Help with simplest weight loss meal plan for veggie who has to eat carbs!

[Sentry70]

Hello all, I am a very chunky 14 stone, having put a stone a year on for the last few years. At 5ft 6 that makes me obese and I really feel it. Over the years I have tried every single diet possible, but obviously cannot stick to it or I wouldn't be here. I am now seriously considering weight loss surgery but know it's a massive step and want to give it one last go of losing weight myself.

I think that part of the problem is that once I'm on a diet I immediately start thinking of treats and cheats and the subject of food is constantly on my mind. I hate cooking and meal planning and thinking of different meals every day, so have decided that if I can come up with a 1 day meal plan that I can just repeat every day, it will take away the need to think and perhaps I can start to see food as fuel. I know it may sound daft, but I think it's worth a go as it can't do any harm. Now just to complicate matters I am veggie, but also have a very rare form of incurable cancer. I've had a couple of liver resections (which have destroyed my stomach muscles) but have been advised not to eat a low carb diet as it can impact the liver. It may not have any effect, but given the rarity of my condition no one really knows, so I don't want to risk going against medical advice.

Sorry this is quite long now, but I was thinking bran flakes and skimmed milk for breakfast, salad and something quorn for the evening meal and a frozen lolly afterwards. Maybe eggs for lunch and a banana after work? I take a multi vitamin and iron tablet and a vitamin D daily. Does that sound nutritious enough to be repeated? Not the lolly I know, but I reckon 1 sweet thing a day means I won't feel deprived.

We're pretty much vegetarian aside from our weekly chicken. We're also all a healthy weight so I'll tell you what we eat...or some common examples.

Typical evening meals are

Vegetarian curry made with whatever veg is in season...eg. sweet potato and aubergine or perhaps red peppers and sweet potato...sometimes cauliflower. We put a tin of coconut milk in and tomato and serve with rice and fresh herbs.

Vegetable stir fry

Veggy pizza homemade dough

baked potato with cheese

Veggy soup with bread

Lunches tend to be very light/non existant. Things like an avocado on toast or just salad.

Snacks....fruit or nuts or rarely...crackers and cheese.

That's it. No tricks....no treats.

About once a week on the weekend we go to the local baker in the morning and buy a cake or some fruit pastries...once a week I might have a bar of chocolate.

We don't buy anything else sugary. Oh we do have greek yogurt in and eat that with honey. Breakfast is porridge.

And walk! That's all we do....the dog is walked daily for quite a long time.

Thanks AjasLipstick , very kind of you to answer. Your meals sound delicious and I wish I had your healthy attitude to food. I think that porridge is probably better than my suggestion of bran flakes and the soup's a good idea too. I would have to make one portion at a time of anything though, as I don't cook for anyone else and if I make enough for two I'll eat it all in one go!

You could batch-cook soup but immediately put aside all but one portion for freezing?

We eat quite a lot of lentil dal which is cheap and will give you some protein. Serve with rice and steamed greens (spinach is the best).

And agree that walking a decent distance every day (4 or 5 Miles) is magic for mind and body, if you can find a way to fit it in.

Repeating the same meals day in / day out will not be good for you in the long run as you won't be getting a wide range of all the different vitamins and nutrients your body needs. Taking supplements is NOT the solution to this, although they are good in addition to a varied diet.

If you worked out a weekly plan that you repeat every week, that would be better.

Ajas has given some good suggestions above, but can I suggest that you ditch cereals for breakfast as they are usually full of sugars (yes even bran flakes) and are so heavily processed they aren't really that good for you. I make overnight oats (google it for lots of suggestions on variations to making these) and if you've got some nice jars you can make 3 or even 4 days worth at the same time and store in the fridge... Brown toast with eggs or even full-fat greek yoghurt (the fat keeps you feeling full) with fruit are also great alternatives.

People think that eating fat makes you fat, but in fact it is SUGAR that is the enemy. Especially refined/added white sugar.

Don't calorie count as there is really no need, just eat good, healthy wholesome foods (vegetables/lean protein/brown pasta or rice, potatoes, wholegrains, nuts etc) Eat only when you are hungry, and eat slooooowly, stopping when you feel full. Drink LOTS of water throughout the day. Aim for 3 meals, evenly spaced with some protein, carbs and veg/salad at each meal - the protein keeps you feeling fuller for longer (eggs, dairy, quinoa, beans/legummes, hummus, lentils, nuts etc are all good veggie alternatives). Half your plate should be take up by fruit/veg.

