Ok, I'm at a point where I'm confused for my diet. I currently weight 182 lbs and I'm currently doing Jillian Michaels Body Revolution. I don't want to follow a strict diet since I've followed so many in the past that I can't anymore. I HATE counting calories. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? What diet I should follow? I'm one of those who like something fast. When I get home from work, I don't want to spend hours in the kitchen preparing meals. I also don't like diets where they cut out stuff. That's where I go crazy with wanting what I can't have.

Have you thought of prepared meals, Healthy Choice, Smart Ones, Lean Cuisine ? Just pop them in the microwave.

By saying "I'm one of those who like something fast," what do you mean? Do you mean you like foods that are easily prepared? Or are you searching for fast results?

In the former case, I hear ya. I've found that food preparation in advance is the best way to handle the hassle of preparing meals. Once or twice per week I'll cook my meats and pastas/rice in bulk and split them up into serving sizes and baggies. I'll do the same for veggies and fruits, nuts, etc.

It's a PITA at first, but eventually you get it down so it's like clockwork. And while it's never fun, the return on investment if fantastic. I can prepare a weeks worth of food in 20 or so minutes. And then, from there on out, it's simply a matter of opening the fridge and grabbing baggies.

In the case of the latter, which I'm thinking you didn't imply, aren't really realistic if you want to keep them around. Especially if you don't want to follow a diet that is rigid.

Also, one of my articles was posted in another thread here recently and I've found it to help a lot of people who were looking to avoid rigidity, which seems to be the case with you. Here's the thread:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/gene...have-time.html

That's what I normally eat for my lunch but it's the breakfast & dinner that are my problem areas.

Thanks for replying. I meant something fast to make for meals lol. Yeah, I know that preparing in advance is key. Maybe I should find some healthy recipes to make in advance and freeze them. Are there any good cookbooks out there I should look into?

Haha, I'm not the guy to ask. I'm a boring eater. I tend to live on chicken and turkey breast, lean ground beef, fish, nuts, lots of fibrous veggies, fruit, nuts, and whole grains.

It's nothing for me to pull a cold piece of cooked chicken out of the fridge, nuke it, dump some hot sauce on it, and eat that with some cold green beans and a serving of almonds or whatever.

I hear good things about this book:

http://www.metaboliccooking.com/index.php?hop=ecressey

Website is WAAYYYYY too gimmicky for my liking, but I know people whom I respect a lot who tell me the recipes are actually really useful and tasty. Might be worth looking into.

Thank you very much!! I'll read more into that.
I just feel like my workout is going to waste when I don't eat well so that's the reason why I'm almost in a panic to fix my diet.

Well yeah, exercise and nutrition go hand in hand. I mean, bad nutrition doesn't completely cancel out what you're doing in the gym. Exercise is a stress, and if the dose is right, that stress will drive adaptations/changes in your body regardless of your nutrition. To a degree.

But if your goal is fat loss and you're doing some conditioning work in the gym but eating a surplus... or even maintenance... than your fat loss will be cancelled out. You'll still derive some benefits from the exercise, such as improved cardiorespiratory health/functioning, local muscle endurance improvements, etc. The poor nutrition will cancel some of the possible results and potentially dilute the others though.

Don't feel panicked though. This is a process of continual improvement. You shouldn't rush into things. When people get panicky, they jack up their stress levels, get on edge, and tend to make rash decisions that ultimately lead to a lack of consistency. Just breathe and focus on small steps towards improving your approach.