Where do I start???

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paigenevarez
paigenevarez Posts: 3 Member
in Getting Started
I am starting this journey for the first time and I am having so much trouble figuring out what to eat.

I grew up in a household where my mother ran an in home daycare so the meals were easy and cheap. The fruits and veggies were in a can and the main courses alot of the time consisted of frozen food. Eating healthy was never something that I really was introduces to.

I pre prepped my breakfast and lunch but didnt think about snacks and dinner. I logged all my meals and stayed under the calorie count so I thought I was doing good but then i looked at the nutrients... I went way over on sodium and cholesterol
I dont understand how there is so much bad stuff in things that you think are good.

I would love to hear about everyones struggles with starting their journeys and any advice they have or things they changed

Replies

  • musicfan68
    musicfan68 Posts: 1,136 Member
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    Eat what you want. It's all about calories - adjust the amount you eat. Frozen food can be just as nutritious as fresh. I buy frozen vegetables and eat those instead of fresh because fresh goes bad so fast. Also canned isn't bad either.

    Unless you have a reason to be worried about sodium, you don't need to worry about going over. It really isn't that hard. Just eat what you like in portions that fit your calorie goals.
  • wintersjourney2994
    wintersjourney2994 Posts: 1 Member
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    The cholesterol you eat has nothing to do with your body's cholesterol levels. My nutritionist told not not to worry about it. Like I eat eggs most mornings for breakfast. And eggs have cholesterol. But he said I didn't need to pay attention to it.
  • pamfgil
    pamfgil Posts: 449 Member
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    There's healthy eating guidelines, just google to find them, also there's a stoplight system showing everyday, sometimes and occasional foods, if you start with that you can go a long way to eating healthy. Don't aim for perfection, and frozen veggies are fine, if you're only feeding yourself they're way more convenient. Going into fine details re macros and different nutrients is not something to focus on as a beginner
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited September 2017
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    This is a continuous process of learning, and that means you will have to try and fail repeatedly. That's okay! If you log your whole day in advance, it's easier to see where you need to adjust, instead of running out of calories.

    To lose weight, all you need is a consistent calorie deficit. This is just fancy talk for eating less and moving more, and for the most part it just means eating less. But you have to eat less for a long time, so you need to make some priorities in order to stick to eating less. If you don't eat well, you end up hungry, hangry, tired and sick. So it's absolutely recommended to eat a nutritious diet.

    But a nutritious diet isn't "eating right", as in one, perfect way of doing it. What you want is to get in enough of everything, but not too much of anything. There are so many ways to do this, that it sounds complicated and confusing, but it's really not, it's just complex, and very much up to you and your personal preference.

    And because you can eat the "healthiest" diet in the world and still fail your weightloss project, if you try to force yourself to eat in a way you don't feel good about, you have to do some research on your own. Nobody besides you knows exactly what it takes for you to feel good, and good about what you eat.

    Set up MFP with your stats, and choose the weekly weight loss rate that is closest to 1% of your body weight. You get a calorie number to hit. Do that, every day (+/-50). If you do it correctly, as in, weighing everything, picking correct (not good looking) entries, never leaving anything out and never cheating, you will lose weight, pretty much at the estimated rate, on average, over weeks and months.

    Don't worry about sodium or cholesterol (or sugar or other details) unless your doctor has told you to, specifically, and given you real, actionable instructions.

    If you set MFP to track protein, fat and carbs, maybe fiber too, and aim to not go under on protein and fat, and not go over on carbs and calories, and do this consistently, you're not just going to lose weight, but also improve your diet, if it needs improving.

