I have no clue what I'm suppose to eat!

Mom2PAK

Hi. I've been on and off this website for probably two years and I never stick with it. I've never lost more than a few pounds and fall off the wagon within a week. I get frustrated trying to figure out what to eat and just say screw it and then binge. I guess I'm looking for advice on what to eat everyday and how to avoid the junk. I get really confused about what foods are really healthy or not. If anyone is willing to post some sample menus I would appreciate it. Thanks!

DrBorkBork

My diary is public, feel free to look at it any time. I tend to plan my meals out for 2 weeks at a time. I haven't done it for the next few weeks, but plan to tomorrow.

It's all about planning it out ahead of time, really. Let there be no surprises. Anything you eat at a restaurant can be made at home, healthier, cheaper, and tastier!

iamalexa

You could take a look at people food diaries to get an idea.
Whatever you eat, just make sure its in good proportions!!

Good luck:)

dwarfer22

For me it's pretty easy to figure out. Sticking to it is another story. Depending on your calorie intake I go with 200-300 cals for breakfast, 200-300 cal for lunch, 500 for dinner, and maybe a few snacks of 100-200 cals apiece. I struggle with late night eating/binging so I try to make sure my daytime eating is light to leave room for later. But don't cut back too much during the day or that can trigger a binge. I like to start my day with something simple like a protein shake or bar. Maybe oatmeal and some fruit or cereal with fruit. Test different things to see what works best. I tried raisin bran cuz it's high in protein and fiber so I thought I would be hungry but no way! I was hungry in an hour. Lunch is usually soup and sandwich, or a salad with some type of meat (I love shrimp, low in cals and yum!) Dinner should should be about 4oz meat(depending on meat-fish more->beef less), 1 cup veg or salad, and a starch (small potato, 1/2c mashed potato, 1/2c pasta or rice.) Dessert should be low cal, SF jello w/ fruit or light yogurt or whole fruit. If I keep busy during the day I may skip 1 or 2 of the snack between meals but i usually always eat something a cpl hours before bead. Popcorn, snack protein bars, lettuce wrapped deli meat w/ lite mayo or salad dressing, all good. Pickles rock. Light yougurt good. Cheese is great but i crave salt personally so I avoid it like the plauge. Try not to eat too late at night. Avoid liquor otherwise you'll get the drunk munchies. Above all else don't give up. When you are used to just eating junk and binging it takes your body awhile to adjust to not having it. After a week or so the urges should lessen. Be strong, hang in there, focus on your goal. Good luck! :happy:

lisawest

Not the healthiest of choices this evening, but we just had pizza. Yes, PIZZA!:noway: The key (even when having things like pizza) is portions. When my husband and I started back in August, we started out eating the same foods, pretty much. We just paid more attention to HOW MUCH we ate. We started adding in more fresh foods (fruits, veggies, etc). Then we started eating fewer processed foods (the ones in cans and boxes).

Start with small steps. This is something you will (hopefully) be doing for the rest of your life. Change one thing (portion size is a good one to start with), and then when you get the hang of that one, move on to another.

Having said that, I have some great recipes that I've been experimenting with. Most of them are things we ate before. Now we've changed up some of the ingredients, and made them better for us. We plan our dinners a month at a time. The usual lunch plan is left overs, salads, and sandwiches. For breakfasts I usual end up doing a breakfast bar of some sort (not the healthiest, but small steps ) and some fruit. DH has oatmeal, or burritos (scambled eggs with Rotel, which he cooks up a bunch of on Sundays).

If you are interested in any of our recipes, send me a message! I'm more than happy to share!

Remeber: If you quit now, you will never reach your goal!

havingitall

Eat veggies, fruit, whole grains and lean meats. Stay away from processed foods and refined sugar. There are lots of books about eating properly. Look at books by Gillian McKeith and Tosca Reno. They will tell you more about clean healthy eating.

