Would oat flakes/porridge with a few walnuts and raisins and some milk be a breakfast you could get used to?
I find it very delicious and it holds on for the whole morning until lunch.
Walking is really a good thing to get used to sports again, I try also to walk almost every day for an hour and it really keeps your mood up. Good luck with your plan
You've said, in a couple other threads, that you've started this process "many" times before. How is this plan different than those other plans?
Remember, too, that your plan is a living thing, your new pet. It needs to be monitored and adjusted all the time--you can't just find the "perfect" plan and forget it, because 1) you don't know what will work until you try things and 2) even if something is the perfect plan NOW, it doesn't mean it will be the perfect plan in three months.
For me, the way I can tell a plan is working is if, in addition to losing weight, I am able to stick to it perfectly and it doesn't require that much willpower. If a plan takes everything you've got to stay on it during "normal" times, you won't stay on it when life happens and everything gets hard.
The one recommendation I would make would be for you to go out of your way to eat veggies instead of the 100 calorie packs. Hunger eats away will power like nothing else. If you hate to cook, they sell "steam in bag" packages of frozen veggies that you just toss in the microwave. You can eat a POUND of broccoli or cauliflower and eat less than a 100 calories. Much, much better for appetite control.
Speaking only for myself, I couldn't lose weight without cooking.
Cooking is the part that makes it fun, that ensures that I have incredibly delicious food to eat often enough that I can still enjoy my life and enjoy the pleasure of eating.
I also feel tired when I get home from work - I usually work until about 6:30, then go to the gym, and don't get home to think about dinner until 8:00 - so I built lots of weekend cooking into my plan so I don't have to do very much weekend cooking. (Also, you might find that as you lose weight, you feel less tired at the end of the day...)
This weekend, for example, I baked up some chicken thighs with lemon juice and za'atar (middle eastern herb mixture) that are now sitting in the fridge ready to be a couple of lunches and dinners for me. I also made a bucket of lentils and rice, another couple of meals. And for last night's dinner I cooked an incredible salmon in mustard sauce - there's a portion of that leftover too, along with some roast cauliflower.
At most, the work I'll have to do to cook dinner when I get home might be to steam or saute up a broccoli or microwave a squash. 5 minutes of cooking in exchange for a healthy, nutritious, and above all very tasty meal.
I'll take that over boxed frozen whatevers any day.
I'm not saying you won't lose on the frozen dinners - you probably will. I'm not sure how sustainable it is, though. I know for myself, I couldn't do it, probably not even for a month or two.
If you are like me, and love delicious food and the pleasure of eating it, I strongly recommend you figure out a way to work some cooking into your plan.
Honestly if I ate all those empty carbs I'd be positively STARVING. You need some whole foods in your diet!
It takes no longer to pop a chicken breast into the oven than it does to cook a lean cuisine. I work full time so I cook most of my meals for the week on Sunday afternoon. I portion them out in the fridge and re-heat as needed. It works out well and I don't really spend that much time putting it all together.
kashi has some bars for breakfast or snacks. there's a pumpkin seeds one. tastes like crunchy nature valley granola bar, even has 2 bars, with cinnamon. didn't taste tne pumpkin or whatever at all. my kids loved it too. if you eat both bars, 170 cals.
You've said, in a couple other threads, that you've started this process "many" times before. How is this plan different than those other plans?
This is important to address. If you're doing the exact same thing before, which, has failed time and time again.. You're probably setting yourself up for failure, even if the plan is a healthy lifestyle. If you can't follow through and maintain it, it just won't work!
This is important to address. If you're doing the exact same thing before, which, has failed time and time again.. You're probably setting yourself up for failure, even if the plan is a healthy lifestyle. If you can't follow through and maintain it, it just won't work!
Yepppers. If you keep doing what you have always done, you'll keep getting what you always got.
