Is my daily diet crap?

[Rspu1384]

Struggling to lose weight ☹️I’m 11.6 at the moment and just want to lose a stone to start with as I know I’ll feel better in myself if I do. This is my average daily diet except
For Sunday’s when I eat a meal/desert I want.

Breakfast- 1 piece of whole meal toast with butter and two boiled eggs ( spoon of brown sauce)

Dinner- cabbage & bacon with swede & carrot mash ( normally in a small plastic container) or I’ll have soup

Snack- green smoothie of spinach banana and mango chunks.

Tea- either fish/chicken/pasta with a salad on the side or sweet potato fries and baked beans.

I will normally snack at night either a few bits of chocolate or a yoghurt. Is that where I’m going wrong? In the day I will sometimes eat a yoghurt or fruit if I’m hungry. Will I start to lose it I keep on? Any tweaks/advice appreciated!

Op I'd dump the smoothie for a start. Could be about 300 calories in that. You just need to create a calorie deficit so try to work out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight then knock off about 500 calories a day to lose 1-2lbs a week.
I'm not very active and would gain weight if I ate your diet. 1000 calories max for me if I want to lose. [I'm older though and have a desk job and a small house so not much housework!]
You might find it easier if you gave yourself an eating window [ e.g 12.00pm til 8.00pm] and cut out all the snacks as you really shouldn't need them.
Good luck.

I would use an app like MyFitnessPal to see if you're in a calorie deficit. That's the key part.

Butter, bacon, brown sauce, pasta and fries, sorry but of course you will NOT lose weight!
And why the snacking at night?
You really need to rethink what you are eating. Even an apparently healthy smoothie will have more than 250 calories and will spike your blood sugar.

Such keep the soup, but homemade not from a can or frozen, so you really control what you are eating. make sure to include a couple of bean soups as well, otherwise you will get hungry.
Dinner chicken should be grilled, not coated in batter or crumbs and the fish not fried but oven or boiled. Salad is fine, but which sauce or dressing are you putting on top? Avoid bread, baked brans are usually loaded with sugars, use a can of bean and cook them with passata so you avoid added sugars.

My fitness pal is amazing!

Sorry to jump in ask my own question but do you guys eat instead of pasta or rice? They’re something I have almost every night.

@Youmatter instead of pasta/rice, I would have a big salad with a variety of veggies (butter lettuce, radicchio, rocket, spinach....) and on top a handful of nuts, an unripe pear, some real cheese, or a mozzarella and tomato and basil salad, an omelette, a steak, meatloaf, grilled sole, a tuna or swordfish in a pan, oven roasted pumpkin, any soup under the sun, lentil stew, meatballs, tofu, chickpeas with tomatoes, sauté spinach, .... every thing!

I have stopped eating animal products, but this is what I will cook every night for the kids and DH. We usually have a couple of vegetables minimum and I will cook an haloumi for them and some tempeh for me, so all the veggies are the same, but the main piece would be different. Of course, some nights I do a risotto or a pasta, but not every night.

I lost 4 stone and never gave up pasta and potatoes. If you eat everything in moderation and eat under your calorie expenditure you don't have to limit foods from your diet.

Another who uses MFP. I try to stick to 1200 cals a day plus I do 40 mins exercise 5/6 days a week. That's the only way I can lose weight as I sit at my desk all day!

Wow didn’t think about the little “extras” I was having. Going to definatly cut the butter and sauces out.
I swapped everything from to whole meal last year and cut out drinking fizzy pop last June and lost a stone and kept that off. Just can’t seem to shift any more. Going to up my exercise too and cut out he bread for now too. Just don’t know what to eat! Any meal suggestions? My husband is quite fussy aswell with meals so think it’s why I’m quite boring with my food choices for tea at the evening. Would this diet be better?-

Breakfast- porridge

Dinner- tomato soup, 1 boiled egg, 1 piece of fruit & a yoghurt

Tea- wholemesl
Pasta with home made sauce no cheese, side of salad/ chicken salad/ home made curry/ salmon with salad.

The smoothies I have are just raw spinach and fruit with water so don’t see how they would be 300calories? I’m trying to lose weight and gt as healthy as I can for ivf next year so the smoothies are to get my 5 a day in there and a teaspoon of Maca root as I’ve heard there good for hormone balance. So I do have to have the smoothie.

The problem with smoothies is you actually make the spinach less healthy by chopping it up so fine. You would be better stirring it into your tomato soup or the pasta sauce. It will wilt down and you still get the goodness. Why do you need the pasta? I would just make a sauce add loads of veg bit of chicken and serve with salad.

If you think about it pasta on its own is boring and bland. You eat it because of all the yummy stuff you make to go with it. So rather than eating a fairly bland high calorie food try and eat more of the tasty veg and then you can have a bit of cheese too.

Personally I've stopped having breakfast which is much easier than you might imagine. But if you don't want to skip it maybe have eggs with tomatoes and mushrooms?

It sounds like a nutritious diet so don't beat yourself up. I think you're eating quite a lot though. I don't really think people need 3 meals a day and so many snacks. If you do want to eat that way then it has to be low calorie stuff. I do 16/8 (only eating for 8 hours a day). I have brunch at 10 or 11am, a snack at around lunchtime and a big meal around 4pm). I'm always full and the weight has fallen off. By having 2 largish meals a day (brunch and a very early dinner) I don't worry about calories or fat. I just eat nutritious, filling food and never feel deprived. I now can't imagine ever wanting to eat 3 meals a day plus snacks. I agree with others that using my fitness pal helps. It really shows how easy it is to overeat. I haven't needed to use my fitness pal since doing 16/8 but if I was eating all day then I'd definitely have to log calories!

You got to calorie count to really know. Nobody here can advise you as we can’t tell your potion sizes.

