I don't really know what I can and cannot eat. Please help
Brooke20091
Posts: 4
I've got a new mindset where I need and want to lose weight. I have about 130 pounds that I need to lose. My problem is, is that I don't really know what I am suppose to be eating, and what i'm suppose to avoid (besides breads, pasta and potatoes.) I know I can have lots of fruits and veggies. What other items would be good to eat on to lose weight? 
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Replies
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its more about quantity and moderation that cutting out entire foods.
let my fitness pal calculate your calorie requirements to lose the desired amount of weight and then log your food accurately to stick to it0 -
Thank you Mr_Mitch0
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You can eat whatever you want. The trick to weight loss is taking in fewer calories than your body burns in a day. Without knowing your current weight and height it's impossible to tell you how many calories a day that is, but if you accurately input that information into MFP along with your goals, it should spit out a recommended daily calorie goal that will at least give you a place to start.0
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You can eat: what fits your calorie and nutrient goals.
You cannot eat: Nothing, really. Don't starve or deprive yourself, that always leads to failure.
Eat sensibly. Eat what you like (Yes, even bread and potatoes) and just try to keep the less healthy stuff in moderation. Try to fill most of your diet with fruits, veggies, and lean meats, but the occasional ice cream cake or taco bell run never hurt anyone. Follow MFP's calorie goals (assuming you've set yours up correctly), try to add some exercise in, and you'll do great 0 -
Eat: Food
Don't Eat: Non-Food things
Seriously - you don't need any crazy restrictions to lose weight. Eat to your calorie goal and then stop. With that said - somethings will make you feel fuller longer and you might want to eat them - for example a big plate of broccoli is going to fill you up more than the same amount of calories in jelly beans. Some things have more nutritional value - for example greek yogurt has more nutrients (protein, calcium) than like a rice cake). But as far as losing weight - calories in/calories out.0 -
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I've got a new mindset where I need and want to lose weight. I have about 130 pounds that I need to lose. My problem is, is that I don't really know what I am suppose to be eating, and what i'm suppose to avoid (besides breads, pasta and potatoes.) I know I can have lots of fruits and veggies. What other items would be good to eat on to lose weight?
What are you allergic to?
Don't eat that.
What do you hate?
Don't eat that.
Focus on eating nutrient dense foods like veggies, fruit, meats, etc and fill the rest of your calories with foods that you like as long as you stay under your calorie goal.
Check out this thread.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?0 -
Start just by tracking what you are eating now, and trying to stay under your calories requirements. Do some research on eating healthier foods (staying on the perimeter of the grocery store, foods with limited ingredients), then start to experiement with new foods. Make it a gradual change. There's a lot of conflicting information out about healthy eating. My personal thoughts: eat food as close to their natural state as possible (grew in the ground, on a tree, had a mother) and a little bit of what you like won't hurt you, you just can't do it all the time (there are no "bad foods" only foods you can't control). For example I love potato chips, but I can't control them so I stopped eating them, however I do have ice cream probably once a week. Keep asking questions!!0
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From what I've learned: avoid heavily processed foods like packaged snacks and white bread. Avoid "low-fat" or "low-calorie" foods that over over processed and have little nutritional value. Try to eat food that you enjoy, especially fruits and vegetables. Stick with lean meats, like turkey or fish, over heavier red meats like beef and pork. Avoid sugary drinks and snacks. Complex carbs are good, like wheat breads and some starches that take longer to break down in your body and therefore keep you full longer. The biggest one for me — avoid TRANS fat. Other types of fat can be healthy in moderation, but trans fat found in fried foods, many "snack" foods like chips or cookies, and baked goods that use high levels of margarine or butter.0
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The Healthy Eating Plate and associated pages at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/
are a good place to start to learn about WHAT to eat.
How much to eat varies with each of us, depending on our gender, age, size, activity level and goals.
Go to the "Getting Started" forum on MFP and you'll find a bunch of pinned items that will give you good info.
Finally, you may want to tell us what your gender, age, size, activity level and goals are and some of the old hands around here can help you decide what to do.