You can eat many of the things you used to but made much more healthier and low fat. Do some research and save yourself some headaches.

Good luck

havingitall

Double post

jakay78

I, too, have had trouble sticking with diets because of the food plans. Some are very confusing and require lots of planning and thinking ahead. I recently read (am rereading it frequently) Jillian Michaels "master your metabolism". It made so much sense to me from a scientific point of view (I am a RN) and I have been able to start this plan without getting sabotaged by feeling hungry. I had to adapt some things (I can't eat eggs) but otherwise have found it easy to follow.

Holton

Here is what I chose to do when I started 4 weeks ago:
Breakfast pretty much everyday is one of those activia yogurts with a sprinkle of walnuts, or 1/4 special k on top for crunch, plus 2 cups coffee = boring I know but it works for me.
snacks include celery sticks, carrots, almonds, peanuts, rice crackers, slivers of cheese, fruit, (keep in mind that portion control is one of the biggest factors in counting calories!
Lunch varies between: tuna salad, or a baked chicken breasts, or some deli meat, and a salad with just a dash of a vinaigrette or steamed broccoli or steamed asparagus
Dinner varies between: same items as lunch, or turkey burger, or broiled salmon, or a portion of a purchased rotisserie chicken, and more salad, steamed vegetables, even 1/2 baked sweet potato, and lots of different types of soups

Meals are actually easier than ever because all vegetables are steamed and that takes just minutes in the microwave; proteins just take little advance planning.
ALWAYS drink LOTS of water all day long!!!!
Hope this helps to give you some ideas.

Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

UnderCoverShyGirl

I do understand as i've never dieted much in my life and in the beginning when you start seeing how bad everything is, it can feel overwhelmingly difficult to even think of something to have. Even if you don't know what to eat and don't have a plan, tracking here still works because you will start to learn which parts of what you eat are hogging too many calories or are nutritionally high in bad stuff like fat and sodium and low in good stuff like fiber and protien. At the end of each day, when you complete, you can always examine your whole day and see what things you could have left out, or substituted something else for. At the end of the week you can look at your complete picture, etc.

I struggle between "who cares" and I want to be healthy, though the who cares part is slowly dying. I have a bunch to lose and am starting again, after being banded, doing jenny craig, weight watchers, etc..I will say that there are a few things i find to be consistently true regardless of the program i'm on:

- especially in the beginning, eat out as little as possible. It's much harder to figure out and you can pretty much guarantee that if you just eat randomly you will meet or exceed your daily calories in one sitting. If you do eat out, see if you can look up the menu online before you go and choose something grilled/roasted without a creamy sauce and replace the sides with veggies.

- you can't spread mayo and cheese and sour cream and butter on things and lose weight. I wish you could, for many of us, we grew up eating that way, but the easiest impact you can make is probably to cut out these things to a big degree. Many of us find good substitutes - laughing cow cheese wedges are great, non-fat greek yogurt (for sour cream), salsa or vinegar for salad dressing.

- drink water. it's filling it's good for you and it helps you to lose weight.

- the more processed or "bad" something is for you, the smaller the portion should be....the better it is, the bigger portion you can have....so veggies (minus the butter, etc.) youcan usually eat lots of, fruit a good amount of, protien a small amount of, fat/sugar/processed foods a minimal amount of...etc..

- it's easier to substitute things than you think. squeeze of lemon or vinegar instead of butter, vinegar or salsa instead of salad dressing (watch the sodium). And cutting back is easy too...if you normally put three sugars in your coffee, gradually taper over the course of a couple weeks until you are down to one or even half.

-if you eat something that's a grain, make it a whole grain - instead of white rice, get brown rice. Pasta is replaced with whole wheat pasta, etc. Experiment with other grains in the aisle you haven't tried. If you hate it, slowly incorporate them in over a few weeks...add a little brown rice to your white, then do it half and half, then more until you are at brown. It's okay if you are taking baby steps - it's a lifetime of eating ahead of you, you have time.

