What I’ve learned in losing 60+ Pounds

It’s not just the diet that works for your head, but what works for your body. Even, your genes. As you go, you learn what you can lose on or not.

On 1400, I have to watch soup, of all things, even low sodium broth. That means I cant just count calories. Water’s fine, but not something in soup.

I love portion control. When you realize a half cup of pasta is satisfying, lol, it makes you very aware of how much people eat. I do a modified version of the diabetes 2 diet (really, the most recent version of the Food Pyramid, ) choose low carb veggies and fruits.

Congrats, maya. You’re inspiring.

This was always the issue for me as well. While I do enjoy a variety of exercise, there’s no way it was enough to “need” the 2500+ calories a day I sometimes found myself consuming. My eating habits and patterns have certainly evolved over time. At first I was a strict calorie counter- who cares if it was all Lean Cuisine- and what the scale said.
Now it’s more about a balance of carbs, protein and fats and what my body fat measurements are. My weight has actually gone up, but my body fat is lower and I’m wearing smaller sizes. I’m actually allowing myself the occasional frozen meal again, but now they’re things like jackfruit bowls. Not right for everyone, but works for me now. I think the more rigid I was with my rules, the harder it was for me to maintain. Flexibility has been the key for me.

My Fitness Pal schooled me on how quickly calories add up.

It’s no wonder people have difficulties maintaining when we are awash in a food culture full of tempting yummy easily accessible high calorie foods (& in my case, these foods create strong cravings).

It’s interesting to read the posts in this thread. A common theme appears to be getting to know yourself better and what will work for you (or not).

Meet yourself where you are and go from there!

Anyone want to share your favorite low calorie meal – lunch or dinner particularly? Also especially looking for simple. Empty nest approaching and I hope to keep a lot of food out of the house when I’m no longer needing to feed two athletic teenage boys and can focus more on me.

I’ll be interested to see what suggestions you receive for low calorie meals, but they don’t work for me. They’re not satisfying. I just eat normal meals, but smaller portions. So if we are having Shepherd’s Pie (VERY high in calories), I just have a VERY small portion, but because of the flavor and fat content, it’s very satisfying.

“Low” calorie meal = One portion protein + 2-3 portions veggies + One Whole Grain portion

Figure out portion size for your height/weight.
Beware and portion out add-ons (butter, condiments, sweeteners, salad dressing, etc.)

That to me is a base equation.

Lemon chicken (piccata,) hands down. I make a batch and can eat it every day. I love Rocco DiSpirito’s low cal, healthy recipe.

If you like the healthy versions, that’s half the battle.

About eating out, I’m at risk, when it’s a group. But socially need it and my friends prefer it over, say, meeting for coffee. But I stopped obsessing, looking up calories, fats, sodium. I just set aside half, when I can.

I’ve maintained my weight for 9 months, and never did a sweaty exercise. Different strokes for different folks.<<<<<<<<<<

Ah, I mean forever, not months. I doubt it really IS different strokes, because, homeostasis, I assume the very overweight have very different tendencies to normal weight people, that the very overweight are like alcoholics, addressing the symptoms never actually fixes the tendency, but one can master the behaviors. Exercise is a learn-able behavior.It is no accident that certain x fitters and marathoners and ultra runners often have interesting addiction stories.
When one hits long term success, this is a good list to join;

http://nwcr.ws/default.htm

What has helped me tremendously with leaving me satisfied is discovering how tasty cauliflower can be. Many people say they don’t like cauliflower but they haven’t had it prepared anyway but steamed or boiled. Last night I made short ribs in the pressure cooker and served them over mashed cauliflower. For the cauliflower I boiled florets till they were super soft. Drained and put it in the food processor also no with a bit of real butter and plain Greek yogurt. Season to taste. It’s delicious. The key is to making my sure the cauliflower is cooked enough. We also like roasting cauliflower “steaks”. A showpiece is roasting the head of cauliflower whole. We also use riced cauliflower instead of rice. I like the “Boulder” brand of frozen riced cauliflower. My H most of the time can’t tell it’s not rice.

My quick meal for just me (I don’t enjoy cooking anymore) & with an almost empty fridge is a couple baked potatoes, hard boiled eggs, and salsa.

It ends up being about 600-650 calories according to MFP. I’m not sure why, but I find this meal satisfying with high satiety.

