Newbie - Need to lose weight, but don't know how to grocery shop or meal plan, Please Help.
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Bworms1980
Posts: 25 Member
Hi,
I'm 5'5 and weight almost 300lbs. I was born with a hole in my heart and chronic asthma. I've been overweight my entire life and I'm ready to do something about it. To be honest, I've been ready for a long time. However, what always stopped me is that I don't know how to shop for food or create meals. My mother's idea of caring for her children was to let us starve most of the time, and on good days, give us a dollar to buy 4 pieces of junk food for $0.25/a piece. As I grew up I learned to eat what I could or I'd go hungry. This followed me into adulthood.
On my own, I bought all the foods that I always craved as a child and this means that my cart was filled with chocolate, sugary cereals, pop tarts and frozen dinners. When I decided to start eating healthy, I was at a lose. For the next 15 years, my grocery shopping was the same. Sugary cereal, pop tarts, chocolate chip and oreo cookies, soda, and however many frozen dinners I could afford.
I have no idea how to find/create a meal plan. I've been scouring the internet for one, but most are blank ones to fill in yourself.
I realize that I can't get healthy until I learned how to shop and cook healthy. I need help and I need it badly. I'm not just asking for your help, I'm begging for it.
I'm also dealing with food allergies. My milk issues went from slight lactose intolerance to not being able to ingest dairy at all. I have acid reflux, so I can't have apple or any citrus juices, I'm allergic to banana and anything coffee related, tomato seeds cause me to break out in hives.
I'm 5'5 and weight almost 300lbs. I was born with a hole in my heart and chronic asthma. I've been overweight my entire life and I'm ready to do something about it. To be honest, I've been ready for a long time. However, what always stopped me is that I don't know how to shop for food or create meals. My mother's idea of caring for her children was to let us starve most of the time, and on good days, give us a dollar to buy 4 pieces of junk food for $0.25/a piece. As I grew up I learned to eat what I could or I'd go hungry. This followed me into adulthood.
On my own, I bought all the foods that I always craved as a child and this means that my cart was filled with chocolate, sugary cereals, pop tarts and frozen dinners. When I decided to start eating healthy, I was at a lose. For the next 15 years, my grocery shopping was the same. Sugary cereal, pop tarts, chocolate chip and oreo cookies, soda, and however many frozen dinners I could afford.
I have no idea how to find/create a meal plan. I've been scouring the internet for one, but most are blank ones to fill in yourself.
I realize that I can't get healthy until I learned how to shop and cook healthy. I need help and I need it badly. I'm not just asking for your help, I'm begging for it.
I'm also dealing with food allergies. My milk issues went from slight lactose intolerance to not being able to ingest dairy at all. I have acid reflux, so I can't have apple or any citrus juices, I'm allergic to banana and anything coffee related, tomato seeds cause me to break out in hives.
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Replies
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That is a tough starting point, to be sure.
May I ask how comfortable you are with cooking? What do you have to work with in your kitchen? How much time do you have to cook, on average? The big first step for you sounds like transitioning from largely processed and prepared foods into fresh(er) food you prepare yourself. I'd probably tackle that part before even worrying so much about calories.
Is there any way you could consult a nutritionist? Because I think that would be really helpful for you.0 -
I'm comfortable cooking, but prefer to follow recipes. I just made the move from FL to NY and don't have a fully stocked kitchen yet, so stove/oven, microwave, slow/rice cooker and George Foreman grill are all I have at the moment.
I have a lot of free time to cook. As for the nutritionist, my health insurance kicks in around December, I'll start researching for one now.That is a tough starting point, to be sure.
May I ask how comfortable you are with cooking? What do you have to work with in your kitchen? How much time do you have to cook, on average? The big first step for you sounds like transitioning from largely processed and prepared foods into fresh(er) food you prepare yourself. I'd probably tackle that part before even worrying so much about calories.
Is there any way you could consult a nutritionist? Because I think that would be really helpful for you.
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Baby steps. I suggest logging your food the way you currently eat in to MFP to understand what you are eating now. I suspect you will find that you are high in fat, sugar, and salt, and short on protein.
Second step, work on one meal a day. Perhaps continue with your comfort breakfasts the way you've always enjoyed them, and tackle dinners first.
Third, get some introductory cooking training. Is there a community kitchen in your area? You can join a group of enterprising people like yourself, pick a meal to make together, do the shopping, cook together, and take home a meal for your family.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/emofly/foods-everyone-should-learn-to-cook#.op8WpN3gQ
Fourth, work to have your dinner plate look like this:
An inexpensive lunch is to enjoy leftovers from the night before. That way they don't grow (m)old in the fridge, you are being frugal, and that's one less meal to plan. You can change up a lunch from a dinner by putting it in a wrap for instance, or add a salad.
