Hello all,

Well, I have been trying so hard to get off the ground with my "low carb" life style and keep blowing it everyday.

Anyway, I remember losing "ALOT" of weight quite a few years back without really counting carbs, just cutting out sugar and I ate a frozen dinner for lunch and sometimes dinner too. I realize we are not talking great nutrional value here, but, convenience is a big thing with me. I cant seem to "plan" my meals ahead of time. Its grab and go and while this may not be the best, it is better than some other stuff I am grabbing now.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else has had any success with incorporating the dinners, like weight watchers, lean cuisine, etc..... into your diet. You can still keep carbs way below what I am eating now, even if it is not the Atkins type low carb. Say a lean cuisine lunch might be anywhere from 20 to 35 carbs, but my lunchs now are wwwwaaaaayyyyy over that.

Hope to hear from some of you. I cant be the only one who has a grab and go personality.

Thanks,
Vicki

Hi SweetPoison (love that name).
I use Lean Cuisine quite often. Some contain a lot of sodium and that's something that I try and cut down on. But in general they work for me and are easy to bring for lunch. I do usually try and add a small salad w/ff dressing to round out the meal.

Another thing I do is grill chicken breast (several at a time) and buy the prepared salad. Bag up salad and chicken breast in seprate bags and have them ready in the frig. You can also put your dressing in little sealed cups. This is easy when you do it in advance and all you need to do is grab the bags on your way out.

Lots of luck.

Hi sweetpoison. I am totally a convenience person. I use Lean Cuisine's for lunch and dinner sometimes (along w/a SlimFast shake (gasp!) for breakfast). Like Semo said, I also round out my lunch with a green salad w/ff dressing or at least some other steamed veggie that I have on hand. I also snack on whole fruits and veggies when the urge strikes. Where I live you can usually pick up a 4 pack of Lean Cuisine meals at the Costco or Sam's Club for better price than your regular grocery store unless of course you have military comissary privileges... along with my diet plan I take a daily multivitamin so I don't really worry about the nutritive value of the frozen meal too much. I've lost about 28 lbs in 3 mos loosely following this plan. Much luck to you.

Well, it is nice to know I am not alone in this. I cant believe there are not more who use these dinners. Anymore feedback out there???

Thanks
Vicki

Have you checked out Nutrisystem? I don't know any weight reduction plan that's more "grab and go". There web site is just nutrisystem.com. Lots of supportive people and you can order "a la carte" if you want to -

Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, and Weight Watchers entrees are a lot cheaper than Nutrisystem if you are concerned about cost. Their dinners are about 3.95, and their small lunches about 2.25 each, and I can regularly get the others from $1.50-$3.00 depending on what kind it is. I know taste is a personal thing, but I like the frozen dinners a lot better than Nutrisystem-their meals are mostly shelf stabilized so they don't require being frozen or refrigerated, or they are freeze dried and you add boiling water. To me they just do not taste as good.
If sodium is a concern, Healthy Choice is lower in sodium than Lean Cuisine and Weight Watchers.
I use a frozen entree or a can of lower sodium soup, such as Healthy Choice or Campbell's Healthy Request almost every day for lunch, because of time. For a healthy breakfast, I prefer to eat a banana and a cup of Yoplait light flavored yogurt, or a serving of a high fiber cereal such as Kashi GoLean, or Grape-Nuts rather than the Slim-Fast-because they are so high in sugar. I also make a great breakfast fruit smoothie out of a banana, 1 cup of frozen strawberries, and 1/2c. of apple juice in the blender. It is very filling, and much healthier than a Slim-Fast-and about the same calories, but you are getting 2 1/2 fruit servings in instead of the processed sugar. Try it-it is yummy. You could also replace the apple juice with yogurt.
Aphil

I like the fact that NS meals don't require refrigeration - I keep a couple of extra cups or boxes at work for emergencies. That way, I always know I have something ready to go and of the correct portion size (my personal problem - eating too big of portions!). Taste is a matter personal opinion, but being a vegetarian, I actually found more options with NS food than I did with the items available frozen, at least in my area (very small town - most vegetarian options have cheese as the first ingredient here). If I lived somewhere with a Whole Foods Market or Trader Joes, I probably would have chosen a different route, but being 40 pounds down, ten from goal, I'll stick with NS!

