Please criticise my diet!

[Blueskydrink]

Since March 20 I have put on 10kgs! Tried so hard to cut calories to compensate for my now sedentary life but the weight keeps piling on! So please advise where I am going wrong! Be brutal!!

Breakfast- small bowl Greek yoghurt, pear, cup of tea

Snack - coffee, two chocolate digestive biscuits

Lunch- two crumpets with butter (scrape!) and marmite, tea, pear

Snack - cup of tea

Dinner - lasagne plus salad, glass of red wine, mini magnum

This is typical and the same as my family but they don't put on an ounce. Thanks.

How tall are you OP?

Hi. 5'6" thanks for replying.

I'd say calories wise you're ok, but there's a lot of carbs and sugar here. Ditch snacks or swap them for veggies ( cucumber stalks or carrot stalks). Try to have protein based dinner. Have a proper breakfast, so you won't feel the need to snack between meals. Include some muscle building exercise - you can do short 15 min pilates sessions, which are great for your back!

Weight loss is purely calories in vs calories out. If your gaining weight then your eating more calories a day than your body is burning.

If you eat 1200cals of chocolate vs 1200 of veggies it is still 1200cals.

Obviously veggies are a lot more nutritious however at the end of the day weight loss is simply calories no matter what kind of food it is.

So please do not listen to those who will say 'it's your carbs' and rubbish like that. If you eat an apple at 100cals or a biscuit at 100cals it's the same amount of calories.

I agree with @beckyyl Are your portion sizes for meals really big? Taking out 1 of 2 digestives out and not having a glass of wine every night will create a deficit that would help you lose weight. Move a bit more make sure you get your steps in if you can!

Thanks so much for the advice. I didn't realise there was so much sugar and carbs. Definitely can try swapping biscuits for veg. I am clueless really as until this past year my weight stayed the same for ten years.

You’re eating hardly any veg, and have a fairly carb-heavy diet at the moment. Swap the crumpets for a salad-based meal, or soup, then you can keep the lasagne . I think you may need to choose between the mini Magnum and the wine or the digestives, alas.

The other thing is - are you brutally honest about this? Do you never have another biscuit with the afternoon cup of tea? Is a weekend day different to a week day etc.? Do you make exceptions that ‘don’t count’ because it’s ‘not often’?

It’s easy to put on weight as we get older and especially if you’re not moving as much.

Maybe swap out some of the sweets for some fruit? Fibre will fill you up more, and you’d get more nutrients? Whole meal crumpet?

Remove the biscuits, the magnum, the crumpets and possibly the wine and eat a piece of meat, chicken breast, a piece or a couple of eggs instead - not in the same day. Increase your veggies, try a bunch of asparagus, with maybe a slice of prosciutto on top, a lovely soup , or a dish of pasta which isn't loaded with white sauce, cheese, and meat.
Fill your fridge with veggies, cook a kilo of green beans, have cabbage already sliced, a bag of baby spinach, ....

Try myfitnesspal to assess your portions. I agree with WhatILoved and NoSquirrels - it will likely be a combination of portion size and just hitting the limit of too many snacks/treats. I do think crumpets, choc digestives, pasta with lots of fat involved, ice cream and wine is too many treats for one day.

In general I would think in terms of one meal with carbs a day - not that I think carbs are especially evil, it's just that it is REALLY easy to rack up enormous amounts of calories eating them and the things that make them tasty. When I'm managing to do well with weight loss, I replace one meals' carbs with a bed of spinach leaves - this isn't too hard for me as I love spinach, so whatever works for you. If you cut the wine down to 2x a week and replace the crumpets with a really nice salad of leaves (maybe with hard boiled egg or pulses?) things might start to turn around.

Thank you for your replies. It is very useful to read your comments especially on carbs and portion size. I am as a first step going to have a plant based lunch as suggested and remove the sweet treat in the evening. We tend to have a mini magnum, hot chocolate or cake after dinner 😳.

The comment on whether I have hidden anything is also interesting as I although I haven't I do cook a lot and graze a bit as I go...I guess this adds up too!

Honestly it sounds fine to me! I don't think dieting should be too severe or you just end getting sick of it and giving up. Are you actually gaining weight still?

I would swap out one of the pears for a large handful or raspberries or strawberries instead, and have a yoghurt or ice lolly in place of the magnum. I eat 'Light and Free' yoghurts when I want to trim down. Only 55ish cals and they taste alright, especially the strawberry one.

How much sugar do you have in your tea?

Are you having dressing on your salad?

Maybe it's just that you need to up your exercise a little?

