Meal help please!!

Bohomomma147

This is my second time trying to lose the weight, before when I lost several pounds it was only me and my son at the table. Now two deployments later (for my husband) and 2 other children later its a total of 4 at the table (we have a 5 month old). I want to lose weight so bad. I have been exercising three times a week and watching calories. I need meals that are delicious and we can all eat. It is not in my budget to buy for 2 dinners every night. What should I do? Any meal suggestions for low calorie, healthy eating. Any help is appreciated.

JaydedMiss

Chili is always pretty awesome and freezes well

CherylG1983

You can eat the same things as your family, just make healthy substitutions and smaller portions for yourself. For example, say you make spaghetti one night. Instead of pasta, make yourself some spaghetti squash. Or, have the pasta, just one serving (one serving is only half a cup) and have a nice salad on the side. Sometimes, I'll even throw a cup of frozen broccoli in the microwave for a couple minutes and eat it before dinner so I don't load up on carbs. There are only two of us in my household, but we eat the same meals and this is the best way I've managed to do it without having to cook two entirely separate meals. Might be an extra step or two in preparing dinner, but I've lost just about 50 pounds now, so I must be doing something right!

seska422

Fix your main dish plus veggies or salad. Your husband and children can have more of the main dish and you can have some of the main dish and more of the veggies so that you end up with fewer calories.

terbusha

I always start my meals with a protein, and then add in the fruits/veggies, and then the remaining carbs and fat. It can take some trial and error, but over time, you'll establish a rotating set of meals that you and your family enjoy. I have some recipe cards that I'd be happy to share with you, but I don't think I can post them here.

terbusha

terbusha

HStheBusyBee

Beef Goulash

Ingredients - Serves 4
500g beef, trimmed and cut in chunks
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and sliced thinly (top tip, put your onion in the freezer for 10 minutes before chopping and it won't make you cry!)
3 tbsp tomato purée
450 ml beef stock
3 tbsp paprika
150 g self raising flour
75 ml water
100 g Garlic & Herb cream cheese



1. Heat the oven to gas mark 4. In a casserole dish with a lid heat the oil and brown the beef on all sides then remove with a slotted spoon (do this in batches if necessary).
2. Turn the heat down to medium and tip in the onions and stir then put the lid on and cook for 5 mins until they start to brown and soften.
3. Return the beef to the pan, sprinkle over a tablespoon of the flour, the paprika and the puree stir in well for 1 min then slowly pour in the stock bit by bit stirring as you go.
4. Put the lid on and pop into the oven for 20 mins.
5. While it’s cooking mix the remaining flour with the cream cheese, add in the water to make a dough and form into walnut sized dumplings. Once the goulash has cooked for 20 mins take off the lid and add the dumplings.
6. Cook for a further 20mins or until the meat is tender.

Serve with lots of veggies! You can use any type of beef with this but if you are using a cheaper cut, you may need to cook the goulash for longer on a lower gas mark before adding the dumplings otherwise the beef may not be as tender.

nixxthirteen

I like the suggestion of eating the same thing your family eats, just with more veggies or a salad.

My SO and I both have salad, both have tons of cooked veg, and then I weigh out my meat and rice. He has however much he wants.

Veggies-wise, we love steamed broccoli with lemon juice, baked asparagus, baked broccoli, baked green beans with garlic and parmesan, steamed or baked brussels sprouts, baked cauliflower... Olive oil and salt and pepper go a LONG way making vegetables taste amazing.

Meats, we do salmon and dill with lemon, teriyaki chicken drumsticks, balsamic and brown sugar pork tenderloin, steaks with the fat trimmed off and basted in butter, centre cut pork chops, chicken breast with pesto and tomato slices, turkey burgers, turkey chili, boneless skinless chicken thighs brushed with honey...

There is so much you can do with a meat, a vegetable, a salad (chopped romaine, spinach leaves, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes with home made balsamic dressing is my nightly go-to), and maybe a rice if you have the calorie space. I tend to eat 100g of rice max. if my serving of meat is large.

TxTiffani

When I make spaghetti I keep the meat sauce separate from the noodles and either eat no noodles or spag squash and eat steamed veggies and or salad with it. When I make meat I have veggies and then something starcher like beans, corn, potatoes etc and I either have very little or none of the starch. Burgers can have bun or no bun w/ veggies on the side to keep lower cal and have chips or fries available for kids/hub if you want. I like to cook up a whole crockpot of chicken and then all week it can be made into chicken spaghetti, chicken in bbq sauce, chicken sandwiches, chicken salad, chicken with sides, chicken fried cauliflower "rice" or reg chicken fried rice, chicken with broccoli and cheese (I melt reduced fat shredded cheddar on mine).

capaul42

Just made rigatoni tonight for my family with shredded chicken. I had a small portion as well as a large baby spinach salad (over half my plate).

Yesterday I made mashed potatoes, sweet carrots, roast chicken. I had a small serving of potatoes, thigh and leg and steamed some green beans for me (again, half my plate).

Bohomomma147

Thank you all so much for all the ideas. I really appreciate it.

STEVE142142

You can eat whatever you want. It's not a matter of making one meal for yourself and another one for the family. The simple trick to losing weight is to stay within your calorie limit daily. The only real way to do that is to weigh your meals and figure out portion sizes that allow you to stay within that calorie loss goal. That's the secret and that takes a little time.

