Would anyone be willing to help me out? I really need someone to do menus for me for the first little while. I have no idea what to eat because all we eat is junk, processed, carb-full, etc meals. Would anyone be willing to make me a month worth of menus (B-L-D and snacks) and the shopping lists for each day? It wouldn't have to be all at once. Like maybe a week at a time. This would be a godsend to me and my family. It would take the guess work out. All I ask is that you keep the meals as cheap as possible. Let me know if this is at all possible.

Numb, I would hesitate to create a menu for you just because I don't follow any particular plan (just old fashioned calorie counting) and, of course, because I am not familiar with your tastes or cooking habits. But I will be glad to PM or email you a couple of typical days for me and the recipes for them if you think that would help. If they look like the types of food you enjoy then we could go from there. Shoot me a PM if that would help you.

have you looked in the recipe section? also look online for healthy recipes. in the meantime this might help:

http://www.bodyforlife.com/nutrition/mealplan.asp

Chicken breast
Turkey breast
Lean ground turkey
Swordfish
Orange roughy
Haddock
Salmon
Tuna
Crab
Lobster
Shrimp
Top round steak
Top sirloin steak
Lean ground beef
Buffalo
Lean ham
Egg whites or substitutes
Trout
Low-fat cottage cheese
Wild-game meat

Vegetables

Broccoli
Asparagus
Lettuce
Carrots
Cauliflower
Green beans
Green peppers
Mushrooms
Spinach
Tomato
Peas
Brussels sprouts
Artichoke
Cabbage
Celery
Zucchini
Cucumber
Onion

Fats

Avocado
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Cold-water fish
Natural peanut butter
Low-fat cheese
Low-fat salad dressing
Low-sodium nuts
Olives and olive oil
Safflower oil
Canola oil
Sunflower oil
Flax seed oil
Carbohydrates

Baked potato
Sweet potato
Yams
Squash
Pumpkin
Steamed brown rice
Steamed wild rice
Pasta
Oatmeal
Barley
Beans
Kidney beans
Corn
Strawberries
Melon
Apple
Orange
Fat-free yogurt
Whole-wheat bread
High-fiber cereal
Rice cake
Popcorn
Tortilla
Whole grains

Vegetarian Proteins

Tempeh
Seitan
Tofu
Texturized vegetable protein
Soy foods
Veggie burgers

Fats to Avoid

Butter
Fried foods
Mayonnaise
Sweets
Whole-fat dairy products

I have a couple of recommendations. First, you might look at www.ediets.com. They charge a fee, but they will do exactly what you want based on the information you give them.

Another idea would be to look into building a menu based on the exchange system. This was developed by the American Diabetes Assn, and is what Jenny Craig is based on and is what Weight Watchers was originally based on. You can get information on it here: http://www.24hourfitness.com/html/24_5/food/exchange/. I don't know your height, but when I weighed what you do at 5'9", Jenny Craig had me at 2000 calories. So, I'd look at eating at LEAST 1800 as described on the site above.

NOTE: Carbohydrates aren't bad, contrary to current fads. You lose weight by burning more calories than you take in. A healthy diet can have 50% or 60% of its calories come from carbohydrates. For optimum health, you want to choose GOOD carbohydrates. I eat some white starch, but I also derive carbohydrates from vegetables, fruits, dairy, and whole grains. So, don't think that you have to banish all forms of carbohydrate -- if you are reducing calories and you try to increase the number of complex (fiber-filled) carbohydrates you consume, you get the best of both worlds.

Here is a link to a bunch of chicks using FitDay - you can go to each ones journal to see what we are eating and how we are exercising...I'm with the responses above - a week of what I'm eating might not appeal to you. (Sometimes it doesn't even appeal to me.)
But you can get ideas from our diaries - and of course from the forums and sites listed above....
Try thinking of it this way - for the most part it's common sense with a little research thrown in. If you think something is junk food it probably is....so avoid it. The more processing that went into making what you are about to eat (unless you cooked it yourself) - the better the chance it isn't good for you. A nutritionist once gave me a tip that my dinner plate should look like 1/2 vegetables, 1/4 protein, 1/4 starch....I found this helpful in that I ate a lot more vegetables this way. There is more to it than that - but it's a baby step in the right direction.
Congrats on starting your journey to being healthier - look forward to continuing the journey for many years to come...if you do it right - it will be more years than if you don't. It might be more work to lose weight than gain it - but it's worth it - I swear!
Here's to a healthier Numb & family!!

