Picky Eating and Weight Loss
sassypenguin
Posts: 3 Member
I'm an extremely picky eater. Not so extreme as the people that only eat French fries, but definitely not normal either. I struggle to find meals that are good as leftovers, are healthy, and that I like enough to eat several times a week. I've been able to incorporate zucchini and spinach in some things but thats about as wild as I've been able to get. I am worried that I will never be able to reach my goal weight because of my picky eating. I'll never be able to eat a piece of grilled salmon with a side of kale like most healthy success stories.
Are any of you picky eaters? What are your favorite safe but healthy foods?
Are any of you picky eaters? What are your favorite safe but healthy foods?
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Replies
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Well, the good news is that weight loss comes down to calories. So long as you are at a calorie deficit, you will lose weight, regardless of what foods you eat to meet your calorie goal.
Now, good health is another matter entirely, so definitely continue trying to push those taste bud boundaries and find ways to sneak more nutrient-dense things into your food
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Roast those veggies. Ask my picky son, he’s a true believer now.3
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Picky eater here, I'm a lot better than I was as a kid but still gag at the thought of eating a salad. And, sorry to say, I've tried roasted veggies and dislike them.
While I try to work more fruits and veggies into my diet, it's not mandatory in order to lose weight. I eat full fat cottage cheese almost every day because the protein and fat keeps me feeling full - you might want to find a high protein food that you especially like, and if fat is satiating for you, add that as well.
I don't even attempt leftovers as I've never come across anything that I was excited to eat after it had been sitting in the fridge overnight 🤷🏻♀️1 -
I am not really sure what "picky eater" means but I only eat what like and don't eat what I don't.
Is that being picky?
But doesn't everyone do that? Once you leave your parents home anyway and become responsible for your own food.
And as I only cook what I am going to eat, I never have "left overs" so they are surely not necessary let alone compulsory.
So - eat whatever you want to eat, just make sure you count the calories.5 -
Just eat less of what you already eat.
Problem solved!5 -
If you’re not down for leftovers that’s fine. Personally I prefer food prep and mainly cook meals that I can eat several days in a row, but it’s by no means required. I don’t always precook all components though. It’s perfectly normal for me to have made a pasta sauce and then boil fresh pasta for each meal.
You may end up spending a bit more time overall cooking than I do but there is nothing wrong with that! Maybe look into more 1 serving meals/recipes? Omelettes are quick, easy and single serving and can incorporate new veggies as desired. I enjoy them with caramelised onion (yes, I batch cook these) and spinach and a bit of feta cheese.
I also want to give you hope that being a picky eater can get better. I was still picking onion and tomato pieces out of my spaghetti Bolognese when I was 20 and gagged at the thought of bell pepper. 10 years later and I’m a vegetable loving primarily-plantbased eater. I talked to someone yesterday who was surprised to learn about my picky eating history! What worked for me was 1) committing to working on it and 2) getting a meal delivery service with a good vegetable component to it and committing to cooking and trying each recipe. This works well for me since I hate to waste food. I would make minor alterations like rescuing the quantity of an ingredient I was unsure about (olives) and dicing some things a lot more finely (bell peppers) to make it less scary.1 -
Picky eater here too, partly due to food allergies and sensitivity but also just down to plain old picky eating 😅 I have a list from hospital of the foods I'm safe to eat which are mainly simple carbs, meats and dairy and very few fruit or vegetables, of the vegetables i should eat I dont like half of them 😉
Good luck0 -
You are conflating two different things - eating a healthy and varied diet doesn't result in weight loss, that's determined by the calories not the food choices. I got fat eating 100% home cooked or hospital food, just too much of it.
I would think that having a restricted diet from being a picky eater would make it easier to dial in your calories.
Start with portion control and see expanding your diet with more healthy and varied items as a separate issue.
A bit confused by the issue of leftovers, doesn't that mean your original meal was simply too big?6 -
Weight loss is always a result of eating less calories than your body burns.
In the beginning, I approached this as eating only healthy food. The longer I was on MFP, the more I learned from members. I lost half my body weight at age 60, pretty much eating what I liked, without eating salmon and kale. I definitely tried it, but very quickly learned it wasn’t necessary to eat perceived healthy foods I dislike. I do pay attention to macros and move more for health, otherwise pretty much anything goes.
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You can make and freeze healthy foods, its about portion control. If you are picky, you can make a pasta sauce full of veggies (including spinach) then blitz it so there are no "yucky bits", you can pre-make breakfast wraps with eggs, sausage, mushrooms or whatever you like, wrap in cling film and freeze, things like mashed potato freeze well too, and by making your own you can make them more healthy - include the skin, use low fat milk or zero fat greek yoghurt instead of lashings of butter. I think you might be confusing bulk or "Once a month" cooking with "leftovers" - if you are working on portion control then "leftovers" are the last thing you need, as it means you have cooked too much and its therefore easy to eat too much. Learning about seasonings is helpful - most veggies are nice with a cheese sauce but that won't help your calorie control as much as learning which herbs/spices you like, as this can transform something boring and bland into something more tasty.
Don't over-think it, as others have said you can lose weight on any diet as long as your calorie intake is lower than calories burned.0 -
Super picky eater here. The good news? No one needs to eat salmon to lose weight. You can eat whatever you want as long as you eat in a deficit.
I have tried with limited success to add in some fruits and veggies, but there are very few that I enjoy. So I just stick with what I like and weigh and measure it. Down 27 lbs so far with another 40 to go.3 -
I am a super picky eater. No veggies, and absolutely no salad. I love processed food and fast food and convenience food. I have lost 58lbs as of this morning. I just eat smaller parts of it. I set up my day differently than I used to and my calorie requirement is very low (1200 a day). My diet is NOT for everyone and can be hard to maintain for a lot of people but it is what works for me. Point is that you can do it eating whatever you want. It's all CICO. If it fits then you can eat it!1
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The remarks here are reminding of 'Jared' - the guy that only ate Subway for 11 months and lost 245 lbs. (he started exercising too though).0
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Dogmom1978 wrote: »
Yes, I guess that was my poor attempt to say just what you did. No matter what it is your consuming - CICO will always remain true.0 -
So, from reading the posts above "picky eater" just means not liking veg????
Not heard it called that before and am sure 50% of the population in the USA probably don't eat vegetables.
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So, from reading the posts above "picky eater" just means not liking veg????
Not heard it called that before and am sure 50% of the population in the USA probably don't eat vegetables.
No, that's not what being a picky eater means, but since we're discussing our picky habits within the context of losing weight and vegetables are low calorie, that's what we've been focusing on. Another food I dislike is bacon, but that dislike won't hinder me from sticking to a low cal diet.3 -
I dislike all veg except raw carrots, tomatoes, cucumber
I dislike all pork products including bacon
I dislike all beans, legumes, anything in those families
My list is pretty long but my time is short. I’m a seriously picky eater lol0 -
So, from reading the posts above "picky eater" just means not liking veg????
Not heard it called that before and am sure 50% of the population in the USA probably don't eat vegetables.
I can only speak for myself but I mentioned vegetables only in context of they are normally what is encouraged for weight loss and Healthy diet but as I'm sulphite allergic and salicylate sensitive most fruit and vegetables or salad dressings give me allergic reactions or asthma attacks. The ones on my safe to eat list are ones i dont really like. But I also despise seafood, steak, marzipan, cake, donuts, beans, peas and chips.0 -
I dislike chick peas, cottage cheese, onions, mushrooms, avocados only in guacamole, all beans like kidney, navy, lima etc, olives. I always make dishes not using these foods and when I look for new recipes these items are in the healthy recipes!1
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