Diet advise

Angela

I lost 3 1/2 stone at the beginning of last year and have maintained that for the last year.I now want to loose another stone.I go to a slimming world group which has helped and supported me all of this time.They have a healthy eating plan with no restrictions but all naughty things have a syn value and a few items have to be weighed.
I now want to go even further so have cut the majority of sugar, caffeine and carbs out of my diet.I have never done any exercise mainly due to two bad knees, I thought loosing weight would help this situation hence me loosing the weight.
This is what I eat and drink on a daily basis

5.30 am Glass of water 2 wheetabix 150 gms 0% fat free natural yoghurt 100 gms Berries 1 tsp manukau honey Green tea

10 am 2x skimmed milk (350 ml) decaff latte's Glass of water

11.30 100 gms Chicken and large salad Sometimes egg, smoked salmon or smoked trout 1 tbs of reduced fat salad cream Glass of water

2pm 2x glasses of water

4.30 2 x 125mls of wine 1 x low fat crisps 5 halves of walnut
5.30 2 x glasses of water
6.30 A meat dish either chicken, pork, fish or beef homemade from scratch with all fat cut off or 5% fat mince beef 1/2 a large plate of veg

8.30 Can diet soda 2 x glasses of water

I am trying to incorporate things that I have read that are good for you eg the oily fish, nuts manuka honey etc
I still carry a lot of my weigh on my stomach and upper legs.
I am a 53 yo female 5' 6" tall and weigh 10 st 1 lb and want to get down to 9st 4lbs I am pretty sure I can do this with this amount of food and drink, but does it look ok I don't eat pasta,rice or potatoes will I be deficient in anything if I cut these out

Also if I continue this eating plan with my weight eventually plateau to the weight my body wants to be......or will I continue to loose weight.

Any feedback greatfully received

ciderwithrosie_2

The first thing I would cut out would be the 2 glasses of wine a night - that's probably an extra day's calories per week, I'm sure it can only help to ditch it while you try for this extra stone.

consultant31

Personally I think you may well struggle because you are trying to take your weight too low.

I've done that myself in the past and found that it's far too hard to maintain and the weight crept back on.

At marginally over 10 stone, you are well within the healthy BMI range.

As for your knees, I would see a practitioner who could advise low impact exercise to strengthen the muscles around them which would help with the pain.

pink_princess

You haven't given the grams you are eating so it is hard to be precise but fibre would be the one I'd be concerned mostly with.

How are you taking your Manuka honey? If in the green tea make sure it is cooler before putting it in or you are killing the UMF or TA benefit.

Fluff15

The first thing that shouts out to me is that this doesn't seem like enough food - if you're cutting down carbs you need to up both fat and protein.

The weetabix still have added sugar - you will be better swapping them out for something like overnight oats. Use plain oats, a little bit of milk, yoghurt, and berries. It will be the same texture as your current breakfast, but better for you. Try adding seeds to it or nuts, if you like them - high in fibre and necessary fats.

Also swap the yoghurt to greek yoghurt (Fage) - it's higher in protein and has no added sugars like most other 0% yoghurt you find. The full fat version is better if you're doing low carb.

If you're low carbing try and drop the honey in the tea, it's unnecessary carbs/sugar. The diet soda and wine every night are also not great.

What do you snack on during the day? You must be starving every time you get around to a meal. Healthy (low carb) snacks include nuts, nut butters, seeds, vegetable crudites, houmous, beef jerky, fruit (in moderation), greek yoghurt, small amounts of cheese, edamame beans.

Lunch seems okay, make sure you're adding in lots of vegetables - beetroot, tomatoes, cucumber, beans, spring onions, spinach, peppers, carrots etc. Make sure it's varied and colourful. You want at least 100g of meaty goods in there (fish, chicken, two eggs) as well, the protein keeps you full.

Dinner is good, but DO NOT BE AFRAID OF FAT. Cut off excess if it's too oily, but you will need the fat if you're low carbing. Use 10% fat mince, I find that's the best one for me. Chicken has no fat, porkchops need their fat bit on them so they're tasty when cooking but you don't have to eat the fat.

I don't eat pasta, bread and the only potatoes I eat are sweet ones - if you're cutting carbs down you will still need some carbs in your diet to keep you alive, but the vegetables and oats will provide plenty.

fairy_lights

Angela wrote: »

4.30 2 x 125mls of wine 1 x low fat crisps 5 halves of walnut

A quick google search tells me that 125ml white wine contains 85 calories, and the same amount of red wine contains around 120. So depending on your preferences that's either 170 or 240 calories a day (and thats assuming you're carefully measuring it out and not eyeballing it).
So you'd be better off using those calories for real food that will keep you full and saving the wine for weekends.

lovehackney

Echoing what Fluff15 said above, you need to be eating more fat and less sugar. Check your low fat products - often they have more sugar per 100g than regular versions. Don't be afraid to eat wholegrains, you need some carbs for energy! Just measure them to make sure your portion size is right.
I would definitely cut out the wine too - do you really need 250ml of wine, every single day? Aside from the calorie content, they contain a lot of sugar and also your liver never gets a rest from processing 'toxins' from alcohol if you drip feed it every day.

I think you need to introduce some exercise too - I think rather than obsessing about a goal weight, think instead about how your clothes feel etc - you could stay the same weight but if you toned up, would possibly be much happier at that weight. I know you said you have bad knees but there are exercises you could do - swimming is an easy example. Maybe have a few sessions with a personal trainer so they can show you what you should be doing.

All in all, good luck! You are not overweight and congratulations on keeping the weight off for a year. I know the obsession with getting thinner even if you are a healthy BMI (that's exactly how I am feeling at the moment!) but sometimes it is unrealistic.

Also if I were you I would read up on the latest health and diet advice. Things have moved on quite a lot since "fat is bad, it's all about calories" to eating less sugar and understanding that calories from some sources, e.g., fat and protein are better than those from other sources.

Angela

pink_princess wrote: »

You haven't given the grams you are eating so it is hard to be precise but fibre would be the one I'd be concerned mostly with.

How are you taking your Manuka honey? If in the green tea make sure it is cooler before putting it in or you are killing the UMF or TA benefit.

I have it to sweeten my yoghurt and berries

Angela

ciderwithrosie wrote: »

The first thing I would cut out would be the 2 glasses of wine a night - that's probably an extra day's calories per week, I'm sure it can only help to ditch it while you try for this extra stone.

This probably would help, but I have always had 2 glasses since I started loosing weight it's my treat, but yes it would help, will cut it out from tomorrow

Angela

consultant31 wrote: »

Personally I think you may well struggle because you are trying to take your weight too low.

I've done that myself in the past and found that it's far too hard to maintain and the weight crept back on.

At marginally over 10 stone, you are well within the healthy BMI range.

As for your knees, I would see a practitioner who could advise low impact exercise to strengthen the muscles around them which would help with the pain.

I will go back to the doctor and see if they will send me for an x-ray

Sharon87

Angela wrote: »

This probably would help, but I have always had 2 glasses since I started loosing weight it's my treat, but yes it would help, will cut it out from tomorrow

If you still want it as a treat, you can have it once a week, just not every or most days!