Need Some Advice

luulu1999

I have been REALLY slacking on my diet so I have decided to get back into I am going to eat lean cuisines for lunch and dinner and some sort of breakfast bowl or cottage cheese bowl for breakfast, I want to do it for at least 2 weeks straight then maybe have a week or two where I am not so strict, my thing is those meals have between 250 to like 360 calories even if my breakfast had similar calories that still wouldn't put me at 1200 calories in a day so would that be ok if it was like around 1100 calories for a cpl weeks at a time or would I need to find some sort of little snack to add in with it to get the 1200 cal?...right now MFP has my daily calories at 1310 so it isn't to much over 1200 any way.

eyecandyrayce

Definitely get some snacks. I snack everyone 1-3 hours which is very doable if you eat veggies for snacks. I eat baby carrots (they come in 3 oz bags for easy measuring and I even put one in my pocket when I'm buying groceries to snack on while I browse so I don't buy everything in the store because it looks good), snap peas, spinach, mandarin oranges, etc.

Why everyone wants to ignore the 1200 a day minimum that Doctors recommend is beyond me.

knra_grl

Eat at least what MFP has set as a calorie goal - it is already set at a deficit to lose weight. Eat a properly balanced diet and you should be fine. I could not eat lean cuisines twice a week for two weeks straight.

Figure out what works for you but making drastic changes to your diet will backfire on you when you start to eat normally again. Weigh and measure everything and make meal plans - you shouldn't have to resort to eating frozen dinners for 2/3 of your diet.

Healthy snacks could include raw veg with hummus, yogurt, fruit, etc. You have been on MFP for about a year surely you must have learned something about a healthy diet by now?

eyecandyrayce

Also, watch your sodium. Most of those frozen low calorie dinners are super high in Sodium. I was eating 1400 calories a day and going way over in my sodium. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing! I dropped my sodium and lost 5 pounds in 3 days. All of that weight had been coming off but my body was hording water because of the sodium.

rockmama72

You could add 1-2 veggies/fruits to each meal. What you've described isn't much food; you'll need the volume.

PaytraB

Eat at least what MFP has set as a calorie goal - it is already set at a deficit to lose weight. Eat a properly balanced diet and you should be fine. I could not eat lean cuisines twice a week for two weeks straight.

Figure out what works for you but making drastic changes to your diet will backfire on you when you start to eat normally again. Weigh and measure everything and make meal plans - you shouldn't have to resort to eating frozen dinners for 2/3 of your diet.

Healthy snacks could include raw veg with hummus, yogurt, fruit, etc. You have been on MFP for about a year surely you must have learned something about a healthy diet by now?

All of this.
You can do better than lean cuisine (less sodium, less hidden sugars,more vitamins &minerals, more food for the calories) if you plan your own meals. Weigh and measure everything and you can reach your target in a healthy manner.

cookiealbright

Eat some snacks, nuts are good and will help you hit your calorie goal. Good luck to ya! :flowerforyou:

DirtyCurvesAhead

What is it about lean cuisine that makes you feel it is the way you was to go?

You can prepackaged and portion your meals for a week and have better tasting, healthier and more filling food daily. Pick 2-3 dinners and 2-3 lunches. Make them in bulk and freeze them for the week.

You can plan your cals and macros better this way.

Snooozie

Also, watch your sodium. Most of those frozen low calorie dinners are super high in Sodium. I was eating 1400 calories a day and going way over in my sodium. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing! I dropped my sodium and lost 5 pounds in 3 days. All of that weight had been coming off but my body was hording water because of the sodium.

:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

Just a tip I learned the hard way similar to the op above.... learn to read the nutrition labels on ANY frozen dinner.... the sodium levels can be off the charts, but also the SUGAR in somecan be over 24 grams PER SERVING! Anything labelled "low fat" often has huge amounts of sugar replacing the fat they took out - it wasn't til I started learning about real nutrition and reading labels that I realized I had to start cooking from scratch.... and I don't enjoy cooking by any stretch of the imagination lol... but it's what I have to do to get to my own goal of being healthy.... whatever your choices to get to your goal, it can't hurt to start with learning as much as you can about nutrition and there's loads of free info on MFP to get you started... ... :flowerforyou:

madnut

Cucumber is the way to go for snacking - 40cal for 500g! Win win win win WIN.

Unknown

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luulu1999

The frozen meals are just easier for me....I work 40+ hours a week go to school and take care of a 4 and 5 year old I do not have a lot of extra time to prepare meals a head of time, I guess I will try to figure out some other way to go, I was just going to try that for a couple weeks and see how it went for me

knra_grl

The frozen meals are just easier for me....I work 40+ hours a week go to school and take care of a 4 and 5 year old I do not have a lot of extra time to prepare meals a head of time, I guess I will try to figure out some other way to go, I was just going to try that for a couple weeks and see how it went for me

Surely you must cook for the kids? I can't imagine that you feed them frozen dinners all the time? Setting aside one of you non work days to prepare some healthy foods is both budget friendly and healthy.