I eat whatever I want. Sometimes it's salad sometimes it's steak sometimes it's Pizza. The main trick is to know your calorie limit and that's where the work is in figuring out how many calories are in a meal and then apportioning those calories properly. What I'm going to say is considered blasphemy on this site and it has very serious consequences but you could eat Snickers bars everyday be within your calorie limit and still lose weight. The only problem is your nutritional aspects would be 0. You would do some serious damage to your body that would be scary. But you would lose weight because you're eating less calories than your body is consuming.

Remember for this to work it has to be enjoyable. By sacrificing the things you like you're only going to make it worse in the long run and that's why diets don't work. In most diets you sacrificed the stuff you enjoy.

stephinator92

Start perusing Pinterest - there are millions of recipes! I can't say it enough! I love making sausage & peppers (with turkey sausage), creamed kale (with cottage cheese), and some kind of carb on the side or a salad - if you need some ideas feel free to message or friend me! I'm more than happy to help

vivmom2014

One helpful thing I learned from a family-management point of view was this: have a core set of recipes for meals that your family loves. Put them into rotation. This takes a lot of pressure off the need to come up with ideas for dinner. The woman giving the talk also said, "Fast food is stressful for your family." I didn't understand that until I realized that it often is stressful - the order is wrong, can't decide where to go, the food is cold, too expensive, etc. etc.

Once you're comfortable making your favorite recipes, you can do what many above have suggested and simply eat a smaller portion. Double up on your serving of vegetables. Budget calories for a little dessert, if you like that sort of thing, so that you don't feel like you're stuck in a corner while everyone else gets to eat with abandon.

Make sure your calorie goal isn't overly aggressive.

lgregory6540

I bought the skinny mom cookbook (you can also go on her website or follow on Pinterest). Her meals are all really good and calorie conscious. Nothing wild and crazy but it saves my butt trying to come up with ideas - no complaints yet!

skinnyforhi

Yes to eating the same meal as your family but adding salad or a vegetable or a vegetable-based soup. My pasta trick is bulking with cauliflower- it takes on the flavor of any sauce you cook it with. You could use frozen cauliflower florets in place of fresh cauliflower to save money. In fact, using frozen vegetables in general might be a great trick for you if you're on a budget. Another meal could be soup or salad and sandwiches, and you could eat half a sandwich and soup, or soup and just a salad, to lower the calories. Keeping salad ingredients on hand for just you likely won't break the budget, as long as you shop wisely. You could also do tacos or fajitas for the family, but you could put your taco or fajita filling over lettuce and turn it into a salad. Or you could have one taco or fajita with a side salad while your family eats more of the main dish. The salad strategy would also work with lasagna, casseroles, Etc, with you eating a smaller portion, but adding a salad or vegetable based soup to add more bulk with fewer calories (even a canned or boxed soup will do). Just think of the meals your family likes and ways that you can change your portion by using vegetables, vegetable soups, or salad. Another strategy is meat, vegetables and potato/rice/corn/rolls or bread for dinner, and you can skip the carb or add a salad, extra vegetable, or soup. Good luck!

bellabonbons

The beauty of counting calories is that you don't need to stop eating all the foods you love. Think healthy cooking when you prepare meals at home. A plus for the entire family.

healthykaitlin

I'm in the same boat, because I cook dinner for my SO each evening & he refuses to eat healthy. Yesterday for dinner I made Kevin & Amanda's taco cups.. Let me know if you want the link.. Wonton wrappers, lean beef, a can of tomatoes & chilis, light shredded cheese is all it takes (sour cream for serving is optional) cheap, easy, & low in calories... Could further reduce cals by subbing in ground turkey. It also struck me as fun for kids.

I've also made baked chicken nuggets.. You could even leave the breaking off of your own if you'd like, and I make stuffed peppers at least once a week... Do your kids like stuffed peppers?? Chicken fajita, steak & cheese, sloppy joe... Endless ideas for stuffed peppers.

Cheeseburgers with 96/4 beef (or turkey burgers) and light cheese slices on whole wheat buns.. Had that for dinner on Monday.

Taco nights are a hit, too. You can either buy the corn tortilla kit (I believe old El Paso sauce doesn't have corn syrup, but Ortega does if you're into watching that) .. We love the mini flour boats, low in calories & you can load them up with healthier toppings.

Do you spiralize veggies? I'll do half whole grain pasta, half zucchini noodle for my SO with three ingredient tomato sauce (San marzano tomatoes, a halved onion, & tbsp butter). Served with some lean homemade meatballs.

We also love breakfast for dinner... I'll make omelettes, bacon, and sometimes homemade pancakes with pure maple syrup.. I do a lot of homemade just to keep the crap out. I just won't eat the pancakes unless I'm really craving, & then only 1.

Sometimes all it takes is switching up the sides. I'll make a lightened up meatloaf or homemade enchiladas, but serve with something like raw carrot sticks, roasted veggies, frozen peas(the kids I used to nanny for loved frozen peas because they taste sweeter & don't smell funny), or sweet potato fries.. I always load up on my veg first since I'm pretty ravenous come dinner time.

if you ever want to connect i would be more than happy to share recipes with you!!!

ogtmama

I make egg mcmuffins for the family, while wheat english muffins, ham and cheese for the family but avocado and salsa for mine