I want to go off od my diet today because it would be enjoyable to have a cheeseburger and fries or go to olive garden. I am bored of only eating salads and foods with little or no taste. I haven't lost any weight yet and I have been eating healthy for 2 weeks. I am very frustrated.
Eating healthy does not have to be a bore. Just add different things to your salads like squeeze lemon juice, sauté onions, bell peppers and garlic and top your salad with it and it should give you flavors you can enjoy. My teenager loves it when I prepare her salads that way. I hope this helps. Whatever you do don't give up on yourself.
Sounds like you need to find some variety! There's a LOT you can make that is healthy and calorie controlled, and isn't a salad. This week, I'm making the following (all of which come in at around 400 calories per meal and serve 4)
Last week:
Monday - Smoked pork chop (very lean, trimmed of fat), beet risotto, and broccoli with garlic, lemon, and oregano.
Tuesday - Roasted pork tenderloin, whole wheat couscous with chopped dried fruit and fresh oregano, roasted cauliflower.
Wednesday - Chili made with extra lean stew meat, red beans, zucchini, bell pepper, tomatoes, and lots of seasonings, served with fat free sour cream, a sprinkle of 2% cheese, and a crumbled baked corn tortilla (25 calorie mini tortilla) on top.
Thursday - Flatbread pizza and salad. You can find Flat Out wraps to make your own pizzas that are high fiber and low calorie.
Friday - Tostadas - baked corn tortillas (150 calories worth) with lean ground turkey or beef cooked up with bell pepper, zucchini, and onion, 1/3 cup refried beans, olives, lettuce, and a dollop of fat free sour cream
This Week:
Monday - Beef and broccoli (1 lb lean beef, sliced thinly, tons of broccoli, garlic, onion, and a sauce made of chicken broth, soy sauce, 2 tbsp hoisin sauce, and a little cornstarch to thicken) over brown jasmine rice.
Tuesday - Pork chops with apple butter/mustard glaze (just 1 tsp apple butter and 1 tsp dijon, plus seasonings), thinly sliced cabbage sauteed with a diced apple and a diced onion, with a little nutmeg, and roasted cubed butternut squash.
Wednesday - Chili again. I love it in wintertime.
Thursday - Roasted pork tenderloin (it's a VERY lean cut), beet risotto, and roasted cauliflower.
Friday we're doing wedding prep for my cousin's wedding, so I won't be cooking. But my point is that you can have a TON of variety. You'll have trouble sticking to your plan if it bores you, so find some new things you like to cook and experiment with ways to get a whole lot of healthy options with the calories you have to work with.
I agree, why are you eating food with no flavor? And salads? Do you cook? Do you have any cookbooks? What plan are you following? We can give you some recipes and tips if you give us a little more info.
You should look up some recipes or foods that are healthy that you do enjoy. You could eat a small hamburger made from lean meat and baked/grilled. You need to develop a healthy eating plan that you enjoy and are willing to stick with for the long run. I have gotten off my diet several times in the past year and gained weight back. But, I must admit that I do enjoy a lot of the food I am eating right now. Good luck!
Oh my, have you taken a look at the recipe section here at 3FC? Have you checked some of the on-line recipe sites? I can guarantee you that you can make foods that will blow your mind with flavor and aroma. You've got to step outside the box sometimes and explore the options.
I probably only eat a "salad" once a week. Think in lines of roasted lean meats and veggies. Savory soups and thick hearty oatmeal dishes. Herbs and spices are the key.
A french fry is a plain white potato fried in oil with salt...what is so exciting about that?
I used to feel the same way - for me, it's because I wasn't ready change. I needed to put in the effort - research new recipes, find ways to lighten up my favorites, and eating as fresh as possible. I think a little looking and planning may help you. What foods do you love? How can you make them healthy? What new things would you like to try?
Try some of the 3fc recipe sections- you don't need to be on South Beach (for example) to eat some of their YUMMY suggestions!
Food hast to taste good no doubt about it. I've been cooking daily for 18 years and I'm happy to say I don't have to change things much to lose weight. For me, it's eating more of the green beans, and not eating the potato.
Salads are great, but you don't have to just eat salads to lose weight. Heck, if you REALLLLLY need a cheeseburger, make one yourself. Get really lean ground meat, make it a smallish portion, put on some lean cheese and voila! To make it really zing, add spices or onion to your beef patty.
if you want to lose weight and keep it off, you won't succeed by eating something you don't enjoy. It's OK to love food - when fat, when losing weight and getting fit and when you're thin.
if you don't like salads after trying many different things, you don't have to eat them. Sometimes i eat salad everyday bc i like it, but sometimes i go a week or two just because i don't feel like eating salad, and that's ok.
as far as olive garden goes, have you tried making a low cal version of your favorite dish there? my favorite dish was the eggplant parm, but after some experimenting i make my own baked version for under 400 calories, and i think it even tastes better too, and i load up my marinara with mushrooms and red peppers and whatever else happens to be hibernating in the fridge. you could do the same with chicken parm or any other dish there. as a calorie counter i find the most important thing is to weigh my pasta before i cook it since that's where most of the calories come from. you won't get "olive garden" sized portions but you do get a delicious pasta meal! olive garden actually posts recipes on their website and you can try substituting things - like skim milk for whole milk, low fat cheese, etc and see how low you can get the calories to go.
What are your cooking skills like? Did you cook very much before embarking on your diet? What did you usually cook?
You may want to look for healthier versions of the recipes that you're used to cooking weekly.
For me, part of losing over 100 pounds involved cooking my meals far more frequently, and clocking a lot of time looking for recipes, and becoming a lot more familiar with the contents of my spice shelf. I had to learn a lot of new skills. This was a very worthwhile investment of my time.
And yes, I do eat salads a lot, but mostly because a bed of fresh greens can be good under any meal, with nearly anything thrown on top of it. (Including Amanda's beloved chili.) My goal is to eat mostly vegetables at lunch & that can involve salad-like concoctions but the vegetables that top them are often cooked.
You know what's boring eating? Going to a fast food place and always, always, always ordering the same thing. Eating an entire box or bag of the same stuff, whether it's chips or cookies or crackers. Eating a huge plate of one kind of food. Yet that's what I always used to do. I don't know how I could stand the lack of variety!
Eating healthy is only as boring as you make it. I haven't eaten a salad in...oh, maybe a month or so? I don't much like salad either. But I DO like:
- black bean and pulled pork tacos with fresh salsa
- chili con carne
- pizza loaded with veggies
- steak and "creamed" spinach served with a baked sweet potato
- omelets with spinach and feta
- egg "mcmuffins" with a thick slice of tomato on each
- chicken and vegetable curry
- chicken in forty cloves of garlic with asparagus and green beans
- onion soup
- meat loaf
- vegetable stew
- more wraps and sandwiches than I could possibly detail in one post
That's the kind of stuff I eat now. In fact, I have most of that stuff (and more) to choose from at any given time. There's WAY more variety in my life now than there ever was when I ate mindlessly.
I encourage you to look hard at your current food choices and see how far you can broaden them while staying on your plan. You may find (as I did) that being constrained calorie-wise forces you to get more creative in the kitchen. If you're just living on salad...well, you haven't even scratched the surface.
You mentioned that you are eating healthy and not losing any weight. Are you monitoring your calories? After not losing weight, I realized that I was overeating healthy food. You might want to tally your calories to see just how much you are taking in. Just because you are eating healthy, it doesn't necessarily mean you are going to lose weight automatically.
Eating healthy is boring!
