need some help with food

boxpunk

Ok, so like the topic states, I need some help. When I managed to lose weight before, I know I wasn't being healthy about it, diet pills, (yes I know they don't work, was 6 years ago) yogurt, a bag of mixed veggies a day and an ensure. I exercised too, but food... yea, I sucked at that part. Even after having my daughter when I would lose weight, food I had no clue on. Tried juicing which lasted me a whopping 2 days before I felt the urge to devour a whole rotisserie chicken by myself. I just went shopping yesterday, got veggies, salads, some vinaigrette cause I am not eating dry leaves. not happening. And some juice from a health food store, Organic Sambazon daily cleanse. it has acerola cherry, lemon, and cayenne and it taste so fricking awful it's unreal.:sick:

My main issue is I don't know how to use anything I bought. I can make a salad and have some veggies and hummus but that is going to get real boring really fast. I bought a few cook books and have tried some recipes, even tried to prep and freeze for easy meals. For breakfast, yogurt and apple. is that enough? I got some trail mix, but yea I need some help. How to go from mindless grazing to using good foods.

KarenJanine

You need some protein in there, living on salads and veggies will get boring very quickly and probably leave you hungry.

Keep an eye on your macros - make sure your diary in tracking protein, carbohydrates and fats. Aim to meet the goals MFP sets to ensure you have a well balanced diet.

For simple meals, how about some grilled meat or fish to serve with those veggies and salad. Add a side of rice, potatoes or pasta etc to add carbs. Use dressings/sauces of your choice but be sure to weigh and log everything as those calories can add up.

Yoghurt and apple could be a good breakfast, but again keep an eye on the macros - some people may automatically go for the lowest cal yoghurt they can find but look for something with decent amounts of protein, Greek yoghurt is great. Add a topping of your choice, eg granola, honey, fruit compote, etc. again making sure everything is weighed and logged. Alternative breakfasts could include bacon and eggs or oatmeal.

Do you have a slow cooker? They can be a very handy tool for making one-pot meals. I often make stews, curries or chilli with lots of veggies, beans and chick peas etc, and it can be portioned and frozen for later in the week.

At the end of the day, don't be afraid to eat whatever foods you enjoy. Having a calorie deficit is the most important aspect when it comes to weight loss. Beyond this, keeping an eye on your macros can assist in satiation and muscle preservation.

amusedmonkey

You can actually take inspiration from your own self. What things do you like eating? What things do you usually eat often? What things sound like you would enjoy? New recipes you are curious about? Something you read on a blog or a website?

Now, go over your these foods and look up their calories. The lower calorie ones could be automatically in your diet. The higher calorie ones, think of adjustments to make them lighter or decide what portion size would be appropriate for your calorie goals.

Now comes the easy part: eat like you would normally eat without dieting, trying to focus more on the things that are low in calories and/or rich in nutrients. As for the higher calorie/less nutritious food, limit the quantity and/or the frequency of them.

The closer your diet is to your pre-diet lifestyle, the more likely you are to stick to it. Oh and toss away that cleanse. You don't need it.

Here is a website for ideas: http://www.skinnytaste.com/

I like that her recipes are portioned reasonably (a generous cup or more serving size for example instead of the usual 1/2 cup on some diet websites, and even that can still be doubled on without too much damage to calorie budget)

_Zardoz_

You're over complicating it you don't need cleanses or special food. Just eat normal food but less of it yes it's that simple. It's good to introduce a good variety of foods for overall health but generally it's just eating less food. The reason you've failed in the past is you are going from fad to fad from juicing to cleanses.

Weight loss is not voodoo it's a pretty simple principle

Have a look at the thread

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

kommodevaran

I love these answers! OP, I hope and trust you will be all right. It's really quite easy to feed oneself. Just eat food, but less, if you want to lose weight.

RhineDHP

You're over complicating it you don't need cleanses or special food. Just eat normal food but less of it yes it's that simple. It's good to introduce a good variety of foods for overall health but generally it's just eating less food. The reason you've failed in the past is you are going from fad to fad from juicing to cleanses.

Weight loss is not voodoo it's a pretty simple principle

Have a look at the thread

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

To be even more convenient, go to this link and in the web address bar, delete the bolded part so that you won't have randomly bolded words throughout reading the thread. This is true of any link that gets posted where that particular bolded is added on (which is usually what happens when clicking a link to a forum thread after using the search function).

myrtille87

Eat stuff you like but take care with portion sizes.

