Meals: What are you doing?
Allmyusernamesaretakengeeze
Posts: 146 Member
I thought I'd just share with you all what I'm doing as far as meals go. It may help others out and maybe you can share what you are doing. Personal experience tells me going on a specific diet plan is not the way to loose weight. Life happens and if I'm on a super strict diet I've set myself up to fail...again.
I am all about portion control and planning out my meals. The general idea is each meal contains
3 ounces of lean protein
1 complex carb
Unlimited vegetables
1 healthy fat
Each meal is roughly 350 calories (or fewer)
I just adjust the portion sizes in accordance to how many calories my body needs to continue loosing weight. Right now I'm at 1700 calories a day.
To make it as simple as possible and reduce stress, I prepare enough food for 2-3 days at a time. Each meal is already weighed/measured and ready to be eaten or warmed up. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Yeah, I cook about twice a week.
My phone is set up to remind me to drink my water and stop to eat my meal or snack. It makes eating every 3-4 hours simple.
No white bread, white rice, processed food and ready meals at all.
Drink 3-4 liters of water every day.
My meal plan is hanging on my fridge.
I guess that is it as far as meals go. Getting set to plan my next set today.
I am all about portion control and planning out my meals. The general idea is each meal contains
3 ounces of lean protein
1 complex carb
Unlimited vegetables
1 healthy fat
Each meal is roughly 350 calories (or fewer)
I just adjust the portion sizes in accordance to how many calories my body needs to continue loosing weight. Right now I'm at 1700 calories a day.
To make it as simple as possible and reduce stress, I prepare enough food for 2-3 days at a time. Each meal is already weighed/measured and ready to be eaten or warmed up. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Yeah, I cook about twice a week.
My phone is set up to remind me to drink my water and stop to eat my meal or snack. It makes eating every 3-4 hours simple.
No white bread, white rice, processed food and ready meals at all.
Drink 3-4 liters of water every day.
My meal plan is hanging on my fridge.
I guess that is it as far as meals go. Getting set to plan my next set today.
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Replies
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I definitely believe planning meals is the best way to really focus on staying healthy. I prep overnight oats on Sundays for my breakfast for the weekdays. Every morning I make a coffee and have my oats ready to eat. I also make dinner each night and pack up little bento boxes for lunch the next day for both me and my hubby. The bento boxes are so nice and I think they really help with portion control. They are the right size for the amount of food I should be eating. I also bring some fruit with me to work for snacks. Overall, eating from home really helps with my peace of mind since I know exactly what is going into my body.0
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Food is definity my biggest challenge. I don't plan meals and when I eat it's usually not too healthy because I feel like I am always on the go! I am trying to add some structure to my meals, hope to gain some knowledge soon!
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OMG, you do bento boxes too!? I'll occasionally make an egg look like a rabbit or chick with some molds I got off of Amazon. I eve cut the veggies with the mini cookie cutters if I"m on a roll. (usually i just throw stuff in and don't worry about making it cute)0
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HELL YEAH!! I bought the car and fish molds since they ran out of the rabbit and chicken at the Japanese market by me. I was going to check out another really cheap Japanese equivalent dollar store by me to see if they have more goodies (that's where I got most of my stuff). I am very fortunate since they have the bento boxes and all the gear to go with them.0
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I try to drink a gallon of water a day, limit white carbs and right now I am doing fish and veggies mainly. Meals preparing works best for me and structure. Weekends throw me off guard because of the UN expected and Holidays. Temptation gets me, but I am working on it. My go to foods are tuna and eggs.0
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I have a ton of bento stuff! Sandwich cutters, mini-cookie cutters that I use on veggies and fruits and cheese, picks, liners, even the edible markers! I have 12 nieces and nephews, and I get 11 of them every Saturday night (#12 is only a month old) for dinner and fun, aka Sissy Night. (I'm Aunt Sissy.) They love it when I get "fancy" with supper and do cutouts and pics and stuff. I have a few bento boxes that I picked up in Japan last year, plus a stackable kit with an insulated bag that I use to take lunches when I'm subbing. Even though I'm working from home now, I wonder if packing myself a lunch the night before would help with my fast food habit. Does anyone else do this? I could grab it and take it with me if I need to be out and about during lunchtime, too. Hmm...
