Is this a reasonable food diary?

[FloatyFlo]

I'm overweight by three stone. I'm unfit, kinda (okay a lot) lazy, fatigued all the time and just generally feeling shite.

I've really come to a point where I've just had enough. I've tried diets before and obviously failed. I am a massive binge eater. I eat for boredom, stress, comfort, whatever.

I'm not going to calorie count. Or weigh food. I get too restrictive and obsessive and then end up failing and going on a binge.

I've been reading 'Never binge again' by Glenn livingstone which has definitely enabled me to reflect on why I overeat and given me some mental positivity to tackle it.

Here is my food diary for the past three days. Where could I improve? What am I missing? Is this good enough to lose some weight? I've been drinking lots of water.

Friday -

Breakfast - Crunchy nut cornflakes with blue milk, An apple and a black coffee (no sugar)

Lunch - Broccoli and Stilton soup, 2 soup lies of toast (white bread - I know I know!) Cucumber and tomatoes.

Dinner - Pasta with Salad (Mixed leaf lettuce, Toms, cucumber, spoonful of colslaw)

(Evening - 4 double gins with lemonade, BAD IDEA as I ate a slice of quiche and a chunk of pork pie after) I don't actually often drink but if I do have a couple of glasses I will make sure I've got something healthy to snack on after -lesson learned!)

Saturday

B - Crunchy nut cornflakes and black coffee

L - Broccoli and Stilton soup
2 toast and salad

D - Vegetable pizza with Salad, beetroot and hummus.

After dinner - a banana and few strawbs

Sunday
B- 2 boiled eggs, 2 toast, rocket and small sprinkle of grated cheese.

L- Slice of vegetable pizza and a banana

D - One Youngs gasto basa fillet with new pots, broccoli, sweetcorn and roasted tomatoes

Breakfast today - I've got shot of the sugary cereal and had overnight oats with grated apple, half a banana, a spoonful of peanut butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

So this is really a starting point. It's a massive improvement on my usual diet which in a day before was - 2 cheese & ham toasties at mid morning, crisps and cake mid afternoon, burger and chips for dinner with heaps of choclate and biscuits in the eve. No water. Sugary coffee and coke throughout the day. Not a fruit or veggie in sight.

Even if I get no replies, I just need to get this down somewhere. So it's helping me all the same.

Once I can crack thsee terrible food habits and I can start to look at my exercise!

OP, do you have an idea as to what you overeat? Is it alcohol, salty snacks, or meals with too big portion sizes?
I’m overweight, cook from scratch, organic as much as possible etc. But tend to oversize my portions.
So in my case not changing what I eat but scaling back the portions is working well.
I did give up my tea with milk and sugar....which clearly was a good chunk of sugar and calories (when you have 6 cups a day).
Over eating by a small amount every day will slowly but surely add to an extra lb a month, 10 a year.
So even a “good healthy” meal plan if you overindulge can be a problem.

Cut out the bread, pasta and high sugar cereal! Oh? REALLY?

Grasslands Yes. I eat too much junk. I don't (or should I say didn't) eat a healthy balanced diet. Gave an example of a day in a post further back. No breakfast. So starving by mid-morning which would mean a 2x fully loaded cheese and ham toasties or a overloaded wit bacon and sauages baguette. Be too full for a proper lunch so would snack on huge bag of crisps and cake mid afternoon. Wouldn't fancy whatever I'd be doing for the kids tea so often end up having take out burger and chips or fried chicken with DP later. Followed by an evening of biscuits and choc bars and tea. Everyday. Lots of coke, milky coffees and sugary snacks.

I know how to eat well. My kids eat well ffs. But I'd just want to spend the day eating pig slop. Gorging and greed. Enough now. It's gross and killing my health

Went to the shop yesterday for some dog food, milk, and tortillas for the kids. Usually I'd fill the basket with some junk too. Pack of biscuits. Some fresh cakes from the bakery. Crumpets for the morn. Whatever called for me and took my fancy.

I left with dog food, milk and tortilla wraps for the kids. It felt so good to be in control. To just go in for the things I needed and leave with the things I needed. Like a normal healthy shopper. Not an impulsive greedy pig

Good for you, floaty, sounds like you're doing amazing.

It is so hard I know, but so worth it.

@KirstenRaymonde

Carbs are our bodies preferred source of fuel.

Actually, your body would really prefer you to drink alcohol, and it will then burn that in preference to anything else. So lets recommend everyone to just go for the booze shall we?

There is a lot of scientific evidence about the benefit of a low carb diet - and it's just that. A low carb diet, not a no carb diet.

And of course, if after you reach your target, you go back to a high carb diet you will put the weight back on. Because it was the carbs that made you put weight on in the first place. It's hardly rocket science.

OP - regardless of which name you're using you'd be more than welcome to join Bootcamp, which started this week. There are almost 250 people on it this time around, which means there's a massive amount of help and support.

regardless of which name you're using

Namechanged for something else so wasn't outed but then outed myself anyway! I blame the lack of sugar.

