Winter Weight incoming

Dewhirstn

Morning All,

It's that time of year again when I start piling on the lbs, eating more heavier comforting foods for the colder months when you comes home fancying a stew and not a salad.

Usually this isn't an issue, I'm used to it by now, but this year my summer months haven't been great either, I usually lose between 3/4 of a stone to a stone over the spring summer, but this year has seen a lot more parties and special occasions that usual, and I'm ashamed to admit I actually weigh more now than I did at the start of spring.

The main problem I find with my diet is breakfast time, I get up on weekdays at 6am, shower dressed blah blah blah, and then I'm stood in the kitchen thinking, what should I have, and I do find I grab for the toast more often than not, does anyone have any breakfast ideas which are healthy and quick? I don't mind making a bit of a mess, or even if I could prepare them the night before, also, I do suffer from nasty heartburn, and I find that it hits in a morning more often than not, it seems to be kicked off by large amounts of sugar and citrus, so I try to steer clear of sugary cereals and pastries and fruit juices on a whole, I normally just have a coffee with breakfast.

Lunch I think I have down, one of my favourite lunches is soup, and with us brits having such great seasonal vegetables about I'm going to stick to making veg soups/stew, today I'm having a Pumpkin, green pepper, chilli, chickpea, kidney bean, tomato, carrot and kale mixture, with some thyme.

Dinners are a bit of a pain too, I get home around half 5 with my son, he will have a snack, as he gets something to eat at his school after school club, then I normally start on mine and the wifes dinner, she gets home at about half 6, so by the time I'm done she's walking through the door, I love leftover recipes, so satisfying getting those bits used up and making something tasty with them, this week we are down for:
Mon - Spanish Stuffed Marrow
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2493639/spanish-stuffed-marrow
Tue - Sausage Pasta
This is a recipe I "created", home made tomatoe and basil pasta sauce with grilled sausages cut up into it as a quick meatball and pasta.
Wed - Autumn Veg soup
Getting the most out of that soup/stew I'm having for my lunches again
Thur - Chicken Quesadillas
I'm using up some left over roast chicken from Sunday here, pull it off the chicken and rip into chunks, chuck it into some just softened peppers and onions, mix in Chipotle paste to taste, then put a wrap in a frying pan sprinkle over a small amount of grated cheese, really just to work as a bit of a glue, top with some of the chicken mix and fold over the wrap and toast on each side until brown on the outside and warmed through, salad on the side.

I run my shopping weeks Friday to Thursday, so I'll probably sit down tomorrow or Wednesday to work out next weeks list and order it online.

If any of you have any breakfast ideas, or lunch and dinner for that matter it would be hugely appreciated, I'm going to try and keep the updates going for meal recipes I find and think up.

Thanks muchly everyone.

trailingspouse

What you post sounds perfectly sensible (although sausage and pasta sounds a bit heavy to me).


So - the culprits are likely to be

• portion control. Try serving your food on a smaller plate (no, I didn't think it would work either, but it does)
• puddings - you don't mention them. Do you not have them, or have you just *ahem* forgotten about them?
• snacks. Don't.
• alcohol.

And be honest with yourself about how much physical activity you do. Whatever you do, do more! A brisk walk on a cold crisp autumn day is joyful.

parking_question_chap

trailingspouse wrote: »

What you post sounds perfectly sensible (although sausage and pasta sounds a bit heavy to me).


So - the culprits are likely to be

• snacks. Don't.

Not really the full story.

Nothing wrong with snacks, as long as they are not processed junk.

I generally eat small meals and about 3 or 4 snacks, and my body fat was 11% last time I got checked.

Its actually more beneficial to eat little and often rather than have big meals and nothing in between.

Dewhirstn

trailingspouse wrote: »

What you post sounds perfectly sensible (although sausage and pasta sounds a bit heavy to me).


So - the culprits are likely to be

• portion control. Try serving your food on a smaller plate (no, I didn't think it would work either, but it does)
• puddings - you don't mention them. Do you not have them, or have you just *ahem* forgotten about them?
• snacks. Don't.
• alcohol.

