Trying to eat clean/healthy

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neeterskeeter
neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hi, I've been here before, and now I weigh more than I did last time I was here. I am trying to make changes to adopt a healthy and happy lifestyle all over, not just with my weight, but, that's a part of it. I'm usually a really extreme all or nothing person and now I'm really trying to find a nice balance.

This is really embarrassing but I was up to 150 pounds as of last month or so. (I'm only 5'2" -- muscular/athletic/curvy build, so that's a good 25 pounds I need to lose to be at my ideal average weight). I started trying to eat better, and exercising again (I started training for a marathon but right now I'm just trying to keep up a decent running routine) and I lost 5 pounds. Now I keep hovering at about the same 5 pounds, re-gaining a bit and re-losing it etc.

I thought I didn't need to track my calories if I just aimed to eat well/less, but alas, I find myself unable to consistently eat well/less, so I'm here to be come more disciplined and keep accountable to myself in terms of what I eat. I would appreciate any support and hope to find some like-minded new friends. I really don't want to go on a crash diet or overly obsess about food, I just want to be mindful of what I eat, try to eat whole/clean/natural foods, and small portions frequently.

This (clean eating) is the only thing that has worked well long-term for me in the past (although I do tend to get obsessive about it) and I need to get back to that. My main problems are not enough time to buy, prepare, cook, package the food, and being lazy/getting really hungry and running to the nearest drive-thru! I also wanted to add that a goal of mine is to stay positive and patient with myself instead of getting discouraged. (In all areas of my life, including my weight. :)

Replies

  • jtkelley420
    jtkelley420 Posts: 24
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    Welcome back. Good luck, you can do it!!!
  • ejhayes
    ejhayes Posts: 44 Member
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    WOW!!! that's like reading my own bio. I'm 52 going on 53 and I'm 5'3" and as of last week I weigh 152 ponds!!! I'm trying very hard to eat better but I have a thing for carbs, that's really hard to shake. You will do fine, also you are much younger than me so you will probably get it done faster. I'm trying not to get impatient, instant gratification doesn't work in this instance. Good luck and feel free to add me as a friend, we can all use all the help we can get :smile:
  • Michelemybelle
    Michelemybelle Posts: 52 Member
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    Hi! I am also trying to eat clean. I have 2 children, so I find that cooking large amounts of lean meat and having it on hand is a great time saver. I eat as organic as possible and buy as much fresh produce as possible. I usually cook a whole package of organic chicken tenderloins, (I find they cook faster and are usually 2 oz. per piece) some wild caught salmon and/or orange roughy all at one time and put it into containers in the fridge. I use the meat for meals and snacks, then just make my veggies fresh. I usually eat broccoli, spinach or asparagus. I'm doing a very low carb diet, but trying to keep it healthy as well. I try not to eat a whole lot of red meat, but when I do, I try to get at least 85% lean, organic beef. I have 4 or 5 go to meals and I find that keeping it simple works for me. I'm also a "all or nothing" kind of person. I haven't had any sugar in 3 months, which is huge for me, because I used to be a total sugar addict! My food diary is public, if you want to take a look. Good luck - you can do this! :)
  • Mr_Smee
    Mr_Smee Posts: 1
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    I feel your pain. I was in the same situation and for me it wasn't just about trying to eat healthy and exercise, it was being accountable for when I didn't. Look up CrossFit.com and see if there is a CF gym in your area. CrossFit is a very community centered gym where you are given encouragement to be there and to maintain a healthy lifestyle outside of the gym as well. It’s a lot like a hardcore Jenny Craig with killer workouts. I hope this helps.
  • HeyGrlHey
    HeyGrlHey Posts: 640
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    Hey! Welcome back to MFP!

    I had a similar story:

    I joined MFP at 163lbs (5'3) and stopped after a few days. I came back and started finding motivation from others success stories when I hit 166lbs! I love this site! It keeps me focused on being healthy. At first I just wanted to "get skinny", but now it is about changing my life to a healthier way of living. I have been jogging/walking everyday and I am working my way up to being able to job One mile straight without walking. I can currently jog .4 miles! I have lost 6 lbs since my last weight gain (4 since 163lbs). You can do it!
    As for the convenient food...I make me own pre-made frozen meals. I usually cook once a week during the weekend, and then freeze everything so during the week I can just thaw the meals and warm them up.