Oh, and I have a question about overnight oats: do you heat them up in the morning or do you eat them cold?0 -
They're good both ways. I prefer mine warm but I'll tell you, nothing beats a hot summer morning like some cold overnight oats.Oh, and I have a question about overnight oats: do you heat them up in the morning or do you eat them cold?0 -
I used to plan out meals for two weeks. Now I just go by a general rule of thumb.
We don't eat red meat often at all, so we mostly just eat chicken and fish (usually Talapia or Flounder.)
Lots of veggies.
Lots of fruits.
Breakfast is usually an English muffin or bagel, with a side of fruit. My daughter loves English muffins. Lol.
Lunch is usually a sandwich, or some eggs with some veggie mix-ins.
And dinner is usually fish or chicken, with some veggies and maybe brown rice.
Snacks are homemade. So Ill make some banana bread, and we will have that once during then day. Or we will have crackers. Or just some fruit. Or we will have some overnight oats, since everyone loves them. For dessert ill make some dairy free ice cream or something. If I really want to spoil myself, ill buy some actual ice cream from the store. Lol.
But yeah, our grocery list is very simple. And We eat around the same thing daily. It makes things easy for us!0 -
I'm kind of ambivalent about food. I tend to eat sporadically. At home I our dinners from scratch, for the most part (I do buy jars and cans for making sauces and stuff). I don't really enjoy cooking at all, but I do it because I think it's better than just getting takeout or pre-fab meals all the time. As far as problem foods go, If there's yummy, unhealthy crap in the house, I'll eat it, but I don't buy that stuff when I shop (on the other hand, my boyfriend can't shop without picking up all kinds of sweets, which is very annoying!)
I've been tracking for three days now, and I notice that with exercise, I am coming in under my "allowed" calories, and the limits on my carbs, protein, sodium, etc., are sometimes under as well. Is that a problem? Am I not getting enough nutrients? Is it better to go over on calories to make up missing protein, for instance?
Once eating turns into weighing and measuring everything and eating X amount of Y not because I want to but because I need to in order to fulfill some quota on a chart, I lose all interest. Isn't that a big reason why people don't stick to diets?
How can I make sure I'm eating well without feeling like my life is a science project?0 -
There's one thing my husband and I stick by. Shop on the outside of the grocery stores. Like the fruits and veggies, dairy, meat, and bread. Don't buy a lot in the middle unless its rice, beans, extras, etc. All the good stuff is on the outside, while the boxed, bagged, saturated stuff is in the middle. So that's what we go by (: Hope it helps you out. I hate quotas too, so I just watch what I eat.
Like, I used to eat everything on my plate because it was on my plate. Now I only eat until I'm full. Just listen to your body and it'll let you know what's going on!0 -
Thanks for the advice! That's basically how I shop anyway, but I never really thought about it that way. I totally do a big loop around the edge of the supermarket! I don't buy a lot of processed things, although there are a couple of breakfast cereals I like, and sometimes I buy crackers to have with cheese. My boyfriend's big weakness is the bakery section and the ice cream aisle, but I do at least 90% of the food shopping, so it's not such an issue. He occasionally decides to "pick up a few things" on his way home from work, and it's usually like two healthy things and whole bunch of crap. He was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes last year, and did great with his diet for the first few months, but now not so much. He has an insatiable sweet tooth. I'm hoping that my quest for better health will inspire him to make some changes.
I think that I'm mainly eating stuff that's ok -- I know I need to get more veggies and fruit, though. Right now, I'm basically trying to make sure my portions aren't getting out of hand, so I'll start off with a smaller portion than usual. I can always go back for more if I truly don't feel satisfied. But I usually don't have seconds, if I really pay attention to how my stomach feels. Sometimes, I have to wait a few minutes before I can really feel the fullness.
I think you're right: we become so conditioned to finish everything on the plate. It's not an easy habit to break.0 -
My problem is fast food and not eating nutrient-rich foods. I'm single, no kids, and I have trouble talking myself into cooking for just me. But here's the thing: it's really not that inconvenient or messy when I DO go ahead and cook for myself. Especially if I make enough for a few days or throw extras in the freezer. It's all mind games with me.