@Midwest67 post reminded me how eggs can also have a high satisfaction level. A quick dinner can be a couple of eggs scrambled with goat cheese and tomato. I cut up a half of a small avocado and put that on top. The cheese and avocado give it a comfort food feel.
Hydro flask makes a nice container that you can take lunch in. It keeps the eggs hot till lunchtime. https://www.hydroflask.com/12-oz-food-flask-2/color,black,a,92,o,20
I have lost a good bit of weight and increased my exercise. I feel better and I’m stronger. In the beginning I counted calories but now I have figured out that for me I can eat avocado and use plenty of olive oil. What I can’t eat is flour tortillas, bread, potatoes and rice. I reserve those foods for the weekend. I also don’t use sugar, honey, maple syrup etc in anything during the weekdays. I also rarely have alcohol.

My go to meal virtually every day is a scramble of 3 egg whites, ground turkey and lots of spinach and mushrooms and some avocado. And I found some okra in the market last week, which I’ve been adding to the mix. And then I’ll top it with some salsa/pico de gallo and hot sauce.

Just like ohiopublic, I eat/need carbs, since my workouts are long and sweaty. I’m one of those folks who loves exercise. My body fat % has remained relatively stable for years.

I do not eat breakfast (never have) here’s a typical weekday for me

Lunch

Laura’s Lean Burger bunless

Cucumber and Avocado Salad

Snack
100 calorie pack of popcorn

Dinner
GIANT SALAD (2 full bags of lettuce and cabbage ) with , tomato, loads of steamed asparagus 4-5 ounces salmon, One tablespoon full fat Whole Foods Balsamic Vinaigrette (small batch)

Diana’s Dark Chocolate covered banana

OR
6 ounces boneless skinless chicken thigh with dry rub spices on a bed of onions

broccoli and cauliflower roasted in olive oil

M and M’s (about 2 “fun packs”)

Snack
Strawberries and Raspberries with brown sugar

Weekend

Lunch
“Small Salad” (one pack of lettuce) with tomato cucumber and avocado. Fork dipped white balsamic (maybe a teaspoon), Pita bread

Dinner
Roast Chicken and Mashed potatoes (at a restaurant) eat about half

One roll with butter

Half a brownie or cookie

I have zero interest in whole grains. They are completely unsatisfying to me.

Half a cookie. That is so depressing.

@“Cardinal Fang”

Depends on the size of the cookie, no?

Somewhere, portion sizes grew. Remember when all muffins were “regular” size? Now one is hard-pressed to find anything smaller than “jumbo”.

No, doesn’t depend on the size of the cookie. Depressing for a cookie of any size. But I agree that restaurant portion sizes are often ridiculously large.

“Half a cookie. That is so depressing. No, doesn’t depend on the size of the cookie. Depressing for a cookie of any size.”

Lol, gotta disagree. I’m talking about a huge thick cookie, even bigger than the brownie, which they serve warm in a skillet at one of our favorite restaurants. Half is MORE than enough and NOT in any way depressing.

WIll tell you one thing: it doesn’t work if you view any part of dieting as depressing. Half a cookie is better than none. And for many, half is better than one.

Loved the excitement about cauliflower. That’s the spirit. Mashed cauliflower is an old, old WW recipe. Delish. Love it with plain yogurt.

My tip is is to drain it very well, even blot it. If it retains too much water, it can make a looser mash.

Or if you are more visual. For omnivores a deck of cards of meat (3-4 ounces), a fistful of cooked vegetables and two fistfuls of raw vegetables. I don’t generally have a starch on the side - though I do occasionally have potatoes. I have half a bagel or half an English muffin at breakfast which takes care of my carb cravings and I fairly often have a tsp of peanut butter on a whole grain cracker as a snack.

I used the Livestrong tracker and set it to lose a pound a week, as I lost weight it eventually became the right amount to eat to maintain my reduced weight.

Whole grains meaning like a slice of Dave’s Killer bread, whole grain pasta or brown rice? Popcorn is actually a whole grain food.

@maya54 what is a “package of lettuce” - I’m picturing the “bag o’ salad” at the store - do you eat two of those at a sitting? (not knocking it but that’s a lot of greens - and could get expensive!!) :slight_smile: