Help me!

If you want to change some of your numbers:

You're drinking a lot of your carbohydrates. Switching to non-caloric beverages could really help with this.

Are you feeling full? I noticed that when I eat things like muffins (by themselves), they don't really fill me up and it's a lot of calories for something that is relatively small. You could try switching your breakfast for something that you prepare at home (another way to get more protein into your day). If eggs and hamburgers are what you can prepare, maybe something includes one of those? It's not difficult to create a simple breakfast that is higher in protein and lower in calories. This morning I had a homemade bean burrito -- just some mashed pinto beans, chili powder, and salsa on a small tortilla. It was 265 calories and had double the protein of the muffin. That's just a suggestion -- you can put lots of things on a small tortilla, a piece of toast, or an English muffin and get a breakfast that is quick, has some protein, and is filling.

I notice your lunch sandwich has avocado and cheese. If you're trying to cut the calories, I would choose just one of those. If you're trying to eat less fat, this will also help you do this.

You might want to try checking out the "Recipes" forum to get ideas for easy and affordable meals.

Grilled chicken, pork, beef, shrimp. Very filling, high protein, low inherent sodium, easy to cook, and can be cooked in multiple ways.

While going from 335 to 209, I ate a lot -- a lot -- of grilled chicken seasoned different ways.

moosemoose17 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

If you want to change some of your numbers:

You're drinking a lot of your carbohydrates. Switching to non-caloric beverages could really help with this.

Are you feeling full? I noticed that when I eat things like muffins (by themselves), they don't really fill me up and it's a lot of calories for something that is relatively small. You could try switching your breakfast for something that you prepare at home (another way to get more protein into your day). If eggs and hamburgers are what you can prepare, maybe something includes one of those? It's not difficult to create a simple breakfast that is higher in protein and lower in calories. This morning I had a homemade bean burrito -- just some mashed pinto beans, chili powder, and salsa on a small tortilla. It was 265 calories and had double the protein of the muffin. That's just a suggestion -- you can put lots of things on a small tortilla, a piece of toast, or an English muffin and get a breakfast that is quick, has some protein, and is filling.

I notice your lunch sandwich has avocado and cheese. If you're trying to cut the calories, I would choose just one of those. If you're trying to eat less fat, this will also help you do this.

You might want to try checking out the "Recipes" forum to get ideas for easy and affordable meals.

Thank you. The calories I don't necessarily mind seeing red as long as it doesn't say 4000. My calories for maintaining is ~3900, so the 2000 is just to try to see if I can hit it, while not starving myself or anything. I think breakfast burritos would be a really good idea.
I'm trying to cut out soda, but it has it's claws in me.

I never thought I could switch from regular to diet soda. I started by using 1/4 cup for diet and filling the rest with regular. Over time I increased the amount of diet soda until I was eventually drinking all diet. I'm not sure if this would work for you, but it may be worth a try.

moosemoose17 wrote: »

I could switch to diet easily. I used to do that. I thought the absence of sugar made you crave more though? Is that a myth?

Some people crave things they eliminate, but it's almost certainly psychological.

I mostly drink DP 10 rather than regular Dr Pepper at this point. And a couple of gallons a day of water with Mio. Neither makes me crave sugar.

moosemoose17 wrote: »

I could switch to diet easily. I used to do that. I thought the absence of sugar made you crave more though? Is that a myth?

It doesn't cause any cravings for me. I don't have it every day anymore (trying to save the money), but when I was losing weight I had 1-3 diet sodas a day. Lots of people here have successfully lost weight while drinking diet soda. I'm not aware of any evidence documenting that it does cause cravings, but I'm not an expert. If you tried it and noticed an increase in cravings, you could always adjust again.

Did you create the entry for the homemade sandwich yourself, using the recipe builder? If not, I'll guarantee it's not accurate. Not that one entry out of one day is going to make a huge difference, but it's best to be as accurate as possible if you want predictable results.

moosemoose17 wrote: »

I could switch to diet easily. I used to do that. I thought the absence of sugar made you crave more though? Is that a myth?

Try switching to diet. That would be a great start.

Swapping out some of the starchy carbs (chips etc.) for some extra vegetables, even on the sandwich would be good too.

I also can't do salad. I tried to in very different ways but, it never kept me full and actually made me crave junk food. I now make burrito bowls which are fantastic and can be made a billion different ways. I also use to not cook anything that didn't come in a box now I make most of our meals. Crockpots make us non cookers look good for minimum effort.