That story helps, Midwest67. I agree with sabaray that the best plan is one you’ll follow. I add that ultimately you want an eating plan you can follow for life, not just for the few months it takes to lose the twenty pounds.
My plan? I do eat a lot of the same foods, especially for meals like breakfast and lunch that are eaten without a lot of thought or planning. At some point I do decide to buy yogurt and have it for breakfast or certain fruits and cheeses and have them for lunch. More thought goes into dinner and that meal does vary. And I eat snacks and sweets every day. Not doing that makes me feel too deprived and causes me to get too hungry and then devour, say, a whole sleeve of Oreos.
I do lead an exercise-based fitness life. I know you said you aren’t ready for that, Maya. I plan on doing something physical nearly every day and probably put more time into making sure that happens than I do into thinking about what I eat. For me, that shift in emphasis from not overeating to being sure I exercise has been the best change I ever made.
So far I’ve only read about food, but what about hydration? What do you drink? I drink 99% water, all day long. Besides my morning coffee of course. I believe this is a key to any food plan. Occasionally, I’ll have some sparkling water with a splash of juice, but that’s about it. I haven’t had a soda in about a millenia. I know some here do have an occasional drink of alcohol (wine, beer), but what else do you drink all day long?
Today is a rest day! <:-P There’s small chance I might get on the Assault Bike at home (or run) and also do some GHD situps, but we’ll see how the day plays out.
I drink hot tea (green or camomile) all day long because my office is so damn cold! Which is basically flavored water because I don’t use any sweeteners in it. At home, it is coffee with 2% milk (has to be that, and no one gets hurt, lol) in the morning, then office tea, then water or tea with dinner. A glass of wine or two here and there, mostly on weekends. I am not into sweet things unless they are really good, freshly made Euro cakes. Which I would eat with black coffee or English breakfast tea, unsweetened.
I have to start the day with coffee with nut milk. I drink a lot of water during the day - I have a Tervis and a S’well bottle that I fill over and over throughout the day. I will add Nuun tablets from time to time. I like Spindrift waters - I usually have one when I get home. I had a glass of wine earlier this week with dinner. Overall I have cut way back on my alcohol consumption which is a good thing for many reasons. If I really, really want one, I might have a diet Coke but it’s been a while. I used to drink gallons of diet Mt. Dew (ironically when I weighed close to 250 pounds) so that is a huge improvement, but it didn’t happen overnight.
I too eat a lot of the same food combinations regularly, particularly at breakfast. Steel cut oats/banana/nut butter/nut milk. Fage yogurt/banana/raspberries. Hard boiled egg/tomato. Cheese grits/soy chorizo. I live in an area where it’s really easy to know your food producers. I buy eggs locally - as in, I stop at his farm after a run. Some things I do try to get organic - like berries. I see no need for organic bananas unless they are substantially better than conventional. I think it’s a good idea to have several easy to fix, reliable meal combinations in your repertoire.
I’m not a big drinker of anything. I drink alcohol , limited to one glass of beer or wine about 2-3 times a month. I drink soda about 3-4 times a year. I used to drink it every day but kicked that habit years ago. I onky drink it with pizza because that just goes. The rest of the time I drink plain water. Often sparkling. But I can’t stand drinking all the time. I do eat a HUGE salad ( 2 bags of lettuce) with veggies like cucumbers that are water filled and a protein on top almost every day now which seems to add to hydration. I don’t like or ever drink coffee tea or any hot beverage.
I drink…not enough when I’m busy & running around —pee doesn’t lie!
Water when on a hike. I have a hydration bladder in my pack. Coffee in the morning. Spindrift Sparkling Grapefruit Water. Some sort of zero calorie flavored soda water from Target. I like the fizz. Kombucha. 1-2 beers or a spiked sparkling almost every day. Used to be red wine, then I switched. Sometimes Fresca.
We have a filter on our tap water, but unfortunately, I still eye it with suspicion.
So true. If you’re not drinking enough water, then your pee will tell you.
Ahh eggs. I love eggs. And I recently bought one of those Dash egg cookers via a recommendation from a thread here on CC, maybe it was Bunsen, who always has good suggestions, like the $85 Amazon deal of the day coffee pour over machines.
Anyway, I have a omelette/scramble every day, typically with oniions, a variety of mushrooms (shitake is my favorite) and spinach. I sometimes add protein, like some chicken or salmon. And then top it with avocado and salsa. With the egg cooker, I can also make poached and hardboiled eggs. I do only use 1 egg yolk or just go egg whites only.
Me too. LOVE eggs. I hard boil 12-18 at a time in the Instant Pot. LOVE potatoes. I bake 2-4 potatoes at a time in the microwave and have those hand too. That’s about the extent of my “cooking” these days.
H & I are like two ships passing in the night, and we both work unconventional hours. Kids are out of the house. It’s nice to be free of another person’s eating times and habits/choices.
I’m much happier and more successful re: maintenance doing my own thing.
Someone else gets the credit for the egg thingy! I love eggs, too. I am actually thinking about getting that thingy for travel. There is nothing more frustrating about hotel breakfasts than sad looking scrambled eggs. Or stale HB eggs. Or omelettes made wth sooo much oil that it oozes out of them. With the egg thingy, we can make HB eggs in the room.
