This is more difficult than I thought!!!!

lisareyes5238

I have to get back in shape. I want to drop about 50lbs. I'm outside sales with horrible eating habits. Just started using shakes during the day but still daydreaming about food!!!!!

usmcmp

Maybe shakes aren't the right path for you. I couldn't have stuck to it if I tried to live off of a shake for a meal.

Although you say you want to lose 50 pounds you might want to consider what your selected rate of loss is. Most of us pick 2 pounds per week, but it's a very aggressive goal. Going for 1 pound per week is easier to stick to long term.

shadow2soul

I'm not going to say shakes are horrible. They do have a place in my life, but usually as a quick grab n go meal/snack. I couldn't handle drinking them all the time; I would end up binge eating.

Have you considered batch cooking?

deannalfisher

like others shakes leave me more hungry than satiated - so I try for "real" food (and by real I mean nonliquid) as much as possible - if you are on the go - you can pre-prep baggies of food to snack on - pre-cooked chicken, veggies - keep them in a cooler and go

Sunna_W

Just my two cents:

It takes several months to find your groove. I had to tweak my meals to reduce sugar and carbs by a lot just to stay within my goals. It's a work in progress. I level set each weekend when I make my meal plan / shopping list for the week. The goal is to find something that is sustainable and that is easy for you to do long term.

I went on a Paleo / Keto-ish meal plan (low, low sugar/carbs and high protein/fat/fiber) of about 1400 calories (since January I have lost 23 pounds). And... I am only complaint calorie wise about 75% - 80% of the time.

Note: the 1400 calories was suggested based on my age and weight and weight loss goals. I am 59 and I wanted to lose slowly so that my skin wasn't overly saggy.

By eating low carb and low sugar all of the time amazing things happened:

• I don't crave sugar (I have an entire box of Charms Wild Berry Blow Pops in my file drawer that I haven't touched since November because I don't crave sugar; I once measured my stress level by how many of them i consumed in one day);
• My moods are more even and I don't have blood sugar spikes and crashes; I feel better.
• By consuming more healthy fats my joints don't hurt as much and I am more or less satiated on 1400 calories.

I used Paleo Leap and Paleo Tribe for the recipe ideas (they have some great low calorie recipe options) but this isn't necessary. I do think preparing and eating food that I make as opposed to boxes or eating out has helped me a lot. Boxes say they are low carb (but they lots of other additives in them to make them taste good.)

It's not just about water -- on a Paleo / Keto-ish meal plan it's important to balance magnesium, potassium, sodium and chloride -- these minerals in the correct ratio (each person is different) help with mood, blood pressure and water balance. (Try seaweed capsules for minerals).

I make my own coffee and drink before work with 1 oz half and half. The other half goes into a metal thermos with 1 oz half and half that I drink mid morning.

I have a homemade 265 calorie low sugar/carb high protein shake in the am (at work) that has the following in it:

5 grams, Modified Citrus Pectin
1.50 cup, Original Unsweetened Coconut Milk
15 g / 1.1oz, Organic Hemp Protein Powder
14 g (~0.5 oz), Moringa Powder
1 tbsp (7g), Brown Flax, Ground
15 g egg white powder
4 g Nestle Nutrition - Nutrisource Fiber Supplement
0.25 tsp Jarrow Formulas - Inositol Powder
0.25 tsp Infinite one - Vitamin b complex

It is palatable - kind of tastes earthy and slightly bitter. I put it in an Honest Tea glass bottle (that I protect from breakage with an old clean sock, which I take off when I get to work) I sip it over several hours at work.

I use 16 oz jelly jars for my 2 other lunch items.

I have plain full fat Greek yogurt with a tablespoon of unsweetened coconut (191 calories) and I make my own blended raw vegetable lunch with separately cooked mushrooms and greens (249 calories) for the week on Sundays (and carry it to work). I always use parsley, carrots, celery and cucumber but mix it up by adding avocado, onion, garlic, spices, lemon juice or vinegar to help keep it fresh all week. (I store it in a qt size mason jar that has the cup marks on the side.) The cooked mushrooms and mixed greens are mixed in when I prepare my lunch the next day to give the meal some texture. (It's the same with the shredded coconut - just try to vary the texture).

All of this goes with me in an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack.

Dinner is a protein and a low carb vegetable. (That's why I use the Paleo Tribe meal ideas). Some people double the recipes and eat left overs for breakfast and lunch. I found that to be too "binding" and i developed GERD. The blended meal of vegetables actually helps to prevent that. I am less constipated and I never have have acid reflux.

I eat bread, rice or potato very rarely.