    Add me if you want!
  • neeterskeeter
    neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
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    Thanks jtkelley. :) BTW that's my last name ha ha.
  • neeterskeeter
    neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
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    Welcome back. Good luck, you can do it!!!

    Thanks jtkelley. BTW, that's my last name ha ha.

    (Sorry I messed up the quote feature)
  • chimada
    chimada Posts: 2 Member
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    Yep, I'm "poisoning" my husband with natural/clean food. He'd rather eat KFC or Del Taco. My motivation is my two daughters; I concentrate on spending the extra 15 minutes to think about what I'm putting in their bodies and what I'm teaching them about how food fuels their bodies. My sister's boyfriend keeps pushing me to shop and prep all my food on the weekend for the week...I'm almost motivated to do that. (There's nothing like shopping for pretty Tupperware to motivate me more)

    For extra motivation I like to turn to Alicia Silverstone's book, the Kind Diet. I'm not a vegan, but there is good information about the benefits of clean foods and wonderful easy to make recipes, with pictures...I don't make a recipe unless i have a pretty picture to make me want it. Plus it helps me get more veggies and non-meat protein food ideas. Another one is Modern Day Macrobiotics by Simon Brown.

    Stick with it! Maybe someday someone will open a fast food chain with good food.
  • neeterskeeter
    neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
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    WOW!!! that's like reading my own bio. I'm 52 going on 53 and I'm 5'3" and as of last week I weigh 152 ponds!!! I'm trying very hard to eat better but I have a thing for carbs, that's really hard to shake. You will do fine, also you are much younger than me so you will probably get it done faster. I'm trying not to get impatient, instant gratification doesn't work in this instance. Good luck and feel free to add me as a friend, we can all use all the help we can get :smile:

    Thanks Ejhayes.

    The last time I weighed this much was right after college. Back then I never cared about what I ate, I hated exercising etc. I stepped on the scale one random day and was so surprised that it was almost at 150!! I clearly remember it being 149.5 and I was freaked out. I went on the Atkins' Diet and started training for a marathon. The Atkins' Diet worked, I lost 20 - 25 pounds, but I wouldn't recommend it because I was always weak and dizzy, and it made my breath really stinky ha ha. I think the marathon training/running was the best long-term habit I got into.

    This was about 8, 9 years ago and my weight has fluctuated since then, back and forth, up and down. It seems to be emotional for me and I went through some stressful things about a year ago and just totally stopped caring about my weight, health, or pretty much anything. I only recenly started to care and to get my life back in order!! My weight is just one of the things I need to get under control. I'm proud of myself for running a lot more regularly now (I just watched my dad, who is 50 almost 51, run the Boston Marathon which was inspiring), and now I want to pay closer attention to what I eat.

    I'm with you on the weakness for carbs and that being hard to kick. Maybe we could come up with some goals like two carb servings a day, or something, to start out with. I'm better at positive goals and allowing myself things instead of negative ones and denying myself things. Like trying to eat a certain number of veggie/fruit servings a day etc. Another of my huge downfalls is alcohol. I must admit I've indulged way too much over this past year trying to cope with some issues I'd been having. So now I'm really trying to cut back and I've done a good job more or less so far but it seems to be everywhere and at all my social events and then after work I just want a cold beer etc. So I'm trying ot set positive goals to cut down on that also.

    I'm going to come up with some goals and then modify them as I meet them. I would love to have friends to support me so I will add you and whoever else wants to as well. :)
  • neeterskeeter
    neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
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    Hi! I am also trying to eat clean. I have 2 children, so I find that cooking large amounts of lean meat and having it on hand is a great time saver. I eat as organic as possible and buy as much fresh produce as possible. I usually cook a whole package of organic chicken tenderloins, (I find they cook faster and are usually 2 oz. per piece) some wild caught salmon and/or orange roughy all at one time and put it into containers in the fridge. I use the meat for meals and snacks, then just make my veggies fresh. I usually eat broccoli, spinach or asparagus. I'm doing a very low carb diet, but trying to keep it healthy as well. I try not to eat a whole lot of red meat, but when I do, I try to get at least 85% lean, organic beef. I have 4 or 5 go to meals and I find that keeping it simple works for me. I'm also a "all or nothing" kind of person. I haven't had any sugar in 3 months, which is huge for me, because I used to be a total sugar addict! My food diary is public, if you want to take a look. Good luck - you can do this! :)

    Thank you for all the great suggestions Michele.

