Alright,
Please tell me exactly HOW bad my nutrition is...........I think I need a wake up call that food is not a causual amusment to partake in when I like and with whatever I like, but actual energy for your body.....a body that needs to be properly maintained to survive.

B-low sugar chocolate bar with supplement nutrients (270cal)
L-1/2 order of shanghai wings appetizer at Chilis
D-1/2 order of shanghai wings appetizer from Chilis
S- 1/2 low sugar chocolate bar (135cal)
S- 1 dilly bar from Dairy Queen

And about 4L of water and 2 glasses of diet coke

THIS was today, but is typical of the type of nutrition I get/food I eat.

It's pretty terrible - I don't see anything nutritionally valuable in your menu, all day. Not one vegetable, not one lean protein, no healthy fat, no fruit, no whole grains. It's complete junk food, all day.

I think you've had amazing success with your weight loss, but you should consider the big picture - your overall health. I felt completely incredible after I stopped eating so much junk and started eating whole foods, like night and day.

I'm surprised you aren't hungry! I couldn't survive on that little food, esp. since there's no nutritional value to most of it, just empty calories.

I suspect that it will be hard to maintain your weight loss on that diet, but I've barely hit the maintainance phase myself, so I'm hardly an expert.

At first I thought you might not be eating enough calories, but I looked up the calories for the wings, and it's 1260 calories and 71 grams of fat for ONE serving You're eating about 1800 calories, with little nutritional content. I know you know how much healthy food you can eat for 1800 calories.

Yikes, Charlotte! What about fiber? vegetables? healthy proteins? I think you already know the answer to your question!

P.S. - I looked up the nutritional info on Chili's website for your wings:
1260 cals
71 g of fat
12 g saturated fat
97 carbs
3030 mg sodium

And the DQ site for your Dilly:
220 cals
13 g of fat
10 g saturated fat
25 carbs
85 mg sodium

You really need to watch your saturated fat. It's terrible for your heart! Ditto for the salt!

Have you nosed around in the Support forum where some gals have a daily planning thread? I steal meal ideas from them all the time.
I think you'll be thrilled with the adventure once you start exploring the endless possibilities of fresh real food. I read a thread the other day about how awesome an orange can be

I'm going to give you some kudos! Too many people become overwhelmed by starting. They try to figure it all out absolutely perfectly and burn out on info before they even begin. You are an excellent example of just getting started and tweaking as you go.
You just eat less ... and now we'll help you clean it up.

I just want to chime in too, to say how much easier it is to NOT OVEREAT, NOT BINGE, NOT FEEL DEPRIVED when your body is properly fueled. When I keep my body fueled with tons of lean protein, whole grains, tons and tons of fruits and veggies (which, at your calorie level, you could eat SO MUCH!) I don't have the same manic drive to overeat. Plus, I feel a MILLION times better. I sleep better. I don't get tired slumps through the day. I can exercise (a lot) and enjoy it. I'm not crabby.

I think we all underestimate the powerful impact proper nutrition has on our bodies because we don't always see immediate results. The thing for me is not that I want to live longer, it's that I want the life I live to feel good. I want to LIVE LIFE (not watch it pass me by) and proper nutrition will help me do that.

I also totally agree with Susan... it is a process. It takes a while to learn all the bits and pieces of good nutrition and I am still learning all the time (even though I've been doing this for years). Good for you on looking for answers!

Lindy

I get cravings for the sauce on those shanghai wings! I found a recipe and use it with BAKED chicken breasts and just dip it in a little...much much better for us then the original version! Have it with a salad and it's not a bad meal at all

This makes enough sauce for several people!

Sauce ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1/2 tb cornstarch
3/8 cip brown sugar
1/8 cup soy sauce
1 tb f fresh ginger
1/2 ts minced garlic
1 tb lime juice
1/2 tb lemon juice
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

dissolve cornstarch in water, bring to boil with rest of ingrediants in small sauce pan. Then simmer for about 10 minutes until thickened.

It's important that you don't completely criticize yourself, your goals will be easier to achieve if you focus on the good- rather than the bad. I sense a tone in your post that you are focusing on what you doing wrong.

4L of water is awesome and 2 glasses of diet coke is fine.

Sounds like you have strong sugar cravings- the chocolate bars and diet coke are all low/no sugar- but then you're eating the dilly bar too to supplement those cravings.

The wings... oh man. There's just no beating the bush here- wings are terrible. They are deep-friend and then mixed in sugary syrups flavours. Usually only the ones in franks hot sauce are not sugar-ladden. But they're still deepfried, about 300 calories for 2 or 3.

I think the summary of this diet is that you don't like to cook? Nothing on your menu took any time to prepare- and it's awfully expensive!!!

You know what's easy to prepare and VERY cheap? Buy some chicken legs/wings from the grocery store, skin them yourself, toss it in a sauce (franks?), and bake it. Those wings will be probably around 60 calories each with much less fat.

This is a favorite of my husbands. The unhealthy part is the butter, but you can substitute (margerine, etc). Bake wings at 425 for 45-60 min. When they're almost done, pour Franks/cajun seasoning/margerine(or substitute) mixture over wings and cook until done (about 10-15 more mintues) occasionally stirring. I put mine on a broiler pan so all the nasty fat drains off.

Ok, I'm new so if this is way unhealthy don't yell at me, but perhaps it's a good alternative to fried wings

I would just omit the butter completely. Why would you need butter if you're already using sauce?

Well, since we're on the topic...without butter it's just too HOT! I wonder what a good substitute would be. I may have to experiment with this one. Maybe another dairy like non fat milk or cream cheese? Gosh, I'm stumped.

How about cutting it with vinegar and/or water?

shanghai wings are more sweet than hot...they arent like buffalo wings at all.

but yeah..that is a pretty nutritionally void day.. and every sinlge meal was sweet.

veggies fruits...they are missing. If this is really how you typically eat, then start small, focus on one meal at a time, start eating a healthy breakfast for example ..REAL food and minimal sweeteners...work on that for a few weeks, then snacks, etc.

Unless you feel ready for a revolution, I often find that I do better just to go cold turkey and overhaul it all and then add things back in later.