If im staying under my calorie intake..Do i really have to eat healthy?
Hey Yall! And thank you for reading this a giving me some advice!
So im new here and ive been cruising the forums and see how most of you like myself are counting calories. However, ive noticed that alot of you are eating things that i would feel reeallly guilty about example- flatbread pizza recipe (comes to mind first) even if its only like 200-300calories. Ive been on my diet for a month and have been eating the same things day after day
Breakfast- apple w/ peanut butter or special k cereal
Snack - yogurt
Lunch 2 slices deli sliced chicken, 1 slice provalone cheese on whole wheat bread, dry
snack- baby carrots or fiber one bar
dinner- boneless baked chicken breast with salad and a veggie
everyday...day after day (Cant you hear the enthusiasm?!)
Now i dont exercise (i know, i know!) and my calorie intake is usually 1000-1200 daily(low because im currently not exercising)
So i guess my question is do i really have to eat super healthy food or is it i can just eat whatever as long as it stays under my calorie intake for the day?
The food you're eating isn't the only healthy food there is. There is a whole smorgasboard of things out there that are healthy. You're far more likely to succeed in the long run if you branch out a little and find a variety of healthy things you like to eat.
A lot of that depends on your body. If you're someone whose body doesn't process carbs well (or more accurately, processes them TOO well and turns them into fat quite readily), then eating carb-rich choices may stall your weight loss even if you adhere to the same calorie intake. Conversely, if you don't have any particular sensitivities, you could technically eat just about anything and lose weight as long as you kept the calorie deficit in place.
I'm wondering why you'd feel guilty about a homemade flatbread pizza at 300 calories, though. Pizzas aren't poisonous. On the contrary, a well-made pizza offers you something from all the food groups and lends itself to almost infinite variation. Even people on low-carb plans can find room for modified versions of pizza (using a whole-grain tortilla as the crust, for instance).
I would go nuts eating the same thing week after week. There's a lot of room in your plan--even if you keep to that same low calorie count--for variety. The other day I had red snapper cooked in stock and wine topped with a half-teaspoon of herbed butter, asparagus, and a roasted sweet potato. Total caloric damage done? Under 300 calories.
Also 300 calories: an english muffin with an egg steamed in the microwave, a slice of whole-fat cheese, and a tomato slice. Make lunch a few slices of lean turkey or chicken with spinach on a whole wheat wrap spread with hummus and you're at 900 calories on the day--enough to eat that yogurt or an apple as a snack and still stay at 1000 calories (assuming you want to, although it does get tough to fit in all your necessary nutrients when you dip below 1200).
All the stuff I mentioned is healthy food. There's no need to punish yourself by choking down food that bores you; you deserve to eat better than pre-fab bars.
healthy food makes you feel better and gives you good things for your body (and fiber and protein help you stay full longer plus these types of foods often require your body to use more energy just digesting them). However, you should ask yourself if you are bored with what you eat and would you like to try other things? Variety in general is good as you can make sure that you are getting all types of nutrients.
That being said, I am happy eating similar things every day. The range of foods I eat if fairly limited, but it works for me.
To be healthy, you need a healthy diet. To lose weight, youonly have to cut calories. You can lose weight on an unhealthy diet, but I'm assuming you want to be healthy too.
But I think you're confusing healthy foods with a healthy diet.
I say there are no healthy foods, because no food is healthy except within the greater context of a person's needs and their entire diet. The "healthiest" food can be unhealthy if it doesn't meet or if it interferes with your needs. If you're eating a pound of carrots a day, more carrots (or even other orange vegetables) aren't as healthy as some other choice.
If a person were starving to death, a Big Mac would be healthier than a pound of celery. If a person has a blood clotting disorder, Kale and spinache could be unhealthy. If you're eating only chicken as your protein source, more chicken isn't as healthy as choosing a different protein source such as fish or legumes, because...
Variety is healthy. Now there are foods that are so full of fat and sugar that they're virtually impossible to include in a healthy diet, but picking foods off a "healthy list" doesn't give you a healthy diet unless you're eating a wide variety. Variety and balance are healthy, piling on foods, even "super foods" isn't healthy if you've got big holes in your diet (getting no calcium, for example, or eating too few or too many healthy fats).
No food is healthy except in the context of everything else you're eating. You want fruits and veggies of every color, you want a variety of healthy fats, a variety of proteins.
There's nothing inherently unhealthy about flatbread pizza, just as there's nothing inherently healthy about boneless baked chicken. They're only healthy in the context of your whole diet. A healthy diet is not the same foods every day, it's impossible to pack enough variety into one day's eating to create a healthy diet.
There are some really good basic nutrition books out there (I hear that Nutrition for dummies is really good. So is Basic Nutrition (Eating Right: An Introduction to Human Nutrition) by Lori A. Smolin. Smolin's book is written for the high school level, but it's a great basic introduction for anyone who hasn't taken college nutrition classes.
