The lazy dieter
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If you like to cook, I'd say keep cooking! It's okay to not be 100% exact, it should average out over time. Just do the best you can reasonably. When I cook I measure each ingredient as I put it in. I generally like simple recipes so usually don't use a ton of ingredients which helps. I have a plate for my veggies which I pile with whatever veggies using the tare function to get their weights. I usually weigh the oil or butter in the pan before I start cooking. When complete I weigh the contents of the food (in my tupperware). I try to get as much as the oil off the pan and into the tupperware. Then I decide on portions and divide the overall weight by the number of portions. So then I can portion out a roughly equivalent amount each time. It's really not that hard, and worth it to eat the way I want to eat. I probably end up overestimating the calories a bit due to loss of oil/butter on the pan, but that's OK.0
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For searing, cast iron pans are awesome. Sometimes I will sear steaks without a drop of additional oil, just get the cast iron pan hot, put the meat on, wait a few minutes until it naturally releases from the bottom of the pan, and flip to see the beautiful searing.
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Does anybody else switch to processed food from healthy, fresh homecooked meals in order to loose weight or am I even weirder than I thought? Any thoughts on this tactic?
LOL. I mean, you need to do what you need to do, but my family loves it when I am dieting, because I tend to make this amazingly creative, delicious stuff.
I adore cooking and food, and because I get fewer opportunities to eat when dieting, I tend to make what I eat as amazing as I can.
But you should do what works for you.
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OK, to be honest, I've ignored most of the sensible responses (and one really funny screwed up one that I'll get to later if I have time) because it really isn't as much fun to poke fun at the intelligent and sensible answers as it is the others.
I do think that you've all given me food for thought, but even for those of you whose answers were pretty practical and sensible (like simple portion control and common sense batch cooking) an important component of "dieting" has nothing to do with weight loss.
OK, OK, I know I just blew some of your minds. Imagine that, somebody who isn't dieting to look better in a swimsuit, kinda weird, huh? Somebody on a diet who isn't morbidly obese? or better yet, somebody on a diet who isn't JUST obese. Other issues like hypertension (think DASH diet) or hyperlipidemia or diabetes demand attention be paid to silly things like salt, fat, and sugar.
Salt, fat, and sugar don't come in the chicken breast (in any appreciable quantity <-- I hate I have to write qualifiers like that for internet nit pickers). It comes from how you PREPARE the chicken breast. This is the foundation of where I'm coming from in my original post about tracking food intake with a barcode being easier than measuring that dash of salt or extra tablespoon of olive oil in the pan.
Nobody who advocates home cooking has even addressed the sodium issue at all except to say that they ignore it or don't care about sodium. Yet the only who person who gave a concrete example about what they imagined was bad about processed food, incorrectly thought that it had too much sodium in it.0 -
Nobody who advocates home cooking has even addressed the sodium issue at all except to say that they ignore it or don't care about sodium. Yet the only who person who gave a concrete example about what they imagined was bad about processed food, incorrectly thought that it had too much sodium in it.
This seems counterintuitive to me. While you can get processed food that's low sodium, the easiest way to control your sodium if it matters to you is by avoiding processed food and just paying attention to how you prepare it.
I don't care about sodium (because my levels are pretty low anyway, due to eating mostly whole foods) so I don't track that dash of salt when cooking, but if you do care about it cooking yourself and, well, not adding salt would seem an easy way to manage. There are other spices or herbs you can use for flavor that wouldn't pose a health issue. Or log the salt; seems simple.
I'm NOT saying it's bad for you to rely on packaged food if you really prefer to do so (more on that in response to your other post). I'm just saying there's nothing about MFP or logging that should discourage home cooking or using whole foods.
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I think it's totally perfect for you.
Like I said, report back.
