[Babybat]

I want to eat healthy but it's hard because I don't know WHAT to eat, and we never have what I want...
I could use as many ideas of easy, cheap, tasty, healthy meals, as I can get!

I've got a few turn-to meals under my belt but not enough... I need ideas for all 3 meals of the day.

You're all so helpful and supportive, I owe a lot to you thank you!

--
EDIT

it's so bad I'm beginning to starve myself (not on purpose)
but I'm just so fricking hungry and not sure what to do because I don't want to over eat or anything...

[Pipina]

Hi Babybat

I used to have the same problem until I found exchanges. The exchanges system provides me with a kind of template of meals, which at the same time is endlessly variable.

So I always have for breakfast 2 fruit exchanges (two medium size pieces) and 2,5 starch exchanges (muesli or bread) + milk or olive oil.

For lunch I have 4 starch exchanges (that can be pasta, rice, beans, potatoes...) + 2 protein exchanges (meat or fish or eggs) + 1 vegetable exchange (a salad plus mushrooms in my rice...) + 2 fat exchanges (two tablespoons of olive oil for cooking & dressing).

You can also take 2 + 2 exchanges (rice soup plus 1 potato) etc etc... The possible permutations are infinite.

At night I have vegetables + protein + plain yogurt or cottage cheese. And 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

I have noticed that American exchanges aren't the same as the ones we use in Spain but the system itself is what counts.

I hope it gives you some ideas...

[toobig]

I wish I could offer you some sort of perfect advice that would solve your problem. The only real wisdom I can offer you is this - find some low calorie foods you like and eat them. I usually have low fat cottage cheese and blackberries in the mornings if I am hungry. And you can make a pretty good sandwich on low calorie bread. And I always have cliff bars in my kitchen because they fill me up when I think I am going to starve. I buy large amounts of fresh veggies because I know I will eat them to keep them from going bad. And I stock up on pork loin and chicken breast any time they are on sale so that there is always lean meat in the freezer. I know it seems overwhealming at times but you can do this.

[Misti in Seattle]

Fruits and veggies! Most of them are very low calorie and loaded with nutrition. You can eat a LOT of them and still lose weight!

[dangerouscurvesahead]

my breakfast favs r choc or caramel rice cake with pnut butter and banana or apple n a fat free lite yougart

[scoutycat]

The full plate diet has lots of good ideas, and a free ebook that will tell you how to adjust your meals and eating. hungry-girl.com also has many ideas. There is a sticky at the top of this forum that has all kinds of meal ideas that are under 400 calories. There are a ton of recipes in the food section of this forum. Allrecipes.com has a healthy eating section and tips. All the info is right under your nose, you just have to work for it a bit.

[Mabenda0]

remember that snacks have to have some kind of protein with them- greek yogurt and fruit, carrots and hummus, apple and 2 tablespoons of almond butter or peanut butter. All these things are low calorie and filling.

Normal breakfasts I have are green smoothies- bannana, one cup of almond milk, and a handful of spinach.
Also one serving of egg whites are 25 calories. An egg white scramble with lots of veggies in it is very filling.

Lunch ideas- always make sure half your plate is steamed veggies. Salads are great to bring to work and are easy to change up. All the raw veggies are low calories too!

Dinner- one serving of protein- fish, chicken, or turkey (beans if your vegetarian) and steamed veggies!

This website is the best for ideas-
http://www.skinnytaste.com/
It lists the calories and serving size of each dish too!

[owlsteazombies]

my favorite dinner is crock pot chicken cooked in onions, garlic, cilantro and red pepper flakes and black pepper and oregano, brown rice and cilantro with lime squeezed over and a fresh corn, tomato, onion and garlic salsa all mixed up together with some black beans

my favorite breakfast is an eggwhite omelette with mushrooms, spinach and feta.

lunch is usually a pita stuffed with shrimp and lettuce and cucumbers lately since I bought a big bag of the lil guys

[Munchy]

I wrote this before, but I thought it may be helpful to you now. I don't plan anymore, but it was the best way for me to stay satisfied and learn to eat the appropriate amount of food for my body.

The way I started meal planning was by doing a full week at a time. I just keep my calories similar for each meal/snack of the week. B, S, L, S, D, S

I have a kind of routine.

For breakfast, I usually just pan fry an egg white with spinach and make a sandwich on some kind of low cal/high fiber bread, some kind of cheese or lean meat. There are so many variations of spreads, cheeses, meats, fresh herbs, etc. that can change the flavor profile.

For snack #1, I pack one fruit serving. During the summer it's usually blueberries and strawberries, in fall apples or pears, in winter I eat a lot of clementines. Anything will do. I just make sure to weigh the right amount.

Lunch I always make at least two kinds of soup on the weekend for my daily lunch, so when I pack my bag for the day, I just pull out one frozen cup of soup. I typically have 3-4 different types of soup on hand, so I just pull out the one I want to pack for the next day's lunch.

Snack #2 is pretty regularly a cup of either cherry tomatoes, baby carrots or a mixture of both and 3T hummus. I have a little tupperware container that I pack with hummus and throw into a baggie with the veggies. If I don't want that particular snack, sometimes I eat cheese with wasa or akmak crackers, natural jerky, measured out nuts with or without dried fruit.

