New fish here in need of support...!

Hi Gregg,

My name is Joe, I am 5" 9" and at my heaviest I weighed 325 lbs. I currently weight 278 lbs. I have recently joined this site and have already lost 6 lbs. I have also had to make several changes in both my life style and my eating.

The first thing I have done is started eating more raw veggies (salad, carrots, cabbage, butternut squash, fresh green beans, ect), which is not easy because I did not like veggies, but it was what I needed to do. I didn't one day wake up and just cut everything out, instead I slowly started introducing new veggies to my diet and slowly went cutting out all the junk food (remember any change you make weather small or big is a good change). Second I started eating leaner meats like turkey and chicken. The cool thing about ground turkey or chicken is that it can be used instead of ground beef for any dish that requires beef (my kids didn't even notice the change and they dont miss the ground beef).

Lastly, I joined a Tai Chi class because it is easy to do easy to learn and yet burns almost as much calories as if you were down hill skiing. I later discovered that Tai Chi also has a lot of health benefits.

I hope this helps and always remember the journey of a thousand steps begins with a single step.

There is nothing to say you can not cook more than one dish at a time. Part of making a change is having control of it. Buy a value pack of chicken and bake, Grill or what it all at once. Find a few go to spices and make each chicken differently. Franks red hots is zero calories, and light Italian dressings work great too. Pack up each in a reusable microwavable tubs with a varity of veggies and store in the fridge. I like to take all my varity of frozen veggies and cherry pick them while frozen and pair up which one I thinks works best with each chicken cutlet. If my sauce is BBQ I pick squash and corn. Baked chicken or lemon chicken broccoli or green beans. When you reheat the chicken bang side is done. I'm a cook and my wife is a teacher so she always has the freshest box dinners at lunch. My suggestion is baking your chicken. It's super easy, at 350*f it is one of those things where you have a big window between done and hard as a rock. Just make sure you dont undercook. I tend to cook 5 bone in breasts for about 35-45 minutes uncovered. I have even forgot to grab them and cooked longer than an hour and they were alright. Bone in meat is greater than boneless in my opinion. One it is cheaper usually and the bone prevents drying more and also adds extra flavor. And than read the back of the bottles of your favorite sauces. If you like a sweet hickory sauce that has a lot of calories use its listed zero calories spices as a rub instead of sauce. Buy some Hickery salt, garlic powder , and onion powder than glazed with a table spoon of ketchup, few drops of honey, liquid smoke, and a spoon of water mix and brush on top. There is always a pretty easy mod you can do and still eat good food. Cooking isn't hard just a few series of rules you pick up after failing a few times. I hope that helps

Hey you making huge changes well done you! I am a 42 year old mum and teacher trying to get fit too. I can help with food am a veggie and always seem to eat on the run. Please add

Hi Greg. Good for you for making changes and asking for help. While our stories our different you are very welcome to follow me. Here is what I just wrote in my forum intro:

Hello. I've been away from MFP for some time but I am back and want to start using it more frequently. If you would like, please read my profile to find out more about me.

For now:

-If you are someone who is interested in seeing what someone else is doing here, you are positive and you are not dependent on others for your happiness then you may want to consider following me.

-I have opened my diary, profile and blog to the public for those that are curious as to what someone else does here on MFP.

-I'm open to gaining "friends" who would like to follow my progress as little or as often as they want.

-I am currently interested in using the MFP site as a tool in my journey with food and movement rather than as a social network and will likely rarely communicate with the "friends" I make.

-When I do communicate I only post positive feedback.

-If "friends" want to communicate with me I respectfully ask that they consider posting minimal positive feedback and not taking it personally if I don't reciprocate. (Like I stated above...not really here for the social network).

Thanks so much for considering and have a great day!

9thChakra