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sounds like you want to be skinny, not healthy0
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I personally feel fresher is better. You know that the food you put in your mouth is not modified in any way or added preservatives are being processed in your body. I like the pre-planning of fresh food. Cooking it ahead of time and storing it for the week.0
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I agree to a point, it easier to count the calories in pre-packaged meals, but they get old real quick. I only cook for myself, I cook a full recipe and then freeze what can be frozen or eat the same thing for several days. Last week I wasn't lazy and cooked meals Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights for dinner. Now I have a freezer with three different options in it. Once I have it entered in To MFP, it's not such a hassle anymore. Another thing I do is cook several chicken breasts and make different things with them.
Now, I do occasionally get lazy and go prepackaged or hit the salad bar at the grocery store, but it is not a daily occurrence.0 -
Stop putting random dashes of salt in your meals if sodium is an issue for you. Learn how to measure small amounts of salt and log them. With a little bit of effort, your home-cooked meals can be as accurate as what you get in a package. You realize that nutrition information on a package isn't 100% accurate, right?Salt, fat, and sugar don't come in the chicken breast (in any appreciable quantity <-- I hate I have to write qualifiers like that for internet nit pickers). It comes from how you PREPARE the chicken breast. This is the foundation of where I'm coming from in my original post about tracking food intake with a barcode being easier than measuring that dash of salt or extra tablespoon of olive oil in the pan.
Nobody who advocates home cooking has even addressed the sodium issue at all except to say that they ignore it or don't care about sodium. Yet the only who person who gave a concrete example about what they imagined was bad about processed food, incorrectly thought that it had too much sodium in it.0 -
What is it, those things allow for up to 30% error? or 20%?0
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lemurcat12 wrote: »Nobody who advocates home cooking has even addressed the sodium issue at all except to say that they ignore it or don't care about sodium. Yet the only who person who gave a concrete example about what they imagined was bad about processed food, incorrectly thought that it had too much sodium in it.
This seems counterintuitive to me. While you can get processed food that's low sodium, the easiest way to control your sodium if it matters to you is by avoiding processed food and just paying attention to how you prepare it.
I don't care about sodium (because my levels are pretty low anyway, due to eating mostly whole foods) so I don't track that dash of salt when cooking, but if you do care about it cooking yourself and, well, not adding salt would seem an easy way to manage. There are other spices or herbs you can use for flavor that wouldn't pose a health issue. Or log the salt; seems simple.
I'm NOT saying it's bad for you to rely on packaged food if you really prefer to do so (more on that in response to your other post). I'm just saying there's nothing about MFP or logging that should discourage home cooking or using whole foods.
Ahh, one of the sensible ones. OK, I'll switch gears and explain what I mean without trying to be silly..
I agree that you can certainly better control your sodium intake by preparing your own food. But, my position was not that people could do it, but rather that they do NOT do it--or rather that the people who make healthy processed foods do a better job of it more often. I had that prejudiced opinion because I am conscious about sodium intake and yet I still find it impossible to keep an accurate measurement much of the time. So, I simply presented the dilemma and asked what other people did to monitor these things. The most frequent response was that everybody else just ignores it altogether.
Example of one real world problem: how do measure the amount of sodium you use to season meat when only a small portion of it actually sticks to the meat? It isn't insignificant when you realize that a dash of salt is about 360 mg of sodium and seasoning a peace of meat takes one heck of alot more than a dash. Think about that for a minute.
So, do you simply stop seasoning all your food with salt when you cook? That is a reasonable theoretical answer, but I would be strongly suspicious that any home cook who told me they did that were either outright lying just to prove a point on an internet diet forum or just really lousy cooks.
I am not as closed minded as I sound. I suppose if enough people adamantly insisted that they don't season their food when they cook, and gave concrete examples of suitable alternatives (like Mrs. Dash brand seasonings for example), and that it WORKED well and their food doesn't taste like decomposing shoe leather, well... OK, I'd be motivated to try home cooking that way instead of just swiping barcodes.0 -
Why, EXACTLY, is it about "processed food" (that is specifically tailored for people who are diet conscious) bad? I'm not talking about frozen pizza and ice cream. I'm talking about... oh, you all already know exactly what I'm talking about.
If you enjoy eating it, go for it.