    I am in the middle of moving to a new place to save money which is part of my overall lifestyle change. I have all my stuff in the new place and am going through it and de-cluttering. So I don't even know where my cooking stuff is and it's been hard to eat healthy on the run. I would definitely like to get into a routine of cooking like you describe. When I looked and felt my best (about two summers ago) I was eating clean 90% of the time, making my chicken and veggies and bringing it to work with me etc and eating 5 - 6 times a day. I felt so great and I would love to have that energy back but I'm also trying to make slow changes that are realistic and that stick so I don't keep yo-yo-ing back and forth between an unhealthy and healthy lifestyle.

    I don't actually eat many sweets because I don't buy them and I'm not a huge dessert person... I like the occasional hot fudge sundae or chocolate but it's pretty easy for me to turn down Doritos or pop-tarts etc. However my weakness is carbs, I love New Mexican food like burritos and enchiladas, and my favorite "snack/dinner" is chips and salsa ha ha. I am trying to find a way to eat healthier but still be able to sometimes enjoy this food. Perhaps it's impossible ha ha but I was thinking maybe one New Mexican restaurant outing every month or something where I can have juevos rancheros (omg yummy ha ha) and maybe a controlled poriton of chips and salsa which is only like 150 calories once a week at home, or something.

    Also my weakness is flavored coffee creamer every morning with my coffee... I've seen from logging it how many calories it adds and I know I need to cut it out. :-(

    Good job on the no sugar for 3 months! I will check out your diary. Thanks so much for the encouragment. :)
  • neeterskeeter
    neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
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    I feel your pain. I was in the same situation and for me it wasn't just about trying to eat healthy and exercise, it was being accountable for when I didn't. Look up CrossFit.com and see if there is a CF gym in your area. CrossFit is a very community centered gym where you are given encouragement to be there and to maintain a healthy lifestyle outside of the gym as well. It’s a lot like a hardcore Jenny Craig with killer workouts. I hope this helps.

    Thank you. I belong to a gym but plan to cancel my membership in September (it has a great pool I like to use in the summer so I want to wait until the fall ;) in order to save money (also one of my goals ha ha). So I will look into CrossFit. At the moment I'm planning to join PlanetFitness because it's only $10 a month as opposed to about $80 (!!!) for the gym I belong to currently.
  • neeterskeeter
    neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
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    Hey! Welcome back to MFP!

    I had a similar story:

    I joined MFP at 163lbs (5'3) and stopped after a few days. I came back and started finding motivation from others success stories when I hit 166lbs! I love this site! It keeps me focused on being healthy. At first I just wanted to "get skinny", but now it is about changing my life to a healthier way of living. I have been jogging/walking everyday and I am working my way up to being able to job One mile straight without walking. I can currently jog .4 miles! I have lost 6 lbs since my last weight gain (4 since 163lbs). You can do it!
    As for the convenient food...I make me own pre-made frozen meals. I usually cook once a week during the weekend, and then freeze everything so during the week I can just thaw the meals and warm them up.

    Add me if you want!

    YES, I just want to be consistently healthy and I really feel like the weight issue will take care of itself then. Congrats on your accomplishments. :) That is very inspiring! I like the idea of the pre-made frozen foods. This is what I need to do because I get so busy during the week. On the weekends I try to grill chicken and make oatmeal and hard boiled eggs (I love eggs!) Can you give me ideas of other pre-made meals that you make and freeze? I'll add you, thanks!
  • wildeone4
    wildeone4 Posts: 204 Member
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    Congrats on coming back! :) That is awesome that you are working to try to reach your goal! It is important to have support! I am starting to use a shake for a meal replacement each day. It is one of the healthiest shakes I have ever had and one of the most filling! I love that there are over 70 ingredients and that because it provides that nutrients we need, cravings stop! It really does fill me! I was using the Special K shakes and never felt full enough. They also don't have lots of sugar (which we already get plenty of), so when I found this shake I switched to it! I want to give my body the nutrients it needs and now I can do that :) Message me if you are interested!
  • michelleac
    michelleac Posts: 9
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    my son is 4 &1/2 & after he was born i grew quite lazy...but then after the weight began to stay on & increase i was like, i need a change...so i worked real hard at keeping 'bad' foods out of my house (against my husbands wishes), reading labels, eating whole foods, baking more stuff at home instead of buying...cooking for myself & hoping it would just catch on in my household...i began eating smaller portions & i especially cut down on the sweets, most importantly chocolate....i have a huge issue with chocolate...& i would refrain, trying to keep sweets or 'bad' foods reserved for weekends or special occasions...but its like once i have a taste i just cannot stop...must be what alcoholics go through...so my habits were changing slowly...things were looking good...i began running...would run a few 5ks a year for the past few years...but my weight was just not dropping...i thought for sure with the running it would...but it didnt...but i think it was mostly the muscle returning & the inches were coming off, but results were so minimal...i felt hopeless...i was remaining a steady 150-155#'s... & i am 5'2 as well...so yeah...i need 25-30 pounds off to be 'happy'...

