Any Serious Cooks Who Have Lost Weight?

ducky125

I have been a member for a bit and have the exercise thing down I think. Walk my dog 3-4 miles per day, run 2 miles 4 days per week and hit the gym for weight training at least twice per week. I have not logged my food consistently and I know I need to do that. The last time I was thin for an extended period of time was before I remarried. I did not cook much and ate a fairly rigid diet and obsessed over calories. I did feel and look great though.

Fast forward 20 years, almost menopausal, hypothyroid and now love to cook. Think Taunton's Fine Cooking, Bobby Flay, Ina Garten, etc. Cooking is a big part of my married life as my husband also loves to cook.

I am wondering if there are other serious cooks on MFP and what approach you have taken to losing weight. Have you dramatically changed the way you cook? Reduced your portion sizes? Both? I am thinking I will make some of the more calorie laden recipes less frequently, and focus on trimming portions, which I know are too large. I do not want to give up cooking.

Thanks for any replies.

By the way, now mid 50s and need to lose 30 pounds.

jenhed96

I love to cook, too. Instead of being a hinderance, I really feel that cooking gives people more options in losing weight, kwim? A friend of mine lost weight by (for example) eating a Wendy's chili, baked potato, and diet pop every day for lunch for god knows how long. Dinner was probably some gross something from a box/frozen bag that said "low fat" on it. That's just not for me. I think there are plenty of magazines/websites for people that do like to cook and want real food (and real flavor) but not all the fat. I love skinnytaste.com, cooking light and those sorts of magazines, I get a lot of ideas from the WW site (I'm a member).

I definitely use less butter than I used to, I use leaner cuts of meat, less pasta (and if we have it, its brown). I love fresh produce and tend to leave it pretty much alone (I don't butter my corn on the cob; I roast almost any veggie for great, natural sweetness; I squeeze lemon on almost everything). In the winter I make a lot of broth-based soups and add grated parm into my bowl, roasted winter squashes don't need nearly as much butter or sugar or things like that (or any, IMO).

Anyway, I wish you luck. Keep cooking!

jorasims

I love to cook and it has been the secret to our weightloss success in our home. I am down 90 and the hubby is down 75. We still eat recipes we like but with healthier options and alternatives. Less butter, using olive oil, lean cuts of meats, veggies in each meal, no snacks, substituting ingredients. It has worked for us rather well.

micheleb15

I think you're actually ahead of the game because you love to cook. It's so easy to make your favorite recipes just a lighter. I love to cook; there's nothing that I love more than coming home and having a glass of wine while I cook. It's a time for me that is just as important as my gym time.

Bobby Flay is a very health conscious person and I am sure that he has some great cookbooks out there, as do a lot of the chefs from Food Network. I also love going to the bookstore and looking through cookbooks to find which ones I love ( I then buy them on amazon because it's cheaper). I think it's been more of a benefit rather than a hindrance.

jwdieter

When you cook for yourself, you know the ingredients. Makes things easier. Input your ingredients and eat to target.

As an aside, several Food Network chefs have lost weight over the past few years. Check out some older shows for inspiration, if that helps.

JesterMFP

I love to cook, and I've found it really helpful in losing weight. When I first started on MFP (and was aiming for a paltry 1200 calories a day) a checked a few books out of the library with low fat recipes. Not that I was particularly aiming to be eating low-fat, but it's an obvious thing to cut down on if you're looking to cut calories. Anyway, I learned some good, simple dishes from those books that I'm still using today.

Mostly though, I don't try to cook "diet" food. I use real butter, cheese, oil etc. I sometimes pan-fry food. I am much more aware though of which ingredients will add serious calories. I know just by glancing at a recipe where I can cut things down if necessary. I tend to make choices about what to cook based on how many calories I have to use on a meal. I will generally save higher calorie dishes for days when I've gone for a long run, or when I've eaten very lightly the rest of the week. I cook a lot of things like salmon/chicken with vegetables and couscous/quinoa, or stuffed peppers, or homemade soups. If I cook a risotto, it's going to have plenty of real butter and parmesan, but knowing the calorie count, I wouldn't cook something like that on a regular basis.

I cook for family, and I like being the one to cook because I'm in control and can omit or substitute ingredients to make the meal fit my goals. Being knowledgeable about food and cooking means that I can make adjustments while still making the food taste good. I have a good idea of when keeping the butter in a recipe is important, and when it's not, if you know what I mean.