You say you used to give in and eat a whole rotisserie chicken, so I'm assuming that's something you like. There is nothing wrong with chicken! I often buy a whole roast chicken, strip it down into portions and use it for lunches over the course of a week. My partner (who needs to gain, not lose weight) gets the legs/wings and I use the breast meat in salads and wraps. Or on a Sunday I roast a chicken for dinner, serve with roasted vegetables (butternut squash, courgette, red onion, some new potatoes with a bit of olive oil) and then use all of the leftovers in my packed lunches for work.

Work out how many calories you need to be eating to lose 1lb per week. For me, it's around 1,500 calories.

I find it easiest to keep breakfast fairly consistent and eat the same things as it means I don't have to think about it in the morning and I know I'm not going to eat something really high calorie that puts me over my goal. But it's still normal food not some weird vegetable smoothie or something. I tend to either have porridge with some fruit mixed in, or oats mixed with low fat greek yoghurt and blueberries. Breakfast is 200-300 calories.

Lunch is usually some kind of salad or wrap (although this week I felt like a change and made salmorejo - a Spanish cold dip/thick soup thing, which is served with hard boiled egg). Normally I stick to around 400 calories but it varies as I use whatever leftovers I have from dinner.

My most common snack in the afternoon is a banana with 15g peanut butter. If I have spare calories to use, I'll have it on a slice of toast. Sometimes I have a cereal bar or something instead. Yesterday as a Friday treat I had some fresh figs with blue stilton - hadn't had proper cheese for ages! I "spend" around 200-300 calories on snacks most days.

This all leaves me with at least 500 calories for my dinner, or more if I've earned extra calories through exercise. So I eat normal dinners, I just measure everything to make sure I'm not overeating. For example, before I would have eaten 100g pasta (weight before cooking) with a home-made bolognese or other sauce. Now I eat 60g, and I don't make garlic bread to go with it.

This does work. I've lost 12lbs over the past 7 weeks and could probably have lost more if I'd stuck more strictly to my calorie goal. I do go over my goal sometimes because I love food, but because I'm aiming for 1,500, when I do go over I eat 1,800 or something, which is still way less than I used to eat and isn't going to cause me to gain weight.

balochnaina

Any body can help me regarding lemon and honey? I heard its good to drink in morning and tried it helped me to maintain weight. But i m trying to lose weight now so m little bit confused about it. I dont know the right time to drink in morning. It is just after getting up or after workout. Plz help

freakhazerd2424

Any body can help me regarding lemon and honey? I heard its good to drink in morning and tried it helped me to maintain weight. But i m trying to lose weight now so m little bit confused about it. I dont know the right time to drink in morning. It is just after getting up or after workout. Plz help

That sounds like the cleanse that was all the rage a few years ago. I don't think there are any benifits to drinking it. Unless you like the taste when you wake up.

amusedmonkey

OP I may have been a little bit vague with my answer, so I'm going to throw in an example.

For example your calorie budget for a day is 1400. You exercised for a NET total of 300 calories bringing your budget to 1700.

You like to keep breakfast and lunch light, so your set a goal of 400 calories for each.

For breakfast you felt like having fried bacon and eggs:
2 fried eggs 185 calories
3 slices of fried bacon 123 calories
That leaves you with roughly 92 calories, you can either have more bacon or add some bread/fruits/vegetables anything else you like that costs 90-100 calories.

For lunch you felt like having a 350 calorie BLT, a cup of diet coke and a big green salad with vinaigrette that has around 50 calories.

You have 900 calories left for dinner. You can have a huge dinner of whatever you like.The whole rotisserie chicken is not out of question if it's small enough to fit within the 900 calories.

Alternatively you can have only 1/4 of the chicken, some of your favorite grilled veggies, and a bowl of your favorite broth-based soup. A big and hearty meal totaling about 650 calories, so that later in the evening you could have a 250 calorie cup of ice cream.

In general: the more vegetables you introduce the bigger your meals will look, same goes for brothy soups (cream based soups are generally high in calories). Use this trick if you are craving something particularly high in calories, a serving of which may look small and unsatisfying. Protein tends to blunt hunger for some people. Experiment and see which foods keep you full and eat them more often. It's really not hard or complicated. Eat whatever you like, but in a controlled manner within your allotted calories.