Beginner in need of tips
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Aleeshawilliams22 wrote: »Clean meals are better than McDonald's right? Lol so they kind of make a difference
Nutrition is indeed important for health, but calories is for weight loss - you can eat exclusively McDonald's and still lose weight; you won't be able to eat a lot of food, and you'd be hungry, maybe not very healthy, depending on what you choose off the menu... But the idea of clean food is just going to make it harder for you. What is clean food? Ask 100 people, and get 100 different answers. You'll be chasing shadows. Instead you can eat a varied diet of foods you like, have McDonald's from time to time if you like it, but eat your vegetables too. Nothing is off limits. But everything in moderation. You're in this for life. Are you prepared to give up everything you like, for life?0 -
Aleeshawilliams22 wrote: »Clean meals are better than McDonald's right? Lol so they kind of make a difference
Well, yes and no. Cooking at home allows you to control the calories more easily and control the ingredients. It's also a useful life skill. But "clean" is kind of a nebulous term and it doesn't necessarily mean healthier or lower calorie. It can be healthier. But the overall context of your diet, hitting your calorie goals, hitting your macro and micro goals, is more important than any one particular food item (short of avoiding something for medical reasons, obviously). You could fit McDonald's into a healthy diet and still lose weight if you wanted to. A lot of us choose to work treats and things not considered "clean" into our diets. It just takes a little planning.0 -
debsdoingthis wrote: »
If your "Clean meals" are lower calories than McDonalds then Yes they will absolutely make a difference. Gotta admit though that every once in a while I do want/have a Big Mac!Aleeshawilliams22 wrote: »Clean meals are better than McDonald's right? Lol so they kind of make a difference
I do love me some Big Macs!! Lol
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diannethegeek wrote: »Aleeshawilliams22 wrote: »Clean meals are better than McDonald's right? Lol so they kind of make a difference
Well, yes and no. Cooking at home allows you to control the calories more easily and control the ingredients. It's also a useful life skill. But "clean" is kind of a nebulous term and it doesn't necessarily mean healthier or lower calorie. It can be healthier. But the overall context of your diet, hitting your calorie goals, hitting your macro and micro goals, is more important than any one particular food item (short of avoiding something for medical reasons, obviously). You could fit McDonald's into a healthy diet and still lose weight if you wanted to. A lot of us choose to work treats and things not considered "clean" into our diets. It just takes a little planning.
my only problem with eating mcdonalds, is that I can't stop. I'm going from a eating out and drinking a lot of pop, to water and so called "clean" eating. I just want to get through a month or so before I can treat myself. Is that ok?0 -
Aleeshawilliams22 wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »Aleeshawilliams22 wrote: »Clean meals are better than McDonald's right? Lol so they kind of make a difference
Well, yes and no. Cooking at home allows you to control the calories more easily and control the ingredients. It's also a useful life skill. But "clean" is kind of a nebulous term and it doesn't necessarily mean healthier or lower calorie. It can be healthier. But the overall context of your diet, hitting your calorie goals, hitting your macro and micro goals, is more important than any one particular food item (short of avoiding something for medical reasons, obviously). You could fit McDonald's into a healthy diet and still lose weight if you wanted to. A lot of us choose to work treats and things not considered "clean" into our diets. It just takes a little planning.
my only problem with eating mcdonalds, is that I can't stop. I'm going from a eating out and drinking a lot of pop, to water and so called "clean" eating. I just want to get through a month or so before I can treat myself. Is that ok?
Of course it's okay! I'm so so sorry if I gave the impression that you must or have to eat McDonald's as part of your diet. I thought I'd structured my thoughts so carefully and clearly I didn't! It's your diet. You get to structure it however you want. I just wanted to touch on the idea that clean always means better. Since there are about 85 definitions of clean eating, it's never 100% the case that clean is better. That's why context is so important!
I'll show myself out of this thread now since I'm not being helpful :flowerforyou:0 -
I eat 6x a day, I have 3 small meals and 3 light snacks a day. I also try to have protein each time I eat. I personally weigh myself once each week and I also do my measurements at the same time so I can see the changes even if I don't feel them yet. Make sure you drink lots of water, my water bottle is 32oz and I fill it twice a day.
I log everything to keep track of what I'm eating. Make sure you're honest with yourself when logging things. For instance, i had a piece of cake.... the portion of the cake was actually the equivalent of 2 slices... so i logged 2 slices. If I have ice cream with my son, I make sure i log the hot fudge too. lol I log it all so I can see where I'm at for the day and what effect certain foods have. I feel that if I'm honest with myself with logging that I will have better results. Good Luck!! 0 -
Aleeshawilliams22 wrote: »hello my name is Aleesha and I'm new to the eating "right" life style. My goal is to lose 110lbs to get down to 185! Any tips about food, workouts etc! Please feel free to share! I work the 2-10 shift at a nursing home, so some meals I can make at the beginning of the week. Thank you
You've already gotten lots of great advice. I would suggest not getting caught up in the details. Start out eating what you would normally eat but being mindful of portion size and log EVERYTHING. After a week, look at your numbers for the week and see where all your calories went, how much you need to cut, and where can you tweak your diet to get the most bang for your buck? There are no magical foods that will cause you to lose weight, or will make it impossible for you to lose weight, you just have to find what works for you.
Also, accept the fact that you will have bad days, days where you eat too much and feel like you let yourself down. When you do, first learn from it - why did you go off the rails and what can you do next time? And second, get right back on plan the next day, or even the next meal if you can. How you eat on one day isn't what makes the difference, it's how you eat over the long haul. The only way to fail would be to throw up your hands, think you can't do it, and give up.