I also love to bake, and have made some adjustments there. I try to bake more bread now rather than sweet things. I also try to time a baking session with going to a party or something, where I can offload a lot of the goodies. I've also learned which baked goods freeze well, and learned to adjust recipes to yield smaller amounts. For example, I baked cupcakes the other day, but made 6 rather than the 24 in the recipe. There were three of us eating them, so we had 2 each, and I had mine over 2 days.

So, really I use a combination of approaches. I definitely do smaller portion sizes, and I have started cooking a lot of lower calorie dishes that I didn't cook before. I still cook the old favourites though, I'm just a lot more aware of how they fit into my overall diet.

jessicawrites

I don't know if I would count as a "serious" cook yet, but I do the majority of cooking in my house, and we eat in typically 5-7 nights a week. I am a fan of Smitten Kitchen and use that cookbook as well as Real Simple, Cooking Light, and a handful of regional cuisine cookbooks (Spanish, Thai) on a regular basis. I also love baking and typically bake about once a week.

For me, cooking healthy foods is definitely as much fun as the calorie-heavy stuff. I prefer savory meals that showcase flavors of herbs, spices, and produce rather than a lot of cheese or a thick, creamy sauce that tastes one-note to me. My main tricks are starting with lean protein, measuring cooking fats carefully, using cheese as garnish or flavor enhancer rather than primary meal component, and planning to serve myself a smaller portion of whatever starch we're eating (3/4 cup couscous = awesome; 1 1/2 cup couscous = bloated feeling later).

I don't cut corners when I make sweets (butter! cream! real sugar! more butter!), but I'm careful about how many I eat. I'll have a muffin or piece of pie and treat it almost like I am judging my own private baking contest--texture, flavors, level of sweetness. Savoring it helps me take mental notes for next batch and helps me concentrate on enjoying what I've got. I also often scale down batches, freeze excess if it keeps well, or share outside home if possible.

LilithNoor

I love to cook, but as the only cook in the house, I get free rein over the kitchen, which makes it easier to make decisions based on my dietary needs.

I tend not to use many substitutes in my cooking. Instead I use small amounts of tasty but fatty ingredients, and only cook the real calorie busters once in a while.

Baking is my real passion, but I have scaled right back on that. I try and bake only for special occasions, and give a lot of it away!

ducky125

Thank you for all of the replies! Very helpful and nice to know I am not alone in my love for cooking!

mmjensen2010

I love cooking too, as does my boyfriend. When I am cooking recipes, I don't look for ones that are low calorie, I pick what sounds good. If a recipe calls for heavy cream (although I don't usually pick these kinds of recipes, it's just an example) you use half n half or cram cheese use fat free cream cheese. Just cut where you can and any recipe can fit into your calorie budget.
I actually look at it as a challenge to make something that is usually thought of as decadent and off limits into something that is healthy without sacrificing the good taste.

I really like the recipe ideas on eatingwell.com and hungry girl is pretty creative too.

Remember, a recipe is just a blueprint, change and substitute to make it your own and designed to your tastes (and calorie needs).

navyrigger46

I don't know what you would consider a serious cook, but I brew my own sauces seasoning concoctions, and rubs. I also work off my own recipes and taste buds most of the time and I cook daily for 8 people (more on Sunday's) I think cooking actually helps me in my weight loss since I have absolute control over what goes in to a recipe. It's a little tougher when I'm not the one making a mess of the kitchen.

Rigger

Likensassafras

I highly suggest Vegetarian Cooking for Everybody.... I have all of Deborah's cookbooks. I'm not vegetarian but I get highly inspired to cook more seasonal produce! Yummy stuff. My favorite spinoff recipe is Ratatouille....using whatever produce needs eaten. Last batch had a tomato base with oyster, crimini and portabella mushrooms. The calories for a large bowl....were well under 200! Plus mushrooms are potassium rich.

erikmsp72

I love to cook, and so does my partner. So one of our favorite things to do now is to find recipes that work within our calories for the day. But we typically cut quantity rather than quality. We still use butter, cream, cheese, meat, and so on -- but we go for the really GOOD stuff, and we have smaller portions of it.

My mom's co-worker once said, "If it's not amazing, it's not going in my mouth, because the calories need to be worth it."

