unknowledgeable when it comes to dieting
nfaulkner1
Posts: 6
Hi all! The one thing that always stops me from continuing to try and lose weight is dieting. I have no idea what I'm looking for when I shop and I wind up buying a ton of lean cuisines that leave me hungry. This in turn makes me give in and eat more which then leads to eating bad foods. Any tips? Also, I don't know anything about protein supplements. It seems like these are more for people who are already fit and looking to bulk up. Am I correct in this assumption or should I, as an overweight woman, be looking into protein as well. Thanks in advance!
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Replies
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Ready meals like Lean Cuisine will be much less filling than real food cooked by yourself - do you cook at all?
You don't need protein powders or supplements.
Could you set your diary to public so that we can offer more helpful advice based on what you're eating?0 -
Try to stay away from those processed lean cuisines, they aren't very healthy or filling. I do occasionally eat them when I'm in a hurry but do your best to make your own meals. You don't need protein supplements but if you are strength training and require more protein its a quick way to get them in. When you cook up meals, make extra for lunch leftovers. A crockpot sure can be an easy way to do that. Cook up chicken, soups, chilis, whatever you like. Just do your best to eat balanced meals. Eating foods high in protein, fiber & healthy fats will help keep you full. Poke around people's diaries for options, it can be a great help or for recipes I love Pinterest.0
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One of the first things I had to do was take a look at the foods I always ate multiple servings of. Frozen dinners were among them - they are higher calorie and almost never fill me up with just one. So away those went, to be replaced with hand-made sandwiches and tortilla wraps. Cereal was another (that was like, almost a box a day for me.) So I didn't buy that anymore and switched to single serving oatmeal packs and fruit.
A big part of that was that those foods never filled me up at a reasonable portion - so I had to switch those out for filling foods.Take a look at the serving sizes on food and become acquainted with how much a cup is, or 3/4 cup, etc. It makes not overeating a LOT easier.
Because you're working with a limited number of calories, you'll naturally start reaching for the foods that will keep you fullest longest. More bang for your buck, calorie wise.0 -
whey protein is good for cutting (loosing weight) with water. its important to eat regually, i like to eat every 2.5 - 3 hours. believe it or not but eating regually helps your body burn fats. make sure you get alot of fiber everyday also0
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Just set your goals here and start logging your food - everything. Buy a digital food scale and start cooking your own meals. Study your food diary. We all had to teach ourselves.
Set your Goal to "Lose one pound a week". (If you are more than 60 pounds overweight, you can use 2 pounds a week).
Don't choose Sedentary unless you actually sit all day. If you have any kind of job, go to school or care for children at home, choose another activity level.
This site has a lot of info, use it. Peruse the forums. It's a learning process like anything else.0 -
Buy real food, eat it, log it, stop when you reach your cal limit.
To start with, just log what you normally eat and see what is unbelievably high and either substitute that, or have smaller portions. Take it in small steps, educate yourself as you go.0 -
Set your budget and eat within it. There are no bad foods, just foods we eat too much of. You'll soon learn what fills you up, what has too high of a calorie count to make it worthwhile and which things you like and fit your budget.
Even if it takes a few weeks to fine tune your eating plan it's no big deal. I think a great approach is to just log all your food for a week without trying to change anything. You can see what you eat that's costing you too much and either have smaller portions or cut it out.
You aren't going on a diet, you're learning a new way to eat for life. If you look at it as a diet that goes on for a period of time then you revert back to your old ways you might as well save yourself the aggravation and just give up now.0 -
Hi I was totally unknowledgeable about it too, it's kind of trial and error. What works best for me is eating 6 small meals a day. breakfast lunch dinner should be 200-300 calories, with snacks in between (less than 200 cals). I try to eat 1,300 cals everyday and i don't eat back my exercise calories. For breakfast I eat oatmeal usually with almonds, a little bit of almond milk, some kind of fruit (berries, half a banana, etc), and truvia. Lunch is usually a wrap with flat outs (or some other kind of healthy bread that is around 100 calories) with lean low sodium turkey, 1 laughing cow light, and 1 tblsp hummus, and lettuce and tomato with carrots and another tblsp of hummus on the side. For dinner it's either a salad or some kind of protein with veggies. Snacks can be either cottage cheese with fruit (fat free), greek yogurt with fruit (fat free and plain flavored), or an egg with a small apple, or protein bars (I like the kind bars they are healthier and filling with mostly nuts and fruit, nothing artificial). Protein is not just for people who are already fit, anyone can use it. You can use it as a snack or after a workout. I mix it with almond milk sometimes after a workout. There are different kinds of protein, whey protein is pretty good and not too expensive (you want to look at how much sugar is in the protein as well). The best kind of protein is Casein protein as it digests slower (which means you stay full longer), unfortunately it's more expensive. I get musclepharm from bodybuilding.com they usually have a 4 lb. one on sale and the flavors are really good right now I have cookies n cream but vanilla is good too. Also try not to eat too many carbs after your second snack. If you have any questions feel free to message me or whatever, hope it helped (sorry if i bombarded you with info), also feel free to check out my diary.0
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Don't choose Sedentary unless you actually sit all day. If you have any kind of job, go to school or care for children at home, choose another activity level.
Sedentary doesn't mean lays around like a sloth all day, it means someone with a desk job or going to school who doesn't spend the day doing physical labor. If you are on your feet all day at your job like a teacher or salesperson you would be lightly active. You track your exercise separately so that doesn't factor in to your activity level.0 -
Don't diet.
Eat real food.