Most importantly, think of this as a new way of eating, forever - NOT a diet. That is the key. Weight will start to drop off and you will keep it off as you are not going to go back to old habits!

I agree with Curly regarding repeating the same meals. You'll get so bored and then think "Oh well I'll just have this to cheer myself up"

Just make sure you buy a good selection of vegetables....we have to do it twice a week because we eat so many and they're fresher then.

Can you cook well?

Meant to add....quorn and eating it with for example two veg, is the worst way to be a vegetarian in my opinion. You're trying to replace "the meat" with something and it limits you.

Veg alone is great if you cook it well with herbs and spices.

Thanks Verbena87, the exercise is a bit difficult because I work full time at the moment and am pretty much wiped out by the end of the day. It's a combination of the illness and the fact I'm in pain a fair bit of the time. Of course carrying all this extra weight doesn't help! I've just found a low calorie recipe for lentil dal after your recommendation, so might give that a go, but probably on the weekends as I'm just too tired to cook in the evenings. Sorry, that sounds very self pitying and 'poor me'!

Do you have weekends off OP? Or a day off in the week? Walking is something which is hard to get going but once you do, you find you feel better and less tired generally.

I LOVE lentil dahl...thanks for the reminder Verbena haven't had it in ages because DH has a reaction to lentils but I might just cook it for me!

Forgot to ask...have you asked the doctor about exercise with your illness?

Thanks curly and Aja for the responses, I know that you're absolutely right, but I swear I have already attempted your suggestions many times and for whatever reason have failed. I am so out of touch with my appetite and body that if I try to trust my own hunger signals I put weight on. I do best when I think about food as little as possible and just have the simplest of plans to follow. It was a fair bit easier before I got ill, but since my ops and being told it's incurable it's become more difficult to keep on top of things. I know I sound defeatist, but I'm really grateful for your answers.

Sorry Aja cross posted - exercise is difficult because of the massive damage to my abdominal muscles and swelling that still exists. It's quite painful and is unlikely to ever get better. Pure bad luck that there were complications after the first operation and then swiftly followed by another big operation that cut through everything again. I could exercise, but after being in work all day and having to kind of minimise how much pain I'm in, I'm shattered by the time I get home. The cancer also causes other issues i.e. muscle/joint pain, supposedly because of possible micro tumours. As I said though, no one really knows because it's so rare.

The chronic pain sounds really tough OP, sorry to hear about that . I wonder if swimming might be a good bet to literally take the weight off your feet? Know it’s not the same but I found it a huge relief from aches and joint pain late in my pregnancy.

Dal freezes really well so you could always do a big batch at the weekend and freeze individual portions so you’ve just got to stick rice on and reheat on work nights? I think stocking the freezer with home-made healthy ‘ready meals’ might be the way to go.

Vegetable tagine is great too. I do chopped onion, carrot, potato, fennel, & squash, plus a couple of chopped dried apricots, a handful each of almonds and olives, and some finely sliced preserves lemon if we’ve got any. Cook a bit in a glut of oil, then enough hot veg stock to just cover, plus a batch of this www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1120651/chermoula-paste

Couple of hours in the oven with a lid on.

Great with couscous or quinoa, and again, freezes well so could do a weekend batch to have in the week.

Would you consider berries and cream instead of the ice-lolly? Less sugar, more nutrition and it feels like a treat.

Sorry, just realised you won't eat cream as a vegetarian.

For the pain in joints, wondering if reading up on non-inflammatory foods might help? Unfortunately though, some otherwise healthy and nutritional foods are high on the inflammatory scale. I know it isn't the cause, but mentioning in case it could help. Best of luck OP

Making small changes is key here. Don't try and do it all at once or you will fail and keep falling on and off the diet wagon.
Try keeping a food diary for a week, and be honest about what you are really eating, then find maybe 2 things you can improve on initially. Then keep doing this each week until you are eating healthier. It will just become a way of life rather than a 'diet'.

Have a look at the happy pear on youtube. There are a couple of vidoes of food prep for a week, all very healthy, simple, tasty and not too expensive. Maybe if it’s all prepped and portioned for the week you won’t have to think about it too much.

Thanks everyone, lots of good ideas - but will I be able to act on them?! I'll give it a go .

"Sorry, just realised you won't eat cream as a vegetarian."

She said she's vegetarian, not vegan Diana.

Some of the meals suggested are not really foods that help with losing weight: coconut milk, jacket potato with cheese, pizza and having no lunch. Sounded like Ajas was describing family food rather than what a dieting woman would eat.