What foods to and not to eat?????

Eating isn't that complicated.

Don't eat foods that you don't like or are allergic to. You may also want to avoid foods that aren't filling or that you are unable to eat in reasonable portion sizes.

Ideally, you'd want to eat things that are easily recognized... foods that you can imagine in their natural state or made from ingredients that you could imagine yourself cooking with. That probably won't always happen, but if you're doing your best and eating a good variety of food, you'll probably be fine. Fresh fruit and vegetables are always good!

Velvetvisions...I can relate to you in many ways however I do not have kids and am still in my early 30's. I grew up eating anything and everything and never gaining a pound. When people used to say "wow, you must work out a lot" I would laugh at them. Never worked out a day in my life cause I didn't need to. Now, I have watched myself slowly gain 40 lbs over the last 7 years (in denial the whole time). I couldn't face that my body wouldn't just get rid of the weight on it's own. So I have started Calorie counting and working out (cardio and strength with a personal trainer) 3 times a week and even though I am feeling tighter I have only lost one pound over the last 4 weeks. When you mentioned that the body holds on to water to repair muscle that made perfect sense why I haven't seen the numbers go down on the scale yet. I have been so frustrated thinking I should be at least dropping one pound per week and not seeing a change is very discouraging! I too LOVE strawberries and use them often when I make my smoothies. I didn't think they were bad for me and still don't so I plan to continue eating them but will cut down on the bananas for sure!

Good foods I have learned to eat is Salmon, any veggies (love salads! with a low calorie dressing), any fruits, pistachios, protien bars such as (150 fit bars) they have 9g of protein and only 8g of sugar with 150 calories! I have noticed eating them after a workout works for me, and a low calorie cereal for breakfast like cheerios with non fat milk.

Also you may want to try Caffeine free fat burn pills by apex...it's all natural and increases your metabolism. They were recommended to me by my trainer. You take those three times a day with breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Make sure you are working up a really good sweat when you are doing your cardio so you burn more calories. I have noticed that yes, it is going to take a lot of patience from me to see results but will be worth it to me in the end. I just have to wait for my body to get use to strength training so my muscles won't need to hang onto so much water. :-)

I love hearing everyones feedback! I just discovered the feed on here and I think I am going to like it!

Those are two things that I love strawberries and peanut butter lol would'nt give them up & I lost 40lbs while eating them.

ARHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH :noway: :explode: :mad:


I half live on strawberrys.... omg life is gonna stop :blushing:

So looking over my food diary, what would you change????

MORE FOOD

What is TDEE? And BMR?

BMR is the amount of calories your body requires on a daily basis to survive. The amount they would put in you in the hospital if you were in a coma, just to sustain life.
As soon as you step out of bed and begin your day, you already require MORE than this number. GO check the BMR calculator in the Tools section.

When you tell MFP your "activity level", they multiply this number by 1.2 sedentary, up to 1.9 highly active, and anywhere in between. That number tells you what you require just living life: job, housework, kids, etc.
This new number is your TDEE. You can see yours by going into your goals and see where it says "calories burned from normal daily activity" or something like that.

They subtract 500 from this number to equate to a 1 lb per week loss and this is your "calorie goal" in your diary. This is a GOAL to REACH to achieve success.
Also, purposeful exercise is NOT INCLUDED in this number. If you work out, add the calories and eat them. If you want your walks to be included in your "lifestyle" calories, and not be a "workout", change your activity level to active and don't log walks.

Bottom line is, underfeeding can be as bad as overeating. It can slow your metabolism through adaptive thermogenesis. Most days you leave anywhere from 200 to 1200 calories on the table. Those are meant to be eaten...and yet here you are whining that you gave up PB because of the calories?
PLEASE, add a TBSP of PB to your diet DAILY, it will actually HELP you!

You've lost a bunch of weight so far, and what works for the overweight DOES NOT work for the "almost at goal". When you are down to the last bit, you need to eat MORE, as close to maintenance as you can while still leaving a deficit....maybe 250-500 a day total deficit.
Your deficit is 700-1700 a day! (the 500 given by MFP for 1 lb per week, plus the 200-1200 that you tend to leave behind. If you chose 2 lbs per week, then it is 1200-2200 a day and that kind of deficit is bordering on ED behavior.

EAT MORE.

