Need some advice from healthy eaters / dieticians / successful slimmers please

[SammyK]

I really need some help getting my diet healthy. I am eating way too much and too much junk, and I am piling the weight on.

I am an emotional eater, I am greedy, and I am a sugar addict. I suffer from IBS too and I am sat here so bloated I look pregnant!!! I enjoy healthy foods as well as others, it's just I am eating everything!! I think I eat more than DP.

I just don't know where to start in getting back into healthy eating habits.

Is there anywhere I can access a simple eating plan with portion sizes for example? I need to have 'evidence' - this is how much of this food I should be having. I have done WW before but I don't want to lose loads and put it on again, I want something sustainable and healthy long term.

Can anyone advise? I can't carry on like this, I have really low energy, my IBS is troubling me, skin grotty, etc. It's not good. I think going into boots or somewhere tomoro and getting weighed may spark my determination to change things....

Have you tried any of the magazines as a starting point? I thought the Rosemary Conley was quite good.

You could try Amazon or your library for a book on a particular diet like gi diet.

How about an online subscription for something like Tesco e-diets?

I used to use
Sparkpeople

Its a free website and its brilliant. It will give you a diet plan but its American so some foods are alien to us but you may get a general idea and are able to substitute foods. I think I'm going to start using it again.

You're welcome to join us here

Sammy, you sound like me a few months back.
I am 10/10ing now and after the first few weeks found it really easy.
I feel much better in myself. Most of the time I just lurk, but the regulars are lovely and really supportive. The aim is to improve health, but once you start eating all that good stuff, there is less room for biccies so I found I lost a bit of excess weight. I have stabalised now at a healthy BMI of 23.7 ish which is slim but with a bit of softness.
here

I also know you can get a portion size plate thingy that gives you guidelines on portion sizes, but sorry I don't know where you get them form. Maybe google it?

Good luck. It only takes a few weeks to break bad habits and I managed, so I am sure you will too!

Hi sammyk. I have lots of sympathy for you. I love food SOO much and often know I am eating more than DH.

But... I have managed to lose 17.7 kg (2st 11) in the last 7 months! I still have a way to go to make my goal weight but I feel so much more confident about it now. My best advice for you is to slowly and sensibly chip away at your eating "habits" - you can change things for the long term. I have worked hard at developing a repertoire of recipes / meal ideas that I really like, but which are healthy and low cal. That way you can eat lots if you need to - but eating lots of salad is a whole lot better than eating lots of confit duck and dauphinoise potatoes!!

Some of my favourite meal ideas:

• interesting salads are a winner! rip up lots of iceberg lettuce and top with sliced avacodo, toasted pine nuts, and a rasher of bacon chopped up into small bits. Dress with lemon juice and salt and pepper. Have a huge serving!
• roast wedges of butternut squash, top with steamed green beans and spicy mince. You only need a tiny bit of mince to make it interesting: hot pan, add chopped onion, garlic and chilli, add mince and some tomato puree, throw in some other veges when it is nearly cooked, e.g. frozen sweetcorn. You end up with a plate which is mostly vegetables, but it doesn't feel like it.
• Covent garden soup cartons - they are quick and yummy. Check the calories - some of them are amazingly low cal. Fill up your DP with garlic bread, but just have a small piece for yourself.
• Low cal ready meals can be useful in some situations. e.g. if DH wants a pizza, I'll make that for him, but grab a Weight watchers or other healthy ready meal out of the freezer for me. To make it interesting I add as many steamed green veg or lettuce as I like. You can make your meal twice as big for hardly any extra calories.

Other tips:

• when serving up meals, I try to think 2/3 for DH and 1/3 for me. I have a terrible habit of eating everything on my plate, so I just have to force myself to put less on to start with.
• it is a really good rule to always make sure you are eating less than your DP - it's a good reality check.
• I add steamed broccoli to everything! e.g. if I have made something like spicy chinese stir fry rice (which DH loves) then I put the rice in his bowl, but in my bowl, I put half steamed broccoli, then just a spoonful of rice on top. You still get the flavour, but most of what you are eating is broccoli.
• might sound weird, but use a smaller plate / bowl.
• as a rule, think: my plate needs to be 2/3 vegetables/salad. So only 1/3 meat or carb.
• try to break the cycle of snacking between meals, especially junk. Just don't have junk in the house. If you want to snack, look at the clock and think, only 2 hours until dinner, what are we having, that sounds yummy, really looking forward to that. Even better, I found if I started the cooking prep it it was a fab distraction! e.g. start chopping up some veg or doing other preparation for the healthy meal you are going to eat later in the day, instead of having a snack. Or go for a walk / run some errands to get yourself through until your proper meal time.

Of course, you need to experiment to find some new habits that work for you, but I really hope the above ideas provide some inspiration and encouragement. You can do it! All the best.

Whoops - sorry for the long post! I guess I am just excited as I really cannot believe such simple things are really working for once.

Great post though, Pony

Hi everyone thanks so much to all of you for replying, I couldn't back back online yesterday thanks to my useless broadband.

Some really great advice and tips.

I do need to just chip away at my eatin habits, changing things a little at a time. A lot of the tips are things I have done in the past, just need to do all the time long term!

I think first steps are what I buy, a lot of junk has crept into the shopping trolley, and smaller, healthier meals, less snacks, etc.

Will check out all the links, thanks again everyone feel very encouraged.

Have seen the 10/10 threads before, probably do 5 a day, but for some reason find ten daunting, sure it's easily done though if you up your veg and cut down on meat.

Ponymum, well done on your weight loss! I am definately going to steal some of your tips and hopefully will lose some weight myself!!