    so this past year i took on a high stress job. my good habits i had been creating...any activity i had built into my routine...went out the door...i am up to 165 now...the biggest i have ever been (other than when i was pregnant...except for this is what i weighed at my highest when pregnant) so i am bummin big time...i know i want to be in this for the healthy habits more than anything & i feel that if i can just do that then the weight loss will come, but its so much harder now. i do not have a strong support system with my family...i have grown lazy & down on myself & i too have always been an all or nothing...i would go after it & just do it...but after a few years of working so hard, with such minimal payback & then for everything to completely fall so apart within 8 months or so...i feel so defeated.

    but i know i cant give up. i know i cant keep beating myself up about it. i want that moderation in my life too. i want that happy medium...dont give up...counting calories helps a ton...that is why this site is so important. when i rely on this site, it keeps me motivated...i will put in my info for the day & see i am right at the border on things, but still havent gone on a walk or been active for the day & it motivates me to not go to that couch, but just take a few minutes to do something about my istuation...so yeah...im here again too...i also print out simple calendars from the computer & on sunday i will write up a weekly plan...i will plan my meals & an exercise routine for the week & post it above my nightstand so i can look at it everyday & when i get into the groove of things i can x things off & it makes me feel good...like i am sticking to my goals...& i feel good b/c i am eating healthy & being active & i remind my self that this is how i want to continue to feel...when i begin to eat poorly, everything feels yucky...so i try to focus on that...ive also found that for me specifically i need to have 3 of my big water bottles a day, an apple & a good yogurt with good bacterias in it...if i do those 3 things above all, i always have something i feel good about...hold onto those good things...they will keep you going...& always keep coming back to this site...its a good foundation to rely on =-) you can stick with it...i might be up to my highest...but im already back into focus mode...its always something we can do something about. so never give up.

    my latest thing as my reward for a tough work year has been to join our local rowing crew. i have always wanted to row, so i signed on for the basic training needed if you are serious about doing it long term. i am so excited to begin in a couple weeks...it will be a fun new exciting thing, & help me to get back into my groove...maybe you just need a new motivator...i think that is key...always finding that new motivator to keep those grounded goals fresh...good luck! i am always here to chat...i feel we have similar experiences from the sound of it!
  • neeterskeeter
    neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
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    Michelle I can relate and I hope that now both of us can stay away from the yo-yo'ing and instead be consistently healthy. :) Good luck!
  • neeterskeeter
    neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
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    Just wanted to report that as of today I've lost 2 more pounds for a total of 7 so far. 20 more to go!!! I haven't been able to cook due to moving into a new place and still getting it set up... so I bought a rotisserie chicken and microwaved some frozen veggies and have been eating that, as well as turkey wraps (with low carb/low calorie tortillas) for lunch, turkey sausage and reduced fat cheese for breakfast, and bananas and almonds as snacks. Today my boss wanted to go to lunch at our favorite New Mexican restaurant and I ordered a chicken taco salad... I substituted pinto beans for the refried beans and held the sour cream. I did have ONE portion of chips (12) and salsa which is huge for me because normally I eat half the basket of chips or more! I've been drinking tons of water and running harder/faster. And I think the biggest difference has come from cutting out alcohol (my former downfall!) I feel good emotionally, mentally and physically and I want to keep on keeping on! Thanks for the support everyone!!

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