Has anyone ever succeeded with a Lean Cuisine based diet? My plan is to have normal healthy breakfasts (such as, 1 cup of cereal and low fat milk, or yogurt/granola/fruit or 1/2 bagel and fruit, etc.) and then Lean Cuisine based lunches and dinners. I am thinking I will bulk up the lunches and dinners with salads and vegetables. If I get hungry between meals, I will allow myself fresh fruit or veggies.
Has anyone done a diet like this and succeeded? I am looking to lose 30ish pounds. All advice is welcome!
To be honest, my mother made me go on a diet when I was 13 years old because I was very overweight. She fed me Lean Cuisine meals everyday because she didn't know how to cook healthy. Needless to say, I started getting hives all over my thighs after two weeks of eating these meals.... she took me to the doctor and he said "STOP feeding her these frozen meals!"
I used to eat them in high school while dieting. I wasnt a very healthy dieter though. I skipped breakfast and had the meals for lunch and dinner. I lost but I was pretty much starving myself.
Frozen meals are good every once in a while but they have alot of preservatives and what not. I would rather have a sandwhich now than a frozen meal although sometimes I settle with the pizza meals instead of ordering one.
Im sure you'll lose weight doing this but I personally would rather just fix my own meals and even freeze what I cook for use later in the week to save time.
I use lean cuisines for lunch fairly often. When I have dinner leftovers, I'll have those instead, but when I don't, I'll grab a lean cuisine. I'll say I eat 3 or 4 a week. I realize they are not the healthiest things in the world (high sodium and lots of preservatives) but when I compare it to the other meals I see at work (pizza, left over chinese food, white bagels with cream cheese, sandwiches on white bread with corn chips on the side) it probably is still a better alternative.
To be honest, I am lazy, and that's why I eat them. I know exactly how many calories are in each serving, and I don't have to do anything other than throw it in a bag with a piece of fruit and a bottle of water.
That being said... I wouldn't want to eat them twice a day every day. I don't think I could do it. Some of them taste OK, some of them are kinda gross... and I think I would run out of options that I was willing to eat after a very short period of time.
I am not much of a cook, nor do I have the time to spend a whole day cooking huge batches and freezing. I cook dinners and that's about it (and it's very basic...bake or broil some meat, a salad, and some other veggie). That being said, I eat Lean Cuisines every other day for lunch, so between 3-4 times. On the days that I don't eat Lean Cuisines, I eat a salad with low fat dressing and a protein (chicken, tuna, egg whites...something like that). I personally find them delicious (I like the paninis, flatbreads, and pizzas...I like them as much as anything I'd order at a deli), and they add variety and convenience to my diet. I don't have to worry about portions or preparing because it's done for me.
Just keep in mind that they are high in sodium, so drink lots of water and be mindful of your sodium uptake throughout the rest of the day. The way I see it, Lean Cuisines are generally around 30% of the recommended daily sodium. If I eat unprocessed food, made from scratch, and I don't add any salt, I'm still eating only a fraction of the daily sodium limit.
I personally wouldn't suggest eating them twice a day everyday, maybe just for lunches to start with?
I lost my initial 20 pounds eating LC, WW, or other frozen meals. I was eating them twice a day with some salad. I was never "satiated" though--and knew there had to be a better way for me. The things are way overly processed and loaded in sodium and chemicalsI did some reading and went to calorie counting with a VAST emphasis on whole foods.
If you are still wanting to go this route, you may want to check into Kashi brand or Amy's brand meals. They seem to be healthier.
Hey--another thought too--is this something you are going to do long-term--I mean from now on? Once you get to goal what will your "maintenance" phase consist of? If you plan to go off the meals what will you be eating and how you make sure you aren't going over on calorie intake?
