Need help with adapting to a healthy diet

L_Smith19

I have been getting better at workout and being active, but my diet still suffers. I have a very difficult time eating healthy. I might be good and have a salad and some fruit for lunch, but then I find myself getting fast food or binging on a junk food later that day. I have been successful in reducing the amount of pop I drink and replacing it with water though.

I want help with suggestions for a 1500-1800 calorie diet because I am a picky eater. I have looked up diets online, but most of them include foods I don't like.

Here are some foods I DON'T like:

-all seafood
-tomatoes
-mushrooms
-peppers (green, red, yellow, etc)
-quinoa

Would anyone be willing to share ideas? I am sick of the way I have been eating, and frankly ashamed.

qtgonewild

try grilling some chicken and some veggies for dinner instead of fast food. fast food just has too many calories. congrats on dropping the soda, I did the same thing when I started this 20 days ago. you can do this. lettuce wraps are good. I eat those for lunch. lettuce, cucumbers, avocado, turkey and I add tomatoes but since you don't lie, do it without them. it it tastes great and is low calorie.

KisforKriss

Firstly, congrats on the steps you've taken to try and change, we all need to start some where and thats the most important thing.
Next, If you like fast food, my suggestion would be to try and fit it into your life.. instead of going out for a burger, make one, control what goes into your food, and into your mouth, make your own pizza, Etc.

I make things like chicken, with all kinds of seasonings, chipoltle mango, sweet chili, cajun, tex mex, Etc, same with my pork chops, you can use shake and bake and make chicken fingers and find or make your favorite dips, i make a lot of different kinds of potatos, carrots, turnips, broccoli, home made cheese, Etc.

13ftw67

I found this post very helpful. especially the taking smaller steps part. Planning ahead has helped me stay out of fast food restaurants and away from convenience store foods.

1.weight loss plateau general
Medical reasons aside, a plateau will come as a result of eating at maintenance, no way around it.
Improper calculations of food intake are the cause, you cannot out exercise a bad diet, bad meaning you are using less energy than you take in, or the same.
For the sake of the topic at hand, the plateau will be for WEIGHT although the goal is fat loss.
If you are in a constant deficit, your weight will not always come off if you did everything correctly due to various factors, including, but not limited to: cortisol, sodium intake, carbohydrate intake, water intake, and the weight of undigested food in your body. If the scale does not change in a week, its ok. Even two weeks is fine, after three weeks there should definitely be a change in WEIGHT, or at least should, at this point its time to reevaluate what you are eating.

You do not need to increase activity, you can simply eat less instead of spending hours doing cardio in an attempt to make up for lack of control over caloric intake.
From personal experience, i ate the exact same things every single day and never had an issue with weight coming off because: i was accurate with calorie counting, i knew what i needed to eat calorie-wise to reach weight/fat loss.
If you did X amount of work, and ate Y amount of food, and weight did not change, X=Y, you want X>Y. Work and food in this instance is a calorie, or a unit of energy, simply once again using more energy than you take in to create a caloric deficit.

Calorie calculators will only take you so far, so lets put things in perspective, real life math.
As an example if you need 2200 calories with your "activity level", the amount of work, to lose 1 pound per week. This correlates to a deficit total of 500 per day because the general rule of thumb is a pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories. 500x7 days=3500 calories. Since you will never know how many calories you use exercising, we can factor that activity adding to maintenance.
To lose more weight/fat per week, we need to create an additional deficit, if your goal is 1.5 pounds per week, you need to generate another 250 calories per day on average, the culmination of that original 500 calorie deficit+250 per day is 5250 over the span of a week, or 1.5 lbs per week.

If weight is not coming off, you are eating too much. Like mentioned, do not make adjustments after one week, even doing everything correctly your WEIGHT can increase, masked by the factors mentioned, while fat IS coming off. What we are concerned about is the number, the weight. After three weeks there needs to be some sort of adjustment, its not a rule, but a suggestion since something SHOULD be changing.

You can make short changes to a diet to make big changes. Every 100 calories you reduce, you will lose 0.2 lbs faster a week BECAUSE 100x7 days= 700 calories, or 1/5 of a pound. You do not have to make drastic changes, you can simply skim away portions of what you are eating to achieve a lower overall caloric intake, this only works if you STICK to your calorie deficit.

