Encouragement for weight loss and healthy eating

[Doolhof]

Hi Everyone.

I am just going to put this title out there and see what happens. Later on I will try to add old thread titles relating to this issue.

People may have wonderful weight loss stories to share, ideas on exercises that are beneficial, reducing binge eating tips etc.

Healthy recipes will also be welcome. Maybe even healthy foods you enjoy but your family consider to be rabbit food! Ha. Ha.

Unfortunately for depression sometimes means binge eating and comfort foods. A carrot just is not comfort food to my brain! I need to find ways to rechannel that way of thinking!

All ideas and thoughts are welcome here!

Cheers for now from Mrs. Dools

[Lost_Girl]

Hi Mrs.Dools,

You have some great strategies there. I think discipline is key. I am working with the mindset that I can only eat the food given from liteneasy so that will be how I discipline myself.

Sorry to hear about your back pain. I think the pain will be my biggest challenge. When it gets bad I want comfort food. I have been trying to think of a substitute to food but have yet to think of something. I think I will have to wing it and see what happens.

Day 1 breakfast(food ideas for followers)

Today I had egg benedict for breaky. There was a piece of ciabatta bread the size of my palm with some english spinach, an egg and 2 pieces of rindless bacon topped with about a tablespoon of hollandaise sauce.

It was really tasty.

For morning tea I had a mandarin but any fresh fruit can be eaten (not bananas).

I am doing the 1200 calorie diet. If you want to do it yourself you could use myfitnesspal online and add your food in that you eat and it will count the calories for you. That program also allows for exercise if you add exercise you get some calories back!

I am not exercising with this diet due to my pain levels at the m ok ment. My hopes are that the weight loss will help in some way with reducing the pain levels (at my neurologist's suggestion). At the very least I may feel better about myself 🙂

One of the things I have struggled with on this diet before is getting to day 6 and 7 and only having a choice of 1 or 2 meals for dinner and not feeling like what I have ordered. This time around I ordered an extra 5 dinners so I will have more options. I am hoping this works.

My scales are out of batteries so I will get that fixed then I will share my scary statistics too in the hopes that it may motivate the readers out there!

If anyone else wants to add their story here or add tips for others please do. The more the better!

I know I tie my weight to my self esteem so I am hoping this weight loss journey will help with my happiness. I have enough other things making me sad right now. The weight is something I can control so today I start to control it.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Carol

[Lost_Girl]

Ok batteries in scales....

I am 170cm tall and currently weighing in at 98.2kg (which actually means I have lost a few kg already since the last time I weighed so yay me!).

Ok. 98.2kg and the goal is 70kg

My old GP told me I should aim for pre baby weight which is 65kg but 70kg puts me in a size 10 and I am good with that.

Wish me luck all!

I will keep updating meal ideas and check in weight once a week.

[Guest_1055]

Hey Mrs D and Carol

You have both inspired and encouraged me to keep going on this plan that I have been on. So thank you very much. Today for breakfast, which was very filling. I drank a smoothie that had almond milk, banana, oats, almond butter, cinnamon and maple syrup. Except when I went to retrieve the maple syrup from the back of the cupboard, it was practically empty. Somebody had put it back that way. Might of been me??? So I used coconut sugar instead.

Conclusion with this smoothie, make sure the banana has tiny black spots, as it is much sweeter that way. It is good if you need something quick for breakfast. Might try apple next time instead of banana, to see what that tastes like. This recipe was from " Cooking With Plants", so credit goes to the lady from that YouTube Channel.

And good on you Mrs D and Carol.

Love

Shell xx

[Guest_5218]

Yes Carol, I most definitely wish you luck. And you too Mrs Dools and Shell.

This is a good thread and I will be following your progress. I guess I am lucky in that I seem to have maintained a healthy weight and remained the same for what seems like forever. I know clothes I wore 15 years ago, still fit me and I still wear them. Ha ha, no excuses to buy new clothes therefore. If the old ones still fit ........... (-: I did put on a few kilos after I turned 40yo, but I was a lightweight up to then. Now I fit nicely into the middle of the healthy rate for BMI readings. So I dont really have any great tips for you.

