Not happening.

[gillyflower88]

I,m beginning to think this is an impossibility. I,m up at 5.00 each morning and eat a bowl of cereal. I can,t face cooking at that time in the morning. I can,t do the 10 hour rule either. I,d have to stop eating by 3.00 Off to work for 3 hours. Tired pretty early afternoon and crave carbs. What do you do. I,m trying to eat healthily and have cut portion size. Very disheartened😢😢😢

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

Nothing's impossible Gillyflower,

You have to find what suits you. When I first started, I read this post and it completely changed the way I looked at my own weight loss journey. Have a look at it and see if it sounds like you.

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Good luck

[gillyflower88 in reply to moreless]

Thank you moreless, i,ll have a look. I,m truly struggling.

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to gillyflower88]

Don't struggle alone, we'll sort things out for you. Just don't give up, I'm sure you'll get there in the end

[bakersdozen]

I totally agree with moreless we are here to help you on your journey. I also struggled to loose weight for a year and now I am finally loosing. Good luck!

[gillyflower88]

Thank you for replying, i,m so down about it. I don,t know what to eat any more.

[Hidden]

Hi there - sorry to hear it's heavy going at the moment.

You sound like you're trying to do some kind of intermittent fasting - is that right? Perhaps you need to change how you are doing it if that's the case. For example, do you really want to eat at 5am? If you are not hungry then, could "breakfast" be later in the day? I do a bit of IF sometimes as it seems easier, but it's not for everyone all the time, so don't be afraid to just go back to basic calorie counting. Then you'd be able to have a calorie counted lunch and include some carbs to keep you going.

I tried doing IF for a few solid weeks and found I kept getting headaches or pretty overwhelming desires to eat anything at all (well - rarely anything healthy in fairness!) so I now just do it occasionally to get me through days where I know I'll be out of control at some point (dinner provided by friends on a Sat night for example).

We're an early rising household (although you beat us hands down!). We're up at 6. I'm just not remotely hungry at that time, so it just seems a waste of calories (and time!) to eat then, I'd prefer to enjoy my calories later. So my "breakfast" is a couple of pieces of fruit around 10 ish - by then I'm hungry.

I've no idea what you are doing and this may be very stupid sounding advice - but if you can fill up on fruit and veg (practically free in calorie terms compared to all the bad stuff you might otherwise pitch in to) then you are less likely to get the cravings too. Please forgive me if that's too obvious. I travel most places with an emergency banana, so that I'm not caught out by a hunger craving without something filling but acceptable to hand. I also have emergency rice cakes in the glove compartment - and quite often munch those on the commute home, this means that when I get into the kitchen I don't feel the desire to eat the fridge!

Anyway I don't know if any of that's useful, but I do wish you all the very best. Hang in there!!! Good luck.

xx

[Hidden]

Keep going hun. Remember this is about your whole health not just losing weight. I am sure once you make small adjustments you will loose weight. But eating healthy food will be helping all of your body get the nourishment it needs.

[Hidden]

Hi Gillyflower88, I've read the other posts and I can see you've been given some really good advice and ideas.

My wife and I rise around 5:30 daily, yet neither of us eat breakfast until around 10 am.

My wife has her breakfast at work, prepared the night before, so no cooking. She has Greek yoghurt with granola on top. I'm at home and usually have muesli or any number of cooked breakfasts. I plan to eat more eggs next week.

If you are serious about losing weight, the first thing to address is the cereal you have in the morning. Cereal generally is not a good start to the day, despite what the commercials say.

There're so many good choices for breakfast, some of which can be prepared the night before.

I would firstly take a look at alternatives for breakfast.

As mentioned by Runningsoon, try to hold off from having your breakfast until later in the morning.

I hope this helps and wish you success.

[gillyflower88 in reply to Hidden]

Hi Tewson, i know what you mean about cereals. I eat bran ones for the fibre intake. However i could eat a portion as supper. Something has to give soon. Really finding this difficult.

