The lazy dieter

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Replies

  • chadya07
    chadya07 Posts: 627 Member
    if you like to cook, pick a day a week to cook a few meals with lots of servings. freeze them in serving sizes, figure the calories once, and just track em when you eat em.

    or eat processed food.

    personally though i am not able to lose weight if i dont eat what i like. i like food too much for that.
  • hortensehildegarde
    hortensehildegarde Posts: 592 Member
    edited October 2014
    hhmb8k wrote: »

    Nope. When I make something, every ingredient is weighed and tracked, and then the portions are measured before I eat them. It just takes *drumroll*... not being lazy.

    Using a food scale along with USDA or equivalent confirmed nutritional info (the same your frozen food companies use to put the labels on their food), it's just as accurate as a packet. They don't have scientists testing every product, they just weigh up the ingredients and do the maths, just like us home cookers. There's no magic in nutritional labels on processed food.

    I believe you...



    in theory.


    In practice, I think we cook very differently. Either that or I stand by what I said about the wildly inaccurate guesstimates most people use.

    Do you ever add a dash of salt to the pot (and never forget to add that to the tally of total sodium)? What about when you season your food before you cook it by sprinkling salt and pepper over the meat and 40-50% of the seasoning never sticks to the food at all?

    Example: A pinch of salt is roughly 360 mg of sodium according to Google.

    That is about 3 times MORE than the total sodium in my entire healthy choice meal I had for dinner. Miss one pinch of salt and you are now wildly inaccurate in your nutritional calculations.

    Example: A tablespoon of generic Olive Oil has 120 calories and roughly 22% of your daily fat according to Google.

    If you use "several" tablespoons of Olive Oil to coat the bottom of your pan to sear a chicken breast, do you include the total amount of Olive oil used, even if most of it stays behind in the pan and not on the chicken breast? Or do you have NASA grade scales accurate to a millionth of an ounce and weigh the pan before cooking and after cooking making adjustments for temperature and pressure changes in the room to calculate how much oil (or butter or margarine or whatever) is left behind and then deduct that from the amount put into the pan to determine the amount on the food...


    OK, OK, I'm being silly. :blush:

    It's getting late and I don't want to get too serious.

    But the way I like to cook, I use seasoning and condiments, etc. All silliness aside, I don't think I can cook that way and have an accurate measurement of sodium content (for example) let alone total calories. So, healthy cooking means cooking without salt and olive oil or using condiments, right? Is everything cooked Sou Vide in a warm water bath without seasonings so you can use the USDA values provided online for a generic chicken breast?

    Please prove me wrong and dispel my fears or teach me a better way to do it. Actually that is what this is all about. I'm not trying to argue or throw around wild accusations of sloppy dietary miscalculations to sully your culinary reputation. I'm just really trying to figure out a better way to do it than the way I'm doing it now. Tips and advice are not only welcome, that's what I'm asking for. :wink:

    I don't care about tracking sodium so that is not an issue, but what I do with olive oil is include the total amount added, and don't worry about what sticks to the pan. That way my calorie count is on the high side. I also don't try to eat 1200 calories a day so if my estimates are high then all the better for me (I am severely obese so can easily stand to lose 2 lb per week and 1200/day is what MFP puts me at for that rate).

    For cooking a recipe the ideal procedure-

    Everything would be plopped on the scale before going in the pan and I just jot down the weight for later recording.

    -Meat weighed raw
    -Oil would get weighed too (it just easier to use grams than volume measurements for me)
    - every ingredient weighed separately raw whenever possible
    - don't worry about spices that have no/virtually no cals, which means raw garlic is weighed, a dash of oregano is not

    I now have the total calories in the whole dish.

    The thing then gets cooked. Then you weigh the whole cooked dish then portion out however many portions in equal amounts and divide total calories by that number. If you are using good database entries MFP tracks the macros for you.

    I then freeze the portions. Write on them the total calories in each so you don't have to remember.

    Sure when you go to add to database you have to select your "recipe" and how many portions you had, but after the initial labor that's barely harder than scanning a barcode.

