Successful women, please post a sample day

Hi there, I don't think you should be really cutting out any one food group unless you plan on not eating that food group for the rest of your life.

Once you figure out your daily calorie needs, you can fit whatever you want to eat into your daily menus just as long as you stay under your calories.

Here is a good thread to try and figure out your calorie needs. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

I eat clean, non-processed as much as possible (only canned is canned tomatoes for soups). I am celiac which means I cannot eat any gluten. This has made it easy to cut out crap in a hurry. I eat NO breads, no pastas, no cookies, no cakes or cookies, no unhealthy snacking, no barley, well anything that has gluten.

So my typical day:
breakfast - one egg, two egg white scrambled with two teaspoons of salsa and a coffee (5% cream and one sugar)
snack - apple slices, teaspoon of PB
lunch - spinach salad, avocado, lots of veggies and homemade vinegar/oil dressing
dinner - lean meat, lots of veggies and perhaps a quinoa/brown rice
post workout snack - greek yogurt, mixed berries, pecans

I drink at least 12 glasses of water a day, I do not take any calories by liquid other than my morning coffee.

My workouts include 15 minute incremental run, 30 minutes strength training, burpees, dynamic lunges - I do this 5x a week.

I have lost over 60lbs in 18 months and still going strong.

I have only started food logging using this site and it has kicked in my weight loss even more.

My diary is open...but I'm in maintenance and don't eat WELL all the time. Ignore the beer, please.

The things I do find that work are: High protein snacks such as beef/turkey jerky, cottage cheese and greek yogurt. Lots of water. No diet soda (I went cold turkey in 2010 and never went back). I never watched my sugar or sodium and was able to lose the weight just the same - now I wasn't eating processed foods either but I cook with salt every day. Cooking for yourself is HUGE. Relying on others to make food for you is a pit fall of a healthy lifestyle, you don't know what they are adding or cooking with. Eating out every once in a while is ok, but really try to cook at home. Skinny Taste.com is a great resource for good recipes...

I don't know if my advice counts too much because I've only lost 9 pounds so far, but that has been over just the past 2 weeks and I don't have a whole lot I want to lose. I am 154 pounds (as of today) and 5'7". I want to weight 140. I feel like eat a tonne, but have taken all refined foods completely out of my diet. I average around 1400 calories a day now, whereas I probably ate around 2100 a day. I find it pretty easy to do and I keep my diet as simple as possible. I live in a foreign country, so it is pretty difficult to get the variety of food that I can in Canada, so my day to day is very similar. I also only eat meat once or twice a week - going vegetarian the rest of the time. (This is for health, ethical, and environmental reasons).
Here's a sample:

Breakfast: 2 bananas, 2 cups of frozen raspberries and a tablespoon of ground flax seed. I add about a cup of pre-made cinnamon/ginger tea and blend it up. No dairy. It's AMAZING!

Lunch: 10-20 almonds, a slice of Havarti (about 1 oz.), and a huge apple (or two small ones)

Dinner: Black Bean with Chili and Lime Salad. This includes about 4+ cups of mixed greens, and any veggies I have around. I open a 15 oz. can of black beans, add about a tbls of lime juice and some chili powder and mix together. I heat it until tender and yummy! Then I throw about half of it on my salad and enjoy. My hubby adds some meat to his half and eats it in tortillas and with cheese.

Snacks: I snack on dry roasted (no oil) squash seeds (which I make myself anytime I eat squash or pumpkin), kumquats (which are frankly delicious) or a few walnuts if I'm still pretty hungry.

I also try to eat the majority of my food within an 8-10 hour window as I like the benefits of it - I rarely feel hungry in the morning, but am a night eater. However, that's not for everyone.

If you want to include more calories, have an omelet with breakfast (protein helps you feel fuller for longer) OR perhaps a slice of whole wheat toast.

I haven't started an exercise regime yet, but walk at least 30 minutes each day. I don't really calculate this though in my journal.

Good luck!