Because of your many allergies, it pays for you to read labels, just to make sure no tomato seeds are hidden in there. Shopping may take a little longer as you get educated. I feel for you. My son was on a restricted list and tomatoes was on there. That eliminated so many prepared sauces. I learned to make my own broth based sauces instead.
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Eating more nutrient-dense foods and meeting your nutritional needs would be great, but at the very beginning of your post you say your goal is to do something about being overweight. The most important thing in trying to lose weight--ultimately the only thing that matters in losing weight--is to consume fewer calories than your body uses. It's the amount you eat (in terms of calories), not the kinds of foods that you eat, that will make the difference in meeting your goal.
Your first step should be to figure out a way to consume fewer calories. Since MFP is a calorie-counting site, most people here are going to recommend that you start logging all the food you eat, and to do so accurately. That means getting a food scale and being careful to use accurate entries in the database (cross-checking them against package labels and/or the USDA database at http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods, or at least using entries that have been verified by a lot of other users). Logging your food is associated with increased success in weight loss.
If you also want to improve the nutrient profile of your diet (diet in its original sense, meaning the food that you eat), that's great, and it can help reduce the risk of some of the health problems that obesity exposes you to, although for a lot of those health problems, losing weight and getting some exercise (even just walking a little, if that's all your underlying heart and asthma issues will allow) will go further than dietary changes like getting more potassium, magnesium, calcium, and fiber, less sodium, and some specific types of fats.
I'm not trying to discourage you from making appropriate changes to your diet; I'm just suggesting that you've taken your eyes off your goal and the way to achieve it.0 -
Goodness gracious. Doesn't the US have collective/community kitchens?
Collective Kitchen Handbook
You don't! What a shame. Originated in Peru, popularized in Montreal.
"While the social, health, economic, and community-building
benefits of collective kitchens stress their value as an element of community
livability, a scan of the literature produced no evidence of them in the United
States. " source - http://www.aging.ny.gov/livableny/resourcemanual/design/iv1k.pdf (p. 4, 5)0 -
Thank you so much for this post. I've never heard of a community kitchen. A search in Google shows that there are some close by in Manhattan. I'll start logging my meals, thanks for the idea
. I avoid most foods that are likely to have tomato seeds, but what I found when I started checking food labels for my dairy allergy, what stood out to me was the amount of food that has milk in it. Including items that I wouldn't think would contain milk, like Funions. As I eat healthier, I'm guessing I'll start to run into the tomato problems.Baby steps. I suggest logging your food the way you currently eat in to MFP to understand what you are eating now. I suspect you will find that you are high in fat, sugar, and salt, and short on protein.
Second step, work on one meal a day. Perhaps continue with your comfort breakfasts the way you've always enjoyed them, and tackle dinners first.
Third, get some introductory cooking training. Is there a community kitchen in your area? You can join a group of enterprising people like yourself, pick a meal to make together, do the shopping, cook together, and take home a meal for your family.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/emofly/foods-everyone-should-learn-to-cook#.op8WpN3gQ
Fourth, work to have your dinner plate look like this:
An inexpensive lunch is to enjoy leftovers from the night before. That way they don't grow (m)old in the fridge, you are being frugal, and that's one less meal to plan. You can change up a lunch from a dinner by putting it in a wrap for instance, or add a salad.
Because of your many allergies, it pays for you to read labels, just to make sure no tomato seeds are hidden in there. Shopping may take a little longer as you get educated. I feel for you. My son was on a restricted list and tomatoes was on there. That eliminated so many prepared sauces. I learned to make my own broth based sauces instead.
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Go on Pintrest and search for Clean Eating meal plans and Ideas,also you can search for Clean Eating recipes and a Shopping list. Pintrest is full of great information.0
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Thank you. And I didn't find your post discouraging at all. It was incredibly informative. I'll look into getting a food scale from Amazon. Are there any that you can suggest for a newbie? Yes, losing weight is my ultimate goal, and I know smaller calorie controlled portions would do that, but I know I also need to learn what to buy and cook. The healthiest item in my kitchen are canned tuna and my multi-vitamins. I started my daily walk around the block this walk or as far as my asthma will allow right now.lynn_glenmont wrote: »Eating more nutrient-dense foods and meeting your nutritional needs would be great, but at the very beginning of your post you say your goal is to do something about being overweight. The most important thing in trying to lose weight--ultimately the only thing that matters in losing weight--is to consume fewer calories than your body uses. It's the amount you eat (in terms of calories), not the kinds of foods that you eat, that will make the difference in meeting your goal.
