Hey girls!! I desperately need to lose weight and I am having a hard time with the "diet" part of it. I have worked exercise back into my life but the meal planning is not going well. I am a meat and potatoes kind of girl and I'm struggling. I am not a fan of veggies and have a hard time working them in. I find myself craving sweets, carbs and salt more than ever. Portion sizes are not as much of an issue for me. Thought maybe we could start a thread regarding meal planning and recipes. What do you think??
I just went to a low carb (girl I live in New MEXICO, where tortillas are mandatory and oooooooooooh so delicious) I did it before and lost almost 90 pounds,(and had maintained for 2 years) sadly I had gained 40 back!....but lost 16 in the last 3 weeks (that is the encouraging part) I am learning to use low carb substitutes...yep cauliflower is your friend, but you gotta do it right! Google has some great videos. I make cauliflower tortillas and mash them (with a 1/2 cup instant pots) for great mash taters. I feed (that is our joke) every 4 hours! Big egg and protein (steak, chicken, sausage or bacon) in the am. (withing 30 minutes of waking up...this is SO SO important) Every other day, I have a 1/4 cup of bran sticks with Almond Milk. To keep me from binding from all the protein and cheese! lol cheese or almond snack in mid morning lunch is meat and veggies(usually left overs from the nights before) I do not forgo my fruit I try to have an apple, orange or such in afternoon I do get Atkin bars for the afternoon with a cup of coffee rejuvenation! Our dinners are chicken, fish/salmon/shrimp, or steak or burger or pork with salad, vegi (NO corn or peas). Lots of zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumbers, spinach if it is green it is great! lol I also eat tomatos, the books say no, but I say YES! lol I love an Atkins shake about 8pm with 20 almonds! pure delightful! It sounds boring. But on Sundays, I pick one thing I am craving ONE and I have that on that day. I seriously had ONE huge baked potato this last Sunday...and I didn't want chocolate! GASP! We eat out usually on Sundays, and Wendy's Fast food is our choice. You can order a burger no bun and they wrap in lettuce. I cut mine and eat it with a fork and knife. with BACON! I have a big side salad and it is marvelous! ALL this is great, but without GETTINg up and MOVING it is just starving for diet sake! PLEASE move and DO. my hubby hasn't been able to exercise and has been side by side with me in meals, and I dropped the 16 and he only 9. Once he is able to walk with me, he will pass me quickly. He usually is the fast loser of weight. I am also experimenting with Almond Flour, Coconut Flour, Almond Milk (a new love) to try and get a bread to help. I am enjoying this and think my attitude helps.
This is awesome Anne. When I was losing last summer I pretty much ate the same thing every day... Eggs and one slice of toast for breakfast. Pineapples or grapes for a mid-morning snack. Lunch was either a great big spinach salad with chicken or steak or leftover chicken from the night before. Afternoon snack - usually an apple or almonds. Dinner was always grilled chicken or steak, 1/2 cup mashed red potatoes and green beans. Snack (if needed) jello or yogurt. It worked awesome. Hubby was working out of town for six weeks (only home on weekends). As soon as he got home he quickly bored of the same thing night after night. I told him I need to do this again and if it means the same old things over and over again that's what I have to do. He is free to make whatever he wants. Thanks for sharing. Our meal plans look very similar...that gives me hope since you are having such wonderful success. Keep it up!!
Honestly, if you do smoothies, you can put kale in there and not taste it. I'm getting used to the cauliflower thing, some things it works, some it doesn't. Otherwise I'm not a veggie fan either. I did find sweet peppers (like little bell peppers) that I love. Can you cook a side dish or pick up deli salads for the hubby to change up his side dishes. My hubby cooks, so it's not a big problem, but he also overinvolves himself in my diet and it makes things miserable. Thanks for the ideas ladies. I'm trying to figure it out -- I made a breakthrough last night and finally believe I can do this.
Drink water before eating, it will fill you up. If you are hungry, have a handful of nuts handy. I am a breakfast sandwich girl... I found Special K makes that that works into my meal. I have a yogurt for a mid morning snack. Lunch is a mini bagel with ham, or carrots and hummus. Dinner is where I always get stuck. We have a lot of chicken, lol! Occasionally steaks, tacos. I have a few old WW recipes that are awesome - Tex Mex Turkey meatloaf, and a baked ckicken. Though dinner is my hard part, I'm working on it! I also found that if I take a small portion of meat, smaller of carbs, and double of the veggies, I evened out. Roasting veggies was my way of eating more veggies. Good Luck! It's hard, but take it slow. Make the change where you are comfortable, and will stick to it. That is key.
Have you ever heard of Trim Healthy Mama? I follow that plan...no processed carbs and a lot of whole foods. Tonight I made Beef stew with radishes instead of potatoes...my kids didn't even noticed the difference. I love cauli potatoes and spaghetti squash as substitutes for carbs too. I don't have weight to lose, but I feel much better when I don't eat the processed carbs. I do occasionally have oatmeal, Ezekial cereal and bread. My hubby wanted to lose about 15 pounds (he lost over 50 pounds 3 years ago but has slowly gained back about 20). He actually got so skinny that people thought he was sick. Ha! So he started gaining back a little...but ended up gaining back a little more than he wanted. He's been on the THM diet (even though I don't really like to call it a diet - more of a lifestyle) and he's lost about 9 lbs in the last month.
okay my dad keeps telling me about this: shirataki noodles. I got the fettuccini and speghetti tonight, and will try tomorrow! I have been watching lots of YOUtube videos...so I am doing some meatballs, italian sausage and homemade sauce and will pan fry the rinsed and dried noodles with garlic and basil...
If you've made up your mind to go for a good diet plan and lose weight, then take time to visit http://www.Mealplans4thefamily.com/ and you'll find meal planning menus compliment your craving issues and achieve your ideal weight. Just remember losing weight will come to you provided you're discipline enough to follow your diet plan.
