Help! Need some advice...

Twinklestar2012

Hi

I just started today and a bit overwhelmed as to where I start. How do people count calories every day especially when you have kids? Are there recipes etc where you can meal plan etc? I am used to the weightwatchers set up with points etc so I need some help here. Thanks

Dustinsteven22

Hi. Being new to this can be overwhelming. When you enter your height and weight and your fitness level into MFP, it should provide your daily caloric intake. You can either enter in all the food you are going to eat at one time or as you go. What are you doing for workouts?

Feel free to add me as a friend.

MMarvelous

Just relax....it takes time with something new. In the FOOD section, there are already food listed most with nutritional info. BUT be aware this info is entered by members so many times the calories maybe wrong. Buy a food scale so you can weigh your food. This takes more of your participation than WW in my opinion. No that doesn't make it bad but I think it makes you more accountable. Add me if you like.

SandyBVTN

To be honest, I have been preparing my food separately from my sons. He is in an insanely fussy stage and I am at a point with my commitment to eating healthy that I really need to not compromise with my food intake. There is some overlap of course, we often eat the same fairly plain and healthy breakfast - multigrain cheerios, steel cut oats, eggs and fruit, things like that. For my salads, I often prepare chicken breasts ahead of time so I can add a ready made protein. I'll use the same chicken in his quesadilla for example, or plain with cheese and fruit for his lunch. My veggies that I prep ahead as raw crunchy snacks also work for him for his lunches or before supper snack.

One thing that is keeping me on track is that I am totally okay with eating the same meals several times a week. Breakfast is either one of the above items or cottage cheese (which my son will not eat), lunch and dinner are either a huge green salad with chick peas or chicken, or a cheese and bean quesadilla. My snacks are usually either yogurt or celery with peanut butter and raisins (both kid friendly). I find the repetition comforting in that I know that as long as I keep any of these ingredients around then I have a quick and easy meal that I can prepare and stay on track. When I get tired of one of these meals, I'll probably switch the salad around to a spinach/chicken/dried cranberry/pecan deal, or the quesadilla to pita pizza or something.

It's not the most exciting way of eating compared to my usual foodie ways, but I am genuinely enjoying what I eat and taking the guesswork out of it helps me to stay on track and not make poor last minute decisions. Please feel free to add me here if you want to stay in touch!

SnuggleSmacks

Start here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?page=1