Your first step should be to figure out a way to consume fewer calories. Since MFP is a calorie-counting site, most people here are going to recommend that you start logging all the food you eat, and to do so accurately. That means getting a food scale and being careful to use accurate entries in the database (cross-checking them against package labels and/or the USDA database at http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods, or at least using entries that have been verified by a lot of other users). Logging your food is associated with increased success in weight loss.
If you also want to improve the nutrient profile of your diet (diet in its original sense, meaning the food that you eat), that's great, and it can help reduce the risk of some of the health problems that obesity exposes you to, although for a lot of those health problems, losing weight and getting some exercise (even just walking a little, if that's all your underlying heart and asthma issues will allow) will go further than dietary changes like getting more potassium, magnesium, calcium, and fiber, less sodium, and some specific types of fats.
I'm not trying to discourage you from making appropriate changes to your diet; I'm just suggesting that you've taken your eyes off your goal and the way to achieve it.
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There are sites like Allergence that will help you find hidden allergens in your food (my son is allergic to sesame seeds, so I understand your difficulties!)
I would even throw another crazy idea out there, if it fits in your budget: what about a service like Blue Apron? You sign up for a certain number of meals each week, and they ship you a refrigerated box with all the ingredients for various meals, as well as recipe cards and step by step instructions. You can specify dietary restrictions, and they will ship exactly the right amount for each portion (ie, if you're looking to make a 2-person meal, they'll send you ingredients to make just enough for two people).
I think it's probably cost-prohibitive long-term, but it might be worthwhile as a stepping stone...you can see what portions look like, have everything preselected for you, and get recipes and ideas you can recreate when you grocery shop for yourself.0 -
Hm. The US version of the "community kitchen" looks more like a soup kitchen or a food bank. Not exactly what this Canadian has in mind.....0
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Wow, I've never heard of Blue Apron. I'll definitely have to see if it's within my budget because it sounds great. Also adding Allergence to the list.questionfear wrote: »There are sites like Allergence that will help you find hidden allergens in your food (my son is allergic to sesame seeds, so I understand your difficulties!)
I would even throw another crazy idea out there, if it fits in your budget: what about a service like Blue Apron? You sign up for a certain number of meals each week, and they ship you a refrigerated box with all the ingredients for various meals, as well as recipe cards and step by step instructions. You can specify dietary restrictions, and they will ship exactly the right amount for each portion (ie, if you're looking to make a 2-person meal, they'll send you ingredients to make just enough for two people).
I think it's probably cost-prohibitive long-term, but it might be worthwhile as a stepping stone...you can see what portions look like, have everything preselected for you, and get recipes and ideas you can recreate when you grocery shop for yourself.
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I noticed that as well when I continued searching. The closest thing I've found is this:
http://www.chaoscooking.com/Hm. The US version of the "community kitchen" looks more like a soup kitchen or a food bank. Not exactly what this Canadian has in mind.....0 -
Very cool, @Bworms1980 . I bow to your google prowess.0
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Hi! I don’t really have much to add, but wanted to cosign the already great advice that has been given here. Take things one step at a time. Losing weight and building a healthy lifestyle to maintain that weight requires forming new habits. This takes time and baby steps. Starting logging your food now to see where you’re starting at and then adjust your calorie goal to a reasonable deficit from there. Then you can start gradually working on nutrition, cooking, grocery shopping.
Keep in mind that learning all this new stuff and establishing new habits will require some trial and error. You need to figure out what works for you. During this process, some things will be amazing and other things will just suck. Some days you will try and fail. That's normal and perfectly ok. The key is just not giving up.
FWIW – I’ve lost about 98lbs and still eat Poptarts, Oreos, etc. on a regular basis. However, I’ve learned that I need to mostly eat food with more nutritional value in order to be happy and feel full in a calorie deficit so now it’s only two Oreos or one Poptart at a time.
You got this!
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Bworms1980 wrote: »I'll look into getting a food scale from Amazon. Are there any that you can suggest for a newbie?
