Man you guys are going to get sick of me and my billions of questions, lol.
I was wondering if you guys could share some typical menus of what you all eat on a daily bases.
Are there restrictions? I want to avoid white breads and things like that...but this is very different to low carb and I was just in search of some ideas as far as to what I could eat. Also, if there a specific ratio of fats/carbs/protein you use?? Or is it just eat under your calories for the day?

Thanks so much again for all of your help!!!!

The only restrictions are restrictions you make. If I start making restrictions I fall into bad habits. I am a recovering anorexic, if I start making restrictions its ends up not about calories but about severe control. I will post some of my menus a little bit later, once I get onto my GWF website.

I will point out I do not eat a lot of white stuff anymore, because I prefer wheat bread, and brown rices and pastas.

The nice thing about calorie counting is that there aren't any steadfast rules other than to stay within your calorie range.

I tend to try for 30-30-40 ratios for protein-fat-carbs, but I don't sweat over it.

The big thing that I think stymies a lot of first time calorie counters is that they don't get enough veggies in, and often because of that complain of feeling hungry.

Get your veggie on!

Typical menu items:

Breakfast:
Coffee with Sugar-Free Creamer
Oatmeal or Egg Beaters
Bread or Light English Muffin
Turkey Bacon or Turkey Sausage

On weekends breakfasts are Blueberry pancakes. My DH loves blueberry pancakes. Occasionally we have french toast, made with Egg beaters.


Lunch:
Diet soda
Lean Lunch Meat Sandwich or Wrap or Lean Cuisine or Left Overs
Baby carrots or some other raw veggie
Baked chips or Pretzels or Rice snacks

Lunches on weekends is usually similar but we tend to have grilled sandwiches. or Pizza's made on flat breads.

Dinner: Is the most varied meal so I wanted to go back in my food log.

Cornish Game hens with brown rice and mashed sweet potatoes.

Subway turkey sub on whole wheat with a bag of baked chips and tea.

Caribbean Jerk marinade chicken on folded flat bread, served like a sandwich, with salad, and steamed veggie blend.

Bertoli Garlic Shrimp, Penne and Cherry Tomatoes served with sara lee delightful bread with garlic salt and butter.

Turkey burgers with baked chips, baked beans and salad.


These are just a few of my recent meals. I also have 2-3 snacks a day ranging from Quaker Quakes, pudding, yogurts, baby carrots, crackers with laughing cow cheese. I try new snacks all the time.

I try and include a TON of variety into my food planning. I also eat more sprouted grains instead of your typical whole grains. I also do more organic eating. I don't do the typical "diet food". I also don't do the artificial sweetners. I'll do raw sugar, agave or Stevia. I hope this helps. If you need more ideas or have ?'s let me know ! Here's what today looks like for me:

Breakfast:
1 Cup Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal
1 Cup 2% Organic Milk
1 Organic Banana

Snack:
1/2 Cup Cucumbers

Lunch:
1 Slice Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Bread
3 Oz Tuna Fish
1/2 Tblspn mayo

1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese
1 PSliced Peach
1 Tblspn Flax Seed Oil

Snack:
Chocolate Peppermint Luna Bar

Dinner:
3oz Organic Sirloin Steak
1 Cup Steamed Green Beans
4oz Steamed Red Potatoes
Green Salad

Dessert:
1/2 Cup Red Raspberry Sorbet

Here's what I've got planned for today:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup plain non-fat yogurt with 1/2 cup Fiber One mixed in, 2 strips morningstar "bacon"

Lunch: Whole wheat couscous made with salsa mixed with black beans, topped with 1/4 cup reduced-fat cheddar cheese, carrots

Dinner: 1 serving whole wheat pasta shells with 1 teaspoon olive oil and a clove of garlic, 1 serving of Lemon-shallot scallops (yum yum yum!) and zucchini and red bell peppers with onions, garlic and 1 teaspoon olive oil. (This is my favorite dinner!)

Dessert: 1 WW peanut butter cup sundae


Snacks throughout the day: strawberries, kiwi, cherries, maybe some celery, if I need something more-a fiber one bar. I measure the fruit (not so much the veggies, I just approximate a serving) and snack from a bowl as I would with chips (except this is healthy and portioned out!)

Hello fellow North Carolinian! I was just in your neck of the woods last Thursday. I live in Pinehurst, I'm about an hour south of Raleigh.



What Eumie said. 'Cept, I don't really follow a ratio, although I do use The Daily Plate to keep up with my food log. It shows you percentages of your daily values of fats, carbs, protein, cholesterol, etc... I try to make an effort to stay under the 100% of each daily value. I don't know if it's good or bad to do that or not but it seems like a good thing.

But I agree very much with the veggies, if I don't eat enough veggies I get pretty hungry. Another positive about veggies are they are very low in calories so you can eat a bunch of them.