-processed foods almost always equal high cals, fat, sugar, salt, etc. So eat as close to the source as possible. If it once grew in the ground and now it's wrapped in plastic in a box, run! That means that fresh vegetables/fruits as much as possible, then frozen, then canned, etc....the more processing done to it (the more it has changed from the way it began) the more crud is in it, the harder time you'll have. It also means that things like breads, chips, crackers, sauces...pretty much most things that come in a box/bag need to be minimal....

-if you were "bad" today, that's okay, next meal make good choices. Try to avoid the all or nothing thinking - if you haven't figured it out yet, that doesn't mean you are not doing it....it just means you are in process, as you will be forever if this is a lifestyle for you....i totally used to use not knowing what to eat as a why to say "screw it" but once i decided that i wasn't on a diet that i was constantly blowing, and i am learning to eat healthy for life, i really lost that mentality and now know that blowing it is just a badly chosen meal...that's all.

- preportion what you can. If you are like me and need things easy, take one day and portion out your stuff. If i'm having crackers or chips or nuts, you name it, into a baggie each portion goes. No eating out of the box/container with anything. Not only does this provide portion control and make it easy to track the item, it also makes it convenient! For me that's a necessity, so even taking an afternoon after grocery shopping and pre-chopping and portioning fruits/veggies etc...for the week helps.

- learn to love vegetables....and even if you hate 'em now, there might be a different way to prepare them. I thought i hated them until i found that roasting them in the oven or grilling on the barbeque was delish. Now i do a bunch and use them throughout the week in salads or as a side to a protien, etc.

-keep an aresenal of go-to snacks at the ready - raw veggies, hummus, blueberries, strawberries, frozen grapes, laughing cow cheese, string cheese, chopped nuts/fruit, yogurt, etc...keep your healthy snack supply stocked. In a pinch when you're hungry and feel like giving up, have a glass of water and a snack while you figure out your meal.

- take a look at your food palette....if the landscape of your shopping cart or dinner table is beige/white....you need fruits and veggies big time. The more natural color in your diet, the better.

If you'd like to be buddies, or want some recipes, ideas for meals, etc..feel free to message me. Not to mention the tons of info here on the boards for meal ideas. I still think the biggest thing you can do is start tracking, regardless of whether you feel you are on the wagon...it's the only way you will start knowing what works with both your goals and your tastebuds!

Sunsh1ne

In the words of Michael Pollan, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." What that means is eat REAL food - not processed food products. Eat everything in moderation, and eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies, because all that fiber helps you feel full. If you are looking for guidelines to help make over your diet, I highly recommend his book "Food Rules." It's a quick read, but very useful and easy to understand.

The way I'd go about doing a diet makeover, is to look at your past food journals for patterns. What are some of your favorite food combinations for every meal? Do you snack a lot? What is it that you eat most frequently? Do you overeat at single-sitting meals, or by grazing throughout the day?

Now you know what your challenges are, and you can find ways to fix them. If you snack a lot, make sure you always have smart snacks on hand that satisfy what you crave - for example, sliced fruit if you spring for sweet snacks, veggies with hummus if you like the crunch and salt of chips. Focus on drinking water to prevent overeating, because much of the time, you're not hungry, you're thirsty.

As for your big meal foods, a good google search will probably show you lots of easy, healthy makeovers of your favorite recipe. Your biggest makeover targets are things that are fried, have cheese, or include lots of red meat. Simple substitutions, like swapping wheat for white, olive oil for butter, braising for frying, or lean for fatty cuts of meat, can help you improve the quality of the calories you're getting.

And veggies, veggies, veggies. Fruits and veggies are the way to go. If you find that eating large portions is an issue, try sticking to normal portion size, and adding fruit or veggies. I'm serious, the fiber will fill you up, so that you eat less but feel fuller.

Hope you find the answers you need. You can do it!