[Caring4myself]

It's been a little while since I last posted. My stress level was starting to max out, and I started to feel very unbalanced. Therefore, my eating choices have been poor, and I'm trying to find my way again.

I was doing Diet to Go, but just sent the email canceling their service. I think i'm going to just count calories. A lot of you guys do that and has found success. I'm going to need lots of support guys.

I have a hard time planning meals. Any suggestions?

I'm going to try making my meals on the weekend and using the diet to go trays to put stuff in.

Where do I go from here? (the question I ask myself)

[Coondocks]

You get comfortable with the plan you've put into action for a while, then add in your exercise.
Really, that's what I had to do, more than once.

Too much of a change at once doesn't work for everyone, I'm one of those people. I started with a food plan, made that my focus. Then I added in some moderate exercise until that and the food plan didn't overwhelm me, then I added in some more.

Keep strong, remember it's not going to change over night and come back here any and every time you need support

[Caring4myself]

I have a hard time planning what to eat. I think that's why i end up in the drive thru or take out isle very often.

[MissSMcC]

you could try healthier versions of what you normally eat, so if you like cheeseburgers try making turkey burgers, if you like french fries try making baked sweet potato fries, that kind of thing. thats what im doing, and i havent felt restricted and it hasnt been such a shock to my system so its been easier to stick to.

[Caring4myself]

Originally Posted by MissSMcC

you could try healthier versions of what you normally eat, so if you like cheeseburgers try making turkey burgers, if you like french fries try making baked sweet potato fries, that kind of thing. thats what im doing, and i havent felt restricted and it hasnt been such a shock to my system so its been easier to stick to.

Great idea!

[katy trail]

i try to make a big pot of something and then eat from the pot, or portion it out for several days. like soups-veggie,beans and greens soups like lentil or minestrone, black bean and turkey sausage soup. or make a big pot of beans (i'm on a bean kick) then flavor it differently each meal. you could do the same with meat if you are low carbing. like make pot roast or chicken in the slow cooker with basic seasonings so you can change it up each meal. southwest for lunch, asian at dinner, italian at another meal. it allows for me to make what i'm in the mood for at the time, and it only takes a min. to add seasonings to adjust the flavors. or if you're working a lot, just make several dishes you like and portion them out for your lunches/dinners.

[jessy 49]

One idea is to try to eat the same thing every day (as much as possible). No decisions to be made. For example: Breakfast might be cereal with greek yogurt and fruit. Every day. Change the cereal, change the yogurt flavor or change the fruit but the basic idea is always cereal + yogurt + fruit.

For lunch you might: always have leftovers from last night or hummus + pita (or a wrap) + veg. If there aren't any leftovers, then hummus is the go-to meal.

Dinner might be: meat + veg + fruit for dessert. Obviously one day you have chicken, the next day beef, then fish, and then pork. Veg rotates among your fav's as does the fruit.

This is my basic formula and I find it keeps me from becomming distracted by the 1000's of diet recipes that one sees. It is also a sane way of keeping on top of the forgotten food languishing in the refridgerator! A formula also makes it easier to keep track of whatever you count -- carbs, points, calories ... I know this idea sounds kind of boring but having to decide what to eat 3x per day, every day, is a lot of unnecessary work! Good luck!

[lottie63]

I'm following this blog: http://rejecting300.blogspot.com/

and she's doing thsi thing where she got that 'eat this not that' book (restaurant faves at home type book, more healhty)

if you need ideas you might want to check it out on amazon or something.

[Caring4myself]

Thanks guys. I have one week planned that I did the other week. I'm working on planning another week now. It is hard for me, but thanks for the ideas. I'm gonna try to plan out 5 wks ahead of time(idea from being on diet to go) and then alternate the weekly menus I plan. Then when I feel, I'll plan more weeks until I have some type of variety going. I'm hoping this works for me.

I'm pretty busy during the week with work and school. Then I have most of my down time on the weekends. Which is the unprettiest due to my lonliness and being more prone to eat because of.

