Diet advice for a busy lifestyle

Tiddlypeeps

I piled on the pounds while in college from drinking and a diet of bad snacks and fizzy drinks during project deadline time. I finished college about 2 years ago and haven't managed to shift any weight since. On the bright side i haven't put on any weight since either. I'm about 2 stone over weight at the moment.

I'm happy enough with the amount of exercise I get, probably about 20 mins of cardio 3 times a week. I would love to have the time to go to the gym and lift weights and stuff but I'm just not in a place right now to make that happen.

I'm not looking for an aggressive weight loss plan, I don't mind it being slow. Steady maintainable loss is all I'm looking for. I'd be happy with losing half a pound a week.

My biggest downfall is convenience foods. Fast food is just so quick and easy that it's very difficult to opt to spend 30 to 60 minutes in the kitchen cooking instead, plus the shopping and cleaning on top. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

What I'm looking for (and it may not even exists) is advice on quick and simple dishes. Preferably made with ingredients that keep well so I can cook in bulk and freeze or use for lunch the next day. It doesn't even matter if they aren't particularly healthy because I'm fully aware that portion control is my big downfall. With fast food the portions are huge and whatever way I was raised I just have to make a fair attempt to finish everything on my plate, so as much as I know fast food isn't good for me the thing that's doing me the most damage is just the amount of it. If I could walk away before I start to feel full I wouldn't still be the size I am.

I'm not even particularly fond of that type of food, it's greasy and disgusting. So no need to lecture on the health benefits, I'm well aware that if I keep going the way I'm going I'll be a perfect candidate for heart disease in my 30's/40's. It's just so bloody handy when you've had a really long day and don't have it in you to spend ages in the kitchen cooking. That's why I want to find a bunch of meals that I can prepare and freeze that can be ready to go if I'm in that sort of mood, or meals that are quick to prepare/cook if I don't have much time. Advice on ingredients that don't spoil quickly would be great too. I love fruit and veg but I find they just go off so quickly that I end up throwing most of a pack of oranges or onions in the bin and that puts me off buying them again. I hate waste.

gosuckonalemon

Nobody is that busy that they can't find 10-15 minutes out of their day to prepare a healthy meal.

Everything you wrote is just excuses trying to justify eating crap food.

christine08

There are loads of stews and soups that can be made in bulk and freeze really well.
I'm a big fan of soups, can be made from pretty much any vegetable and there are so many variations with herbs and spices, simple to make and just get some freezer boxes and freeze in portions. Just as quick and easy as a ready meal and filling and healthy too...

saa

Frozen veg
Fruit
Foods that don't need defrosting/much cooking
wholefoods


I lost half a pound a week over the last year.. well it averaged out to that because of periods of doing it properly or trying to cheat myself/didn't have the self esteem to keep it up properly, I stopped believing that "nice" foods were all that important, I can live without them most of the time but saying that I changed my lifestyle a lot by using lots of little freezer bags and quick foods like frozen veg, quorn to microwave, plastic measuring scoops for nuts, muesli, brown rice. But I try not to make it into a big deal like counting calories, but from researching about nutrition I know most calories roughly, I know what one portion of each food is, before I could tell when im hungry I used to eat every 2-3 hours now I can trust my body to tell me when it needs food not my mind.


Saving half of dinner for lunch the next day (broccoli and/or sweet/regular potato with a tab of butter in a lunch box the next day is lovely has that nice comforting sunday dinner taste, oh yeah thats another thing I had to get over some foods not being the nicest choice but then one that would give me a slow burning energy source so no more white carbs, simple sugars.
I also don't eat breakfast foods except eggs no more cereal or toast this morning I had two wholegrain crackers with light Philadelphia, cheese never hampered my weightloss, it was the quality of calories, portion control and not being consistent with exercise. But every time I stalled or gained a little I kept going, had to fail and start again until I found every way to avoid my pit falls, my diet still isnt the best but I found an exercise I actually want to do.


One of my pit falls was not planning out meals or bringing snacks and then having to buy food on the go was disastrous for a while now I just buy some deli meat and fruit instead of saying oh well now I can buy crisps and a bar, or this cheat isn't that bad. Yeah I stopped playing myself and rolling my eyes at the thought of living healthily but I had to stop using food as a stress buster and that takes going cold turkey at some point no matter how much you manipulate the stressing foods, and yes plenty of healthy foods became trigger foods, so its a really difficult process, baby steps.