Like a few others, I'm eating near maintenance, so my calories might be a little higher than you are looking for and I took the weekend off, but otherwise I think my diary is open if you want to take a look.

What I would judge to be a "typical" day:
Wake up and work out. I usually do this fasted. Usually a quick cardio session (15-20 minutes circuit training or 20-30 minutes on the treadmill). Once a week I do a slightly longer run for endurance. Once a week I play Frisbee at night. And twice a week I lift weights after cardio (again, very basic set, keeping it short. About 20-30 minutes).

Breakfast: overnight oats OR protein shake and toast with nut butter

Lunch: Pasta with sauce that has lots of vegetables (lunch varies, but I try to get a good balance of protein, carbs and fat. I usually make something on the weekend and then eat that same thing every day at work).

Afternoon snack: When I was still losing, I skipped this and just waited until dinner. Now I will often have a piece of fruit and some almonds. Or maybe raisin bread and cream cheese. Sometimes I don't have anything though, if it's a rest day or I have a high-cal meal planned

Dinner: I put most of my calories for the day here (almost half) and basically just eat what I feel like that fits my calories and protein requirements. I have crepes once a week, for example. But more often, I'll have spinach salad (with a couple of types of protein on it like bacon and chickpeas) and then maybe a tuna sandwich or chicken and potatoes. And I always try to leave a little room (100+ calories) for something sweet for dessert, even if it's just a few squares of chocolate.

Edit: Also just noting that I don't have a car, so I walk and bike a lot, including to and from work, to the grocery store, etc.

For breakfast during the week I drink coffee (k cup), 2 packets of Splenda or Stevia and sugarfree Coffeemate creamer. I also eat a cup of strawberries or other mixed fruit with 1/2c low fat cottage cheese. Weekends I'm a little looser but try to keep breakfast under 500 calories. Eggs, turkey bacon, rye toast, bagel, low fat cream cheese, fruit.
Lunch during the week I usually have a Smart Ones or Lean cuisine. I know most people frown upon this but it works for me. Portioned, calories low, ready in minutes and cheap. On weekends I get Tropical Smoothie, or eat soup and sandwich, salad, leftovers, chicken and cheese quesadilla.
Dinner, I have just been portioning and using substitutes for my old favorite meals. Spaghetti I now use ground turkey in the sauce and use low calorie sauce, I cup cooked pasta with 1/2c sauce and a sprinkling of grated parmesan, if calories allow I will have a small piece of bread. I also love using quinoa now instead of rice or other starchy sides. I still love my mashed potatoes so I use Idahoan and just portion them out. Lots of green and steamed veggies. Lean meats like baked/grilled chicken, ground chicken in my homemade chili instead of beef.
Snacks are fruits like apples, bananas, grapes or 100 calorie granola or Fiber One bars. Quakes rice snacks (they come in 90 calorie snack bags), or baked chips when I really just want chips, the individual baggies take the guess work out of portioning. I eat 1300 calores or less a day. Weekends, not always but I try to be more active on weekends than during the week anyway.
I am currently doing the 30 day shred for exercise 6 days a week, burn 220 calories. I also use various other DVDs or play Just Dance 4 on Wii.

Great ideas everyone!! Thank you. I feel like I can cherry pick from all your advice to try out something I like.
Today I tried to balance having things I like in moderation and staying full. Let me know what you think if you feel like looking at my diary.

aside from being far too few calories (you should probably add ~400 calories) your day looks decent.

If you want to add me as a friend you can see my diary

I don't cut anything out that fits in my calorie goals. Sometimes I eat healthier than others. I was loving cooking and trying new recipes for a while and now I've kind of hit a wall and I've been eating some crap, but for weight loss it doesn't really matter. If you're eating less calories than you are burning then you will lose weight. I don't know why you are trying to stay away from grain. Whole grains are great for your body. White breads and rice and more processed grains, not so much. But even those you can have in moderation if it fits into your calorie goals. My diary is open if you want to look at it.