2011 HEATHY EATING ~ WEIGHT LOSS SUPPORT THREAD

[dianartemis]

I'm in. I want to lose ~70 lbs. I've exercised the last 3 days.

For today I had 100g yogurt, 25g All-Bran, 15g raisins, & 2 leans sausage links for breakfast. A banana for morning snack. 1C navy bean soup w/ ham & veggies (yum!) & 2 homemade biscuits for lunch. 100g lowfat cottage cheese & 2T raw sunflower seeds for a snack. Tonight I had meatloaf (chock full of bell pepper, onion, & apple) w/ baked potato 2tsp butter, and 1 pint green beans. An apple for dessert.

This is my menu for the next 4 week days. If I prep for the week, I lose weight & feel better & don't do mindless eating.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Jan 3, 2011 21:03:29 GMT -5 @mtntigger said:

What do you guys snack on during the day? I need to chew (frustration reliever). I usually eat carrots or apples (or chew gum). Do you have any other healthy suggestions?

I don't actually snack during the day, unless my blood sugars are low. I try to eat a breakfast that will take me to lunch, and a lunch that will take me to dinner, and then a dinner that takes me to my designated evening snack time: around 9:00pm.

For my evening snack, I get 100 calories of lean protein (usually turkey or hardboiled egg whites) plus 100 calories of salad-type veggies: usually a cucumber and some radishes and some cherry tomatoes or pea pods.

[The J]

Jan 3, 2011 21:03:29 GMT -5 @mtntigger said:

What do you guys snack on during the day? I need to chew (frustration reliever). I usually eat carrots or apples (or chew gum). Do you have any other healthy suggestions?

I keep mixed nuts (unsalted) and a box of kashi granola bars in my desk at work. The other thing I do is spread my lunch out -- I usually start eating around noon, but I don't finish my lunch until 1 or so. I keep a container of hummus in the fridge at work, so I can just bring in some things that are dippable, which also helps when I get the munchies.

[sidney]

Today's menu.
1 c Kashi Go Lean Crunch 1/2 c skim milk
snack 3 tbs unsalted almonds
Lunch is left over chili again and an orange
mid afternoon snack is apple and 100 calorie cheese stick
dinner is steak tacos I bake the tortilla shells and I have lean steak diced and salsa lettuce and onions. mmm good.
I may have a glass of merlot tonight after dinner.

My biggest downfall is snacking after dinner. Last night was a struggle. I sucked on some mints and ended up eating a 100 cheese stick. I went over on my extra portions but still stayed within my calorie range of 1600 calories.

[Deleted]

For breakfast I had a 2 egg omlett with asparagus. I used just a pinch or two of shredded Italian cheese in it. I also had 1 slice of whole wheat toast.

This morning I jogged around my block. I am sure I looked crazy all bundled up in a winter coat, hat, gloves...red face...jogging around my block. I nearly slipped and broke my booty, but I made it around.

Now I need to go grocery shopping. I HATE grocery shopping. I LOVE food..I just hate going shopping.

[Opti]

Jan 3, 2011 21:03:29 GMT -5 @mtntigger said:

What do you guys snack on during the day? I need to chew (frustration reliever). I usually eat carrots or apples (or chew gum). Do you have any other healthy suggestions?

You reminded me I need to buy seedless cucumber again. I threw out
some carrots last night as they went bad. Must have been hidden under
the bags of salad.

Cucumbers and radishes are low calorie. I also like clementines since they
are small.

[teen persuasion]

Alright, guys, I need some help figuring out the weight loss/diet/exercise thing, but I'm clueless. I need to help DH lose, but I've never needed to do it myself, so I have no idea where to begin.

He's eating basically the same things I am (since I'm the shopper and cook around here), somewhat larger portions but not outrageous (considering I weigh about 100 lb, give or take 5). He's not keen on the idea of eating less, although he has tried to cut out the junkier stuff (and I'm buying less, so it's not there to tempt him).

He's been trying to exercise more, taken up biking. Often the main impediment to exercising is time/tired after work. This summer he got to take the whole summer off, so he had more opportunity to bike most mornings (before it got too hot), often 25-40 miles at a time. He got a trainer for his bike so he could keep biking thru the winter, but it hasn't seen a lot of use lately. On the plus side, we got a Wii (for the kids) but he's a big kid at heart, so he's been playing w/ them a good bit on it.

He lost a bit, maybe 10 lbs when he was biking, but it seemed like an awful lot of work for so little loss.

So, I'm open to ideas to tweak things, especially tweaks DH won't notice or associate w/ weight loss attempts (like getting the Wii for the "kids" for Xmas).

[The J]

The biggest key is tweaking the diet. While it may be the same stuff as you, that doesn't necessarily mean that his body processes it the same way. If you've never had a weight issue, it could be that your body will shed the weight no matter what you're eating.