I used to do Atkins but it was making me miserable I hated the restriction of carbs, I really love carbs and hated not eating them. Of course I never could get past the first 14 day phase either. It just didn't work for me. But with CC I feel like I have more freedom to choose what I want, and It helps me to make wiser decisions, yes I can have that bowl of chocolate chocolate almond icecream with 500 calories in it or I can have some strawberries sprinkled with splenda and topped with free cool whip for about under 100 calories.

This is a typical day for me:

Breakfast
Coffee with ff milk & splenda (every day)
cereal w/ ff milk or egg with some grits or oatmeal with milk & splenda or Fruit. I don't eat a big b'fast cause I'm not a b'fast person.

Lunch
leftovers from night before or big salad with chicken breast or sandwich with veggies side

Dinner
some sort of protein (chicken beef pork or fish)
2-3 veggie sides
1 starch of some sort (bread, corn, potatoes, beans, etc...)

Snacks
I typically have 2-3 snacks a day that are under 100-150 calories each.
100 calorie popcorn bags, baby carrots, special K crackers & wedge of laughing cow cheese, yogurt cup, fruit, etc...

Hey there! I've only lived here a little over a year, but I love it. I've never been to Pinehurst.

Like I said, I attempt to keep to a ratio, but am not too stressed about not achieving it. I think staying just under the 100% mark is good.


I didn't add my typical meal plan. I tend to like a lot of variety, so I'm not sure how TYPICAL you could say this is for me, but this is today's menu.

Breakfast--Turkey bacon on a multigrain english muffin with 1/2 tsp. of honey. 1/3 cup of soy milk.

Snack--pear and yogurt

Lunch--spinach salad with red pepper and cherry tomatoes and one slice of turkey with greek vinaigrette. (many times I have the leftovers from the previous night's dinner, but this is my standard for when there are no leftovers)

Snack--a slice of ham and a carrot with 1/2 tbsp of light ranch dressing (or hummus if I've made some and hubby hasn't eaten it all!)

Dinner--Jennie-O Turkey Tenderloin, couscous with diced tomatoes and chickpeas, asparagus.

Dessert/Snack--3 ginger thins and a glass of milk

I am just re-organizing my plan (I have been calorie counting for real for just over 2 months). I reviewed my info on FitDay and found that my overall calorie counts were too high - Most days have been below my target of 1350 but the few that I went over, and at least 2 times I went WAY over, bumped my average up.

I am focusing on whole foods and getting lots of veggies in (I used to do South Beach and I have that >>>4.5 cups of veggies/day<<<burned in my brain). Also, I try to include as many of the 14 SuperFoods Rx foods as I can in every day. It's like a game to try to hit all 14. My version of it is: beans, berries/black grapes, cruciferous veggie, whole grain, citrus fruit, carrot/sweet potato, fish, soy, spinach/leaf lettuce, tea, tomatoes/watermelon/grapefruit, nuts and yogurt.

I also aim for the 40:30:30 ratio, concentrating on "good" fats. I very rarely get that much protein. For 2 months, the average has been 17% protein I don't eat much meat - just some seafood, so I think that is part of the problem. I just need to plan better.

Here was a pretty good day from last week.

Breakfast:
1 egg microwaved with lowfat cheddar, ½ c. spinach and 1 Morningstar Farms veggie sausage pattie, cut up
V-8 juice, low sodium, 5.5 oz

Snack:
100 g black grapes

Lunch
Salmon salad made with ½ stalk celery, 1 T olive oil mayo and 2 oz. leftover grilled salmon on 2 slices double fiber whole wheat toast
250 g watermelon
Freshly brewed unsweetened iced tea

Dinner
Taco Salad
½ c. refried beans
2 c.+ red leaf lettuce and cabbage, mixed
"Dressing" made from:
¼ c. salsa or canned tomatoes mixed with hot sauce
2 - 4T nonfat sour cream
Sprinkle of lime juice
85 g baby carrots on the side

Snack/dessert:
1/2 c. homemade lowfat yogurt with 1T DaVinci sugarfree vanilla syrup
1 oz mixed nuts

Later:
1/2 serving soy crisps (this is rare to not eat more of these! I love them!)
1 5 oz glass of red wine

According to FitDay, 1303 total calories and I felt quite full.
I got 13/14 SuperFoods in (I kind of substitute egg for turkey since I don't eat turkey, but I also don't usually eat eggs every day...)
22% protein and 32 g fiber

This is what I had today... not the best day I can say but its what i had.. lacking in veggies today..

B- peanut butter with honey sandwich with a small banana.
S- was not hungry
L-Turkey rollup with cheddar and ritz crackers, grapes and a few strawberries a mini twix bar
S-home made rice krispies.. i had two small sqaures
D- Grilled hot dog with baked potato wedges and homemade baked beans
and another rice krispie square (they are going bye bye tomorrow )

Tomorrow this is what i plan-
B-blueberry waffles with vanilla yogurt with honey ( im on a honey kick)
S-Apple
L- Leftover mexican from the night before it has veggies in it
S-LC wedge with Special K crackers
D-slow cooked Garlic chicken with noodles and green beans
S- if im hungry ill have an orange or plum