Hi everyone!

crk831 wrote: »

Intros are not my thing, but here goes. I'm Claudia, in my 60s and trying so hard to lose weight. It's very frustrating. I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow and she has great faith in me...more than I have in myself. I've recently become vegetarian, in hopes of eating better and staying within my beliefs. I will eat eggs and dairy but no meat or fish. This has also become quite hard for me. I don't feel full much anymore and I'm struggling to create meals for myself. I live alone (I became a widow a few years ago) and I don't have friends to bounce things off of. I hope I find a friend or two around here. Thanks for reading.

Not sure if you can eat peanut butter. But a really good kick start transition to starting dieting is to watch what you eat and how much. And in between two meals if you’re absolutely starving go grab a tbsp and scoop a chunk of peanut butter onto a spoon. And savour it😂 it works! I’m not much for smoothies with PB but eating it just out of the jar is amazing 😝

Try meal prep. Get same sized containers. Find recipes that are healthy and calorie abiding. And then make a batch and divide. Make a few meals. First few days you’ll eat same. Day 2-3 make a dish or two. Add to your fridge stash of prepped containers. Just keep rotating out. By day 5 you should have several options for what to eat. Don’t worry so much about tossing out. Staying ON track is more important than a few wasted portions. Start with salads. And pair with a different dressing each time.

I was also going to suggest meal prep.

I tend to make up big batches of things and then just reheat single servings for myself or my family.

Like a big pot of soup or spaghetti... Works with casserole style dishes too, like a big veggie lasagna or Tex-Mex casserole.

Pre-chop a lot of different veggies in separate containers and then use for different meals. Like top mixed greens for a salad one night, use same veggies in an omelet or mixed in with a scrambled egg next morning.

I have also made up big batches of tempeh salad (similar recipe for chicken salad just tempeh instead of chicken) and make last a few days eating individual wraps.

Same with cold salads... Love pasta salads or chickpea salads (Puerto Rican: canned chickpeas, with diced bell pepper, cilantro, onion, tomatoes, splash of lemon juice and olive oil, tsp of soy sauce, and tbsp or two of cumin. I would eat off a big bowl of this stuff for a couple of days.

MFP is full of good food ideas and tips.There's a group called Recipe Swap, not very active, but lots of recipes to search through. Good luck!