Fussy eater needs help!

I'm a firm believer in NOT eating things I don't like. When I eat foods I don't like, just because they are healthy, it's a set up for overeating (I eat something I hate, and then I want to eat a gallon of ice cream, because I subconsciously feel I "deserve" something I like). You can still lose weight without eating fruits and vegetables, although you'll be missing some nutrients. Are you willing to TRY and like some new foods, or do you want to try and find a way to make healthier versions of the things you do like?

I have found that roasting vegetables, makes almost any veggie taste delicious (But I love veggies, so you may not agree). Just toss fresh vegetable (broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, turnips, beets... anything!) in a tablespoon of olive oil, add salt and pepper (and other spices, if you like), and roast in a 425 oven, for about 30 minutes.

I think you can easily make some healthy beef stews, using vegetables, potatoes and beef, or make roast chicken dinners. These things can be made very healthy. If you plan to eat pub grub type foods, and you want to make them or order them made traditionally, you may just need to seriously cut down on your portion sizes. You can eat anything you want, but if you want to lose weight, you may not be able to eat huge portions of pub grub style food.

Also, you seem like a good candidate for a low carb lifestyle. What are your thoughts on that?

My husband didn't eat any veggies, fruits, or 'healthy' foods when I met him. Super picky about food. He did like pastas, so I started cooking those for him and we both gained 15 lbs in the first 6 months.

Now, over the years, he has increase his food palate a bit. He eats salads with lots of stuff in it, just because he knows he needs to decrease his calories and they fill him up a bit before he hits the 'real' food.

Other than that, he is happy with just a big plate of meat.
I had to cut the majority of starchy carbs out of my diet when I started to lose weight, so he was nice enough to not insist on mac and cheese, rice, potatoes, etc.
When he started seeing progress himself, he continued with eating most of my foods as well.
He still doesn't like many veggies, other than salad, but he did try Spaggetti squash in chicken parm one day and actually liked it!
Putting cheese and sauce on veggies makes them much more tasty!

So anyway, he is still a basic meat kinda guy, but has tried a few things he thought he'd never like, i.e. baked Tilapia and Salmon, chili, grilled chicken, and he even likes cauliflower pizza! Gasp!

And he gets his burgers and fries in after a good bike race, on his way home.

No need to drastically change your diet. Just find ways to make your faves a little lower calorie, and find a few new lower cal items you can learn to eat. Play around with spices and such.

It all comes down to calories. When you see how many calories are in the foods you like, you can figure out how to work them into your diet, or substitute some lower cal versions.

Just eat less of foods you enjoy and take a multivitamin.

^^^ This

Plus, check your macros. Set your MFP goals for the weight loss you are going for and then make sure you're under (or at) carbs and sodium, and get enough fats and protein.

If the only thing you can stand eating is meat with gravy and a side of gravy, just measure the bejebus out of what you're putting on your plate and only put enough to fit your macros. If you're going over on something, put less of it on your plate. If you're way under on something, add more of it. Remember, to watch sodium, if you're not affected by it, more power to you ... but if you are sensitive to it, you can eat at a calorie deficit for weeks and I don't care what anyone says about calories being the only measure, you'll gain water weight like no tomorrow.

Fitness isn't a matter of who can choke down the most broccoli. Though, truth be told, I rather enjoy broccoli ...

There are ways to spruce up a lot of veggies to make them delicious. One way to add some to your meals is try to "sneak" veggies into your normal meals. If you like spaghetti, try adding some onion, mushrooms, green zucchini (surprisingly it doesn't have much flavor) to your sauce, all minced a little smaller so you won't really taste them - you'll mostly taste just the sauce. When I make meatloaf, I add quinoa instead of bread crumbs and I shred in some carrots instead of ketchup (they're sweet) and some minced onions. I basically try to switch out unhealthy items in cooking, or sneak in a few extra veggies.

There are some fruit and veggies I don't like (tomatoes = yuck!) but if I add them to other meals I can tolerate them and even like them if they're seasoned (I like chunky tomatoes in pasta, salsa, etc.).

Try baking/frying some veggies with seasoning to change the flavor/consistency and you might be surprised that you actually like some of these veggies if they're prepared differently. (Btw, I've seen recipes for roasted zucchini with Parmesan cheese... I've never tried it, but pretty much anything tastes better with cheese, so it might be worth a try).