    Yes of course the initial work is more than just scanning a code, but it's not that hard.

    And yes of course some portions may have a little more meat or potato or whatever so each portion wont be exactly the same calories, but over time as you eat them all it will even out to be accurate in your tracking.


  • Kaydana123
    Kaydana123 Posts: 71 Member
    hhmb8k wrote: »

    Nope. When I make something, every ingredient is weighed and tracked, and then the portions are measured before I eat them. It just takes *drumroll*... not being lazy.

    Using a food scale along with USDA or equivalent confirmed nutritional info (the same your frozen food companies use to put the labels on their food), it's just as accurate as a packet. They don't have scientists testing every product, they just weigh up the ingredients and do the maths, just like us home cookers. There's no magic in nutritional labels on processed food.

    I believe you...



    in theory.


    In practice, I think we cook very differently. Either that or I stand by what I said about the wildly inaccurate guesstimates most people use.

    Do you ever add a dash of salt to the pot (and never forget to add that to the tally of total sodium)? What about when you season your food before you cook it by sprinkling salt and pepper over the meat and 40-50% of the seasoning never sticks to the food at all?

    Example: A pinch of salt is roughly 360 mg of sodium according to Google.

    That is about 3 times MORE than the total sodium in my entire healthy choice meal I had for dinner. Miss one pinch of salt and you are now wildly inaccurate in your nutritional calculations.

    Example: A tablespoon of generic Olive Oil has 120 calories and roughly 22% of your daily fat according to Google.

    If you use "several" tablespoons of Olive Oil to coat the bottom of your pan to sear a chicken breast, do you include the total amount of Olive oil used, even if most of it stays behind in the pan and not on the chicken breast? Or do you have NASA grade scales accurate to a millionth of an ounce and weigh the pan before cooking and after cooking making adjustments for temperature and pressure changes in the room to calculate how much oil (or butter or margarine or whatever) is left behind and then deduct that from the amount put into the pan to determine the amount on the food...


    OK, OK, I'm being silly. :blush:

    It's getting late and I don't want to get too serious.

    But the way I like to cook, I use seasoning and condiments, etc. All silliness aside, I don't think I can cook that way and have an accurate measurement of sodium content (for example) let alone total calories. So, healthy cooking means cooking without salt and olive oil or using condiments, right? Is everything cooked Sou Vide in a warm water bath without seasonings so you can use the USDA values provided online for a generic chicken breast?

    Please prove me wrong and dispel my fears or teach me a better way to do it. Actually that is what this is all about. I'm not trying to argue or throw around wild accusations of sloppy dietary miscalculations to sully your culinary reputation. I'm just really trying to figure out a better way to do it than the way I'm doing it now. Tips and advice are not only welcome, that's what I'm asking for. :wink:

    Just because you can't do something, doesn't make it impossible. There's no guesstimating in my cooking, I weigh everything.

    I don't use several tablespoons of olive oil to cook chicken, because I don't need several tablespoons of olive oil to cook chicken. I measure out the amount I need, and use that. There's very little left in the pan, so I don't need to worry about that any more than I need to worry about what's left in any other pan when I've finished cooking. Most things don't need oil adding to them at all, adding several tablespoons of olive oil to a recipe is completely unheard of in my kitchen.

    I weigh and measure everything except for water and salt (I don't track sodium). No guesstimating, no adding an extra, unweighed, pinch of something. Every single thing that goes into those recipes is weighed and logged.

    When I've finished cooking, I weigh the final product and decide how many portions that is. Then I write on it how many grams are in a serving, and write that on/split it into single servings. Once the recipe has been put into the recipe builder, it's no harder to log than convenience foods.

