What diet to suit my family? Help!

[ritzbiscuits]

My DH has at least a stone to lose and is interested in the Fast 800/5:2 diet. He’s a big snacker on biscuits and cakes. I’m a bit unsure as I also need to find an approach that will also work for me and our son.

DS age 6, is a complete bean. He eats fruit and some veg, most evening meals are based around pasta/rice, he doesn’t like bread/potatoes.

I have a few excess lockdown pounds to lose, but am not overweight. So any severe low carb option isn’t necessary right for me.

I wanted to ask if anyone had had success reducing carbs/switching to wholegrain versions, rather than completely cutting them out? I wondered if we could cut out the sugary rubbish, alcohol etc but move to an approach where my son can have carbs, but my husband can reduce his portions?

I’m not very knowledgable around diets, so most appreciate your advice.

We started today -a life long plan -a just total shift not diet.

Lunch was soup maker. Butternut squash / sweet potato / tomato / spinach and chili flakes. No bread for me -but the kids had two bowls each and wolfed it down and two bread rolls each.

Dinner was scallops with rice, spinach, lentils, kidney beans - with a small amount of mashed potato -again -gone in 30 seconds.

I've always eaten wholemeal bread but hate brown rice with a passion.

Today when shopping I brought loads and loads of fish and loads of veg and lots of nice steak.

For us this is a life style change. We are doing one light meal eg soup or salad a day -and one bigger meal. The kids are free to help themselves to fruit for fill up and in addition they are having a pint of milk each day. But gone is the crumpets, cake, biscuits etc.

So maybe you can do something that fits with you. Does your son like sweet potatoes & pasta and rice -just do a small amount for everyone. This evening our plates were mainly scallops, spinach and beans and a serving spoon size of rice.

For us I know this is a life style change going forwards -moving away from a diet of takeaways, crumpets with chocolate spread -really suprised with how keen the kids are.

I've gone for the approach -no biscuits in the house -can't eat them -same with cake etc. I'm doing the same size portion as the kids but if the kids want more -they can have it.
I have three stone to lose and I know 90% of it will be diet based loss.

Weight watchers? Rice and pasta are free foods (you can have them as much as you like) and you can still snack. It doesn’t exclude any food group. And, it's not so much a diet as a re-education of eating habits.
Because you have to stick to your points level, you’ll find that you will opt for lower fat foods and make healthier choices. It also focuses heavily on portion control.

I did weight watchers which for me the main premise was to eat whole grain rather than white rice or pasta, cut out the cakes and biscuits and cook things from scratch rather than eat processed meals

DH and I both need to lose roughly a stone. He is a lot taller than me. DD is a very fussy eater and doesn't like anything but pasta and pizza. So we are calorie counting so we can all have the same thing but different amounts of it. And DH has extra snacks. It's working OK so far.

Thanks for the responses, it sounds like cutting out the crap and reducing carbs/switching to wholegrain will help at least. I need to do some more research into the Mediterranean way of eating, which I think could would for us without being too restrictive.