New to MFP

Tancamacho

I am uk based and looking for any help with meal planning please. Calorie counting is all fairly new to me and I’m feeling completely overwhelmed by it all. What are your go to snacks etc?

meganlea33

I think the hardest thing as someone who lives in the US is realizing what a portion size actually is. So often in the US the portions are huge that you don't always realize how many calories you are eating because you are eating multiple servings. I have started using a child's size divided plate and that is helping me to realize what a portion is supposed to be. Also my go to snacks are: air popped pop corn, hard boiled eggs, or string cheese.

Tancamacho

Thank you I struggle with portion sizes too. I was going to a slimming club previously, where you can eat “unlimited” amounts of certain food types. This has completely messed me up.

AnnPT77

Would you want to consider a "gradually remodel your eating" approach?

That's what I did to lose almost a third of my body weight (class 1 obese to a healthy weight) and to stay at a healthy weight for 7+ years since.

If that idea sounds appealing, this is more detail about that kind of approach:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

That won't be perfect for everyone - no one thing is. But it's an option to consider, and avoids the need to have a Grand Plan For Revolutionary Change on day 1.

For snacks, I have two different approaches: One is to have something I find reasonably filling that's low in calories; the other is to plan snacks that contribute meaningfully to my personal nutritional goals, so that the snack doesn't necessarily need to be super low calorie.

Some things I like as snacks: Crispy broad beans, string cheese or other tasty but calorie-efficient cheeses, hard boiled or deviled eggs (the latter made with plain Greek yogurt instead of mayo for a bit more protein at slightly lower calories), Yasso frozen Greek yogurt bars, frozen berries (still frozen) mixed with plain Greek yogurt and peanut butter powder, big heap of raw veggies.

Tancamacho

Thank you for the advice 😀 very helpful. I will have a look.

Yivs_87

My number one "trick" and the reason why I keep on getting back to MFP is that I've created my own database of foods and recipes over here, so I'm 100% sure that when I log my food it's the correct values and there are no "errors", 5 calories here, 10 there, 12 in the third place and in the long run you might end up eating a lot more than your allowance and not seeing results.

So, my advise is to see how you can create your own foods and then spend some time keying in your own foods - what you currently have in your fridge.
And then the same with your usual recipes - but as they are a bit more complicated, I usually enter them while the meal itself is cooking or while I'm doing the prep.

It's a bit time consuming, but after that it's super easy tracking calories as you've already done 80% of the work.

Snack-wise, I usually go for fruits if I get a snack, but I've caught myself being way less snack-minded when I'm eating enough calories and I'm logging everything properly. Otherwise I'm a mindless snacker (as in there's food next to me I can eat it all while watching a movie or working or reading and not even realize it), so I try to not keep stuff like this at home.

yirara

Why not simply start with logging what you usually eat for 2 weeks or so? Find out how many calories you eat now for which meal, and then make small changes to that? Get a food scale and weigh what you're eating and find correct database entries. Then after those two weeks make small tweaks. Like when you find that you spend a lot of calories on your breakfast see if you can replace something with something else or eat a bit less. Low on energy? Try something else. Weightloss is not something you just start, and then stop again and forget everything you learned once you've reached goal weight. Try to build habits now with food you enjoy for the time after weightloss.