I do know Carol that you are a very determined lady, and I'm sure you will make this work for you. You have set an achievable and sensible goal by the sounds of it. I dont know why your GP would suggest 65kgs, as that seems a little extreme to me. I did just check your BMI stats with the height and weight you gave here. 70kgs puts you into the normal healthy range, so thats a good thing to aim for. We need to be sensible about this! Mind you the BMI is not the be all and end all, but it is seen as a reasonable guide.

Very best of british luck to you all ................

Sherie xx

[Doolhof]

Hi Everyone,

I see there have been a few posts here since I last checked in, that is excellent!

My sister is staying for a couple of days, so don't know how good I will be food wise with her sweet tooth encouraging mine!

It is excellent to see friends here willing to help and support each other. That is fantastic. I do need some of your determination Carol!

One thing with any diet is to be sensible about it and check it out with your Dr if necessary, that goes for exercise as well.

Another thing I need to do is to stop making excuses for not sticking to a healthy eating plan, like my sister is coming and so on. I do find it difficult to say NO to the old dears whom I care for in their homes. They like to make me a cup of tea and offer a plate full of biscuits and home made goodies!

At one ladies' home I had one biscuit and she wanted to put the rest in a container for me to take home with me!

Determination. Will Power. Discipline! Oh dear.... Ha. Ha.

I may not be checking ion for a couple of days with visitors here, wishing you all the very best all with your healthy eating.

By the way Carol, your breakfast sounded delicious as did Shell's smoothie!

All the best ladies.

From Mrs. Dools

[Lost_Girl]

Hi Sherie,

Thanks! It has been hard for me. I had my appendix out just before I got married and started gaining weight after that but only a little. Before that I had been a waif. People often called me a coathanger or skeletor. My hubby used to complain when I first met him that I had a bony bottom lol. I was flat chested too which is a far cry from the size E I am in now.

I put on weight after having my kids. I lost it after the first. It was harder after the second with having a broken tailbone but at 70kg I was happy and looked healthier in a size 10 than the size 8 I had been which is very skinny for my height. I had gestational diabetes with my third and then struggled to find time to lose the weight and just when I started getting on track and was eating well and doing zumba 3 times a week I broke my shoulder and you know the rest. So I don't feel like me being this weight. I want to feel like me again.

The food so far is great. Yesterday lunch was a multigrain sandwich with mustard relish (no butter), corned beef spinach and tomato. I had a green apple and a small packet of grain crackers with rock salt (about 10 crackers the size of a 20 cent piece). For dinner I had spag bog, enough to fill a small dinner plate. The meat sauce for the spag bog has little meat but lots of tomatoes and carrot onion and probably other hidden veg, maybe capsicum. It is a very fine sauce and super tasty. The spaghetti itself doesn't look to be wholemeal but I would guess it's low gi. It was nice and filling.

Day 2, breakfast is almond toasted muesli with skim milk and 1 slice of fruit and muesli toast with a teaspoon of butter. The portion size for the muesli is about 1/2 cup. This is much less than the full bowl I would normally have if having cereal.

So far I am not feeling hungry. If anything it was hard to eat all the food yesterday. I did still feel like something sweet last night but I had kept the apple from afternoon tea and had that after dinner.

So far so good.

Carol

[Elizabeth CP]

Good luck Carol with your diet. I'm in the middle of week 3 of my diet. It is fine when I'm eating at home & in complete control of what I eat but find it harder if I eat out eg visiting family or if I go out to appointments etc round meal times where I would normally rely on snacks to tide me over. Despite that I'm doing reasonably well. I have lost 3.5kg so far but it is slowing down now. I need to lose another 10kg to get to what I was a few years ago after doing the same diet. I stayed at that weight for a while but put on a lot of weight over the last year since I couldn't exercise due to injuries & ate too much including junk due to depression.