Why don't you give us a sample menu for the week. Think of this like a "tweaking your budget" thread

[teen persuasion]

Let's see...

I think his breakfast is normally a (somewhat large) bowl of bran flakes w/ milk, a glass of OJ and maybe a piece of fruit like a banana.

He brings his lunch to work: PB sandwich, more fruit, and a PB cracker pack for a snack. At least as far as I know.

When he gets home from school he usually grabs a snack: a cookie or sometimes just a piece of bread or pretzels.

Dinner last night was spaghetti w/ meat sauce (ground turkey - I like it better), homemade biscuits, salad. Salad is almost always a part of dinner. We run various forms of pasta around a lot, meatloaf and baked potatoes, chicken ala king w/ veggies over rice, hot dogs w/ french fries (on the crazy-don't have time- nights), homemade turkey soup, over the holidays we had ham and all the fixings, followed later in the week by ham sandwiches, homemade mac & cheese w/ ham, etc.

Part of the problem is his competitive nature - he wants to still be able to out-eat the kids, but DS2 is 17, runs XC, and is over 6'. Of course DS2 should out-eat DH, he just can't admit it. And telling him the truth is NOT helpful!

[The J]

I'm seeing a LOT of carbs there. Breakfast is a bowl of carbs soaked in dairy-based carbs, washed down by carbs and some carbs on the side.

Lunch is some protein and fat put on carbs, with a side of carbs. Afternoon snack is carbs. He may just need to cut back on those to start with -- cut out the OJ at breakfast. Make his afternoon snack a handful of nuts.

Dinners could use some tweaking to cut back on the richness -- maybe broiled fish, or roasted chicken, cut out the biscuits, etc...

Addressing the "I need to eat more than everyone else" thing is a whole 'nother issue.

[dianartemis]

Heck when I was in track, I'd eat a whole roasted chicken by myself plus sides and I kept it at 120ish and I'm 5'5". If I tried that now, I'd be 250ish at 5'5".

Maybe you can gently remind DH that even though teen boys have a hollow leg, grown men don't...they filled it up when they were teen boys w/ zits.

[RoadToRiches]

Jan 1, 2011 11:29:12 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

DO NOT eat between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. or just pick a 12 hour period where food of any kind is OFF LIMITS.

And you can eat WHATEVER you want, but when you're done with the calories for the day-- you're done. If you FORCE yourself to do this-- then you will find that after the first few days of hitting 2,000 calories before noon; and going hungry until your next day's eating can begin and you will discover healthy eating automatically and will become highly self-regulating.


START TODAY:
Visit www.caloriecount.com

Not to step on any toes here but this is some bad advice right there.

Your body doesn't know what time it is. In fact, if you feel hungry, last thing you want to do is NOT to eat.

The trick is to split your calories intake through out the whole day.

Please people, DO NOT go hungry! that's BBBAADDD idea and it does more harm than good.

[teen persuasion]

Yeah, we pretty much live on carbs; I really can't imagine going on a low carb diet. We certainly couldn't eat at "grandma's" (that is, my mom) any more - she does wedding cakes and cookies for a living. She actually went to college for a culinary degree when I was in college. I kind of grew up surrounded by all of it - making chocolates for sale for easter, making croisants by hand, danish and pastries always around, leftovers from the wedding cakes, etc. When you are surrounded by it, you turn a blind eye to it, develop discriminating tastes (so you only eat your favorites).

It would be difficult to tweak our diet to cut the carbs down, w/o DH noticing. I've been trying to increase the proportions of veggies to lower the proportion of carbs, only partially successfully. The bigger problem is that it is only DH who needs to lose weight. None of the kids are overweight, some are downright skinny and could stand to gain, like the 12yo who is following his brother into XC. Special meals for DH won't go over well.

[RoadToRiches]

Jan 4, 2011 11:09:52 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

Alright, guys, I need some help figuring out the weight loss/diet/exercise thing, but I'm clueless. I need to help DH lose, but I've never needed to do it myself, so I have no idea where to begin.

He's eating basically the same things I am (since I'm the shopper and cook around here), somewhat larger portions but not outrageous (considering I weigh about 100 lb, give or take 5). He's not keen on the idea of eating less, although he has tried to cut out the junkier stuff (and I'm buying less, so it's not there to tempt him).

He's been trying to exercise more, taken up biking. Often the main impediment to exercising is time/tired after work. This summer he got to take the whole summer off, so he had more opportunity to bike most mornings (before it got too hot), often 25-40 miles at a time. He got a trainer for his bike so he could keep biking thru the winter, but it hasn't seen a lot of use lately. On the plus side, we got a Wii (for the kids) but he's a big kid at heart, so he's been playing w/ them a good bit on it.

He lost a bit, maybe 10 lbs when he was biking, but it seemed like an awful lot of work for so little loss.

So, I'm open to ideas to tweak things, especially tweaks DH won't notice or associate w/ weight loss attempts (like getting the Wii for the "kids" for Xmas).

