HELP! HELP! HELP!

slifter16

I like most overweight individuals, have never eaten healthy a day in my life. And, most of the time, it’s not even that I don’t WANT too, it’s the fact that I don’t know HOW too. I don’t like salads, beans, rice, anything of that nature and basically.. healthy foods. Growing up, it’s always been fried chicken, pizza, pork chops, grandma always saying “your beautiful the way you are” in which I know I am .. it’s just the fact that, I now, don’t even know how to eat healthy period. What are some ways to wing myself on to foods that I absolutely hate. I know I have to eat them for my health. Do I have to give up all junk food to lose weight or do I just need to count my calories. I hear different things, “eat whatever you want, just count your calories”, “no carbs”, “do keto”, “don’t do keto”, “use supplements”, “don’t use supplements” and it’s driving me crazy because the fact is, I plainly just don’t know what works for ME.

rj0150684

Ultimately if you burn more calories than you eat, you’ll lose weight. If you burn 2000 calories a day, it doesn’t matter if you eat 1500 calories of fried chicken or 1500 calories of lentils, if you do it every day for a week, you’ll lose about a pound of fat. Find foods that you enjoy that keep you filled up and not hungry all the time. Experiment. Try new things out.

concordancia

Pick one place to start. Don't try to change everything at the same time, searching for some magic perfect ideal of healthy, rather try to add healthier options into what you eat.

You must try roasted and/or grilled vegetables. Choose a vegetable, chop into bite sized pieces, toss with olive oil and salt, pepper if you like, place on a cookie sheet (or the grill) and bake at 425. Most things will take 25-45 minutes. Just watch for them to start to brown (or shrivel if you chose a high water veg like tomatoes).

Onion
Cauliflower
Peppers
Zucchini
Yellow squash
Eggplant
Broccoli
Brussel sprouts
Green beans
Butternut squash
Acorn squash
Sweet potatoes
Baby red potatoes
Asparagus
Mushrooms

Rethink salad: iceberg lettuce is only good on sandwiches, and even then leaf lettuce is better. Coleslaw is a salad, and there are some substitutions that can make it fit your goals if the sugar and mayo southern coleslaw doesn't.

kimny72

Weight loss comes down to calories, plain and simple. Put your stats into MFP, choose a reasonable weekly weight loss goal, log accurately and consistently, and hit your calorie goal.

Having said that, eating at a calorie deficit can be easier if you are eating a well-balanced diet. And obviously if your health is important to you, you want to eat a healthy diet.

The great thing is you don't have to be 100% perfect to be healthy, or lose weight. Baby steps are still moving forward. Start with one small change, and go from there. Good luck!

And ETA: There are definitely people out there who became overweight while eating an other-wise healthy, whole foods diet. You can eat too many calories of healthy food too!

rheddmobile

You can eat nothing but twinkies and lose weight if you eat fewer calories than you expend. Thing is, it's harder to eat fewer calories when eating calorie-dense foods like fried chicken. And it may not be the best diet for your heart health. It's just easier to eat low calorie with more options. But there are probably some things your grandma cooked which could fit into a healthy, low calorie diet.

Let's start with one food you already like: pork chops. Pork chops, if you grill or pan grill instead of breading and frying, are lean meat and easy to fit into a diet. Roast pork loin and pork tenderloin are also lean meat. Even BBQ can be fine if you control the amount of sweet sauce that goes on it.

Fried chicken has a bunch of calories, but rotisserie or oven baked chicken can also be delicious and much lighter. I use Wicker's BBQ marinade in a shallow roasting pan and cook my chicken so the skin comes out crispy and seasoned but the meat is juicy and moist.

How do you feel about greens? Black eyed peas? Cole slaw? Cole slaw is a thing that can be either very fattening if it's made with lots of mayo, or much lighter with a few substitutions such as buttermilk for part of the mayo.

Start by counting your calories without trying to change anything for a week, then look at your diet and see where the big calorie bombs are, and then think about what you might do to change those. Like maybe you want pizza but without extra cheese, and not deep dish. Or maybe fewer slices, plus a salad on the side to fill you up. Maybe instead of a big dessert sometimes you could eat fresh fruit, and have dessert on special occasions. It's easier to figure out what works for you after you have logged for a while so you see where you stand now.

NovusDies

RJ is right. You can easily lose weight by just cutting back on the things you know. Also, the good news is you are here and thus proves that you may not always eat healthy but you must still get enough basic nutrition to keep yourself upright. That is not to say you can't at times be experiencing certain deficiencies it also doesn't mean that you might feel a little better if you covered your bases a little better. If, for instance, you experience leg cramps off and on you might have a potassium deficiency (only an example).

How do you feel about smoothies? I am not talking the lawn clipping variety I am talking mostly fruit with a few additives for a little more punch.

How about seafood? Different types of seafood can fill a lot of gaps. Wild caught salmon is one of the go to favorite fishes but it is not really my favorite.

What about nuts?

In the years growing up you must have had side dishes to some of the pork chops and fried chicken. Baked beans, cole slaw, sweet potatoes, corn, carrots, how about yams at thanksgiving? Any of those? Something else?

Sayanogo

slifter16 wrote: »

I don’t like salads, beans, rice, anything of that nature and basically.. healthy foods.

You're telling me you don't like dirty rice? Shame!

You don't have to eat anything you don't like. Somebody would have to strap me down to make me eat an avocado, and I'd be kicking and screaming the whole time.

The trick is to try things you haven't tried before and to try the foods you like, just prepared a little differently. I'd never heard of quinoa, let alone liked it until I tried it recently. Hummus turned out to be delicious. I can enjoy black beans more than the other beans I had growing up. A pita pocket with turkey, apple, and cheese turned out to be spectacular (and I'd never heard of fruit on a sandwich).

