I try to eat between 1200-1500 calories a day and have been having a lot of success this time around (a decade of dieting!) by planning my meals, which consists primarily of Lean Cuisine meals. I was skeptical about the sodium, but the box says it contains about 30% of my daily requirement, so I'm not too worried about that. I'm beginning to drink a lot more water too.

Anyone else need the structure of pre-packaged meals like Lean Cuisine? Anytime I try to eat a meal cooked by hubby, I have no control and eat several more servings of everything! The Lean Cuisines help me keep my portions under control. They taste good to me too! Lots of veggies in them now!

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Heidi
180/163/140ish

I LOVE their pizza's!!! That reminds me to go pick some up at the grocery store! They definatly do help with portion control in my opinion.

Until about a year ago, I used to eat frozen meals for 1-2 meals per day. These were lean cuisine or healthy choice meals. I learned quite a bit about portion control from them. I found out that I didn't need to feel very full after eating in order to be satisfied.

However, I stopped eating them a year ago, because of some changes in my life and my introduction to 3FC. I learned about whole foods here, and the long lists of ingredients on the meals didn't look so good anymore. I now cook every day for dinner (healthy things that take no more than 30 minutes) and I make turkey wrap sandwiches for lunch.

However, like I said, I did learn a bit about what a normal portion is during the 1-2 years that I ate them daily.

I did those my first time around with calorie counting (5 years ago after my son, never got motivated to lose the rest the right way). This time around I am doing a whole foods approach because of some changes in our family. Its been a week of avoiding junk completely and eating more veggies than ever before (and several months of taking junk out of the house). I am feeling better than ever. I was thinking of making up my own "lean cuisine" by preportioning and freezeing some foods for crazy days. They do help alot by being convient and having something that you know is safe calorie wise.

Good Luck!

I had a Healthy Choice entree and I do agree with you, they help out a lot. You also can't argue how much you ate because the box says so lol!

When I lived alone I did this and it really helped me lose weight! When I see a commercial for Nutrisysytem and consider trying it, I think that I could almost as easily just do a Lean Cuisine diet and for a lot less money. Now that I have a family it's not as practical but I keep some around for when my husband has a late night. It's a lot harder counting calories when I'm cooking for everyone because the portion control isn't automatic (IMO).

I have done it in the past and I'm doing it now. The local supermarket had a sale on them. They work out great for me. I know they are not the healthiest food around but I throw in some vegetables,fruits and salads when I can.

I have about 4-5 meals a week of Lean Cuisine, Boston Market (I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their Potatoes Au Gratin with honey chicken), Smart Choice or Weight Watchers.

I love variety in my food and I don't care for a lot of their foods for this reason- they all seem to have the same kind of foods and the same veggies. Although, I must say, I am enjoying some of the stir fry meals that they have out with the linguini type noodles- mmmmm.

I have been doing some portion control meals at home lately, as hubby and the kids miss my home cooking. I've made some small adjustments to the recipes from cutting back amounts I cook to replacing fattening things with leaner choices.

I do eat them occasionally, but don't love the way they taste. I have tried practically every kind, too! Certain ones are better than others. I can eat the chicken kind (sweet and sour chicken is good!), but not the beef or seafood ones. I LIKE beef and seafood normally, but not in a TV dinner.

I was reading a soap opera magazine in the check out line a few weeks ago, and they had a "diet" section with the soap stars. One star from All My Children (she plays Babe) says that she likes to eat an "Amy's Organic Spinach-Feta sandwich Pocket" with a little bit of low-fat sour cream for lunch. I decided to try it (they come in a little rectangle box in the frozen organic section) and it is good! It fills me up very well, and has 260 calories. I have been eating one of those with my low fat sour cream (1 tbls) and a piece of fruit or small salad for lunch. You should try it--you may like it too.

I eat probably one frozen meal a day. Some Lean Cuisine, but my favorite is Amy's Kitchen brand foods. The Spinach Feta pockets mentioned above are one of my favorites, in fact! I think they're very convenient and help a lot with portion control. And they're tasty! I usually pair a 300 calorie frozen meal with a salad for lunch.

I had a few lean cuisine's left over in my freezer. I have switched over completely from Medifast to low cal now and feel so much better...i'm having a tough time planning meals and have decided to use the 200-300 cal lean cuisine's for an occasional lunch and also for when i'm cooking something for my family that is too high-cal for me (deep dish pizza, mac & cheese etc..). I also have a stash of Atkins bars that are around 150 cals...i'm using them in between meals and so far, i'm not hungry and am doing just fine. I think i'm hooked on meal replacement bars! But i'm taking a multivitamin so hopefully, it wont matter too much for now.

Last year when I lost my first 33 pounds, I ate alot of lean cruisine lunches. They were convient to just grab and go. Now, I make up a batch of chicken breast in the oven and have that everyday for lunch. But sometimes when they are one sale, i still like to load up on them. I love their Panini sandwiches....YUMMY!!!!

I eat Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice about 4x a week. In fact, just bought 7 LC's tonight cuz they were on sale this week (5 for $10 and I had a $1 coupon, too, lol). I had the Southwest Style Chicken Panini tonight. They've definitely been a help in my weight loss. So have the Lean Pockets.

I love Lean Cuisines! I probably eat 4-5 a week. My friend is obsessed with them too so we always call each other when we find them onsale somewhere - so we can stock up

I think they are so convenient and the ones I have tried are all super tasty. It really helps me with portion control - if I am still hungry I will have fruit or a salad as well. I worry about the sodium too sometimes - but I don't think most of them are too bad...

I haven't liked any of the other brands of frozen foods that I have tried - but I might have to try those Amy's Kitchen ones - sounds good!