Doing it wrong??

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  • kmalex
    kmalex Posts: 39 Member
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    Is there a reason that you are tracking Iron in your diary? If not, I highly suggest you change that to track sugar. I think you will be surprised by how much sugar is in your diet.

    White sugar is not just in candy, it's in most white carbs - the cereal you eat for breakfast, the snack bars that are "healthy", the fast food. Anything that is processed is usually high in sodium or white sugar, both of which will make you retain water and make it hard to lose weight.

    I think 1500-1800 calories a day is fine for you. Just remember that food is supposed to be the fuel for your body. When we try to lose weight, we cut down on the fuel we are giving our body. That means it's much more important that the fuel we do eat is healthy and nutritious.
  • juniebug2013
    juniebug2013 Posts: 31 Member
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    I love your honesty! A lot of people are in complete denial of the food they put in their body, so at least you realize you aren't making the best choices and are willing to make changes. I have found that (for me at least) making too many changes at once sets me up for failure. You could try making one or two significant changes to your diet a week and see if that works better for you.

    Like week 1: cut out all sugary drinks, and drink water or tea instead. Try sweetening your tea and coffee with stevia or splenda.

    Week 2: continue to avoid sugary drinks, and aim to eat dinner at home at least 5 nights a week instead of fast food. Even if it's the frozen dinners you can microwave, it's probably better than eating out. It will most likely be cheaper, plus when you are at the grocery store you can see right then how many calories are on the box and make better choices. Add a cup of canned soup, or a salad and you have a meal for less than 500-600 calories easy.

    Week 3: Continue with week 1 & 2 plus replace 1 snack a day with a healthier alternative like fruit or yogurt.

    Obviously cooking at home from scratch and cutting out all the convenience foods completely will be cheaper and healthier for you in the long run, but I understand that it can be hard to transition from grab and go type meals to cooking everything from scratch in one week. Take baby steps and you will get there!
  • carnivalnights
    carnivalnights Posts: 114 Member
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    I agree with a lot of the comments here, but especially eliminating any of the sugary drinks (Starbucks, soda, sweet tea). Replace it all with water! Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Sugary cererals should be eliminated all together simply because they are so bad for you (replace them with the overnight oats Want2bthin135 suggested - this is what I eat for breakfast because it's low in calories and high in protein), and I would limit the snack bars to a couple times a week instead of having them daily (they're full of carbs/sugar). Even if you limited eating out to once or twice a week, I think you would notice a huge difference! :)
  • Nice2BFitAgain
    Nice2BFitAgain Posts: 319 Member
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    I like that you are asking for advise and seem to be really interested in what others are offering for help. Keep up the good work!

    A great website with 'real' food made lighter is www.skinnytaste.com - you'll find easy to make recipes there that your kids will like too. Mine like most of them (and they complain about the change in our food a lot). Crockpot recipes: http://www.pinterest.com/jennette_paul/healthy-crock-pot-meals/

    Digital scales can be affordable - it is hit or miss but, I bought mine at Marshalls for $15 - and it really is a MUST to weigh your food.

    Those meal replacement shakes/bars and whey protein are SO expensive and are unnecessary - use that money on staple food that you can make ahead. You can eat @ McDonalds for less than 800 calories, you just have to make the right choices. It is hard, we ALL have been there. Keep on working it out - Good Luck!!
  • tiffnkailey
    tiffnkailey Posts: 150 Member
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    I track iron, because I was anemic. I can change it to track sugar. Yet I probably will go crazy when I see how much sugar I intake.

    Since my eating was mostly fast food, I would have to rely on Coffee to keep me going during the day/night. So thats where the frappes came in. I am trying to eliminate those drinks now. I have a giftcard, only $5 left, and once I'm done with it, I won't buy anymore.

