Salads...surprisingly i end up eating all my calories with salads?!! :(

http://www.skinnytaste.com/recipes/salad/

I'm loving Bolthouse's line of yogurt blend dressings. The Ranch and Caesar Parmigiano flavors are my favorites. About 45 calories per 2 tbsp or 30g. I put my salad on my food scale, hit the tare button to zero it out and then pour on my dressing so I know how much I'm using to the gram. For 45 calories you could even double the serving on a huge salad and not hurt it much. Added some 3 or 4 ounces of diced seared chicken thighs(so much tastier than the oversized chicken breasts on the market), sauteed mushrooms and you have a substantial and tasty salad for under 300 calories! The dressings are in the cold produce section of the grocery, as they are yogurt based. They can be pricey compared to shelf stable stuff, but worth it I think. Just tried the Salsa Verde Avocado and it's decent too. I think it'll be good on a baked potato. The Cilantro Avocado flavor is good if you like strong cilantro. Good luck!

If you go all veggies and a light dressing salads can be very low calories- cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, celery, mushrooms, bell peppers- all very low calories and high fiber to fill you up. But if you're like me, you love a salad with cheese, raisins, nuts, avocado, egg, sunflower seeds, croutons, etc- I have made many 450+ calorie salads and still lost weight. I just put my salad bowl on the scale and weigh and tare between every ingredient. Now I will say that the salad is usually the main course- I might eat a yogurt with it but not usually. You can lose weight with eating salads- you just have to log the ingredients and fit it into your day- yummy and good for you too!

Making your own salads doesn't require much (if any) cooking skill and would be much cheaper. You can easily prepare them in advance and take them with you. I just had a quick salad for lunch/snack and it was 138cal.

mom23mangos wrote: »

Yup, just make your own. Stay away from croutons, kalamata olives, cheese, etc. Mine usually has lettuce, cucumber, bell pepper, banana pepper, shrimp, homemade salad dressing. I've been loving a creamy Italian lately. Take an ounce of Fage 0% Greek yogurt, 1/4 packet of Italian dressing mix and add apple cider vinegar until right consistency. Super yummy and low calorie.

Yes, love this idea!! Thank you!!

It is so easy to make them at home. I eat salads all the time, and can easily keep them less than 500 calories for a HUGE salad. I'm not talking a small salad the size of a pre-packaged one here. A smaller salad made by me at home is usually between 200-300 calories, depending on the dressing that I use.

Just use lower calorie things. I tend to like tuna in my salads as the protein source - which tends to be low in calories. Chicken can be, too. Tuna, chicken, beans, and/or eggs are my go-to for protein. I like a salad with protein as they do tend to be more filling, and keep me satisfied longer. I usually skip the cheese, as that can add calories quickly if you love cheese as much as I do.

Vegetables are the easy part, as most of them are on the lower side. I typically use lettuce, bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, and jalepeno peppers (I love the spicier salads). Toppings like croutons can put you over fast if you're not careful. So, if you're trying to stay around that 480 you'd be consuming if you ate only one of those salads, either avoid them or use them sparingly.

As for dressing, they have lighter creamy dressings. They taste just as good to me (some of them better, as I don't like the non-light ranch at all). Or, you could do a homemade dressing. Another option is measuring out dressing until you get good enough to eyeball servings (which I can pretty much do now).

RoxieDawn wrote: »

Salads can be calorie killers, no doubt about that. But I like to add protein to mine so I may add grilled chicken and even a hard boiled egg. I use light dressings not the fat free dressings. light is always lesser calories and I am ok with the fat.

Make a cobb salad, grilled chicken salad, house salad, tuna salad, ceasar salad, greek salad you can put anything on lettuce or romaine, etc.. The options are endless, but you need to play up to your tastes and textures you want from the salad.

I load it up with lettuce and veggies and I do add Won ton strips or crispy onions for extra crunch and I just deal with those calories, but I now leave off the cheese because it gets buried in the salad and does not do too much for added flavor.

I want and need alot of protein, so I choose a meat first and build it from there.

I kinda do that too. If I'm at work, I buy a simple kale and chickpea salad and throw a can of sardines on it.
If we eat out my "go to" meal in all restaurants is caesar salad, no croutons with either salmon, chicken, or shrimp on it. We eat out OFTEN and I enjoy wine with dinner, so I can't treat dinners out as "special". They are just dinners away from home. Caesar salads!