Menus

[Coho]

Just joined NHS Weight Loss, all information very helpful, but disappointed there is not an easy weekly weight loss menu to download as I do not have time to sort all this out individually. Have at least 2 stone to lose so any advice on where to get menus very much appreciated!

[Salaisa]

Actually, I found this lack of prescribed menus to be huge advantage. The reason is that a set menu for me always meant massive shopping lists, buying a lot of things I don't normally have at home, spending too much time on cooking unknown meals sometimes based on what you don't like. The NHS approach is very sensible and lets you slowly make changes to what you already do. For example, week 1 has a focus on fibre. I started by swapping my usual bread for wholemeal and adding an extra veg portion to my dinner. I continued eating my normal food, but had smaller portions to fit into 1400 cal (the first week was spent just on this, I didn't really manage to eat 1400 cal before the end of the first week). Then in week 3 I worked on breakfasts, week 4 is about snacks... Do you see how little by little you tweak what you do, yet are not constrained to a fixed diet?

If you still prefer more structure, you can put your menu together at Change4Life and 5 A Day ( both through the nhs web). Some people here report great results with the fasting diet 5:2, which does not require massive revolutions in your eating habits and is easy to follow.

Let us know more, you will certainly get help here. Good luck with the journey!

[Coho]

Thankyou so much for your reply, that is very helpful. Will look at the weekly tips and see how I can tweak my usual diet. To be absolutely honest, I do eat what I believe are healthy main meals, fish, chicken, lots of veg, fruit, also dance and swim, but then add on a lot of rubbish like ginger biscuits, crumpets, and ice cream and I'm a fool for cheese, so I know it is going to be hard. Don't drink much water, so do you think that could make a difference? And smaller portions and cut out the crap, yes, I know my faults already, it's hard!

[Salaisa in reply to Coho]

Then the nhs plan should not be too difficult for you. Actually, what you describe is pretty much my diet too (was! I hasten to add). I must say it was a shock for me to see what a healthy portion of jacket potatoe with butter and cheese looks like! So I made it smaller, chucked the butter and kept the cheese (could not fit both in my preferred amounts into the calories) and sorted. So far, the week 3 info pack on breakfasts was a massive eye opener for me, together with this forum. People here follow very different paths and it gave me lots of inspiration for things to try when tweaking my own food habits. Am on week 4 now, very useful too (snacks).

[Coho]

It is really lovely of you to be so supportive to a newcomer, although I have been to Weight Watchers 3 times already, hopeless yo yo in weight. I don't really like the fact that their products are not fresh. Anyway onwards and downwards one hopes again. At 5ft and a bit at 12stones it is a long haul but others have done it, so I must really try. Where can I find the calorie counter anyone?

[Salaisa in reply to Coho]

local favourite is myfitnesspal. Has an app for the phone, which allows scanning barcodes off food and retrieving info from database, or manual input. Recognises lots of commercial products ( Tesco Chocolate Bar XY, for example), so it's reasonably easy to find values for specific products. will also give you breakdown in carbs/fats/protein/fibre). has web interface to with it too.