I've outgrown my Size 16 jeans; please give me some meal ideas apart from jackets and baked beans!

[OddsocksinmyDocs]

As the title suggests.

A combination of a baby (who is now a nearly 2 year old toddler), a huge appetite for chocolate, crisps, sweets etc, my weight has slowly crept up and I've gone from a size 12 to a size 18.

Any meal ideas to keep me going?! They need to be easy and faff free as I work full time

Hi OP, I feel your pain. I too struggle with work and healthy meals.. here's a few ideas:

Tinned mackerel stirred into pasta with green pesto from a jar

I also do scrambled eggs in a frying pan and throw in some Uncle Ben's microwave egg fried rice from a pouch with frozen peas and prawns and gently fry it with olive oil.

Failing that, avocado or mushrooms on toast makes a tasty snack too.

Start with some protein, add lots of non starchy veg, make sure it fits on a plate and add a small amount of carbs.

Cooked chicken is a good quick thing to start with

I batch cook everything. Make four portions and put the rest in the fridge for me. DH cooks for the kids because they're all fussy eaters and I've had enough TBH. DH works on a Saturday so I spend the day doing some batch cooking.

Some ideas:
Slow cooker stuff like chilli and Spag bol
Any kind of pasta bake
Lasagne
Fish pie
Shepherds pie
Tik tok feta pasta is a good one too

Eggs are always quick and easy
Beans on toast

Bagel thin, lightly toasted, with two lightly poached eggs on top. Really healthy filling breakfast for about 270 cals if you don't add butter and poach the eggs in boiling water.

The Slimming World pasta carbonara recipe is great too. Beat an egg together with some quark low fat cheese. Add seasoning - fresh or dried herbs, garlic granules, black pepper etc. Grill some lean back bacon and chop it up finely. Cook pasta, stir the egg sauce into it and cook for another two mins. Grate a bit of fat-reduced mature cheddar or grana padano on top, add the bacon. Serve with leaf salad or steamed broccoli. Creamy and filling but a fraction of the calories of a carbonara.

This is a quicky lunch idea and my go-to.

Get some spicy microwave rice and a tub of cooked prawns.
Add rice to a sauce pan with a tiny amount of water and then chuck in prawns (I chop them because I'm paranoid about them not being deveined properly). Add extra seasoning and veg if you want to fluff it out but works as an on-the-go meal.

Other than that, there is stir-fry's, ramen, omelettes, swap out regular bread for thins or general low-cal bread, generally track calories. Even if you don't do a lot of exercise, you can track a calorie deficit

• Stir fries
• 2 egg omelettes
• batch cooked soups from any green veg and onions, with a teaspoon of double cream swirled in and a pinch of chopped nuts for texture.

Get a pack of “straight to wok” udon noodles and some Broccolini and Pak choy. Put all in mixing bowl. Pour boiling water on top. Leave for 3 mins. Meanwhile heat half a carton of Itsu chicken ramen. Chuck in some prawns or cooked chicken ( or both) and heat through. I use raw prawns and the heated soup cooks them nicely. Drain noodles and veg and put in soup bowl. Pour the heated soup and protein over the top. Add chilli sauce if you want. Takes literally 5 mins. Really filling and warming.

Thanks everybody for taking the time to reply I'm going to try these recipe ideas and I'm aiming to be back in my size 16 jeans by Christmas Day!

Tinned tomatoes
turkey mince
chilli paste/powder
onion
pepper

fast and healthy chilli

I’m 4 and a half stone down and 1 more to go. I eat all the stuff I normally eat, but less of it and I work out. Eating ‘super foods’ isn’t the answer. Eat what you enjoy, just less of it

1 meal a day
riccola before bec

Totally agree with @Prisonbreak

No drastic changes to what, just how much, and let's face it, usually we can all focus more on healthy veg

2 egg omelette, add in whatever veg you like - peppers/onion/spring onion/ chilli/ mushrooms

Chicken breast with garlic roasted greenbeans and tenderstem brocolli

I think I need to focus more on this. Our teas are usually 'good' - spag bol, jacket potatoes etc but its the breakfast, dinner and all the snacks inbetween that I struggle with!

I also need to drink more too x

I find that if I focus on getting some protein into every meal then it's much easier.
Greek yoghurt + high protein granola breakfast
Protein bar with coffee
Lunch sandwich with ham and chicken
Whatever we have for dinner as a family.

Then lots of veggies etc

A spoonfull of peanut butter is a healthy snack to have when you need to stop a binge in it's tracks. I find it levels out my appetite and stops me over eating carbs and gives me the energy I need to cook veggies! It might not work for everyone, but I live by it!

I'll try that. I have started to really crave sugar at all times of the day and to be honest, it's getting ridiculous. I bought a jelly pouch on my way to work this morning and 5 minutes into my 15 minute work, the craving was so bad, I had to stop to eat it

You can do this! From what you said about the jelly, it sounds like your problem might be the sugar. Honestly I’d worry less about your meals for now and start by trying to tackle the sugar. It’s really tough but you can definitely do it. We don’t get told about sugar being physically addictive like cigarettes or alcohol, but it really is. I know it sounds really weird but try to think of it as an addiction that you have to help your body over come. See if you can cut out processed sugar for a day. So any choc, sweets, biscuits, jelly etc. Just try one day to start with. Then try two days. Keep eating whatever meals you want, but nothing with added sugar. It’ll be like a cloud lifting - you’ll honestly realise it’s not about you as a person wanting all that, it’s just your body reacting physically and demanding more and more sugar.

Thankyou for understanding - I was worried I sounded a bit strange I am going to try cutting it out and see how I get on I hope you don't mind me asking but have you experienced the same?

Today I had spinach, ham, two boiled eggs and light Philadelphia. It was lovely

If I cut carbs it falls off.

This is on my list!

Depending on the size of potato and how much beans you have you may be having more calories than you think. Possibly try a soup at lunch, some are only 150 calories and some sliced chicken, if you want to read up on useful swaps I would recommend following The Fitness Chef On Instagram, he also has books available ( free from the library/library app possibly ) May be worth working out how many calories you use www.fitnesschef.uk/calculator/ and try logging your food on My Fitness Pal to get an idea of how many you are eating. I crave sugar a lot and it is easy to eat lots of calories in a short time 😟

Hi @1idea I have jackets and beans because a) they are so quick to do and b) I've done Slimming World and they are one of the typical 'free syn' meals so it's kind of the norm for me now. I do need to start checking calories. I'm just far too lazy

I'm also trying to lose weight mainly by trying to cut down on snacks, as most of my diet is fine.
But chocolate is my downfall. I'm not buying anymore milk chocolate but still eat (in much smaller quantities) 70% chocolate.
I feel my sugar craving has reduced since I've done that.
Best of luck