Wow 😮 how the he’ll do you all function 😂 I actually could eat so much more than what I’ve wrote down! That’s a general “good” day for me!. I try to just stay away from crisps/chocolate. I’ve walked for an hour this morning and have got some bachelors cup of vegetable soup as it was lowest sugar/fat so going to have those for lunch’s instead now. @sallyWD I might try that and keep to 2 meals instead of 3 think that might really help but I know I’m going to feel so hungry lol Thankyou for replies too

For me I cut right down on carbs when I want to lose weight so:-

Breakfast: Blueberries/yogurt/granola or Oatsosimple to replace yogurt/granola. 'Treat' breakfast - toasted bagel with no added sugar peanut butter.

Lunch - salad but with protein like boiled egg/ham etc and small bit of carbs like sliced cold potato. add piece of fruit and/or full fat fruit yogurt.

Dinner - anything from jacket potato with salad to spag bol etc. I halve the carbs and portion size in half.

Snacks - keep to a minimum but dips with veggies are good or Jaffa cakes etc.

1 or 2 treat days.

I do (can't do so much now as early pregnant) - back to back gym classes - 2 in a go etc.

walk fast until you're slightly out of breath but 30 minutes a day. Limit milk in tea/coffee. drink more water.

I think your daily food sounds ok. I wouldnt' change too much as you won't stick with it.

However, its the size and amount you probably need to look at. The three meals you mention would be fine without the smoothie, and evening snacks.

Maybe swap the eggs and toast for breakfast to every other day, and have the smoothie for breakfast the days in between. So you have one or the other each day, not both.

Butter, bacon, brown sauce, pasta and fries, sorry but of course you will NOT lose weight You can eat all these things and lose weight, it's just about portion control!

There is nothing you can't eat when losing weight OP, but some things do need to be weighed out to help you keep an eye on portion size.

Give my fitness pal a go, even if you just use it for 2 weeks to give you a rough idea of calories in food & portion size.

I'm currently losing half a stone to look good on my holiday, the weight is coming off. I eat like this;
Breakfast, 2 crumpets with butter , an apple. Black coffee ( sugar)

Lunch, Chicken or halloumi salad or a sandwich.

Snacks, sugar free jelly/ peppers cut up/raw carrotts/mini chocolate bar. ( I don't snack every day just when I fancy something)

Dinner, anything really pasta bake, jacket potato, chilli & rice, salmon and veg, pesto cod , burger and sweet potatoe fries. I always have steamed tender broccoli & carrotts with mine as a side. (Glass of wine on Friday and Saturdays too)

Dessert, small fruit salad and 1 scoop of ice cream most nights

I'm 1lb from my target.

I just watch my portion size, and i do run 4 times a week.

I weigh and measure everything and log it in Nutracheck. It teaches you portion control and makes you realise that 'A few bits of chocolate' in the evening could be 100s of calories.

I think it must be the lack of exercise I am going to really up the exercise now. Going to walk for an hour a day at least 3 times a week.
I’m just trying to get fruit and veg in as really need to get nutrition and vitamins. I will start doing that @Walteriris I’ve had porridge for breakfast today so will have a smoothie tomorow. I’ll also start putting spinach into my evening meal.

In theory of course you can lose weight eating like that - but how big are your portions?

Thanks! This thread is filled with so much info!

You really should get my fitness pal.. honestly I would be terrible at keeping track if I didn’t have it.

Also do you or anyone your close to have a dog? Borrow it for walkies!

Honestly my dog changed my entire life.

I'd cut out the chocolate and snacks first of all, that's always made a big difference for me and then I'd cut the carb portions with your regular food - having a little bit of pasta with the bolognese padded out with lots of veg for example. Before I'd have had a plate full of pasta with a dollop of bolognese on top. I find eating this way makes about 2 clothes sizes difference to if I eat what I fancy and load up on carbs.

Your problem is def portion size. You don't need two boiled eggs for breakfast, for example, unless you're doing professional sport.

I'm losing weight at a steady 1lb per week on 1400 calories a day. I know my diet is very different to most people on here but I wanted to add a different perspective. I go to the gym 4 times a week and regularly weight train so I need carbs to support this.

Breakfast - 1 400g wholemeal slice of toast, laughing cow light cheese triangle, activia yoghurt
Snack - strawberries, raspberries
Lunch - ham sandwich with 2 x 400g wholemeal bread, celery, pepper, 2 cheese triangles, 30g mixed nuts
Snack - 2 Caramel rice cakes, cinnamon and raisin bagel thin, fruit
Dinner - chicken breast, 200g potato, beans, carrots, 2 rich tea fingers
Snack - 2 rice cakes, chocolate eg 4 mini eggs

I only drink plain water all day.

I know alot of people will tear my diet apart, but it works perfectly for me and I lose weight each week. I know my maintenance calories is about 1800 - 1900, so I'm in a calorie deficit. I should get to my target weight in the next couple of weeks having lost over a stone.

If it works for you purple then continue!

I think the your average diet sounds pretty good already OP (apart from the smoothie but only because they spike your blood sugar and aren't that satiating). So its got to be either the portion sizes or the snacks if you aren't getting the results you want. Have you checked the sugar in the yoghurts you are snacking on?

For me what works is keeping sugar to a bare minimum (apart from fruit) and laying off bread. But everyone is different!

@Narya I eat just plain full fat Greek yoghurt, I read the low fat alternatives are full of sugar and the label on the full fat is a lot less sugar than fat free. I think it must be lack of exercise and portion control, so going to start eating every meal on a small plate. I really just enjoy food lol someone asked “why do you eat pasta?” I enjoy
It 🤷🏻‍♀️. It is odviously hindering my weight loss though so am definatly
Taking everyone’s advice on here.