[Hidden in reply to gillyflower88]

Most beans will provide as much or more fibre ounce for ounce than say, All Bran cereal. Kidney beans have about a third of the calories and no sugar.

It's the sugar in cereals that will stop you losing weight. I would consider beans on toast for supper rather than cereal. You would continue to get your fibre.

A later breakfast may also be a good opportunity to have something like beans on toast.

It's well worth looking at what you can do with beans and lentils, they are very high in fibre and most don't contain sugars.

[gillyflower88 in reply to Hidden]

Yes, that,s true. Sugar does feature heavily in my diet.

[Hidden in reply to gillyflower88]

Although not great in all things, I moved to Half Spoon for coffee and tea.

All other things with high levels of sugar including cakes and biscuits, I've reduced drastically. I would say that has played a major role in me being able to lose weight very consistently.

I don't eat bread unless I've shown at least two consecutive days of weight loss for instance.

There's no need to give up anything completely, just until you have started to show consistent losses. Then have them as a treat. They taste so much nicer then anyway.

[gillyflower88]

Thank you so much for your reply runningsoon. No i,m not intermittent fasting. I hadnt considered not eating at that time though. I get migraines if i,m hungry but an emergency banana might help . I,m not diabetic but i do experience blood sugar drops occasionally, which can trigger a migraine.

[Hidden in reply to gillyflower88]

Poor you - migraines are horrible and I know you'll need to think carefully to avoid them. I went on a bit in my first message - Sorry! I feel for you with those early mornings - and hope you can find some low calorie snacks and meals to help you make your days better.

Good luck and keep going!

[bakersdozen]

Protein is very filling and does not need any cooking such as tuna or any type of fish with rice cake or with salads a little bit of nuts for breakfast with some fruits.

[2bFabnfit]

My breakfast keeps me full till lunchtime and takes 2 minutes. I use one of those systema microwave bowls. 1/3 of a cup of porridge oats 2/3 cup of skimmed or semi skimmed milk. Into microwave 2 minutes. Perfect porridge to which I add a handful of blueberries or sprinkle of cinnamon. When I have more time at weekend I grate an apple and add nutmeg as well as cinnamon. Yummy just like hot apple pie.

I have homemade soup and a slice of bread at lunch plus a piece of fruit. (I batch cook at weekend and freeze in daily portions in pour and store bags)

Leaves me a good calorie allowance for a healthy evening meal and occasional snack or treat.

I have lost all my excess on this and am now maintaining my weight by increasing intake at evening meal and allowing more treats .

Hope you find what works for you, but nothing is impossible!

[useitorloseit]

Can I add to this thread with a big shout out for eggs? They are soooo good for the first meal of the day, which doesn't have to be when you get up. If you're up and out early, why not hardboil a couple of eggs the night before and pop them in the fridge, then take them to work with you? Easy to transport and eat whenever the hunger pangs set in, and brilliant for keeping you feeling full up. I find that cereal doesn't keep me going till lunchtime, and when you read the packets the sugar content is quite scary - not to mention the portion sizes they quote calories for - most of us splosh at least twice the recommended portion into our lovely large bowls.

Combine this with a healthy packed lunch for later which could be soup or wholemeal sarnie with some fruit.

Nuts are brilliant for keeping you going till you get home for tea (but look at the calories involved and account for them properly, as a few nuts = quite a lot of calories, but the calories are healthy and you don't need many to keep hunger at bay).

Then a healthy low cal non ready meal dinner (which could have been prepared beforehand and frozen - batch cooking is great for busy working folk) and your calories for the day are used up and you haven't been hungry all day. You never know, you may even have a few cals left for a choccy biccy with your cuppa before bed!

Job done!

Don't be disheartened. Just plan ahead, take healthy food to work with you, and eat regularly and sensibly whilst ALWAYS reading the packets so you know if there are hidden calories. If it all seems like too much all at once, just make small changes every day or every week and eventually you will find that they become healthy habits. Rome wasn't built in a day!

... Sorry - just read that through and it sounds a bit preachy, but I hope it is helpful ...