Technically, in answer to your question, there is nothing you "cannot eat." Some things are better to eat than others for different people in different amounts at different times.
Feel free to message me if you want someone to help steer you to your "peeps" who share goals with you. I'm an obese, 60+ year old sedentary woman. What works for me may well be terrible for you.0 -
Don't need to avoid anything except overeating.0
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You can eat whatever you want, including pasta and b reads, etc. Anything at all. I recently lost 4 lbs in a week while subsisting mostly on fried eggs, baked potatoes, and chocolate cake.
The key is determining the calories contained in whatever your eating, and eating little enough to keep the calories under the limit.
You can eat things like celery and cabbage pretty much all you want, since they are so calorie light. Potatoes on the other hand you have to eat LESS of. You don't have to eliminate anything entirely.
You need to carefully weigh your food and be very aware of the calories you eat. Don't worry so much about what your eating, but the calorie value and the quantity of it.0 -
I'm going to echo others here and share a few words that changed my life...you can literally eat whatever you want, just not as much as you want. If course it's good to focus on whole grains, veggies, lean protein/legumes, and fruit, but if you want to lose weight the only thing you really HAVE to do, is create a caloric deficit eating foods you enjoy. Good luck! 0
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Do you have the ability to speak with a nutritionist? It's usually a really eye-opening experience for people and not too expensive for a couple of appointments where you can make a plan.0
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I have to agree if you can speak to a nutritionist, but in general eat "real" foods. The less they are processed the better MFP will help with percentages of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Lean cuts of meat,fish, chicken. I found the book "The Ab Diet" a great book. It's not a diet but healthy eating. It has some great filing low cal recipes in it too. I'm a believer is the 3meals and 3 snacks. I feel fuller and actually eat less. There are a lot of factors in weight loss and calories in don't always equally calories out. I don't get real exact with my calorie counting, but you may want to. It's surprising when you think you have a cup of cereal and you really have 1.5 cups. By making good voices on meals you can really feel full and satisfied. I also pick a day that is my splurge day. Usually Saturday. That way if I'm craving something I tell myself I can have it Saturday. Most of the time I don't want it when Saturday comes. Also the splurge is controlled not eat what ever you want. Good luck with your journey. Check with your health insurance, they may have some resources available to you also.0
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Thank you everyone for your responses and help! I thought if I went on a diet that I would have to cut out 90% of what I normally ate ,so I was lost on knowing what to do. lol. Now I have a better understanding. I am new to MFP (first day) so I am trying to figure out what all it does Thanks again 0
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I eat anything i want that fits in my calories goals... I've had cake, McDonalds, Arby's and Salads all in the same week. Just budget for your day and stick to it. There is nothing you "shouldn't eat" except maybe a full tub of crisco... cuz that's gross... but I mean if it works into your diet? Even cookies and donuts are A-okay! HOWEVER, make sure to balance that with some green stuff.0
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I eat everything ....... within reason.
Years ago I used to consume loads of bread, pasta & potatoes ..... and junk food & fast food. Nowadays it's lean meats, poultry, fish ...... lots of veggies ...... some dairy, grains & fruit ...... and lots of water :drinker:
But if I do want spaghetti for dinner (which I just ate, btw) I make sure it fits within my daily calorie goals ...... and I exercise more so there will be NO guilt.
Best of luck to you !0 -
You can eat what you want, just not as much of it as you're used to eating. It's about portion control.
Use MFP to log calories and try to reach your macros or at least get something into each group for nutrition. Staying under your calorie goal is good too because you can use the extra points for 6 days to know how much to go over by on your 7th/cheat day.
I recommend eating approximately 80% healthy and 20% indulgence. Don't deprive yourself but at the same time don't overdo it on the high-calorie junk food or you won't meet your goals.
The reason some people say to stay away from certain things is because they have a lot of calories and low nutritional value. You want to avoid these foods, as well as sugary drinks, because they won't help you lose weight. They won't make you feel full so it'll be easy to go over your limit.0 -
I'm just starting out myself but have been told by a dietician to stick to the following guide lines:-
* 1200-1500 cals per day
* reduce salt and sugar intake
* avoid high fat and fried food or eat sparingly.