Shake 'n' Bake is a delicious alternative to fried chicken (or use cornflakes like my mom used to). Ever tried marinated chicken thighs on the grill? I'll take it over a burger any day.

Experiment. And don't deprive yourself. Eat some fried chicken every now and then.

amusedmonkey

Since you haven't had much experience with nutritionally dense foods, start by just counting your calories. Notice what foods leave you hungry and which ones satisfy you for reasonable calories. Roasted or grilled pork chops would be a good start. They're actually nice, nutritious, and high in protein. With some mashed potatoes and some kind of vegetable you like (I'm sure there is at least one vegetable you're okay with), you'll have a nice balanced meal under 600 calories for a large pork chop. 600 calories for a main meal is not too much. That meal was just an example, I'm sure there are other things you like that you didn't even know were nutritious and okay on calories.

You can also edit some of your typical meals to see how you like them with less fat or some non-intrusive substitutions. Do you like mushrooms? Any kind of vegetable? You can use that to bulk up your pasta so you get a good serving for fewer calories. You could use less frying oil and butter when you're creating your pasta sauce. Use lean meat cuts if your pasta sauce includes meat. You'll be surprised how many calories you can save just by making a few simple tweaks that don't affect your eating pleasure too much.

Once or twice a week try something new. You'll never know what you like until you try it. Some ingredients that you think you hate may end up some of your favorites if prepared differently. Don't cling to the idea that nutritious foods need to be boring and bland, and can only be prepared a certain way. Don't like steamed broccoli? How about roasted? How about with a cheese sauce? How about made into tots? If you try something and don't like it, well, it happens. Try the next thing. You don't really need to eat things you don't like. Here is a good start for things you can try:
https://www.skinnytaste.com/recipes/

crystalewhite

It's going to take some trying to figure out what works for you. You will probably go over your calorie goal before you get the hang of what really keeps you full and fits in your daily goal.

Read labels, weigh things, and eat what you like in moderation. But do periodically try things you don't like again, your tastes might have changed. Have some spices on hand. And keep in mind sometimes you have to ballpark on calories, especially on restaurant food.

adarbyem

My advice, pick a starting point. Peel the skin off the fried chicken (all fat and LOADED with calories, especially if it's breaded), dab the oil and grease off the pizza (you're looking at 100-150 calories if you can save 1 tbsp of oil or grease from entering your body), trim the fat off the pork chops. Small changes like this really add up and before you know it, you're in a caloric deficit and losing weight.

Here is what I would do:
1. Start with the small things I listed above.
2. Buy a food scale, and just start weighing what you are eating, that way you get an idea of how much your portions weigh. (For instance, I can "eyeball" a 130g serving a chicken breast within 10-20g now) The idea here is just to get used to weighing stuff to the point where you can get a pretty good estimate about what you are going to eat.
3. Get yourself a multi-vitamin, this will help with any nutrient shortfalls you have with your current diet.
4. Once you get into a good habit with 1-3 above, start logging what you are eating.
5. Calculate your TDEE and figure out what you need to eat to lose 1-2 lbs per week, and make small changes to your diet to get you there.
6. Try new things!
7. Ask questions, we are all here to help and support you.

I wish you the best with your goals!

*Quick Edit*: And whatever you do, do NOT jump in both feet first into a structured diet plan, you will burn out fast and fall off the wagon.

geltner1

You already have lots of good advice. Start with small changes. My advice is to start by avoiding all fried foods. Than think about moving towards a more plant based diet. You're going to discover good tastes!

WinoGelato

There is only one thing you HAVE to do in order to lose weight, and that is eat less calories than you burn.

All of the other recommendations about having to cut out certain foods, or only eat certain foods - are not requirements, and you're right, it can be really confusing.

You've gotten great advice here already, about starting with small changes, getting a feel for your current intake, what fills you up, what changes you can make with your existing diet that won't feel like a major overhaul. I would start with one small change per week - like just tracking what you eat currently, don't even try to adjust it. Then next week, make another small change like trying a new vegetable prepared in a different way, or grilling the protein instead of frying it... once you get the hang of these small changes you can try a couple more, or try something a little bigger.

And keep in mind that simply losing weight and getting to a healthy weight can be a huge contributing factor to overall health, without even making dietary changes.

Good luck.

jgnatca

I’m so happy that you’ve received very consistent advice here. You can incorporate small changes weekly that over a year can revamp your whole diet. Simply weighing and logging everything you eat can be an eye opener.

I realized that having a bun AND mashed potatoes in the same meal was just too much. I decided I’d pick one or the other and fill up on salad instead. That was my choice and it was an easy habit to incorporate.

New foods can be tried one at a time every week. Keep notes on what you like and make your favourites a repeat.

If you are wondering what a balanced plate looks like, this resource helps.

https://www.choosemyplate.gov

My advice is to buy small quantities of vegetables at a time. Prepare them at the peak of freshness so you can appreciate them fully. Or stock up on frozen veggies as they will keep.

fittocycle

Everyone here has some great suggestions. I was in your shoes once. In my 20's, I rarely ate vegetables at all and saw no need to do so. However, my family history of diabetes and heart disease suggested I rethink my ideas of what to eat. So I started trying new foods. Now I have went from someone who disliked most vegetables to someone who CRAVES Kale!!! Yep, it's true. Over the years, I have retrained my taste buds. Did it happen all at once? Of course not. But food is medicine and good health trumps all the sweets in the world.

MadisonMolly2017

fittocycle wrote: »

But food is medicine and good health trumps all the sweets in the world.

^ This!