USING DIET MEALS FROM THE STORE
lclarkewalker
Posts: 37 Member
I've always cooked. So following recipes isn't an issue. The problem is: I always go past my allowable calories because there's three of us in our home and recipes are for 2, 4 or 6.
Weight Watchers and other portioned control meals are readily available in the stores, so I thought I would wean us into those. I realize you want to add a salad, some fruit or other veggie to them. For those who can have the extra carbs a roll would probably be ok (I cannot because of carb limits).
Now here's my dilema:
Some of these meals are higher in carb than others. I have to (medical reasons) count carbs. So, do I balance the meals? Like, a dinner with 19 carbs for one meal and a dinner with 33 carbs on another meal? I am allowed up to 60 carbs per meal but want to keep it under 45.
And has anyone else tried losing weight using these? Sodium is no problem.
Thanks!
Weight Watchers and other portioned control meals are readily available in the stores, so I thought I would wean us into those. I realize you want to add a salad, some fruit or other veggie to them. For those who can have the extra carbs a roll would probably be ok (I cannot because of carb limits).
Now here's my dilema:
Some of these meals are higher in carb than others. I have to (medical reasons) count carbs. So, do I balance the meals? Like, a dinner with 19 carbs for one meal and a dinner with 33 carbs on another meal? I am allowed up to 60 carbs per meal but want to keep it under 45.
And has anyone else tried losing weight using these? Sodium is no problem.
Thanks!
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Replies
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I don't think I'd switch my family to ready meals from home cooking because of that? I mean, if you want to but it seems like a big reaction to an easily solved problem.
Surely you could take the recipe for 2 and multiply the ingredients by 1.5 for a meal for 3, or take the recipe for 4 and multiply all the ingredients by 0.75 for a meal for 3, or make the meal for 4 and freeze one serve and have leftover nights once a week, or have someone take the extra serve for lunch, or the person with the bigger calorie allowance gets a bigger serve, make the recipe for 6 and freeze half for later...
If you like cooking, the issue you've set out is no reason to stop.29 -
Cook the meal for four.
Serve the three of you.
Put one portion in a container for lunch the next day.
Voila.36 -
Make the recipe that serves 6, cut in half, cut each half in thirds, freeze the rest. Also voila.
And check out the recipes on skinnytaste.com - lower calorie yums there!
~Lyssa
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Just build meals in the recipe builder, make each portion 1,10, or 100g weigh our your portion. Don't worry what the original recipe says a serving is.
Once you have a number of recipes in there it is easy.
Cheers, h.6 -
macgurlnet wrote: »Make the recipe that serves 6, cut in half, cut each half in thirds, freeze the rest. Also voila.
And check out the recipes on skinnytaste.com - lower calorie yums there!
~Lyssa
This what we do. We have 3 adults in the house. If making a recipe, I make for 6, half goes away for everyone to have lunch the next day.2 -
Being able to cook, is one of the biggest advantages to have, while losing weight. Don't give that up!12
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lclarkewalker wrote: »I've always cooked. So following recipes isn't an issue. The problem is: I always go past my allowable calories because there's three of us in our home and recipes are for 2, 4 or 6.
Weight Watchers and other portioned control meals are readily available in the stores, so I thought I would wean us into those. I realize you want to add a salad, some fruit or other veggie to them. For those who can have the extra carbs a roll would probably be ok (I cannot because of carb limits).
Now here's my dilema:
Some of these meals are higher in carb than others. I have to (medical reasons) count carbs. So, do I balance the meals? Like, a dinner with 19 carbs for one meal and a dinner with 33 carbs on another meal? I am allowed up to 60 carbs per meal but want to keep it under 45.
And has anyone else tried losing weight using these? Sodium is no problem.
Thanks!
this is the most bizarre reasoning for wanting to eat frozen meals that I've ever seen!
