Eating healthy and diet help

cvdub16
cvdub16 Posts: 71 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I am back again to finally attempt to getting on track. I have a hard time with my diet since I am so picky. Some have said for me to do Keto, which just isn't for me. I had gestational diabetes with both my daughters and was basically on Keto and it was so hard, I just love my breads, pastas, potatoes, and beer too much haha. I just need a way to moderate my intake of the junk food and sweets. I tend to do sandwiches for lunch at work, avocado toast for breakfast and mini string cheese, pistachios, and some sort of pretzel crisp or Triscuit for my snack. For dinner I always do a protein, starch, and veggie and only have a mini can of Coke a day. I do however drink nightly which I know is the main reason I have put on weight. I also have a huge sweet tooth. I need help with healthy stuff I can bring to work and what not. On the weekends though its hard I sometimes only eat breakfast and dinner or only eat dinner. We are a blended family and have 5 kids all together, so my focus is always making sure the kids and my husband eat and then I tend to forget about myself. Just looking for friendly advice here. Also trying to find time and motivation to work out. :smile:

Replies

  • Go_Deskercise
    Go_Deskercise Posts: 1,630 Member
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    I also love pasta and rice, so I still eat them. I just put much less on to my plate than I used to. Same with potatoes. I add more vegetables instead.

    I rarely drink beer as it doesn't agree with me but it might be worth trying the zero or low alcohol ones. They're definitely much lower in cals, so even if you have one low alcohol drink plus a 'proper' beer, you'd still be reducing your calorie intake. Same with the coke - could you switch to coke zero or diet coke? Pre Covid lockdown, I'd still have a glass of wine (or two) if out with friends. But I intersperse them with soda water & lime.

    Could you take salad for lunch? In a container in a small cool-bag, perhaps with a small icepack, it would keep cool until lunchtime evenif you don't have access to a fridge. I rarely eat bread for the same reason I don't drink beer, but my typical salad is large. With chicken, tuna, tinned salmon or ham & feta cheese mixed through, it's a substantial meal but lower in cals than if I were to have a sandwich. I usually make a big bowl of salad (lettuce or rocket, cucumber, tomato, radish, spring onions, sometimes avocado, sometimes artichoke hearts, sometimes bell peppers), that I'll then divide between three lunches, so I don't have to prep daily. I'll sometimes cook a small amount (60g dry weight) of wholewheat pasta which I'll also add to the salad bowl. The ones I had last week, with pasta in, were 233 cals, whereas a quick addition of some entries to MFP shows that 2 slices of bread with a light spread plus chicken and lettuce would be over 350 cals. I can get far more chicken in to a salad than I can between two slices of bread.

    Add your avocado to your lunchtime salad and switch to a sugar free Greek yoghurt for breakfast. Add some berries and seeds to jazz it up. Or have a plain omelette with your avocado instead of toast.

    Instead of pretzel crisps, do any supermarkets near you do veggie crisps? There are other options, but the most commonly seen ones in the UK are made from lentils. They're not necessarily lower in cals, carbs or anything else than normal crisps, but they are very tasty and they come in smaller packets than regular crisps.

    One square of dark chocolate might be enough to satisfy any sweet cravings, but there's always the temptation to just eat the entire bar. Ricecakes coated in dark chocolate are far nicer than they sound and are a good option.


    Track your intake for a week or so, so that you can see how much you're eating and also where the higher cals are coming from. Then look around the supermarket to see where you can gradually make small changes that are lower cal options.
  • cvdub16
    cvdub16 Posts: 71 Member
    Thank you all for your advice! :)
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    i eat what i want. im not big on carbs in general, but i do love bread and sweets :) if it fits in my calories for the day, its fair game.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    I, too, love pasta. In fact, one of my fantasies is to be miniaturized and floating in a bowl of a really creamy fettucine Alfredo. BUT!!! I MUST lose weight and get my blood sugar under control if I want to be retired as many years as they made me work. I MUST choose what I eat to help me stay within a daily calorie limit. Thus, I am presently avoiding pasta because small helpings of it would make me sad.

    You, too, get to choose what you eat. Choose foods that satisfy you and make you happy but that also meet your calorie limits. This will take time to figure out. Don't consider this punishment and make sure to appreciate garnishes. For example, I could punish myself with a large pile of plain green beans or I could enjoy a tasty dish of green beans with pesto. Yes, the pesto adds calories to the green beans but I allow for that in my calculations and it's a heck-of-a-lot fewer calories than noodles with pesto -- more nutritious, too.

    Remember, too, that as you choose to eat healthy you are modelling for your family to eat healthy, too.
  • MommaGemz
    MommaGemz Posts: 494 Member
    Some strategies that help me as a Mom of 2:

    1. I eat the same breakfast and lunch every day so it's much easier to track and I know I always have those items on hand.
    2. I plan and cook dinners that are also easy to weigh and track - for example, I plan a meat, sauce, carb and veg and cook them separately so they can be weighed and logged. Put sauces on the side. One of our favorites is pulled pork, sweet potatoes, and broccoli with some BBQ sauce on the side. Or chicken, rice, and a veg with curry sauce on the side.
    3. I eat what satisfies me rather than a healthier version of it. The portions are smaller, but I'm not left dreaming of the "real thing." I have potato chips, cookies, and ice cream (not all at the same time) and I make sure they fit into my calorie allotment. Now, I know this last one is not manageable for everyone. Sometimes a small portion of something leads someone to binge eat, so do what works best for you.

    Best wishes to you!!
  • cvdub16
    cvdub16 Posts: 71 Member
    Thank you all!! I love hearing your advice. :)
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    For alcohol: I don't drink on a regular basis, but when I do I plan for it. That may mean shaving a few calories a few days ahead of time, such as saving 100-200 per day. Or getting in an extra walk to 'earn' more calories. For the drinks I had on the 4th, I started working them in on the 2nd. With extra activity and limiting my intake (just a little) I was able to prelog a drink each day on Thur/Fri.

    I go by the theory its overall calories that count. So banking cals Thur-Fri-Sat between being extra careful on how much I consumed AND burning extra was the same net value as having normal days Thur-Fri and a really high calorie consumption day Sat.
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 631 Member
    This is what worked for me:
    I made a small change, monitored progress, then made another small change.
    After a few months I had lost 20 pounds. In the end these were the small changes:
    1) changed to proportion of items for breakfast. Before I’d have a bowl of muesli and a little yogurt. After I have 1 tbsp each of chia, hemp and flax, 30 grams of muesli ( that’s half a serving), 170 grams of Greek yogurt and just enough milk to bloom the chia and make the breakfast moist. The result increase in protein, reduction in carbs. It is almost exactly 1/3 each protein, carb and fat.

    2) lunch - switched almost exclusively to garden salad without salad dressing. A big serving of salad. Not a lot of calories but I find it fills me up. To keep it interesting sometimes I add salad topper, nuts, raisins or avocado. 1/4 of an avocado is a serving.

    3) afternoon snack - one or two pieces of fruit

    4) dinner - This one is hard. My husband does all the cooking and meal planning. So, for dinner I eat whatever he’s made. The only change here is to be really mindful of portion size.

    5) after dinner snack - adjust portion. Before I would almost always have an after dinner snack. The change a) before eating anything I’ll drink one, two or even three glasses of water, then wait. b) reduce portion size and eat my snack slowly.

    Good luck

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