a few questions

I just started using mfp and can not believe (really can't believe!!!!) how easily my calories can get out of control - that one tbs of oil that I didn't really count and those few extra bites of my kids' left overs. UGH!

Anyway,
here's my question.
I want to be able to see what other people are eating. Can I do that here? Can someone tell me how?
I just would love to get ideas from people who are doing it right. I eat such high calorie foods and have to get more out of the calories I'm alloted. That and, I have a wine at night addiction that I really have to break!!! What a waste of calories!!!!

One more q-
the elliptical machine adds so many calories to my plan. Does anyone believe that high intensity elliptical really burns about 200 something calories in 20 min???

and... if anyone has any advice or links to boards I should absolutely read - please feel free. I'm so into doing this right.

Have a great weekend!!!

You can click on a person's name and next to their picture (if their food diary is public) you can click on that and look through what they eat. Mine is public, feel free to look around.

hello!
so I'm not really sure about the food diary thing. I think it's just like facebook, you have to be friends to look at their info. They also have to set their diary to be public. I would say a good rule of thumb to start is no fast food, try to stay away from processed foods, and avoid those white carbs. Start reading labels, if you can't pronounce the ingredients it's a bad sign, put it back. If you need a good jumpstart watch the movie Food Inc.

I feel ya on the wine, but to me it's not a waste it's necessary. I just try to figure out what I'm going to eat for dinner and log it along with the wine. I'm usually ready to drop some chips or extra rice with dinner instead of the wine. It's kinda fun plugging in the food and seeing what you really need to eat and what you can live without.

My elliptical tracks calories and heart rate for me, but 200 sounds about right. If you're keeping the pace up you can burn those calories. Calories burned are different depending on your weight. Google 'calories burned calculator' and a bunch of sites will pop up that will tell you what you burn for various activities after you enter your weight.

As far as posts go..I'd say there's a great assortment at any given time. I will say this, word on the street is if you are under the calories recommended you will not lose weight, so follow the plan.

Good luck, and have a great weekend

You could probably burn 200 on the elliptical in 20 minutes. Though keep in mind that the machines are pretty generic and will calculate calories based on the average persons statistics. If you really want to do it right and be very accurate, invest in a heart rate monitor. I caught a sale a Running Fit and got my Polar F4 for 80 bucks and I love it. I won't even go for a walk without it.

As far as the wine, if it helps you unwind and relax you, I see nothing wrong with it. As you get more used to your calories, you'll be able to leave enough for a snack and you can have your wine at the end of the day. You can also use that as a reward....if you don't have this cookie or those chips and leave 130 calories left over, you get your wine. I haven't bought any in a while, but sometimes I get on a kick of having a glass of wine at night to unwind and I love it.

A lot of it is portion control as well. If you read, for instance, cereal it usual says that one serving is 1/2 or 3/4 cup, so you may have to actually measure your food for awhile and become somewhat of a sleuth and read, read, read lables!! I eat 5-6 times a day and try to keep my snacks around 100 calories. For breakfast I usually have 1 serving of a healthy cereal with 1/2 serving 1% milk, or if I'm in a hurry a Fiber One bar and I often have 1 serving of a low cal soup for lunch, but could totally get away with 2 servings on some days, or leftovers. Then I usually cook a healthy, veggie filled, balanced dinner. I try to make sure dinners are not over 400 cal. I hope that helps!

Feel free to look at my dairy. :-)