It really just is saying no and planning ahead, your palette will change in a number of weeks and better foods start tasting really good. No one can give you a load of recipes that don't involve cooking and all that, that is why I tend to eat a lot of basic foods like green beans with some pesto, meat if im bothered to put in the time - dinner sorted in 5 to 15 minutes with no prep needed.

I didn't find the meals to be so bad after a while its things like that fast food just isn't part of my life anymore, getting food at the cinema, "snack foods", white bread, sugar, large portions, mindless eating, eating in front of the tv, eating standing up/at the fridge, eating something before you've gotten home because youre "hungry/stressed", buying multipacks, cereal bars, soft drinks, family/share size things, special offers!!, eating things just because its there or my friends/boyfriend is having it, getting a muffin just because I'm getting coffee, getting a takeaway just because I'm on a night out, just because I "deserve" it, just because things are hard at work.....

Never realised how bad I was always thought I was eating "normally" except for a few things, thought because I walked everyday I was getting enough exercise, even told the doctor proudly about my 30 minutes a day and he said that is by far not enough oh and I always thought I was just a "couple of stone overweight", not saying you're not, the weight doesnt really matter its your mindset and what you do every day food and exercise wise, I think you know what you have to do maybe its your mindset (referring to the I can'ts) but hey you're posting here, you want to change just keep chipping away.

boogle

gosuckonalemon wrote: »

Nobody is that busy that they can't find 10-15 minutes out of their day to prepare a healthy meal.

Everything you wrote is just excuses trying to justify eating crap food.

Totally unhelpful, so why even bother posting that? The OP admits that she has been less than saintly when it comes to preparing meals. She asked for advice, not chastisement. You are just sooo lucky that you've never gone through a period in your life where you didn't have the time/motivation to cook nutritionally perfect meals every day. Right?


Anyway. back to the original question. A few tips. Stock up on store cupboard ingredients that keep well. I'm not talking about Uncle Ben's or Dolmio (in fact, don't go near that kind of stuff). Get tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, tinned tuna, tins of beans that you can throw into a stew or chilli con carne (butter, haricot, cannelini, kidney etc). Make main meals in double quantities and portion into tupperware for the freezer. Things like spag bol (home-made mind!), chillis, curries, soupe etc all freeze well. Great to whip out on days you know you won't really have time to cook. I used to moan about having no time the odd evening but forward planning like I've just said means that you won't reach for the crappy junk foods when you're tired and late home.

Stench Blossoms

boogle wrote: »

Totally unhelpful, so why even bother posting that? The OP admits that she has been less than saintly when it comes to preparing meals. She asked for advice, not chastisement. You are just sooo lucky that you've never gone through a period in your life where you didn't have the time/motivation to cook nutritionally perfect meals every day. Right?

It's not unhelpful it's true.

If the OP has time to go to the gym they have time to prepare food.

The key thing to eating healthy: planning in advance.

gosuckonalemon

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

I piled on the pounds while in college from drinking and a diet of bad snacks and fizzy drinks during project deadline time. I finished college about 2 years ago and haven't managed to shift any weight since. On the bright side i haven't put on any weight since either. I'm about 2 stone over weight at the moment.

I'm happy enough with the amount of exercise I get, 1) probably about 20 mins of cardio 3 times a week. I would love to have the time to go to the gym and lift weights and stuff but I'm just not in a place right now to make that happen.

I'm not looking for an aggressive weight loss plan, I don't mind it being slow. Steady maintainable loss is all I'm looking for. I'd be happy with losing half a pound a week.

My biggest downfall is convenience foods. 2) Fast food is just so quick and easy that it's very difficult to opt to spend 30 to 60 minutes in the kitchen cooking instead, plus the shopping and cleaning on top. 3) There just aren't enough hours in the day.

What I'm looking for (and it may not even exists) is advice on quick and simple dishes. Preferably made with ingredients that keep well so I can cook in bulk and freeze or use for lunch the next day. 4) It doesn't even matter if they aren't particularly healthy because I'm fully aware that portion control is my big downfall. With fast food the portions are huge and whatever way I was raised I just have to make a fair attempt to finish everything on my plate, so as much as I know fast food isn't good for me 5) the thing that's doing me the most damage is just the amount of it. If I could walk away before I start to feel full I wouldn't still be the size I am.

