How do you choose what foods to eat?

Hi! I started eating better and by better I mean non-processed food, no tv diners, no fast food. And when I do buy let's say a box of cracker, I make sure that there is not more then 4 ingredients on the label. I switch from dairy milk to almond milk, I make myself green smoothies everyday, and try to exercise as much as possible

After you do it for a while, you learn which foods will help you meet this macro, without causing you to go over that one. Sometimes I just log one of my options. See what is has... delete... add a different option... compare. Figure out the best choice to meet all of my needs.

They choose me....

Just kidding...my focus is primarily on nutrient dense foods...I don't get all into whether this is clean or that is clean or if this is processed or minimally processed or whatever. I think most of it's common sense...I eat a lot of fruits and veg...nuts, avocados, olive oil/avocado oil, lean cuts of beef, chicken, fish...basically a lot of naturally occuring whole foods. I cook primarily from scratch, but don't shy away from using a can of this or that for convenience either. I don't eat much in the way of "junk" but will on occasion (i.e. if I'm going to the ball game I'm having a friggin' hotdog).

Basically I try to eat as much of the "right" things as possible...all the while, getting my fitness on and occasionally indulging in some not so "right" things.

Mostly trial and error, to be honest.

The first thing I realized was that in order to meet my 140g of protein and 65g of fat, AND get sufficient quantities of veges, I was not going to be able to eat much bread/pasta/rice/pizza/ other carb heavy stuff. Not because those things are bad, per se, they just use up way too many calories without giving me enough in return.

My typical day is -

Breakfast
berry protein smoothie
oatmeal

Lunch
Hunk of assorted protein (most often a chicken breast, but salmon, pork, beef are all fair game)
two to four portions of buttered vegetables, or a large salad with feta cheese and an olive oil based dressing

Dinner
This is where the most variety is introduced. Personally I opt for mostly home made, but it's not necessary. Some typical meals are-
Chili with brown rice
Fresh breaded cod with steak fries and vegetables
Steak, mashed potatoes and peas
Spaghetti Bolognese
If I've had a carb heavy day without sufficient activity, I'll often skip the carbs at dinner in order to make up the inevitable protein/fat deficit.

Snacks
Generally cliff builder bars or Zone bars, depending on who did the grocery shopping.
Almonds
Fruit

Evening snacks
I typically save some 'disposable' calories for ice cream and/or beer/wine/port. By disposable I mean that I've already met my nutritional needs for the day, so I can use the calories however I see fit.


Edited to add - should anyone be looking at my diary, I've had a terrible couple of weeks due to injury and generally feeling a bit sorry for myself. Don't judge me!

Just eat the foods you like, study your Food Diary and learn. It's what we all did. No one gets this at first.

This, precisely.

That's exactly how I arrived at the meal plan in my previous post. I just guessed as best I could, and learned as I went along.

Good rule of thumb if you are on 30/30/40 macros is to focus on protein and fat, and let the carbs take care of themselves. In the modern western world you will never be short of carbs unless you consciously restrict them.

OK so I am a poor model of how to choose foods, I stand there reading the panel and then decide OK I like the taste so I am good to eat that. Most times I am within my goals by 1 or 3% points sometimes (birthday <grin>) I am way outside my targets. I try not to over analyze but sometimes ....

I keep restaurant foods to a minimum- all the added sodium & fat is hard to quantify and makes it impossible for me to drop lbs.

I chug water all day everyday. And I do drink afresh veggie+grapefruit juice/day. It flushes me out and I dont really count the calories on them.

If I have to eat at a restaurant I try to steer it towards a sushi restaurant where I avoid soy sauce and order things like brown rice tuna rolls or brown rice salmon/tunhand rolls. I can still drop lbs as the food is totally plain.

I eat all food groups but as "clean" as possible- meaning everything is organic, whole and homemade for the most part. I avoid all foods that come in packages, sauces etc bc it tends to have loads of extra cals or sodium. I do eat bread but its homemade whole wheat high fiber- not from a bag/factory. I am just one of those ppl who can not give up bread. there are some ppl who will swear by eating anything as long as its within their calorie goal and still losing, for me that doesnt work.