Dinner I make a lot of easy dinner meals to supplement the more time-intensive meals that I freeze into portions on weekends. I cook big batches of tomato sauce, jar them, and freeze to have on hand. I do the same with zucchini/turkey meatballs, vegetable or meat curries, spicy beans, casseroles, burritos, chili, to eat for dinner everyday. I just make an entire dish, portion it into the 6-8 servings, then I pull a container out of the freezer for that night's dinner. Easy! Sometimes I need to add instant brown rice to my curry or beans, but it's only a ten minute wait time for a full meal.

The easiest things to freeze are things in sauces or liquid (soup, chili, stew), and casseroles. I like to put them in individual containers so I don't end up having to defrost large amounts and be forced to either eat it all week or waste the rest. It's also the best for portion control. I'm so likely to take an extra spoonful or sliver of something if it's available, but if I'd have to defrost and eat an entire second serving, I'm not going to do it.

I freeze my casseroles for a few hours so they'll set but they're not impossible to cut with a sharp knife, cut into number of servings, and put the little squares side by side into gallon ziploc bags. I do this with chicken divan, chicken pot pie, and shepherd's pie (the potatoes seem to freeze fine, likely from the sauciness once it's heated up), all of which are easy to cook according to my dietary needs.

If I don't pull something out of the freezer, I do quick meals:

-Make a little chicken when you can - grill, bake, crockpot, whatever. It helps to have it cooked when you're going for quick

-Salads are always easy, and can vary

-Soups with some veggies, broth, maybe pasta, maybe rice, maybe chicken (that you would have already made).

Asian noodle bowls are another variation. I use tofu noodles, but you can use rice noodles or anything around, some sriracha, hoisin, etc, and mix with your veggies and sauce (and chicken or frozen seafood).

-Flatbread pizzas. Take flatbread (I use flatout), bake, cover with toppings of choice, bake. I've made BBQ chicken, Thai chicken, regular pizza varieties, buffalo chicken.

-Tuna cakes - like crab cakes, but with canned tuna

-Veggie burgers. You can buy them or pre make your own on weekends.

-Roast your veggies. It's simple and tastes delicious with little to no prep

-Quesadillas are easy and delicious - I use Trader Joe's low carb

-Sandwiches and wraps

-I use barley as a "pasta" and mix with veggies and tomato sauce, maybe a little Parmesan.

-I make cheese sauce (for homemade macaroni and cheese) and even cook a little extra pasta to have on hand to make cooking even faster.

-Loaded microwave "baked" potato (roast your broccoli, maybe crisp up a chopped piece of turkey or center cut bacon),

-stir fry over quick cooking brown rice - you can even use the chicken that you've already cooked or I love to thaw out an individual fish filet and/or frozen bay scallops - they take a few mins in cold water! Trader Joe's has a nice frozen stir fry mix in which the veggies taste much better than some of the others.

Snack #3 almost always ends up being a measured portion of popcorn or pirate's booty, or even a slice of sharp cheese and crackers.

I just keep a routine and keep it simple so then I don't have to think too much about how much to eat. I often peruse websites that give calorie counts like www.skinnytaste.com, www.cookinglight.com, www.eatingwell.com, or www.eatbetteramerica.com

[kmac1196]

My only advice is to eat what you want to eat. My biggest failures on "diets" came when I was supposed to eat this or couldn't eat that. I don't usually plan my meals out (except dinners...we plan those out for the week in advance for prep, shop and cooking reasons). I never know what I want to eat in the morning. Every recipe can be added to your calorie counter site for the cals and macros. I try not to eat anything but fruits and veggies between meals. I have lots of fruits and veggies. Skinnytaste.com has some great recipes. All recipes.com does too....look at the healthy tab. I have some good bread that is 70 cals for 2 slices. Works for sandwiches great. Find some low calorie alternatives and have a few days trial and error. Good luck.

[kymb92]

Really simple advice: just find lower calorie alternatives

I don't prepare and eat meals laden with all these healthy foods and watch my protein levels and all that jazz yet I'm still losing weight - 13lbs in 2 monhs can't be that bad?

I think it's really daunting coming on here when you're starting out and everyone has these recommendations for recipices and specific amounts. Don't worry about it - it doesn't have to be that difficult. Just laying off junk food and making diet/low cal choices can make a hugeeee difference.

So here are some things that work for me:

- Switch to diet drinks (diet coke, dr pepper zero, pepsi max etc - even low calorie energy drinks)

- Use sweeteners if you like sugar in your hot drinks or even just drink more water if you prefer it (i don't even drink water!)

- Make more of an effort with fruits and vegetables. I'm not a huge fan but if i'm peckish i'll have a piece of fruit rather than a chocolate bar.

- Use food brands like weight watchers and local shop healthy brands (I personally like weight watchers yoghurts and microwave meals)

- For dinner some of my go-to meals are a jacket potato with a smidge of butter and a tin of weight watchers beans or a weight watchers meal with a side of veggies (dont worry about chopping them up, I use pre-packaged ones that take 3 mins in the microwave!)

If you need any advice you can always PM me!