I have an outline of what I typically eat posted in my website at http://webpages.charter.net/lenny13/HowDid.html . I don't know if what works for me will work for you, of course. Lactose intolerant people certainly could not follow what I do! But it might give you some ideas.

If you go look at it, you'll note that I list my usual exercise routine in with my usual eating routine. I firmly believe that I would not have lost nearly has much weight as I have were it not for the exercise.

Hi Ashley,

I can see you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by the whole process and I can understand why, it seems so hard sometimes to know where to start. Since you have a computer you can access so many great sites and get all the help you need. I have put together a week of breakfast ideas for you, just pretty much what I have in a week keeping to around 3 points on average except Sunday when I splurge and have around 8 points.

Everything on my weekly menu is easily available at your grocery store. I highly recommend investing in an electronic scale which weighs in both grams and ounces I can't live without mine.

If you need anything feel free to PM me, I will try to get a list together for you of really good sites to visit.

Day One
2/3 cup vanilla yogurt 2 pts
1 cup frozen raspberries, blueberries, strawberries 1 point (thaw the berries while making the kids breakfast then add the yogurt)

Day 2
2 slices WW whole wheat bread 1 pt
1 tbls peanut butter mixed with ½ mashed banana 3.25 points

Day 3
1 cup multi-grain Cheerios 1.5 points
1 cup non fat milk 1.5 points

Day 4
Mini frittata ham, cheese, onion, green pepper 2 points Link to Recipe http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67618
1 slice WW whole Wheat Bread toasted no butter .5 points

Day 5
2 aimee’s breakfast crunch cookies 2 points
1 cup non fat milk 1.5 points
Link to recipe: http://www.aimeesadventures.com/Reci...ods/BKG23.html

Day 6
Applesauce Bran Muffins 2 points each Link to recipe:
http://www.onmyweigh.com/assets/reci...anMuffins.html
1 cup non fat milk 1.5 points

Day 7
3 slices crisp bacon 3 points
1 egg cooked without oil 2 points
2 slices WW whole wheat bread toasted 1 point
2Tbls Jam 2 points



Listen to all the others here too they have great ideas and recipes to share.

O.K.

I just went through my list and here are links to the sites I enjoy and find the most helpful and useful to me I am sure you can find more and everyone here can probably add another one to the list.

http://www.foodfit.com/centers/hwc/n...on_knowhow.asp

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/Index.html

http://www.nutritiondata.com/

http://www.angelfire.com/me/kyoddie/diets2.html

http://www.alexnolan.net/onlinetools...calculator.htm

http://www.healthyweightforum.org/

http://www.***************.net/

http://www.onmyweigh.com/

http://www.aimeesadventures.com/Recipes.html

http://www.counselingseattle.com/ww/1.htm

Hi Numb! It looks like you've gotten quite a bit of good advice here!

In case you wanted more information, here's what I usually do:

B - 1 grain/bread (15g carbohydrate), 1 fat, 1 fruit, 1 dairy, and sometimes 3 oz protein
L - 2 grain/bread, 2 fat, 2 vegetable, 3-4 oz protein, and sometimes 1 fruit
D - 2 grain/bread, 2 fat, 2 vegetable, 3-4 oz protein
S - 1 grain/bread, 1 fat, 1 fruit, 1 dairy

With portion sizes as follows ...
1 grain/bread = 15g carbohydrate and 2g fiber
1 fat = 5g fat
1 veg = 5g carbohydrate (1 cup raw or ½c cooked)
1 fruit = 15g carbohydrate
1 dairy = 12g carbohydrate and 0-8g fat
1 oz protein = 7g protein (preferably lean - 0-4 grams/fat)

This was given to me by my nutritionist and is based on a plan called the Willough plan. It seems a little high on the protein for my tastes, but it's a good plan.

Of course, I sometimes eat less and I sometimes eat more, and sometimes I have to eat a "combination food" and try to figure out how it fits in. I liked this when I started because it was a very easy plan to follow - just fill in the blanks.

Let us know what ends up working for you!