    It's not hard, I usually spend a couple of hours a week cooking and then all I need to do during the week is log a serving when I eat it. Those couple of hours are so worth it to be able to eat food I enjoy rather than revolting ready meals.
  • lmmathis86
    lmmathis86 Posts: 223 Member
    when i started out in 2014 i switched to box foods....lost the weight. I love home cooked foods though. So i started cookingk a few times a week.
  • bombedpop
    bombedpop Posts: 2,158 Member
    oh jeez no. Why. Fine if you like that food (no shame if you do), but sounds like you don"t and easier to just log your own food and eat more and be more satisfied. But, you do what you like.

    FYI 8 oz of tuna grilled + 6 oz green beans steamed + 142 g salad + a Sichuan sauce of chili, soy, homemade hot oil, shanxxi vinegar is 492 cal. Same/less than a microwave 10 oz lean cuisine.

    Again, if you like that and eat it and are satisfied, then who am I to judge and why are you even asking what to do?

    Take the time and log if you really want to do this and make it a lifestyle - really how many meals do you really rotate? Or do frozen means because , lazy (unless you like them, in that case what's the question about).
  • bombedpop
    bombedpop Posts: 2,158 Member
    edited October 2014
    Being lazy and building a goal physique don't really go hand in hand. It's like wanting to get rich without working for it.

    Contents of the packaging isn't necessarily accurate btw. More often than not, there is actually more food than what is labeled, so that can set you up for some false expectations.

    In any event, you'd still lose weight if you were in a caloric deficit. You might be lacking in micronutrients, fiber, and some other areas though. You'll probably end up spending a lot more money than cooking your own food as well.

    Why not create a sustainable habit so you won't have to continuously cycle through losing weight over and over?

    This
  • Patttience
    Patttience Posts: 975 Member
    Yes i think you are weird. I was shocked to read what you do when you want to lose weight. why in heaven's name?

    You don't need to count calories you just need to eat less and you can monitor this by keeping a food diary and weigh yourself preferably daily and i can tell you it takes much less time than counting calories.

    When i am not dieting i.e. before i started, i just ate junk and had no inclination to cook. As a dieter i enjoy preparing my food again and am rarely tempted to buy anything processed because i know its not healthy enough and is less satisfying than home cooked food.

    If you put on weight when you cook, maybe you just need to change the way you cook or what you cook?
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
    hhmb8k wrote: »

    Being lazy and building a goal physique don't really go hand in hand.


    It's like wanting to get rich without working for it.


    No doubt there is some wisdom in that sentiment. The only thing that nags me about how it isn't the right thing to do, is that it works so well.

    Uhm, sort of like when you look into how the richest people in the country made their money... worked hard for it or inherited it? LOL

    Anyway, I get your point and I don't disagree with the sentiment.

    OP - sounds like you have your mind made up. Good luck to you and I look forward to your "help, I am skinny fat" thread ….

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
    hhmb8k wrote: »
    I wanted to throw this out there... It may be a bit like chum in the water for some, but maybe food for thought to others.

    I love to cook. It's fun. I haven't earned any Michelin stars yet, but I like the the food I cook. I can, and often do, cook food healthier and fresher than any processed meal or fast food.

    HOWEVER, when I want to be lazy and drop weight, I switch to almost 100% processed food.

    Why?

    Because I can buy a load of Lean Cuisine frozen dinners (or some equivalent example of the same idea) and a bunch of flavored bottled water and keep track of all the nutrition and calorie information with a quick swipe of the barcode on the outside of the box with my smartphone.

    No guesswork. No weighing. No measuring. No calculations. No muss. No fuss.

    Does anybody else switch to processed food from healthy, fresh homecooked meals in order to loose weight or am I even weirder than I thought? Any thoughts on this tactic?

    Being lazy and building a goal physique don't really go hand in hand. It's like wanting to get rich without working for it.

    Contents of the packaging isn't necessarily accurate btw. More often than not, there is actually more food than what is labeled, so that can set you up for some false expectations.

    In any event, you'd still lose weight if you were in a caloric deficit. You might be lacking in micronutrients, fiber, and some other areas though. You'll probably end up spending a lot more money than cooking your own food as well.

    Why not create a sustainable habit so you won't have to continuously cycle through losing weight over and over?

