HOW?!

Kagrish

I don't know where to start. I am so overwhelmed with information over the years that I do not know what is healthy, what is okay to eat, etc. I mean, I know fruits and vegetables are great, but how do I change my diet to be healthier? Right now I eat junk - macaroni and cheese, occasional fast food, peanut butter sandwiches... basically I eat like my 3 year old.

Help.. I am so confused. What is a list of simple items that I can eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner to be considered eating 'healthy'?

AbsoluteNG

I believe everything starts with exercise. When you start exercising on a regular basis, your body starts craving the healthy foods like protein to build muscle. When you hit a plateau then you start watching what you eat and how many calories you eat on a daily basis. The general consensus is to eat 1 gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight and .5 grams of fat per pound of ideal body weight as a minimum to maintain muscle mass and metabolism. If you want to weight 120 pounds then eat 120 grams of protein and 60grams of healthy fat like olive oil and omega 3. Carbs should be set to a 40 gram minimum for your daily routine. Any lower then you will feel tired and not have enough energy to do your daily activity.

Eggs are the cheapest protein on the market.

IvoryParchment

You don't have to change everything at once. And lots of fun food is actually healthy in moderation, like pasta with tomato sauce.

You like peanut butter sandwiches. How about apple or banana slices with peanut butter?

wolfchild59

Sometimes I'm incredibly grateful that I didn't know these forums existed until almost a year after I joined. It made getting started super simple.

My process?
Saw friends losing weight using a phone app.
Downloaded that app, it couldn't do math. Deleted app.
Searched app store, found and downloaded MFP.
Entered my stats.
Started eating my calorie level assigned.

I didn't know about clean eating, macros, processed foods, good carbs, bad carbs, good sugar, bad sugar, eating exercise calories, starvation mode, skinny fat. etc etc etc.

I just ate what I wanted and stayed in my calorie limits. I lost two pounds a week steadily the entire time.

Truthfully, it's been since I learned about all of the above, stopped eating so many processed foods, cook from scratch, watch my macros, and eat my exercise calories because of everything I'd read here, I plateaued and gained. I've actually joked with my hubby that I'm just gonna go back to my breakfast bars, microwave lunches, and packaged snacks and see if I can lose the weight I've gained eating more cleanly and more naturally. :P