DirtyCurvesAhead

The frozen meals are just easier for me....I work 40+ hours a week go to school and take care of a 4 and 5 year old I do not have a lot of extra time to prepare meals a head of time, I guess I will try to figure out some other way to go, I was just going to try that for a couple weeks and see how it went for me

Making food in bulk takes no more time than making it for one meal. Start by picking 2 dinners you like and make 14 servings I each instead of 3. Now you have dinner for the rest of the week for you and your kids. Then find 2 lunches you like and do the same thing. Boom you have done the prep and cooking for a week in the same time it would take you to do it for one day.

wilsoje74

The frozen meals are just easier for me....I work 40+ hours a week go to school and take care of a 4 and 5 year old I do not have a lot of extra time to prepare meals a head of time, I guess I will try to figure out some other way to go, I was just going to try that for a couple weeks and see how it went for me

What would you do once those couple weeks are over? If you do something temporary then the results will be temporary, find something that works long term. There is no quick fix. Buy salad fixings, grill some chicken or fish, but wraps for sandwiches. Veggies, fruits, eggs, nuts, it doesn't have to be time consuming

luulu1999

Surely you must cook for the kids? I can't imagine that you feed them frozen dinners all the time? Setting aside one of you non work days to prepare some healthy foods is both budget friendly and healthy.

I cook everyday for my kids but they are very picky eaters and don't eat the same kind of things I need to eat

knra_grl

IMO people who have excuses for everything aren't really looking for a solution. Good luck OP. :ohwell:

eyecandyrayce

I am a very busy individual myself and I had the same thought process as you until I got sick of not losing weight because I was eating so much sodium. Here is one trick I do.. I snack all day long. Healthy snacks are instant and require no time or prep. My day:
Breakfast - Special K breakfast drink or instant oatmeal
Snack - baby carrots, sugar snap peas and hummus
Lunch - protein bar
Evening snacks - one snack every hour and I swap these around for variety so I don't get bored - watermelon (I buy it pre-cut at the grocery store), halo mandarin oranges (You can share them with your kids!), apple slices, baby spinach (just put it in a ziplock bag and munch on it), peanuts, raisins
Dinner - This is the one meal I cook and I either pre-cook multiple meals or cook quick dinners.

This way I only have 1 meal I have to cook for.

Think of it this way. How you eat is how your kids are going to eat. Do you really want to raise them on frozen foods full of salt and sugar?

sjp_511

The frozen meals are just easier for me....I work 40+ hours a week go to school and take care of a 4 and 5 year old I do not have a lot of extra time to prepare meals a head of time, I guess I will try to figure out some other way to go, I was just going to try that for a couple weeks and see how it went for me

Surely you must cook for the kids? I can't imagine that you feed them frozen dinners all the time? Setting aside one of you non work days to prepare some healthy foods is both budget friendly and healthy.

I am also curious what you feed the kids for dinner. I like to see parents setting good examples for their children when it comes to nurtition and I think this is best done by having a healthy family dinner most nights.

I would recommend that you find a breakfast and lunch that you enjoy that is convenient.

For breakfast, you can go with cottage cheese (with fruit) or a breakfast bowl as you suggested. I typically make myself a breakfast sandwich: english muffin, cheese, slice of ham, and an egg. I used to have oatmeal most mornings, but I wanted something higher protein.

For lunch, I would suggest leftovers from dinner, a salad, soup, and occasionally a lean cruisine. I buy lettuce (pre shredded and cleaned for convenience) and add chicken and some dressing and have that for lunch almost every day. I buy a large package of chicken every 2 weeks and grill it all up, portion it out into individual servings, and freeze.

nancyluckhurst3

AMen

Also, watch your sodium. Most of those frozen low calorie dinners are super high in Sodium. I was eating 1400 calories a day and going way over in my sodium. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing! I dropped my sodium and lost 5 pounds in 3 days. All of that weight had been coming off but my body was hording water because of the sodium.

dewaltfan

if you are letting your kids continue to be picky eaters they will be that way for the rest of their lives. When my kids were young they were not made separate foods if I was making something that they didn't like or would not try. They had to at least try everything that I made. Now at 22, 21, and 19 they will eat just about anything. The only reason to not serve something to a child is if they have food allergies.

Prepare healthy varied foods for all and you will all be healthier and happier

wilsoje74

Surely you must cook for the kids? I can't imagine that you feed them frozen dinners all the time? Setting aside one of you non work days to prepare some healthy foods is both budget friendly and healthy.

I cook everyday for my kids but they are very picky eaters and don't eat the same kind of things I need to eat

What kinds of dinners do you make them? I'd suggest making healthy meals everyone likes. You can adjust certain things for their tastes (less spices or sauces)