Need help and guidance- Please!

Colleen1018

Hi-
I'm 50 and I am starting over for the umpteenth time! I was wondering if there is anyone out there willing to giving me guidance? I have tried everything. I cannot seem to stick to anything
I have tried keto, no go! I have tried IT, didn't work. I seem to do ok with low carb, if they aren't too strict. I guess what I am looking for is a meal plan that allows me to have the flexibility with food. I don't want a plan that is so restrictive that you cannot have certain food groups. I guess I need weight loss for dummies! lol I need structure, I need a food plan, that allows me to choose from a group of foods for each meal. I don't know if there is even such a program out there? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

harper16

Weight loss is caused by being in a calorie deficit. You can eat whatever you like you just need to be in a calorie deficit. I'm not following any named diet. I'm just mindful of my calories, and I'm steadily losing weight.

katescurios

What’s working for me this time is low carb and exercise. I am obese and will be for a while but I’ve lost 15lb and it’s coming off at about 2lb a week with the odd week staying the same.

I log everything I eat and any drinks except black coffee and water on here. I aim for under 100g of carbs but that’s not a hard and fast rule. I find I lose better when I cut out bread, rice and potato and reduce pasta to once a week at the most.

I’m not a big fan of breakfast, never have been so I set a window of 12-8 when I eat and I chuck as much veg at my meals as possible to bulk them out so I don’t feel hungry. For example lunch today was sugar snap peas, baby corn and mushrooms steamed, then I added finely sliced spring onions, sliced up wafer thin chicken, a rasher of pre-cooked crispy bacon and a teaspoon of butter, salt and pepper. Gave it all a good mix so the butter melted. It was delicious, filling and only about 200 calories.

Dinner was fresh egg tagliatelle, with green beans, spring onions, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of Parmesan.

When I really want a chocolate treat, when I’ve thought about it, waited a bit and still want it, I make a small hot chocolate with my tassimo machine which is 67 calories. It’s just enough to sate the need without ruining my days count.

For exercise I signed up on the Our Parks website and am doing the Couch to Fitness programme which is a 9 week programme of 3 workouts a week getting progressively harder. They show modifications on every video if you can’t manage the full exercise, it’s free and can be done in your living room with no equipment.

sal10851

Dieting fails because the mentality behind it is usually: "I'm gonna lose some weight then I can eat what I want". Dieting and changing diets are two separate things. Low carb usually works because carbs trigger more hunger. If it's worked for you before stick to that plan but do not deviate from the recommended calorie intake.

rheddmobile

What I always suggest for new people is to just try logging for a week while eating normally. Don’t try to change anything, just eat what you always eat and record it. Log everything, every drink, condiment, snack, and bite off someone else’s plate, and also log your exercise if you normally do any. Then at the end of the week, look at your diary. You will have a better idea of where you are and how to get to where you want to be. Are there foods that aren’t worth it to you in terms of calories? Foods you could easily eat smaller portions, or substitute with something lower in calories? Foods you have to have each day or you don’t feel happy? Are there places, activities, or people which trigger you to overeat? What can you do about those? For example, if you stuff yourself out of your snack drawer at work, could you get rid of the snack drawer, or fill it with low calorie snacks? If you mindlessly eat while watching shows, could you find something else to do with your hands so you don’t do that? If every time you have an Oreo you eat the whole pack, could you put two on a plate and put the pack someplace hard to get to? If you go out with a certain friend, have a bunch of drinks and eat fatty food, could you maybe go someplace other than a restaurant with that friend?

The goal is to come up with a plan that works for you! You can do anything you want as long as you end up eating less than you expend in energy. The only thing is, to work, it has to be something you can do for the rest of your life, because otherwise when you stop, the weight will come right back. So take time and learn what works for you! You want to eat and exercise in a way which makes you happy every day, not miserable.

trogalicious

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1235566/so-youre-new-here/p1

vingogly

Get a food scale and measure/weigh everything.
Observe what you've measured and learn portion control.
Log everything you eat and be honest with yourself.
Monitor your calorie intake during the day and adjust as needed.
Don't set goals you might not make (like lose 40 lbs by the holidays).
Don't use food for emotional comfort or stress management.
Don't eat mindlessly or out of boredom - enjoy your food.
If you really want something like chocolate, have it -- and log it.
Understand you're making a permanent lifestyle change - not dieting.
Weigh yourself regularly - I do so on a daily basis.
Expect your weight to fluctuate up and down and sometimes plateau.
Know that exercise isn't a weight loss tool - it has other benefits.
Accept that you'll go over sometimes, don't try to "make it up", just move on.

That's pretty much it. I've gone from 257 lbs to 184 lbs using MFP, and kept off the weight. Losing is easy, it's maintenance that's hard - and that requires a change in your attitudes toward food. A real lifestyle change, not a "diet". If you're thinking to yourself, "I can't wait until I can eat normally", you're doing it wrong. It was "normal" eating that got you into this shape.

springlering62

There is some really outstanding advice for you here.

You might also try making some friends who have open food diaries. I get ideas sometimes by simply looking at what others are eating and realizing oh, hey! That’s a tasty lo-cal idea.

nanastaci2020

I have found that making my own recipes in the MFP recipe builder, and using a food scale: allow me to eat alot of food and stay within my calorie limits.

The 'trick' is to figure out what foods fill you up. Some people do great with low carb, high fat for example. Personally I don't follow any 'plan' but I've come to recognize my own tendencies. For example, my days don't contain much in the way of vegetables or fruit so I have to try to put those in more often. And since I've figured out that I feel full longer on 'home cooked' food (rather than frozen low calorie meals) I've started cooking 2-3 dishes on Sundays, portioning them into single servings and freezing them. My goal is to have a freezer of options so that I can have a variety of different meals, so I can put one in the fridge 6-12 hours before I intend to eat it, then defrost in the microwave for 30-60 seconds before heating it up in the microwave. And this way I don't 'need' to come home from work and cook.

When cooking, look for ways to make the foods you normally eat - but make them a little less calorie heavy. For example, this past weekend I made sloppy joes. (Hamburger meat - browned/crumbled/drained/rinsed, peppers & onions, sugar, ketchup, vinegar, dry mustard.) Instead of using sugar, I used a 0 cal replacement. That saved 800 calories across the entire recipe. And you could not tell the difference.

Look for substitutions, things you can leave out, or different ways of cooking meals. Such as grilled or baked instead of fried in oil. Larger quantities of lean meats, vegetables and smaller quantities of higher calorie sides like rice, potatoes.

Things I've recently cooked, some to freeze and others to eat as leftovers without freezing:

Sloppy joe meat (I eat w/ a fork, not on a bun)
Potato soup in the slow cooker
Baked pasta made w/ hot turkey sausage
Egg roll 'filling' which is pork sausage browned/crumbled, shredded cabbage, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic
Shrimp "Fried" rice made in a rice cooker

On my menu to make in the next two weeks:
Garlic chicken & asparagus
Meatloaf made with 85/15 ground turkey and blue cheese crumbles
Black beans & rice
Spaghetti squash w/ turkey sausage and marinara sauce

So real food can still be a way to lose weight. ITs not about what you eat, but how much.