Being healthy doesn't mean eating the same thing everyday. Quite the opposite, actually. If you have a variety of foods in your diet, you're more likely to be getting all the nutrients you need. If you check on the calorie counter forum, there are two stickies for 400 calorie and under breakfasts and lunches/dinners. There's also a book called 1200-Calorie-a-Day Menu Cookbook, and it's got healthy recipes for meals that you can mix and match to meet your caloric needs.
And don't feel guilty just because it's pizza! A thincrust, whole grain crust topped with tomato sauce, cheese, loads of veggies, and some lean meats can be very healthy.
You can lose weight eating unhealthy food but I guarantee it will be a massive, painful struggle to contain a day's worth of junk into 1200 calories or less.
Flatbread pizza can be incredibly good for you! Make a sauce with fresh tomato, use fresh whole mozzerella, basil, maybe some spinach... put it on a multigrain flatbread and you're in business! Tons of nutrients right there. A little high in saturated fat, but still *well* within daily limits and not at all unreasonable.
Sometimes what we think is "healthy food" is not actually all that nutritious. What we think of as "unhealthy food" actually can be! It's all in how it's prepared.
"Healthy", first of all, is different for everyone. What works for my body (with all its PCOS-carb-sensitivity) is probably different than what works for others.
And yes, there are a TON of delicious things you can eat using healthy ingredients that are balanced, nutritionally sound, and low-calorie. Some common healthy dinners in my house:
Tostadas - 4 very small, 30 calorie corn tortillas, baked in the oven until crispy, topped with ground beef mix (we brown a pound of 96% lean beef for 4 servings, adding chili powder, jalapenos, cumin, and onions in for flavor...so 4 oz raw weight per person), about 1/2 cup of nonfat refried beans total for all 4 tostadas, a few sliced olives, salsa, chopped romaine and cilantro, and maybe about a teaspoon of fat free sour cream each. It's SO good and will satisfy any Mexican craving, but is under 450 calories. In summer, we often skip the 120 calories of corn tortilla, heap it on a pile of lettuce, and add a tablespoon of homemade guacamole and maybe 1 crumbled baked tortilla for a great taco salad. Either way, it's a combination of lean protein (the ground beef and the beans), a reasonable portion of whole grains, lots of veggies and fiber, and a little healthy fat.
Beef stew - Stew meat, carrots, onions, a mix of potatoes and sweet potatoes, celery, and garlic, slow-cooked - about 350 calories for a giant portion, and so good. Lots of veggies, a little protein, and some starch - nutritionally balanced.
Flatbread pizzas - a 90-calorie, whole grain Flat Out wrap, topped with pizza sauce, reduced fat mozzarella, grilled, olives, pineapple, and broccoli. With a side salad, this is a 400 calorie meal...perfect sized for dinner...and is very nutritionally balanced...whole grain carbs, lots of veggies, some reduced fat dairy, protein from the chicken.
Burgers - extra lean ground beef or turkey, again about 4 oz raw, served on light whole wheat bread, with caramelized onions (just cook an onion on low heat until it's golden and sweet-tasting), sometimes 3/4 oz of really sharp cheddar for flavor, fresh tomatoes, pickles, and mustard. A salad on the side and again - lean protein, whole grain, lots of veggies.
Spaghetti - More super-lean ground beef or ground turkey breast, browned up with spices, tossed with sauteed bell pepper strips, zucchini strips, and thinly sliced onion and garlic...add some homemade or jarred tomato sauce, and some whole wheat (or, if you want calories reduced even further, FiberGourmet lower-cal type) pasta, top with a tiny bit of Parmesan cheese, if you like. Again, a nutritionally balanced meal with a lean protein, whole grain, lots of veggies and nutrients, and a bit of fat. And if you use the FiberGourmet pasta, it again comes in around 400 calories. I also make a baked chicken parmesan that I'll sometimes use in place of the ground beef - a thinly pounded, lean chicken breast, dredged in seasoned Panko breadcrumbs, topped with half a serving of part skim mozzarella cheese, and baked until crispy.
So I'm eating burgers, tostadas, spaghetti, chicken parmesan, and hearty stews...but they're all nutritionally sound and lower-calorie, too.
You can take almost ANY favorite meal and find a way to make it healthier. Nothing about the word "burger" being in the title makes the meal unhealthy...only the ingredients you put in can do that. And you can put in ingredients to make yourself some darned good foods that rival any of their unhealthy counterparts, and still lose weight AND eat healthfully.
However, ive noticed that alot of you are eating things that i would feel reeallly guilty about example- flatbread pizza recipe (comes to mind first) even if its only like 200-300calories.
You have gotten some excellent answers, and I would agree with everything. Just wanted to bring out this sentence from you. It sounds to me like you are feeling that "being on a diet"/losing weight means you are required to feel deprived. That if you are varying and enjoying your meals, you aren't doing it right. After all, you need to be suffering to do this, right? And let's face it, even with all the willpower in the world, are you really going to WANT to eat boiled chicken for dinner for the rest of your life? Some people like eating the same stuff all the time (Matt ), but it's not necessary.