That totally works with a foodie / gourmand / gourmet version of MFP, I think.

leighn62

Being a good cook makes it so much easier to lose weight. You will know how to modify meals in a creative way and make them tastier than if you only new how to grill a chicken breast. You can add seasonings and interesting veggies etc to make things more appetizing.

ohnoetry

I looooove to cook. I've also lost over 50 pounds. It is possible! One thing that took me forever to do but totally works is meal planning. I didn't want to because I love going to grocery stores and just feeling inspired to make meals based on what I find. But as you can imagine that is a slippery slope. So, I meal planned Monday through Friday, then did more of a "free" day on the weekends--not the same as a cheat day, but I let myself be more creative without having to stick to the plan.

Check out Skinnytaste.com, she has a lot of make over type recipes.

teresamwhite

I do, too...my job makes gaining weight an occupational hazed, but some of it is my own self-control, too.

Some things that worked well for me in the past, and am using again this time around...I once worked with a dietician whose thesis was: if everyone ate the recommended amount of fiber and drank the recommended amount of water, there would be no obesity. There may still be overweight people, but no obesity. I have no idea what grade she got on this paper, but i decided to give it a go. Within the first three weeks, I lost 4 pounds each week. After that, encouraged, I began trimming sugar and refined carbs, making changes to the types of meats and fats I was taking in and controlling my portions. I lost 122lbs in 12 months that way.

I've regained 40lbs due to some issues in the last 5 years, but I am well on my way to changing that!

ALKNica

Another foodie here. I think it helps to know how to cook and to like to cook. I live alone for the time being, and I still cook. I usually make things on the weekends that I can freeze and reheat.

VioletNightshade

I love to cook, too. My tracker says 15 pounds lost, but I lost 30 before joining MFP, eating much the way I do now.

What I'm doing is making this a fun new experience for myself and taking this opportunity to compile a recipe book that reflects my new lifestyle. To me, it's incredibly important that the food tastes good. If I don't like it, I don't care HOW good it is for me, I won't eat it. On the bright side of that, I happen to like most fruits and vegetables with a very few limited exceptions. Being vegetarian doesn't exactly simplify things, but I make it work.

I also prefer "heavy" foods, so I tend to look for things that have a lot of bulk with very few calories so I can eat more and feel full without going "over budget," so to speak.

Every time I bring a new item into the kitchen, I try it, make a copy of the nutrition facts for my recipe book, weigh it so I can have a visual concept of what I'm dealing with and make a list of possible meal ideas that could incorporate it if I'm going to continue using it. It also has a list of fruits and vegetables and various other foods I like and the nutrition info per 100 grams, so it's very, very easy to calculate per serving.

HeidiCooksSupper

Me, too. What they all said. Being a hobby cook by nature, I'm having a great time making healthy stuff with lots of veggies. For the most part, flavoring ingredients (herbs, spices, vinegars, etc.) are incredibly low calorie. So, tonight, for example we're having boneless skinless chicken breast, corn cut off the cob, and summer squash -- which sounds awfully bland -- but add a bunch of cilantro, some achiote paste, lemon juice, Mexican oregano, salt & pepper and a touch of olive oil and I'm expecting it to taste really good. It's in the oven now, making the kitchen smell just too good. We'll probably put a dollop of fat free Greek yogurt on top pretending it's sour cream.

Danni3ll3

Short and sweet -> Portion control, lower calorie ingredients and water or green tea as beverage. I am French and the French live to eat, not the other way around.

I also agree with Erik's Mom's co-worker (did I get that right?) that if it doesn't taste excellent, I am not eating it.

PS. I also walk 8.5 km (most days) and attend a brutal Pilates class twice a week.

cityjaneLondon

I love to cook too - I am a real foodie, totally obsessed by delicious food!
I think this has made it much easier losing weight as I can be creative in lower fat versions of delicious dishes. I have never felt deprived in the year I have been doing mfp and I have lost 48 lbs. I use The Hairy Dieters, skinny taste, various healthy or low fat cookery books and my own imagination. Chilli sauce helps.:laugh: Philly Light is great, as is the wonderful half fat creme fraiche. That is a wonder food for sauces etc. I have cut back on my use of butter and oil and salt. Lasagne made with zucchini strips is great as are turkey burgers mixed with spinach. Skinnytaste has a great Spinach and Feta Pie. You have a terrific advantage over people who can't cook.:flowerforyou:
Tomorrow - Baked Eggplant Sticks from skinny taste with the aforementioned turkey burgers that I made up. Secret ingredient - Worcestershire sauce! I always cook enough burger to have a small one cold the next day, or microwaved, in a sandwich. Chilli sauce of course!
Happy cooking and even more happy eating!