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Even if a recipe serves 6 you don't have to eat all 6 servings at once. Use the recipe builder and save the extra portions for another meal.7
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I always cook, there are two of us I either make a smaller version of the recipe for example halve a recipe for 4 or if that is difficult cook the whole recipe, freeze half, have it on a day I want something quick. Pasta sauce I cook in batches big enough to feed 8, portion it into 4 and freeze, defrost when wanted and cook pasta it makes it a 10 min meal which is great.
From experience those ready meals just don't taste anywhere near as nice as homecoming.5 -
Ready made meals as an occasional thing is ok but I'd agree with others don't give up on cooking from scratch. For a start your getting the full nutrition, I am highly doubtful that ready made meals retain all the nutrients home cooking does. Secondly its an expensive way to eat.5
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I'm not sure I understand the issue. Both 19 and 33 are under your 45 gram goal. But if you are suggesting that you go over the 60 gram per meal limit on one meal but then eat significantly less on another, then I would say that is probably a bad idea. 60 grams of carbs is the approximate maximum number of carbs the human body can absorb in an hour. Your doctor is probably limiting you to 60 grams per meal with that in mind. Eating more than that will cause you to have carbs in your gut for a longer period of time.1
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I tried these at one point. Found them to be tasty but not especially satisfying. I'd pop one into the nuke and eat it. Then wind up going out for a large burger and fries. I realized if I just went out for the burger and fries (albeit a smaller one) and didn't eat the frozen dinner I was consuming less calories.5
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TimothyFish wrote: »I'm not sure I understand the issue. Both 19 and 33 are under your 45 gram goal. But if you are suggesting that you go over the 60 gram per meal limit on one meal but then eat significantly less on another, then I would say that is probably a bad idea. 60 grams of carbs is the approximate maximum number of carbs the human body can absorb in an hour. Your doctor is probably limiting you to 60 grams per meal with that in mind. Eating more than that will cause you to have carbs in your gut for a longer period of time.
More than 60 grams of carbs in a meal does seem like a lot, but....really? What happens to carb 61, or if you eat something that has more carbs than that?
Sorry, but this does not sound right to me.
Source?
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@lclarkewalker, don't trade in your good home cooking for packaged meals. Your family will probably be very mad at you, and you will be mad at yourself. All you need is portion control.
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I live alone and I usually make recipes that serve anywhere from 2-6. I use the recipe builder and decide how many servings I want to divide it into, then divide it up into that number. It may mean eating leftovers for lunch. It may mean I eat it for a couple of days straight, or it may mean I freeze a couple of portions for future use on days I don't feel like cooking.
Frozen meals from the grocery store are very handy as an occasional fill-in but I could never base my meal planning around them.2 -
TimothyFish wrote: »I'm not sure I understand the issue. Both 19 and 33 are under your 45 gram goal. But if you are suggesting that you go over the 60 gram per meal limit on one meal but then eat significantly less on another, then I would say that is probably a bad idea. 60 grams of carbs is the approximate maximum number of carbs the human body can absorb in an hour. Your doctor is probably limiting you to 60 grams per meal with that in mind. Eating more than that will cause you to have carbs in your gut for a longer period of time.
More than 60 grams of carbs in a meal does seem like a lot, but....really? What happens to carb 61, or if you eat something that has more carbs than that?
Sorry, but this does not sound right to me.
Source?
Carb 61 gets digested in hour 2 instead of hour one. The main reason people even think about how fast the body absorbs carbs is for athletic performance. When exercising, you want to keep the rate at which you eat at the rate at which you absorb carbs so that you don't begin to feel bloated. If you aren't exercising, then it really doesn't hurt anything to fill your gut with food and let it sit there for a few hours, unless there is a medical reason, which the OP indicated there is.