    + 1000
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
    bombedpop wrote: »
    oh jeez no. Why. Fine if you like that food (no shame if you do), but sounds like you don"t and easier to just log your own food and eat more and be more satisfied. But, you do what you like.

    FYI 8 oz of tuna grilled + 6 oz green beans steamed + 142 g salad + a Sichuan sauce of chili, soy, homemade hot oil, shanxxi vinegar is 492 cal. Same/less than a microwave 10 oz lean cuisine.

    Again, if you like that and eat it and are satisfied, then who am I to judge and why are you even asking what to do?

    Take the time and log if you really want to do this and make it a lifestyle - really how many meals do you really rotate? Or do frozen means because , lazy (unless you like them, in that case what's the question about).

    its called laziness…welcome to the new america. …
  • Aemely
    Aemely Posts: 694 Member
    I don't particularly like to cook, especially if I haven't eaten in several hours and I'm very hungry! My biggest complaint about frozen meals is that eating them makes me feel like I'm on a diet, which is doom for me. I try not to eat those things that make me feel dissatisfied.

    That being said, Trader Joe's has some decent frozen meals that don't have a lot of crap in them. I think Kashi's also has gotten into the game. Look for meals with very short ingredient lists and not a boatload of sodium. Alternatively, you could get big bags of frozen veggies (that you will actually eat) and good frozen chicken. That is super quick to cook up a proper portion of, as long as you have a food scale. I've also found Trader Joe's Brown Rice & Quinoa Fusilli with some high quality jarred sauce and a bunch of frozen veggies is a quick meal that beats the pants off of "a box of something."

    http://www.whatsgoodattraderjoes.com/2014/02/trader-joes-organic-brown-rice-quinoa.html

    http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking-101/essential-ingredients/taste-test-tomato-basil-pasta-sauce

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  • battybecks
    battybecks Posts: 147 Member
    edited October 2014
    Kaydana123 wrote: »

    I don't use several tablespoons of olive oil to cook chicken, because I don't need several tablespoons of olive oil to cook chicken. I measure out the amount I need, and use that. There's very little left in the pan, so I don't need to worry about that any more than I need to worry about what's left in any other pan when I've finished cooking. Most things don't need oil adding to them at all, adding several tablespoons of olive oil to a recipe is completely unheard of in my kitchen.

    QFT.

    "several" tablespoons of olive oil, OP? Bloody hell ...

    I cook proper meals every night (in my cooking week, then the next week my bf cooks). It's really not difficult to log. Meat from supermarkets generally has a calorie count on the side anyway, so does rice, pasta, etc. I weight everything raw - including vegetables - I measure out my (MAX) one tbsp. of olive oil between two, I log it all before it gets cooked and I divide the result into two - one for me, one for bf. Easy. Takes just one minute. Sometimes I have my phone with me in the kitchen, so that if I'm altering what I originally thought I was going to do (I made mac n cheese last week, and realised I'd overestimated how many breadcrumbs I was going to need, for example) I can change it on the app. Or if I'm following a recipe I've found online, and entered into MFP, I have the app open next to me so that when I'm weighing I can remind myself how much I'm weighing out.


  • battybecks
    battybecks Posts: 147 Member
    Plus, as a foodie, I find it exciting to experiment with making recipes healthy. I like finding naughty Nigella recipes online and tweaking a few things to lower the calorie count. It's fun!
  • felblossom
    felblossom Posts: 132 Member
    I would probably call myself a lazy dieter as well... However, I've always been lazy when it comes to cooking and eating, which is part of the reason I became overweight in the first place.

    My healthy laziness now includes making different choices when inevitably eating out (Subway instead of McDonald's, salad instead of pizza, etc...) and finding new "easy" home-cooked meals that aren't mac and cheese or ramen or something equally unhealthy. This combined with some frozen dinners here and there. It's been working for me.