I'm not even particularly fond of that type of food, it's greasy and disgusting. So no need to lecture on the health benefits, I'm well aware that if I keep going the way I'm going I'll be a perfect candidate for heart disease in my 30's/40's. 6) It's just so bloody handy when you've had a really long day and don't have it in you to spend ages in the kitchen cooking. That's why I want to find a bunch of meals that I can prepare and freeze that can be ready to go if I'm in that sort of mood, or meals that are quick to prepare/cook if I don't have much time. Advice on ingredients that don't spoil quickly would be great too.7) I love fruit and veg but I find they just go off so quickly that I end up throwing most of a pack of oranges or onions in the bin and that puts me off buying them again. I hate waste.

What exactly is your job that you have no time? Do you commute for 3-4 hours daily?
You only do a total of one hour cardio per week.

On my exercise days (3-4 times per week) my schedule would be..

Pool 7-8am, Work 8.30-7, Gym 7.30-9. And I still have more than enough time to prepare a healthy evening meal and get my 8 hours sleep.

To reply to your OP:

1) This is not enough exercise if you would like to lose weight

2) Healthy Salads and other simple dishes can be prepared in 5-7 minutes. They require no clean up as no major cooking process needed.

I would estimate max 10 min prep, 3 mins cleaning. Total 13 mins.

3) There are more than enough hours in the day unless you are working a 12 hour shift, commuting for 4 hours and sleeping for 8 hours.

4) "It doesn't really matter if they aren't particularly healthy"? Terrible attitude to have. Of course it does.

5) If the amount of it is the thing causing the most damage, then eat less of it. It's called self control.

6) Again, you will only need to spend max 30 minutes between prep, eating and cleaning.

7) Not wanting to buy fruit and veg because you "hate waste" is yet again another ridiculous excuse. Unless you are buying a 10kg bag of onions they will not go off. Same with oranges. If this is the case then buy them singly to begin with. You will get a large onion for less than 20c.

TBH you are just trying to create excuses and obstacles to eating healthy.

Just look at the stickies here that will explain the basics of eating healthily.

And stop eating convenience food. Because no matter how busy you think you are, you have loads of time to work and still eat healthily and exercise alot more!!

Tiddlypeeps

gosuckonalemon wrote: »

Everything you wrote is just excuses trying to justify eating crap food.

I don't get this whole excuses thing. At what point did I say the status quo is fine because of x, y or z?

I came on here to look for advice so that I can make changes. I just assumed providing a background to my current way of thinking and current lifestyle would make it easier for people to provide helpful advice.

christine08 wrote: »

I'm a big fan of soups.

Thank you soup is a great idea. I can make a big pot on sundays a freeze most of it.

saa wrote: »

It really just is saying no and planning ahead.

boogle wrote: »

forward planning like I've just said means that you won't reach for the crappy junk foods when you're tired and late home.

Thank you for the advice. Bad planning is probably the bulk of my problem. Maybe if I start planning out my meals for the week ahead it will make it much easier to not eat crap. It'll mean less aimlessly wandering the supermarket wondering what to buy and make trips less frequent. It'll probably mean less waste because I know exactly how much of everything I need.

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

It's not unhelpful it's true.

If the OP has time to go to the gym they have time to prepare food.

The key thing to eating healthy: planning in advance.

I don't have time to go to the gym. I exercise from home. Even tho I don't do that much of it, the exercise I do is more important to me than a good diet because it tires me out physically after a mentally exhausting day which helps me sleep well which means I will work more efficiently the following day.

A good diet would probably make me feel much better in general so would have a similar effect to the exercise. I just don't see the effects of it as immediately as the exercise so I prioritise because of that. Hopefully planning better will mean I'll manage both.

gosuckonalemon wrote: »

What exactly is your job that you have no time? Do you commute for 3-4 hours daily?
You only do a total of one hour cardio per week.

On my exercise days (3-4 times per week) my schedule would be..

Pool 7-8am, Work 8.30-7, Gym 7.30-9. And I still have more than enough time to prepare a healthy evening meal and get my 8 hours sleep.

I'm self employed, getting my business off the ground is the most important thing to me right now so I put everything I can into it. I just don't have the time to give up two and half hours every other day of the week, I would love too tho because I love swimming and I really enjoy going to the gym, I look forward to the day when I do have the time. I'm just not in a place to make that happen right now.

gosuckonalemon wrote: »

1) This is not enough exercise if you would like to lose weight

This statement is incorrect. Weight loss is fairly straight forward, calories going out > calories going in. I could cut out the exercise completely and start eating rabbit food and loose weight. That sounds like hell and would result in unmaintainable weight loss so I won't but you get the idea.

