Where am I going wrong?

[HayMaker]

So this is what I’ve eaten today. How come I was ravenous and ended up eating 4 biscuits and a packet of crisps this evening?! I’m being healthy I thought, but I don’t get why I’m still stuffing my face with shit.

Breakfast:
Green smoothie with various veg, a banana, nuts, seeds and hemp protein
Cottage cheese on Oatcakes

Lunch:
Roasted tomatoes on two slices of sourdough toast with olive oil and salad leaves
Satsuma and small handful grapes

Snack:
2 seeded ryvita a with hummus

Dinner:
Orzo with loads of veg, bacon and feta

where am I going wrong?

Am not surprised you're ravenous, your glucose levels will be all over the place.

Very little protein, particularly in your first meal.

Also, the smoothie is lacking fibre, which will keep you full.

Oatcakes, ryvita, sourdough AND pasta. Lots of starchy carbs. No protein.

Okay, I’ll be honest I don’t really get what any of this means…but there was hemp protein in my first meal?

I hate meat and fish, I’m trying various bits now and bacon is okay in tiny bits. But I can’t eat loads of bacon.

Is kefir mixed with natural yoghurt with fruit nuts and seeds okay as a breakfast?

Have a listen to this podcast https://joinzoe.com/learn/podcast-how-to-control-blood-sugar-spikes and then have a read of Jessie Inchauspe's Instagram Glucose Goddess and that will explain about glucose spikes.
It really does work that if you keep your blood sugar flatter you don't crave sugar so much

Yes, Greek yog, kefir, berries and seeds is great for breakfast. Keep the fruit to berries (Bananas and grapes for instance are v high sugar) and a plain yoghurt that just has yoghurt culture and milk in it

Okay great, thank you. I don’t really understand how things work, maybe that’s what I need to get a handle on.

A smoothie isn't a meal.

Personally, I wouldn't eat kefir mixed with natural yoghurt with fruit nuts and seeds okay as a breakfast as it would send my glucose levels sky high. At the very least, if you want to eat this, substitute the natural yogurt for full fat Greek yogurt as it's full of protein. If you want, you can add some of your protein powder to that.

Do you eat eggs? Eggs (with a piece of wholegrain sourdough) is a great breakfast. Lunch too.

Try to make your dinner lighter, so some kind of protein and salad and/or veg. If you want to eat starchy carbs, eat them earlier in the day.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtGQq7zIpfR/?igshid=YmM0MjE2YWMzOA==

Tim Spector is co-founder of Zoe and an expert on gut health. This is a video of his breakfast

Was also going to say increase the protien.

You could do with tracking your calories, even if only for a few days just to understand how many you are eating.

I'd guess your breakfast comes in at about 600 possibly 700

400ish for lunch

150 for snack

500/600 for dinner

So very roughly 1750 for the day. Depending on your height, weight, age and activity level that might be too high.

If you do a TDEE calculator online it will give you a decent indication of how many calories your body uses to maintain current weight. If you eat less than that you'll lose weight.

Firstly, the things you are eating sound yummy and nutritious, agree to have yoghurt for breakfast and add an egg for lunch. Reduce carb snacks a bit

"
Personally, I wouldn't eat kefir mixed with natural yoghurt with fruit nuts and seeds okay as a breakfast as it would send my glucose levels sky high. At the very least, if you want to eat this, substitute the natural yogurt for full fat Greek yogurt as it's full of protein. If you want, you can add some of your protein powder to that."

I eat this for breakfast nearly every day (with Greek yog, no protein powder) and it only ever shows as nearly flat on a continuous glucose monitor.

Try and base all your meals around protein so things like Greek yoghurt, eggs, legumes, tofu, dairy foods, meat and fish.

These foods keep you fuller for longer. Bulk them out with veg especially but also some fruit.

Examples could be

Eggs/sourdough or Greek yoghurt with fruit and seeds

Your lunch sounds great but you need to add protein into it.

Dinner - meat/fish and veg/tofu curry/quorn bolognese/lentil and bean chili etc.

Without the protein and veg your going to feel hungry.

Have a look at what foods are high in protein and take it from there.

Good luck

Thank you everyone, I’ve taken everything you’ve all said on board and made a small shopping list. I’m not very good at cooking and I have a toddler who refuses to eat a majority of stuff and is always on the go, so been finding it all a bit tricky really. I’ve just downloaded my fitness pal to keep a track of what I’m doing too.

pulses are good alternatives for protein and fibre too. Also check your portion sizes - if you are new to this malarkey weigh and nutrition count everything for a few days, some stuff is surprisingly dense.

