Help me figure out my problem please? (bad foods)

flakeyjoyce

Alrighty so this is my first post, (really hope i'm doing this right and it's in the right place).

Here's my issue. I'm 18, still live with my parents for the time being and i'm in the (not so successful) process of finding a job. Meaning that i cant really go out and buy all the best foods to cook myself something healthy for super or fruits to munch on for snack time.

Sure we have fruits or yogurt sometimes, and my parents cook occasionally (Mind you it's almost always pasta, yay me.) So until i can get a job, i have to resort to eating the food that they make, and when they don't cook anything (Which is about 80% of the time) i end up usually just taking a can of veggies (peas, corns and carrots are my go-to since its what we mainly have, and running low atm)

Does anyone have any advice on what i can do to make sure that i still lose weight even though i don't really have that many healthy choices? Thank you in advance :bigsmile:

P.S: I'm sorry if it sounded like i was bashing on my parents above, it's just that they don't have the biggest income and it usually ends up being the cheaper the better, buy in bulk that you can freeze, ect.

dunnodunno

All you need for weight loss is a deficit more or less. You need to take in less calories than you burn in order to lose weight. There really isn't any bad foods unless you have a medical condition that prohibits you from eating gluten, monitoring sugar, etc.

My biggest advice is to buy a food scale to help measure some of your pre-packaged foods that have the serving weight in grams & ounces. You could also use the scale to help measure ingredients for home cooked meals & input the recipes into your MFP recipe builder to figure out calories for servings.

_Zardoz_

You're eating too much it's that simple. For weight loss as above all you need is a calorie deficit. You could lose weight just eating Ice cream if you wanted if it was at a calorie deficit. Yes it wouldn't be good for your overall health but you'd lose weight. Have a look at the link

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=guide+to+sexypants&page=1#posts-18361594

gypsy_spirit

You're eating too much it's that simple. For weight loss as above all you need is a calorie deficit. You could lose weight just eating Ice cream if you wanted if it was at a calorie deficit. Yes it wouldn't be good for your overall health but you'd lose weight. Have a look at the link

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=guide+to+sexypants&page=1#posts-18361594

Yes. Read the link.

lishie_rebooted

You're eating too much it's that simple. For weight loss as above all you need is a calorie deficit. You could lose weight just eating Ice cream if you wanted if it was at a calorie deficit. Yes it wouldn't be good for your overall health but you'd lose weight. Have a look at the link

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=guide+to+sexypants&page=1#posts-18361594

Yes. Read the link.

Also I checked your profile. Your calorie goal is based off of the age and gender you sign up with (among other factors) so to get the most accurate goals for yourself, you need to switch it to 18/female from 24/male.

Males have a higger caloric goal than females (jerkfaces lol). And age affects it as well. So I highly suggest you fix your settings. And make your profile private if you dont want to sharre your age.


ETA: if you identify as a male, you might want to do custom goal setting and figure out your calorie goal from another site (such as scooby and others) and change your mfp goal to that. But I'm kinda of certain you'd need to do math as if you were a female not a male (unless you're super far along in hormone therapy). Im just guessing here. I didnt want to exclude the possibily that you ID as a male since your profile mentioned your FB being set that way as well.

Im gonna stop talking now lol. Good luck!

rivka_m

Why don't you help plan and cook meals for the whole family, and help the family grocery shopper stay in budget? There are a lot of frugal living websites out there that could help. Technically you only need to eat small portions but I tend to be hungry again quickly after pasta so that wouldn't work as well for me.

Dried beans/lentils are cheap (lentils are the quicker option), as are frozen vegetables. And leftovers are your friend. I often have dinner leftovers for breakfast and lunch, saves time and they're already measured out for me too.

Of course if your parents just really LIKE eating pasta all the time that won't help. But often people aren't that picky if you're willing to do the hard work of planning & cooking.

One of my favorites, to start:
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/category/recipes/beanrecipeshtm

merisaOct3

Learn to cook. Offer to help do the shopping. Frozen vegetables taste better and often have betree nutritional value than canned. Steam green beans and grill chicken. If breasts are too expensive, buy boneless skinless thighs, or roast a whole chicken and you have a meal for your whole family. Learn to cook rice and beans. Learn about herbs and virtually calorie free seasonings.

If you're trying to learn to live on your own, these skills will help you for the rest of your life.

Liftng4Lis

Learn to cook. Offer to help do the shopping. Frozen vegetables taste better and often have betree nutritional value than canned. Steam green beans and grill chicken. If breasts are too expensive, buy boneless skinless thighs, or roast a whole chicken and you have a meal for your whole family. Learn to cook rice and beans. Learn about herbs and virtually calorie free seasonings.

If you're trying to learn to live on your own, these skills will help you for the rest of your life.

^excellent advice! Plus it will take some of the strain off your parents!