Dieting Grocery List?!?!

As a fellow photographer, I feel your pain. Here's how I handle my eating.

I'm a vegetarian and also a fan of shopping local. We grocery shop on Monday, planning our meals for the week before going to the store. I'm also a member of a local CSA and so every Thursday I get a box of fresh, locally grown organic vegetables and fruits. I plan to use those into my meals as well. Summer is a great time for fruit smoothies, veggie wraps, salads, and cooking on the grill.

Most of your events should be feeding you. I know. It takes time to sit down and eat, even at the wedding, but try and multitask. Work on your slideshow and eat some of what they provide while the bride and groom are eating.

Kashi TLC Crackers Multi-grain and string cheese are a common bring along for me. I also will throw in a banana or an apple. Pack a lunchbox with a small ice cooler and bring some cut up fruit that's easy to snack on while you're driving. Carrots also keep me busy. Also veggie wraps made with multi-grain tortillas. Stuff them with all the vegetables you have. Stay away from condiments! I've found mustard and Sriaccha sauce spices them up well and keeps the calorie count low.

Also before you leave for the day, make sure you eat a big breakfast. This is the most important.

My family kind of just conformed to how I eat as I'm the head cook, so it does make it a lot easier. My weakest points are going out with friends.

It seems that we're a lot alike. I'm a student who also works, and at times it can be very hard to make time for cooking or even making a meal to take on the go with you. Although I haven't been the greatest about it lately, I try to always have a salad made so i can grab it anytime, and I try to keep a lot of fruit on hand. Yogurt is also a good snack to keep around. Last year in school I gained a lot of weight from eating out, but it was easy so I just kept doing it. I recently transferred schools, which was a move out of state, and made up my mind to eat healthier. I'll admit, I'm not perfect and eat out occassionally, but I do it very rarely. Something that really helped me, was looking at fast food nutrition facts and realizing one meal was worth more calories than I should have all day, OUCH! For lunch lately, I've been eating either a whole wheat bagel with turkey slices, cheese lettuce tomato and a little honey mustard. I also do whole wheat tortilla wraps with the same things. They're both quick to make and take a long.

Here's how my system works though: I have a regular time to grocery shop, and plan my meals before I go. I do like to eat healthy, but I don't go to the extreme. Little changes can make a big difference. Try to buy whole wheat/ whole grain pastas and breads, try to stay away from refined flours. Eat more lean meats and not as much red meat. Make sure you eat lots of fruits and veggies, and drink your water! If you can, switch to skim or 1% milk. Stay away from soda, which I know can be really hard, I used to be addicted. I also love sweets, so I just don't keep them in the house. If I really want something occassionally, I go out and get it so I don't have a stock on hand. I used to work in a gym and my boss always used to tell us in our weight loss classes, try to plan your meals with things from the exterior of the grocery store. Try to stay away from the aisles if possible. That's where you'll most likely find the healthiest food. I know how hard it can be to try to feed everyone in the house and make them happy. You can keep little things for yourself that are more healthy. You can also find really yummy meals online that are very healthy. You can sneak them in and your family will never know.

The best advice I can give though is, find a system that works for you and stick to it the best you can. Being busy makes things hard so try to make little changes at a time. Stay under your calories, and you'll see it fall off! Keep up the good work

Awesome ladies! These are excelent answers.. Im compiling a grocery list now!!! Im just counting the days till my lettuce goes bad!

Pretty soon you will figure which foods your local supermarket stocks which last longest. In my local shop, the spinach and broccoli die fast but the lettuce lasts ages.
By the way, there's this thing that's popular in my circles called "meat-free Monday" - just a little way to cut your meat (and therefore saturated fat, calorie etc) content as well as saving money. Vegetarian days are very much cheaper.

One other thing I forgot to say is, you should try if you can to do bulk cooking when you have a free day or half day - make a ton of tomato pasta sauce, soup etc and freeze it for in the week when you're too tired to cook and might otherwise get a ready meal or take-away. For example just grab a portion's worth of tomato sauce, microwave it to defrost while you boil up some wholewheat pasta, microwave some frozen peas and meat-substitute and you have a fully nutritious, wholesome, home-cooked yummy meal in 15 mins max AND you can do it while watching TV.

I love this thread! I'm making notes. :-)