I've maintained the exact same weight for the last 2 years. This tells me that calories going out = calories going in. So if I change my diet to take in less calories, no matter how I do that I will lose weight. I really feel that slowly changing small things I know I can manage will result in maintainable weight loss even if it is slow going.

My OP wasn't looking for an aggressive weight loss plan, just some advice on how to manage my diet better so I'm less likely to fall back on convenience foods and over eat.

gosuckonalemon wrote: »

4) "It doesn't really matter if they aren't particularly healthy"? Terrible attitude to have. Of course it does.

This was a really bad way to word what I meant. What I meant by not particularly healthy was it doesn't matter if any meal suggestions are not inherently low calorie. I'm not looking to cut out all carbs or that sort of thing is all I really meant.

gosuckonalemon wrote: »

no matter how busy you think you are, you have loads of time to work and still eat healthily and exercise alot more!!

I find it incredible that you could even attempt to make a sweeping statement like that.


Anyway most of the advice in this thread has been really helpful, thank you. I will start making up an online spread sheet to plan my meals and hopefully that should be a good start to improving my diet.

Stench Blossoms

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

I don't have time to go to the gym. I exercise from home. Even tho I don't do that much of it, the exercise I do is more important to me than a good diet because it tires me out physically after a mentally exhausting day which helps me sleep well which means I will work more efficiently the following day.

That's your problem right there. You can do all the exercise in the world but if your diet is bad then you'll go nowhere.

If you want to lose/gain then fix your diet.

Glitter

I used to have a similar kind of attitude regarding time management, I was working a 70 hour week between two full time jobs at one stage, so I almost gave up cooking for myself entirely, and that was where the bulk of the weight I am currently half way through trying to lose came from.

So you have my sympathies!

But, you do have to put a bit of time and effort into your health.

As others have said already, forward planning is key. Sunday should be your prep day for the week ahead, spend an hour or so doing a big shop (enough fresh veg for a week plus enough meat that can be frozen and defrosted daily as required) and if you want to make a batch of soup or chilli or curry do that on Sunday afternoon too. Make a plan for what you're going to eat for dinner each work day (I like to leave weekends a bit more open) and stick to it.

Example of a super quick dinner:
Pork belly, baby potato and carrot mash with greens
Line an oven dish with tin foil.
Add 1 tablespoon each of Sweet Chili Sauce and Soy Sauce**
Dredge 4 pork belly slices (avail in tesco for less than €3) through the mix to coat and bung in a preheated oven at 180C for 40 mins.
Once the meat is in the oven chop 5-6 baby potatoes and two peeled carrots into chunks and place in a pot of water.
Get a second pot of water and throw in a good handful of green beans: chop these in half first if you're feeling fancy. Add a few broccoli florets too.
When the chops are half done put the spuds and carrots on to boil.
Ten minutes later put on the greenbeans and broccoli.
At 40 minutes turn off the oven.
Then drain the baby spuds and carrots, mash with 10 mils of supermilk and a small knob of butter. I like to add salt, pepper and dried chives also to mine.
Drain the green veg and toss in their pot with another tiny knob of butter and more seasoning.
Serves 2. Cals per portion: 400 (provided you trim the fattiest bit off the pork)
Prep time 10 mins and time enough while it's cooking to put on a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher or make a couple of phone calls.

**Available in lovely big bottles in your local Asian supermarket.

gosuckonalemon

My main issue is that you seem to think that you don't have 30 minutes to prepare a healthy meal.

This is absolutely ludicrous.

You would need to working a 16 hour day for this to happen.

No matter how hard you are working everyone can find 30 mins if they really want to.

I think the problem here is partly psychological and you are using your busy working life as an excuse to eat crap food.

Remember that crap junk food involves a certain amount of effort to get your hands on too.

Antisocialiser

Post up an average days diet OP.

Tiddlypeeps

Antisocialiser wrote: »

Post up an average days diet OP.

There really isn't much point going into detail on what my diet currently is, pretty dam terrible.

I started my plan for the next week and it mostly consists of a scrambled egg on a slice of brown soda bread for breakfast, soup with brown bread or chilli with rice for lunch with some fruit, chilli or chicken tika masala with rice for dinner and a banana for a snack in the evening if I get hungry.

