This is one reason why diets that give you menu's never worked for me. I would get so overwhelmed when I got to the store. I did the zone diet once and my cart was so full of stuff and it cost an arm and a leg when I checked out. This time I decided to keep it simple. Dr Oz suggests keeping breakfast and lunch pretty much the same every day. That way you don't have to think much about it. I now have a couple of breakfast options to pick from. I work so I started out with weight watchers frozen meals. I have a freezer at work so I would fill it with these and I didn't have to think about it. Dinners are quick and easy or something in the crock pot.
Keeping it as simple as possible made it doable for me. You can make adjustments as you go along to keep it interesting and to make it more healthy. I don't eat many of the frozen meals now, but they helped me get started.

Do you have any good, healthy crock pot recipes?

I think that was one of the best things about their book. Permission to simplify.

Crock Pot Chicken
whole chicken
lawry's seasoned salt
make some balls of foil and place in a crock pot that has been sprayed with non stick spray. rinse the chicken and salt liberally with the seasoning salt and place on top of the foil balls. The foil keeps the chicken out of the drippings so it isn't soaking up all that fat. set the crock pot for 4-5 hours on high. It works better on high than low for this recipe.

I've found some spice mixes at the store for the crock pot. The italian chicken is really good. You mix the spices with a small can of tomato paste and stewed tomatoes and pour over some chicken breasts in the crock pot. It is really good served over some whole grain pasta. I think you could substitute some italian spices and garlic powder for the spice mix.

For chicken taco's I put some chicken breasts in the crock pot and pour a container of salsa over and cook on low for five hours. This is great served in corn tortillas with lettuce, black beans and a little fat free sour cream and a little reduced fat cheese.

Once in awhile I do a roast in the crock pot with potatoes, carrots and onions and use one of the spice mixes with it. I don't eat many of the potatoes, I leave them for the guys and make myself a sweet potato in the microwave.

This site has some recipes that look interesting too.
http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/lo...slowcooker.htm

Wow, there is a lot of advice here, thank you ladies. I'm taking it one day at a time. THe key for me is simplicity, with 3 sons and a husband to feed I have to make it easy for all of us. We already do cook pretty simple meals most of the time, so that is a plus. I'll just have to work that into a menu, so it's more planned. My goal right now is to do the calorie counting and meal planning and portion control until I have a good handle on it(it may take a few years)and I like many don't want to have to count everything I eat for the rest of my life, this is a lifestyle change for me that I'm going to stick with.
I find when I'm looking at menus and other meal plans, such as at Sparkpeople(I've been a member there for 3 years), that I do get overwhelmed about the process and they show food that either I don't like or would have to struggle to prepare, that was the reason I was trying to just follow the Canada Food Guide recommendations, but I'm the kind of gal who takes infromation form everywhere and process it that way, so I have many options out there and right now this is the one that looks like it will work for me, for now.
Now going to do a reread and write these tips down. Thanks again.

If it's working for you, your probably don't need to plan. But if you think it would work better to plan or your unhappy with your current progress, by all means!

I haven't been doing this long enough to have a handle on menu planning myself --- and it IS hard when you have to cook a meal that everyone can eat (in my humble opinion....)

One thing to really keep an eye on is portion sizes; it's so darn easy to blow your calorie budget just by taking a big serving or getting seconds. (At least, that's true for me!) You could make sure every dinner has a side vegetable and fill up on that. Or you could have an apple or salad right before dinner to fill you up some before everyone sits down. Or you could fill 1/2 your plate with fruit/veggies, 1/4 with protein and 1/4 with starches/carbs as a quick and dirty way to balance what you are eating.

Good for you for taking the time to try to do this right and not just giving up when it gets complicated or tough! Those FatNasty pounds that are freeloading at your house should be getting very, very nervous!

I think about what I want for dinner and put it in on fitday. That way I can see what my calories will be if I eat it - and if it doesn't seem worth getting my calories to a certain point, I change it. Breakfast and lunch I have no problem keeping as minimal calories so I just put it in after I've eaten it, but dinner I have to look at the amount of calories good and hard before I eat it.

I plan my day in advance because it works for ME and helps to keep ME accountable. Your milage may vary of course.