I think if you have the time you should work on finding a new veggie recipe to try once a week (or once a month, or whenever you have extra time to cook); you'll find some new ways of cooking veggies that actually make them delicious. You might find some not-100% healthy recipes for veggies that are delicious, but eating some semi-healthy veggies is better than no veggies IMO.

In a year I lost 98 pounds and for the last year I've maintained that weight. I do not eat anything healthy, I barely eat anything except for the same 15-20 different foods I do eat... I refuse to try anything new. I'm that fussy. If the name of it sounds bad, if it looks bad, or smells bad, I will NOT touch it. I have tried to try new foods but I end up gagging and almost throwing up. I am a HUGE texture person. Not sure what it is, but I've been that way for the last 16 years (and I'm 23 now).

Sorry that doesn't really help you, but it does go to show that it's not really what you eat, its how much.. and you can still lose.

I used to be a very picky eater, and seeing my father get worse about food limitations over the years to the point it makes my mother miserable cooking for him, I decided to change my own outlook on food and have a more open mind. It was baby steps, but I slowly worked on adding foods and trying new things. And now I'm willing to at least try most anything.

Go slowly and think positively about what you might find that you didn't know you liked. You'll surprise yourself. I went from picking off the tiniest bits of bell peppers to loving them and wondering why I'd been missing out on them all this time.

So I'm an incredibly fussy eater, all my friends and family know. I don't like many vegetables apart from peas, green beans and carrots,

First off unless you're getting bored of eating them, you're getting pretty good nutritional punch even if you only eat the peas, green beans and carrots:
Peas: 26% Vitamin A, 38% Vitamin c, 4% Calcium, 14% iron, 9g fiber per 160g. Also some Vitamin K, Thiamin,Manganese,Riboflavin, Phosporus and Copper. Low in sodium.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2521/2

Carrots: 32% Vitamin A, 1% Vitamin C. Also some Vitamin E, Thiamin, Potassium, Vitamin B6, Manganese.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2384/2

Green Beans: 17% Vitamin A, 20% Vitamin C, Calcium 5%, Iron 5% plus some thiamin, Riboflavin, Magnesium, Potassium, Vitamin K, Folate and Manganese. 4 g dietary fiber per 125g.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2342/2

But if you ARE getting tired of those three, I'll second the people suggesting you roast other vegetables when you try them. Good way to add flavor without drowning them in fat (which although tasty adds calories).

I'll particularly suggest you try (if you haven't) roasted brussel sprouts...however please know that those seem to be a love it or hate it type item. I have yet to find someone with a "meh" atttitude toward that particular
vegetable. You could also try red pepper...it's really rather mild, particularly when roasted.

Another option is to consider adding canned pumpkin (make sure it's not pumpkin PIE filling...just pumpkin). I can add it undetected to chili to add some extra nutrients. This is for the "no salt added" variety:
per 245g, 7g fiber, 3g protein, 763% Vitamin A, 17% Vitamin C, Calcium 6%, Iron 19% along with some Vitamin E, Panthothenic Acid, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Manganese.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2602/2

And if your issue is more the "I don't want to see it" rather than texture, you might try the "Sneaky Chef" type route using purees of vegetables you can't stomach whole. There are a couple cookbooks that do that sort of thing and your local library probably has one you can borrow and try out. Jessica Seinfeld wrote one (I forget the name) that we have at home.

I love my carbs and I love meat; chicken, sausages, ribs, steak...you get the picture!

Focus on getting the leaner cuts if you're doing beef or pork. You can also at least CONSIDER substituting turkey sausage here and there for the more fat-laden pork type.

I love meals with gravy, like roast dinners, stews, traditional british pub grub type foods.

As others have said, really focus on portion size if you're eating these.

And since you mentioned carbs, if you haven't already tried it, you can eliminate a lot of fat calories from traditional brownies (and add some fiber) by using black beans, pureed with about 1 cup of water, in place of the oil. I *KNOW* it sounds weird but I've actually done it and it works well and is tasty. I'm told it can be done with canned pumpkin as well but I haven't tried that so have no personal experience with that.