Has anyone lost weight eating frozen meals such as Amy's, Lean Cuisine, Health Choice etc? I don't like to cook and the no thought process of just popping one of these in the microwave seems like it would be great for me! I need a very VERY simple no stress way of eating in order to stick with my weight loss!
I've been using up to 2 frozen dinners per day using "The Simple Diet," which uses 3 protein shakes + 2 entrees + 5 (or more) servings of vegetables and fruit
Frozen dinners can be used for the entrees if they meet the nutrition guidelines. The Dr. Anderson's simple diet thread includes all the guidelines.
I am doing WW, and using Lean Cuisine for lunch every day, and dinner some days of the week. In 4 weeks, I am down 7.6 pounds (slowly, but surely)... As long as I keep track of the points in the meals, and stay within daily guidelines, it has not been a problem, but actually a helpful way for me to portion control.
I eat them almost everyday for lunch. Im not a big reheated meat kind of girl so when i dont want soup, a salad, or sandwich its a good quick way to get yummy food in for little calories. I love the lean cuisine cheese pizza. its so good
Has anyone lost weight eating frozen meals such as Amy's, Lean Cuisine, Health Choice etc? I don't like to cook and the no thought process of just popping one of these in the microwave seems like it would be great for me! I need a very VERY simple no stress way of eating in order to stick with my weight loss!
I started off my weight loss by eating Lean Cuisines. I try to cook more often now, but frozen meals were quick and an easy way to count my calories. Some of them have a little more sodium so I try to avoid those. I love lean cuisine steamers, Amy's has low calorie options, and I've hd some great Evo meals.
Nope, would never. I'm fairly convinced that pre packaged food is how this country got itself into the obesity predicament in the first place. I'm pretty sure that prepackaged food megacompanies aren't going to get us out of it. The key to good health is fresh food. I have a lot of friends who don't cook and now have kids and they're passing on the same bad habits to their kids by opening up canned foods, frozen foods, boxed foods and take out. This is an epidemic.
I was a "whole food purist" for years at various points in my life (including, ironically at my highest weight). I quite eaily maintained my super obese weight on whole grains, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables and sometimes meat and fish. Most recently, adding Paleo to the mix (though I still had to control portions).
If I had unlimited funds or energy, I would eat whole-food, semi-paleo (I do eat some cultured dairy).
I don't have either, so I make my own frozen meals when I do have the energy, and if I run out of my own before I have the time or energy to restock, I use what I can find or send hubby for at the grocery store. I read the ingredient labels carefully, avoiding the ingredients and additives I'm most concerned with, and choose the best options I can.
Ironically, I resorted to this because of health problems, and expected to feel worse, more often. That hasn't been the case. My health and pain issues are more closely tied to sleep and weather than diet. Sugar and gluten grains do aggravate my symptoms, but I still avoid those even in frozen dinners.
I do drink more water to compensate for the added salt. And I still consume 5-10 servings of the best, freshest fruit and vegetables I can afford.
I think refined carbs, and carb/calorie intake, along with a DRASTIC decline in activity have had the most severe impacts on our healths and weight. What we eat plays a big role, but I think the lack of movement in our lives is at least as imporrtant.
There are a lot of things that contribute to the epidemic but thy are all driven by the "I want it fast, I want it easy and I want it cheap" philosophy our culture thrives in. I'm not perfect either but the easy way is not always the most sustainable way. I've given up reading the ingredients and only buy ingredients nowadays. I too make frozen dinners but I make them from scratch. I think it's easy and it's cheaper and I know what's in it.
I don't judge anyone. But what's easier than chopping up a salad and grilling a chicken breast? These require the most basic of basic cooking skills. What's with the "I can't or won't do it unless its easy" thoughts? Come in, give yourself a little credit!
Last edited by Palestrina; 10-25-2013 at 04:09 PM.
I eat them (lean cuisines) often enough 3-4 times a week for lunch or supper if I'm in a hurry (or being lazy) there quick easy and alot healthier than anything I would order from a drive thru. I don't worry about the sodium as I think it will flush through. Drink a lot of water. They have also helped me get a better understanding of a portion size
I do give myself a great deal of credit, for what I can and do accomplish. I'm an extremely competent shopper and cook, which is why I cook when I can, but I also have health and pain issues that make getting up and going to the toilet barely possible some days.
I was finding that on the worst days, I was reaching for the highest calorie of whole-food comfort foods. Nuts, dried fruits, my homemade yogurt, and local grass-fed dairy cheeses (which here in my area of Wisconsin are no more expensive than mass-market cheeses in most other areas of the country).
Even worse, I would turn over meal responsibilities to my husband, a restaurant-trained chef who has his own health, pain, and mobility issues (we're both disabled by them and on SSDI as a result). If he also didn't feel like cooking, his go-to choice is a nearby family-owned asian store and deli. The food is all made from scratch, but tends to be either quite high in high carbs or fat (or both) and sodium as well (which is more of a problem for hubby as my blood sodium levels tend to run on the unhealthy side of low. I'm one of the few people encouraged by their doctor to eat more salt).
Most months I have enough good days to rely on my own "from scratch" cooking and food prep to carry myself through the bad days.
Unfortunately, season-change and other extended periods of drastically changeable weather are the exception.
This week I haven't even had the strength, energy or balance to shower.
When we had a small chest freezer, making all my own frozen meals, several weeks' worth at a time, was practical. However when the freezer died (and we didn't have the money to replace it) that left us with only the small freezer compartment of our refrigerator.
Picking up a few Kashi, Amy's, or Evol dinners or even the occasional Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice isn't the End of the World.
You can't have everything. Affordable (and cost effective), easy, healthy, low-calorie, tasty, filling, fast, with minimal clean-up.... If I can manage 4 out of the 7, I consider myself doing pretty good, especially on the days when bathing and even dressing are beyond my capacity.
I ate a lot of Lean Cuisine during my weight loss, and I still eat them for lunch one or two times a week. I laugh now, because I always ate them over salad...and now they've come out with a product line designed to be eaten over salad. I could have been rich! lol
I had no adverse effects on my weight loss by eating them. And they certainly don't affect my maintenance of almost two years.
Last edited by ChickieChicks; 10-26-2013 at 11:40 AM.
I'm a lazy, lazy, lazy, anti-cooking, lazy, hungry vegan. I don't want to cook alot, because I hate cooking. I eat plenty of fresh stuff (alot of it raw because I hate cooking) but I also eat plenty of frozen meals, particularly Amy's.
Frozen Meals!
lol