[Caring4myself]

Originally Posted by lottie63

I'm following this blog: http://rejecting300.blogspot.com/

and she's doing thsi thing where she got that 'eat this not that' book (restaurant faves at home type book, more healhty)

if you need ideas you might want to check it out on amazon or something.

I'm looking at the blog now. She has listed what she eats, doesn't seem like much, but I am seeing some things that I can incorporate into my menu. Thanks for the tip.

[lottie63]

Originally Posted by Caring4myself

I'm looking at the blog now. She has listed what she eats, doesn't seem like much, but I am seeing some things that I can incorporate into my menu. Thanks for the tip.

I Don't think she eats enough at all, def not enough cals most days, esp for her activity level.

I was just recommending the book for ideas though. She seems to love it. I have some recipes on my blog (link below) but they are gluten free and vegan, you can of course add meat/unvegan/gf sources of whatever you like for whatever you have on hand though I guess.

[dragonwoman64]

eat this not that has an email newsletter too you can get. fitday.com has a free online calorie counter.

for me, like the above poster, simplifying and having a set number of types of meals I planned for has helped. Boredom for me can be a problem, but overall I eat cereal for breakfast, have basically the same lunch and snacks on workdays, then dinner is basically a rotation of types of meals (veggies, starch, protein)

my tastes have changed over time, I prefer eating different things now. I try to make sure I'm really liking what I'm eating to avoid the deprivation feeling that for me can easily lead to going after higher cal foods.

(PS there's a recipe section here, that has rated recipes, you can adapt some of those; and people list their daily eating here, you can take ideas from those)

[Caring4myself]

Originally Posted by lottie63

I Don't think she eats enough at all, def not enough cals most days, esp for her activity level.

I was just recommending the book for ideas though. She seems to love it. I have some recipes on my blog (link below) but they are gluten free and vegan, you can of course add meat/unvegan/gf sources of whatever you like for whatever you have on hand though I guess.

Thanks, the ideas really help. The pics of your dishes look very yummy. It's making me hungry. I better go eat breakfast. I'm a late with that because I'm trying to plan out these meals.

[Caring4myself]

Originally Posted by dragonwoman64

eat this not that has an email newsletter too you can get. fitday.com has a free online calorie counter.

for me, like the above poster, simplifying and having a set number of types of meals I planned for has helped. Boredom for me can be a problem, but overall I eat cereal for breakfast, have basically the same lunch and snacks on workdays, then dinner is basically a rotation of types of meals (veggies, starch, protein)

my tastes have changed over time, I prefer eating different things now. I try to make sure I'm really liking what I'm eating to avoid the deprivation feeling that for me can easily lead to going after higher cal foods.

(PS there's a recipe section here, that has rated recipes, you can adapt some of those; and people list their daily eating here, you can take ideas from those)

Thanks. I will check those out. This is really helping me. I don't know why but sometimes, I think I make things harder on myself. It's like I have this feeling that it has to be hard. It's a mental thing I have to get over.

[dragonwoman64]

Originally Posted by Caring4myself

Thanks. I will check those out. This is really helping me. I don't know why but sometimes, I think I make things harder on myself. It's like I have this feeling that it has to be hard. It's a mental thing I have to get over.

I have a feeling that's fairly universal when it comes to losing weight

sometimes instead of a complete diet overall, switching a few things can have a big impact:
--limiting eating out
--cutting back on soda/sugared ice tea/coffee drinks with extras (double mocha frappa whatevers)
--high fat meats to leaner cuts: sausage to chicken, lean pork, turkey
--cut back on the goodies (muffins, my fav, have tons of calories, even eating half instead of an entire one makes a difference)

--Incorporating fruits for your snacks
--drinking water (stay hydrated), you might see a controversy over this, but for me thirst can mask for hunger, and it helps me stay regular (yeah, TMI), and helps me swoosh out the extra lbs when I have water retention
--cut back on the bread (try low cal options of sliced bread)
--work on getting your veggie intake up (baby carrots or carrot sticks is a big fav of mine; so is the small cans of V8). Try going to farmers markets and trying something new (that's fun for me)