what did you eat to lose weight?

veliia wrote: »

So you'll eat pizza, hamburgers, fries, cake, chocolate, etc as long as you fit it in your calories?

Sure. A life without pizza is a life I don't want to live. Restrictive diets where you cut out types of food completely would NEVER work for me. SIL always trying to get me to try Atkins. What so I can never eat a piece of bread again? Yeah, right. She's lost and gained the same 30lbs over again for 2 years doing that, no thanks.

BUT, I have to limit the pizza, only because 2 or 3 slices of pizza is a big chunk of my daily calorie goal. SO if I want pizza for dinner I need to eat not that much the rest of the day, or "bank" calories over several days.

I've pretty much given up fries because to me, they're not worth the calories I have to spend on them. I could get 2 hamburgers instead of a hamburger and fries for the same calories, and that would be much more satisfying and filling for me. YMMV of course.

These are the tradeoffs you learn to make when you get used to logging and tracking. You'll figure it out as you go, we all did

williams969 wrote: »

veliia wrote: »

So you'll eat pizza, hamburgers, fries, cake, chocolate, etc as long as you fit it in your calories?

williams969 wrote: »

Mapalicious wrote: »

Whatever I would normally eat...just less of it. Plus some foods that fill me up fast.

+1 It's that simple.

Yes. Not all the time. Not in the large portions I used to consume. For example, I used to eat a Big Mac, large fries, and Coke. Now I will get a Mcdouble only, Diet Coke, and a side salad with low cal dressing (or eat it at home with a pile of roasted veggies).

Old way=1,000+ calories
New way= about 400-500 cal

Exactly. Instead of having 2 slices of pizza, breadsticks, soda, and dessert. Now I'll have a slice of pizza and maybe a bite or two of a breadstick or dessert (not both), and water.

This is why I like the recipe maker on this site - often I'll say "you know, this week I'm really craving pasta. I know that for a lot of diets they say don't eat pasta, so let me get a recipe and put it in the recipe tracker and see the calorie count." Then I can look at the ingredients and recognize that if I replace something like cream cheese with a lower calorie version, or bacon with my bacon molasses seasoning, or halve the cheese, and eat in the proper proportions, I can make pasta work easily.

I do generally look for things that aren't as calorie-dense, because otherwise I would be so hungry all day (and I really have to have that boredom-killer of munching at work), but it's totally doable on normal food.

veliia wrote: »

So you'll eat pizza, hamburgers, fries, cake, chocolate, etc as long as you fit it in your calories?

williams969 wrote: »

Mapalicious wrote: »

Whatever I would normally eat...just less of it. Plus some foods that fill me up fast.

+1 It's that simple.

You bet!

I had burgers on Tuesday. I'm having pizza tonight. I have sweet potato fries maybe once a month...i just don't like fries that much. I eat chocolate daily, multiple times a day. I don't really like cake? But I have had it, if it's a nice rich fudgey cake.

I also eat heaps of broccoli, green beans, lean fishes and meats as well, because I do best when I feel physically full in my stomach (ie: lots of lean protein and fiber). But I haven't STOPPED eating anything.





Your question about how to "eat what you burn" caught my eye though. Your body is burning calories all day. You can lie like a vegetable, in bed, and hardly blink, and you will burn calories. You know what calories are? Heat energy. You know how your body is warm? Ta da! OMG we're amazing little machines. Your heart is pumping, your lungs are expanding and contracting, your cells are reproducing, your kidney and liver are working away to cleanse your body of what it doesn't like, your intestines are undulating, your brain is firing away...pew! pew! pew! The number of calories it takes to do all of this is called your BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate. Anything above that is part of your TDEE, or Today Daily Energy Expenditure (which is your BMR + calories burned from every activity you do). Now, MFP will calculate this for you when you set your goals! Enter your stats (weight/height/activity level, etc) and it will let you know how many calories you can eat it in a day.

If you're curious, you can also just find your BMR here: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Or calculate your TDEE here: http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

(I welcome suggestions for other calculating sites from other MFP-ers

@veliia feel free to friend me and ask me more questions if you'd like!

I am 5'10", female, 31 years old, and 165 lbs (was 290 at my highest). My BMR is about 1550 calories per day.

Everything and everything I ate before except I didn't eat mindlessly as I used to. Serving size wins the prize each time. It is about life change not a diet - lil by lil you will learn how to supplement for higher nutrition foods

SingingSingleTracker wrote: »

veliia wrote: »

SingingSingleTracker wrote: »

veliia wrote: »

What did you eat to lose weight? I never stick to a diet longer than a week because I always run out of things to eat for lunch and dinner.