Definitely get a digital scale. It will make your life so much easier. I recently switched to one with and LED display so it's a little easier to read when shaded by a plate. Also, make sure it's easy to switch between grams and ounces so it's easier to follow recipes as you go. I'm not sure any given brand is better than another, just go with something digital with good reviews.0 -
When shopping for food shop the perimeter where the whole foods are...eggs, milk (almond for you unsweetened), butter (earth balance), Yogurt (Silk makes yogurt Dairy Free), your meats, fruits and veggies. When you shop down the isles you tend to buy stuff that is processed and loaded with sugar. If you would like something to stick with look into the 21 day fix from beachbody the meal plan is easy to follow there is also a cook book that goes along with it called fixate...and no I am not a beachbody coach I've just done and followed the 21 day fix and it worked for me! I can give you the name of my beachbody coach if you are interested!0
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I'm in the same boat you are except I don't have most of the issue you may have that I feel so bad for you0
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But whatever I eat, reflects on my skin and I get a huge rash. One thing you can do is do some excercise everyday little by little increase how much you do per day. Hope this helps!0
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Bworms1980 wrote: »Thank you. And I didn't find your post discouraging at all. It was incredibly informative. I'll look into getting a food scale from Amazon. Are there any that you can suggest for a newbie? Yes, losing weight is my ultimate goal, and I know smaller calorie controlled portions would do that, but I know I also need to learn what to buy and cook. The healthiest item in my kitchen are canned tuna and my multi-vitamins. I started my daily walk around the block this walk or as far as my asthma will allow right now.lynn_glenmont wrote: »Eating more nutrient-dense foods and meeting your nutritional needs would be great, but at the very beginning of your post you say your goal is to do something about being overweight. The most important thing in trying to lose weight--ultimately the only thing that matters in losing weight--is to consume fewer calories than your body uses. It's the amount you eat (in terms of calories), not the kinds of foods that you eat, that will make the difference in meeting your goal.
Your first step should be to figure out a way to consume fewer calories. Since MFP is a calorie-counting site, most people here are going to recommend that you start logging all the food you eat, and to do so accurately. That means getting a food scale and being careful to use accurate entries in the database (cross-checking them against package labels and/or the USDA database at http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods, or at least using entries that have been verified by a lot of other users). Logging your food is associated with increased success in weight loss.
If you also want to improve the nutrient profile of your diet (diet in its original sense, meaning the food that you eat), that's great, and it can help reduce the risk of some of the health problems that obesity exposes you to, although for a lot of those health problems, losing weight and getting some exercise (even just walking a little, if that's all your underlying heart and asthma issues will allow) will go further than dietary changes like getting more potassium, magnesium, calcium, and fiber, less sodium, and some specific types of fats.
I'm not trying to discourage you from making appropriate changes to your diet; I'm just suggesting that you've taken your eyes off your goal and the way to achieve it.
I got mine on Amazon -- originally I got it for baking, because weighing ingredients, flour especially, tends to give better results, especially when I started using a bread machine sometimes (when you knead by hand, you just keep adding flour until you have the right consistency, but a bread machine makes more sense than heating the oven just for one loaf for a smaller household).
Anyway, I recommend a digital scale that measures in grams as well as ounces (grams are smaller units and thus you get greater accuracy on the size of your serving, plus nutrition labels often list the weight of a serving in grams) and has a tare (reset to zero) button so you can place your bowl, plate, etc. on the scale, add your first ingredient (e.g., cereal), note or log the weight (I tend to note the weights and then log them afterward, but you may prefer to log immediately, especially if you're using the app on your phone), reset to zero, add the next ingredient (e.g., berries), note or log the weight, add another ingredient (e.g., ground flax), note or log the weight, etc.
It saves time and the washing of measuring utensils, and it's just more accurate to weigh solid foods (no discrepancies in how full you fill the cup or tablespoon, how tightly you pack it, how large the pieces of things like chips, nuts, pretzels, cereals, chopped fruit & veggies are, etc.)
ETA: you can still measure liquids by volume.
Other useful features include a display that pulls out from the scale so you can still see it when you're using a wide plate or other container (mine attaches by a retractable cord, but I've had it a few years, so I imagine they probably make some with displays that communicate with the scale wireless when they're detached).
You also want to pay attention to the maximum load of the scale. Mine will weigh up to 11 lbs or 5 kgs, which is enough for anything I've done, including a large metal dutch oven filled with stew or soup.
Mine is an OXO brand and uses regular AAA batteries, which I think I've had to replace once or twice in years of use (honestly not sure how long I've had it, but I think it must be four or five years at least). I've been very happy with it. It turns off automatically after a while when no buttons have been pushed or no weight has been added. Most of the time when you turn it back on, it retains the last tare setting, but sometimes not if you've removed or changed the weight on the scale while it was off, which is about the only negative thing I can think of to say about it.0
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