An interesting article on the subject:
http://www.bicycling.com/food/eat-light-your-bike1 -
TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »I'm not sure I understand the issue. Both 19 and 33 are under your 45 gram goal. But if you are suggesting that you go over the 60 gram per meal limit on one meal but then eat significantly less on another, then I would say that is probably a bad idea. 60 grams of carbs is the approximate maximum number of carbs the human body can absorb in an hour. Your doctor is probably limiting you to 60 grams per meal with that in mind. Eating more than that will cause you to have carbs in your gut for a longer period of time.
More than 60 grams of carbs in a meal does seem like a lot, but....really? What happens to carb 61, or if you eat something that has more carbs than that?
Sorry, but this does not sound right to me.
Source?
Carb 61 gets digested in hour 2 instead of hour one. The main reason people even think about how fast the body absorbs carbs is for athletic performance. When exercising, you want to keep the rate at which you eat at the rate at which you absorb carbs so that you don't begin to feel bloated. If you aren't exercising, then it really doesn't hurt anything to fill your gut with food and let it sit there for a few hours, unless there is a medical reason, which the OP indicated there is.
An interesting article on the subject:
http://www.bicycling.com/food/eat-light-your-bike
For race fueling it's more complicated than that, as you are balancing what maximizes performance with the fear of it messing up your stomach and being counterproductive.
For example, a tri training group I was in (half ironman/ironman) provided the following information:
Bike
• 60-80 g CHO per hour from food + drink
• Liquids or semi-solids digested better than solids
• Too little = bonk vs too much = GI distress
Run
• 150-250 calories per hour
• Preferably in the form of liquid or semi-solid; jostling can cause gut distress
The amount you need to be consuming can be tailored to your stats, speed, intensity with a calculator.
Of course, none of this is relevant to someone not eating to fuel an athletic event.
If OP's issue is IR, her focus would be quite different from someone fueling a race, and the limit is probably more to make sure the meal is balanced between carbs, protein, and fat (although I do think 60 is kind of high for an average meal, or at least more than I'd normally have even though I don't count carbs at all currently).1 -
Almost sorry I asked this question.
So lets see if anyone gets it.
I am addicted to food. If you ever watched MY 600 POUND LIFE you'd understand.
So, I make a meal for six and divide it in half. Sounds easy, right? Or that fourth serving. Yeah okay. I save that one little bit? Um.
IF ITS THERE I WILL EAT IT.
But, if I have just the diet meals in groups of three, well, I would have to take from my loved ones and I won't do that. So that seems to work.
All I wanted to know is if Nutrasystem, or Weight Watchers meals, have worked for anyone else.
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Hey, I tried the weight watchers meals a month back and I was so depressed with how teeny tiny they were, I had to add potatoes or rice with them which upped my calories more than I was happy with so my opinion I would not bother as a long term thing, maybe the odd one here and there if your too busy too cook.
Edit: Ah just saw what you put about "if its there I will eat it" yeah I know what you mean, its hard to avoid that left over food tucked nicely in the fridge.... you think to yourself " 1 sneaky mouthful won't hurt" and the next thing its all gone.... its hard I know but you have to resist and I don't think microwave meals have a whole lot of healthy nutritional values for long term use... i could be wrong so don't hold me on that.... maybe make smaller meals? so no left overs? I wish you all the best "hugs"1 -
lclarkewalker wrote: »Almost sorry I asked this question.
So lets see if anyone gets it.
I am addicted to food. If you ever watched MY 600 POUND LIFE you'd understand.
So, I make a meal for six and divide it in half. Sounds easy, right? Or that fourth serving. Yeah okay. I save that one little bit? Um.
IF ITS THERE I WILL EAT IT.
But, if I have just the diet meals in groups of three, well, I would have to take from my loved ones and I won't do that. So that seems to work.
All I wanted to know is if Nutrasystem, or Weight Watchers meals, have worked for anyone else.
Make less, or serve the excess to your family.
I STARTED calorie counting by eating a lot of lean cuisine, healthy choice, smart ones etc. And I lost a lot of weight that wat. But learned more along the way about how to get my lazy behind to measure and cook real food to get better nutrition for fewer calories.