I’m currently losing weight and not hungry on a breakfast similar to yours (all bran, splash of milk, dollop of yogurt, fruit), Massive Salad for lunch (lots of veg + some protein + some beans or other whole carb) and a realistic portion of whatever is being done for the family dinner cooked healthy (eg if spag Bol then minimal fat, wholemeal pasta etc).

And if you’re happy to eat meat and fish, rather than avoiding them on ethical grounds, do keep trying - they are very varied, there may well be something out there you really enjoy.

So I ate kefir and Greek yoghurt this morning with nuts, seeds and berries and I was starving two hours later, ended up grabbing this fried potato thing and it’s alll went wrong since and I ate a packet of 6 cookies.

Why was I hungry later? Why am I a disaster at just eating like a normal person?

Because you are used to eating more regularly, so work with that but make better choices.

When you realised you were hungry you chose a fried potato thing. You could have had:

• a boiled egg
• some cheese and a ryvita

-an apple

• an oat cake with peanut butter
• some cottage cheese and cherry tomatoes

Makes sure you have some healthier snacks on hand to grab if you're hungry.

I tend to find that when I go lower carb, I'm ravenous for the first 7-10 days, if I can get past that point the hunger reduces right down and I can easily stick to just meals with no snacks, but you have to force yourself through that first 7-10 days.

Thank you. I couldn’t have had anything else as I was very far away from home and the place that sold this was the only thing nearby. But sadly it just ruined everything else. But you’re right, I should have had some healthier things with me to avoid panic buying, I’ll think ahead in future.

I'm on a diet too @HayMaker and have made all the same mistakes (many many times 😂) this time I'm going with my strengths and recognising my weaknesses.

I know that I just don't have any interest in cooking or preparing food, and if it's too much effort I default to the easiest option available. I'm also shit hot at making a list and being prepared. My fridge always contains Longley Farms full fat cottage cheese, Sainsburys Finest Full fat Greek yoghurt, the little pots from the sandwich section that have 2 boiled eggs in, and the ones that have cut up carrots and hummous, a pack of plum cherry tomatoes, ready trimmed green beans, sliced mushrooms and asparagus spears, a pack of wafer thin chicken and some packs of Ember beef/venison/chorizo jerky.

My cupboard has a couple of boxes of Slimfast caramel or strawberry chocolate bars.

I can walk into my kitchen at any point and walk out with a snack that will fill me up for less than 100 calories and I have ingredients for a meal I can make in less than 5 minutes in the microwave for less than 300 calories.

It's not exciting food, it's not massively varied but it does the job. My husband cooks all the real meals and makes me protein and veg based stuff in the evening so I just need to stop myself eating crisps and cake for the rest of the time. And if the chocolate monster is clawing at me then I have a Slimfast bar and it's just close enough to satisfy that need.

It depends on why you've overeaten really IMO. Reasons I can think of include to feel happier/for a mood boost, stress-busting, low on energy physically, distraction from other tasks, time-killing, boredom, to be social/join in with family or friends, even self-sabotage (done this one myself). If you can stand back and think why then you're in a better position to tackle it.

I think what you are eating sounds fine. The crisps and biscuits sound like you just want chips and biscuits rather than hunger.

You weren't actually starving. You wanted something to eat. Push on through to lunch. Drink water.

Also, you said you ate a pack of six cookies, were they to hand/in the house or were you out? I don't keep anything like that in the house anymore because I know I will eat them in a weak moment.

Are your portions big enough? If I'm having Greek yogurt I have about 300g plus add protein powder plus half a tin of fruit. It's a huge bowel and keeps me full till lunch.

Eating well takes planning. You need to think ahead and have snacks, meals which are in line with your goal.

It doesn't have to be perfect either. Instead of writing off the whole day just choose better at the next meal.

Weight loss is hard but so is eating crap and feeling like rubbish. You get to choose which hard you want to do.

Hunger is driven by the balance/imbalance of hormones - specifically insulin, grehlin and leptin. If you're eating too many carbs/too much sugar, then they will be all out of whack, and this is what makes you hungry.

So you need fewer carbs, more protein and more fat in your diet.

You also need to persevere while your body gets used to the new diet, and stop reaching for the biscuits!

An old Slimming World trick is to drink a glass of water when you're feeling hungry.

Can you try eating something like eggs for breakfast? Although you've gone for the yoghurt, you've also added kefir and nuts and seeds and berries, all of which will have added more carbs to your meal - and it's the carbs which drive your insulin levels up, which sends your blood sugar levels up - and a few hours later, they'll crash, which is what makes you feel hungry.