New to Community

rickb0309

Hi everyone,

I've been using MFP since around February. I started out at 203 in December and had one of those "ah-ha" moments that said I needed to change my life - that I looked terrible. It was a combination of having to buy 40 waisted pants for the first time ever and a photo my daughter put on Facebook. With both of those as a catalyst I realized I needed to change my life. I'm the cook in the family and was always more concerned with the food than with the nutritional aspects. Pasta, steak, crusty french bread, pizza, burgers - all typical staples on our table. In january, my wife and I began a 10-week course given by the dietician at the medical clinic we use - on healthy eating. Each week we learned something different - how to read food labels, how to eat in a restaurant, dealing with vacations, emotional eating, portion control, etc - all typical things people on this forum know a lot about but I knew very very little. So that's how my journey began. My weight is now in the low 160s and my BMI is finally in the normal range for my 5'9" body.

What did we change? Everything. For the most part, no pastas, rice, bread, cheese, beef, butter, oil - even in cooking - and loads of fruits and vegetables. Before we almost never ate fish. Now we eat some kind of fish, seafood or vegetable dish 5 or 6 nights per week, interspersed with chicken occasionally. I usually serve two or three vegetables with every meal and always roasted with no oil at all. Tomatos, cauliflower, asparagus, broccoli (usually steamed), brussel sprouts, etc. I set a target of about 1250 calories per day. Most days I was either a little under or a little over. On a rare occasion (Mother's day) I think I hit 2500 calories that day but still healthy choices. I've even learned to enjoy salads without dressing.

Basically we changed everything and haven't looked back. Now if our favorite restaurants it's dishes like cuppa de peace instead of a rib steak. And often we're bringing half the portion home.

I still do a glass of red wine most nights.

So now I'm down 40 pounds and my challenge is adding calories to stop losing weight without gaining weight.

Rick