Food addiction or not, you're kind of going at it backwards.
You do you (yes, it can work because calories. It's all just food) but if you really want to switch yourself to frozen meals, don't make your family suffer.9 -
I like the idea of working around recipes. I just don't see any benefit in those frozen diet meals, and from personal experience (during a lazy phase of mine LOL) I know they didn't keep me full.
Why not adjust the recipe? Or make the recipe for 2 and supplement the (2/3) portions with a salad? Or steamed cauliflower? Or homemade soup?
I've seen some brilliant recipes for low calorie but filling soups around some of these healthy eating websites. They show up on google or if you PM me I could send you some I've saved in my browser.3 -
How about don't rely on recipes? Cook a protein, a vegetable or 2 and/or salad, and a side (potato, rice, etc) and weigh your portions before serving the family? I imagine each person (adult & kids) have different nutritional needs and frozen meals are unlikely to meet them. This is how creating new habits will get you to your goals too. Good luck!8
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lclarkewalker wrote: »Almost sorry I asked this question.
So lets see if anyone gets it.
I am addicted to food. If you ever watched MY 600 POUND LIFE you'd understand.
So, I make a meal for six and divide it in half. Sounds easy, right? Or that fourth serving. Yeah okay. I save that one little bit? Um.
IF ITS THERE I WILL EAT IT.
But, if I have just the diet meals in groups of three, well, I would have to take from my loved ones and I won't do that. So that seems to work.
All I wanted to know is if Nutrasystem, or Weight Watchers meals, have worked for anyone else.
I use frozen meals as my lunch option. I like it because there's no guess work. Plus- I hate cooking. So instead of trying to face the fast menu (at this point in my journey) it's just better to get a frozen dinner, add veggies and call it a day.
It's not a 'great' option. But it's better than what I'll get if I drivetrough.4 -
lclarkewalker wrote: »Almost sorry I asked this question.
So lets see if anyone gets it.
I am addicted to food. If you ever watched MY 600 POUND LIFE you'd understand.
So, I make a meal for six and divide it in half. Sounds easy, right? Or that fourth serving. Yeah okay. I save that one little bit? Um.
IF ITS THERE I WILL EAT IT.
But, if I have just the diet meals in groups of three, well, I would have to take from my loved ones and I won't do that. So that seems to work.
All I wanted to know is if Nutrasystem, or Weight Watchers meals, have worked for anyone else.
Um... If you are accustomed to cooking, isn't it is possible to adjust recipes to make an appropriate number of servings for the number of people that are eating it? I don't see how the alternative of moving everyone to ready made meals (are you suggesting that you would microwave 3 individual boxes of frozen meals) is the best solution here. Do you cook everything from a "recipe"? What are some typical meals you are making?
Regardless of all that - and putting aside the controversial term "food addiction" - in order to be successful in the long term, you are going to need to learn how to address self control around food. Being able to stop after a single, appropriate sized portion of food is something that many people struggle with but learn how to manage. The concept of "if it is there I will eat it" is perplexing - the ready meals will be there, in your freezer - why will you not just pop extras of those in the microwave? How is it different for a leftover meal that you've packaged and put away for lunch the next day?5 -
Yeah - having more servings per recipe than people is a bonus in my house! You set aside a serving and you've got lunch for someone the next day! Or you freeze a 3-serving package and you've got dinner sometime next week or next month!
Or you divide the whole thing in thirds and simply log 33% more calories, but you make them fit your budget?
or you only make three servings worth of food and scale the recipes slightly to compensate?
Heck, at the price point most diet meals are sold at? You could make four servings of homemade food, serve three, and throw the last one away and it would still be cheaper & taste better.7 -
lclarkewalker wrote: »Almost sorry I asked this question.
So lets see if anyone gets it.
I am addicted to food. If you ever watched MY 600 POUND LIFE you'd understand.