It's time to make a change. Being tried after work will change once you start eating healthy. You are tried because you eat crap. Once you eat REAL food with real nutrition your energy levels will increase. You need to suck it up and start cooking healthy meals. Frozen dinners, even low calorie ones, are full of sodium and junk. If you have one good skillet and a baking pan you can cook an enormous amount of great food in little time.
2 min tuna salad.
can/pouch of tuna
tube of basil
small amount of miracle whip
hard boiled eggs or other add ins you like
mix it all together. the basil adds lots of flavor, don't need so much mayo. great on a wrap, whole wheat bread, or lettuce leaf. fish tacos!
basil in a tube, or other flavor you like. in the fresh herbs section. its a bit pricey, but only a tiny amount is used each time, so it lasts a long time. and they taste great! lits of flavor for almost no cals.
this same idea of throwing together and on a wrap, panini etc
try canned beans(i like black beans for this),salsa,basil/cilantro mixed together. thats it. no cooking involved.
I started out with a Slim Fast for breakfast, a lean cuisine for lunch, protein bars in between and a lean protein with veggies for dinner. I lost 30 pounds in a short period. BUT, I was lethargic, hungry, cranky and constipated. Look out for constipation. It could happen with that kind of diet.
From there I slowly switched over to whole foods, but I needed that stepping stone of easy no-brainer calories-already-counted meals.
So I'm not going to say it's a bad plan for the short run...but for all the reasons I just mentioned and all the reasons other posters have mentioned, I urge you to phase out the processed pre-made crap.
Definitely you can lose weight if you stick to that provided you don't go over on snacks. Walking is great. Lean Cuisines & the like are what I ate for the first couple of months.
I really wish someone would have told me to consume plenty of lean proteins and very moderately take in healthy fats--and do some reading about the Glycemic Index when I began. It would have made things much easier.
ok... so I've tried every diet known to man... some work... some don't... but nothing I can stick to
I am a constant eater outer... I don't cook often at all.. and don't want to start HA how's that for honesty...
Anyway... here is what I'm doing.
I am eating a special K breakfast bar for breakfast each day, then I am eating either weight watcher or lean cuisine meals for lunch and supper each day.
Snacks in between are... fruit, jello, 100 cal pack stuff... etc.
So far I am walking 30 minutes a day (normally a strict couch potato... so walking any amount is huge for me)
What do ya'll think?
About trying many diets - the thing is, is that most sensible diets WILL work - provided you do stick with them.
But the thing is, it's not a matter of being able to stick with something, it's a matter of being WILLING to stick with something. That's the bottomline. It's your willingness to adhere to a plan, keeping in mind that there will be moments of discomfort as you learn new healthy habits. As you learn to not give into cravings. You have to push yourself.
As far as your new diet plan goes, it doesn't sound very stickable to me, not for very long, and that's factoring in a large amount of willingness on your part. Special K, not filling at all. 100 calorie packs???? They make me want MORE 100 calorie packs, because they're over with in 2 seconds flat, have zero nutrition, so it's as if I haven't eaten. For me, they're an absolute nightmare. Same thing with the LEan cuisine - not much filling power at all, not much volume, not much deliciousness.
You spoke of being tired and not cooking and all that stuff, but it has to come down to that you are tired of being obese. You have to make your weight, your health, your food a number one priority.
When devising my plan I had a couple of non-negotiable things I was not willing to compromise on. They were, #1 - I could never, ever be hungry and #2, I had to eat very tasty, delicious foods, so I wouldn't mind passing up on the other very tasty delicious foods that were doing me harm (fried foods, cakes, cookies,etc.).
So therefore to avoid not being hungry, each and everything that I eat must be very filling, satiating and voluminous - ZERO empty calories. And I have to eat very delicious foods, so for me, that means oodles and oodles of delicious roasted veggies, incredibly big salads with wonderful mix ins, sensational chicken and fish dishes, rich, hearty soups. The on plan foods I eat are so filling and so delicious and so enjoyable that there is no reason for me to go off plan. Which makes this whole thing much easier. And THAT'S what I was after.