I was assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that someone who normally cooks and says she likes cooking does not prefer to eat Lean Cuisines or the like, and so think it's somehow an easier way to cut calories. That suggests that (a) it's not as sustainable, since not your ideal way to eat or how you ordinarily do, and (b) that you'd do well learning to modify your cooking to be diet-friendly, since at the end of the process you'll go back to home cooking.
I'm also influenced by the fact that I think Lean Cuisines taste comparatively bad and aren't nearly as filling for the same calories (yes, that's subjective), and that when I cook myself I can tailor the meals to my own goals (getting an adequate variety of fruits and vegetables and the amount of protein I want) and meeting other ideas I have about how to eat (choosing my own ingredients with as much flexibility as possible, ethical ideas about how the animals I eat are raised, etc.). Not saying any of that is something you should care about, however.
Oh, and I'm not angry. I just disagree with the premise that IF you want to or would ordinarily eat home cooked food that it's easier to switch to processed when dieting. To the extent you think that's necessary to log accurately, I think that's wrong.
If you simply prefer to or find it convenient to use packaged meals and like them well enough, again, I have no problem with that. Your choice entirely and I'm sure you can lose weight doing it. I'm definitely not one to say there's any weight-loss-related reason to avoid processed foods. I normally argue the opposite, and certainly eat foods I consider "processed" (yogurt, etc.) myself, even if I don't care for pre-packaged meals. (I also eat restaurant meals as part of my overall diet, which really and truly are problems for logging, although perfection is not necessary so they don't mean one can't successfully use MFP either.)
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I love to cook as well, but I also use the My Recipe section on MFP. Especially for dishes I make often. input one time, and you're done. It also has a feature to automatically get a recipe if it's somewhere online, or you can just add the ingredients as needed. You can manually add them, or scan available bar codes.
As for your remark about not watching your sodium, that, along with your laziness, might be a big reason why you can't lose weight with your own cooking and having to resort to processed / pre-packaged foods to lose. Sodium also affects weight loss. Higher sodium causes lots of water retention. If you were truthful with your recipe inputs, you might find out that those so called healthy meals you've been making, aren't so healthy after all. Give the recipe builder a shot.0 -
Strong first post.
Approved.0 -
I like to do the best of both worlds. I will eat super clean food for breakfast, have a LC steamer for lunch and PBJ for him, and then cook my own super clean dinner. It's impossible for me to cook lunch home alone with my 2 y/o that you cannot take your eyes off of for a minute. Some days I will do tuna instead of a LC. Or if I'm feeling like supermom I try to throw in a chicken breast or 2 for us.
I do get where you are coming from. I cook just enough food for the 3 of us. And struggle with logging what I cook if I do a casserole or something like that. I mean, obviously if I used 1 lb of ground turkey to cook with, that doesn't mean I ate 1 lb of ground turkey. Some parts of the casserole would possibly have less meat than others, some would have more. So just logging it as 1/3 lb might not be super accurate either. There's no way to know for sure I think...
At the end of the day you do what ever works for you. If that is boxed meals and Slimfast shakes more power to you. If you cook every meal from scratch, or enjoy protein shakes with kale and spinach. More power to you. If it works for you and you feel great, who cares!0 -
Sodium also affects weight loss. Higher sodium causes lots of water retention. If you were truthful with your recipe inputs, you might find out that those so called healthy meals you've been making, aren't so healthy after all. Give the recipe builder a shot.
Adding salt to recipes doesn't affect weight loss. It precludes losing water weight, maybe, but you don't continue to gain or mask all fat loss for some extended period of time just because you add salt to your home cooking.
I add salt, and have lost weight without problem, and I never log it.0 -
I love to cook, and even make my own naan and pasta. When I'm feeling lazy, I just cook a large batch of something like chili or burrito filling and eat it for a few days. I also pack away a serving or two of various things in my freezer for just such an occurrence.0
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lemurcat12 wrote: »Sodium also affects weight loss. Higher sodium causes lots of water retention. If you were truthful with your recipe inputs, you might find out that those so called healthy meals you've been making, aren't so healthy after all. Give the recipe builder a shot.
