USING DIET MEALS FROM THE STORE

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  • 143tobe
    143tobe Posts: 620 Member
    I'm sorry, I know how hard it can be to restrict yourself to one portion when you make something simply amazing. I have used pre-packaged meals or shakes or salads from time to time. Usually to get back on track after tossing myself off the wagon. Never been able to do this more more than two weeks though, and I don't think it would be a good idea to. What I eventually do is within those two weeks is to go back to a more 'grazing' type diet. I was actually offended when one of my friends looked at my food log and was like, "Wow, you graze a lot. I can't do that, I have a family to cook for." I do cook for my family, only I find it less tempting to overeat if my lunch is a plate of fresh veggies and a baked potato with yogurt ranch and my dinner is a bowl of cottage cheese with bananas and walnuts. Keeping my food choices simple, basic, fresh and kind of repetitive has worked for me.
  • TheJourneyToFabulous
    TheJourneyToFabulous Posts: 381 Member
    I will have a chilled ready meal if im in a rush or too tired to cook, but feel so much better on fresh home cooked meals
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    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!

    Since you are to have 60 carbs per meal, then you have nothing to worry about at 19 or 33, should probably eating more. Whether you should borrow excess carbs from one meal towards another would be a question for the doc treating your condition or the Dietician I assume you need to manage this nutrition. If doc told you to eat 60, not sure why you think it should be 45.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    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.

    They all work, up to a point. Meaning that many people find them helpful for initial weight loss. The problem, as always, is long-term maintenance. The small size of the meals and the relative monotony seem to be difficult to sustain long term.

    Any time one uses what I call an "artificial" system to lose weight, sooner or later they have to go back to "real life". That is where the vast majority of people fail. It's the same with very low calorie diets, liquid protein diets, etc. By not addressing the "real life" or behavioral issues up front, it just tends to postpone the day of reckoning.

    You may feel that the need for initial weight loss is so crucial that you need to do it by any means necessary and then deal with the transition later. I can't say that is "wrong", but history shows that the long-term success rate is very low.
  • tealtortoise
    tealtortoise Posts: 53 Member
    ruqayyahsmum wrote: »
    Any elderly singles living in your area? You could donate that extra portion to them to 1. Get it away from you so your not tempted and 2. Give a vulnerable person a nice homecooked meal

    The above posters idea is a great one! If that is not an option for you, however, how about you just throw the extra away? I know it's wasteful, but it's better than eating a double portion or giving up on your cooking skills. My toddler Barely eats dinner, but I am not going to stop serving him, so his food goes in trash every night...well, a little goes to the hungry pugs
    ☺️)
  • lclarkewalker
    lclarkewalker Posts: 37 Member
    Well I've read everyone's ideas. I'm glad some people understand that if its in the house I'll eat it, unless there's a limit. For example, if I know I would be eating my husbands or son's meal, I won't do it. But extras and leftovers? They're in my mouth faster than bill knows who!

    So here's what I'm going to do.

    On weekdays, veggies and diet dinners prepared. Its summertime and a great time to cease heavy cooking projects. But on weekends, I will cook. And eat. Just shop more limitedly.

    Someone said something about making my family suffer. Well, would I not be forcing my family to eat whatever else I'm eating if I cook meals? And if those meals are based on diet recipes, it's the same. Besides, my husband and son say they're fine with the dinners.

    The other thing is I have to limit more than calories, I have to limit carbs. This is so much easier to count Cals and Carbs with the dinners. And salads and veggies on the side can fill in the empty space.

    Anyhoo, thanks for answering everyone.
  • booksandchocolate12
    booksandchocolate12 Posts: 1,741 Member
    lclarkewalker wrote: »
    Someone said something about making my family suffer. Well, would I not be forcing my family to eat whatever else I'm eating if I cook meals? And if those meals are based on diet recipes, it's the same.

    Sorry, but I disagree. A Skinnytaste recipe made from scratch is infinitely better than a WW meal or a Lean Cuisine.

