WHAT am I supposed to eat???? *FRUSTRATED*

Hang in there! The important thing is that you realize this and can get back on track. I've made similar mistakes and felt like throwing in the towel. Think about your ultimate goal and well...let the past be the past and move on. You can do this! You are in control!

Nadine

get the book Eat This Not That. there's even a recipe book. Look up Hungrygirl online. she's a freakin genius. and remember... its a learning process. i'm half mexican girl i was raised on beans rice flour tortillas and pork boiled in lard. yeah. thats what i ate for years. this damned site pretty much let me know that food in that realm can only be eaten in very small portions and rarely. its treat food. not healthy every day food. soooo start readin the labels on food. plan a grocery list using the resources on here and remember... you got our support

It is a big change, but if you just switch out some of the ingredients in your salad and the normal food you eat...it can be bearable.
Instead of kraft mac and cheese which is horrible in cals and sodium...make your own with whole wheat pasta. baked chicken low fat skim milk cheese in the salad with little to no salad dressing.
read labels
whole grains are good
watch the sodium
steamed instead of canned veggies...I get mine from walmart in the frozen section, pretty cheap good stuff with out the butter already on it.

and i like this site alot.
http://400caloriesorless.com/

I use allrecipes.com and search for lowfat or low-whatever meals and adjust it for my taste buds (I need some spice lol). Other than that, I surf around in the recipes section on MFP or take ideas from my friends on here's food diary if they are public.

I also agree with whoever said to buy EatThis, NotThat, and go to hungrygirl.com.

Also, Google/Yahoo!/Bing/whatever might be your best friend - I searched "low fat recipes" and I'm still going through the results.

I also made slight alterations to what I usually bought, like Seesaa suggested. It has helped a lot.

Jamaican food is so amazing though; it was hard for me to give it up also.

I have been doing this for a month now. I have found that the things that I grew up on are mostly high calorie foods...fried chicken, bbq ribs, fast food.....I always calculate my food before I eat it. If it is a high calorie food, then I limit it, or omit it. When I first started mom cooked some bbq pork ribs. I would only allow myself 4 oz because the calories were high. What I do, is I load up on fruits and veggies and I measure EVERYTHING. So that I don't get bored, I look for recipes that would interest me. Basically I have cut out almost ALL processed foods. I mainly eat things that either have a mother, or has come from the ground. I have done this for 4 weeks now and have lost 11 lbs. I have changed my rice to brown rice. I eat oat meal in the morning with a smashed banana. This is less than 300cal. I usually eat my biggest meal next- because of my hours at work....I work over night. Because I live in New Orleans and Monday is Red Beans and Rice day, I always eat Red Beans on Mondays. If I eat it with rice, I only eat 1/2 cup of rice with 1 cup of red beans. We had Corn and Shrimp chowder one night. I ate 1 1/2 cups of that. We had fish stew tonight...I ate 2 cups and 1 cup of brown rice. I use cauliflower instead of rice sometimes. My salads always have spinach, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and bell peppers because I can eat alot of those and not get too many calories. That isn't all of my salad, but they always have those items. U can add salmon, tuna, chick peas, grilled chicken....then the dressing a balsamic vinaigrette. But measure. The kind I have is 45 cal per 2 TBsp. Sometimes I make a quinoa curry salad.....Measure your food, and calculate before you eat and look for some recipes on the sites that others have mentioned....Also, if a recipe looks good but has alot of calories, you can tweak it by omitting the oil and using plain yogurt instead of milk or cream.....

OMG youd love my house! We eat loads of Jamaican and various Asian Curry style foods which are healthy!! Jerk chicken for a start! Remove skins etc and marinade in seasoning, no problem mon!
Think spices, seasoning, marinading and you'll be fine. Where you need sugar in a recipe, replace with splenda. Go easy on the rice and peas high in cals but they are in fact good cals:)
We own a smoked salmon company, and now and then we produce a hot smoked Jamaican salmon.. guess you could try a jamaican salmon fillet at home. Even if you have to use walkerwoods spices it will cut way back on your cals etc but give you that flavour you love:)
I eat spiced foods most days, try tweaking what you normally do, into a healthier option. I make a spicy turkey risotto which is HOT HOT HOT but at a generous dinner for 394 cals... tasty tasty! Four ingredients I am NEVER without in my fridge. Garlic, raw chills, ginger and lemons. I would get so bored with food if I didnt spice them up:) Baked sweet potato filled with cottage cheese.. nice lunch. If you tell me your fave meals, I will try help you make them healthy Good luck!

You should get some healthy eating recipe books. I do that and cook from them every night. I substitute some of the full fat things for low fat things. Like, shredded cheese I use 2% milk low fat, mayo I use lowfat, sourcream lowfat, olive oil to cook with instead of butter, etc. It's a learning process I know but you will get used to it. At the grocery store start looking at the calories and fat on some of the labels. If something has 30% of your daily fat, you know that is a big no no. Biggest of all try to eliminate a good portion of processed foods. If you are doing this to be healthy along with losing weight, stay away from the mac n cheese and use that as only a cheat meal. I am starting out with eliminating the worst of the worst.

Another thing is, salads CAN be worse for you than a cheeseburger if you get them from a restaurant OR if you put too much of the wrong stuff on them at home. Try to skip the cheese from your salad or just put a measured out little portion of cheese, skip the ham and fatty meats. You can put a piece of boneless skinless chicken breast on your salad. Also, try to stay away from CREAMY dressings. Those scream fat and calories (ranch, bleu cheese, etc). Instead, go for OIL based dressings like Italian (I get lowfat and tastes great!), raspberry vinegarette, red wine vinegarette, etc.

How about trying some simple meals, that way you can see exactly what they are and what they are comprised of, e.g grilled salmon or chicken with steamed vegetables.