New eating habits to drop some pounds

mrsberries

I need to lose about 6/7 lbs but after spending a year on weight watchers I dont really want to go on a "diet" as such. I simply want to incorporate some new eating habits into my regimge that are both healthy and will help me drop a few pounds.

My weaknesses are carbs and cheese. Im thinking that if I reduce my carb intake to one meal a day (breakfast, I like to eat muesli) may help.

Does anyone have any suggestions/ meal ideas to do this please? I think im conditioned to think I need bread and potatos to feel full. I eat three meals a day and an extra snack (popcorn or snack a jax) if Im going to the gym after work. Im terrified of getting hungry as it makes me vulnerable to bad foods.

Any advice/ help would be greatly appreciated

Faith

Why don't you post up an average days food (completely honestly) and we'll see what you can cut out? Cheese is very high in calories, a serving is 28g (1oz or a cubic inch) and that has about 110 calories in it. You definitely don't need bread or potatoes either!

mrsberries

Okay, here goes;

Breakfast-
40g of Hi 8 muesli
frozen berries
tub of low fat yoghurt or 3 tbsp of Glenisk strawberry yoghurt

Lunch
2 slices of sourdough white bread
tsp of coleslaw
bowl of salad leaves, cucumber, tomatoes
1 tablespoon of grated cheddar cheese

Mid afternoon snack
packet of snack a jax or
popcorn

Dinner-
Spaghetti bolognaise with cheese and garlic bread
or
oven chips (small portion), battered fish cooked in oven, small tin of beans. slice of bread. tartare sauch.

piece of chocolate



Its the dinner thats letting me down big time with all those carbs. Help:(

mack1

mrsberries wrote: »

Okay, here goes;

Breakfast-
40g of Hi 8 muesli
frozen berries
tub of low fat yoghurt or 3 tbsp of Glenisk strawberry yoghurt

Lunch
2 slices of sourdough white bread
tsp of coleslaw
bowl of salad leaves, cucumber, tomatoes
1 tablespoon of grated cheddar cheese

Mid afternoon snack
packet of snack a jax or
popcorn

Dinner-
Spaghetti bolognaise with cheese and garlic bread
or
oven chips (small portion), battered fish cooked in oven, small tin of beans. slice of bread. tartare sauch.

piece of chocolate



Its the dinner thats letting me down big time with all those carbs. Help:(

Breakfast seems good enough.

You need some protein with lunch, chicken, turkey, fish etc. Also, wholegrain bread of you must have bread.

You know yourself already but dinner is terrible! Spaghetti (watch portion size) is ok if you are doing some reasonable exercise afterwards, otherwise I'd drop it, oven chips are crap, as is the slice of bread, tinned beans have lots of sugar, and battered fish? You know this one!
You're right, many people are conditioned to think that you need starchy carbs with a meal - but you don't, so have some UNBATTERED fish, or some other lean meat and a big plate of steamed veg, incl plenty of leafy green ones!

Also - your snacks are terrible too, no nutritional value in them at all, much better would be some eggs, or some nuts and a piece of fruit.

Finally - you need some good fats, nut, avacado, flax etc. I guy milled flax and add it to my muesli.

Good luck!

mrsberries

mack1 wrote: »

You know yourself already but dinner is terrible! Spaghetti (watch portion size) is ok if you are doing some reasonable exercise afterwards, otherwise I'd drop it, oven chips are crap, as is the slice of bread, tinned beans have lots of sugar, and battered fish? You know this one!
QUOTE]


These were my worst examples of dinner but yes they are awful. And all those processed carbs have me running for a sugar rush afterwards.
I do work out - 4 times a week - and have started to do some weights work.

Regarding protein with lunch. Is a slice of ham sufficient? My work canteen has an open salad bar with turkey, ham and tuna.

Thanks for your advice:)

mack1

Ham would probably be the worst of the 3 as it tends to have added salt and the like, tuna is great (if it is not covered in mayo) and turkey, I think, is one of the most underrated meats - it has a better nutritional profile than chicken and, for me, tastes waaaay better.

It's obviously better to have proper meat over the processed slices, but if those are your options I would have some with your salad - mix it up so you dont get bored - if you are eating food you dont enjoy you're less likely to stick to it!

How Strange

mrsberries wrote: »

Okay, here goes;
Breakfast-
40g of Hi 8 muesli
frozen berries
tub of low fat yoghurt or 3 tbsp of Glenisk strawberry yoghurt

That looks pretty good and healthy to me.

Lunch
2 slices of sourdough white bread
tsp of coleslaw
bowl of salad leaves, cucumber, tomatoes
1 tablespoon of grated cheddar cheese

I'd say leave out the coleslaw but then again I hate the artery clogging stuff.
I'd also say leave out the cheddar cheese or at least limit the amount of times you have it during the week. And add some protein in there which I admit is quite difficult considering the tuna is usually swimming in mayo.

Mid afternoon snack
packet of snack a jax or
popcorn

Why not have some fruit and nuts close to hand for your afternoon snack? Lidl do a very good fruit and nut mix for 89c a bag.

Dinner-Spaghetti bolognaise with cheese and garlic bread
oroven chips (small portion), battered fish cooked in oven, small tin of beans. slice of bread. tartare sauch.

Ok you say this is a very bad example of dinner but essentially it's processed. Do you make your own bolognaise from scratch or use a jar?
I'd say make your own bolognaise using lean mince - better still mix 50/50 turkey and beef mince or use 100% turkey mince and add in lots of carrots, peppers and mushrooms chopped very small - a little spaghetti is fine but add some green beans or brocolli would be better. And cut out the garlic bread and cheese. The second dinner is just plain lazy. Buy fish without the breadcrumbs, steam some carrots, brocolli or whatever for veg (it only takes 10 mins max) and no more tartare sauce. If you want a sauce for your fish then puree some tomatoes or use tins and add some garlic, basil and pepper.