And be patient and kind to yourself! You didn't gain the weight in a week, you won't lose it that way either. Real success will be figuring out how you can eat for the rest of your life so you can enjoy your food AND maintain a healthy weight, and that can take time. Good luck :drinker:0 -
Be honest about what you ready and log everything accurately. And stick to it.
Today is day 400 of logging for me, and I'm down 79 lbs. It seemed almost an insurmountable distance, but I've focused on 5lbs at a time and kept my spirits up be considering progress in 1 and 3 month segments.
Beat wishes! You can do this!0 -
Be honest about what you ready and log everything accurately. And stick to it.
Today is day 400 of logging for me, and I'm down 79 lbs. It seemed almost an insurmountable distance, but I've focused on 5lbs at a time and kept my spirits up be considering progress in 1 and 3 month segments.
Beat wishes! You can do this!
Thank you so very much 0 -
Aleeshawilliams22 wrote: »hello my name is Aleesha and I'm new to the eating "right" life style. My goal is to lose 110lbs to get down to 185! Any tips about food, workouts etc! Please feel free to share! I work the 2-10 shift at a nursing home, so some meals I can make at the beginning of the week. Thank you
You've already gotten lots of great advice. I would suggest not getting caught up in the details. Start out eating what you would normally eat but being mindful of portion size and log EVERYTHING. After a week, look at your numbers for the week and see where all your calories went, how much you need to cut, and where can you tweak your diet to get the most bang for your buck? There are no magical foods that will cause you to lose weight, or will make it impossible for you to lose weight, you just have to find what works for you.
Also, accept the fact that you will have bad days, days where you eat too much and feel like you let yourself down. When you do, first learn from it - why did you go off the rails and what can you do next time? And second, get right back on plan the next day, or even the next meal if you can. How you eat on one day isn't what makes the difference, it's how you eat over the long haul. The only way to fail would be to throw up your hands, think you can't do it, and give up.
And be patient and kind to yourself! You didn't gain the weight in a week, you won't lose it that way either. Real success will be figuring out how you can eat for the rest of your life so you can enjoy your food AND maintain a healthy weight, and that can take time. Good luck :drinker:
wow!! Thank you very much for the advice 0 -
diannethegeek wrote: »Aleeshawilliams22 wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »Aleeshawilliams22 wrote: »Clean meals are better than McDonald's right? Lol so they kind of make a difference
Well, yes and no. Cooking at home allows you to control the calories more easily and control the ingredients. It's also a useful life skill. But "clean" is kind of a nebulous term and it doesn't necessarily mean healthier or lower calorie. It can be healthier. But the overall context of your diet, hitting your calorie goals, hitting your macro and micro goals, is more important than any one particular food item (short of avoiding something for medical reasons, obviously). You could fit McDonald's into a healthy diet and still lose weight if you wanted to. A lot of us choose to work treats and things not considered "clean" into our diets. It just takes a little planning.
my only problem with eating mcdonalds, is that I can't stop. I'm going from a eating out and drinking a lot of pop, to water and so called "clean" eating. I just want to get through a month or so before I can treat myself. Is that ok?
Of course it's okay! I'm so so sorry if I gave the impression that you must or have to eat McDonald's as part of your diet. I thought I'd structured my thoughts so carefully and clearly I didn't! It's your diet. You get to structure it however you want. I just wanted to touch on the idea that clean always means better. Since there are about 85 definitions of clean eating, it's never 100% the case that clean is better. That's why context is so important!
I'll show myself out of this thread now since I'm not being helpful :flowerforyou:
I didn't mean to come off mean either!! Thank you for all the advice 0 -
Hell, 1st I just want to say do not throw in the towel because of one or two days of bad eating or even a month. I fall of the wagon for a month around half way though my weight lost and I almost gave up, glad I didn't.
Healthy foods are not always low cal and not all low cal foods are healthy.
I would recommend taking a omega-3 dietary supplement to help out you skin a little bit. My trainer started me on Adcocare's OmegaPlex around the end of my weight loss and I wished I started taking it sooner, Catalyst from Adcocare is also something you might want to look at, it will help preserve muscle.
I also work late hours and whenever i cook something I try to make left overs to bring to work but I do keep Lean Cuisines on hand when I don't have any left overs or for days I don't have time cook or when i'm just too lazy to fix anything.0 -
this may be a helpful starting point http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-beginners-guide-to-myfitnesspal/0
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The most helpful things for me when I started:
1. Make the decision to not do anything you can't see yourself doing for the long term. For example, I have chosen to not do any "cleanse", etc. since I'm not going to eat that way forever. That way I'm training myself for a new lifestyle, not chasing the loss of a few pounds here and there.
2. Buy smaller plates. We switched from fiestaware dinner plates to the luncheon plates. It is a small thing but makes a big difference in how much we eat.
3. Fill your plate with half veggies. For me, it was cool that by adding something, I wound up eating less.
4. Find out what is the best "bang for the buck" for you. For me, I'd much rather have a plate full of an omelette with two eggs, spinach, tomatoes, and feta for the same calories as a donut. It just goes farther with me and makes me feel better. These things also tend to correlate to "healthy eating" or the whole McDonald's vs. clean eating discussion, but for me it just boils down to where you want to spend your calories.
5. Leave room for treats--if you want a piece of chocolate, glass of wine, donut, whatever, work it in to your calories. If you can just have one that is!
6. Realize that if you don't weigh everything (I don't, some do) you will underestimate your food and overestimate your workouts. Personally I compensate by setting my calories lower because I find that it works out in the end. But realize that the math on this is pretty simple. Calories In - Calories Out = Weight loss or gain. Give yourself permission to experiment with that formula. If your weight loss isn't what you want, there is no big mystery going on unless you have an underlying health issue. You just need to adjust calories in or calories out. Find out how that works for you.
Good luck!0 -
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