Getting started/How many calories?

[Fatproblems]

I need to lose a lot of weight. I’m currently 250lbs, I’m aiming for 160lbs. I was a size 12 years ago at this weight so I’d be happy with that.

How can I get started? I have Autism/ADHD, I’m not good at cooking and I’m extremely unfit! We have autistic children and I feel like life is chaotic a lot of the time.

My diet is absolutely terrible, mostly takeaways, fizzy drinks and junk food. I know my diet needs a complete overhaul for starters.

How many calories should I be eating? I’m pretty sedentary just now, I have hypermobility so my joints aren’t great.
I’m planning to start walking, maybe yoga and slowly introduce weights and some other cardio.

The biggest advice I need is what can I eat that doesn’t require a lot of work?
Please don’t suggest meal prep as I won’t stick to it.
Things that are healthy, quick and easy to fix would be ideal. I’m also apprehensive about cooking meats like chicken.

What are the best ways to track my progress? I’m planning to weigh myself, but also take measurements and photos.
How often would you suggest doing all this?

Any other tips/advice would be appreciated? I’d also like to use this thread to hold myself accountable, or if anyone is just starting out and wants to track progress with me?

Work out your tdee and reduce the total by 20% for your weight loss calorie target amount.

https://tdeecalculator.net/

Weigh and log everything on My Fitness Pal to track. Tedious at first but gets easier/quicker as you build up your food & recipes.

Don’t log exercise, even walking, on MFP or it gives you the calories back to eat which can stall progress.

in terms of what to eat, you can eat anything and as long as you stick to your calorie target you will lose weight. Obviously high calorie items mean you can’t eat as much and will be hungry and may end up jacking it in.

You could look on TikTok for recipe ideas/videos, there are lots of people posting simple, low calorie but filling recipes on there.

Jacket potato and beans, no butter, is a simple but filling meal. I will see if I can find some ideas for you & post later.

Something like these are quick
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGegDoCGB/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGegDwyDN/

you could use cooked rotisserie chicken for something like these if you are nervous about cooking your own. Remove the skin to keep it lower calories.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGegULx6k/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGegDwNLQ/

A really simple meal is cut up peppers, tomatoes, courgettes, onion and roast in a hot oven. You can add chickpeas, or serve a separately cooked protein. You can add different herbs and spices, get a blend you like perhaps.

We have this once a week, it's just easy. Today we had tomatoes, peppers and onions (no courgette, shopped in a different store and got overwhelmed, I'm autistic too) so had some tinned sweetcorn and vegetarian sausage.

If your diet at the moment isn't great, perhaps try focusing on adding some good stuff and cutting the problems back a bit before calorie counting, such as say, half the amount of pasta and put the sauce over broccoli and less pasta.

Walking is great exercise, use something like GoogleFit to track your maps, it can be surprisingly interesting to see them.

I use MyNetDiary. It is easy to use, has a massive food database and you can put custom recipes in too. If you put all your stats in, including where you want to end up, it will work everything out for you. You can add in exercise if you want and record body measurements and photos. It will prompt you to track your meals and water.

Echoing @WeirdPookah in that I would start by adding things in instead of cutting and counting. In fact, I wouldn't even start looking at TDEE's and BMR's and all that stuff yet in your shoes OP.

If your diet is in need of a complete overhaul then that's a big enough change without adding in further complications. I'd start by swapping stuff out so it's the same but different e.g. brown bread not white, same for pasta and rice, jacket potato instead of chips, add in some veg or salad or fruit for snacks. Add in a glass of water before a meal.

If you know meal prep and batch cooking isn't for you then focus on the quick and/or easy. Take the shortcuts that will help you succeed- pre chopped fruit, frozen portions of veg, pouches of rice or grains. Easy cupboard meals like omelettes and tuna salads, soup, tinned chilli or basic pasta dishes. Traybake recipes and one pan meals, veggie if you're nervous about meat. You can buy a whole array of precooked meat in different flavours, or plain and switch it up how you like.

I'd go back to basics- just cutting down/out the takeaways, swap some fizzy for water, and cut way back on the junk in favour of whole food and you'll see a huge difference. Then you can start to think about calories!

Yes, take measurements and keep in a note on your phone. Pics and weight too if you like. But pay attention to how you feel in yourself too!

Hi OP,

It sounds like your life is pretty hectic and making big changes all at once isn't going to be practical (tbf it isn't for most people, but esp not with AuDHD and kids with additional needs)

I'd suggest using a tracking app, but rather than picking a diet or a meal plan, just spend two weeks tracking what you're currently eating, without making any changes. Myfitnesspal is free, I use nutracheck which is about 30 quid for a year's subscription. They both do the same job but I do find nutracheck quicker/easier to use because it's UK based and much easier to find things than MFP (which brings up a load of American brands)

If you can track for two weeks, you'll have an idea of what calories you're eating and then you can aim for a lower target. There's no point deciding today that you're going to aim for 1400 if you're usually eating 2800 - it'd feel punishing, and it'll take time to work out how to eat lower calories without feeling starving. Tracking your calories will help you to understand portion sizes and what things aren't bad and what you could easily swap (eg where foods you don't even like that much have surprisingly high calories and you don't mind getting rid)

Not everyone finds tracking manageable so if you don't, there's other methods you can try.

Re food ideas - could you give some examples of foods/meals that you like?