    But, if you think you can live on those meals forever, then go for it!
  • lclarkewalker
    lclarkewalker Posts: 37 Member
    Its not so much forever... its to get goin. I need to drop 20 and it seems this is the only way to really do it that's feasible for me.
  • lclarkewalker
    lclarkewalker Posts: 37 Member
    ruqayyahsmum wrote: »
    Any elderly singles living in your area? You could donate that extra portion to them to 1. Get it away from you so your not tempted and 2. Give a vulnerable person a nice homecooked meal

    The last time I took a needy person a meal they told me they wanted money.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    lclarkewalker wrote: »
    Its not so much forever... its to get going. I need to drop 20 and it seems this is the only way to really do it that's feasible for me.

    You want to drop 20 pounds AND keep it off. The goal really has 2 parts.

    When you get to goal how are you not going to be tempted......again? Losing 20 pounds doesn't change future behavior.....you still have the same habits unless you have made an effort to change those habits.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    TeaBea wrote: »
    lclarkewalker wrote: »
    Its not so much forever... its to get going. I need to drop 20 and it seems this is the only way to really do it that's feasible for me.

    You want to drop 20 pounds AND keep it off. The goal really has 2 parts.

    When you get to goal how are you not going to be tempted......again? Losing 20 pounds doesn't change future behavior.....you still have the same habits unless you have made an effort to change those habits.

    This. As I mentioned upthread, if there is this underlying issue with self control around food, such that "if it is there I will eat it" then I believe that needs to be addressed as much, if not more, than the question about ready made diet meals vs making portion appropriate meals for the family.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,383 Member
    lclarkewalker wrote: »
    Thanks to all who replied. I took time away from the forum to rework some things. Anyway, ended up deciding to design my own program. Been doing it 6 days and lost 2 pounds and no, its not about diet frozen meals lol. Those got old after a while and I stopped logging anyway.

    Great job!

    A nice feature of AllRecipes is you can change the serving size and it will update the ingredients for you. This might be a nice tool for you to create recipes suitable for 3 people.
  • ck2d
    ck2d Posts: 372 Member
    When I tried using prepackaged food to limit volume, and they were stacked in my refrigerator, I ended up eating a couple at a time. Totally backfired on me.

    Adjust the recipe and cook your meals as needed from scratch.
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    lclarkewalker wrote: »
    Thanks to all who replied. I took time away from the forum to rework some things. Anyway, ended up deciding to design my own program. Been doing it 6 days and lost 2 pounds and no, its not about diet frozen meals lol. Those got old after a while and I stopped logging anyway.

    I feel like it's pretty inevitable that the pre-made diet meals get old - I hope your personal program keeps working for you! Plus, if something isn't working, you can just tweak it instead of having to find something totally different.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    lclarkewalker wrote: »
    Thanks to all who replied. I took time away from the forum to rework some things. Anyway, ended up deciding to design my own program. Been doing it 6 days and lost 2 pounds and no, its not about diet frozen meals lol. Those got old after a while and I stopped logging anyway.

    I was going to say those meals would get old quickly (and they aren't very filling for the calories in them, since they are made with cheap ingredients) but then I noticed the date on the thread. Glad you got it figured out! Congrats on your loss so far.

    I still don't understand why you can't do math to figure out how much food to buy to make recipes from scratch. The easy way to keep from pigging out on leftovers is to buy things which have to be cooked to be edible, and only prepare what you need. No one except someone mentally ill ever binged on raw chicken thighs and unwashed turnips!

    As far as the carbs are concerned, I'm diabetic so I have to count carbs. I am guessing your doctor is concerned about your blood work? The main thing about preventing blood glucose spikes is the total number of net carbs per meal, with "meal" meaning about a two hour period. So if you only have 16 carbs at one meal, that doesn't mean you get to have more at the next meal. However, you can also lower your levels by exercising after meals - just a simple short walk has been found to help a lot.
  • lclarkewalker
    lclarkewalker Posts: 37 Member
    I count carbs to a point. Im a recovered diabetic type 2. My sugars have been stable for 2 years in spite of it all and my a1c has been fantabulous so thats not really an issue anymore, thank goodness.

    Im finding its easier to do my own thing. I get a headache if I dicker too much with this stuff. Here's a sample of my snack today:

    1 whole pickled egg (I pickle them myself)
    1 tsp light mayo
    1 small squirt yellow mustard

    Slice the egg in half, empty the yolk and smash it up. Mix in the mayo and the mustard, mix and stuff both sides. I stick them together... looks like a deep purple easter egg lol 80 calories
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