these look yummy! :D

http://www.katheats.com/favorite-foo...al-snack-bars/

a banana is easy to eat and drive.

I'm a veteran of drivng jobs. Not just a commute, but on the road all day! (Actually, I'm working tomorrow) and I will agree that its a bit harder to find something that you can eat while driving that is also healthy. BUt you can do better than a cookie! Also, if you wake up just a bit earlier, you can make brekfast. I get up (begrudgingly) at 5am, so I can workout, shower, get ready and cook breakfast. If I skipped working out and making breakfast, I could get about and extra hour and half of sleep. Its worth the sacrifice, although dont ask me at 4:59am. I might tell you otherwise!! LOL!

^This.

I just want to say, I counted calories for a while, and I never used the computer to track anything; I found the computer tracking (sparkpeople, etc) very time consuming.

I just wrote it down. Like, with a pen and paper, the old school way! That worked for me.

Since dinner time is the dangerous time for you, I would just right now expend any extra energy and time you have on tweaking that part of your day and making it the healthiest you can since you are probably really hungry when you get home.

Maybe buying a bunch of bananas and having one as soon as you get home will stop that ravenous hunger and get your blood sugar back up so you can make better choices for dinner.

I know that's what happens to me - I'm in dangerous mode when I'm super hungry and my blood sugar is low!

~BreathingSpace~

As a virtually "new" calorie counter myself, I can just say what worked for me.

First buy a really good low fat/cal cookbook. You don't have to count calories, but you will need a food scale (a few $$$) so that you can portion your meals after preparation. Freeze. Make a few different chicken entrees, maybe buy a $5 pack of salmon for some fish dinners, and maybe a nice pot of chili! YUM. Now you make your brown rice, quinoa, etc. and finally pop open a package of frozen veggies and add to your plate...no need to precook them since you'll be nooking your meal. Pre-make your lunches and dinners for the next two weeks in a few hours! Since you've portioned your meals, each meal has it's own calorie count.

You can do easy breakfasts, like buying frozen whole grain pancakes, I pre-make these wonderfully delishous/nutritious pumpkin raisin flax muffins, so I just pop in the micro for 30 secs and YUM! I have them with 2 pre-cooked Jimmy Dean turkey sausage, 16 oz bottle of water and hazelnut coffee. Perfect on the go breakfast! You can also buy protein bagels, and almond butter from your local grocer. Breakfast is so easy to make quick so I'd focus on lunch and dinner.

Here's a link to my thread which has some great quick and easy tasty recipes for your planning: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/calo...op-26-lbs.html

Joyfullosers muffins are de-lish! And very satiating!

I don't count calories. I do rough estimates, then eat the same thing every day with minor variations without worrying about how many calories those variations add.

I know that sounds terribly boring, but it makes sticking to my diet SO much easier since I don't have to plan or even think about food!

Lean Cuisines have NO PRESERVATIVES! Just wanted to make that point. They were a big part of my weight loss because I don't like to cook. I supplemented them with microwavable green beans, bag salads, and steamed broccoli.

Some of the posts in this thread may sound harsh--but remember, most 3FC posters have had all kinds of "reasons" why we "could not" stay on a weight loss plan, or even FIND a weight loss plan! But what it comes down to is, it doesn't matter to anyone, or even to your body, "why" you can't. You Have to Find a Way.

Writing down what you eat every day is a good start. Just write it all down, every bit. Don't worry about calories or anything else. Just make daily lists--it's easiest to do this as you go.

Let us know what you find out from this.

Jay

I totally get where you are coming from. I'm in the process of getting my teaching credential; so every day, I do the research for my lesson plans, start a whole new day's lesson, with detailed instructions for myself. I have to make all of my hand outs and test for 5 lessons a week. Its like having a sub every day, only I'm the one who they has to do the teaching. Not to mention my grading AND my own homework for classes. I let things slide too.

But I will say this: in ONE semester of this program, I regained 25lbs. That was in 5 MONTHS of feeling too busy to cook, too busy to plan, too busy to write everything down. If I had let myself go for another semester, I would have regained even more, putting myself right back at my high weight. I finally said enough was enough: my students deserve a teacher who is good to herself, who takes care of herself so that I'm on-point and on target. How am I supposed to teach them about time management when I can't even do it myself?

I'm on WW right now but I found it gets easier with time. After I've figured out how many points are in a serving of something, its no big deal to write it down the next time I eat it. I cook more food at a time than I can eat for left-overs which turn into lunch and sometimes dinner. I'm realistic with what I can do; if I don't have time to cook a full dinner because I get home too late, I'll eat a tuna fish sandwich and call it good. I'll write down what I'm eating when the bread is in the toaster.

There are plans that don't require you to write down everything. I know WW does a "simply filling" plan where you eat from a list of foods that are low in calories (veggies, fruits, lean meats, etc) and you don't have to track them, as long as you're measuring your portions. You're only keeping track of "non-plan" foods, like cookies, chips, etc. That would significantly cut down on the time you have to spend writing things down and tracking.

Hey Firefly - tried to PM you but it wouldn't go through. Here it is though, might be a little off topic now but I don't feel right not responding back to a question!

*************************
Hey there! I just checked back to your post about cal counting and time, I saw that you responded to mine a few posts down....and then it blew up to like 6 pages haha, I don't have to time to read through all that either ;)

So you asked how I altered recipes for one, I don't. If I cooked for one I would be cooking every night!
I make a whole batch and I eat left overs all week, but I find the routine helps me not over eat. I freeze a couple serving size containers too so I always have on hand.