Adding salt to recipes doesn't affect weight loss. It precludes losing water weight, maybe, but you don't continue to gain or mask all fat loss for some extended period of time just because you add salt to your home cooking.
I add salt, and have lost weight without problem, and I never log it.
I have no problem with either of these posts, but I wanted to just redirect the energy put into them away from sodium as a weight loss issue and more to sodium as a cardiac and hypertension issue.
All that glitters is not gold and all dietary concerns are not about the bathroom scale or the waistband of your pants.
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I don't use salt when I cook unless it's ground beef/turkey. On chicken, pork, steaks etc I use a variety of spices and I never log them. I guess I *could* but all the nutrition labels say is 0's all the down so I just save myself the trouble and leave it off. I guess that confirms the lazy thing though eh?0
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Totally the other way around for me. Processed food just isn't filling enough.0
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ShannonMpls wrote: »I am starting to get the sneaking suspicion that all those guys and gals that only eat fresh, non-processed home cooked food, really don't bother with keeping track of calories or nutritional content at all (or at best they are completely guessing most of the time).
I kinda get the sense that they are really just ballparking it. Like guessing that their caloric intake for the day was roughly somewhere between 1,500 and 1,800 calories (uhm, give or take about 1,000 calories in error one way or the other).
This made me laugh. A lot.
I cook dinner 99% of the time. From scratch. The fact that the barcode scanner on the MFP app's recipe builder app is currently missing doesn't matter to me, because the vast majority of what I cook with doesn't have a barcode to scan. It's primarily meat (from a farmer, so no labels), produce, grains (usually bulk bin purchases, so again no label). I weigh every ingredient that goes into a recipe and record it.
This is not the definition of "ballparking".
And, for what it's worth, I lost more 130 pounds in 15 months. I've been maintaining it - very easily - for more than two years. I'd say my method is pretty accurate, don't you think?
Awesome! I wish this board had a "Like" button.
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lemurcat12 wrote: »
Oh, and I'm not angry. I just disagree with the premise...
I hope that wasn't directed at me. When I look at the inkblot that is the internet forum post I see butterflies not bats.
Emotion doesn't sway my opinion or influence my thoughts in that way.
And when you're posting to me, don't worry about being overly polite instead of intellectually honest. I know that idea is a radical departure from how the rest of the interwebs works, but I'm crazy like that.
Anyway, I hear you.
Thanks for posting.0 -
I cook, on average, 18 meals a week. Lean Cuisine is a vacation for me. And I LIKE the taste of some of them.0
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For searing, cast iron pans are awesome. Sometimes I will sear steaks without a drop of additional oil, just get the cast iron pan hot, put the meat on, wait a few minutes until it naturally releases from the bottom of the pan, and flip to see the beautiful searing.
OK, confession time. I have never really used cast iron pans. I have heard that you need to break them in for years before they reach their full potential.
If you are really being honest that a brand new, never before used cast iron pan will sear meat well without a drop of butter or lard or oil or fat or shortening or anything else... well, I'm going to pick one up tonight and give it a try.0 -
They just add stuff I guess? Or sauces I don't want or whatnot. Rather make my own for less calories. Plus this way I don't depend on the honesty of companies with their labeling (can be off by 20%, plus things never weigh what the package says they weigh). So, if I'm going to weigh processed food anyway, might as well use fresh stuff, lol (I still use some processed stuff like bread, yogurts, pasta, crackers etc).0 -
Well personally I don't usually add salt unless the recipe calls for it. I use other herbs and don't miss salt. I eat enough sausage and the like to get enough sodium in my normal diet. Last night I made chicken with butter, onion, and rosemary as the only seasoning. Very much to my tastes.
But if you want to eat frozen meals do so. However, there are a ton of reasons to cook your own including fresher food, can cook exactly to your tastes, the fun of cooking, etc. There are no downsides to home cooking that can't be overcome if it's a priority to you.0
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