Overwhelmed

thatonegirl0619

I have recently started a workout program called Next Level Extreme Fitness. I love the support and motivation during the workouts each morning but am feeling overwhelmed by the nutrition aspect. I am on a limited food budget so shop sales and coupon a ton, so I buy Yoplait or Chobani Greek yogurts because they are always on sale and I can generally find coupons. We eat chicken 3-5 nights a week but also eat a lot of beef because my dad farms and we get it free. I'm hoping to get some suggestions for some healthy beef recipes? Is meatloaf ok if I only add tomato juice, saltines, an egg, and maybe some veggies? After the nutrition seminar for my class I feel like I can only eat raw fruits veggies and plain chicken. I run a daycare and also have a two year old. I generally eat different lunches than the kiddos but my dinners with my husband and son are something I want to eat with them. I don't want to fix different meals. Thanks for any advice!

SpockAdventures

You don't have to eat different meals from them, you just have to eat less than them. I think the saying goes, you can lose weight eating chocolate and gain it by eating broccoli. It's all about the amounts. If you don't have the wiggle room in your budget to get yourself your own food (which I don't know how people do have that room these days!), just make sure that you keep track of what is in all of your food, and serve yourself portions that correlate with your caloric goal. As far as the rest of the day goes, try to make the rest of your food all day vegetarian and focus on the meats at dinner and have raw veggies and bran etc. early in the day. These aren't very calorically dense foods, so that gives you a bit more wiggle room at dinner, as well. As far as recipes - you should be able to type into google "healthy recipes" and the type of food you want to make, and should be able to find plenty of options. Some sites even have a caloric breakdown!

Hope this was helpful!

jacksonpt

The conversation can be different if you are talking about things in terms of simple weight loss or overall health.

Simple weight loss comes down to calories in vs calories out. You can eat basically what you want as long as you keep your calories in check and have a reasonable balance of fats, carbs and protein in your diet.

Overall health is a much more complicated discussion. Ultimately, no one knows anything about what is or isn't healthy. Most people will acknowledge that quantity of a given food is the determining factor, as even too much raw fruit and veggies can be bad for you. This is where the idea of moderation comes in. However, many people choose to further restrict their diet based on their feelings about refined grains, chemicals, etc etc etc. What you choose to eat or not eat is a personal decision based on your preferences, budget, health/weight goals, etc.

How's that for completely unhelpful?

IMO, it all comes down to 1 question: How much benefit do I get by making a given change to my diet, and how much effort does it take to make that change? No one knows if a multivitamin makes any real difference, but it costs me about $10/month and doesn't take any real effort to take one every day, so that's a change I'm willing to make. Green beans make me vomit, literally. Are they good for me? Probably. But the benefit I might get from them isn't worth it, so I don't eat them. Those are 2 fairly straight forward examples, but you can apply the same thinking to bread, ice cream, TV dinners, etc, and that's ultimately how I decide what I do or don't do.

Now, coming back to your question...
I tend to fall on the "all things in moderation" side of the conversation, so I think things like meatloaf, tacos, steaks, sloppy joes, pulled pork, chicken parm, chili etc are all excellent meal options. Others will squawk at some of those things because they include processed starches or are high in sodium or are prepacked, but that's fine... I don't have a problem with those things.

I guess this is all a VERY long winded way of saying this: it's ultimately a decision you need to make for yourself. Start with something manageable, then go from there.

kommodevaran

Sounds like that nutrition seminar didn't do you any good; you've tangled yourself into a set of very strict rules here. Start anew. Eat a varied diet of foods from every food group (meat, fish, dairy, grains, vegetables, fruits, oils, eggs etc), it's good to go for whole foods whenever you can, but you don't have to ban processed foods altogether.

thatonegirl0619

Thank you all for your responses! All the seminar did was really leave me overwhelmed. I got a book containing fats I should and shouldn't eat, grains I should and shouldn't eat, sugars I should and shouldn't eat... I was told dinner should be my lowest calorie meal of the day. I've gotten it close to or under lunch but I just can't eat a lot at breakfast. There are just so many things they said not to do I don't even know where to begin. They even told me not to eat cheese... I love cheese!

snowflake954

Sounds like your class is too restricting---trust me you can't do that long term. Follow MFP and eat what you like--trying to choose healthy foods as much as possible, just eat less to make your calorie goal. You'll find it alot easier and sustainable. Gook luck to you.

thatonegirl0619

Thanks! Yes they told me to eat between 1500 and 2000 calories and just eating raw natural stuff was making that very difficult to reach! I've already lost weight in just these 2 weeks so I think I will keep doing what I'm doing. It seems to be working, and this is a marathon not a sprint!

Francl27

Forget it! Can you imagine never eating cheese again? No way!

Just eat smaller portions of what you like. Oh and this is a delicious meatloaf recipe that isn't too high in calories (depending on the beef you use, obviously)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/old-fashioned-meat-loaf-aka-basic-meatloaf-recipe.html

astronomicals

That seminar sounds like a load a mythical nonscientific fear mongering spewed by someone with minimal experience and zero recognized credentials. No wonder why you were whelmed overly. You'd probably be best served just roofieing yourself now so you can forget everything they told you.