How To Maintain Healthy Eating

Hakeem85

Hello world I'm hoping I can receive some good pointers about how to stay on track when it comes to eating right. This appears to be my biggest weak point when it comes to trying to develop a healthy lifestyle. Any recommendations or pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time.

fr33sia12

Firstly I'd advise to eat foods you actually like and enjoy eating. Many people try to eat healthy and think they have to only eat certain foods and moan at how they don't like it but it's healthy so have to eat it. Don't be scared to try new things too, I've given up certain foods, but tried so many more and love finding new foods to try.
Research is good. Don't be swayed by what's trendy now like all the "super foods" before knowing if they're actually beneficial or if there are just as good substitutes out there, that are cheaper or easily accessible.
What nutrients are you wanting to include in your diet? is also what you should consider and research what foods provide these nutrients. For example I'm low in iron, so look for good food sources for iron.

Hakeem85

I appreciate you taking the time to give that advice I'm taking notes I tried the calorie counting it seems extremely hard. Do you do the 6 meals a day as well. How long did it take you to get an effective meal plan done if you dont mind me asking.

fr33sia12

Hakeem85 wrote: »

I appreciate you taking the time to give that advice I'm taking notes I tried the calorie counting it seems extremely hard. Do you do the 6 meals a day as well. How long did it take you to get an effective meal plan done if you dont mind me asking.

Don't get me wrong I still count calories, that's the most important thing for losing weight.
My diary is open, so you can see what I eat. I eat when I'm hungry which is usually 3 meals and 2 snacks.
I don't have set meal plans, like I said I eat what I enjoy eating and just make sure I get a good balance of macro nutrients and micro nutrients.

Hakeem85

It appears I have some work to do as far as reading into some of the terminology that your using. It seems alot more in depth than I thought but I really want to get it right. What did you do when you first started out to handle cravings if you don't mind me asking.

fr33sia12

I didn't and don't have cravings really. If I want something sweet, I make sure I have different healthy choices like dried or fresh fruit, or make my own energy balls (you can find recipes on Youtube) That's another example of why eating healthy foods you like is key as you just end up craving other foods you used to love.

lemurcat12

Hakeem85 wrote: »

I appreciate you taking the time to give that advice I'm taking notes I tried the calorie counting it seems extremely hard. Do you do the 6 meals a day as well. How long did it take you to get an effective meal plan done if you dont mind me asking.

Trying to do too much at once (or more than is necessary) when starting out makes it harder than it needs to be.

I recommend starting by just logging what you eat and trying to stay within your calories. Maybe take notes each day of how you felt and if you were hungry or craving food at certain times.

Then, after a week or two (I did it every week when I started), look back and see how your macros were (this is fat, protein, and carbs), whether you were eating an overall healthful and balanced diet, and if you felt hungry at particular times or were struggling. Then, I'd think of ways to change it up.

For example, if I looked over the week and found I was often well below my protein goal and way over my carbs goal (this was never actually my issue, just an example), I might change portion size to increase the amount of protein and decrease the amount of carbs (for example, if dinner was pasta with vegetables and meat, I'd add a little more meat and decrease pasta, OR if on that same day I had a mostly carb breakfast as some seem to, I'd add in more protein then). If I am hungry, I'd try increasing fiber and protein, which are common ways to decrease hungry, or change meal timing or (for some, not me) try lower carbs more fat.

Similarly, if I look over the week and see I was eating lots more high sugar or high fat snack foods than I realized or less vegetables or healthy fats like fish and nuts and seeds and avocados and olives than I'd realized, then I might work to change that the next week and then see how I did. It's a process.

You shouldn't feel like you need to drop the foods you like and add in new "healthy" foods or make a dramatic change all at once.