Very skinny here

I eat huge portions of veg and salad
It really fills you up
Don’t cut carbs early on in the day
Have porridge for breakfast
Exercise in the morning if you can
Ease up on carbs after lunch
Light dinner

No snacking
Minimal lodging
You will lose weight and it’s sustinable

Minimal alcohol

How’s your dp? Supportive or wanting treats for meals?
Loads of room for improvement, you can be successful even with baby steps 👍

When you say your kids eat well
What do you mean

I’m baffled that someone can buy and eat such separate food from your children
What do you think your children think

Oh so this is one I eat as a child
And this how I eat as an adult

Grasslands Very supportive. Has been piling on extra veg and salad with his meals. He hasn't bought beers tonight! He did buy me a kit-kat chunky earlier in the week, just forgetting I wouldn't want it right now. It's still in the fridge!

Highhorse They're at school? Most of the junk I eat is either while they're at school or in bed. If don't have dinner with them they just don't question it as they have dinner quite early when in from school as so they're hungry, and I'll often wait and eat with DP later home from work.

As they get older I'm concerned about them picking up on my terrible eating habits so part of the reason for this needed change.

My binge and comfort eating isn't something I'm open about. It's hidden from them as much as anybody else in real life.

I don't enjoy veg. I don't reach for fruit when wanting something sweet. I'm a big hypocrite as theyre lunchboxes will be balanced, when they ask for a snack I'll point them in the direction of the fruit bowl, we always have a jug of water in the fridge for when they're thirsty.

@FloatyFlo thank you for the Never Binge Again recommendation. I just downloaded it this evening, tried a few of the add-ons and have started reading the book. It's good, isn't it? Those Pig mantras have kept me off the late night snacks and the wine tonight.

Flo do you really not like any veg? Not peas? Sweet potato wedges? Caramelised roast carrots? Home made pomodoro sauce? Even if you just quite like a few veg you can start basing meals around the OK veg and develop them from there.

Slim here. I try to only have water after dinner until breakfast 4 or 5 times a week, so that's about 12hrs of not eating.

Inner pig is squealing away today. Been a struggle. Unsure of what to eat and just couldn't make decisions. 'Am I having too much fat. - How much calories are in there. - Oh no maybe I shouldn't have those coz they're carbs - Have I had too many tomatoes? - are there many calories in tomatoes!?' ALL DAY. My brain is fried.

DP and DS requested hotdogs for dinner in front of cup final. Fine. They've tucked into quorn sausages in brioche rolls and cheese and colslaw and salad. I just had the 2 quorn sauages and salad. So so so tempted to have rolls and cheese but it wouldnt have been worth it right?!

Kids have been fighting and bickering all day which doesn't help. I'm bored of the football and there's another half to go yet.

MinaPaws I'm training myself to like veg. It's hard to explain. I'll eat it because you have to. But the only time I'll make myself is when having dinner together with the kids. But even then I'd eat the bare minimal and fill up on whatever else is on my plate. It's not really a conscious thing. I've just been gravitating towards nicer tasting food. Most veg is 'ok'.

Ive really been enjoying spinach though. Goes lovely with egg. And I love onions. Cooked tomatoes are tasty.

Today I've had -

11am - 2 eggs scrambled with spinach, tomatoes, red onion and feta on 2 wholegrain slice of toast.

About half hour ago- Two quorn sausages (oven baked) with rocket, watercress, spinach, beetroot and tomatoes.

That's it. Fuck knows what I'm doing.

But that sounds way way healthier than what you were eating a week ago. And you are starting to like the veg. Does that not feel like really good progress?

I gave up sugar for a month. After about a week all veg tasted massively nicer and sweeter, and fruit tasted almost too sweet. When I started eating sugar again those flavours went back to normal again. I'm going to give up sugar again because everything else tasted so much better and most sugar is pig squeal anyway.

Does that not feel like really good progress? Yes. Amazing progress for me. You're right! Just having a funny day.

I recently read about how fruit tastes sweeter when you've cut out sugar. Might have been that book actually. I'm looking forward to tasting real good food properly for the first time in a long time. I never thought I'd enjoy adding spinach to scrambled egg. Before it would have felt ruined. But that meal today was delicious. I'm going to visualise my body thanking me for it.

Sugar and fatty foods are def pig slop. I will never eat pig slop again.

I actually think I'm addicted to crap. Food is a comfort crutch but it's damaging. I don't want to be at this pathetic mercy to shit food where I feel miserable because I haven't had a mound of cheese or cake.

Fatty foods aren't the problem. Sugary ones are!

You only had 2 meals today? Are you going to be able to sustain that long term? Won't that lead you to getting munchies this evening?

For comparison, I had museli and a banana
Pitta, veg sticks, some tinned mackerel and hummus
Tacos, chicken, salad
Strawberries

That's a fairly normal day for me (19.4bmi). What do you drink in between meals?

BIWI I meant bad fats of course! Cheeseburgers and chips. Doughnuts. Fried chicken.

Yeah I fucked up with two meals today. Woke up late. Kids had clubs so breakfast was obviously stupidly late. Hence the eggs and veg and toast as opposed to yog and berries. Obvs when you have breakfast at 11am, come lunchtime you're not hungry enough so had an earlyish dinner instead.

Drinking water. Lots of water. Green tea if I fancy a hot drink but i think ive like 2 in the past week. And I have a black coffee in the morn.

I wish my bmi was closer to yours passthecake

drinks sound good. SO many people say that they barely eat anything and are drinking sugary/milky drinks all day long.

Brunch sounds fine, but I'd suggest middle of the day snack of a handful of nuts and a bit of fruit and then dinner at the normal time. Evening munchies are fatal!