I want to change my eating habit but don't want to feel like

Skipping breakfast saved me 4-500 cals.

Skipping breakfast? why would you skip breakfast? Sets you up for the day!

in the past, i would've agreed, but PERSONALLY, I get a better day in if I keep my coffee mornings and load up lunch for my intense workouts...but my days are not the norm. just saying.

Skipping breakfast saved me 4-500 cals.

Skipping breakfast? why would you skip breakfast? Sets you up for the day!

in the past, i would've agreed, but PERSONALLY, I get a better day in if I keep my coffee mornings and load up lunch for my intense workouts...but my days are not the norm. just saying.

hmm, again its a personal choice but personally i just can't imagine a world without breakfast everyday ! it just really surprises me when people tell me they get up and just go to work and don't eat! lol. I also don't drink coffee so perhaps the food is my 'pick me up'!

I find it helps if I log the food prior to actually eating it (and, if it's an involved recipe, prior to actually preparing it). That helps reduce the "what did I just do!" panicky moments, so that maybe I end up eating exactly what I was going to eat, but less of it... or I decide to eat something else.

And, not that I don't spoil myself from time to time (or maybe a little more often than that), but I generally like to think about how whatever I'm going to eat will fuel my body... I definitely still want it to be delicious, but I literally think of it as the fuel I need to get a long run in the next morning or to get through a workout this afternoon; and if I'm taking the day off of exercising, I don't need to fill 'er up!

Hope that helps...

I don't want to feel like I'm on a diet.

this will happen when you change your mindset from "I'm on a diet" to "this is the way I will live the rest of my life"

Agree!! Diets do not work. Changes in lifestyle with a "forever" mentality is the recipie for success

As some have already said, you have to change your mindset from being "on a diet" to realizing that eating improper portions and bad choices of food is what got you where you are... believe me, I've been there my whole life, but somehow, at age 36, I cannot see myself ever going back to what I was. I'm only sad at the damage I've already done to my body by living this way my entire life.

First realization: food is fuel for you to live... not a pleasure in which to indulge every day. That doesn't mean you cannot indulge occasionally, nor enjoy what you eat daily, but it does mean that sometimes the bacon-soaked option might taste better, but isn't worth your health.

Once you get used to appropriate portions, over-eating becomes a lot more difficult, uncomfortable, and undesirable. I promise. This happens pretty quickly (within a few weeks).

Stay the course!

I don't want to feel like I'm on a diet.

this will happen when you change your mindset from "I'm on a diet" to "this is the way I will live the rest of my life"

^^^Exactly this. It's hard when you first start, I understand...but when you realize what you are putting in your body EVERYDAY is what's making you unhappy about yourself, you have to change...you have to WANT to change. Obviously you do because you've done a great job logging your exercise! If you love eating blueberry pancakes every weekend, save it for every other weekend. If you love Famous Amos cookies (which I do!) and eat a whole snack size bag, try eating 4 cookies today and save 4 for tomorrow...take baby steps. It's not about getting rid of your favorite foods, it's about eating them in moderation. I love food! I eat pizza 2-3 times a week. I don't eat Dominoes, I make my OWN version, and most of the time I find myself craving my healthier pizza than some papa johns or something. We've all been there. I use to drink juice with dinner every night, about 2 servings (16 oz). When I started using this website I learned that one serving contains 32 grams of sugar! I was having 64 g of sugar in my drink with dinner ALONE. I'm only allowed 32g of sugar a DAY! What!!!

You will find that myfitnesspal is an amazing tool/gift if you use it properly. Support is what we're here for!

Good luck on your journey and feel free to add me! :flowerforyou:

Check out the book "Cook This Not That 350 Calorie Meals". This was the book that helped me realize that I can be on a diet and still eat great food that I love. It is important to watch the portions, these meals can add up quickly, but it gets MUCH easier as you go on. I'm on week 3 now, and it took me about 1 1/2 weeks before I got used to eating less calories every day. Now it's simple! I removed everything from the house that was unhealthy, and stocked up on tons of fruits and veggies to snack on when needed. I also got some of those 90 calorie snack bars. I only eat those when I think I'm going to do something crazy like eat a king size candy bar. Haha! Just get in the habit of logging everything, and you'll be good to go!

ditto on the portions. My doctor told me to limit to 1600 calories a day for three months, then come back for blood work and suggestions if I didn't lose any weight. I admit, I was really hungry and dizzy for a few weeks. I was surprised that 1600 calories must have been way less than I was eating, and I really never ate that much -- I guess the calories add up! After losing 9 pounds and hitting a plateau (after about a month) I found it very easy to cut down further on calories. But, the important thing is to make progress and not perfection your aim. Biggest Loser recommends your current weight times 7 (for me this it 192 x 7 = 1344 calories per day). Obviously, that will go down week to week as you lose.

Self deprivation is never fun. I recommend a delicious dessert (one serving please) once a week, or a beer if that's your thing. But, unless you make the changes needed, you're going to stall and get frustrated pretty fast.

God Bless and good luck!

Skipping breakfast saved me 4-500 cals.

Small lunch saves me another 2-300.

Sweeteners in my tea saved me yet another 2-300.

There, that's 1,000 cals i can now have when i actually want them, and have more of the food i actually want

I'm sorry, but NO. Skipping breakfast is awful for your metabolism and it is essential energy you need to start your day.

Start slowly. Look at what you ate for breakfast this morning, or like to fix and find a way to make it healthier. get healthier breads, meats, cheeses, eggs, etc. I have gotten to the point where I get excited about making a recipe healthier and lower in calories! It's a never ending game! Like this coming week, my hubby & I are taking on pumpkin pie & pecan pie. I cant wait to start experimenting!