So, I make a meal for six and divide it in half. Sounds easy, right? Or that fourth serving. Yeah okay. I save that one little bit? Um.
IF ITS THERE I WILL EAT IT.
But, if I have just the diet meals in groups of three, well, I would have to take from my loved ones and I won't do that. So that seems to work.
All I wanted to know is if Nutrasystem, or Weight Watchers meals, have worked for anyone else.
Sites like allrecipes.com will convert the recipe to whatever serving amounts you want. You can of course also do this manually.
But what about making a recipe for four and as soon as it is done immediately putting the extra portion in the frig or freezer (or out of sight until it cools)? I baked cookies the other night and had to get the extra ones out of sight and once they were gone I was fine.
Also, are you getting enough bulk and fiber? I'm eating larger portions of broccoli with dinner (at least 100 g/3.5 oz) and this makes me uninterested in seconds.2 -
lclarkewalker wrote: »Almost sorry I asked this question.
So lets see if anyone gets it.
I am addicted to food. If you ever watched MY 600 POUND LIFE you'd understand.
So, I make a meal for six and divide it in half. Sounds easy, right? Or that fourth serving. Yeah okay. I save that one little bit? Um.
IF ITS THERE I WILL EAT IT.
But, if I have just the diet meals in groups of three, well, I would have to take from my loved ones and I won't do that. So that seems to work.
All I wanted to know is if Nutrasystem, or Weight Watchers meals, have worked for anyone else.
Of course these meals can help people lose weight. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out. You can make ANY substitutions you want if you stay within your calorie goal.
However, the more difficult thing will be maintenance. Are you going to forego cooking forever? OR maybe just cook a few nights a week forever? Because when you get to goal a smaller you will require (somewhat) fewer calories forever. Somethings will need to be lifestyle changes....will Lean Cuisine be one of them?0 -
I definitely would not go from eating homemade to eating prepackaged meals with all those preservatives and added crap in them. Just use the recipe builder. Portion it out for 1 serving whatever you determine it and see from there. Once you put it into the recipe builder, you can determine how little or how much of the portion size you want to eat. For example if I make a casserole I might determine a portion size is 1/2 cup of said casserole, so I will count out the casserole by 1/2 cup servings and put that total in the recipe builder (lets say for arguments sake 10 servings) so if I eat an entire cup I know I ate 2 servings of the 1/2 cup serving I determined, sometimes I want more, sometimes I'm not very hungry. I think its much better to use real ingredients than prepackaged food.1
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I have bought them but found the sodium context super high. And I also did not really enjoy the taste. I did nutra system for only 1 month. Too much sodium, not healthy foods. I would really like to buy them because I do understand your thinking that you would know what is for your dinner and just eat that. I don't think you would eat two in a row because they are not great tasting. Good luck0
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These are good strategies, as is portion control. Another one to consider is altering the recipes. For example, bulk up the recipe with more vegetables in the ingredients, or make lower-calorie substitutions to bring the overall calorie and carb count down (since you need to watch carbs). If your family doesn't need to reduce calories, they could have a higher-calorie, higher-carb side dish or dessert.kshama2001 wrote: »But what about making a recipe for four and as soon as it is done immediately putting the extra portion in the frig or freezer (or out of sight until it cools)? I baked cookies the other night and had to get the extra ones out of sight and once they were gone I was fine.
Also, are you getting enough bulk and fiber? I'm eating larger portions of broccoli with dinner (at least 100 g/3.5 oz) and this makes me uninterested in seconds.
Just to give an example of what that *might* look like, if you were making chili con carne for dinner, you could greatly increase that tomatoes and onions in the chili and use leaner meat to reduce calories. Your family could have rice, cornbread, or crackers with theirs, and you could have something else that's lower in calories and carbs but equally filling. For dessert, they could have ice cream with strawberries while you could have strawberries with a little yogurt or whipped cream. Eating more vegetables would be good for you, and your family might benefit from better nutrition too. That's one possibility anyway.
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