I am BACK again and I need you

ChristineLavi

So 1st time I have logged on in 11 months and 1st having anything posted in 10 months - which means 10 months pretty much since I have last exercised. I have been feeling so so so tired these days, no energy and that is bumming me out so much. I am turning 40 this year and I DO NOT want to feel like this anymore! I need to get moving, I need to eat better and I need to do this for me - I need more energy and I need to like myself, be comfortable in my skin.
I need to understand food - what is better to eat to keep me full, fast prep and good for family meals as well. I love carbs (breads, potatoes, pasta, crackers etc) and cheese (almost any and all) -
It is remembering to log all my food - but I want to learn how to pre plan, that is what would help me.
Have tips - meal ideas, snack ideas?

Thank you in advance for any help

Zappit9

I really want to learn how to pre-plan my meals as well and would love to work with you on learning how to do this. I am trying to figure out how to make and store things like salad ahead of time in the hopes that I will eat better if it is easier to grab than something else.

kimsim1968

Hi. I too am back after a long absence. It is easy to fall off track, but never as easy to get back on! You should be proud that you took the step to come back. I want to learn how to meal plan as well, and find that using a crock pot can be a life saver sometimes. This way I make a pot of something healthy and then can save the leftovers and portion them out correctly. I have started keeping the carrots handy and the nuts or trail mix. Hopefully we can all learn together

TakingSteps1234

First day for me. Appreciated your post. Appreciate the frustrations as well. Just thought I'd wish you well. (wish I had words of wisdom to impart, but I am finding my way)

PurpleYFronts

This is my current weekly plan, hopefully it'll give you some idea of how to plan. Mine takes into consideration the fact I do a fair amount of training so is balanced enough to reduce the exercise-induced deficit. I try to aim for a deficit of about 250-500 calories max a day as I don't want to be constantly hungry nor do I want to feel weak and lethargic when training.
The Pasta serving should read 75g, not 125g. The chocolate I eat is Dark, usually 70% with a hint of orange or mint. The dinner recipes are taken from cookbooks I own, I sit down in advance and pick out main meals that I think will be nice, then plan out a shopping list before the week starts. A lot of the shopping is straight-forward, fruit and veg, tinned fish (if you like that sort of thing), bags of nuts etc. I organise the food for the next day in advance for example weighing out 30g of Mixed, unsalted nuts.
If you are cooking for a large family, then you'll know what to make them. Also, doing this is a good way of using up food you have frozen from the previous week, and they should hopefully eat healthier:)
I try to reduce my meat intake and add more vegetarian meals into my diet, but that is a personal preference. Though I must say it does save money in the long run.
Hope this helps, it's not perfect, nor an exact science but it definitely helps with weight loss/gain (depending on your goal) and helps use MFP more effectively for recording, especially scanning packs for sizes. The internet is full of generic, blank meal planning pages either daily or weekly so have a look for ones that suit you.