It may not be a great plan but if I can get into a habit of preplanning my meals like that and cooking in bulk for the coming week without reverting back to relying on take aways and convenience foods I'll be a hell of a lot better off than I am now. Even if I'm not loosing weight I'll be in a much better position to review what I need to do to loose weight when I have a stable diet routine.

Tiddlypeeps

gosuckonalemon wrote: »

My main issue is that you seem to think that you don't have 30 minutes to prepare a healthy meal.

This is absolutely ludicrous.

You would need to working a 16 hour day for this to happen.

No matter how hard you are working everyone can find 30 mins if they really want to.

I think the problem here is partly psychological and you are using your busy working life as an excuse to eat crap food.

Remember that crap junk food involves a certain amount of effort to get your hands on too.

I just had a big long message addressing your points and explaining myself but then I realised that there is no point.

I have admitted that I manage the time I have available badly, i have gotten good advice from others and am now addressing the problem in a way that I'm happy with.

So your message here serves no purpose other than to be condescending.

gosuckonalemon

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

I just had a big long message addressing your points and explaining myself but then I realised that there is no point.

I have admitted that I manage the time I have available badly, i have gotten good advice from others and am now addressing the problem in a way that I'm happy with.

So your message here serves no purpose other than to be condescending.

Perhaps time management is something that you may need to look at then.

By improving that you can increase the amount of time available to prepare meals and eat healthily.

Healthy living requires a multi-faceted approach.

I may seem condescending but I personally think I'm just being constructively critical.

boogle

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

It's not unhelpful it's true.

If the OP has time to go to the gym they have time to prepare food.

The key thing to eating healthy: planning in advance.

IMO it was unhelpful because he originally replied to the OP by damning her without offering the advice that she was looking for. A post like that just comes across as condescending. I agree 100% with everything else you've said here, and I do think that people need the straight up blunt "sort your **** out" kind of treatment. BUT some support has to go along with that.

RobAMerc

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

There really isn't much point going into detail on what my diet currently is, pretty dam terrible.

I started my plan for the next week and it mostly consists of a scrambled egg on a slice of brown soda bread for breakfast, soup with brown bread or chilli with rice for lunch with some fruit, chilli or chicken tika masala with rice for dinner and a banana for a snack in the evening if I get hungry.

It may not be a great plan but if I can get into a habit of preplanning my meals like that and cooking in bulk for the coming week without reverting back to relying on take aways and convenience foods I'll be a hell of a lot better off than I am now. Even if I'm not loosing weight I'll be in a much better position to review what I need to do to loose weight when I have a stable diet routine.

this is a good start so congrats. I think however your previous terrible diet might cause you to have issues with sugar, therefore I would cut the bread rice and fruit from your diet for a bit till you get your blood sugar levels evened out ( it should stop cravings and lets be honest if you've been hitting the fast foods you are probably in the sugar cycle of doom ).

I'm not talking about 0 carb diet, but I think you'll find it harder to get away from your snacks till you sort this.

Tiddlypeeps

RobAMerc wrote: »

this is a good start so congrats. I think however your previous terrible diet might cause you to have issues with sugar, therefore I would cut the bread rice and fruit from your diet for a bit till you get your blood sugar levels evened out ( it should stop cravings and lets be honest if you've been hitting the fast foods you are probably in the sugar cycle of doom ).

I'm not talking about 0 carb diet, but I think you'll find it harder to get away from your snacks till you sort this.

I don't think I could manage that. Out of curiosity what is the sugar cycle of doom?

flikflak

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

There really isn't much point going into detail on what my diet currently is, pretty dam terrible.

I started my plan for the next week and it mostly consists of a scrambled egg on a slice of brown soda bread for breakfast, soup with brown bread or chilli with rice for lunch with some fruit, chilli or chicken tika masala with rice for dinner and a banana for a snack in the evening if I get hungry.

It may not be a great plan but if I can get into a habit of preplanning my meals like that and cooking in bulk for the coming week without reverting back to relying on take aways and convenience foods I'll be a hell of a lot better off than I am now. Even if I'm not loosing weight I'll be in a much better position to review what I need to do to loose weight when I have a stable diet routine.

All home made I would hope? No jars of sauce and soup? I have known people to call their lasagne home made when it has been made with a jar of tomato sauce, a jar of white sauce, some mince and lasagne sheets. Hardly home made, you have simply opened some jars.