I am doing 30min exercise a day. I usually walk & try to include climbing a long flight of steps (115 steps) 2-3 times to increase the effectiveness of the walk. I have a chart printed on the fridge with the list of food to be eaten each day & I tick these off throughout the day. This helps me keep track. It includes a minimum of 5 serves of vegetables/day, 2 fruit, 3 dairy & 2-3 protein foods, 3 tsp oil or avocado or margarine, & 3 serves of carbohydrates ( cereal, slice of bread, rice, potato or pasta) & twice a week you can have an ïndulgence"eg sweet biscuit, chocolate etc. I find the amount of carbohydrate restrictive but I have to go without something to lose weight. I get hungry just before mealtimes but otherwise I am OK. I feel better on the diet. Before I often felt uncomfortable & bloated from eating too much & felt very tired.

I find this diet works for me because it is prescriptive in what I need to eat which I find helpful but it is flexible in that it is up to me what particular foods I eat in each category, when I have them & how they are cooked. It also means I can make the same foods for my husband but just give him extra when required.

The important thing is finding a diet that suits you and your circumstances & a diet based on good nutritional principles. Fad diets might work short term but lead to more problems because they are unhealthy & impssible to stick to.

[Lost_Girl]

Hey Elizabeth,

Sounds like your diet is going great. What sorts of foods do you get to eat? I am posting mine here to give people ideas on healthy options (especially if there are people reading but not posting). I'd be interested especially in the dinners as I find it hard to replicate a lot of the liteneasy ones.

Today I had muesli and 1vpiece of wholegrain toast with 1 teaspoon butter and vegemite for breaky. Kiwi fruit for morning tea. Nachos for lunch which was 10 corn chips 2 tablespoons of grated cheese, 1/2 cup of bean/meat mix and a cup of tomato salsa (fresh cucumbers/tomatoes). Afternoon snack was fresh berries and cherries with 1/4 cup plain yoghurt.

I actually felt a bit better today and took the eldest 2 kids to a movie. I had forgotten to have lunch before I went which was silly but we went spur of the moment because I felt ok. Anyway I ended up eating some popcorn to tide me over. Then I had lunch and afternoon tea for my dinner and then skipped my actual dinner....I think it will work out ok calorie wise as the dinners are the largest amounts.

Cheers,

Carol

[blondguy]

Hey guys

before my ground zero anxiety attack (the 1st mega one) I was a size 30 (girls 10) That was 1983.

Sitting in offices and vehicles (and comfort eating) I went up to a 36 for about 2 years in the 1990's.

Been at a consistent size 32" in denim for about 20 years. I had to wake up about my weight...it was so hard doh

• Breakfast...Banana......or 1 piece of toast with black salt (vegemite)
• Lunch...220g can of fish...maybe a small cracker with it
• Dinner....Vegies and a steak...or a piece of fish
• Add heaps of garlic....and that why I am still single and trim (just having a go at myself lol)
• I havent had a roast since the early 1990's.......oh my lord...I miss it 😞
• Trivia: In 1997, Canada wouldnt allow Vegemite as an imported 'food' unless Kraft Australia reduced the sodium content by 50% . Kraft Australia refused. Welcome to yobboville....

Love you guys

Mr Woof! xx

[Elizabeth CP]

Today I went out to a church function and went off my diet during the day. Back on board from now on. Normally for breakfast I have oats with a few sultanas & sprinkle of coconut and some yoghurt & milk and a banana or orange. I usually leave it sit for a while so the oats soften in the yogurt.

Lunch I have some tinned tuna or 2 eggs with a slice of bread & some salad. Sometimes I have made a vegatable soup to have instead of the salad.

Tea I normally have meat & vegetables with either pasta, rice or potatoes. This is sometimes cooked as a stir fry. Other times I use my electric frypan & cook everything with just a spray of oil. I vary the vegetables some fresh & some frozen. I often have fruit with yoghurt or custard (made with skim milk) for desert. I like doing baked apple in the microwave.