What can I eat for lunch?

[Bendyandthestinkmachine]

Right, I need to lose 4 or 5 stone. I have what appears to be gallbladder problems and have been told by my doctor to stop doing my VLCD. So I need to do something else to lose weight.

I've done SW before and where I have ALWAYS come unstuck is convenience. It seems to take a huge amount of mental energy to plan, prepare and cook meals. I can generally cope with breakfast and dinner. But what about lunch? Especially if I am using my Healthy Extra B at breakfast. I need something I can have cooked and eaten in 30 minutes maximum. Obviously, there is leftovers, but what about the days I don't have any?

I need ideas for quick and convenient lunch ideas please.

Mugshot, tin of soup (check syns), omelette with baked beans. Ff yogurt with fruit.
Couscous eg Ainsley Harriot not too many syns, tasty and filling.

If you have gallbladder problems, they usually suggest a very low fat diet. Grilled chicken, fish(white), seafood etc pasta, rice, steamed potatoes, couscous, vegetables.

If your portion sizes are reasonable and you are eating a low fat diet, then you should lose weight.

I have cheese and salad/low fat coleslaw in a wrap with fruit. Don’t know anything about weight watchers but this is quick and fine for my dodgy gall bladder.

Jacket potato and beans is what is filling me up at work. I'm sure I will get sick of it though!

Ommlette. Pepper onion ham cheese a

Chopped cooked chicken with sweetcorn, cucumber and cherry tomatoes
Soup, the SW pea & ham one from Iceland is delicious. If I do have time I batch cook various SW soups and freeze.

I don’t know how this would add up in terms of SW points but today I had a baked sweet potato (small one so didn’t take long, and can be pre-cooked anyway) with a bit of feta, spring onion and sweet chilli sauce. It was delicious and filling. It’s one of my favourite lunches.

Tinned vegetable soup?

Sardines on brown toast

Suggestions as above.

If you haven’t done SW for a while you might be pleasantly surprised that tinned soups are fairly low in syns (compared to what they used to be). Jacket spud. Homemade soup. Change breakfast so that you can have a B choice later? Eg eggs for breakfast and soup/bread for lunch.

This is why I've never been able to stick with sw longer than a few months. Id suggest trying calorie counting-house, its so much more liberating, u can grab a ready made sandwhich when you're out and not have to factor in the other healthy extra etc, I found the planning and avoiding 'bad foods' too draining to keep up with at sw. There are loads of things on the internet to work out your calorie allowance too, just takes a quick Google and it's free.

I used to batch cook pasta, chicken, roast veg and mix it together with salad leaves for lunch, or a big pot of homemade soup and use some syns for crackers.

I have left overs from the previous evening meal.
Iceland free food SW ready meals.

Whenever I use the oven I put in extra jacket potatoes. Reheat them in the microwave with an HEA cheese, and or beans.

I buy those seafood sticks and cook loads of hard boiled eggs. I can grab a few of each as a high protein low fat snack/lunch.

Speed foods that are handy for snacking/padding out lunches- gherkins and pickled onions, beetroot (fresh or pickled). Obviously salad in all forms!

Have you considered adding in 16:8? I find skipping breakfast means I arrive at lunch with all healthy extras intact! Much easier!

The seriously strong cheese spread (light version) is great on ryvita. And jacket potatoes!

Oh, and make soup at the weekend. Easy to heat up. I've lost almost 6 stone. I've got the hang of lunches!

My usual lunch meals aside from leftovers are:

Poached eggs & spinach on toast
Beans on toast with a side salad
Make a batch of veg soup& freeze in portions. Add beans, pulses, pasta etc for fibre/bulk
Omelette and salad
Sardines on toast
Speedy Noodles- add cooked noodles to stir fried garlic, ginger, chilli, pepper, spinach, a whisked egg and some spring onion.
Fried rice - Portion of leftover rice done much the same way as noodles ie stir fry with egg, flavours and veg

Shackshuka (or however it's spelled!) Eggs poached in tomato sauce.

I batch cook at the weekend so I've got some easy options during the week, not huge quantities but if I made soup I'll make a huge pot so they are several extra portions, same with things like pasta sauces or chilli. Leftovers are also great for lunches.

I usually use my healthy B for breakfast so have things like soups and Omelettes for lunch when I'm at home or WFH.

The SW lunch pots I've tried have been nice, they're handy to have in as a standby.