I could do with losing a couple of stone but rather than just exercise I'd like to start eating a bit healthier especially at work as I usually have a couple of ham or cheese sandwiches, a bag of crisps a couple of apples and occasionally a choccie bar.

The guy I work with comes to work with rice mixed with salad and it looks really nice so where's a good place to start? I want something that'll be easy to make but won't leave me feeling hungry an hour later.

Can anyone recommend some simple pasta/rice/salad dishes that I can spend 10 minutes making the night before and take in a lunchbox?

potatoes, rice, pasta and bread are all carbs which is something you might want to look cutting down on. Lots of veggies, salads, lean meat, bean and pulses will fill you up without piling on the pounds.

Eat a good breakfast of whole grain cereal will last you through till around 11am when you can have some raw veggies or a piece of fruit for a snack. Eat a sensible lunch and then healthy snack at around 3:30 will mean you don't pig out on dinner. Also plenty of water will help digestion and control hunger pangs. There are some salad idea here,

http://www.quick-salad-recipes.com/

Oh and get some exercise while you are at it.

I do eat cereal but I'll be honest it's usually stuff we get for the kids like Shreddies etc. I've tried muesli which I quite like but I'm always a bit conscious of the sugar content - I don't think muesli is as healthy as its portrayed.

So by "whole grain cereal" are we talking Shredded Wheat, that kind of thing?

I'll have breakfast around 5:30am but by 8:30 - 9:00am I'm starving again which is when I'll have my packed lunch.

Just cut out the crisps and choccie bar at lunchtime. Then you have a healthy lunch of a sarnie and an apple. Perfik

I did slimming world last year and lost about a stone in 8 weeks. They restrict the amount of bread, cheese, milk etc you have in a day. If you had your shredded wheat or whatever you fancied with your milk that would be it for the day. You could then have your bread for lunch but that was it for the day. All fresh fruit and veg was a free all you can eat food, along with any meat as long as the fat is cut off, eggs, pasta, rice was all free too.

I lived on grilled chicken or fish, new potatoes and veg. Or a tomato based pasta with veg mixed through it such as courgette, peppers, tomatoes, carrot etc. Rice or cous cous you could have cold with anything you fancied in it, meat or vegetables. A salad with prawns or tuna, ham, chicken etc. A dollop of mayo or salad cream won't do you much harm if you don't go crazy.

Or just cut out the chocolate and crisps, limit the bread and cheese and add more fruit and veg.

If you are hungry by mid morning why not have a couple of pieces of fruit. Bananas are quite filling. And drink more. The more you drink the less hungry (in theory) you are likely to feel.

I've just reread your OP. Is it essential you eat breakfast at 5:30am? Can't you take something to work with you (I don't know what you do) that you can have as breakfast for 8:30/9am. I work in a hospital and I start at 7am, I can't face food at 6am so I tend to have cereal at work, I have a 15 minute break between 9-10am which is when I eat my breakfast. I'll occasionally eat a banana about 7am when I'm about to start to just keep me going until 9-10am.

I eat lots of cous cous salads for lunch at work (use around 50g of cous cous per day) and top up with veggies of your choice. I have that with homemade falafels sometimes, or today I had it with a couple of dollops of cottage cheese plus some added chopped tomatoes and cucumber. I tend to make a big bowl of cous cous at the beginning of the week and put into individual tupperwares.

I also make soups (though perhaps not so good for the hot weather!) which have no fat in and are just filled with lots of veggies. I tend to have a roll with that.

I have a mid morning banana and sometimes I get some easy peeler oranges just to top me up occasionally.

Oh, I also have breakfast at work - fruit yoghurt mixed with no added sugar/salt muesli (which I get from Tesco).

I work from 7am - 2:30pm and to be honest I do wake up hungry which is why I have a bowl of cereal.

By about 9am me and the guy I work with have our packed lunch then we have another break around midday which is when I'd have my fruit.

