Jonathan Steedman (00:01.282)
Hey guys, just a heads up, if you opted in and you watched the little videos I sent out to people this week about you know, the lunchbox videos, so the kids' snacks, having a lunchbox and changing family dinner to suit your needs, I'm basically just gonna go through those topics but in a podcast format. So I'm gonna put them all together. And so it's a good little quick reference. and I also know that some people prefer audio over video, and plenty of people listening to this probably don't even go on Instagram. and to that I

applaud you and am jealous. That's probably the right move. But

If you want a refresher of those videos or you have no idea what I'm talking about, then listen on, dear listener. Because this is a podcast about how to lose weight despite having the extra barriers that are present with having a family. Okay? And I don't want to be that guy that blames his kids for everything. I think far too many parents can do that. you know, I can't do this because my kids, I can't 'cause kids. And of course kids change things and make things more difficult.

but it's not their fault, they didn't ask to get born. it was your fault, right? Well, you and another person probably. and so that's fine, but maybe it's time we put on our grown up pants and accept that yeah, they do make things difficult, they do change things, but that is not an excuse for me to not do anything. Okay. So we're gonna focus instead on what we can do and I wanna attack the three biggest barriers that I see. Th the kids' snacks getting in the way of your goals.

you not having a lunch plan for yourself getting in the way of your goals and you struggling to balance your kids and your maybe your partner's dinner preferences versus the dinner that you would be eating to support your weight loss goals. Okay? So I'm gonna go through all three of them now in that order. The first of which, like I said, being the kids' snacks. I think the big mistake a lot of people make is they buy these kids they they they buy you

Jonathan Steedman (02:02.38)
their kids maybe the extra delicious snacks, the tiny teddies, the shapes and things like that. But then they ban themselves from having them. Okay. And so these delicious things are sitting in the pantry, but you're not allowed to have them. And that is just a recipe for you to eat an entire box of tiny teddies. There's nothing like easy access and restriction to just light a fire under that those cravings. Okay? So first and foremost, if you are struggling not to eat those snacks, you're not broken. It actually makes a ton of sense.

They're delicious, and you told yourself you couldn't have them. You pr your brain did the rest. Okay? So from that, instead what we're gonna do is we're gonna take those kids' snacks. I'm gonna call them kids snacks. Really they're just snacks, but kids' snacks, and we're gonna grow them up a little bit. We can grow them up by adding things to them because the issue with those snacks isn't really what they contain, it's what they don't contain. They're a bit low in protein or often completely void of protein, and they're often completely void of fibre.

Which means they're not gonna fill you up or satisfy you or provide you with much in the way of vitamins and minerals and things like that. But that's a really easy fix. What I want you to do is add a couple of different things to your shopping list this week. Add a savory protein snack option. So maybe add some eggs, so you can you know make boiled eggs, or you could grab some jerky or maybe you grab some some babybell cheese. And then I want you to grab a sweet protein.

thing. The the easiest one I go for here is a yogurt pouch. And so next time you want a packet of shapes, grab a couple of boiled eggs and have a packet of shapes. That is a really great well balanced snack. A packet of tiny teddies and a yogurt pouch. Another great well balanced snack. So rather than fighting against having the kids snacks, let's figure out well not let's figure out, I just figured it out for you. Let's instead include them in a way that still supports your goals. Cool. Hopefully we've knocked that one on the head.

The second big mistake I see is lunch. mostly just not having a plan for lunch. even though I bet you're really good at sending every person you love out the door with a beautifully well packed lunch. so this can be solved in a very quick way. When you're packing their lunch, you pack your lunch. Get another lunch box out and fill it with the same things you're filling up for the kids. I know for some of you that might be a light bulb moment, but I know for probably most of you you're like dir john, I thought of that, but

Jonathan Steedman (04:28.15)
what the kids get for lunch is not good like it's not appropriate for me. Well, the little phrase I like to remember is if it's good enough for my kids, it's good enough for me. Is it perfect? Probably not. Is it damn sight better than what you're currently doing? I bet it probably is. So at the very least, start by packing yourself what you pack your kids. If you want to take that upper level, every time you put a source of protein or a fruit or vegetable into or a nut or a seed into their lunchbox,

You give yourself a double serve of that. That can just help scale their lunchbox up to be a little bit more in line with what you probably need as a grown-up. All right, so every time you're packing their lunch, you're packing yourself a lunch and we're doubling our portions a little bit to make them suit. Easy peasy. All right, last but not least, dinner time. this is probably the trickiest one. sorry, this is probably the biggest one mentally, but it's I actually think it's probably the easiest one to solve, thankfully.

And that is by asking yourself one question, which is where are my vegetables? If you can't answer that question, that's the problem. Because the reality is, if we're having half a plate of vegetables at dinner,

What's on that other half can be way more relaxed. So if your kids are d in their nugget and chip era and that's what you're feeding them every night, or maybe they're in their s nothing but spaghetti bolognese era, if you have half a plate of spaghetti and half a plate of veggies, you're killing it. Like that that is absolutely gonna move you towards your goals, right? So first and foremost, where are my vegetables? Fill half your plate with those vegetables and that will help. Now, I'm not talking about boring vegetables and I'm not talking about vegetables that you need to spend a ton of time prepping.

Obviously, if you can do your own stir-fry or roast veggies or salads, that's amazing. Do that as much as you can. But for the nights where you can't, and I know from in my house there's many of them, there's three quick options from the shops that I always make sure I add to my shopping list. The first is I've always got those steam fresh bags around. They're my least favorite because they're pretty boring, but they definitely serve a purpose. Please, if you're going to use those, always put some kind of sauce or dressing or seasoning on them. Don't eat them plain. That's just

Jonathan Steedman (06:38.018)
You're better than that. Otherwise, if I'm a little bit more organized, I will grab the bird's eye deli range is incredibly delicious. So they've got like well, they've got quite a few now, but they started with like a garlic butter beans and a garlic butter like broccoli, and both of those are just so good. So at least if you had half a plate of those and then your spaghetti, I mean I'm hungry just thinking about it. So that's a really good option as well. And it sits in your freezer so it doesn't go off. Finally, if you are more of a fresh salad.

person, then just add a packet salad to your shopping list, right? Nothing wrong with those packet salads. please use the dressing, don't eat them plain. Again, you're better than that. and by having one or all three of those options on hand, answering that question of where are my vegetables at dinner is much easier and much quicker.

And there you have it. If you focus on upgrading or growing up the kids' snacks, packing yourself a lunch, and half a plate of vegetables at dinner. I know these sound painfully simple, but if you stack those each day and do that for a few weeks, I think you'll be shocked at how you feel. And maybe the changes on the scale that you've been trying to achieve will actually start to move. So that being said, these are like some of the tools in the toolbox. I

As a dad of two and someone who's worked with, I'd say seventy to eighty percent of my you know, the people I work with are parents. so I'm pretty good at solving this sort of stuff. So I have a huge toolbox of things. and I'm gonna take you through that toolbox on the thirtieth of July. there's a workshop that that I'm running called Feed Yourself First. I'd love for you to be there. so we can take some of these ideas and you know, turn them up to eleven.

I haven't thought through how if you come come over to Instagram and message me grown up, all one word, grown up. I will send you the workshop details. Otherwise, if you can't remember that word but you remember there was a workshop, just go, hey, hey Jono, what's the workshop? and I'll send you the details. Anyway, till next time. Bye.