What should I cut out

[Jaffalemons]

i seem to have hit a standstill but struggle with all the meal prep. I’ve settled on a breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner and the reality seems I need to eat less to lose.

my concern is I don’t want to be hungry as it makes me fail and binge crap.

what is an easy tweak that keeps protein fibre and nutrients. Should I ditch the fruit?

I’ll upload my breakfast lunch and snacks. Dinner is home cooked and varies, but portion is smaller as I use a small bowl.

Breakfast Egg, tomato, greens with a little lemon, vinegar, EVO dressing.

Snack - 2-3 fruit, 1/2 portion of whey protein with 100ml milk .

lunch homemade bread with seeds, pot of nuts and seeds, fruit.

Dinner - anything but veg and beans whole food focused.

Should I ditch the fruit? It feels counter intuitive, but is that my issue?

I’m very active.
5’7 10 st

You have plateau’d because you are not eating enough protein.
Ditch all the fruit, have a handful of berries instead.
Get more protein, this will mean less hunger hormones.

It’s nothing fancy, and in a Panasonic bread maker.

1tsp yeast
150g wholemeal flour
350g strong white
30g EVO
1tsp sugar
1tsp salt
50gs of mixed seeds - brown linseed, golden linseed, chia, natural sesame, black sesame. I used to mix in nigella but the kids didn’t like them!

my nut pots are 130ml pot and I just mix in everything from my store cupboard. I’m a grazer so it suits me.

54 so firmly on HRT

I think that I want to eat what I want and just be the size I’ve been all my life 😂

Nuts are more calorific than you think, so I’d ditch them. Do you exercise?

Yes if lose one of the fruit at snack time. Your 5-7 recommended servings if fruits/veg really should be mostly veg. You are getting 3/4 pieces of fruit a day - I’d limit that to two and add in more veg to bulk out your food. And how much protein are you getting? Egg has some, half portion of whey protein also some, a bit with the nuts, and you don’t really say with dinner. How about two eggs? Or add some smoked salmon to breakfast or lunch? Also you say you are active but do you do weights? I think you need to build muscle (that doesn’t mean bulky), stay the same weight but be leaner.

To lose weight I usually ditch a meal. So breakfast or lunch goes and then I only have one piece of fruit as a snack if I must. Ditching a meal basically frees up hundreds of calories for the other meals.

Nuts and seeds contain protein… so this is a bit oxymoronic

People saying she needs more protein - those nuts will have loads of protein in! The portion does look quits big, maybe half it and see if that makes a difference. Also I understand completely feeling heavier than you’d like - I also have a small frame and feel chubby when my bmi is over 22 - it may be healthy, but I feel chubby and my clothes don’t look as good. I like mind between 20-21 to feel good which is still completely fine. People telling you it’s disordered are usually the ones who wish they were a little more disciplined…

People saying she needs more protein - those nuts will have loads of protein in!

But also very high fat content and so very high in calories.

100g of Sainsburys mixed nuts
649 calories
58.2g fat
21g protein

100g of Longley Farm cottage cheese
104 calories
6g fat
10.3g protein

So you could eat 200g cottage cheese to get 21g protein (matching the nuts) but 208 calories (one-third of the nuts) and 12g of fat.

Thanks all. Some good tips and I think more protein might help me snack on less fruit.

If that doesn’t help then my nuts and seeds <sob> might need a reduction! It seems an easy fix but they are so good for me that I can’t do away with them too easily.

I just weighed a pot, and it’s 69g

It has dried berries and other stuff but I can’t see dates or dried berries being much less. I may not know anything about calorie counting, but even I can tell that’s a lot.

Nuts, they are more a fat than a protein. High in calories.

At a glance I'd say you need more protein. Drop the bread and have a chicken breast instead.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of veg there, either. Exchange the nuts for a substantial portion of veg (not starchy veg).

Why do you want to lose weight anyway? You'r at the low end of normal.

Also watch portion sizes. I can tell you from bitter experience that 150g of chips is tiny.

Your breakfast looks good, I would increase the protein to a full scoop of whey and you need to eat more protein at lunch. Aim for 30gr. Per meal. I find over eating nuts makes a big difference, the amount is easy to underestimate. When I want to cut back, I alway cut back on nuts first.

I am also very active (47 and perimenopausal) and feel best at minimum 110gr of protein throughout the day, if I hit that target, I tend to find that the rest falls in place.

Portion sizes do matter!

One chip or two?

😆

To add, I only eat nuts for healthy fats, they are too high in calories to be enough of a protein source to meet my protein needs.

I would drop the fruit

Would you eat a chicken breast every lunch time? I’m not sure I could, but I suppose twice a week could work. I need more unprocessed protein ideas.

If it's any consolation, 57 here, on HRT, 5ft 7", currently 9st 10lb, also no boobs, slim frame. I'm happiest at 9st 4lb to 9st 7lb (which I weighed for years without much effort), but am almost accepting that I'll struggle to get back to that. I have to eat less than 1200 calories a day now to lose weight, which is nothing. As a PP said, it's essentially cutting out a meal, such as breakfast. My Fitness Pal has been the only thing that really works but you have to weigh and log everything. I'm more tending to go down the lifting weights route now - more muscle helps you burn more calories - but I totally understand where you're coming from. And upping the protein. I struggle to cut out the fruit too as I feel yuck on a fibre light diet!

The tracking apps allow you to add in recipes you make often, or you can work out calories using ChatGPT. For example your loaf recipe in picture.

The are tedious to log in so I only do for a couple of weeks at a time to get a ball park of what I am eating, but they can help to pinpoint areas to improve.

You're not overweight and very near the lower end of your BMI, so I assume you have a medical reason for losing weight? What is the reason

In terms of recipes, you put your recipes into MFP or nutracheck or other calorie counting apps and yes you have to be boringly accurate. Measure out your EVOO, use water to 'cook' things in a frying pan. Use a proper measuring tablespoon not that massive kitchen spoon you have in the drawer

I cook all my own food and calculate everything.

My BMI is 22 between 18.5 and 25, that is not lower end.

I'm a weirdo and eat pretty much the same thing day after day. So, yes, I eat 120g cooked chicken every day.

How about tofu? That's pretty much solid protein, too, and you can get a load of different flavours and textures.

Fair enough I thought mine was 22 at that weight and Im an inch shorter than you, actually 1.5 inches, obviously mine is a bit more

The point still stands about how you calculate. People love to think you can just 'eat healthy' - whatever each individual means by that - and lose weight but humans being what we are, we fool our eyes into thinking our portion is only x amount when its a xx so you need to be accurate about being in the deficit you want

Ive just had a snack of nuts, 25g. It looks like an insult in the bowl.

And your protein at lunch can be anything, salmon, smoked haddock, tuna, oily fish in tins, tofu, cheese etc.