Need some advice going forward for weightloss

Ummm....I'll disagree, WHAT you eat is as important as how much you eat. Keep carbs below 100 grams/day will allow you to burn fat, not just muscle. Eat whole foods - organic non-GMO wherever possible.

Hello, Soner - it would help to have a bit more information, such as how the weight loss has been progressing, what the size of your deficits is, etc. Without that information, I would suggest that you reduce your deficit (eat more) on gym days-add a small meal following your gym might do it. I am a creature of habit and always tend to go to an organized way of eating myself. Your morning routine sounds pretty set. With lunch, I would advise adding some complex carbohydrates (raw fruit, vegetables, whole grains) on those days that you don't have a salad (and on days you do have salad, make sure you have at least 30 g of protein) and some fat (avocados come to mind, if you like them and they are available). If you go to the gym following lunch but before your evening meal, add a snack after the gym. My typical snacks post-gym have included greek yogurt (for the protein), a banana (for the carbs and potassium) or an apple. If you find you are ravenous late afternoon whether you go to the gym or not, include a small meal between your lunch and evening meal. The structure for my eating includes 20-30g of protein with each meal (snack included), at least 40g of fat a day, and at least 21g of fiber obtained from actual food and not fiber supplements. Having sufficient protein, fat and fiber for me is more apt to even out my appetite.

It sounds like you're saying you want pre-planned meals so you'll eat those when you come home from the gym, instead of just grabbing something fast and convenient that doesn't fit your goals?

If you want to base your meals on chicken (not sure if that is just what you've fallen into or you what you actually prefer), you can cook a large batch of chicken breasts (or thighs, if that's your preference) on the weekend, stick most of them in the freezer, and leave a few in the refrigerator. Same principle applies to other meat and poultry. To me they taste better if you don't subject them to a lot of heat after they're already fully cooked, so if I do this I tend to rely on dishes that can use the meat or chicken cold (sandwiches, pasta salad), or with minimal heating (tossing in at the end of a stir-fry, stirring into a tomato sauce as it finishes heating, brief microwaving with a grain side that also was previously cooked, tossing into a soup as it finishes heating, etc.) For fish, I think you're generally better off cooking just the amount you're going to eat at that meal, but fish doesn't take long to cook.

Prep sauces that meet your goals, or buy commercial versions, or learn a few easy-to-throw together recipes--mustard and vinegar-based sauces will be low-cal, depending on what you add to them, and greek yogurt-based sauces will give you a lot of protein for the calories you "spend" on them.

You can pre-cook any grains or starchy carb sides and reheat them (rice, potatoes, bulgur, barley, etc.) -- I wouldn't pre-cook pasta. The secret to fast pasta is to put the water (preferably at least room temperature already) on to boil before you do anything else, because most of the time that goes into cooking (store-bought) pasta is waiting for the water to boil. You can also reduce the time by buying thinner pastas (like angel hair) that take less time to cook once the water does boil.

If you feel like veggies take too much prep time, use frozen veggies.

Somewhat off topic: Sorry for that but...

sonerrali wrote: »

i do 10 minutes of cardio 3x a week and 20 minutes of weights. Partner does 30 minutes of cardio 3-4 times a week.

Why is your wife not also doing the 20 mins of weights? I would argue that if improved health, and fat loss are also her goals that she would also benefit from that strength work.

sonerrali wrote: »

Thats allowed in a diet? i though pasta was one of the no no's? i dont eat bread.

The thing that might help you is...

Don't look at this as a 'diet'. If this is a 'diet' and you lose the weight, and then you 'stop dieting' what happens? You put on all the weight again, right? You 'return' to your old eating habits. You get tired of not eating bread for six months. You have to do this all over again in five years when you are heavy again.

Eat in a way that is sustainable for the rest of your life. Eat all the bread and pasta you want. Whatever is within your calories. Two days ago I ate 25% of my calories in Oreo cookies. Yesterday I had a fast food burrito for dinner. I eat to stay within my calories. I try to get adequate protein to maintain muscle mass as I'm losing weight. Other than that, I eat what I want, when I want. Like EQComics above I don't keep things I don't want to 'waste' my calories on in the house that I might be tempted to binge on. But I eat what I want within my calories, I don't care how 'bad' or 'processed' it is, and have been steadily losing weight for months now.

I'm a bit concerned about you setting your calories to 1500. Did MFP do that for you? Or did you pick that number? If I am converting correctly, you are a male who weighs 275 lbs. You can definitely eat more than that. I have been averaging ~1800 calories as a 5'4" woman who weighs 85 lbs less than you and have been losing weight. Eating at a really low calorie number will leave you feeling deprived and more likely to binge.

When a runner runs a 2 mile race, they don't go all out sprinting as hard as they can at the start. They run at the fastest pace they know they can maintain for 2 miles, maybe even more conservative so that they still have energy at the end of the 2 miles.