I`m sure you could do with out the bread and rice and I dont know for sure but I would take a guess that the sugar cycle of doom is where the more you eat the more you crave. Need a sugar rush, get one, then a little while later the cycle repeats. Your blood sugar will be having more peaks and dips than a ride at Disneyland. Its habit to reach for bread to complete a meal but you can break the habit and fill up on other foods.

As mentioned many times its all about planning and organisation. Good luck.

Katgurl

Hi OP,

An ex of mine that had a very busy lifestyle with work and kid used to have Sundays off and spend couple of hours preparing his stuff for the week.

You could ovenbake some chicken drumsticks and put them in fridge for mon / tue. You could make a pot of casserole, chili, cottage pie and freeze in separate portions in tupperware. Supermarkets sell prepared veg that you can throw in oven / stir fry / microwave with some crushed garlic. I'd agree with cutting out rice, pasta, bread. It sounded crazy when first suggested to me but then I realised i felt LESS hungry without them. You can pile your plate with veggies and if you really want carbs bake a potato in microwave or some preprepared sweet potato in oven.

The sugar circle of doom - it causes highs and then a crash which leaves you craving more. Try cutting it except for fruit, you'll be surprised.

all_smilz

Good luck op!
i am yoyoing in and out of bad diet and I know its hard. Sometimes when I am being terrible organised I will sit in front of telly and chop my veggies, chicken etc. I usually make in bulk and thats v handy.
also maybe try building up your repertoire of recipes and practice them> the more often I do something the faster I get at it.... even grilling a few chicken fillets with spices on to snack on is an idea.... or try getting up an hour earlier?
*that hour earlier idea isnt gonna be something I would ever do cos i work shift and have dogs and a house and a bf and I love my sleep but you never know what may work for you! Good luck!

Mighty_Mouse

It sounds to me that you are at the start of a long cycle of trying to lose weight, failing , trying again a little harder, failing again, convincing yourself you are doing great, failing again, looking for excuses to eat take-away, not work-out or stick with it...............and on and on and on................until you accept you need to make significant changes across a number of areas of your lifestyle over a long period of time.

The only lesson I have learned going through the above same process over a number of years, is that, there are no short-cuts.

I'm happy enough with the amount of exercise I get, probably about 20 mins of cardio 3 times a week.

How busy are you, seriously?

hellosunshine2

I hope you will like this. You can double the measurements so that you can save some for the next day.



I think it wouldn't take much of your time.

Example of a shopping list for a week (a lot of things will last longer than 1 week!)

Breakfast
12 eggs
2 packs of rindless bacon
(breakfast of 2 poached/scrambled/(omellete) eggs and 2 slices of grilled bacon)

Lunches/Dinners
Get these, two of them at least and that way you can keep them in rotation

1kg of frozen brocolli
1kg of frozen whole leaf spinach
1kg of frozen cauliflower
3 bell peppers
1 large Sweet Potato
2 Red Onions
tin of coconut milk
4 pork chops
8 chicken fillets
4 frozen 1/4 pounders
1kg of mince beef
1/2 lb of real butter

Snacks
4 tins of Tuna
Full Fat mayonnaise(I'm a fiend for the Piri-Piri stuff!)
Sliced Ham
450g cheddar cheese
1 jar of Peanut Butter
2 Avacados
1l Milk

spices
Chilli Flakes
Cayenne Pepper
paprika
thyme
2 Limes
2 lemons
Anything else you want to flavour your foods with.

Get creative, base menus around this type of shopping basket. Alternate with different meats, different vegetables.

Try to have your meals being an equal part meat, equal part vegetables. Eating good fats like those in meats and eggs will help with portion control. Ridding your diet of processed carbohydrates found in breads and pasta will also help. Do one shop a week. One. Don't shop in spar and centra etc. Spend an hour on a Saturday or sunday picking up everything. Then each night, after cooking your dinner for today and lunch for tomorrow (make 2 portions of everything, lunchbox one, eat one), plan tomorrow's meals. This means taking meat out of the freezer etc.

I myself have a very busy and demanding lifestyle, but I need to make time for my own health. Don't feel selfish doing so.

Get organised and it all becomes so much easier. Good luck and ask any questions you want to.
Start today.

augustus gloop

while some people on here have tried to be "heavy handed" shall we say OP, I shall just say what I have found works for me.

