Counting Calories, using Frozen Meals

Arianna52

I started counting calories using frozen meals.
It makes it so much easier and can choose a variety of meals.

The problem is the amount of sodium, so I try to drink as much water as I can.

Today's weight 183.6
Goal: 140 lbs.

Hope you can join me and share your journey.

JeromeBarry1

Be sure and weigh the frozen meal and record the weight of the food eaten. The package label is allowed to be as much as 20% off.

I suggest that you weigh the frozen box, then heat and eat, then weigh the empty box. The difference in the two values is the food you ate.

TeaBea

I eat frozen meals on occasion. I like the convenience when I don't have time to cook. I see where one could lose weight while eating just frozen meals, however that still leaves you with work to do when you get to maintenance.

Losing weight is just the first step. Look for some permanent changes that will also help you during maintenance.

Figure out how to cook some of those meals yourself. https://www.skinnytaste.com/ http://www.cookinglight.com/ Learning how to reduce calories in favorite foods will give you tools for life. Look into batch cooking....make some of your own frozen meals.

You might also want to weigh your frozen meals if you find you are not losing as expected. Package weights aren't required to be spot on. There will be times when you are eating more than you think.

88olds

I lost eating plenty of frozen meals. I’ve pre cooked brown rice and added that. I’ve made frozen veggies and dumped the frozen dinner on top. I’ve made salads and put the frozen dinners on top of that. (An idea I got from a friend. Sounds weird but I liked it). All additions weighed and counted. The added volume helped.

Arianna52

Thanks to all.
So far I had Smart Ones from Weight Watchers and Lean Cuisine. LC had a funny taste, (beef did not look tasty) and both had 700 milligrams of Sodium. Our daily intake should be limited to 1200 miligrams. I can feel the effects of too much sodium.
I made my research and Amy's and Kashi had the lowest sodium.

Thanks 88olds...will add more veggies next time.

Goal: 140 lbs.

aeloine

1200 sounds super low. MFP has me at 2300.

But definitely don't take my word for it. I'm just going off of what mine says.

Alatariel75

Arianna52 wrote: »

Thanks to all.
So far I had Smart Ones from Weight Watchers and Lean Cuisine. LC had a funny taste, (beef did not look tasty) and both had 700 milligrams of Sodium. Our daily intake should be limited to 1200 miligrams. I can feel the effects of too much sodium.
I made my research and Amy's and Kashi had the lowest sodium.

Thanks 88olds...will add more veggies next time.

Goal: 140 lbs.

Do you have a medical reason to be at 1200? That doesn't correlate with any of the recommendations I've seen for people who don't have to limit for health reasons.

Arianna52

Yes, I have High Blood Pressure and I take pills. I was told that if I lose weight, the HBP can go away. I eat everything (that is the problem) but, I watch for the sodium in everything. I took the 1200 miligrams number from google search and read from various sources.
Years ago, I read that one company similar to Weight Watchers was sued because it had high sodium and a person either died or got sick. I cannot remember the name.
Still, it is still good to watch for sodium content even if you are healthy.

Arianna52

Sucks...Gained a pound since yesterday....Sodium...Water retention????

Gabbie361

We're on the same journey 181 rn goal of 145

angel7472

https://sodiumbreakup.heart.org/how_much_sodium_should_i_eat?utm_source=SRI&utm_medium=HeartOrg&utm_term=Website&utm_content=SodiumAndSalt&utm_campaign=SodiumBreakup
Sodium targets were recently changed in 2017. Heart association recommended no more than 2300mg a day max. Ideal target for sodium is now 1500mg a day.

aeloine

Arianna52 wrote: »

Sucks...Gained a pound since yesterday....Sodium...Water retention????

Did you weigh your meals like suggested earlier? Box labels are often off in their estimates.

kenyonhaff

Yes, frozen meals are pre-measured, convenient, and a lot of them have some semblance of balance. There's a lot going for them. I use them too.

However, sooner or later you'll need to eat other kinds of foods. Eating a high frozen-food diet has hazards, as you can tell. Also, I don't know about you but at some point I'd want a nice salad, or a friend will invite me to brunch, or I just simply would get tired of frozen dinners.

And that's part of the process: not just limited your diet to pre-measured foods. One of the reasons "Jenny Craig" is so appealing is that you don't have to think about what to eat, you just get a meal. But the problem is after you lose the weight, you're not going to live on that food the rest of your life...and now you don't know how to eat real food. Oops. But by learning flexibility and thinking through your food intake, you're better prepared.

tibby1971

The sodium intake from frozen meals can be insane. I try and watch my sodium intake since HBP runs in the family.
I did the LC and WW meals because they were convenient. Now I grab some chicken breast (or fish fillets) and frozen veggies. Cook everything up, measure everything out and make my own lunches for the week. I pop them in some glad ware and boom easy lunches for the week. It doesn’t have the variety that frozen meals do but it definitely doesn’t have the sodium.

marieamethyst

Have you thought about maybe looking into meal prepping and freezing meals for a week or two at a time? You can get freezer/microwave/dishwasher safe containers off of Amazon for around $12. I used to live off frozen dinners but now I batch cook once a week and make enough for that week. Usually spend less than 2 hours on prep day, so not too bad, and I then have a freezer full of (mostly) homecooked frozen dinners. (I cannot master the art of grilling my own chicken, so I'm still buying that pre-cooked... one day)

Arianna52

Today, I brought to work, homemade soup with cabbage and chicken. It was in a small glass container, plus one Hot Pockets/pepperoni (700 ml salt).
Since, I eat at work most of the time, I don't weigh the frozen boxes, but keep record of the labels.
I'm drinking more and hopefully skip dinner tonight... I believe in group support and your encouragement is appreciated.

Thanks.
Goal : 140 lbs

bbell1985

I like frozen meals for lunch. I add them to a bed of spinach. I've been doing this for awhile and for the life of me, I can't get myself to weigh a damn lean cuisine. I'm anal enough as it is.

skinnyjingbb

Dilute half can of soup with water, add frozen veg and chicken breast if needed. Pour half box of frozen meal on salad as topping, the other half over brown rice or potato with more vegetable to get two meals out of one. No cooking needed just microwave.

nowine4me

I eat several Lean Cuisines a week, always over an entire bag of frozen veggies. I don’t worry about sodium. Here are my favs: butternut ravioli over sugar snap peas; shrimp Alfredo over broccoli and mushroom mezzaluna over spinach.

sweetsarahv

I just started trying again a couple of days ago to get my weight off. I’m living on Jimmy Dean Delight breakfasts and Smart Ones meals!!!!! I know I’ll need to incorporate other things, but to start, this is how I stay focused.

Do your thing!