Can someone help?

PB&J is tasty but I love a huge salad for lunch. I'll throw a few ounces of protein in (shrimp, chicken, salmon, turkey, bacon, tuna, beans or hardboiled eggs) fruits (tangerines, apples or berries), veggies, nuts, seeds. I don't usually use dressing but sometimes use a little olive oil and lemon or vinegar.

You can still eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if that is what you want. If you are worried about eating foods that are too heavily processed you could try and bake your own bread or use a grainy bread from a bakery (but it won't last weeks in the fridge like the stuff you buy at the shop) that is healthier and higher in protein and get a jelly that isn't too high in sugar.

Losing weight is simply a matter of calories in versus calories out. The rest is about being healthy but you could lose weight eating mars bars all day if you consumed less calories from them than your body requires...

Agree, no foods should be off limits. Goal is to most meals eat a well balanced meal, I find having variety works best for me. My goal is not binging. Other than that I want to eat 3 meals/day. Figure out the foods you like and plan your meals. If you eat things that you don't like, you probably won't stay on path with healthy lifestyle changes and meeting your goals.

Here's a few more things you can try:

If you really love PBJ there's no reason to give it up. Instead of regular jam, you can mix things up by using fresh fruit like strawberries, apples, or banana. You can also experiment with other nut butters beside peanut butter. Using fresh fruit is nice because it gives you more fiber than jam. If you're looking for bread recommendations, I really love sunflower seed bread and real rye bread. Ezekiel is pretty popular among fit bloggers. I usually only use that for toast but it's not too bad.

Do you like tuna or salmon? I also like doing lighter salads that I can eat either plain or on bread. Instead of adding mayo, I like using a decent mustard. For crunch I'll usually add radish, onion, and pickles.

Other sandwich ideas: fresh veggies with lighter cream cheese, fresh fruit with lighter cream cheese, turkey/veggie/avocado

I also like cooking big batches of things and then using them for my lunches. For example, last week I made a chili and a soup so I brought those in for lunch at work or I ate leftovers as a quick dinner. Another nice thing to have around is a slow cooker. You can make all sorts of meat or vegetarian dishes. What about something like pulled chicken, pork tenderloin, or lean beef?

Other things I like to bring to work: plain greek yogurt, fresh fruit, cliff bars, nuts, fresh cut veggies with hummus or baba

Do you like egg salad or tuna sandwiches? I actually do not eat bread that often, but when I do I use Ezekial Bread. Are you familiar with it? You can read the ingredients online by Googling the Ezekial Bread website. No sugar, no gluten, no flour. It's quite tasty.

Once in a while I have toast (Ezekial Bread) with peanut butter and sugar-free Smuckers strawberry preserves for breakfast. That would work for lunch too. :-) I buy my peanut butter in the organic or health food section of regular grocery stores. The only ingredients are peanuts and salt - no sugar! Regular peanut butters like Jif and so on usually list sugar as the second ingredient! Yikes! For me I really watch my sugar intake and am always shocked to see how much "hidden" sugar there is in so-called "innocent" foods. Cheerios, for example, lists sugar as its third ingredient. I looked at a bottle of fat-free salad dressing the other day and the first ingredient was corn syrup! No fat, but lots of sugar. :-(

Hope this helps a bit. Good luck to you!

In my opinion, eat whatever you want! If you are eating both a strictly healthy breakfast and dinner and you want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich... go for it! It depends on what you want to eliminate or minimize in your diet. If you want nothing processed, then no breads or sandwiches for you. Go for a homemade, organic salad. Otherwise.... don't restrict yourself so much that you get upset about it! A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is MUCH better than a big mac, fries and a soda! Just think of things like that.... and make sure you get enough calories in your day!

One of my favorite lunches is a BLT Wrap:

1-2 slices of cooked chicken/turkey bacon
1 slice of cheese
1/2 tomato
lettuce
1 sheet of rice paper

I eat lots of small meals a day, so this fits nicely @ under 150 calories. I also make my own chicken burgers, which I will swap for the bacon, making it a cheeseburger wrap.