* Eat plenty of veg and salad plus some fruit
* Eat plenty of protein ( it increases your metabolism)
* Eat frequently ( about every 3 hours to keep your metabolism pepped up)
* Drink plenty of water
* Don't eat for a couple of hours before bedtime
* move about more even if it is only doing extra chores at home or taking a walk, the more you move the more cals you will burn but don't go from being completely sedentary to doing 2 hours of gym overnight as you could injure yourself.
GOOD LUCK 0 -
There's alot of "you can eat whatever you want" here, and to a degree that is true. But if you want to make a sustainable, life-long change, you shouldn't exactly eat whatever you want.
If you eat all of your daily allotted calories in Doritos and chocolate, you will be HUNGRY. Seriously: two bags of doritos and a king-sized Twix bar and 75% of my calories for the day are gone.
The most important thing you can do is cook for yourself - you control what goes in, you know what you're eating. Go with whole grains - rice, quinoa, farro, barley, wheat berries, veggies, lean proteins - turkey, chicken, fish, eggs, beans and legumes. If you don't know how to cook, take a healthy cookbook out of the library, or Google "healthy recipes" or check out the recipe section here, though it's pretty disorganized.
Do some research on what foods you like have a low calorie density - those you can eat more of and still not be too many calories. Sure, you can still eat some "junk" - but if you do you'll have less calories to eat filling meals. Best of luck, happy to help if you have more questions!0 -
It's just portion control. Two pieces of bread turns into one, a potato turns into 1/2 potato with 1/2 of the other stuff you're accustomed to putting on it, etc etc.
Incorporate into your foods, fruits, salads, veg's, 0 calorie drinks, and grilled instead of fried when possible, and low fat lunch meat etc. No more second helpings, lay off of the sugar, sweats, chips, and high calorie crackers. If you've got to have a taste of cake make it a sliver. Lifestyle change doesn't mean you eliminate foods that you like to eat, it just means you eat less of them.
I keep a few Healthy Choice dinners in my freezer, when I don't feel like cooking.
Basically, it's just calories in versus calories out. If you stay within your calorie goal on MFP, you will lose weight.0 -
I'm just starting out myself but have been told by a dietician to stick to the following guide lines:-
* 1200-1500 cals per day
* reduce salt and sugar intake
* avoid high fat and fried food or eat sparingly.
* Eat plenty of veg and salad plus some fruit
* Eat plenty of protein ( it increases your metabolism)
* Eat frequently ( about every 3 hours to keep your metabolism pepped up)
* Drink plenty of water
* Don't eat for a couple of hours before bedtime
* move about more even if it is only doing extra chores at home or taking a walk, the more you move the more cals you will burn but don't go from being completely sedentary to doing 2 hours of gym overnight as you could injure yourself.
GOOD LUCK
This is all pretty bunk advice.
Caloric intake isn't universal. 1200-1500 calories gross, in general, is pretty low. It will fit some, but not many.
Salt, sugar, fat, fried, whatever.... you can eat it. You just need to plan for it.
Salads and fruit are fine. but you need to make sure you're staying within your goals, same thing with protein. You can eat all "non processed foods" but if you're over in your intake, you're still over.
Eating frequently had been debunked times over. It's about staying in your caloric intake goals for the day.
Water is fine...
"Don't eat a couple hours before bedtime" has also been proven as nonsense. You can eat whenever you want. You have a calorie goal for 24hrs, not 16. If your goal for the day is 1800 and 800 of that comes right as you go to bed it doesn't matter.
Exercise is for fitness, diet is for weight loss. If you start moving more, make sure you account for that in your diary and still take in the proper amount of fuel for the day.0 -
From what I've learned: avoid heavily processed foods like packaged snacks and white bread. Avoid "low-fat" or "low-calorie" foods that over over processed and have little nutritional value. Try to eat food that you enjoy, especially fruits and vegetables. Stick with lean meats, like turkey or fish, over heavier red meats like beef and pork. Avoid sugary drinks and snacks. Complex carbs are good, like wheat breads and some starches that take longer to break down in your body and therefore keep you full longer. The biggest one for me — avoid TRANS fat. Other types of fat can be healthy in moderation, but trans fat found in fried foods, many "snack" foods like chips or cookies, and baked goods that use high levels of margarine or butter.