Make sense? From the small change you can see, we skimmed 215 calories without changing much. This will net 0.4 lbs faster per week. You would generally pull calories from carbs because you need to meet those requirements, as carbs are not essential, nor required. You need to make the adjustments so you still hit those requirements. Monitoring weight under the same conditions, will probably yield a more accurate trend in data for recalculating caloric adjustments or requirements. It needs to be over a period of time, or weeks, not days.

Don't know your maintenance?
At some point you have to start somewhere, regardless of what a calculator tells you. You would eat a target caloric intake, and then based on your results, add or take away food to decrease or expedite weight loss. Instead of over thinking, at some point you have to get away from the computer screen and start some trial and error, everyone has to.

A simple calorie deficit will take you all the way down to single digit body fat and to competition levels, there is no question about it. The stubborn fat, in reality, is the stubbornness of a person not willing to be patient enough for the fat to come off, or willing to deal with the hunger and sacrifice necessary to achieve being lean. You may be hungry, that is a reality. You may have to eat less than you want to, or can cope with, its not easy. Hold yourself accountable and be honest with what you are actually eating, a little self control and accountability goes a long way and will greatly speed things along if you do things....correctly.

In conclusion: MOVE MORE, EAT LESS!

conniemaxwell5

You don't have to give up the foods you like to lose weight. Just keep your portions under control to stay within your calorie allowance. If you do want to eat healthier foods there is a huge variety out there.

Chicken
Lean beef and pork (pork tenderloin is my favorite!)
The whole produce section of the grocery store!
Yogurt
Cottage cheese
Whole grain breads and pastas

Commit to trying something new every day. If you don't like it, mark it off your list. If you like it, Google recipes in which to use it. Try Allrecipes.com - it's a great site with thousands of recipes.

FarEastTexan

I've been taking things very slowly, just changing a few things here and there. I switched sugar for stevia in my coffee and started eating breakfast (usually bacon and eggs or a fruit smoothie). For lunch I'm eating whole grain bread now instead of white (which is huge for me) and having an apple with my sandwich instead of chips - super filling. For dinner I usually have around 800 cals left, it's a lot easier than I ever thought it would be. Friend me if you like and check out my diary - it's a little boring since I'm a super picky eater. Just ignore the alcohol! :drinker:

jayjay12345654321

Ground turkey is cheaper than one fast food combo meal and versatile enough to come up with several options. Turkey tacos (just add taco seasoning, it'll taste the same), turkey burger (add Worcestershire or some other steak sauce to the meat for yummy flavor), add to an alfredo pasta to make stroganoff, make chili, lots more. Chicken quarters, though not as healthy as breast, are a great transition from fast food to breast later on that can be grilled or cooked in a slow cooker.

I'm vegan, but my memory of meat is still quite vivid.

elyelyse

Sometime we binge because we feel overly restricted, and when we feel like we aren't allowed certain things, we crave them. If fast food is one of your weaknesses, and you are used to having it regularly, set a goal to reduce the frequency. Tell yourself that you can have your favorite fast food meal after a week of resisting. (but you will still log it, and try to compensate for the extra calories with healthy eating the rest of the day, and exercise ) Almost everything we like to eat is ok, in moderation, so make a plan to cut down without putting anything in the "I can never have this again" category. Eventually, you may want to cut down even more, to maybe once a month, but any change is the right direction is good. You don't have to change everything at once.

(I'm not suggesting you use the meal as a reward for being good, that's not the point. It's more about being in control of when and how often you indulge)

elyelyse

I might be good and have a salad and some fruit for lunch, but then I find myself getting fast food or binging on a junk food later that day.

Oh I suspect this is part of your problem too. EAT REAL FOOD FOR LUNCH! Limiting yourself to salad and fruit may leave you hungry, then later on you binge. This is very common.. Protein and fats are what makes us feel satisfied after a meal. I love a big salad, but for me that includes some lean protein (chicken, turkey, tuna) and fats (mmmm avocado! Sunflower seeds.) Eating a more nutritious lunch will make your appetite MUCH easier to control the rest of the day.