I don’t think there’s a single person here who doesn’t opt for convenience foods
some of the time, we all have days where we’re more busy or more tired or less well or less prepared, or just fancy something of a rubbish comfort food!
While chicken dippers and curry gravy or Pot Noodles aren’t my go-to on those days (mine’s probably an oven pizza and a bag of salad
), there’s nothing to say they can’t form a part of a balanced diet if you like them!
It’s just, well, to have that balance you also have to be eating foods that aren’t heavily processed and rammed with high levels of sugars and salts and preservatives that have minimal important nutrients. Is it any wonder they all have low iron, the complexion of a jellyfish washed up on a beach, frequent illness, and such fatigue that they can barely leave the house? Their bodies and brains aren’t being nourished the way they need to be! She sees fresh fruit as a treat and chocolate bars as essential snacks, home cooked from scratch is a bigger deal to shout about than a takeaway, and salty nasty processed crap as low cal and good for you. She’s all back to front!
I think she needs to get her head out of this idea of a “diet” that will be a quick fix to weight loss, and actually just learn about food. Screw the weight loss for a minute, being a little bit fat isn’t the be all and end all, lots of fat bodies are healthy bodies and lots of thin bodies are unhealthy bodies. She needs to work health over size, on nutrition over calorie counting imho, because once her body is nourished better she’ll find her activity levels and cravings for nutritious foods will likely increase naturally as she has better energy to expend. Then she can think about shrinking her waistline if that’s what makes her happy, but forming those good eating habits first without pressure of “punishment” for being plus size is a good foundation for a permanently changed mindset towards food, and the way she feels in general.
If she read here (but she doesn’t) I’d tell her: Sarah, if you feed yourself stuff that makes your energy spike quick and crash fast, you’ll crave more quick energy fixes that will lead to another crash, and you will just keep going around in circles always feeling short bursts of energy followed by fatigue and junk food cravings, like you seem to have done your entire adult life. Ditch the expensive Slimming World subscription that probably won’t work for you (because it’ll teach you nothing about healthy eating, just about hacking your biology temporarily to lose weight that you likely won’t sustain long term) and go to the doctors and ask to see a health coach or dietician or something who can work with you, with regular check ins, to keep a food diary and hold you accountable to actually making better food choices. Use the public purse to actually better yourself instead of to just rot away expensively.
Make fresh fruit and vegetables a part of your every day, think about filling up on protein not biscuits, and have chicken dippers and curry sauce for an occasional treat not a regular meal. I’m not going to demonise processed foods entirely, they can form a part of a healthy intake, but you have to eat some unprocessed stuff too.
Air fry some salmon, steam some broccoli, and boil some rice. Poach an egg and dunk some grilled asparagus in it. Jacket some potatoes and have them with crunchy tuna mayo (with grated carrot and chopped spring onions in). Chuck some chicken legs and veg in to roast in one tray. There is so much you can do so quickly and simply and nutritiously with minimal standing on your feet, take it from someone who has days they have to sit on a stool to cook. Pack it in with the beige food and caffeine and fuel yourself better, or 7AM will always feel like the middle of the night.
much fun and frivolity, sorry no fun or frivolity. 
