Wondering if anyone would be as kind to....

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Hello all, this is my first post..Im just now getting back into trying to lose weight and Im going to get it done this time! I have 2 kids and I am over my fat belly let alone everywhere else! My first goal is I would like to lose 28 more pounds..My question is I wondered if anyone had any meal plans for a diet they would like to share with me? I cook for myself, my kids, and my boyfriend and we all need to eat healthier...BUT I need recipes and ideas as to what I can cook :) It would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance

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  • willrun4bagels
    willrun4bagels Posts: 838 Member
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    I've heard people say that they like the recipes on this site: http://www.skinnytaste.com/

    My diary is open. You can probably look around on some people's profiles with open diaries to see what kind of things they eat if you are looking for ideas for meals. I'll make things like egg white omelettes with massive amounts of veggies sauteed in a little water and/or 1 teaspoon or 2 teaspoons of olive oil, 1 or 2 servings goat cheese, etc. I also like to make one serving of pasta with steamed veggies, some form of protein, and 1 or 2 servings of goat cheese instead of a sauce on it. The goat cheese melts and tastes like a rich creamy pasta sauce with lots of flavor. (Can you tell I like goat cheese? Lol). I make a yummy butternut squash "soup" = just oven roasted squash (amount varies, but I roast 3-4 squash at a time) thrown into a blender with 2-2.5 cups of low sodium stock. Blended up, served warm, add 1 serving of a creamy cheese (like goat cheese...!) in or 0.5-1 servings of walnuts if wanted. It's better than any soup I've had at a restaurant, and it's just the calories of the squash and the stock (plus your add-ins). I make pizzas using flatbread tortilla/wraps, loaded with veggies, with one serving of the cheese of my choice. Veggie burgers with steamed veggies and a side of roasted sweet potatoes. I'm a vegetarian so my suggestions will probably not be as varied as some of the other suggestions you'll get.

    I don't really follow recipes when I cook, but I do log everything in advance for the entire day, so when it comes to dinnertime, I use my pre-recorded log sort of like a "recipe" when I cook. I use a food scale to weigh all solids and viscous (creamy) foods. I use measuring cups for liquids. So for dinner tonight, since I've already logged it on my diary, I'll start by weighing out my veggies, throwing them into an empty ceramic non-stick skillet (requires no oil or anything for cooking, I like it a lot), then get a pot of water boiling, weigh out my dry pasta, you get the idea. It takes the guesswork out, and leaves me knowing for sure that I've prepared exactly the right amount of food to fit into my calorie / macro goals for the day.

    Advice: If you're going to prepare a meal for several of you to share, you could use the recipe creator on your food diary (try to avoid using entries in the database for generic or homemade meals just because the calorie counts look good... you really have no idea how accurate they are). If you were making a dish for dinner, weigh / measure out all of your ingredients, enter everything into the recipe builder, and then you can enter in how many servings that particular recipe yields. So if you enter that it yields 6 servings, you would portion the recipe out into 6 portions, and log 1 serving for yourself. Your other members of your family could have as much or as little of the recipe, but you know that you've been pretty accurate with getting your 1 serving.

    Good luck! And if you do look through my diary and see any foods on there that you want to know how I prepared, just send me a msg :)
  • Deb_622
    Deb_622 Posts: 694
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    I agree with willrun4bagel - some great advice and tips there!!!

    What I've done (or tried to do) is take a look at what types of things my family loves to eat, and try to make healthier versions...ie, use ground turkey instead of beef in things like tacos, chili or sloppy joes...I've also made a "healthier" pizza by substituting pork sausage and pepperoni with chicken sausage and turkey pepperoni...add some steamed veggies or a salad and you're on your way...

    Don't try to go too extreme too quick, or you and your family will revolt...try to make small changes and then keep at it!

    Good Luck with your journey! :flowerforyou:

    Feel free to add me for support and motivation :happy:
  • JBfoodforlife
    JBfoodforlife Posts: 1,371 Member
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    Great ideas above... My suggestion would be also to take an afternoon to yourself and head to your local Barnes and Nobles or bookstore you have in town... Grab a cup of coffee and spend a few hours looking through cookbooks... My first suggestion is Muscle Chow... It is a book I have and I have found quite a few of the recipes outstanding... Not saying you need to buy the books, but look them over, see the foods used, the meals made and use that as a base for making meals... Best of luck to you!
  • scraver2003
    scraver2003 Posts: 528 Member
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    I hae the Dream Dinners cookbook. It is like my bible. The recipes are easy. I make big batches and freeze them (which helps me stay on track). I entered the recipes in my recipe tab on MFP. If you want to try some out... this link has revised versions of some of the recipes:

    http://www3.dreamdinners.com/media/cookbook_revisions_0607.pdf

    The Shoestring potatoe recipe is SOOOOoooo yummy. I add a ton of broccoli to it to round it out a bit
    Baked Pesto Ravioli with Chicken is another go-to recipe for me

    Penne with Rosemary chicken was - well I had one batch that came out weird and then the next batch came out awesome. I think the second time, I cooked it longer.
  • dezwark
    dezwark Posts: 144 Member
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    Welcome. I am a mom of 4 and cooking gets frustrating for me. There are times when my kids won't eat why my hubby and I eat and that's ok. I don't let it get to me. i do use emeals. it takes some of the work out of it for me. there are so many different plans to choose from on there and it does the shopping list and everything for me. I don't use all the meals but I print everything off and save for later use when i need ideas. I also include my kids when i am making meal ideas and ask them what they would like to see on the menu. They LOVE this part. I have slowly learned how to make things healthier and healthier.

    Something my kids LOVE is egg muffins. I make them ahead with any kind of meat, bacon, turkey bacon, turkey sausage whatever and then i stuff them full of veggies. My kids say the veggies taste just like eggs. And the nice part is they keep in the fridge for 1 week and warm in the microwave for 30 sec.

    My kids also love pork loins. I also will bake chicken and make different fixings on the side so they pick what they like. We eat a lot of chicken lol. But not all of my kids like the veggies so they like to feel they have a say on what goes on their plate so I try not to mix everything together. Like if I am making fajitas or something.

    My Kids love tacos and those are super easy. I have started mixing ground beef and ground turkey and they don't even notice. (I do this with anything that needs beef) With our tacos I use a lot of beans. Garbanzo, black beans, kidney.

    Shoot me a message if I can help you further. Just don't get frustrated. Take it one step at a time and good luck.
  • OkamiLavande
    OkamiLavande Posts: 336 Member
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    Look up recipes for things you have in your house and you can find tons of healthy options. Look up substitutions for things you like.

    Take for example smashed potatoes. Make half cauliflower and the other half potatoes and it's still the same texture and taste. Smashed cauliflower tastes better to me and cuts the calories.
  • aklove907
    aklove907 Posts: 118 Member
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    I have been using Pinterest as a recipe source lately. I have made a lot of recipes off of there, and they have pretty much all been good!
  • JustSomeEm
    JustSomeEm Posts: 20,197 MFP Moderator
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    As a working mom, sometimes cooking really suffers. I tend to eat less during the day, so that I don't have to think too hard about what I'm making at home. Although rice is somewhat high calorie, we make things like rice and beans or chicken and rice quite often. Or soups (which can be REALLY low calorie, but relatively fast). Good luck!

    I also use the crock pot fairly often. Google healthy crock pot recipes. :)
  • Kaylee_F93
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    I like eating a "stir fry" That is chicken, carrots, and broccoli in olive oil, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. alone or with rice. tastes good, my hubby likes it, and it is healthier than what he usually eats.