Ate less than I burned. Works every time.

veliia wrote: »

So you burned about 1000 calories? If so how??? Lol i workput for half an hour n only burn 110. Calories so if i burn what i eat i have to do this 10 times

At my current height/weight/age - I have my calorie counter at MFP set to 1520 calories a day (sedentary setting) with the goal of losing 1 pound per week. I have about 2 - 3 weeks to go (2-3 more pounds) before I rotate over into maintenance. I always then add my exercise calorie burn "guesstimation" for the day from whatever "gizmo" I use to measure my exercise (iPhone App, HR chest strap, power meter on the bike, etc.) for the day, but when losing weight I do not eat back all of the exercise calories. The calories in vs. calories out model (CICO) is what works for me and I use it for losing, maintaining, and gaining weight.

So to sum it up - I eat fewer calories (calories in) vs. those I burn (calories out). That's the only known method to lose weight. You have to eat less than your body needs which is called a calorie deficit.

Works every time.

Yes ^^this^^. And don't call it a "diet." Use of the very word sets me up for failure every time.

My dinners and snacks have pretty much remained the same, but my breakfast and lunch are different. The only difference to dinners is I don't help myself to seconds anymore.

I used to get french toast or a fancy bagel with butter for breakfast - around 450-500 calories. Now I eat a protein bar that's either 200 or 250 calories (depending on the brand).

For lunch during the week I'd go to my company's cafeteria and load up with a full meal - probably eating around 800-900 calories. Now I bring in a Lean Cuisine or WW Smart Ones and have a cup of fruit on the side. 350-400 calories. To make up for the heavy sodium from those frozen meals, I now drink a LOT of water during the day.

Those two meals alone reduced my daily caloric intake by ~600-750 calories a day.

I eat everything I used to eat. Just a lot less of the sweets and/or salty "treat" type items. Breakfasts and lunch are pretty repetitious but I like it that way. Breakfast and lunch give me a great start on the macros/micros I want to maintain which allows me to eat whatever I want (within remaining calorie allowance) for supper. Fortunately I have no allergies or food sensitivities and I rarely eat out so have no problem managing my meals.

My day starts and continues with a pot or two of decaf coffee with approximately 2 cups of 2% milk in the pot/s of decaf.

Breakfast is usually non-fat Greek plain yogurt with fresh/frozen fruit and flax seed meal or a 5 egg white omelette with vegetables. Occasionally I'll have steel cut oats with dried fruit/nuts/spices.

Lunch is usually seafood or leftover meat and a pile of veggies or a vegetable salad.

Dinner is my more creative meal and I cook probably 350 out of 365 days. Meat/seafood/starch (sometimes)/vegetables. Could be beef/pork/chicken/fish/mollusks/shrimp/crab for protein. Pastas/legumes/taters/rice/quinoa/lentils for carbs. I'm wide open with vegetables since there are few I dislike.

Tonight's dinner will be a Spicy Chorizo & Beef/White Bean Soup which is loaded with equal protein and carbs and has lots of fiber. Tomorrow's dinner will be an Alfredo with linguini/Proscuitto/Peas and probably a side salad. It will be loaded with fat.

Macros end up pretty well balanced the way I like them though breakfast/lunch/dinner so then I throw them off with things like ice cream/peanut butter/peanuts/pita chips.

ETA: That's how I ate to lose 60+ pounds and that's how I eat now in maintenance.

jdhcm2006 wrote: »

I just eat less of what I normally eat. I'm an extremely picky eater, so anything that requires certain foods or band others was/is not going to work for me.

+1 - this exactly.

I'm also a very picky eater. I eat what I want/like, just a lot less of it than I used to. I also tend to make better choices if I log something BEFORE I eat it, so that I know if it is worth the amount of calories it contains.

Yes, I eat those things. What I don't do is eat out. I make the food myself, so I know how many calories I am eating. I have a scale beside me, as I am preparing/cooking, so everything is weighed and recorded as it goes in/on. I try to eat high fibre and nutrient dense food to keep me full.

I also tend to eat the same thing all the time. I don't get bored. Breakfast is bran-buds, milk, tea and water. Lunch is a salad. Dinner I get more creative. Snacks are usually fruit: apples pears, or oranges with an occasional banana.

veliia wrote: »

So you'll eat pizza, hamburgers, fries, cake, chocolate, etc as long as you fit it in your calories?

williams969 wrote: »

Mapalicious wrote: »

Whatever I would normally eat...just less of it. Plus some foods that fill me up fast.

+1 It's that simple.