How do you lose weight if you're a picky eater?

[wheresmymojo]

I really need to lose weight, a lot of weight. Around 6 stone +.

However I'm a very picky eater and I struggle to find meals I can eat that are also reasonably healthy...

Foods I don't eat:

• Eggs
• Any kind of poultry
• Salmon
• Any kind of lettuce / celery / radish
• Chickpeas
• Soup
• Fresh tuna (tinned is okay)
• I only eat a small amount of meat (once a week max)

Basically at the moment my diet is actually quite restricted and mainly high fat / high carb / high sugar. I eat the same food a lot because I find it hard to think of other things that I want to eat. So at the moment:

• Almond croissants
• Pizza
• Jacket potatoes with cheese or beans
• Bacon sandwiches
• Ready meal veg curry and rice
• Crunchy nut cornflakes / branflakes / weetabix
• Custard choux buns
• Ice cream

Obviously most of this needs to go.

The veg curry is okay if I make it at home and the jacket potatoes. Also the bra flakes and weetabix. I also like fruit and yoghurt and I'm fine with most veg (but never know what to eat it with).

What else do healthy people eat?

My eating habits have been so twisted for so long I don't actually really know what I would eat day to day?

Thanks all.

You have really talked me down from being totally overwhelmed.

In a way, it's all things I already know but had got myself into a 'can't see the wood for the trees' moment earlier.

You are all

A few things you’ve said are pinging a few little red flags in light of your past eating disorders. Please talk to your gp again, particularly before you start ordering weight loss drugs off the internet.

@wheresmymojo

Thanks I think you are right and I just need to come up with a plan to eat what I can that's reasonably healthy even if boring and start from there.

I've never really been interested in breakfast so TBH I'd prefer to skip it and have one less meal to think about.

Lunch I could have fruit and Greek yoghurt or pitta, hummus and Greek salad.

Dinner I could have fish cakes and veg, white fish and veg, I will also eat chilli and bolognese.

Snacks I am happy with carrot sticks and apples.

Perhaps I just need to rinse and repeat this until I get bored of something and then try and find a variation rather than getting overwhelmed trying to think of lots of healthy meals right now.

I tend to cope with repetition of food pretty well (I would happily just have a bowl of cereal for every meal if I could) so I may not get bored anyway.

That sounds like a decent diet to me, without an almond croissant and Choux bun in sight.

If you can start to include other healthy foods into your go to list then in a few months you will have a much wider repertoire of foods to choose.

You can also try by gradually cooking foods you can eat in different ways, eg you eat potatoes and fish, so you could try fish pie. You eat chilli and Bolognese , so this could also be a potato topped pie. Or meatballs.

Summer is coming, lots of fresh fruit to have in small quantities in your yogurt, or make them into a coulis . If you like apples then try eating different varieties so your palate gets accustomed to different flavours of a familiar food, ditto cheese.

Just eat less. Weight loss is only done by eating less calories that you burn. Just track how much you eat per day and eat less...

There's nothing wrong with being repetitive, so what if you have fish and veg every night for dinner? Lots of people eat chicken and veg several times a week through choice.
Presumably you husband isn't eating the croissants and choux buns. so just don't buy them.
Lots of people seem to have success with the 16:8 way of eating.

Hi OP, I am autistic and have lots of sensory issues around food which means I could be considered a ‘picky eater’. I have lost 2 1/2 stone in just under a year, with approx 1 1/2 stone still to go. It has been a very slow journey for me but I’m ok with that.
I have tried various things but what seems to work for me is repetition and working in the things I prefer or regard as my ‘safe foods’, and adding in a few other things I’m not really keen on but can still manage to eat. I tend towards beige foods, especially bread. Luckily for me I like the majority of vegetables, so evening meals are more varied. I don’t really like fruit, but find that a little passionfruit or tinned pears with soya yoghurt is ok. I’m vegan so your menu will look a bit different, but currently my day looks like this:
Breakfast: coffee (I don’t really like most breakfast foods). At the weekends, I will have a slice of buttered toast
Lunch: small tortilla wrap, toasted, filled with quorn vegan ham and vegan cheese (love this meal). To make it healthier I serve with a large salad
Dinner: varies but include stir fries, pasta bake, vegan cottage pie/ spag Bol, pitta pizzas, vegan sausage and mash. All served with half plate of veg
Afternoon snack: soya yoghurt and passionfruit
Not the healthiest of meal plans but it isn’t too forced so means I can stick to it. I am prob getting 4 of my 5 a day, which I want to increase over time, but making little changes over time is better for me. I also take a good multivitamin each day to help make up for any nutritional shortfalls. When you have other things going on which mean you have a limited food repertoire then you have to just do the best that you can. Good luck OP!

I'm not picky but have lost 2 stone in 3 months by eating repetitively. It's actually soothing to know what you will eat and that it works well.

I use nutracheck to count follow the fast800 principles of rapid weight loss being better than slow and steady lifestyle changes.

I have Around 800 -1200 cals per day for 6 days (usually around 850 on work days and bit higher if I'm home) and a cheat day of up 2000.

I weight and record everything and weigh myself everyday on renpho scales.

Typical work day:
B: dry toast abs jam
Snack: banana
L: fruit (melon grapes pear) and ham or egg or cheese
Snack: apple
D: chicken breast and brocoli
Treat: mini vienetta
Friday: gin and tonic.

I batch cook it on Sunday ( I have salmon and roast veg for sun/mon) then Tuesday for tues/we'd/Thursday.

So just find healthy versions of what you like and limit carbs and very little processed foods.

Good luck OP