What’s your sustainable food plan?

Sustainability for me means any food, that I like, in moderation, sticking to portion control and calorie budget.

Starting out I went with some usual weight loss conceptions. No sweets. No junk food. You get the idea. After a couple of months on MFP, through members here, I discovered you can have any food, as long as you stick to your calorie budget. Holidays and special occasions, no problem. The key is not letting them become, daily occurrences. It’s what works for me.

My opinion, experiment. For best results, take what works for others, if you think it’s something that would work for you, go for it, if not, disregard. This is a very personal journey.

I realized on day one that my way of eating would have to be sustainable. I had researched keto and realized that would eliminate too many foods I love, so that wouldn't work.

I sat down with my grocery list and started writing down foods that I enjoy. Veggies, seafood, eggs, cheese, sprouted grain bread.

So, that's what I bought to start. I knew I needed to be in a calorie deficit. That showed me how much I'd actually been eating. 😨

Joined the community. Someone said I was eating pescatarian. I didn't know there was a name for my favorite foods. LOL.

I try two new veggies every week. 95% of my meals are home cooked. I can live eating like this til my dying day. That equals sustainability.

Well, just a bunch of little stuff I guess. When I started I was overweight heading towards obese. So I counted calories and macros to get an idea of where I needed to be in terms of portions that wouldn't overfeed me. So it morphed into things like:
-No seconds at dinner- instead I'll just take a bite out of the pan to satisfy that "want more" feeling, then put dinner away.
-No piling the plate high, it must fit in a single layer.
-No eating untill I am miserable and stuffed.
-Order burger only, eat a couple of husband's fries instead of a whole box to myself. OR no bun, then I can get fries.
-Eat my hard to moderate foods with much less frequency. I wont touch chips unless I know I am going to sit and eat half a bag in one go. Or I'll eat a small bag out of the vending machine. I try to bake cookies with less frequency because I know I wont stop at 1.
-Listen to and satisfy my cravings as I get them. It's better for me to eat smaller amount now, then to eat a large amount later because I ignored it. I can always move my goals around to compensate.
-Delaying breakfast until 10am saves me from having to need a morning snack to hold me til lunch.

I will also do things like have a bag of popcorn for breakfast, or a blizzard from dairy queen and fries for lunch to get those cravings out of the way without going overboard with calories. I used to have those things in addition to my regular meals.


Of course these things didn't happen overnight. But as I learned what appropriate calories look like, I began to make adjustments to my style of eating. I've maintained for a year now with intermittant calorie counting. I basically just spot check if I feel like portion creep is starting to happen or I find myself overeating too much.
ETA: I could easily maintain my "rules" for life.
ETA2 : And by rules, I really mean flexible guidelines.

I sat down one day and really took a look at what I was eating and then tried to really think about how I really wanted to be eating not just now but in the future. I knew that I wanted to eat foods that I really loved, foods that I at least liked and then foods that I wanted to incorporate that I wasn't already eating. I made the decision that I wouldn't eat foods/meals that didn't fall into the love/like category. I wouldn't eat "diet" foods unless I enjoyed them or bland foods. I want to enjoy what I eat. I know that food is meant to fuel the body but it can also bring joy to your life when shared with others.

I also took a look at the high calorie/low density foods that I was eating. I didn't want to delete them completely but I knew that they would have to be limited. So even on those types of foods I picked my favorites and on occasion I will buy them and eat with no remorse.

I also like a dessert ever so often so I found some recipes that fit my eating plan. I also keep some low calorie small dessert such as little pudding cups so that I can have a few bites and I have found that satisfies me "sweet" urges.

On occasion my son will ask me out for breakfast or lunch and we will grab doughnuts or eat fast food. I enjoy my time with him so I don't want to sit and worry about what or where we eat. Again...I have no remorse because it is something I enjoy doing with him.

The most important thing that I did was to be honest with myself about my eating habits and why they were out of control.

When I first started trying to lose weight, it was only about calories and my personal trainers always tried to put me on a low carb diet. I did lose some weight but it didn’t work for me in the long run since I’m not a big meat eater and I love produce too much.

Now I am in a very slow rate of loss and sometimes just maintenance and I’m mostly plant based with occasional fish and eggs. I had to look at the nutrients I was getting to make sure I was eating the right foods.

I do supplement with some plant based protein powders that I like, get tons of fiber, and eat tons of veggies and fruits, rice, beans, and some meat substitutes. I’m rarely hungry eating this way so it has been good for me.

Be diligent during the week. From Mon-Thurs (sometimes Friday) I eat as little as possible during the day. Black coffee and water all day, then a piece of fruit on the ride home from work. I have a young family at home so making custom meals just for me is a lot of work. Also worth noting that I have an office job so I don't move much from 9-5. This strategy allows me to consume a 1200 calorie dinner and still be well under my 2000 calorie limit. If I feel hungry later in the evening some fruit or veggies or a hard boiled egg to curb appetite before bed. Weekends I tend to be more lenient since I bank calories during the week. This has worked for me thus far....down 20lbs since May.

I've been managing my weight for 7ish years now and my plan has changed/evolved quite a bit in that time. I continue to adjust the way I eat as I delve further into nutrition science and food politics, which has really become a hobby for me. At this point I've spent hundreds of hours reading/watching/learning about food and nutrition and continue to challenge myself. What started as a weight loss endeavor has snowballed into something much bigger, for me

Terytha wrote: »

panda4153 wrote: »

All the foods!! just within my calorie goals. I have tried all the various restriction diets such as low carb, vegetarian, whole 30 etc. I wanted to try different methods identify what would in fact be sustainable for me. What I found is that no restrictions on what I eat, and just focusing on how much of it I eat has been what works. That means sometimes I eat delicious veggies, fruits, and lean meats, and sometimes I eat cake and drink Margaritas....I love cake!!...and Margaritas 😂

You don't love cake as much as I love cake. I will fight you. /jk
(But seriously I love cake more than anything.)

Anyway. I'm the same. All that changed about my food is that I plan meals ahead of time. I can't eat pizza spontaneously, I need to know when we want pizza so I can reduce calories a bit the rest of the day. But I still eat stuff like cake and pizza and fast food pretty regularly.

I definitely eat less, obviously. Medium fries. A small piece of cake. Not the entire pizza. Etc.

We might be Soul Mates lol 😄

Planning and preparing, and planning and preparing. I try to eat veg and fruit and fit the things I like into my daily goal. The only way it all comes together is by getting out ahead of it, making sure you have what you need to eat before you're hungry, and not letting yourself get over-hungry so your decisions get clouded.