On Sunday or Monday eve I'll make a crockpot chicken dish and a pot of soup or something, I'll eat off that for a few days for my main meals and then on Thursday maybe I'll toss together another crock pot thing while I'm at work. SOunds like work but I'm pretty lazy so it can't be that bad. Also, now that I'm in the habit of it I find it to be very relaxing when I am doing it, which is time well spent.

Crockpot is my best friend. Open or chop, dump, turn the knob, leave.

I TOTALLY understand being that busy and being that insecure at work. I just got out of a similar work situation, so yea, I totally get it.

If you ever want to swap easy and cheap recipes just let me know, I'm single and on a budget too. I'll even figure out the servings and cals for ya ;)

Good luck!

It's entirely understandable to make your job a priority; I'm positive that a lot of posters here do as well, and more than a few of them have similarly demanding jobs. But having a demanding, busy life is all the more reason to take care of yourself. If you neglect yourself to the point of illness (and if you have a knee issue, more weight will certainly not help it), who will help you? Who will take over your job for you?

It's imperative for you to be well. :)

Other folks have suggested writing stuff down; it's a fantastic way to start. Studies have shown that people who keep a food journal make better decisions about what they eat even if they aren't aiming for any particular nutritional/caloric goals. Just the act of giving some thought to meals is enough to start a positive change.

As for cooking up batches of stuff to refrigerate/freeze for later, think of it as making your own Lean Cuisine meals. ;) The pre-packaged frozen stuff has its uses--sometimes you just crave variety, y'know?--but when you cook and package your own meals, you'll save a TON of money and get to make everything exactly to your tastes. You'll be amazed at the range of foods you'll have in your fridge and freezer after a couple of weeks of cooking. Right now, I can go in and have chili con carne, pulled pork tacos with salsa fresca, pizza with spinach and feta, meat loaf, or a range of sandwiches and wraps made with leftover roast beef and chicken. I could practically run a buffet out of my house. I don't get bored often because I just have so freakin' much food that it's practically a buffet. :D

The best part is that most of what I described takes very little hands-on time to prepare. It may take a few hours overall, but most of that time is just "throw it in the oven and look at it every half hour" type time. Slow-cookers will provide even more of that "fire and forget" ease; if you don't have one, you might want to invest in one (full disclosure: I don't have one, but I'm a shiftless layabout. ;) I hear they're great, though).

I hope we see you posting again soon when you have the time. There really is a vast wealth of help to be had here.

First up - I'll be honest, I didn't read all six pages of posts, so forgive me if I'm repeating what others have said...

I do prefer counting calories - it's free and I'm successful with it....

If you don't feel like you can manage calorie counting daily, you might take the number of calories you'd like to eat in a day and divide it into set portions... ie breakfast 350, snack 150, lunch 350, snack 100, dinner 500... then come up with lists of options that fit those requirements. Just check labels as you grocery shop, look up your favorite fruits and veggies once and make your own personalized list once, etc. If it's over the amount set for that eating time, you just decide not to eat it~

Another option that works for me (although not for tons of others) is to count up the calories on one day, and then eat nearly the same menu for the next 5-6 days with a bit of variety around snacks -

Sorry if others have already presented these suggestions and you've commented back :)

lol that's what i was going to say--crockpot is your best friend!!!! you can put beans in there, roast with potatoes and vegetables, soups, even casseroles. get a cheap crockpot or slow-cooker cookbook. mainly with beans, you want to make sure you keep enough water in there so they don't dry out and burn. cook on low overnight.

also, i got a george foreman grill for christmas, so it will be handy to cook chicken and other things without grease. there are other noncooked options like healthy sandwiches on whole grain bread, turkey, low fat cheese, spinach, etc. oh, i think the bacon breakfast would be better for you than the cookie:(( junk food just spikes sugar which will crash, increase insulin in your body, and it stores fat! even breakfast bars would be better than that. bananas, apples, awesome! whole grain bought pancakes. boiled eggs. whole grain sandwich of anything. i look for portable options myself alot. sometimes i manage to make things like breakfast wraps in whole wheat tortillas and take them.

I am a "calorie counter", with an eye for more complex carbs and always pairing carbs with a protein. It helps keep me satisified, keeps the cravings way down for me.

I don't log everything into a sparkpeople type of program. I have tried it before and found it to be a big PITA. At the beginning I really needed to know where I stood, so I would go to a calorie count website and just get an idea of the calories in stuff that doesn't have nutritional info printed (meats, produce, etc), or get the info right off the package if available. I made a diet for myself that seemed reasonable and healthy, then wrote down everything I ate and added it up every few days to make sure what I THOUGHT was a good day of calories, really was. Nowadays, I have enough experience to know what will and won't work into my day. I basically have the same breakfast daily, a few choices for lunch, and a variety for dinner. I just know now.

It is a little time consuming in the beginning to get everything planned out, but then it becomes pretty much a no-brainer. Now if I want to try a new recipe or some food I haven't had before, I take 2 minutes to look up the calories. Not a big deal.

I'm a NICU nurse, so I know what you mean when you say you can't even grab bathroom breaks. If a baby needs a blood transfusion NOW, yeah, my lunch break or peeing is just going to have to wait. But when I'm able to grab a second to myself, I run out and pee, wolf down the healthy meal/snack I have made readily available to myself, and do try to gulp down some water as time and the situation allows. I also have a family at home, my daughter needs to be at her dance classes every week, the dogs need walked and fed, my hubby likes a little quality time now and then. At times I feel like I just can't even spare the time to be good to me! But what's the alternative?