Wanted to let y'all know that while today started out not-so-fab (fast food breakfast, fast food lunch that I didn't finish), since I know people are watching my progress now, I bypassed all the fast food joints on the way back from taking my niece home and fixed myself a big salad with grilled chicken for supper. Progress!0 -
Melifornia, your salad sounds great! When I was on my own, I tried to make the effort to do a couple of cooking sessions per week which would make enough meals to get me through to the next week. I'm also the kind of person who doesn't mind eating the same dish two or three times a week, so that helped. And I think your idea of having some back up prepared meals in the freezer is really smart. Do you think having a cooking schedule would help you?
I think the important thing for me to remember is that a bad food decision isn't a tragedy, or a total failure. I need to just carry on with my plan as though I hadn't caved in and eaten that donut.0 -
@tookuteforyou - You are so lucky! 2 hours to the closest Asian grocery for me. All my bento gear comes from Amazon.com, When I do make a trip to the Asian grocery I'm buying in bulk because I only make it there 3-4 times a year.. Brown rice, sesame oil, seaweed, etc.
I guess the bonus for me living in rural nowhere is my neighbors are farmers. They grow watermelon, pumpkins, and organic heirloom tomatoes. Lots of freebies loot for me. I can tomatoes every other year. This year it will be 66 quarts of those tomatoes for free. I could freeze them but I use my freezer for meat that is given to me or I get on sale.0 -
This next menu plan is vegetarian. I'm working with a counselor through my insurance company (love that they do this BTW) and she wants me to do more plants and such. I HATE the recipes they have on their site because they don't post portion sizes or calories, just the recipes. I could easily over eat since portion control is something I struggle with. My spouse thing can't even complain. He loves meat and thinks it is necessary on a thrice daily basis for his continues survival. I made him talk with his counselor about it and she told him 8 oz a day and work on cutting it back farther. Since he gets roughly DOUBLE the calorie allowance I have, he can suck it up and cook his own meat. RAWR.
Here's the menu plan. If anyone is interested in any of the recipes I'll send them to you. Everything is simply made ahead of time. Muesli goes in the fridge the night before to soak up the almond milk, quinoa salad is made in bulk to eat all 3 days, veggies for kebobs are pre-cut. I have everyone load their own skewers and onto the grill they go.
Went over by 44 calories but not worried about it. Need to pick up the exercise more anyhow.
Meal Plan 4
Breakfast -Toasted Oat and Coconut Muesli (315 cal – 8 servings)
snack - Humus & 1 cup raw vegetables (340 cal/ serving)
Lunch - Cumin Lime Black Bean Quinoa Salad (258 cal - 4 servings)
snack – ½ cup low fat cottage cheese, ½ mango (167 cal)
Dinner -Vegan Green Goddess Dressing with Grilled Veggie Kabobs (4=664 cal – 166 cal each)
1744 calories0 -
Well, this is interesting. I've gone vegetarian at the suggestion of the counselor my insurance company has me working with. It has only been 3 days and my weight loss has increased dramatically. I'm eating BIG meals full of veggies. Getting set to make my next menu. If this continues I might just stick with it.0
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I ate bacon for supper tonight. Nothing else. Just bacon.
Now, I probably did need the protein, and I (barely) stayed inside my calories, but that was just the latest in a string of poor food decisions I've been making. Mostly due to poor planning/fear of trying something new. This is ridiculous. I'm a grown woman. I should not be eating bacon for dinner.
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Lets use some logic. You are what you eat, right? So, since pigs are grain and grain comes from plants you ate vegetarian last night.
I usually work bacon into one of my meals because I love it SO MUCH. If you like the stuff just take into account the fat and salt when planning your meals. Keeps you from freaking out and stalking some farmers livestock.0 -
LOL! Nice rationale. :laugh:
Really it was more of a reminder that I'm continuing to eat poorly, mainly through lack of planning. (It was almost 9PM before ate, too.) I need to take better care of myself if I want to be healthy.
This morning I had low-fat cottage cheese and fresh blueberries for breakfast. Feeling better about that choice!0
