Shocked and ready to commit to change

kirayng2

Hello all, I've been around this site for a while but not very serious until now. I started by just logging the food I ate, out of curiosity. After reading more I decided to start weighing solids and measuring liquids since my estimates were pretty far off. Now I am seriously shocked by how much food I eat, not that it's a lot but it's just way more than I thought people should eat maybe? If that makes any sense. I knew I wasn't careful with my diet and getting older I wanted to finally shed this 50lbs I gained in my 30s. I blamed my thyroid, I blamed not getting exercise, but what it really came down to was lots of calories from things I thought were okay to eat regularly. So ranch dressing -- out, cake-- out, ice cream (!!!!!) -- out!!

I'm so sad. I thought I could eat stuff in moderation and lose weight but there is like no room in my diary for ice cream if I'm on 1650 calories and want to eat healthy. Fat adds serious calories to everything, I can't have dressing on salad, a quarter of an avocado is probably the only thing I can put on there. No butter on veggies, no butter on toast (1 tsp can cover half of one side), no full-fat dairy or cheese (for example almond milk for cereal = 40 calories, whole milk for cereal is 240 calories).

I'm not trying to complain but a girl can't live like this, I don't know what to do. I know I can't not eat butter, ice cream, whole milk, etc ever again, that wouldn't even work for me. I can bake fries and eat whole grains, that's not a big deal.

How do I clean up my diet and still feel like I can eat normally? Does this perception change with weight loss? Do you eventually just like your salad without dressing on it? I'm continuing to read and educate myself. I'm also trying to figure out how to get calorie counts on what I make at home because I very rarely eat out and eat almost zero processed food so no convenient data there. I think I might have to do something like this:

Breakfast
protein & fruit and veggie (egg, egg whites, sauteed veg, piece of fruit)

Lunch
BIG salad with 3-6 oz protein, a sprinkle of nuts, quarter of an avocado, lemon juice and salt & pepper

Dinner
6 oz protein
2-3 nonstarchy veggies with no added fat
side salad

Snacks
combo protein/fruit, protein/veg like greek yogurt/berries, hummus/veg, cheese/nuts, cheese/fruit

Does this look reasonable? Would I just get used to eating far less rich food than I do now? I know part of my struggle is emotional eating which I'm doing CBT and therapy for, so that I can understand and have a good relationship with food as fuel for my body only

The hardest part for me is that I am a chef, so I work with food all the time, always having to taste rich food. I recently got a job in a role that I won't do that very much so that should help too.

Thanks for reading my mega-novel and thank you all for being here and supporting the site no matter if you're gaining losing or bodybuilding or whatever.

dearmrsowl

I'm on 1650 calories as well and manage to have ice cream, full fat milk and basically everything else I love every once in a while. I haven't cut out any type of food since I started logging on MFP. What works for me is eating everything in moderation and planning ahead to have it. If I want a chocolate brownie with a mug of full fat milk, I make sure I prepare my dinner without using oil (grilling my chicken instead of frying it in a pan).
When it comes to salad dressing I often make my own by using low fat greek yogurt and mixing it with avocado, lemon juice and spices. This way I still have my avocado but don't have to add any extra fat if it doesn't fit into my calorie budget for the day.
Don't give up. I know it's hard, especially in the beginning but you'll get used to it. Always keep in mind that you can go by a weekly calorie deficit instead of a daily one as well. Let's say you only eat 1500 cals one day you can invest the leftover 150 cals in yummy fatty things the next day.

queenliz99

Welcome to MFP!! Fat is important too!! read this and best wishes on your success

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

ValerieMartini2Olives

I'm on 1600 calories and I eat the things I want. I have a cream filled donut 3-4 days a week.

Wii_Player

Hello and welcome. Your taste buds will get used to the not so rich foods. You do not need to cut everything out, maybe make wiser choices. If you feel you do not have room in your daily limits for whole milk, have 2% milk. If you want a piece of cake and you ate all your calories, exercise for that piece of cake. As for dressing, go for calorie-wise, for example. You just need to find acceptable substitutes. For example, I love potato chips. I have not had one in 8 weeks, but I found a great replacement. I found Special K salt and vinegar chips crackers that are calorie and fat friendly and I really enjoy them. Find what works for you

bkate24

I had the same shock when I first started logging. I had thought that as I got to the end of my 20s my metabolism was slowing down because I couldn't lose weight as easily as I used to. I actually thought I knew how to count calories with ballpark estimates but it was clear I didn't. I also realized that I was ordering takeout food for dinner that literally blew my calorie budget for the entire day . . . in the end I was shocked that I hadn't gained more weight than I actually did, based on how much I was eating!

My advice: do not despair and don't feel like you have to give stuff up forever. What works is different for everyone, but for me I love butter and chocolate and trying to give them up forever would just result in me ignoring any attempt at controlling my diet. HOWEVER, now that I've been logging for 2 months, for me it's all about reduced portions. I make a 6 oz baked potato and weigh 14g (1tbsp) of butter on it. Surprisingly, that is plenty for me and I'm totally satisfied. It doesn't have to be a 10oz beast of a potato with 3 tbsp of butter.

So, don't get into the idea of having to never eat stuff you love again. I also don't love the idea of "clean" eating because I feel like it gets into this weird area of ascribing morality to food (e.g. this food is "good," this one is "bad" - no, food isn't evil!). I try to avoid preservatives and fake additives whenever possible and cook food my own food from fresh ingredients whenever possible. To me, this is "clean" eating!

Lastly, my big tip is to figure out what you NEED from your food that will leave you satisfied. It's all about tradeoffs . . . you get to decide what you need, and then you tradeoff by leaving out what's less important.

Options/examples:

You NEED a feeling of fullness. You'll need big portion sizes, but that means that what goes into the portion has to have a lower calorie content. You'll want to start meals with a broth-y soup, eat lots of fiber and lower fat protein and a little bit of healthy fat, and eat plain unpopped popcorn for snacks. Here you have a big salad with lots of veggies and some lean protein, but for dressing something lower calorie like balsamic vinegar.

You NEED the taste of fats. So, you have smaller portion sizes but you get the satisfaction of the tastes you want. E.g. you get to have (a calculated amount) of ranch dressing, but the salad is smaller overall and most of the energy content/fat is in the dressing.

You NEED something that's similar to the foods you love, so you hack your recipes to make them lower calorie. E.g. roast, spiced apple + cottage cheese instead of apple pie.

You NEED that one big meal (e.g. dinner with family). So, for you what will work is a smaller breakfast and lunch and then a big dinner.

You NEED to eat regularly and snack. So none of your meals are big, but instead you eat 3 smaller meals + 2 snacks.

I hope this helps! For you it might be worth your while to experiment with your macros to see which style of eating fits you best. Try a certain way one week (e.g. high protein), then the next week try something different, and test out which you like best.

Don't despair! : )

kirayng2

Thank you everyone!! bkate24 your advice is spot on. I'm feeling a lot better about this now.

bkate24

kirayng2 wrote: »

Thank you everyone!! bkate24 your advice is spot on. I'm feeling a lot better about this now.

Thanks! You can do this! : )

As for what you said about cooking mostly at home, MFP will be a huge help when you can create your own recipes in the recipe builder and then quickly add them to your diary. Using a food scale will become quick and easy when you get used to it, just adding stuff to your plate/pot and "tare"ing the scale after each food. And just as you're surprised by how many calories are in a small thing, once you start using the database you'll also be surprised sometimes about how few calories are in other stuff . . . like for me I get to eat 120g of low fat cottage cheese plus 80g of blueberries and it comes out I think below 200 calories.

Good luck!