New to Myfitnesspal

evoray7

Hello everyone, y name is Ray.I'm new to this. I'm 54yrs old male and faily active, 5'6" at 162lb. I wanna go down to 150 and can't seem to go past 158 when I really try. I'm thinking it's in what I am eating I believe. I'm trying to eat health due to my borderline cholesterol readings. I really just wanna know what to eat on a everyday basis that's healthy and very low in sugar. Thanks for any help you can give me.

AnnPT77

Hi, Ray!

Body weight is all about calories . . . eating fewer of them than we burn will result in fat loss. Since we burn quite a few just being alive, a good-sized chunk in our job and routine daily life (chores and such), plus we can add some fun exercise . . . the issue is getting a good estimate of that, and eating slightly less. So, yes, reaching your weight goals will be mostly about getting eating to the right place.

I started here about your weight at age 59, though I was partly through weight loss at that point (plus I'm female and an inch shorter!). I had had high cholesterol when I started losing weight (pre-MFP), but by the time I joined here it was coming down.

Eating healthfully can help cholesterol levels, and so can getting some manageably challenging exercise. If you have close relatives in your line who have high cholesterol despite being healthy weight and active, familial hypercholesterolemia (a genetic thing) may be in the picture. Diet and exercise can help, but probably is more effective in people who don't have that genetic factor. Lots of veggies and fruits, whole grains, lean meats and things like fish with Omega-3 fats, can be helpful. As a bonus, most people find those filling.

If you start logging your eating here on MFP, and looking at your food log every day or two, you'll soon notice which foods are bringing you more calories than they seem worth to you, for their nutrition, tastiness, satiation, etc. Those are the easy things to reduce (in portion size or frequency) or even eliminate (if you don't love them that much once you know the calorie "cost"). That was true for me. I just remodeled my eating in a better direction gradually, and that seemed to work pretty well.

You will also be able to see which foods are high in sugars, if that's important to you, and reduce those if you wish, too. But if you're not diabetic, pre-diabetic, insulin resistant or something like that, it can be OK to continue eating foods like fruits and dairy that do contain some inherent sugars, and even a moderated amount of added sugar, as long as you don't find that those foods spike your personal cravings/appetite. Sugar is much demonized in the blogosphere, but many very healthful foods do contain some sugar.

Usually the bigger problem is foods that have high added sugar (like soda/pop or sweet coffee drinks), alcohol for those who consume it, or calorie dense but nutrition sparse foods that combine sugars, fats, and perhaps refined grains (like baked goods). They tend to be high in calories, low in nutrients, not very filling.

If you haven't been logging your food previously, I'm betting you'll find that very informative for how to make manageable changes in your eating routine, and accomplish your weight loss and health goals. Wishing you success!