This sounds like a weight gain creep caused by lockdown/ Covid19. Has it changed your habits, for example are you working from home now instead of in the office? I think you would have been slightly more naturally active before lockdown. I was the same and have had to start moving more to make up for those little walks in the office, going from car park to office, up and down stairs to take copies and whatnot. If you can, start going for walks or do some simple exercise videos at home. What sort of exercise do you like?
I note you mention your family eats the same and are staying at the same weight, unfortunately this is not something that you can guide yourself buy. If it is a husband you are talking about, they can eat more and not put on weight, the same for children, teenagers and young ones. For women it can be a bit more of a fight because we have all the hormonal changes to contend with and just a different body composition.
I agree with previous people saying a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, but you won’t be doing anything for your health by eating your caloric allowance in sweets and treats. The trick is by eating your allowance made up by lots of vegetables, protein and a bit of carbs, this will make you less hungry and will be more nutritious. You would probably do really well with some small changes like adding more vegetables to all your meals and reducing the treats. Maybe have one biscuit instead of two, and save the glass of wine/ Magnum for the weekend. If you really need something sweet during the week maybe you could have a square of dark, good quality chocolate.

I am losing weight at the moment.

I have one crumpet for lunch with an egg and some salad. I like grated carrot with ginger and a bit of lemon juice, shredded red or white cabbage with chilli, lime, ginger and a dash of oil. This is all cheaper than filling up in bagged salad. Protein alternatives to the egg are half a can of mackerel fillet in brine, tuna, chicken with no skin.

Beware of stuff like lasagne, it can easily rack up 800 cals a portion.

Add one spoonful of granola to your morning yogurt and swap the morning snack for carrot I cucumber strips or mini tomatoes.

I go for a properly brisk walk every day.

Swap the mini magnum for a mini milk. Don’t eat cake except on rare occasions.

That’s an unhealthy diet really. Lasagne is definitely a treat food. Biscuits and magnum and wine is a lot of junk in a day too. If you want to lose weight then you’ll need to make some big changes.

Breakfast go for a slice of whole grain toast, 2 poached eggs.

Snack, a pear and a cup of tea.

Lunch, a delicious vegetable soup (glorious do some nice ones), or tuna and wholewheat pasta with cucumber, pepper, onion, some extra mature cheddar (no Mayo). Or a jacket potato with beans / tuna and a big salad.

Dinner, lean meat, small portion of carbs and half a plate of veg.

Glass of wine once or twice a week. Magnum once a week.

Get out for a walk every day, just half an hour will do.

TBH its kind of pointless speculating as terms like 'small bowl' and 'one portion' can vary wildly depending on how much you actually have. People are terrible at eyeballing portions so I would recommend eating normally for a week but weigh each portion after putting on the plate but before eating so you know the calories. Easy to calculate with MFP.

Lasagne can vary wildly as well - how much cheese do you use? What % fat in the mince? How much oil? How much butter? Any sides? Dressing? This could make the difference of hundreds of calories per same weight portion. Again you can work this out by creating the recipe with weights in MFP next time you make it.

I'm trying to gain weight atm and use My Fitness Pal to track calories. I think you should get the app, it's free. You can put in your current weight and target weight and it gives you a recommended calorie allowance per day. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it's definitely helping with my weight gain.

I know I'm the opposite end of the spectrum but I think it's really useful for anyone trying to take control of their diet. You have to remember to put everything in though - eg. Butter, oil, salad dressings, if you had a bite of your dc's leftovers etc. Just make sure you're honest and not missing anything out or underestimating. I've been surprised to learn the calories in some foods are much lower than I thought, while some others are much much higher.

I've read a lot about metabolism recently too, and how it can change throughout our lives based on age, fitness level, hormones, diet and so on. Your metabolism may be slower than it used to be which could be why you're now gaining when you used to maintain your weight on roughly the same amount of food.

Reading your diary, if I wanted to lose weight in your shoes I'd cut out the wine to every other night perhaps, maybe lose a biscuit too - or swap both biscuits for something healthier if you want to lose more faster.

The first thing I noticed was it’s quite low on vegetables. Maybe the lunch could include some. Or one of the snacks. I like to have raw vegetable sticks with houmous.

I’d also look at what portion size you are having for dinner? I realised a few months ago that I’d got into the habit of serving myself and DH (who is 6ft and a runner) the same size portions and wondering why I was getting fatter. I just don’t need as many calories as him and I’ve cut down my portions and this has helped a lot.

If you are trying to lose weight I’d cut out the biscuits, maybe swap for something healthier if you are hungry and either drop the magnum or swap it for fruit or a yoghurt or square of dark chocolate or something.