I have no connection financial or otherwise to the company linked below, but I have an assortment of these pre-made paleo meals at work. I’m not much of a chef other than the simple stuff. If you get them on sale, the cost is about $10 per meal.
My meals are pretty structured too especially M-F while working. Thank goodness for work! I think if I didn’t work it would be harder being home with food.
Breakfast is typically : a poached egg, whole milk plain yogurt w/fresh fruit and homemade granola (not too sweet). Sometimes I’ll sub in a small piece of Dave’s killer bread with almond butter and fresh fruit on it (lately thinly diced peaches - YUM or avocado toast w/everything bagel seasoning and a big slice of tomato! Also I’ve been on a kick of fresh fruit (usually peaches or nectarines - I like them hard, not ripe) diced small with 2% milk splashed over them generously and a sprinkling of granola - really refeshing!
Lunch - usually leftovers - a protein, veggies - cooked or raw, and a grain (like leftover quinoa/couscous/rice or something like hummus or other healthy dip.
Dinner - A good dinner but try to keep it lighter on carbs. I’ll do pasta, but a smaller serving of the pasta but load it will good sauce, protein and some veggies. DInner might not be stellar in terms of nutrition but I’ll then really watch portion size.
I also almost always have an evening snack. I covet this. Could be a cookie, a small scoop of really quality ice cream or a smaller piece of another sweet. On the weekend I’ll have a bigger splurge one night.
Beverage wise: One cup of coffee in the morning most days, and water. That’s about it! Occasionally 4 ounces of of milk with a snack. Never been a soda, juice or alcohol fan. Might have one small glass of wine a month to be social but that’s about it.
I love to eat and love most foods. Because of this (and for other reasons) exercise is non-negotiable for me. Exercise is also a form of SANITY.
Be careful in that exercise (particularly weight / resistance exercise) is important to maintain muscle. Weight loss that is mostly muscle loss tends to be undesirable for various reasons.
^Very good point. I’m going to a gym and check my muscle mass as well as my weight. It’s rather scary how easy it is to lose muscle! It’s a constant battle. It would be even worse if I didn’t exercise.
Everyone is different. I haven’t gone back and looked at idad’s posts, but when he initially started his weight loss journey, I believe he started with diet, walking and a garage sale stationary bike. Resistance training came later. That’s something @maya54 can add later if she chooses to. I think we can all benefit from personally doing a little bit better with our personal goals every day. If that’s reaching 1 step more than the day prior, great. Speaking only for myself, as I lost weight and found myself able to do more, I did more. Natural progression. Anyway.
Today is a rest day for me. Tough one hour Pilates workout yesterday.
Rest day for me too. At this point it looks like my 8K tomorrow is a go.
As for drinking, (I need to hydrate today- I know ), the only liquid I regularly consume are coffee (just a bit of low fat milk), green tea (hot, nothing added), water (tap is fine for me) and wine.
My diet varies but is generally healthy. I am a bg fan of breakfast although I generally work out first. The biggest food issue I have is with sugar/sweets and I’m working on that.
Sugar is tough - eating it, whether it comes from dark chocolate, raspberries or junky work candy just makes me want more. Most of my sugar intake is from fruit but I still need to watch it. I eat a small banana almost every day in spite of the relatively high sugar content. I figure if that’s the worst thing I eat that day it’s still better than Lean Cuisine or frozen Weight Watchers dessert.
FallGirl, be sure and come back to give us a race report! Hope it’s dry and a bit less humid tomorrow.
Since we mentioned sugar… there was leftover cake ( quite a bit- above half of a large sheet cake) sitting out in the kitchen at work when I arrived at 8:30. I bypassed it, but when I went to the kitchen at 9:00 for green tea, the cake was gone. Whoa! Not even very many people in the office so someone really needed sugar this morning.
Probably for the best. I really was tempted
That’s my problem - the work kitchen! When I go to get water I go right past whatever is in there - donuts, cake, junk, candy…now I fill two bottles in the morning so I don’t need to go into the den of temptation!
I think the important thing about iDad is that even though he started from a point where he could barely walk down the driveway to his mailbox, he quickly recognized how important exercise was for his health and weight loss. He took a lot of pride in his progress in that area and embraced all aspects- including healthy eating and exercise.
I do drink alcohol several times a week. I drink diet sodas, although I’ve cut way back due to bone density issues. I drink iced tea and tea. I don’t like drinking water unless I’m running. I do drink the zero calorie flavored water with meals at home. I have a lot of business functions and social functions that involve alcohol- and I enjoy them. I eat sugar, although after ODing on my birthday a couple days ago I swore off it. That lasted until just now when someone brought donuts to the office from a really special place outside of town. I had one apple fritter and that will be it. Definitely not earned by this morning’s short run, but I did enjoy it.
Which is basically flavored water because I don’t use any sweeteners in it. At home, it is coffee with 2% milk (has to be that, and no one gets hurt, lol) in the morning, then office tea, then water or tea with dinner. A glass of wine or two here and there, mostly on weekends. I am not into sweet things unless they are really good, freshly made Euro cakes. 