Breakfast, seriously, porridge is awesome, great big bowl of it with a banana and a splash of honey. Filled for the morning and no prep time required.
That was a big turning point for me as for a long time i was a travel mug of coffee and out the door kinda guy, which in turn led to the dreaded rasher sambo an hour later.

the other thing I found was I started to actually make time to cook food. I really quite enjoy trying to make something different and new. now i know you dont have much time, you prob have a smart phone, receipt apps are everywhere. I get a few minutes in the day, browse a few and make it in the following days.
thats just my opinion anyway, oh and also, however much water you are drinking a day.... double it. esp, try to neck 500ml before you leave the house in the morning, itll get the plumbing working so to speak!


good luck:)

polymath

Deleted User wrote: »

Example of a shopping list for a week (a lot of things will last longer than 1 week!)

Breakfast
12 eggs
2 packs of rindless bacon
(breakfast of 2 poached/scrambled/(omellete) eggs and 2 slices of grilled bacon)

Lunches/Dinners
Get these, two of them at least and that way you can keep them in rotation

1kg of frozen brocolli
1kg of frozen whole leaf spinach
1kg of frozen cauliflower
3 bell peppers
1 large Sweet Potato
2 Red Onions
tin of coconut milk
4 pork chops
8 chicken fillets
4 frozen 1/4 pounders
1kg of mince beef
1/2 lb of real butter

Snacks
4 tins of Tuna
Full Fat mayonnaise(I'm a fiend for the Piri-Piri stuff!)
Sliced Ham
450g cheddar cheese
1 jar of Peanut Butter
2 Avacados
1l Milk

spices
Chilli Flakes
Cayenne Pepper
paprika
thyme
2 Limes
2 lemons
Anything else you want to flavour your foods with.

Get creative, base menus around this type of shopping basket. Alternate with different meats, different vegetables.

Try to have your meals being an equal part meat, equal part vegetables. Eating good fats like those in meats and eggs will help with portion control. Ridding your diet of processed carbohydrates found in breads and pasta will also help. Do one shop a week. One. Don't shop in spar and centra etc. Spend an hour on a Saturday or sunday picking up everything. Then each night, after cooking your dinner for today and lunch for tomorrow (make 2 portions of everything, lunchbox one, eat one), plan tomorrow's meals. This means taking meat out of the freezer etc.

I myself have a very busy and demanding lifestyle, but I need to make time for my own health. Don't feel selfish doing so.

Get organised and it all becomes so much easier. Good luck and ask any questions you want to.
Start today.

This would be a great diet plan! Though I know I would have problems with planning ahead so I think I should start making my own list for a month

parismilton

for people with busy life style must drink enough water as they can, should consume foods having fiber, may have frequent Small Portioned Meal, and exercise sufficiently when they can.

Tiddlypeeps

hellosunshine2 wrote: »

I hope you will like this. You can double the measurements so that you can save some for the next day.



I think it wouldn't take much of your time.

I was just looking back at this to pick out the ingredients for it so I can try it out. Is there any particular reason it only calls for egg whites? Is it purely a texture thing or is it because egg whites are healthier?

I'll probably experiment with and without using the egg yolks just to see how it turns out, I'm just curious what the reasoning for it is.

sandy28

Hi there from reading your post i think that you fail to make real time for yourself and maybe need to look at why this is. Are you a people pleaser that puts yourself last or do you think your unworthy to lose weight or too afraid to try incase you may fail. I think its easy for others on here to judge you and say you are eating crap but people fail to understand that the processed food your eating is so scientifically developed to make us crave them again and again. ie the balance of fat to sugar and salt make them addictive and the more we have the more you want. Therefore ones diet cannot be made out to be solely down to one ability to resist or lack of will power. You dont need someone to tell you how unhealthy your eating but explain why you eat what you do, ie hormone imbalance, high gi foods, which are leading to high and low blood sugars etc. With a bit of knowledge you can totally lose weight. You sound defensive as if your always fighting to feel good enough. I could be total off centre here but often weight is a symptom for something else in our lives.

S hall

People are consuming processed foods because of their busy lifestyles, but these foods can cause various heath problems. Before buying any products, check the nutrition labels to see how many calories they contain.

Emeraldy Pebbles

OP, do you have a decent freezer?

If you can spare a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday, you can make big batches of meals to freeze and defrost during the week as needed.

I do this all the time, because I like to eat home-cooked food but am often wrecked in the evenings after work. Curries, soups, stew, shepherd's pie, chili, fish cakes, home-made burgers. All these things freeze well.

If not, eggs and fish are nature's fast food. Both so quick to cook.