I have really had a good time exploring all the options of what can fit into my plan, and tweaking old favorites to make them fit into my calorie range. I have been eating really, really delicious food! Changing to eating healthier foods/losing weight does not have to look like punishment or deprivation. It really doesn't!
Your foods look like those "diet menus" from 1972. Or something they'd serve in prison. You don't have to eat like that!
My breakfast:
Oatmeal made with 1/4 cup canned pumpkin added and pumpkin pie spice, with tsp butter. Milk.
Snack: greek yogurt with blueberries.
Lunch: 1/3 cup rice, 5 oz chicken thighs (I was lazy and boiled them and then cut them up to add to the rice) bunch of golden beets chopped up. Roasted butternut squash with tsp olive oil.
Dinner: big stirfry of 5 oz tofu, mushrooms, cabbage, onions, ginger, celery, soy sauce & chinese 5 spice over 1/3 cup rice. And a Sam Adams beer.
That was about 1400-1500 calories. So you could cut down the tofu and chicken servings to 3 or 4 oz, and skip the beer and you'd be down at 1200 or so. And it was so filling, full of veggies and protein and flavor! No one would look at my meals and say "she's dieting" because I'm not. I'm just eating the fuel my body wants.
Start exercising, too. Not just cardio, put in some strength training.
Personally, I love eating the same thing day after day. Routine comforts me. But that doesn't mean every calorie has to be on your mom's list of "healthy" foods.
It really comes down to proportions. MOST of your calories need to be generally healthy, if only because healthier foods are more filling (you cuold eat 4 snickers every day, but you'd be starving). The more you are eating, the more room you have for some of those calories to be empty. On 1200, there isn't much wiggle room: you've got to fit a day's worth of nutrients into a small number of calories, so every calorie needs to count. But if a 250 pound male teen athlete wants to lose weight, he needs to cut down to 2500 calories a day--and out of those 2500 calories a day, 500 of them could probably be "empty" without affecting his health.
Some great ideas here (I might have to try that oatmeal and pumpkin!)
I just want to echo what others are saying. I've actually had a lot of fun trying to figure out ways to make foods yummy and healthy.
Some of our favorites:
- chicken fajitas (grilled chicken with some fajita spices on them and hit with lime while grilling, grilled peppers and onions, placed on 50 cal corn tortilla with a bit of guac or light sour cream and tomatoes or salsa)
- 2 versions of "hamburger helper". Basically one-pot pasta and meat dishes. (Saute onions and peppers, add garlic, canned tomatoes, pasta and ground turkey.... you can make it more like lasagna or more like chili with the spices you add)
- lots of soups!
- red beans and rice
And the list goes on! Which is good, because I do like a fair bit of variety.
Yes, you still need to eat healthy and you need a variety.
I love pizza and been working on perfecting lo-cal pizza. This is what I did the other night.
2 ozs. mini turkey pepperoni
1 pkg canadian bacon, chopped up
chopped fresh onion (to taste), I used a lot
1 lg chopped green pepper
2 small cans (drained) mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped black olives
1 jar ( probably 10 oz) pizza sauce
some extra oregano
I put it all in an 8 x 11 pan, covered with the sauce and baked a bout 20-25 mins
Instead of crust I made 2 slices of garlic toast from Sara Lee 45 cal bread, and added the mozzerella to my portion after the pizza was done so i could measure it. It was delightful!
Once nice side effect of this process for me has been stepping up my cooking so that I always have delicious, flavorful, appealing, and on-plan foods on hand. I always liked to cook but now it's a mission for me every weekend to cook several meals' worth to have on hand during the week.
Last weekend I made something called "Yucatan Fish" - tilapia cooked in lime juice and red chilies, with crispy browned slivers of garlic, and cilantro. It was INCREDIBLE. And I made enough for 3 meals for me and my partner. For variety on the third night we rolled them into corn tortillas with shredded lettuce. OMG. I served it with sauteed broccoli rabe on the first night, and roasted green beans on the second and third night.
I also made a huge pot of channa dal - an Indian preparation of dried split chick peas. Stewed according to suggestions I got from a friend in Calcutta, with onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and spices. I put that away in the fridge and didn't eat it until dinner last night, served over brown rice with sauteed broccoli.
So there you go, a couple of hours of cooking on the weekend (plus 15 minutes here and there to supplement the veggies) and I have almost a weeks' worth of incredible, mouth-watering, satisfying, and on-plan dinners. And not a moment of those meals felt like deprivation or eating diet food.
It's possible to lose weight without cooking, I think, but if you like to cook it's not hard to find wonderful tasty great on-plan recipes, and it makes the process much easier, much more enjoyable, and much more satisfying, I think. Challenge yourself to cook!
If im staying under my calorie intake..Do i really have to eat healthy?
On the contrary, a well-made pizza offers you something from all the food groups and lends itself to almost infinite variation. Even people on low-carb plans can find room for modified versions of pizza (using a whole-grain tortilla as the crust, for instance). 
), but it's not necessary. 