OK so I was doing some searching on line, and found that eating fruits and veggies with whole grains, and chicken breast, turkey breast, and fish are the aultimate foods. So i have been living on them for the most part. I love strawberries, and pinapple and cantalope, etc. so then I search more and find out that I should be also eating beans, and nuts....so I start eating cashews, and peanuts, and kidney beans, and navy beans. first off the calerie content drives me almost over the edge.but the fat content I am told is ok because it is the good healthy fat that we need. I am actually starting to think hard about becoming a vegitarian as eating this way helps me to really feel good. But My wieght loss has almost stopped inspite of my increased length of walking, and adding arobics. I still come in under my goal for caleries even...So I bought this book by Jillian Micheals about how to increase your metabolism with eating right. Guess what two foods she says to avoid? Peanuts, and Strawberries???? Wait now...I just got through reading that all fruits and vegies are good for you? Now strawberries increase the size of your Thyroid which control the amound of calories your body burns, as well as heart rate, and digestion, and body temp... I forget why she said not to eat peanuts...This is driving me crazy..It seems like I can't find two dietitions who agree on what to eat and what not to. So After I eat up the peanuts I have, I won't buy anymore of them...I love strawberries so much...but maybe they are the reason My weight loss has slowed down...I have eaten at least an entire container of fresh strawberries a week...They seem to stop my hunger also....
HELP???

Bryan

So first of all, Jillian Michaels is not a registered dietitian so...technically she's not a nutrition expert. She is also a professional fitness trainer and spends LOOOOOOTTTSSSS of time in the gym. Yeah, she has a sick body-but that's her job to have a good body and work out all the time...

Everything in Moderation is the key to a healthy lifestyle...anything that's telling you to avoid strawberries is a bit fishy to me.

Good, healthy foods include:

Whole grains (pastas, brown rice, quinoa, multigrain bread)
Healthy fats (olive oils, nuts-not salted or with additional sugar, fatty fish like salmon)
Fresh fruits and vegetables (best consumed in their whole form and only very slightly cooked-the more you cook a veggie, the more nutrients it loses...look at water after you steam broccoli or asparagus...if the water is bright green-you've cooked the veggie too much.)
Lean meats and proteins (poultry, fish-always trim off additional fat and remove skin...red meat is ok-try roasting it or trimming it to remove additional fat, legumes are also healthy sources of protein-black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, garbanzos/chickpeas...alfalfa sprouts-all great sources of protein)
Cut back on salt as much as you can-use fresh herbs to season your food if you find it's not flavorful without lots of salt. Salt will make your body hold onto water and, therefore, make the scale reflect a higher number than what you may actually weigh without the water weight.

Just remember-foods don't have morals. They're not good or bad...think of it more like eating More of this, Less of that.

Hope this is helpful...I am always VERY wary of any diet that tells you to cut out something all together-especially if it is a healthy food like fruits and nuts. Junk/snack foods and fast food are not good for you-neither are desserts, but believe it or not, in small amounts and infrequently, they're almost a good thing. If you deny yourself these foods, eventually you WILL crack and decide to eat it-and usually you'll end up eating more than if you'd allowed yourself to have a little bit in the first place...for example, I rarely eat donuts...but once every few months, I'll allow myself one. I also have a sweet tooth and crave chocolate and peanut butter...so I got myself some JIF simply (lower sugar and salt) and dark chocolate chips. I allow myself a tablespoon-1 1/2 tablespoons of each and it fixes my sweet tooth and leaves me feeling satisfied.

It's not about what you eat to an extent. It's HOW MUCH you eat that's the problem.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I have struggled with what to and not to eat for years. One person will say NOT to eat fat, while another will say TO eat fat. One person will say to avoid canola oil at all costs, while another will say that it's the best oil to use. Same with coconut oil. One person will say it's a super food, while another will say it has too much fat. Meat or no meat. Beans or no beans. Everyone's opinions vary... and most of these people are dieticians, doctors, and/or personal trainers.

I followed the "real food movement" set in place by the Weston A Price foundation off and on for a few years, and found that it didn't really work for me or our family. Not only do I feel that it allows way too many calories and fat, it is also very complicated and I found that I would keep up for a while, then bomb. It was a frustrating cycle.

I have recently come to the conclusion to focus on eating foods that ARE food... in other words, I just try to not have a lot of processed "foods." Most of what I eat was made to be food... I eat what my body craves, with-in the boundaries that I have set. I have only been following this consistently for a few weeks, but I feel so much better and I have lost about 4 pounds!

Sounds like the best way to go to me.

I just think any diet that tells you to avoid a particular food all together or focuses on any one food is trying to sell you something (don't get me started on the whole coconut fad).

Any RD who is following the ADA best practices and/or the Dietary Recommendations for Americans would say everything (including foods that are not "healthy"...aka desserts, high sugar fruits, red meat, cheese, etc) in moderation. Portion sizes are what have Americans getting bigger...not the fact that they ate a burger....but they got the bacon double cheese and large fries...and more than once/week. Moderation seems to be, for a vast majority of Americans, not in their vocabulary.