And be honest with yourself about how much physical activity you do. Whatever you do, do more! A brisk walk on a cold crisp autumn day is joyful.

Thanks TrailingSpouse.

My portion control probably is an issue, I do have a habit of over loading our plates.

I don't really have puddings, I might have some natural greek yoghurt once in a while with a tsp of honey or some dried fruits, but when I do have a sweet I'll go all out.

Snacks are my main downfall, I'll get home and while cooking dinner I'll have a nibble of something, then after dinner probably around 8-9pm the SO and I will have a cuppa which usually is accompanied by some biscuits.

I don't drink much alcohol, I'll happily go for a p*** up with my mates, but thats once in a blue moon (probably every 2 month or so), I might have the odd nip at home, but we're talking once a fortnight at most.

I don't do much exercise, my job is lightly active, but aside from that very little, I had started going for a run in a morning (5am) but I have trouble getting motivated when it's pitch black outside and freezing cold.

Dewhirstn

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Not really the full story.

Nothing wrong with snacks, as long as they are not processed junk.

I generally eat small meals and about 3 or 4 snacks, and my body fat was 11% last time I got checked.

Its actually more beneficial to eat little and often rather than have big meals and nothing in between.

parking_question_chap,

Any tips on healthy snacks? I keep nuts and dried fruit in the house, but when I grab for the snacks it's more often than not biscuits, or I might make a batch of salty popcorn for me and the SO on an evening if we are both snackish.

parking_question_chap

Dewhirstn wrote: »

parking_question_chap,

Any tips on healthy snacks? I keep nuts and dried fruit in the house, but when I grab for the snacks it's more often than not biscuits, or I might make a batch of salty popcorn for me and the SO on an evening if we are both snackish.

Its rather simple. Just go try to avoid processed foods and you should be fine. Of course you need to consider the Kcals, as things like nuts do have a lot of kcals.

For snacks I tend to have things like

Avocado
Eggs
Seeds
Small tins of tuna
Spinach / Kale
Peanut butter (Whole earth brand)
Carrots
Bananas
A couple of crackers
Cottage cheese
Every so often Brie/Stilton

Then just mix and match.

trailingspouse

When my OH needed to lose weight, and we started to look at his diet in detail, we found it was cheese that was the big culprit. We would settle down of an evening with a big board of cheese and crackers. He could polish off a full pack of cheese in one sitting. Now, if he fancies a cheesy snack, he gets 4 crackers, puts 4 pieces of cheese on them - and that's enough for him!

Gloomendoom

trailingspouse wrote: »

When my OH needed to lose weight, and we started to look at his diet in detail, we found it was cheese that was the big culprit. We would settle down of an evening with a big board of cheese and crackers. He could polish off a full pack of cheese in one sitting. Now, if he fancies a cheesy snack, he gets 4 crackers, puts 4 pieces of cheese on them - and that's enough for him!

Cheese was my sister's downfall when she turned veggie.

gettingtheresometime

For breakfast I eat porridge (2 mins in the microwave) or a measured portion of cereal with yogurt & fruit

welshmoneylover

Try 16/8, I find it easier if I don’t eat until 11am

littlegreenparrot

Breakfast - Porridge is quick in the microwave.
There are hundreds of recipes for overnight oats online, so a lot of variety and can prepare ahead.
Fruit (can be prepared the night before) with a bit of yoghurt and a couple of tbsp of granola/muesli

Lunch - soup and oatcakes, salad. Salad can be substantial, use grains, roast veg, have a boiled egg or falafel with it,

Dinner - try changing the proportions a bit. A bit less overall, and more veg, less meat/potatoes or rice or whatever.

Supper - a herbal tea and fruit will keep me out of the biscuit tin. Oranges work well for me, they are sweet, and I have to pay attention to them!

More activity would help, any opportunity for a walk at lunchtime at work? Could you all pick an evening and go out for a swim?

Stew doesn't have to bad, it depends what you put in it