Can I live off frozen meals?

hey
I'm doing the same as you and I feel really good just eating my frozen food just knowing that i'm not going over my intake

You could and probably better then eating out and risking eating the wrong foods. They are processed foods and have stuff in them that wouldn't be there if you made it yourself.

Can't you try to incorporate healthy meals that you can eat as well as the family, that will be healthy and tasty? Eating frozen meals can guarantee you a certain calorie intake, but what about the sodium levels? I also find that they look so sad and not very appetizing. Also, eating processed foods only is not a good idea for your health. Do you like to cook? Can you cook? If you can't, maybe enroll in an evening class. As a trained chef, I'd be happy to send you a few ideas/recipes that you can cook for your family that I'm sure they would all love.

hmm I am in a similar situation like you. I don't really have time to cook so I live on healthy choice cafe steamers for lunch ( they have a good variety and taste really good). I definately watch my sodium tho (you can track ur sodium on ur diet by changing the settings) so now I'm very careful about that.

To make up for this I cook breakfast and dinner.

Breakfast idea - I eat quaker instant oatmeal (high fiber in maple and sugar) its yum and takes a minute to throw in the microwave and cook.
or an omelette with cheese and veggies - takes about 5 mins to cook. (just stir everything together ina bowl and throw it on the pan)

So try to watch ur sodium if u stick to these meals, if u can try to incorporate healthy meals for u and ur family, then even better!

Could you do something like a mix of the two?

My gang likes big towering piles o' fried crap - but I can also feed them veggies and good stuff as side dishes. So I might make fried chicken for them, toss a chix breast under the broiler for me, and we all feast on the salad (tons of dressing for them, a little free italian on the side for me), broccoli (w/cheese sauce for them, none for me), baby taters (1 lb. each for them, 100 grams for me), stuff like that.

So maybe you could nuke yourself a Lean Cuisine salisbury steak for your main course and share in the salad & veggies with the rest of the gang.

Make sense?

I mean technically you probably could, but man that's rough. Also, all those meals have very high amounts of sodium, so be careful, I think Healthy Choice usually is the best of the worst as far as sodium is concerned. Supplimenting those meals with fresh foods would be a good idea. Plus, those meals are pretty expensive, for the cost of 10 meals you could make up a whole week's worth of meals from scratch, freeze em, and be eating healthy and fresh (well, fresh frozen at least).

I agree, when I first started committing to this website and myself that's what I did. But it is expensive plus very saddening to myself (I'm a chef, just currently not in practice professionally) So I figured it's just myself and my husband eating solids right now (hehe, we have an 8 month old) so if I'm making the meals he can either eat it or make something for himself. However typically I make things like I used to before the diet, I just supplement certain foods for others and eat smaller portions, or should I say correct portion sizes. Fresh foods are always better than those! Good luck!

I think that's the best way! It's already portioned out for you and the first time I dieted I used e-diets where they had an option to do all frozen food. They just add in green beans, salad, fruit, etc to them. I lost 15 lbs fast that way!

For me, what I'm doing is not a 'diet' it's a change of lifestyle. I have to eat now the way I'll eat for the rest of my life. And to be perfectly honest I'm eating better more healthy AND tastier meals now than I ever have before. Because of this my daughter is too - and she's happy with the home cooked healthy meals.

Low calorie does not have to mean bland or awful.

Many nights I throw some cut up chicken breast in a pan with EVOO and brown it with onions and garlic, then add fresh veggies that I have on hand: Zucchini, bell peppers, egg plant, tomatoes, carrots... actually whatever vegetable I have on hand to the pan and cook it up. It's super low calorie, and very good - and this exact same combination can taste very different depending on what kind of herbs I use in it. Have fun by going to the grocery store and investing in some nice herbs, even the dried ones for cooking. Lemon is also wonderful to sprinkle on your food as you cook, or lime.

I never really cooked before in my life. Now I really enjoy doing it.

I also prepare lots of meals on Sunday - yesterday I made a big pot of healthy chili that I freeze in small ziplock containers and take with me for lunch - I can also use these to eat for dinner if there is no time to cook.

Cooking healthy can please your family and it will be a lot better for them as well!!!

Check out healthy recipes on the web - there are plenty of sites out there just google. If you're going to make this weight loss stick, you're going to have to make changes - and these positive changes don't have to be bad - they can be good for everyone.

Think lifestyle change. Is this one you could, would, or should incorporate into your life forever? I would suggest that the whole family start eating healthy dishes that would benefit all of you. Lean meats, vegies, fruits, salads, etc. Best wishes to you.

If you're not already, go to: My Home/ Settings/ Diary Settings, and make sure you're monitoring your sodium. Chances are, with 3 frozen meals, you're probably over your sodium which is not good for your health or your weight loss as it will make you retain fluid.

Secondly, check out the chemicals used in those meals. If there are a lot of big words you don't recognize, it's probably not something you want to be putting a lot of into your body on a 3 times/ day basis.

creating a new lifestyle means making changes in steps for many people. IF this is how you plan on starting and it is working for you then go for it, I don't know how you can stand to eat them but hey, its your taste buds not mine

I have to second, or third the idea of One, preparing healthy meals for you and your family. Making small changes will go un-noticed, like using ground turkey instead of hamburger meat, or brown rice instead of white etc etc. You can make a little extra and freeze some for yourself for lunches or whatever later. I do this with chili and soups so on nights when I know I have little time to make dinner I can pull meals out of the freezer earlier that day and all I have to do is heat it up. I also love the crock pot!

second thing is processed frozen meals offer little in vitamins and minerals and taste, yet they offer a lot of sodium, sugar and other unpronounceable ingredients that are most likely on the wrong end of anything healthy. At some point you are going to have to learn to eat real food and teach your children and spouse how to feed their bodies the right fuel.

It isn't always easy but it is worth it!

get a food scale

before you cook up the meat of the meal, cut it up into 4 oz portions.

that's a pretty good generic size for protein, whether it's chicken, beef, or pork

if you cut them up like that before you cook them, you'll know afterward how much you should eat

experiement with marinades using lemon juice, vinegar, little bit of EVOO, mustard, lots of herbs and spices, low sodium soy sauce

you can make a different kind of chicken everynight with those marinades, and your family won't know it's any healthier

use less butter, oil, etc... they also won't notice that either
i don't even keep butter in my fridge

you can make a box of mac and cheese without the butter, just use skim milk, stuff like that, they won't even know it