These are all great responses. Thank you. I kind of had an ah-ha moment at Thanksgiving and realized I am way out of control when it comes to eating. I'm not depressed, maybe bored sometimes, but I really just eat a lot because 1.) I love food, and 2.) I've totally lost touch with how much a person my size should eat. I am 5'3" and 165. Most of my life I was 115-125. I've gained a lot of weight since I graduated from college and started a mostly desk job 3 years ago, and I've gained even more weight since I got married earlier in the year. I know I need to lose 30-40 pounds for my health, but mostly, I just need to get back to reality about portion sizes and normal eating (and the weight will take care of itself). I have always enjoyed Lean Cuisine so I thought trying a few a day for awhile (a month or two, maybe) might help me lose a few pounds and get some control back. After a few months of it, I should be able to eat similar foods and "eyeball" the calorie count. I don't remember what it feels like to be truly hungry! (has anyone ever realized that?!) Another problem I have is that I am exposed to a lot of eating out with my job (like, 3-4 times a week). I figure Lean Cuisine can't possibly be worse than so much restaurant food. I am honestly not sure how to combat being sabotaged with so much eating out, but my goal is to eat a frozen meal before I eat out, and then just have a side salad and diet coke while at the restaurant. So, I guess I started a new subject...eating out and dieting. Any advice about that?
I've used frozen dinners in the past, and most left me hungrier than if I hadn't eaten at all.
It took me a while to realize that I'm extremely sensitive to all carbohydrates (even to some degree fruits and whole grains), and most frozen dinners are VERY carb-heavy (because high-carb foods tend to be cheap and tasty).
Restaurant food has the same problem - a scarcity of low-carb (or at least low glycemic) choices.
I'm not going to assume that you have difficulties with carbohydrates (I don't think everyone is so sensitive to carbohydrates. I'm insulin resistant, but maybe not even everyone with insulin resistance has severe carb problems).
Something to consider though. I can portion control a steak/broiled or baked fish or chicken and salad meal much more easily than say a meal of pasta.
There are lower carb frozen dinners (I believe even Lean Cuisine has a few) and lower grain or whole grain frozen dinners. I do use those occasionally, but most are too high in salt for me to enjoy - so I don't buy them very often.
Hi,
I think the lean cuisine website is great. Check it out for some great info. Personally I think frozen meals are better than excess weight and they make life easy.
I cook but then eat more than a normal portion. So this is not good. The lean cuisine eliminates this problem.
Hi! If you want to go the "prepared meal" route, you might consider Diet-to-Go (or similar) delivery because the meals are fresh-frozen and I don't think have the preservatives and salt that the grocery store dinners have. I only did this for a couple of weeks and I chose the LOW CARB option, but I thought the quality was quite good.
I don't think lean cuisine could really replace healthy food- plus, trust me, as someone who has a busy schedule and eats a lot of prepared food, you get really, really sick of lean cuisine really quickly.
I know it's difficult, because as Americans we're rarely taught how to cook well for ourselves, but maybe getting a few healthy cookbooks? I enjoy the recipes in the Biggest loser cookbook.
Has anyone ever succeeded with a Lean Cuisine based diet? My plan is to have normal healthy breakfasts (such as, 1 cup of cereal and low fat milk, or yogurt/granola/fruit or 1/2 bagel and fruit, etc.) and then Lean Cuisine based lunches and dinners. I am thinking I will bulk up the lunches and dinners with salads and vegetables. If I get hungry between meals, I will allow myself fresh fruit or veggies.
Has anyone done a diet like this and succeeded? I am looking to lose 30ish pounds. All advice is welcome!
I have had a great amount of luck with subbing a few meals a week, or even a day with lean quisine and smart ones. My boyfriend and I would go out for all of our meals on the weekends and we packed on the pounds fairly quickly. During the week we live separate and we have our own work out routines and meal plans so there are other things we're doing to aide in our success but on the weekend we munch on these and go for a long stroll. In a little over 4 weeks I have shed 13 lbs. I drink only plain green tea and water during the day. I eat a 400 calorie breakfast usually of fruit, oatmeal, eggs, and a small bit of bacon. Lunch I'll have a large dry salad with all sorts of gOodies. For dinner I tend to eat a lean quisine dish with steamed broccoli or a salad with an orange or an apple. On average I do 5-7 mile walk 5-6 times a week.
I'm 5'3 and I went from 226 to 213 in what seems like no time.
anyone ever had success with Lean Cuisine?