By the time I get home just after 2:30 I'll have a cup of tea and a few biscuits before my evening meal at 5ish.

By 8pm I'll be a bit peckish so I'll have a bowl of cereal or something.

Now to me that's not an awful lot of food for a 6 foot tall bloke, 36 years of age but I weigh 16 stone and could do with being about 14 stone. Even the Wii Fit says I'm obese.

Porridge is a brilliant "filler" and easy to make in micro in about 4 minutes - instructions usually on side of box.
I have 40gms oats, 300mls of water and cook for 4 or 5 mins in a deep micro bowl. When it is ready add a spoon of yoghurt, a little milk and fruit if you want.

If you make your own muesli, you are control of what goes into it.

Don't get to obsessed by breakfast. As long as the portion is a reasonable size then that is better then skipping it altogether. I notice your work times are very early, what time do you go to sleep ?

If you are eating your lunch at 9am I bet you are really hungry for most of the day.

Maybe shift your eating times a little bit.

Breakfast at 5:30.
Snack at 8am
Bigger meal 10:30
Snack at 2:00
Evening meal at 5:00

Also you mention your weight but not your height.

Carbohydrate control works for me, but if you have to have your carbs, I'd make sure they have plenty of fibre. It'll fill you up, reduce your appetite, and help stave off blood glucose spikes which can make you feel sluggish.

I think it's most important, however, to find something that suits you and that it's something you can stick with, because if it feels like a chore you'll be off the wagon in no time.

At 8:30/9am why don't you try a banana and yoghurt or another fruit. It's equally as filling. Maybe a selection of cut up veg like carrot sticks, cucumber, pepper etc.


Jamie Oliver has a great recipe for Granola which is like museli.

Except my mum cut out the coconut. She used cashew, macadaemia, hazelnut, walnuts, she added dried fruit like cranberries, sliced apricot, sultanas. It was lovely to snack on late evening with a yoghurt or a dash of milk and the only sweet thing is the maple syrup.

The problem I find with granola recipes like yours is that the maple syrup isn't the only sweet thing! The dried fruits contain naturals sugars and the nuts contain fat!

c4rv's idea about shifting meal times may work. It'll be trial and error for you until you find that you are not hungry and adjusting what you eat. It takes me a few days when I'm on annual leave to adjust to laying in and being able to eat my breakfast and lunch at normal times rather than fitting it in with staffing and patients! It may take you some time to adjusting when you have your snack and lunch so you don't feel hungry.

Thats very true but most nuts contain unsaturated fat which is good for us. They are also high in fibre and cholesterol free, all good properties.

Everybody needs some intake of sugar as well, we all require some sort of sugar, (over-processed sugar is bad) to allow for cellular respiration to produce the energy we need on a daily basis.

Sorry, missed the height. 16st is not horrendous and I think just a few tweaks should be enough to send you on the right path. If you aim for a 1lb loss per week that should easily achievable.

You didn't mention if you work out as well as that will help.

Oh absolutely, but I think sometimes some people can tend to think granola is too much of a healthy option and go a bit overboard!

I tried going for a bike ride every night (about 3 or 4 miles) but to be honest as I'm up at 5:30am for work each morning the last thing I wanted to do at 6:30pm is go for a ride. It's not too bad on a warm summers evening but no fun in the winter.

I would agree with this, it worked a treat for me years back without even really trying.

I don't eat cereal at brekkie though, I have a green smoothie.

I'm taking tips from this thread

I've got a little bit of baby weight to lose and being on maternity leave at the moment means it's so easy to be at home and eat lots of snacks. I tend to eat things during the day that are a quick fix because my son seems to nap in short bursts.

I'd love to start eating healthier. I just really need a kick up the backside. I'm a really fussy eater as well so I hate all fruit, cheese, but I love veg.

Porridge is a good idea. I used to have that before work and it really kept me going til lunch.