Trying To Figure This Out

faiths13

A couple of years ago I did Trim Healthy Mama and lost a good amount of weight. It was very restrictive and once my weight was down I quit. Then as I would gain I would keep trying it over and over, always quitting because I felt too restricted or because it really is a lot of work. Then I hit a bad place for about a year and now have gained (to me) a lot. I've finally gotten to a place where I care about being healthier and I'm exercising almost every day. I'm keeping track of what I eat and keeping under what MFP says also. With the extra exercise I am a lot more hungry so I usually eat back my calories. I do have a sweet tooth so I usually end up eating a dessert everyday but I stay in my goal range. Any way I am struggling with what to eat. My brain is wired to think Trim Healthy Mama (separate fat and carbs so each meal is either low fat or low carb) and I don't even know what is healthy anymore. I also need ideas on snacks after exercise, because often I am doing it in the evening and then eating something junky before bed because I'm starving. I was loosing for 2 weeks and then got my monthly and my weight went back up and hasn't gone back down. I just really want to loose weight without feeling deprived or starving. Something sustainable.

geneticsteacher

Why not try just normal, traditional meals? Protein (eggs/dairy/meat/vegetarian protein/fish) + starch (potatoes, rice, pasta, bread) + fruit/vegetables. Just make sure they fit your calorie and nutritional goals. There is no physiological reason to not have carbs & fat in the same meal.

queenliz99

What did you eat before THM? There is a thing called Orthorexia Nervosa, not saying this you but it something to think about.

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/orthorexia-nervosa

jimb0200

For me I pre-packed my foods for days at work. I also found snacks that I liked that were not to bad and ate those instead of other things. Skinny Cow!!! My biggest thing I did was bought a good set of measuring cups and served my self with those so I kept better track of serving size. And my final thing I did was ate what I wanted for an entree but used salad for my sides. Pizza night? 2 slices of pizza and a big salad. Lost 70lbs

sylvianuneza

I have been on diets, and exercise programs failing over and over again. On 2014 I went to a nutritionist with whom I learned that food shall not be considered a reward but the gasoline to our body. I have a sweet tooth, and I love baking deserts, which did not help me at all.

I sort of learned how to combinate the foods to make a good balance. Two months ago I started an exercise program at my local gym, which included a nutritional companion. I wasn't feeling very comfortable with the guides provided, so I went back to my old nutritionist guidelines, and so far I've lost 16 pounds, weighed today.

Something important to keep in mind is that eliminating fats and carbs doesn't mean you will lose weight faster. If you are exercising on a daily basis, you need to eat those to power up your body, you just need to combine them adequately.

There are healthy fats and carbs that our body needs, the fats we should beware of are those saturated and trans fats that come from consuming fried goods. The are healthy fats we can get from nuts, avocado, raw olive oil and many other sources. There are as well healthy carbs, such as in sweet potato which calorie value is quite low, yet provides you with a great source of Vitamins A and C.

For breakfast make sure to combine a good source of protein with enough carbs to jumpstart your day.
A good source of protein are eggs, milk, cheese (low fat, like mozzarella), greek or regular yogurt (greek yogurt has more protein content). For carbs, you can have whole wheat toast, sugar free cereals, and oatmeal.

When it comes to the snacks, there are plenty of options, you can have nuts, such as almonds, pistachios, a piece of fruit such as green apple, or pineapple slices. You can even hold on to a granola bar (nature valley ones).

At lunch, there are plenty of options, you can eat anything you want as long as you watch out for the fat content. If you like pasta, go ahead, just make sure you don't exceed a cup of cooked pasta, and side it with at least 4 oz of a meat of your preference. If you like rice, make sure to eat not more than 1/2 a cup.

Every lunch should include a good source of proteins, whether it is fish, chicken, pork or beef; and if you are not into many meats, you can also find a good source in different types of beans.

Make sure to always have greens on your plate, and start always by that part of the plate, it will trick your stomach to feel satisfied quicker. And will help you to only eat what your body needs.

For dinner, make sure to eat dinner no later than 2 1/2 hours before going to bed. And also make sure you balance this, it can be with the same guidelines as your breakfast and even combining the lunch ones.

CHEAT DAYS!
We are humans, and therefore when on a diet, we will always want to have that cheat day, BIG ERROR HERE, on your cheat day, YOU ARE ALLOWED ONE CHEAT MEAL, the rest of the day, you should still consider the other guidelines, because one meal wont make much difference, but a whole day, can make you lose the progress of a whole week (I have been there)

I hope this advice is of some help for you.

cmriverside

Eat what you like. Stay within your recommended calories.

Log it in the food diary here.

If/when you exercise, enter it in the Exericse tab here.

Look at the food diary (Food Tab/logging page) and learn from it.

Food shouldn't really have a lot of rules attached. That sounds awful. This site is a very simple and very powerful tool. Just use it like it is designed and let go of all the rules.

kommodevaran

Try to remember what you ate before THM. I too had to learn to eat again - MFP has helped me. How I eat most days now:
Breakfast is porridge or sandwich+milk, fruit, raw veg.
Lunch is either what I didn't have for breakfast, or salad, or leftovers, or boiled egg.
Dinner is meat/fish+starch+veg.
Evening meal is nuts/cheese, fruit, raw veg.
Everything is easy, cheap, tasty.

Don't eat under your goal. And make sure your goal is correct for your height, weight, age, activity level.