I have made very small changes that ended up with big rewards, in another words calorie savings!!!

Start with one meal of the day-breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks, and improve it then go to the next meal.

For breakfast, I now have egg whites instead of the whole egg which save me lots of calories. I eat the Apples and Cinnamon reduce sugar oatmeal which helps to save some calories vs. eating the regular apples and cinnamon oatmeal. AND it is tasty because of the apple and cinnamon!

For Lunch, I have went from 70 calorie a slice bread to 35 calorie a slice bread. Sarah Lee 45 calories a slice is so thin that I never really felt I was eating a sandwich, however you get used to it. Now, I eat Healthy Life 100% whole weat bread. This is 35 calories a slice. I also have went from regular tuna and crackers, to lite tuna and crackers, to fat free tuna and crackers Bumble Bee brand. I like those now!

For dinner, I cut some portions. I also realized I could eat a whole cup of broccoli for only 40 calories! That's quite a bit of broccoli. Now I even get to put cheese on it! Maybe someday I will remove the cheese to save even more calories, but I don't think I will HAVE to.

Also, Dessert I went from 150 calorie eclair ice cream Good Humor bar, to 140 calorie mint sandwich skinny cow ice cream, to 110 cookie and cream truffle Skinny cow t0 100 calorie CHOCOLATE truffle bar Skinny cow <--- my favorite! And it's HUGE!

There ya go.. slowly but surely and I eat ice cream every day

OP, your statement in your original post that you don't know WHAT to eat is a really good question. If you're really confounded about what you should eat and how much of it you should be eating, maybe it would be a good idea to consult with a nutritionist. If you really want to make sure you're around for your son (I assume that's him in your ticker), you're going to have to learn all that stuff for yourself. A nutritionist can help you go over your diet to see what (if any) adjustments you need to make to reach your goals.

There's a lot of information out there, and for everything you read, you can find something else that contradicts it. I think if you're totally stumped, that might be a good place to start.

i understand how you feel. i hate the diet midset. i'm still working on it. you'll feel less restricted if you eat what you like but just less of it. i usually eat 2 burgers, 2 sandwiches, 2 big tacos. eating just 1 is hard at first but much more enjoyable than not eating them at all lol

I can't NOT eat breakfast. By the time I've worked out and restricted a heavy-duty evening meal, I wake up HUNGRY! This, for me, is a good sign. It means I burned off all my calories from the day before and my body now needs FUEL. I snag a small bowl of cereal or a banana before my morning workout, then have another equally small breakfast afterward, usually has more protein in it!

But NO, most people are asking for a BAD DAY when they skip breakfast. The body has gone 8 HOURS with NO FUEL, you can bet it needs food. Waiting to eat leads to really bad decisions, foodwise. My husband thinks it's okay to go without food for 8-9 hours after sleepign all night (and not eating), and when he eats, his first stop is BURGER KING, and wonders why he is overweight. That ONE MEAL screwed him.

I've become a little bit of a zealot... Sorry in advance for all the long-windedness

I'm 49 and have struggle my whole life (I have 3 rail-thin sisters who I never measured up to)
I'm all about doing this for the long-term. Doesn't matter how long it takes as long as I can maintain.

Here's how I started:

1) tracking for a couple of weeks before I worried about losing.
(although seeing what I was eating I couldn't help but rein back a bit)

2) seeing where I could make small changes on things that weren't that important to me.
(Don't even think of taking chocolate out of my diet!!!)
--Reducing quantities where I won't notice it so much
--Swapping out things instead of eliminating them.

3) Look at my diary and started adding foods that had positive healthy effects specifically for the health issue in my family.
I found most of the things I "should" add were really yummy too! salmon, avocado, oatmeal, mango, red grapes....
(Sort of think of food as medicine to deal with family history of various health issue oatmeal is good for heart health, mango and red grapes lower cholesterol, tumeric and cinnamon good for arthritis)

4) every couple of weeks I see where I can make another couple of small changes.
If you completely revamp your diet, it's way easy to revert to old ways in times of stress. (and who doesn't have stress?)
If you make a series of small changes, food still offers you some sense of comfort.
sort of a comfort continuum, and after a while the first small changes will seem comforting in themselves.
You don't have to be perfect you just have to do better.

5) also rather than being uberstrict with the target MFP set for me I did the math to find out the calories needed to maintain my goal weight and my current weight and I gave myself a range with 1200 as my rock bottom, lose 1 lb/wk as my target*** and maintain my goal weight as the top of my range. As long as I keep within in this range I'll lose. I tend to naturally zig zag my calories 3-4 at very close to my target and then a higher calorie day closer to the top of my range.

As long as I stayed under maintain my current weight calories I won't gain. So no need to throw in the towel, just pick-up where I left off.

Once I found ways to lessen the stress, I found it way easier to focus on the process and let the results follow. (It's what worked for me some people need the stress to get them motivated. Me I get scared and overwhelmed and don't see the big goal as achievable. I only worry about it 1 lb at a time.)

***also once my lose 1 lb/week target was down to 1200 calories I switch to lose 1/2 lb/ week (1200 cal rock bottom, 1/2 lb/week as my target, maintain goal weight as the high end of my range.)

Food is not the enemy.
Oddly enough on my journey here I've reduced guilt over food.
I have the occassional treat and I fully enjoy it with no guilt involved.
The thing is since I'm not eating crap all the time the occassional treat is just that a TREAT it's special and I enjoy it so much more than when I was unconsciously shovel junk food into my face.

I figure if I've got a good plan that I can actually maintain I can keep this off for a long time to come, without feeling deprived.

Good Luck