Don't know what to eat.. what do you do??

Just eat anything you like as long as it fits into your calorie goal for the day. Eating fruits, veggies, lean protein, low fat dairy, and limiting sweets and simple carbs naturally helps you limit calories. But honestly, if you just want to lose weight, just make sure what you eat for the day does not exceed your calorie allotment.

The skinnytaste website has tips and really good recipes. You can try that.

I look for folks in the forums that have been successful, I see if we have anything in common, I send a FR and I see what they eat day to day. This gives me ideas as to what to eat. I have learned SO much from these folks.

Weight watchers has very good cookbooks. Amazon has most of them. I really like the "Powerfoods" cookbook.

Good luck. Send me aFR with a message if you'd like.

I turn to the mighty internet for help with meals. Today I started following a Pinterest board for weight watchers recipes (from 8 or so lower calorie cooking blogs). I was sent an email about it from skinnytaste, checked them all and liked them. What's nice about them is that serving sizes are not doll-house size like those on many weight loss websites. I was checking out an Indian-inspired recipe on one of these websites and it's 1 3/4 cups per serving, 22 protein and only 270 calories. That's an ice cream waiting to happen after a respectable meal!

Edit: here is the link to the board http://www.pinterest.com/slenderkitchen/weight-watchers-recipes/

What do you eat now?

I really think it complicates it unnecessarily to focus on finding new recipes that you will have to use, unless that inspires you (I like to cook, and also like to browse cookbooks or websites for fun -- 101 cookbooks is one that I enjoy). Instead, think in terms of what you eat now and how you like to eat and adjust.

For example, I know I like to eat breakfast and need a routine, or I end up not having the time I need, so I have a usual set breakfast that I can make pretty fast (vegetable omelet) and then add extra protein and fruit (usually yogurt or cottage cheese for the protein, but it depends on what I have around). Since I can change up the vegetables, fruit, and protein, this is varied enough for me to have almost every day, but makes it easy. But it is also based on my desire to have vegetables, a certain amount of protein, and about 400 calories for breakfast. If you need something smaller or quicker just figure that out--someone who knows she won't have time to cook could use fruit and a protein shake or a smoothie or something else on hand to grab, someone who hates breakfast would plan around that.

I handle lunch kind of like breakfast in that I do basically a few things every day, so once it's set there's no need for much planning (one of these things is bringing leftovers).

For dinner, I have more variability but again within a pattern. I know I'll want meat (or a protein source), vegetables (lots, I like to have two different ones), and a starch, plus extra fruit or dairy if I have the calories. So knowing this I can easily adjust based on what I have on hand, how many calories I have, etc. If I'm much closer to my limit than usual I might drop the starch for the day and have the second vegetable instead, so on.

Focusing on this rather than having to completely plan and have recipes means that I can just come home and work with the meats and vegetables available, so long as I've bought enough for the week and remembered to unfreeze any frozen items (fish, for example) I might wish to use.

Also, I don't feel at all that I'm eating in some kind of diet way, even though cooking this way makes it really easy to construct low calorie meals, depending on how many you need.

Hi all,
So at the moment I am struggling to know what to eat.. I don't have many go to healthy recipes or ideas.. how did you find out what to eat?? did u use a certain programme or book??

Thanks all

What did you eat before you decided to lose weight? Just eat that but less of it

Hi all,
So at the moment I am struggling to know what to eat.. I don't have many go to healthy recipes or ideas.. how did you find out what to eat?? did u use a certain programme or book??

Thanks all

What you always eat, just less of it.

My opinion is any diet with a lot of recipes for cooking is fail. When I cook, I make too much and eat too much. I stick with simple things like veggies, grilled meat.

One thing I do, is eliminate my top favorite foods, pasta, bread, cheese, peanut butter, chocolate, tortillas, butter, and ice cream. No more.

I did get a magazine, eat clean, it has a lot of good recipes. I also belong to vegan menu, you get meal ideas for the whole week, with a shopping list. We are having eggplant tonight.

This saddens me.

No need to eliminate any foods, especially your favourites.
Just eat less of them.

Fit them into your calories, meet your macros and start enjoying and controlling your diet, don't let it control you.

allrecipes.com is really good! lots of creative ideas there!

Some people can handle moderation. I can't. If there is a loaf of bread and peanut butter, I will binge eat, and have four sandwiches.

I don't binge eat spinach, eggplant, or tofu!

pintrest is minefield for me! i get so distracted by all the delicious foods. I start following salads and end up in desserts. lol

Some people can handle moderation. I can't. If there is a loaf of bread and peanut butter, I will binge eat, and have four sandwiches.

I don't binge eat spinach, eggplant, or tofu!

I challenge you to give it a try incorporating some of those foods you love back into your diet. Think of it as long term success.

Before I learned this silly moderation trick, I could not keep sweets, chips, nuts in my house. Now? Ice cream in the freezer, cookies, chips, and nuts in the cabinet. Those things last an awful long time because I open bag, weigh portion (sometimes less, sometimes a bit more, than the serving depending on my calories), close bag and put away, and eat said portion. That's all I need.

My binge eating is gone. Seriously.

I cook like I always did, but I add more veggies, reduce my starch portion, and reduce my meat portion -but I supplement in some kind of bean or dried pea, or both. You can always use canned, just watch the salt content. Veggies can be pricey so I try to buy what's on sale that I know what to do with it. Oooh, do you like kale? swisschard? Both are delicious cooked into soups and add lots of goodness. Soup is a good start. Grilled or oven baked lean meats. Yellow mustard is your friend - its zero calories or very low at least. And can add a lot of flavor to a pan of sauteed veggies and meat. Fresh crunchy vegetables. Tomatoes are very filling, cucumers too but both have a higher sugar content then say celery.
Hope this helps.

If I don't have time to cook I get a veggie sub with mustard on it.

Also, drinking lots of water, and green tea.

I know I just started on here, so there isn't much progress to show as my proof. But I just wanted to offer some advice to help you out. Good luck! Add me or message if you have any questions.

What do you usually eat? You shouldn't need to completely scrap everything you eat and start again - you just need to adapt your eating habits to reduce your calorie intake.

For example, let's say that a common evening meal for you would be spaghetti bolognese. A big pile of pasta, sauce made from minced beef, onions, and a jar of tomato sauce, with plenty of grated cheese on top. That's going to be pretty high in calories but can easily be adapted to fit your goals.

-Carefully measure any oil you add to your pan - use a teaspoon, not a "glug". A teaspoon of olive oil is 40 calories, you don't want to accidentally use 5 teaspoons where 1 or 2 would suffice.
-Choose lean mince. If this is too expensive, dry fry your mince separately then drain off the fat when it's cooked.
-Pad out your meal with vegetables. This will make it cheaper as well as more nutritious, and if you're not a big fan of vegetables you can chop them really small so they blend in with the sauce and are hardly noticeable. In a bolognese, I'd use mushrooms and maybe courgette or something.
-Avoid sauces which have loads of added sugars - a tin or two of chopped tomatoes will do the job.
-Weigh your pasta and choose to have 70-80g when you might previously have had 100+.
-You can get fat reduced cheese (I use 30% less fat mature cheddar), or choose cheeses which have a strong flavour (eg: parmesan) so you only need a small amount.

Obviously this is just one example but the general idea (careful portion control for your carbs and fat, choosing lean meat, adding in extra veg) can be applied to everything.