Essentially, you are like most of us - you think you're being healthy but you're over reliant on processed foods and carbs.

My motto for the last year or two has been to cook from scratch and rarely use anything from a packet, box, freezer etc. I always read the ingredients on anything I'm buying as even seemingly 'healthy' food can have added ingredients.

I've also cut my carbs lately especially at lunch and dinner and I'm getting on fine. I substitute lots of veg for my carbs in my evening meal and at lunch I might have a bowl of soup before my salad to fill up.

Hope that helps

Gurlzie1

I'd be staying away from yogurt even if it's low fat, 99% of the time low fat means really high in sugar which is not good if you're wanting to drop the pounds.

mrsberries

Gurlzie1 wrote: »

I'd be staying away from yogurt even if it's low fat, 99% of the time low fat means really high in sugar which is not good if you're wanting to drop the pounds.

On the advice of another poster Ive started to use natural yoghurt. Ive checked the ingredients and its only got milk and cultures - think I should be good


Thanks for all your advice guys, Ive gotten through today fairly okay except I was starving snacking on nuts alone. Ive stocked up on some hommous and vegs crudites for tomorrows snack;)

BraziliaNZ

can you buy hummus in ireland? how much is it for a tub?

How Strange

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

can you buy hummus in ireland? how much is it for a tub?

Yes of course you can buy hummus in Ireland.

The awful processed stuff is about €2.50 a tub but the McDonnells stuff is much better, no addditives. Costs around €3.50-€4 but well worth it.

mrsberries

mrsberries wrote: »

Ive stocked up on some hommous and vegs crudites for tomorrows snack;)

I bought the one in M&S - is this a bad choice of snack? Have to say it was quite delicious

neuro-praxis

Making your own hoummus is the easiest thing ever, and you can track your calories too.

Traditionally hoummus has olive oil in it but I make it without - just using some water from the can of chickpeas for moisture, and it's still yummy.

1 can chickpeas
1 clove garlic
Pinch cayenne pepper
Good splash lemon juice

Whizz together in the food processor. Makes lots. Track your calories at www.fitday.com and then split it according to your portion sizes.

Gurlzie1

mrsberries wrote: »

I bought the one in M&S - is this a bad choice of snack? Have to say it was quite delicious

It has good fat in it but is high in calories and carbs, if you're watching cals then you need to make sure you know how much you're taking. If I have it I usually put 3 table spoons into a small container to eat with some veges, thats approx 90 cals of hummus, 1 cup (approx 246g) hummus has approx 435 cals in it by comparison.
It's hard not to go overboard because it is so tasty!

mrsberries

Hi guys, I just want to thank you all again for your help and report on my progress. Ive made some positive changes to my diet by cutting down on processed foods, upped my fruit and veg intake and reduced carbs. Result? Im now into week three and have dropped about 4lbs and have seriously reduced my IBS symptoms - gas, constipation etc..

To give you an idea of what im eating -

breakfast - HI8 museli with fruit and natural yogurt with tsp of mixed seeds

mid morn snack - 2 pieces of fruit and about 5 nuts

lunch - mixed leaves, tomatos/cucumbers, 5 olives, small amount of pine nuts and 2 slices of turkey or ham.

mid afternoon snack - whole carrot chopped and a third of chopped pepper with about 2 tbsp on hoummus.

dinner - chicken breast or boiled egg with mixed leaves and less than a tsp of grated cheese


Im not 100% good as I still eat a small amount of cheese and do have a little chocolate if I fancy it but I dont feel like im on diet and am seriously NEVER hungry. I just hope to inspire others who may think dieting or eating healthy is boring or is about going hungry:)

Khannie

Fair play to you! Keep it up!

edit: Cheese is ok in moderation. Definitely nothing to worry about once your calorie intake is ok. Same for a bit of chocolate. Dark is better, but it's not the end of the world to have a cheat here and there.

mrsberries

Khannie wrote: »

Fair play to you! Keep it up!

edit: Cheese is ok in moderation. Definitely nothing to worry about once your calorie intake is ok. Same for a bit of chocolate. Dark is better, but it's not the end of the world to have a cheat here and there.

Thanks Khannie! I feel so good on it and my stomach has significantly flattened - some colleagues even commented today! Feel great and am definitely going to stick with it.

Lothaar

A couple of tips that the missus and I picked up over the last few years:
1. Make all your meals from scratch.
2. Things like bolgnaise sauce, chilli con carne and shepherd's pie can be made in huge proportions at the start of the week. Freeze portions for defrosting later.
3. In all of the above sauces, blend up a bogload of veg and lob it into the sauce while cooking. This allows you to get LOADS of veg in, but you don't taste it (great for eating veg you don't like). It just tastes like the sauce.
4. Replace pasta with fine green beans and potatoes with cauliflower mash. Add a tiny bit of butter/olive oil and some garlic/chilli to give it a bit of kick.
5. If in doubt... or if you're hungry... have LOADS of veg and maybe some extra meat. This will keep the carb cravings at bay.

Do all the above and you'll have nutritious, low-carb dinners that hardly take any cooking time (2 hours at the start of the week).

If you want fish, Lidl do some great frozen salmon that tastes just like fresh salmon. 'Trawlic' is the brand name, I think.

If you're not a good cook, buy "Rachel's Favourite Food" by Rachel Allen. She has some very simple recipes for bolgnaise, shepherd's pie and chilli.

Good luck!