Hi I am new

Welcome Katina !

This is a great site for encouragement to get healthy. You look wonderful and WOW 5 kids !! Take it one day at a time. If you follow the system set up on this site you WILL see results.

Hello and welcome to MFP. You will love this site if you don't already. I love this site, it is so motivational, supportive, helpful, and everyone is so nice, and friendly. I just wanted to tell you good luck on your weight loss journey. You can do this. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

Thanks Gina! I have lost a total of 10 pounds so far! I am 12 days into this diet. I was just whinning to my husband that eating is a chore now The food is so bland. I bought some strawberries today and had them just a few minutes ago.. WHAT a treat!
The first two days on the restricted calorie were very hard but it has gotten easier and easier. Only 30 pounds to go!
I am so glad to hear that you did all of that research. That really encourages me and I think that I'll try to be a little more creative with the way I am preparing my meals.

Thanks again,
Katina

Hi again! Katrina-
Try cutting chicken breast portions into your 100 grams, put each piece into a baggie and freeze. When you want to eat, thaw the chicken, and use a smooth side of a meat mallet to pound the meat out thin. Then you can cook it and it feels like more because it is larger. I season the chicken with lemon pepper or blackening seasoning (I make my own blend), and then quickly cook it in a nonstick skillet over high heat. After a couple of minutes, I pour in a small amt of chicken stock to help it steam and keep from sticking. I turn it over and do the same thing- the whole piece takes only 5-6 minutes to cook. You can cook fish the same way, only don't pound it out. (Mahi Mahi is the best- and you can actually have 5 oz of it because it is so low in calories- I count it as equal to 100 grams of chicken.) I also cook sirloin steak the same way, pounded out and seasoned with steak seasoning.

I have also grown to really like taking the chicken or fish, put a couple of servings onto a cookie sheet covered with a piece of Reynold's Non-Stick foil. I spread about 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard (generic is fine) onto each piece, which only adds 10 calories. Then I sprinkle each piece with lemon pepper seasoning or similar. Broil close to the heat until the meat is white on the bottom when you lift it to look, and you just start to see some juice coming from the meat.

I have also been eating a lot of salads with these meats. I like a combo of iceberg, Romaine Hearts and baby field greens. I use a couple of roma tomatoes or similar, and then a generous sprinkle of fresh ground black pepper. I then drizzle the whole thing with about 3 tablespoons of good (real) balsamic vinegar. (Read the label and find one that does not have sugar or corn syrup added. Real balsamic vinegar is made only from white vinegar, and is naturally sweet and thick. I get mine from Sam's- it cost about $14 for the large bottle- and 1 bottle is lasting me the whole time.) I also use the same vinegar to dress very thinly sliced cucumber for a low-cal treat.

I make sugar free jello with Knox gelatin- mix one pack with one cup of hot water and one pack of unsweetened KoolAid powder (pink lemonaide is good) and sweeten with a dash of Stevia Powder. (Use real Stevia powder without other added sweeteners- not Truvia or the like. I got good stevia powder at the local healthfood store- it does not have any bitter taste to it.) After the jello is disolved, add on cup of cold water and chill it. One serving is only 10 calories, and does a lot ease the munchies that you might get, without triggering rebound munchies.

I get most of my other vegis in the stirfrys. I have had some steamed broccoli, and a couple of times I ate a can of green beans, but most of the other vegis are boring.

I do make a good soup with little bitty chicken meatballs seasoned with garlic and pepper, a bit of onion, one melba toast round. I put it all into a tiny food processor that I have and ground the chicken up with the above until it is mush. I heat a can of chicken broth with garlic ans Italian seasoning on the stove. I use a teaspoon and make little balls of the meat, and drop each one into the hot broth. After I have made all the balls, I add 4 cups of fresh spinach leaves that I chop up fine, and simmer until the meat is cooked- about 10 minutes. This is really good.

Anyhow- I hope these suggestions help to ease the blandness of it all. If you like these, let me know and I can give you more ideas. :flowerforyou: