[Ruthiekins]

Hello!

I'm new - this is my first post so a bit of a quick background:

I'm 28, 5 '4 and I think around 240lb.

I've never really been on a serious diet but fall and out of heathy eating/exercise phases like a lot of people. I've decided to now have a total overhaul and get serious! I'm planning on calorie counting, generally eating less/better and exercising more. I'm also going to get a set of scales to weigh at home.

So really looking for some advice about where to start as I'm a bit daunted by all the foods in the supermarket! What would you consider to be staple healthy snacks for during the day and stock cupboard ingredients in order for me to make healthy evening meals?! Going to the supermarket tonight and aside from fruit and veg, really don't know where to start!

Any advice greatly appreciated! I'm not to bad with ideas for evening meals, it's more lunches and snacks which I'm at a loss with!

Thanks in advance and nice to "meet" you all. I've been lurking for a while and some of the advice/ideas are brilliant, so thank you!

Ruth x

[luckygemini]

Hey Ruth,
I am new here to. Good for u to get in there and start working. I am a horrible snacker myself.. but latley i have been keeping alot of grapes and almonds ( Crunchy ) around. Also for lunch i do alot of grilled chicken ( salads or in a wrap ) I try and avoid bread, buns. I love frying veggies in olive oil and serving them over whole wheat pasta.. ( Cabbage, squash, zuccin) Sourdough pretz are good if u have to be a little bad.

Good luck !

[WendeeLou]

Hey Ruth,

Welcome! Im not really all that "old" here, but I have been on my journey for a while.. I think the biggest tip I can give, is to stay away from things that come in a box.. I am a pretty firm believer that if you dont really REALLY know whats in it, you shouldnt eat it! I, of course, ocassionally eat things I shouldnt, but thats the best tip. If you can get veggies with hummus or fruit with natural nut butter, that is going to be best. Like the previous poster said, try to stear clear of breads and buns, the starchy carbs are what hold my weight loss back a ton. If you can incoorperate protien with veggies and fruit, you will be golden!

For my morning snacks I usually have non fat greek yogurt with fresh strawberry and a handful of kashi go lean. I will sometimes add honey to sweeten it up..

For afternoon, I usually have dried fruit! I really really love dried peaches.

Another thing you should always be weary of is the sodium content in the food you are buying! Sodium is another weight loss staller as it makes your body retain water. Watch out for carbs as well. And sugar.

As of latley, I have been going for the organic "whole" foods, and leaving the others alone.. You can still buy ingredients that are not organic, look for canned items (if you cant do fresh) that have "no salt added" or "no sugar added".

Its basically just about knowing not only how many calories you are consuming but WHAT you are putting in your body..

Good luck my friend!

[marie81]

Hi Ruth

I am an oldie on here and its a great site for suport I hope you achieve your goals.

Have you thought about joining weight watchers or slimming world they are really good and give you loads of meal and snack ideas.

My food demon is bread and full fat coke so I am trying to aviod them as much as I can. I dont follow a diet I just cut everything right back it seams to be working.

Good Luck

[belmagick]

Hey welcome to the forum!

Investing in a scales is a good starting point and don't be afraid of what they say. It was only after I checked my BMI and realised that I was overweight and cried that I decided to get serious, but don't solely focus on your weight also take your measurements and record them. I keep track of my hips, thighs, waist and bra size. Each week I re-measure and weigh myself and it's very motivating.

In terms of food, a good starting point would be assessing your portion sizes, I found the easiest way to do this is to keep a food diary of all your calories and read the back of packets because very often they tell you how much one serving size should weigh. My flatmates make fun of me when I weigh all of my food, but I don't mind. If you keep a record of your calorie intake then by the time you get to dinner you should know how much you need to eat. I'm also motivated to try and get the best foods into my total calories. I weaned myself off of white breads and pastas because it all turns to sugar when you digest it anyway and I feel that it is a waste of sugar because I can't taste it! But I still eat whole grain and try to get my 5 a day.

I elminated all of my vices for the time being because I can't be trusted to eat them in moderation, so no cookies, cakes or doughnuts for me until I can learn to stop at one!

In terms of snacks I can't have nuts because I can't moderate them, so I generally stick to watery fruits like satsuma, papaya, melon, grapes ect. I recently found that a small amount of ripe mango is very good for controlling my cravings for sugar during my TOM. I also snack on things with a strong flavour like olives because I can't eat too many.

My advice would be stick to the foods that work for you, you should enjoy eating them and you need to think long term, can you survive the rest of your life never eating another burger? Work around that and learn to moderate. There's no point having a chicken salad because it's low in calories if you think it's the most dry and bland thing in the world (I don't like them!) and I still eat 'bad' foods like pizza but I have half a shop bought one with a heaping of salad and two tomatoes instead of a whole one with garlic doughballs.

Best of all good luck (I believe we make our own luck), we're here to listen if you need us.