laursoar Member

Avocados are magical for me! I also swear by smoothies that have half a frozen banana, three or four ice cubes, a cup of unsweetened coconut milk, spinach, and usually some sort of berry. I throw in some PB2 sometimes too for an extra little boost.

Adding different ingredients to salads can help keep staple salad ingredients fresh! I really like strawberries or blueberries in my salad. The sweetness meshes well with the vegetable flavors. I enjoy a quarter/half of an avocado in there sometimes. Other days, I'll add a dash of hot sauce, a bit of bacon, a few sunflower…

I'm getting back on the wagon after falling off this year. I've been doing well with healthy eating this week and think that definitely relates to enjoying healthy breakfast meals! Today, I a small Wegmans onion bagel with half an avocado, a bit of Tapatio hot sauce, and a poached egg. Nom!

I couldn't agree with this ^ more. Getting a handle on portion control is difficult and most likely will involve you slipping up here and there.Still, I think it's a huge key to being able to keep up. Find ways to include chocolate that aren't as high-calorie for you. You can bake light from scratch too and include smaller…

Isn't it great? If you ever want to make green baked goods like cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day, using spinach works as a natural food coloring tool as well. Just like in a smoothie, you can't taste it! I like vegetables but enjoy sneaking extra ones in wherever I can.

It happens. Birthdays and such will pop up unexpectedly at work too. Once in awhile, it's okay to indulge with the awareness of what you have to give up as part of the balance. I still eat random junk food from time to time, but having that awareness of what other more filling substitutes are available and keeping track…

I used to be this way too. When I'm home, I limit myself to one snack after dinner now. I plan all of my days in advance too, which helps me always make sure I have room for what I want. It's going to be tough at first to get out of the habit, but you definitely will with time. In the meantime, chew gum, drink lots of…

During my junior year of college, I had to write a "where will I be in five years" vision for a positive psychology course. I re-read it this fall as I was starting graduate school. I realized that I was fulfilling my dreams in similar ways to what I had hoped, all except for the one where I talked about losing the weight.…

I am now comfortably fitting into size 12 pants! I had to pull out a second "no longer fits" bag today too for my growing abundance of clothes that are now way too loose or baggy. So cool.

You definitely can! As the girl who hardly ever ate the correct portion size for most of my life, I measure nearly all of my snacks now and usually feel satisfied with the serving size. It just takes some time to adjust. I also find using MFP helped with the beginning stage for me. Knowing that I could add a snack I was…

I eat "pumpkin pie" oatmeal regularly. Add a serving of pure pumpkin puree (you can buy Libby's in a can- just make sure it's pure pumpkin and not the pumpkin pie mix version) and pumpkin pie spice. I also had two tbsp of chocolate PB2. I tend to just microwave an instant lower sugar Quaker maple brown sugar packet.…

Eating protein makes me feel much fuller. I eat 5 oz of chicken for dinner and feel perfectly full for hours afterward. In the days where I was more frequently filling up on unsubstantial snacks, it would obviously take a lot more calories before I felt full.

I eat instant oatmeal (generally just buy the lower sugar maple brown sugar Quaker instant packets but you can go with plain as well) with 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1/8 cup of unsweetened coconut milk, and two tbsp of PB2. It comes out to under 200 calories and tastes delicious

Do you have a crockpot? If so, throw a pound or so of chicken breast and pour two cups of broth over it. Let it cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. Pull apart with fork for shredded chicken when done.

If you really liked coconut milk, you could order it in bulk online. Vitacost tends to have health food goods at a reasonable cost in bulk. So Delicious unsweetened coconut can sit out for a long period of time unopened too.

Yes! I have no doubt that it makes a difference as I wouldn't be able to measure nearly as accurately or quickly without it. I tend to prepare the majority of my meals and snacks at home too and that preparation relies on the food scale. I bought one of the $20 digital food scales from Target. It's been working like a gem…

Once you start weighing most of your food prep, I find it gets pretty quick too. I weigh pretty much everything that I prepare at home now and continue to use measurements for powdered or liquid tbsp/tsp stuff. It definitely makes a huge difference in accurately counting!

For a sweet snack, I really like homemade dessert "cookie dough" hummus lately! I make mine by blending a can of drained chickpeas, 2 tsp of vanilla extract, 4 tbsp of PB2, 3 packets of truvia, 1 tbsp of ground flax seed, and 1/4 cup of unsweetened So Delicious coconut milk in a food processor. Then, once it's nice and…

For a meal, I'm all about making french toast. I make it and toppings with healthier substitutes like eggbeaters, unsweetened coconut milk, PB2, and fruit (pumpkin or bananas usually). It generally only ends up being around 200 calories with topping! Nothing beats breakfast for dinner in my book!

It's pretty hard for me to say since I haven't had a period of time where I wasn't overweight as an adult. Currently, I'm thinking it'll b anywhere between 150-160 lbs though and then plan to work on toning. I'll probably re-evaluate in either direction when I get closer to goal.

I've absolutely struggled with this thought process. I'd say that letting go of that mentality has been one of the biggest reasons why I'm succeeding right now! For me, I'm really terrible at prioritizing exercising. I have less trouble overall with keeping my eating habits in check. Although I do exercise slightly more…

You can definitely get by making two low calorie meals and keeping snacking a bit lower than usual. I also recommend high protein low calorie meals. Tuna packets are a good easy option. I like the tuna pouches that have the tuna in water. I mix the tuna with chopped onion and a low calorie dressing or balsamic and then…

I've been eating 1440 calories/day for months and steadily losing an average of 1.5 lbs a week. The only exception has been the holidays when I was eating maintenance on average. Maybe those couple of breaks have helped though? I have noticed that I tend to simply accumulate water weight that sheds about 3 to 4 lbs about…

While I can't really pinpoint where things began to click, I can say that I think it all started to get continuously easier after a couple of weeks. I still find it hard to keep up as well as usual with my eating when I'm out of my routine. Otherwise though, getting through (while in my normal apartment) has become so much…

Thank you guys! I appreciate it. It's hard to believe that it's been three and a half months sometimes, which I think is a good sign!

Like for Thanksgiving week, I probably will be eating slightly more on average between the 20th-1st when I'm home for the holidays. I try my best to keep all regular days in range by planning ahead the best that I can. Then, for Christmas Eve and Christmas, I will be more lax about my counting and try to just keep around…

Low sugar instant oatmeal packet and then slice and dice in whatever fruit, protein, etc. that you want.

Thanks for sharing! So far, I think my favorite part has been realizing that I am actually going to be able to reach my goal weight. It's that whole feeling of everything finally clicking for me for the first time in my life. I now have this realization that with calorie counting and all of the other habits I've been…

Eat the normal stuff but in moderation or cook substitutes. I will make my own baked goods that are lower calorie and have less chocolate, sugar substitutes, and ingredient switches like unsweetened applesauce for oil. I also tend to eat lots of random snacks that i used to eat, just in smaller portions that fit into my…

Google whatever fast food restaurants are there and "best healthy options" to get some ideas. You can find some great options at a lot of places. If you could pack one meal and then eat your other meal there, that'd definitely be an easier option though!