Staple foods on your weight loss journey

Foods that keep me on track: lots of vegetables (frozen, and fresh including spinach, kale, broccoli, edamame, cauliflower brussels, okra, red and green peppers...), some fruit (frozen berries, some applies etc.) almonds, cashews, pepitas, chia seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds,lentils and other legumes including refried beans and chickpeas, plain yogurt, soy or almond milk,avocados, nut butters, 100% whole grain wraps, rye crackers, quinoa, and a brown rice mix with mung beans, canned fish (herring, sardines), and some cheese.

cottage cheese
Greek yogurt
tuna
eggs
deli meat
canned beans
grilled chicken breast
cheese (string cheese, babybel and Sargento thin slices)
frozen cooked shrimp
steam in bag edamame

I eat other stuff, natch, but the above are always in stock

greenminimalist wrote: »

Nuts, fruits, veggies, protein and gluten-free bars, hard boiled eggs (for the egg whites), tuna, black beans, and tea.

I forgot about tea. I keep lots of teas handy. I put de-caf tea bags in my cold water bottle in the morning before I go.

I don't eat anything special to aid in weight loss (although this thread reminds me I need to start drinking more tea again, as I do love it, and yet have been on an all coffee, all the time kick for my hot beverage of choice).

When I'm eating well and finding it easy to meet my calorie goals, however, I tend to have the following on hand:

Eggs (my morning staple), oatmeal (my alternative)

Various meat/fish options ready to be cooked (I tend to have stuff in the freezer and plan ahead enough to have an option or two in the refrigerator, defrosted and ready to go. I also keep a few options on hand like smoked salmon and sardines that don't need to be planned in advance)

Vegetables (I get seasonal options and typically supplement with spinach, zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower, green beans, and the like, whatever the season--whatever you know you enjoy cooking and eating and can do fast)

Taste-enhancing staples (mushrooms, olives, garlic, onions, herbs and spices)

Potatoes or sweet potatoes (or rice or quinoa or pasta or the like)

Various fruit (currently apples and blueberries)

Low fat dairy (cottage cheese and yogurt -- lots of people swear by full fat, but I find low fat meets my needs more often and I like both)

Nuts (I tend to keep these at my office, as I don't really snack at home, but if you like to snack they can be good options and I tend to add them to an oatmeal-based breakfast as otherwise it's not as filling for me)

Protein powder and Quest bars (these aren't essential, but I like to sometimes add the powder to yogurt or oatmeal, and the bars make an easy snack or breakfast if I must rush out the door)

The trick for me is being able to make a meal within a few minutes from what I have on hand and ready to go and being consistent enough about doing this that nothing goes bad. This usually does the trick.

Chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, frozen veggies in the steam bags, carrots, string cheese, coconut oil, smoothies (I use a banana, blueberries, spinach and a very small amount of juice diluted with water), almonds, peanuts, cashews

Chicken
Salmon
Turkey
Eggs
Bananas
Blueberries
Apples
Asparagus
Green beans
Mushrooms
Cucumbers
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Carrots
EVOO
Garlic
Onion
Fiber One bars
Zone bars
Brown rice
Low carb high fiber wraps (I usually buy Joseph's)
Popcorn
Nuts/seeds
Black beans

I eat more or less the same breakfast most days: one slice of whole-grain toast with butter (sometimes a whole-grain English muffin with butter instead). For lunch, most of the time I'll have a sandwich with cheese, cold cuts, mustard, and lettuce on whole-grain bread, or hummus with pita and veggies. I occasionally make bacon for breakfast, sometimes an omelet or scrambled eggs on the weekends, but generally I'm a light breakfast eater. About a third of the time my lunch is something other than sandwich or hummus.

On the other hand, I have entered more than 100 dinner recipes in my MFP recipe box. My wife can't stand eating the same thing more than a couple times a week, so there are maybe 20 recipes that I make fairly regularly, and then others that I will cook a few times a year, or do as an experiment. A dear friend is vegan, and she comes over to our place a few times a month for dinner, so I've recently added a number of vegan dinners to my repertoire.

The only staple foods specific to my weight loss are celery and pickles, which are my go-to snacks if my tummy is growling between meals and a glass of water doesn't calm it down.

Ground beef! That stuff fills me up like nothing else.

Bacon and eggs. Cheese sticks. Nuts. Anything with protein so I am full. Apples, bananas, dark chocolate.

sweet potatoes, boneless skinless chicken breasts, cabbage, almond milk, eggs

baked potatoes with ketchup or bbq sauce, canned and dry beans, skim and lowfat milk, romaine and iceberg lettuce, reduced fat dressings, coffee and tea

Broccoli, Porridge, Tuna All the veggies

eggs, white fish, avocado, cucumber, tomato, greek yoghurt, cottage cheese, laughing cow cheese, lemons/lime (adds flavour to water), herbs (i'm trying to cut back on my sodium intake), broccoli, sweet potato, hummus, bell pepper, beans, banana, oats, frozen berries, zucchini, mushroom, pumpkin/squash.

Stuff I eat a lot of, and probably would not do so well without:

Bags of prepared dark green salad leaves
Frozen skinless chicken breasts
Frozen fillets of fish
Non-fat greek yoghurt
0% or 1% milk
Mini Milks (30 calorie ice cream popsicles... taste like 100!)
Clementines
Melon
Protein bars and powders
Cocoa powder
Eggs