    You can take it further if you want to - look into food groups and the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate & Healthy Eating Pyramid, but that's really just another way of reaching the same goal.
  • BelArvardan
    BelArvardan Posts: 16 Member
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    Building habits that are going to last a lifetime takes precisely that - time, so arm yourself with patience! You will definitely make some mistakes, but what is important is that you don`t give up when you do. For starters, don`t worry much about anything else but logging and calories, you`ll see, you`ll learn about better nutrition as you go, there is a bunch of stuff online and here on MFP that will help as long as you stick to it! :wink:
  • amandacalories
    amandacalories Posts: 107 Member
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    I don't believe it's possible to eat perfectly healthy 100% of the time. If that's what you think it takes to lose weight then you are setting yourself up for failure. You could eat McDonald's everyday and lose weight.

    The truth is we live in a developed country (I'm assuming that) where convenience is important. We have jobs and kids and school and other obligations. It's not possible to make home cooked meals from scratch everyday. There is nothing wrong with eating frozen things and canned goods in moderation. Yes the sodium might give you some extra water weight but does a day or two of extra mean you're unhealthy? No way.

    My point being that things can be healthy and still be "unhealthy". I love eggs and eat them almost everyday, but by MFP standards I'm giving myself a heart attack with all the cholesterol. Figure out what works for you and then fine tune it to be "healthy", but don't ever expect perfection.
  • ACanadian22
    ACanadian22 Posts: 377 Member
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    Personally, I wouldn't "dive" into this. Slowly get into eating less and it won't be a shock to your body. I dove in last year and I am on the restart.
    Eating clean as possible seems to work faster for me, but I do have one day a week that I get my treats(I love fries).
    As far as going over things...I go over my sugar EVERY SINGLE DAY! I love my fruits and potatoes. They are high in sugar, BUT they are also very healthy and filling.
    Stop. Breathe. This really isn't hard. It is a learning process.
  • ZoneFive
    ZoneFive Posts: 570 Member
    edited September 2017
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    So much good information here. Just remember that you don't have to (and you probably won't) get it right from the very first. This is a long process -- it's your whole life, after all -- and you'll be tweaking it as you go. Personally I find that more protein and lower starchy/complex carbs leave me feeling less hungry for longer, so it's easier to keep my calories down. Lots of people are much happier eating more carbs, and they stay un-hungry longer that way. The only way to find out is to start with a moderate macro split like MFP's default, try it for a couple of weeks and log it, then tweak a bit to see how it works for you.

    It'd be very nice and simple if we all could be happy with the same macros & calories, but that's not how the game works.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    paigenevarez wrote: »
    I am starting this journey for the first time and I am having so much trouble figuring out what to eat.

    I grew up in a household where my mother ran an in home daycare so the meals were easy and cheap. The fruits and veggies were in a can and the main courses alot of the time consisted of frozen food. Eating healthy was never something that I really was introduces to.

    I pre prepped my breakfast and lunch but didnt think about snacks and dinner. I logged all my meals and stayed under the calorie count so I thought I was doing good but then i looked at the nutrients... I went way over on sodium and cholesterol
    I dont understand how there is so much bad stuff in things that you think are good.

    I would love to hear about everyones struggles with starting their journeys and any advice they have or things they changed

    For me, the best place to start is just to get used to logging and hitting your calorie goal for a couple of weeks. Then look over your logs and see where you are falling short and where you are wasting calories or overdoing it, and go from there.

    The first thing I did when I wanted to eat healthier was focusing on increasing my fruit and veg, one extra serving at a time.

    If you want some guidance, you could schedule a checkup and get blood work done. That way you know if you have any deficiencies or borderline conditions you need to be wary of.

    I wouldn't worry about one day of high sodium or cholesterol. And if you don't have any medical conditions, you might not have to worry about them at all :)
  • DeniseWilson43
    DeniseWilson43 Posts: 87 Member
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    Hello Welcome here, Portion size is a biggy. Look at your palm That's size each food group should be. Find your self hungry have fruits An vegetables around at all times, grapes in baggy, raised, Apple with these things u can have a bundes of. Cut Soda out completely any sugary drinks , read package portion size will help out greatly cheat day once a wk, Stay focus, only person who can make u do this An want this is YOU ... Denise

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