You spoke also of *diets*, that could also me one of your issues. It's not really about a diet, it's about overhauling your lifestyle. REalizing once and for all that you can't go on eating whatever, whenever. Realizing that you can't have it both ways. Realizing that this has to be a permanent change. Nothing to go on and off of. Just continuing on. Realizing you need to eat healthy foods in healthy portions. And not dreading it, but being excited about, because you long to be healthy, finally.
Last edited by rockinrobin; 10-25-2010 at 09:50 AM.
I love rockinrobin's comments, and I'll add my own.
For many years, I was "trying" to lose weight. I ate out a lot because I was single, I hated to cook, and I didn't own a recipe book. I was the type to run and grab something quick for breakfast because I was already running late and I was never hungry in the morning. I was also exhausted at night after work and it was just easier to order something than to have to make it from scratch or look up a recipe online or try to figure out what I could make with the meager staples in my house (I didn't buy a lot of fresh food since it would spoil because I wouldn't eat at home).
I finally realized that "trying" to lose weight was never going to get me anywhere (I hadn't lose any weight, I just kept it steady).
I heard somewhere that what I really needed to do was make small changes to my life/food. I started researching the best ways and I would read about people who eliminated their Starbucks addiction and lost 30 lbs in one year. Other people who stopped eating their lunches out and lost another 25 lbs.
I wanted to do the same thing, but I didn't have a Starbucks addiction and I thought I ate pretty healthy lunches. I didn't have any bad habits to get rid of.
But that wasn't the point.
The point was that I need to change my food habits. Maybe I didn't have that Starbucks addiction, but I realized that I also wasn't eating 5 servings of fruit or vegetables a day.
I didn't touch my calories, but I started adding more fruits and vegetables. Just one month. If I could make it a habit, then the next month I would try something else.
Doing this really helped me understand that this isn't a diet. This is a chance to change my life because even if I were on "diet" and I lost all my weight, once I reached 140 (or whatever), then what was I going to do? Gain all the weight again? Have to lose another 60 lbs again later?
I also have health reasons for taking off this weight because I'm on the path to diabetes and worse. Keeping the weight is not an option anymore.
Making these small changes prepared me for the final "switch" into a healthy lifestyle. I don't lose the weight really quickly. But I do know that every day that I make the right choices and eat healthy and exercise, I am one more day healthier and one more day cementing the good habits that will allow me to keep the weight off forever.
You have to ask yourself if you're really ready to make the choice to change your lifestyle to be a healthier you. It's going to require work. You're going to be tired after work and prefer to eat out. You're going to get cravings for stuff you haven't had in a while and you're going to want to eat like "normal" people do.
But you have to believe that yourself at a thinner weight is a healthier and happier alternative than staying overweight. And you have to believe that it's worth the extra work, the extra cost, the extra energy, the extra planning.
My eating habits are all different now. I cook at home. I have a lot of energy. I'm never tired after work like I used to be. I crave the exercise and I am finding ways to make myself move more as part of my general life. I go to farmer's markets and I buy lots of fresh foods that do get eaten up during the week. I rarely go out to eat and even on the days when I'm tired, I think of what I could order in (or pick up) and I realize I'd rather just grab that frozen minestrone soup I made last week and reheat it (160 calories only!) than to have to wait for someone to deliver a lukewarm meal that's going to make the scale go up the next day.
Thanks so much everybody, you all made valid points and I'm taking it all in. I know this will be a long journey, ...actually... hopefully... it will be a journey that lasts the rest of my life. I do undestand the concept of cooking to be healthy and agree that in the long run, it will be better. For now... until I get accustomed to things, I'm taking it slowly ...
I think your plan is a good place to start! I agree, your diet sounds like it could use some nutritional enhancement. You can almost always add a vegetable side dish to any meal and be adding very few calories ... provided it is prepared with a minimal amount of fat.
After a while, I think what will happen is you will start to lose weight and you will be motivated to change up the diet to include healthier options and more whole foods, and that may motivate you to cook more.
It could happen with that kind of diet.
