Need some help

Do you think you may like the idea of meal prepping? You could make your lunch for the whole week or even for a few days to start therefore you know ahead of time what you're eating.

What do you normally make for dinner? Eat that but eat less now. Simple!

queenliz99 wrote: »

What do you normally make for dinner? Eat that but eat less now. Simple!

I agree with this. Until you can find a balance, eat less of what you normally eat. No 2nd helpings. If you can weigh it first (takes only a few seconds) you can accurately get the calories. Stay at your caloric deficit based on what you entered in MFP. Take the easy 'wins' like drinking water instead of high calorie drinks. etc. You can do it!

pandabearretherford wrote: »

SherrySwett wrote: »

I would like to plan healthy meals before I go grocery shopping so I don't buy the same old things and wondering what to eat. I live alone.

See I have 2 kids and I have custody of my sister's and brother so in all I have 5 kids and I'm pulled all different way so it's hard

It is hard having kids in the house, but as a parent that is part of the challenge.
Getting the younger kids to bed will be key, regular bed time will allow you to plan around it.
Once the kids go to bed, I can prep for the next day (or next few days) and get a quick workout in.

Cooking in bulk and freezing separate portions can help to, allowing you to grab something out of the freezer and having the meal in MFP so you can quickly assign it.

I do a really easy meal schedule:

Breakfast:
1 blueberry greek yogurt (Fage brand, sold as individual servings) with a side of fruit (whatever I have on hand- banana, apple, berries, persimmon, pear, etc.
OR I'll have 2 thin snacker rice cakes topped with 1/2 cup cottage cheese and a side of fruit.

Morning snack:
1 Protein bar (I like the builders bar by Clif in chocolate mint flavor).

Lunch:
Usually about 1/2 cup of some Carb (rice or potato or sweet potato) with a couple ounces of a protein (ground turkey patty, chicken, steak, pot roast, salmon, shrimp, etc), and some veggies. ~This is easy to throw together because on the weeken I cook up a couple batches of different proteins and then portion them out into snack size baggies, then throw those all in a freezer bag and put in the freezer. Then I can pull out 1 serving of whatever meat I want for lunch and just microwave it for a few seconds. I also keep pre cooked rice in the freezer, it comes that way, you just measure out how much you need and heat it up in the microwave. Or I will microwave a potato or sweet potato for a few minutes to cook it and have some of that. The veggies I usually just put raw cut up and microwave them with the meat and rice and it steams while those defrost. Or I will eat the veggies raw.

Afternoon snack:
Sliced apples and peanut butter, or some turkey or beef jerkey & a banana, or raw veggies & ranch, or some raisins & popcorn, or cereal, or a protein shake... I sometimes will have 2 afternoon snacks, it just depends what I'm in the mood for.

Dinner:
Same as lunch- a carb, a protein, and a veggie. But I usually make this fresh. The veggie might be part of a stir fry, or a side salad, or just steamed veggies. If you're short on time you could just pull some pre-cooked protein out of the freezer and use that for your dinner base.

Dessert:
If I still have calories left I'll have some berries and low calorie vanilla ice cream (I like the Halo Top brand), or 1/2 a protein bar, of just some fruit, or a yogurt, or if I don't have calories left then just some tea.

You can use this as a guide and just adjust portion sizes to fit your calories and macros, and the types of foods to match what you prefer.

The other way to do it is just eat whatever you want and count calories as you go and just stop eating when you hit your limit- but I feel like this is really hard compared to eating in a more structured way.

You could also pre-log your breakfast, lunch and dinner if you know what you're going to have, then just add in snacks if you have the room and you know exactly how much you can have this way.

Basically you will get the hang of it and learn as you go. It takes time.

Also you may have to adjust for special occasions- when I know I'm going to have a higher calorie dinner like pizza or something then I will skip my snacks & dessert or eat a smaller lunch or something. Or if I have a big lunch out with friends I have a smaller dinner and no afternoon snack... I like how flexible counting calories can be!