New to this! Need help!

Terrymichelle

Well Hello Everyone,

I just started this yesterday. I am finding it easy to do so far. I am at a goal of 10 lbs and I am at 1200 calories a day. My husband and I are walking about 4 days a week and I plan on sneaking in some jump rope a few times a week as well. I am a pretty small girl just about 5"1 and now about 130 lbs. I want to get back to where I was about a year ago at 115-120lbs. I am having a problem with the 1200 calories a day... I don't know how to eat all of them the healthy way. I have a routine that I have done for years now and I am just not sure how to break it. I usually don't eat breakfast if I do I have some rice krispy cereal (no sugar) or a banana. I eat smart ones or lean cuisines for lunch 5 days a week, and a eat dinner. I usually eat whatever sounds yummy for dinner. We are changing that one. I am looking at my daily counter and seeing I still have 600 calories left for the day. I know it is telling me that this isn't a good thing and so I am wondering How do I eat more the healthiest way possible??

Please let me know if you have any tips for me. Thanks!

And yes I am going to start eating breakfast... ideas for breakfast foods?

HealthierIn2011

I have 10 pounds to lose too. Feel free to add me as a friend.

jabbogurl

I'm usually under too because I don't snack a lot and forget to eat, so I hear ya!

Breakfast, I am now doing smoothies. Whatever fresh berries I have, plus yoghurt. I also toss my daily vitamin in there and puree it all.

Try not to eat just to fill up your calories, for example, I don't believe that because you are still under every day, you should be able to eat cake. There are good and bad calories. Try to get more veggies in and nuts are great for snacks. Also, watch the sodium in the lean cuisines and such. I make all of my own frozen dinners, which end up being chili, soup of some kind, jambalya, whole wheat pasta.....Spend a day cooking and then freeze it in individual mini containers. Hope that helps you somewhat.

MTtobeHOT

Sounds like you may not be getting enough protein at some of your meals.
Breakfast is important because it gets your metabolism started for the day.
For breakfast try adding an egg...breakfast was never my thing either, but I found a few things I like now and I can't imagine not eating breakfast any longer. One thing I started doing was buying extra eggs and hard boiling them, label the carton (so you won't mix them up with the regular eggs) and keeping them in the 'fridge. I like cereal in the morning sometimes too, and smoothies are great also, but sometimes they are lower on the protein side and you can add a hard boiled egg for not too many calories. I find I stay less hungry if I add protein. I also love oatmeal...didn't used too, but I found adding a small amount of fruit makes it great and it really does 'stick' to the ribs. Having that higher fiber in the mornign is good for you too.
If you are cooking and eating a good dinner in the evening, try making extra of whatever you are serving, and saving it for your lunch the next day instead of a processed frozen lunch on some of your days. You'll already know the calorie counts, so it makes it easy not to have to think about it when you are busy with work. Take healthy snacks to work too, like a hard boiled egg, nuts, veggies or fruit. They are filling to keep you fron being hungry, but they are 'good' and nutritional calories. Hope this helps. I have trouble eating all my calories too, and I exercise every day. Tomorrow is my first 'weigh in'...we'll see how I am doing!!

oravavaara

You need to eat at least 1200 calories a day, or your body will go into starvation mode. Try eating a salad with dressing (the dressing helps you get the vitamins from the salad). Someone else said protein- that's also really important. I agree that you shouldn't eat just to fill up for calories, but 600 calories a day, especially when you exercise, is really dangerous. I usually have calories left over too, but I try to consume at the very least 1200 calories, and I really shoot for 1500 to keep my metabolism up, especially on days when I exercise a lot.

Remember, you do need some fat (my textbook calls for 15-20% of calories from fat) for important bodily functions, like holding your cells together, storing vitamins, and immune function. Try working flax seed into your diet and adding healthy oils (like olive and canola) to your foods. You can snack on nuts to get more protein or add them to salads and meals. Don't forget to get whole grains like brown rice and whole grain bread- they're a great source of b-vitamins among other things.

I like the idea of a smoothie in the morning. They're fast, easy, and if you do them right they can be a good source of protein. I know it's tempting to cut calories as much as possible, but trust me, you really want to shoot for the happy medium. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

We used this website http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ in my last nutritional sciences course. They have good guidelines for how to eat to meet most of the physiological requriements of your body.