I dont give up food groups or limit carbs. I find when I do either, I lack energy and end up needing to eat more

***oh one more thing. If ever I find myself at a restaurant/party or any situation where Im forced to eat things I normally wouldnt, I try to stick to vegetarian. everyone has their own version of how to handle situations like these: some ppl order salads w no dressings, etc. But sometimes thats not possible. So for example, I was at an Italian restaurant for a bday. I ended up eating pasta w a veggie marinara sauce and some fresh parm & a piece of bday cake. Everyone else was stuffed from too much chicken parm, or sausage and peppers, etc but Id saved loads of calories from avoiding the greasy meats. And I still got to enjoy a real menu item rather than a cold dry salad.

I started by trading foods that I want to eat for foods that are better for me:

Oil popped popcorn for butter TO Air popped popcorn with spray oil
Ice cream TO Smoothie (1 frozen banana, 1 cup of 2 per cent milk, 1/2 cup of frozen berries)
Diet drink TO Infused water (Cucumber slices, orange, lime or lemon wedges)
White bread TO Whole wheat Bread
Full calorie whole wheat bread TO lower calorie whole wheat bread (Joseph's Whole Grain Pita Bread or Nature's Best Whole Wheat Bread)

For foods that I can't seem to give up (yet), I limit how much I have.
Two martinis TO One martini
Two eggs TO One egg (or One egg and + egg whites)
As much mayonnaise as I want! TO 1-2 Tablespoons

And, more recently, I have started looking at the nutritional value of my foods and making more choices based on that.

Just eat the foods you like, study your Food Diary and learn. It's what we all did. No one gets this at first.

^^ Absolutely this. I see what puts me over on calories and figure out how to lower those amounts, or which macros I am under and figure out what supports that particular nutrient.


Just remember, whatever changes you choose make be sure that you can keep them up for a lifetime. If you think that you can go 'clean' and keep it up long term, go for it. I can't, or, really, I just don't want to But I am eating more nutritious and less calorie dense foods than I was, and it is becoming a maintainable way of eating without feeling deprived of anything.

I started by trading foods that I want to eat for foods that are better for me:

Oil popped popcorn for butter TO Air popped popcorn with spray oil
Ice cream TO Smoothie (1 frozen banana, 1 cup of 2 per cent milk, 1/2 cup of frozen berries)
Diet drink TO Infused water (Cucumber slices, orange, lime or lemon wedges)
White bread TO Whole wheat Bread
Full calorie whole wheat bread TO lower calorie whole wheat bread (Joseph's Whole Grain Pita Bread or Nature's Best Whole Wheat Bread)

For foods that I can't seem to give up (yet), I limit how much I have.
Two martinis TO One martini
Two eggs TO One egg (or One egg and + egg whites)
As much mayonnaise as I want! TO 1-2 Tablespoons

And, more recently, I have started looking at the nutritional value of my foods and making more choices based on that.

Definitely this^^^^^^^^^^

I wouldn't sweat it, just start logging. The learning curve is about 2 weeks before you know what foods are better bang for your buck. Pre-logging really helps, I do it all the time after someone suggested it here.

By pre-logging I take it you mean adding the item to MFP before you eat it and looking at the calorie and nutritional info instead of after eating. Correct?

Yep. That's exactly what I mean

ETA: For example, if I have a McDonald's combo for lunch (which happens from time to time) I know that because the fries are carb heavy AND calorie dense, I'm probably going to have to have fish for dinner to get a good amount of protein with little calories in order to cover the spread lol.

I pre log before packing lunch. Also, I eliminated processed food, anything labelled low fat/low calories, I eat whole food.
I eat whatever fits my calories and macros, litteraly whatever.

I use my Iphone to log, as it has a bar code scanner. By entering the right Brand and name of the item you want to log you shouldn't have any problem logging homemade meals. There is a Recipe option in your food log for you to enter your homemade meals

:flowerforyou:

I just stopped eating all the junk food I had been (chips, candy, chocolates, etc.) and started eating lots of fruits and vegetables as snacks instead.

I also drink lots of water in place of all the pop I used to consume.

It's a gradual lifestyle change. I still have my treats once in a while, just not as often as I used to.

Thanks for all the replies as they are very helpful. For the home cooked meals, how do you determine the calories and nutritional values? Also I see a lot of references to weighing the food. How do you use the weight information? Any other ideas?

The weight information is used to determine serving size. For home cooked meals I enter the recipe in MFP and use the recipe to log my food the same way I log other food. (You can choose a serving of your recipe in the food diary)