THIS was the big change that did it for me in several ways. I got rid of processed food and found that I was eating healthier just from that and my energy level went up as well. Lots of protein is good too, you'll feel much better and that will get the ball rolling.
Also, don't cut out whole types of food (bread, pasta, etc). Learn to eat less of it or just every once in a while, do what I do and give yourself permission to enjoy the meal you really love without feeling guilty. I still log it, and that one meal is not going to erase all my other efforts.
Everyone is different, so it'll take some experimenting to see what works best. I have friends who eat no breads, pastas, etc and are happy, while I want to go smack someone if I don't get pasta on a semi-regular basis
You'll find what works for ya!!!! You can do it!
PS - get rid of mayo and skip the "low-fat" craze too, ask yourself what they did to it to replace the fat and make it taste good. Its chemical grossness! 0 -
My problem is, is that I don't really know what I am suppose to be eating, and what i'm suppose to avoid (besides breads, pasta and potatoes.)
There is no need to "avoid" those foods.0 -
This content has been removed.
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I'm just starting out myself but have been told by a dietician to stick to the following guide lines:-
* 1200-1500 cals per day
* reduce salt and sugar intake
* avoid high fat and fried food or eat sparingly.
* Eat plenty of veg and salad plus some fruit
* Eat plenty of protein ( it increases your metabolism)
* Eat frequently ( about every 3 hours to keep your metabolism pepped up)
* Drink plenty of water
* Don't eat for a couple of hours before bedtime
* move about more even if it is only doing extra chores at home or taking a walk, the more you move the more cals you will burn but don't go from being completely sedentary to doing 2 hours of gym overnight as you could injure yourself.
GOOD LUCK
Sounds like a good plan! Try this.0 -
I would start slow. Don't change your ENTIRE diet over night. Incorporate small changes every week so that they become habits. Maybe start by just making one meal a day healthier, try to get 2 cups of vegetables in with every meal for a week, try to drink a certain amount of water every day for a week, add 10 minutes of walking every day for a week then slowly start to add 5 minutes to that. Doing small things will add up and you'll feel accomplished!
I have about 180lb to lose so if you need friends on a similar path then feel free too add me!0 -
I think you are getting a lot of good advice here. I would definitely NOT rule out entire food groups in general. Personally, I avoid added sugar and sugar-like products (because I can't eat 1 portion of ice cream or cookies, I eat all the ice cream etc), so its a trigger for me. But I eat a potato almost every day. I look in the bins for the smallest ones there, and then cook up 3 or 4 in foil at a time, so I don't stop for fast food etc. I always have something filling at home.
If I were starting where you are, I would probably eat "normally" for a week, and track all of it. Then go back and look at what wasn't worth it, what you like, but could have portioned better (cereal, etc), what meals you could make healthier with less oil, or baking instead of frying. And then add in more veggies and fruit because they are more filling and have fiber to keep you full. I find having several sets of measuring cups is helpful and a kitchen scale.
You don't need to be hungry. You don't need to eat anything you don't like (for example, you don't have to force yourself to eat salad because you think its healthy, there are other foods). And you don't have to cut out your favorites. Figure out your "trigger foods" and keep an eye on them when you do eat them.0 -
I've got a new mindset where I need and want to lose weight. I have about 130 pounds that I need to lose. My problem is, is that I don't really know what I am suppose to be eating, and what i'm suppose to avoid (besides breads, pasta and potatoes.) I know I can have lots of fruits and veggies. What other items would be good to eat on to lose weight?
I have an eating disorder called SED (selective eating disorder) and so I can only eat a few foods. I eat those foods and still lose weight. I don't eat fruits or vegetables. I just make sure I stay under my calories and don't go over my carbs.0
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