    I like the hydroxycut shake, because it fills me up, and seems to wake me up like coffee does. Is says it has coffee in it. Plus it is low in calories.
  • tiffnkailey
    tiffnkailey Posts: 150 Member
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    I also got in a bad habit of eating a candy bar around 3:30pm. Kind of like a pick me up. So I got all kinds of bad habits I need to break.
  • tiffnkailey
    tiffnkailey Posts: 150 Member
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    I got in a weird habit of eating a huge bowl of capt n crunch in the mornings. That stuff is like a drug. Prolly all the sugar. I have one serving left and then I'm out. So I won't be buying anymore of that.
  • Fayeworth
    Fayeworth Posts: 60 Member
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    Appreciate your honesty and that time is something you don't have much of because of jobs and children. You certainly need to try, where you possibly can, to cut down on the fast food and if you must eat it then try to eat wraps and get a salad instead of chips...I think someone else suggested this. Do you not prepare and cook food because you aren't very good at it or because you don't enjoy cooking or just that you don't have time? Perhaps aiming to make two healthier meals a week (a stew bulked out with plenty of vegetables or some grilled chicken with new potaotes/vegetables and if you like a bit of sauce then have a some, philapehia do a low calorie sauce in lots of favours). Also making meals in vast quantity means you can freeze extra portions for another day when you're in a mad rush. Try and get plenty of fruit into your diet and cut down on on the sugary drinks x
  • WL0525
    WL0525 Posts: 1
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    Ditto what "sexy" (hehe) said...it's all about planning out your meals (and snacks) for the day. I actually plan out everything for the week. I do my grocery shopping on Sunday and do prepping for the week as soon as i get home from the store. Trust me, its a pain in the neck and 9 x out of 10 i do not want to do it, but i do. I put my fruit in different plastic containers for each day to take to work with me, i make sure i have healthy snacks...like raw almonds, or celery sticks or something like that.

    Another trick i learned (by trial and error of course) is to log your food backwards...and what i mean by that is - if you know what you are having for dinner, log it before you start your meals for the day. Even if know what you're having for lunch, log it prior to lunch. It just keeps me in check with my "leftover" calories for the day, ie. snacks ;)

    Dieting (lifestyle changes) is all about portion control and better choices. They go hand and hand really - better choices=lower calories. I'd say that if you are over eating - definitely do what was suggested in an earlier reply and try to really measure and weigh your portions. If you think something is 1oz and its actually 3...that's a whole lot of unaccounted for calories.

    You'll get in the swing of things, you're only 10 days in. Don't get frustrated - the worst thing you can do is see the scale go up a pound or two and get discouraged and say 'screw it, whats the use". I've done it many times...it just makes my ultimate goal even further away when i decide to get back on track. BLAH...it's a lot of work, but hard work WILL pay off!

    Stick with it - using MFP is step one in this journey of your new healthy lifestyle!

    ~W
  • 0somuchbetter0
    0somuchbetter0 Posts: 1,335 Member
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    You've gotten a lot of great advice so far. I just wanted to say keep at it, don't give up! You're doing great! You'll find when you replace the sugary cereal (which you burn through immediately) with protein (oatmeal, egg, Greek yogurt), you'll stay satisfied longer and won't be tempted to snack on candy! :)
  • liseloo79
    liseloo79 Posts: 23 Member
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    If you hate cooking and are short on time maybe buy a slow cooker. I literally just throw any meat or chicken in a few vegetables and turn it on when I go to work so its ready once I get home then I am not tempted to get a take away, if you google slow cooker recipes there is loads of different things to choose from :-)
  • sherbear702
    sherbear702 Posts: 649 Member
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    tiffnkailey wrote: »
    How do you keep your salads fresh? If I buy salad I usually keep it in the bag "closed" with a clip, but after a few days the lettuce is brown and soggy.

    Eat it faster! LOL. Unfortunately most bagged/container lettuce goes limp within 4-5 days. Have a salad with dinner every night and you won't have that problem. Also, be mindful about how much salad dressing you use. A healthy salad can turn fattening very quickly if you over do it on your dressing.
  • tiffnkailey
    tiffnkailey Posts: 150 Member
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    I know how to cook speghetti. That was a huge milestone, and the first two times I tried I sucked and made a big mess with the hamburger. lol.

    Part of it is I don't know how to cook, part of I have a busy schedule, but most of it is fear. I have some crazy fears about cooking. I'm going to burn the apt down, I'm going to accidently poison my daughter and i because I didn't cook something right, or I wasted a bunch of food because what I cooked taste nasty, and I don't have money to replace it. Recipes are intimidating to me too.

    So I guess to get over my fear of cooking, I just need to take it step by step, and find some easy things to do first.
  • Fayeworth
    Fayeworth Posts: 60 Member
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    tiffnkailey wrote: »
    I know how to cook speghetti. That was a huge milestone, and the first two times I tried I sucked and made a big mess with the hamburger. lol.

