a career that will earn back the cost fairly quickly .

Sleep I'm the fattest person I know. I have one friend who is overweight too and she feels as bad about it as I do! All my friends and family are slim.
They don't get why I find it hard to lose weight.
'Just do a bit more exercise and you'll be fine!' or 'eat sensibly for a bit and you'll be fine!' are the kind of comments I get.

I dramatically lose weight and quickly doing WW but I find it time consuming and I end up obsessing/guilty about food and can't stick to it.

I'm losing weight on this, knickers are looser, so is bra and face is thinner. I have a lot to lose but this is easy and I'm not craving chocolate which had never EVER happened before.

Thanks for your advice and encouragement sleep it's much appreciated

Oh and last night I was a bit peckish so had a banana instead of half a packet of biscuits which is a minor miracle in itself.

Oh and I think smokers have it easy, they only have to give up ONE THING, you can't do that with food and you have to readjust your whole brain-bloody hard!

I'll shut up now

Hey all, lots of activity on the thread. I've not made much progress, except didnt buy any chocolate for me. I figure if I don't have it in I can't eat it.

I did this with crisps years ago, I love crisps. I used to buy the multipacks and eat 2 packs a day. So I stopped having them in the noise but did allow myself to buy single packs if I really wanted. Now I hardly ever eat them, hoping chocolate will go the same way!

Thank you sleep and fuzz you talk a lot of sense. I think I've gotten into a lazy habit of eating when I'm really hungry and then just grabbing the quickest easiest thing for a quick pick me up (ie the coffee and crisps). Stuck with boiled eggs and toast today for breakfast as that's what dcs have every morning, didn't really enjoy it because my brain was telling me it should be more coffee (what I normally have when they are eating breakfast). Could do with quick lunch ideas if anyone has anything for me to try? I love salads, sandwiches are ok but my fall back when I need to eat but don't know what I fancy, not mad on soups (although someone up thread had a recipie for noodle soup that sounds lovely, will try that).

rummikub crisps are work of the devil! They sit looking at me saying "don't save me for dcs lunch box, eat me, eat me now!" Next thing I know I've eaten them and poor dcs have extra fruit in lunch boxes to make up for their loss, good for them not for me! Need to stop kidding myself crisps are their treat

Heavenly, that's what I do too, delay eating until I get the shakes and then I have to have anything sugary now!

Popcorn is a good replacement for crisps I found. Made at home of course

Want to say again how much I love this thread as it is so supportive and non-judgy. Have been mixed today, tbh cannot sort pay thing out until Monday and feel ratty, worried about money, too much to do etc. Had my usual breakfast and managed to resist having chocolate or cake when I do my DS's to football. However got home and ended up eating some Pringles, just though I am going to go psychotic if I don't eat now, obviously should have had healthy snack. Then ate the rest of yesterday's soup and I piece of toast with peanut butter. Feel bad cause I am supposed to be cutting down on carbs but just feel that I need the energy. Aim is just to have a healthy dinner and minimal (if at all would be a miracle if I manage without) treat this afternoon. Am truly inspired by how well a lot of you are as I am finding it such a challenge.

You'll get there octopus, it's taken me months to even get my head round starting to eat healthily.

I just had fish and chips with the family, God it was DELICIOUS salad and soup tonight to balance things out!

Thanks for info sleep. Looks amazing although eyewateringly expensive (for our income anyway!) :o but I have been thinking about what to do as a future career for a while now. Basically I had DCs straight after college and I was doing an OU degree when I got sick (and unfortunately can't continue with them due to their rules about dropping out etc). Obviously I'm not thinking about qualifications right now as my priority is getting myself well again, and I have a lovely, easy part time job that I enjoy (library). But I'm only 27 and I do want an actual career as I have many years of working ahead of me. And some sort of nutritionist job has been floating around in my brain for a while, I've been really fascinated by how much nutrition affects my condition (that's not to say I think it's totally down to diet, there are a multitude of other things that made me vulnerable to it, both physical and psychological) and also angered by the persistent WRONG messages we still get from the diet industry and supposedly well meaning groups like change4life. I'm waffling now. But yes, it is something I have wondered about! And the more I continue improving my own diet the more I'm considering it.

Anyway, we had crappy junk food today - DH has his only day off out of 13 due to a job overlap and booked a bowling game with a meal deal. I don't mind having it (I firmly agree with the 80/20 type rule rather than a total ban on anything) but it REALLY stood out to me how the DCs were hungry as soon as we left - not just because it was white carbs but I bet it was also because we weren't really focusing on eating - it was a few bites here and there between each go. I'm not sure I would've made that connection if it weren't for sleep reminding us about mindful eating!