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  • eleng0413
    eleng0413 Posts: 14 Member
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    I think it truly depends on what exactly is purchased on meals out. In my area, a lot of restaurants serve like 12-14 oz of rice and 20-24 oz of pasta or even more and call that a single meal for lunches and dinners. That comes with sauce and meat too. In fact, the nutritionist informed me that those are big meals and can actually be split up into two or shared with someone. I usually just eat half now and bring the rest home for dinner or my family.

    I was losing weight eating only sandwiches and salads from restaurants while doing low carb. Back then I didn't really eat veggies either, just good stuff like pizza, pasta and desserts. I kept drinking magical frappuccinos which I've since swapped for herbal teas and water. Also, I'm trying to stay at just 3-4 oz of meat per meal.
  • eleng0413
    eleng0413 Posts: 14 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    " I'm currently eating two tablespoons of peanut butter with oatmeal and 6 oz of blueberries for breakfast. "
    Hope you are weighing and not eyeballing all that PB!

    "They told me that peanut butter is a good source of protein, and it does seem to keep me full. "
    I'm so sorry you have fallen victim to a nutritionist who is clearly ignorant of what are very basic nutritional facts. It's probably the high fat and high calorie content that is making you feel full.
    sijomial wrote: »
    " I'm currently eating two tablespoons of peanut butter with oatmeal and 6 oz of blueberries for breakfast. "
    Hope you are weighing and not eyeballing all that PB!

    "They told me that peanut butter is a good source of protein, and it does seem to keep me full. "
    I'm so sorry you have fallen victim to a nutritionist who is clearly ignorant of what are very basic nutritional facts. It's probably the high fat and high calorie content that is making you feel full.
    sijomial wrote: »
    " I'm currently eating two tablespoons of peanut butter with oatmeal and 6 oz of blueberries for breakfast. "
    Hope you are weighing and not eyeballing all that PB!

    "They told me that peanut butter is a good source of protein, and it does seem to keep me full. "
    I'm so sorry you have fallen victim to a nutritionist who is clearly ignorant of what are very basic nutritional facts. It's probably the high fat and high calorie content that is making you feel full.

    Yes, I use a food scale! And she is fired!
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,780 Member
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    @eleng0413

    -- there exists a question about why people may suggest something. peanut butter if you're trying to be satiated by fat and take in SOME protein is not a terrible choice. It wouldn't be mine and I wouldn't consider it a high protein choice. but it is not a terrible choice if you're trying to pack a small volume satisfying meal.

    -- I am somewhat confused as to how you log / not log. You mentioned that the nutritionist mentioned that the meals were large? I most certainly have taken my scale to a restaurant and measured how much rice was on my plate. If I was too concerned about optics, I would have been able to take the meal "to go" and take it home to measure. If I was a frequent eater (ask me about McD vanilla cones while I was losing weight, or even chips at my favourite fish and chip shop), I weighed the item 5 or so times and figured out how consistent the portions were (the chips quite. the mcd cone? 10+ samples said it was all over the place but by then I was getting good(er) at guessing the size of the cone)

    It is up to YOU to decide what is worthwhile calories to YOU and what isn't.

    My personal observation has been that lean proteins are seldom the enemy when it comes to calories.

    Sauces and oil and other cooking condiments that are inherent when eating out... different story. Sometimes worthwhile. Other times not.

    I was trying to lose weight by eating as little as I could while moving as much as I could back in October 2014. I was having some success. But not really. BECAUSE I was ready to quit because it was too hard and there was no way I could continue doing this for the rest of my life.

    Your description of eating sandwiches and salads reminds me of myself at the time. Even though you definitely sound as if you have way more embedded knowledge of nutrition than I did at the time: my favourite one is that I was choosing to eat a McDonald's muffin with jam and sometimes peanut butter over the evil bacon and egg mcmuffin. Or the number of times I didn't eat anything other than a subway meatball sub :wink:

    Anyway. because it was not sustainable I went looking for an alternative and at the time stumbled on MFP and the forums.

    Maybe it is time to take charge of your own nutritional choices? Evaluate dispassionately what works and doesn't work for you. Add more of what works within your limits...

    There are many government agencies that have spent a lot of money writing guidelines :wink: The food and agricultural organisation of UN (FAO) even collects them conveniently in one spot! https://www.fao.org/nutrition/education/food-based-dietary-guidelines

  • eleng0413
    eleng0413 Posts: 14 Member
    edited April 2022
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    I log my meals now, but that only started in 2018. Before that, I didn't know what was going on. If I were hungry, I simply ate more pasta, pizza, bread, meat or desserts until I got full. As you can probably guess, this backfired because I would only stay full for an hour or so. After adding vegetables for fiber and fullness to every meal, I was able to lose and maintain more weight. I feel terrible when I think back to those old days, but I didn't know any better. A recommended serving size is actually quite small in comparison to how I used to eat. If I kept eating at those levels, I probably wouldn't have been able to lose weight. For example, a recommended serving size of pasta is only 5-6 oz. Once I switched to smaller portion sizes, I lost and kept a lot of weight off. I shudder thinking of the times when I ate like four servings in one go. Most people don't do that.

    The FDA has certain guidelines for this. I learned about those in elementary school but never really followed them.

    After I started downsizing to 5-6 oz of rice and pasta per meal, I tried going up to 8 oz and I gained weight back. The to-go box is probably a good idea. It was too much of a good thing.

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