    Part of it is I don't know how to cook, part of I have a busy schedule, but most of it is fear. I have some crazy fears about cooking. I'm going to burn the apt down, I'm going to accidently poison my daughter and i because I didn't cook something right, or I wasted a bunch of food because what I cooked taste nasty, and I don't have money to replace it. Recipes are intimidating to me too.

    So I guess to get over my fear of cooking, I just need to take it step by step, and find some easy things to do first.

    Absolutely, Jamie Oliver's 15 minute or 30 minute meals might be really useful to you with not having much time and also you can get all these free online.
  • ketorach
    ketorach Posts: 430 Member
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    Yes, you are doing it wrong. But, also yes, you can do it right.

    I'm sort of floored that you are an adult with a child and can't cook anything. Please find some simple recipes on the internet that you can learn. Buying groceries and cooking at home is much less expensive and creates better habits for you and your daughter.

    Good luck.
  • pinkberry25
    pinkberry25 Posts: 2
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    Hi Tiffnkailey, I'm new here but do think I can offer some help here. I looked over you food diary and one of the things that stood out to me was the sugar, sodium and fat content of the foods you're eating. Even though there is a goal for number of calories for you to eat per day, use it just as a guideline. One of the biggest mistakes I made when I started changing my eating habits was still eating as I normally did but trying to fit it within my calorie count and that did not work because my body was still getting it's fat and sugar content it craved so nothing was changing. I would recommend to start incorporating more fresh foods and less processed/packaged foods. Google Clean Eating and see if that works for you. I started that and lost 11 lbs the first four days just by what I was eating, no exercise had been introduced yet. It's hard the first week but trust me, you will see results almost immediately. Also, try to stay away from white sugar, white breads and white rice, tortillas, etc. If you do start clean eating, you'll start to transition from counting calories to just eating until you'll full and because you would be eating healthy foods, calorie count wouldn't really matter because it would be really hard to go over with clean eating. Hope this helps and good luck!
  • cerad2
    cerad2 Posts: 70 Member
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    With respect to poisoning your child with home cooking, watch some y-tube conspiracy videos about what actually goes into fast food and what goes on in their kitchens. Things like pink slime and rat feces. It may motivate you to prepare your own foods a bit more for the sake of your child. Just keep things clean and don't under cook.
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
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    I'm with you on the coffee. I just like coffee... sometimes I drink it for a bit of energy, and sometimes I drink it as a comfort on a cold day or to dull my hunger in between meals. I can drink it black, but if I'm hungry or want something sweet, I'll get some sort of mixed coffee drink, usually a mocha. I'm not sure if other coffee chains do this, but at Starbucks, you can get some of their drinks in a "skinny" version, which cuts down on the sugar and sometimes the fat. That might be something to keep in mind if indulging in a coffee drink is something you really enjoy.

    I'm not sure that you really need to track your sugar if you're already tracking your carbs. If you really want to see how many grams of sugar you're eating and think it might help you cut back, then you could track it, but your sugar intake is already being accounted for as your carbohydrates. If you tend to run low on iron or become anemic, I think you'd probably want to stick with tracking that. I don't track sugar and instead track fiber. :)

  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    Just wanted to add one more thing to all the great advice already given - It's only been 10 days! Sometimes it can take your body a little time to catch up with what you are doing, and water weight can fluctuate several pounds from day to day. You need to keep track of your weight over the course of at least a month to start to see a downward trend. Patience is a virtue :)
    Good luck!
  • tiffnkailey
    tiffnkailey Posts: 150 Member
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    ketorach wrote: »
    Yes, you are doing it wrong. But, also yes, you can do it right.

    I'm sort of floored that you are an adult with a child and can't cook anything. Please find some simple recipes on the internet that you can learn. Buying groceries and cooking at home is much less expensive and creates better habits for you and your daughter.

    Good luck.

    Most people are. It's a long story, something traumatic happened to me, and I was stuck mentally as a 16 year old for a long time. I didn't get out of that victim mentality till I was 27. I'm 30 now. So I have a ton of catching up to do. While most young girls are learning to cook/clean. etc I was on sucide watch. While most young girls are going to college, having their first apartment, I was in an abusive marriage with a child.

    So life was always survival mode, until 27. Then 27 was getting out of victim mentality, making better choices, trying to get a job. 28-29 was holding down a part time job and starting college, while parenting, getting my first apartment. 30 Was/is Fulltime job, part time college, parenting, bigger apartment, and finally being able to work on getting myself healthy through eating and exercising.

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