Try to make your own meals as much as possible.
Eat delicious foods that you enjoy.
Learn what foods will keep you full (e.g., proteins, fats, fibre) and provide you with enough energy for the day.
Learn what a real serving size is. Use your scale. Measure everything.
Log your food in your diary.
Keep your intake below your expenditure, and keep your macros more or less on track.0 -
I wind up buying a ton of lean cuisines that leave me hungry.
I would try sampling out simple meals that you like. In lieu of things like lean cuisines, I would have a turkey burger (which is relatively easy to make). Or I pick up a spinach salad from costco on a weekly basis, where the portion is HUGE and fills at least 1-3 meals of my week.0 -
Try researching some recipes online. I started at kraft.com. They have a healthy living section and the meals are easy to make and quick. Keep coming here and reading the forums. You will get more educated on how to eat well as you go. I'm still learning a ton each day and I have a long way to go.0
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Hooray! I discovered the same problem ("dieting") and figured out that it's ok to eat the foods I like, I just need to tweak them a little. I still make casseroles but try to cut down on the rice/pasta, cut down on the meat (and/or use leaner meat) and bulk back up with more veggies. For regular meat and potato meals, I only have a little of the starch side and eat more veg and meat. But most important was figuring out proper portions. You can still have things like pizza but instead of having half a large, only have a couple slices of a medium. You can have chocolate but intead of having a king sized Snicker bar, get some good quality dark chocoalte and only have a square or two.
We're all different so you have to find what works for you as far as food choices but in general, foods higher in protein (lean meats, eggs, cheese/dairy, legumes) and higher in healthy fats (nuts, nut butters, avocado, etc) will help keep you full longer. For instance, instead of having a salad of just veg with fat free dressing, add some chicken, cheese, egg and a full fat dressing and you will likely stay full much longer. It can be freaky at first to think of all the calories but if it saves you from snacking later, your intake should be lower in the long run.
In my case, I also found that eating breakfast helped a lot. I used to skip it and just have coffee and not eat until I was starving at 9 or 10am. Now I eat breakfast at 8am at the latest most days. If I don't, I find that I'm much hungrier later in the day and end up munching on things I shouldn't.
Planning and packing can be great tools. Plan out your meals including snacks and pack your lunch and a few extra snacks that fit into your calories to keep you away from the bad snack stuff. Think outside the box on this one - aside from the usual nuts, yogurt and fruit I also pack oatmeal and keep a box of Cheerios in my desk. If I've got a sweet craving, a handful of Peanut Butter Multi-grain Cheerios can really do the trick. Yum!
That's all off the top of my head.. Feel free to send me a friend request if you'd like.0 -
I just started to reuse the diary so there isn't much in there. I do cook but I feel like I make fatty things when I do.0
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Types of food that help you stay full .... longer
Protein ..... supplements are not necessary for the average person.
Sources: meats, poultry, seafood, dairy, beans, whole grains, nuts
Fat .... there are healthy (good for you) fats
Sources: olive oil, nuts, nut butters, avacado
Fiber ...think of "bulk" .... fiber takes awhile for your body to digest ... and keeps you regular
Sources: whole foods (not processed) .... veggies, fruits, whole grains
Stick with as many whole foods as you can. Try to get some protein with every meal. For some it's a combination at every meal. I feel like I need to eat protien with something.... straight protien doesn't cut it.0 -
They have a recipe section on here also. But I stay away from all the prepackaged stuff most of it is high in sodium.
here is an idea;
I set aside 1 day a week to cook and I made 2 or 3 meals and then reheat them over the week. Some weeks we have turkey sandwiches and salads. There are so many good things to eat that are fresh and taste way better. I also buy frozen veggies and fruits to make qusick easy meals. Clean eatting has lots of recipes. Food tv has lots of good ones too.
I was where you are a couple of years ago. You Can do this.
Good luck!0 -
If you can cook - that's great! If you're ready to experiment and have some fun in the kitchen then you're half way there.0
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Lean cuisinies are definitely not your best option. You need to be eating whole, healthy foods and all your macro nutrients.
Here's an example:
Breakfast:
-1/2 greek yogurt
-1/2 frozen berries
-10 almonds, sliced
Morning Snack:
-banana
-1 tbsp peanut butter
Lunch:
-Whole wheat wrap
-1 egg (over east/scrambled)
-raw spinach
-8 baby carrots
Snack:
-1/2 cup mixed raspberries/blueberries
-dark chocolate (small portion ie 2 one inch squares)
Dinner:
-Salmon
-1/2 cup brown rice
-mixed veggies, lightly sauteed in garlic
Snack:
-4 whole wheat crackers
-4 thin slices of mozarella cheese0 -
I just started to reuse the diary so there isn't much in there. I do cook but I feel like I make fatty things when I do.
The diary will give you a better sense of how much you're actually eating, and where your calories are coming from. It's useful for teaching yourself how to make better choices during the day. It takes some practice, but you can do it!
Also, fat is not the enemy! It's important to get healthy fats into your meals every day. It's your calories that are the most important thing to watch. That said, fats are generally high in calories so they can cut into your daily calorie allowance pretty quickly. There are lots of ways to tweak high-fat recipes to bring it down a notch if you need to. Use less oil than called for, use cooking spray instead if you can, reduce the amount of cheese or cream used, replace heavy cream with lower-fat or even milk, bake or broil instead of fry...in many sweet dishes you can replace butter or oil with things like yogurt, applesauce, pumpkin or mashed bananas. There are lots of work-around that let you keep enjoying the foods you love!0
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