    The home-cooked meals aren't necessarily that hard to log, either. I also stick to a couple of meals that I eat again and again. Also, there's a lot of salads and soups in my diet as we speak. I tend to follow recipes quite strictly and not go too freestyle, though, and then I make a big batch and save single servings that I can bring out when I don't feel like cooking, or bring to work. Maybe the spices aren't completely accurate for a "pinch" or "dash" or whatever, but I believe the differences are minor enough, and I don't think they're 100% correct in a frozen dinner either (even though they may come closer!). Dividing the portions may not be completely identical in the end, but I'm the only one who eats my meals - so if I have, say, 120 grams of something listed as a 100 one day, then the next day I'll have 80g and it's listed as 100g and it evens out. I look at is as a weekly calorie allowance rather than a daily, but that's how I feel comfortable and what works for me, we're all individual :)
  • jnv7594
    jnv7594 Posts: 983 Member
    ponycyndi wrote: »
    I do get lazy too, but usually that means I'm eating the same thing over and over, which makes for easier logging.

    ^^^ This for me. My version of lazy is eating the same thing over and over. It's already all in my food list, so I just go through and check it off...takes only a few minutes. Then when I get tired of eating those things, I come up with some new ideas. I try to avoid processed foods as much as possible. The dinners just don't taste good to me, and aren't as filling as things I can make on my own.

  • Lorleee
    Lorleee Posts: 369 Member
    I prefer to cook because I don't find the frozen entrees very satisfying. Healthy eating can be a lot of work at first but it doesn't have to be forever. Once you get familiar with healthy portion sizes and understand your ingredients, etc. you don't have to place every pea on a food scale and it won't all be so tedious and time-consuming.
  • cw106
    cw106 Posts: 952 Member
    edited October 2014
    hhmb8k wrote: »
    I wanted to throw this out there... It may be a bit like chum in the water for some, but maybe food for thought to others.

    I love to cook. It's fun. I haven't earned any Michelin stars yet, but I like the the food I cook. I can, and often do, cook food healthier and fresher than any processed meal or fast food.

    HOWEVER, when I want to be lazy and drop weight, I switch to almost 100% processed food.

    Why?

    Because I can buy a load of Lean Cuisine frozen dinners (or some equivalent example of the same idea) and a bunch of flavored bottled water and keep track of all the nutrition and calorie information with a quick swipe of the barcode on the outside of the box with my smartphone.

    No guesswork. No weighing. No measuring. No calculations. No muss. No fuss.

    Does anybody else switch to processed food from healthy, fresh homecooked meals in order to loose weight or am I even weirder than I thought? Any thoughts on this tactic?

    i do this to a degree now its cold in the northern uk.
    i add plenty of fresh veg and supplement protein with an added chicken breast or quorn fillet.
    i also have half a fresh carton of soup an hour before to slightly full me and add more veg/ nutrients to my diet.
    many supermarkets do leaner,calorie counted meals for the calorie conscious,time pressed singletons who are savvy enough to balance a diet and look after macros.
    for meals for one with a sauce,like hunters chicken or cod mornay,they fit perfectly WITH the added nutrients 2/3 x weekly for dinner.
    iifym.

  • ssbobbyh
    ssbobbyh Posts: 19 Member
    Clif Bars, Clif Bars, Clif Bars.

    Clif Bars are some of the cheapest, healthiest, tastiest options available for a packaged food. Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread flavors are out for the holidays, so stock up at Sam's or Costco.
  • beamer0821
    beamer0821 Posts: 488 Member
    well
    the best question to ask is "hows that working for you?" have you been able to maintain your weightloss? how is you health? have you had a physical?

    more importantly its not just about losing weight its about taking care of your body. and you body needs nutrients as well which I'm sure you are not getting 100% of eating processed foods 100% of the time.
  • zamphir66
    zamphir66 Posts: 582 Member
    I love Lean Cuisine. I have a freezer stocked with them right now. They're the go-to when I don't have time/energy, plus they actually taste better than most things I can cook. I'd say I eat one for lunch or dinner about 3-5 times a week. Other than that I eat "real" food, drink lots of water and exercise, so I'm not too concerned about sodium.