In addition to natural HRT (prometrium and vivelle dot) I also take the following supplements:

Pure Encapsulations 7-Keto DHEA
Desiccated Adrenal Cortex 200 mg (to support cortisol)
Desiccated Whole Adrenal 80 mg to start (to help with carbs / sugar metabolism)

If after 8 weeks you feel you are compliant with your calories and are not losing, you may have a thyroid problem.
Check out https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/how-to-find-a-good-doc/

Misspinklift

Depends on the shake that your making yourself or buying. Usually the best ones thst don't leave hungry are protein ones. If you worry your gonna gain weight or bulk up, your not. You don't have a high amount of inteserone in your body like men do. Plus plus take something to get build.

I would suggest eating more protein and do the shake one time a day. I hope I was helpful.

Sunna_W

1 TBSP of unsweetened peanut butter is my go to snack. If I am still hungry that usually stops it in its tracks. It works well when you have a hot beverage like tea with it.

gamerbabe14

It's hard at first but once you see consistent results (for me it was like week 3 or so) you'll really get the hang of it and it'll be a lot easier. I'm not encouraging shakes though. Especially if you work in outside sales, you need to build good habits for the long run and not just the short term.

BrettWithPKU

Outside sales with bad eating habits is an unfortunate combination. I spend about 20% of my business days out of the office, and that's when I'm most tempted.

If you're a burger-and-fries type, start by getting rid of the bun. I've started a crusade against bread because, if we can be intellectually honest, isn't the stuff you truly want to eat inside the two bread slices? If you make a crude estimate that each half of the bun is 100 calories, suddenly 40-ish % of that sandwich's calories is in the bread.

If you're one to eat-and-drive, I'd also recommend (if you can) slowing things down a bit, going in the restaurant and sitting down to eat.

SashaQ1381

Shakes worked for me because I made them with protein and I was dedicated to them as a 'breakfast only' item. My lunches were uncontrolled but calorie-counted. But my dinners were very controlled. This was a while back and it worked well.

I did go through a couple of weeks of shakes ONLY (made by me with protein) when I had my wisdom teeth out. The shakes were my ONLY meal because I was not able to eat. They tasted good and I ended up losing so much weight in just the 2 weeks. I did not weigh myself because this was unplanned but my clothes were loose. So maybe get your wisdom teeth out? Lol jk! The point is to stick to shakes even for a little bit, you have to have your ingredients READY at all times. The less you have to think about when making the shake, the better.

Another thing you can do in order to not feel like you are drinking your meals is to put the shake in a bowl and EAT it. Like soup/porridge. With a spoon. Yep. What works, works.

brittnichol

Yes like gamerbabe14 said you want to do something thats attainable. Shakes are more like a "quick fix" of course everyones different and if you think you will do shakes forever than thats great! Just make sure your getting enough calories and at a deficit and you'll lose that weight. From personal experience I lowered my calories too much lost 90 pounds....and here I am trying to lose it again. So dont rush take it slow. And it will be so much better in the long run.

fitzmonkey13

I've spent some time doing outside sales and that makes it really hard to control your eating. Planning your meals and snacks and packing them with you will really help. You could keep a small cooler in your car and pack it with the kind of foods you want to include in your diet for snacking and lunches. That might include shakes if they work for you but it sounds like it doesn't. I generally have a high-protein smoothie with my breakfast, but I also have a bit of something that needs chewing (like a small muffin or a piece of toast with peanut butter) or else I don't feel satisfied.

As others have said, figure out what you want your diet to look like for the rest of your life, and start finding ways to make that happen. Outside sales is a hard job full of rejection. You have to be super creative and determined to be successful at that. Take some of that skill, drive and energy and apply it to the problem and you will find a solution. If you can get past gatekeepers to make a sale, you can do this!!!

cerise_noir

Shakes never worked for me. I was miserable on them.

I eat the same foods that I used to, just less. I've added more protien and fibre, but that's it. I was also absolutely miserable on low carb/keto as I love carbs (great energy!).

The best way of eating is something that you can stick with for the rest of your life. Eat the same foods you'll always eat/enjoy with a mindful eye on nutrition. Treat yourself but be honest. No need to cut out entire food groups to lose weight nor settle for "palatable".

amusedmonkey

If something is too difficult make it easier. Success is not measured by the level of difficulty. You could achieve the same results if you tweak your plan but keep within calories. You could have shakes for 1-2 meals and food for the 3rd (if you are married to the idea of shakes, would not be my choice), or you could give up shakes all together and just eat food if you love food so much (I do). No need to put yourself through the grinder just for the sake of it.

cara2031

I am new here and this morning, I planned out my meals and put them all in my daily food log. However, one of the items, I want to remove because I will not be eating it. That will also change my daily calculations so I can replace it with another and stay within my totals but I cannot see a way to delete it? Help is appreciated

amusedmonkey

cara2031 wrote: »

I am new here and this morning, I planned out my meals and put them all in my daily food log. However, one of the items, I want to remove because I will not be eating it. That will also change my daily calculations so I can replace it with another and stay within my totals but I cannot see a way to delete it? Help is appreciated

If you are on the phone app, long-press the food you wish to remove and a delete option should pop up.