I eat a lot of frozen dinners. It's hard to cook for just one person. I make a lot of homemade frozen dinners, but rely on Lean Cuisines. They are much smaller than they used to be, and one dinner definitely is not sufficient for a healthy meal. You can supplement it with salads or other side dishes, or you can make up for it with snacks. Many nutritionists recommend having several smaller meals per day instead of 3 main meals. This would be easy to do with Lean Cuisine sized meals. (Though I'm not suggesting you eat 5 Lean Cuisines per day!)

Aphil, I've never tried apple juice in a smoothie, great idea! I generally make mine with nonfat sugar-free vanilla yogurt and skim milk, with a banana, strawberries, and a scoop of soy powder. I've read so much about the benefits of soy protein and adding soy protein powder to a smoothie is the best way for me (personally) to add soy to my diet.

Another great source of soy protein is Kashi cereals-the GoLean Crunch is awesome! They are all really high fiber from whole grains, and have soy in them as well.
Another great entree idea for a single person is the frozen grilled fish filets they have out-about any grocery store has them. They have plain and seasoned ones-and most are under 150 calories a filet. It is great to have one of those, and have a large salad or steamed veggies for a nice meal for one.
Aphil

I got some Lean Cuisine Bowls on sale the other day and I've never been more disappointed. The chicken one had about three tiny pieces of chicken and the beef one had just a few shreds of brownish stuff that may or may not have been beef. The flavour wasn't bad but there seemed to be a lot of sauce and noodles/rice in proportion to protein and I need more protein than they offer. I won't be buying them again. I could make myself better frozen dinners from scratch and a lot cheaper I'm sure.

The bowls are usually more of a casserole/complete dish type thing-and usually are not mainly meat. If some of you are wanting more meat-here are some better ones.
Lean Cuisine Swedish Meatballs
Lean Cuisine Spaghetti with Meatballs
The Lean Cuisine Dinnertime Selections-bigger meat and vegetable servings in these varieties
Healthy Choice Dinners-these are in the larger square box rather than the smaller entree sized ones-with larger meat entrees such as Salisbury Steak, various chicken breast entrees, etc.
There are also some great vegetarian style entrees-such as Healthy Choice Manicotti and Healthy Choice Stuffed Shells-because not everyone wants the meat. I think with the varieties the way they are, there is something for everyone-those of who want the meat, and those of us who do not.
Aphil

I use the Lean Cuisines for lunch quite often & have 4 pieces of melba toast with a little becel with it & a piece of fruit. Fills me up. Then around 3 o'clock I have a cup of tea with a 2 Pt snack of some kind.

The Cannelloni is one of my favourites when I am craving carbs.

I also save my supper leftovers & make my own frozen dinners to take another day for lunch. Put it in my lean cuisine dish & easier to keep portions under control.

Also if I just have leftover veggies at supper I add them to my lean cuisine - more volume with no extra points.

Good luck on your journey.

Hello fellow weight losers.

I am new to this forum and I am looking forward to all the new post and new ideas here. I am doing the frozen Microwave dinners also. The diet was recommended by my dr. I have been doing Atkins for 7 months and I really love it but lost no weight.

So I think counting calories is the only thing that will help me. I have to lose.(well i don't have to) but I want and need to lose 50 or 60 lbs.. Hope you all can help and I will be here for you all. Ok I'm gonna go and finish watching the Grammy's..

Venetia

Hello Granny!
Why don't you join us over at the Doin' it the Old Fashioned Way thread here in the diet plans section of these boards.
We are all calorie or Weight Watchers Points counters in there, and we have tons of tips on low calorie meal ideas, etc. Reducing my calories intake and exercising regularly are the only way that I can lose weight and keep fit. (I am losing the weight from baby #2 right now!)
I use a microwave meal about once a day, sometimes every other day...but I have lots of ideas for easy meals if you like to cook-or if you have other people in the house that you would like to eat with. It isn't that difficult at all. I can also help you out with lower calorie choices at restaurants so that you can eat out-and help you with an exercise plan. Just jump on in over at our thread-or personal message me if you would like-and I can help you get started with how many calories you should be eating to lose, etc.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Aphil

That may be a blessing in disguise! The chicken can be so highly processed that I often discard it and eat the veggies. I've reached the point where I take out all of the meat, scrape off the sauce, and cut off the 'funny' bits before I'll put it in my mouth. I have always been picky about textures, though.

I personally would gladly pay the extra nickel or dime it would cost to use real, unprocessed chicken pieces in my dinners. They could market it as "premium" if need be.

One thing I noticed while I was in England was that the Lean Cuisine chicken dinners contained real, whole chicken breast fillets. They were small, but they were the real deal, and much more pleasant to eat.