@beckyyl true weightloss is mainly calories, so even by eating 1200 calories of crap, you will lose weight. However, if you eat crap, you will maintain the unhealthy gut microbiome which will make you gain back all the weight as soon as you stop dieting. Science has now proven that the yo-yo effect is caused by your gut. Change what you eat, increase your veggies, you will change your microbiome, and not only lose the weight, but keep it off. Instead if you keep eating crap, just less of it, you are maintaining the unhealthy gut microbiome which will scream for murder to hav more of the food it wants.

Calories are important, but processed food vs unprocessed food is even more important. This recent medical study is worth reading @Blueskydrink. www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(19)30248-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1550413119302487%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

I do cook a lot and graze a bit as I go...I guess this adds up too!

Yes, it will. A bite here and a spoonful there will soon add up. You need to be firm with yourself on the grazing. I'm a terrible grazer myself but when I admitted to myself how much I was doing it, it was easier to stop. You will enjoy the meal more if you don't graze while making it.

Focusing on cutting calories doesn't always work. It does for some people. This is why:

Our bodies do a lot more with calories that just gain/lose fat. We have multiple bodily systems running concurrently, keeping us balanced in terms of blood pressure, temperature, hormones, fluids etc, and all of this takes energy ie Kcal. If you cut calories, your body may choose to lose some fat. But fat is your body's 'energy storage savings account', and nobody wants to drain their savings account, right? Better to live a little cheaper, day to day. So, your body might decide to deal with the calorie deficit by putting a little less energy into hormone balance, or controlling the fluids in your body, or maintaining your temperature, or your ability to physically move. This is why, when some people go on a calorie controlled diet, they get depression, greasy hair, sweats, crappy skin, exhaustion, etc, and eventually cave in on the diet, because they feel like crap and they've not lost any weight.

The body can't do anything with carbs except move, and fuel the brain. The brain can only use so much energy, even if you're a rocket scientist, so, unless you're moving to burn all the carbs off, they will be stored as fat. There's nothing else they can do. Protein and fat look after all the other functions. All of them. So if you eat more fat than you need, the body can choose to store it, or to focus on giving more energy to making your skin gorgeous, or keeping your mood balanced, etc.

Carbs also make the body release insulin, which tells the body 'Hold up! Don't use any fat!! Keep the savings account full!! We've got readies, here!'. The body will use no fat until the carbs are used up. Most of us live in that 'Hold up!' state, and get ridiculously hungry (hangry?) when we near the end of the carbs in our system.

Drop your carbs substantially. Eat more protein and fat. Your body will be able to fuel your systems to stay healthy, and burn its stored fat. This will mean you are less hungry (as your body can access it's storage fuel), and eating at a calorie deficit will happen easily, and quite possibly by mistake.

It’s pretty hard to judge based on one day. What’s on a typical weekly menu? Lasagne is not necessarily going to be making you gain weight if it’s a sensible portion or your one blow out meal on a background of generally healthy.

I agree that stopping wine drinking every day is an easy way to cut calories (and is better for you). Do you drink more on a weekend?

I’d limit to one pudding a day-so either the mini magnum or the digestives but not both.

It might be worth having a week or two of weighing absolutely everything so you know if your portion sizes have got too big, especially of carbs (I have to measure pasta and rice every time I cook).

Breakfast - cut out the sugar, it only sets you up to crave that chocolate midmorning snack. Have a savoury breakfast like a couple of soft boiled eggs.

Morning Snack - have something veg based like carrot sticks with a teaspoon of houmous.

Lunch - use a scrape of light Philadelphia instead of butter, and add more veg.

But also try to move more!

Have a look at Dr Greger's "How not to diet." At the moment your diet is very processed. Try for whole grains, fruits, legumes, berries etc.

Could you do porridge / overnight oats with berries and a handful of sunflower seeds for breakfast? That should be more filling than yoghurt and you can skip the biscuits with your coffee.

Lunch - two slices of wholegrain toast topped with no-added-oil-or-salt peanut butter, sliced banana and blueberries / baked sweet potato and hummus / three bean salad / wholegrain pitta with lots of raw crunchy veg.

Dinner - wholegrain pasta bolognaise rather than lasagne, have dried fruit rather than a mini magnum, finish with a cup of peppermint tea (you won't fancy a magnum after peppermint tea!)

I always fancy a magnum!

For me, dealing with those sorts of cravings is more about having a set time to have them-for example Saturday mid morning is packet of crisps and a nice cup of coffee with the newspaper time.