If he eats like crap and then goes biking, he will just spin his wheels.

Loosing weight is 80% nutrition and 20% excercise.

First thing, cut the pasta for dinner.

Here is my diet:

Bfast:

2-3 eggs, scrambled with slice of either canadian bacon or low sodium fat ham.

Serving of protein shake (My chosen brand is Optimum Nutrition)


Mid Morning snack:

Either fruit, small serving of low fat cottage cheese, veggies...

Lunch:

Usually grilled chicken salad with home made balsamic vinegrette.

Mid afternoon snack:

Usually nuts or packet of tuna fish, protein shake...

Dinner:

Steammed veggies with something, usually more chicken or lean meats


Before bed if I feel hungry, I eat one hard boiled egg of 1/2 cup of cottage cheese.


This is not complete, but pretty much gives you an idea.

[RoadToRiches]

Jan 4, 2011 12:04:41 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

Yeah, we pretty much live on carbs; I really can't imagine going on a low carb diet. We certainly couldn't eat at "grandma's" (that is, my mom) any more - she does wedding cakes and cookies for a living. She actually went to college for a culinary degree when I was in college. I kind of grew up surrounded by all of it - making chocolates for sale for easter, making croisants by hand, danish and pastries always around, leftovers from the wedding cakes, etc. When you are surrounded by it, you turn a blind eye to it, develop discriminating tastes (so you only eat your favorites).

It would be difficult to tweak our diet to cut the carbs down, w/o DH noticing. I've been trying to increase the proportions of veggies to lower the proportion of carbs, only partially successfully. The bigger problem is that it is only DH who needs to lose weight. None of the kids are overweight, some are downright skinny and could stand to gain, like the 12yo who is following his brother into XC. Special meals for DH won't go over well.

CARBS ARE NOT EVIL. There are different types of carbs. Simple and Complex carbs... things like wild rice and whole grains have complex carbs. Things like corn, white bread have simple carbs...

Anything that what's called "beige food" is bad lol...picture it on your plate.

Fried chicken, mashed potatoe with gravy and some stuffing... all beige color lol

[Tiny]

Jan 3, 2011 21:03:29 GMT -5 @mtntigger said:

What do you guys snack on during the day? I need to chew (frustration reliever). I usually eat carrots or apples (or chew gum). Do you have any other healthy suggestions?

I mostly eat at work... and to keep me occupied I "snack" on things like cut up carrots, celery, or radishes. I like "crunchies". I was also using a serving of crunchy cereal (cheerios or wheat squares). In the evening I will sometimes make hot air popcorn - I'm weird and like plain hot air popped popcorn.

During the work day, I've found slugging down a glass of water in the office kitchen makes me less likely to nibble at my desk. I don't really like water and won't drink it at my desk.
I'm working on breaking the habit of eating while working as I seem to consume ALOT of calories mindlessly. I've gotten to the point where I can usually talk myself into waiting till 3:00pm or so to have a "snack" - yogurt, or a cheese stick or a peice of fruit... something to tide me over till dinner.

[The J]

Jan 4, 2011 12:04:41 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

Yeah, we pretty much live on carbs; I really can't imagine going on a low carb diet. We certainly couldn't eat at "grandma's" (that is, my mom) any more - she does wedding cakes and cookies for a living. She actually went to college for a culinary degree when I was in college. I kind of grew up surrounded by all of it - making chocolates for sale for easter, making croisants by hand, danish and pastries always around, leftovers from the wedding cakes, etc. When you are surrounded by it, you turn a blind eye to it, develop discriminating tastes (so you only eat your favorites).

It would be difficult to tweak our diet to cut the carbs down, w/o DH noticing. I've been trying to increase the proportions of veggies to lower the proportion of carbs, only partially successfully. The bigger problem is that it is only DH who needs to lose weight. None of the kids are overweight, some are downright skinny and could stand to gain, like the 12yo who is following his brother into XC. Special meals for DH won't go over well.

I'm not saying go low carb -- I'm saying that he should cut back on the carbs. The easiest way to do that is to adjust the carbs in the non-family meals -- breakfast, lunch, snacks.

[Cookies Galore]

I love roasted cauliflower and roastes asparagus! I'm not a big fan of cauliflower, but roasting it brings out so much awesome flavor I never knew was there!

[teen persuasion]

Thanks for all the ideas on improving our meals/diet. Keep them coming.

Any ideas for tweaking DH's calorie burning/activity level? I'm keeping my mouth shut (not cheering ) every time he can't help himself and has to pick up the Wii remote to compete against one of the kids (usually DS2). I've also been encouraging more, um, bedroom exercise. If we get some more snow I'll suggest we get our XC skis out.

[The J]

Bedroom exercise is good. You can always try some more advanced positions that require more strength and conditioning -- that alone may be inspiration for him to exercise more.

Plan for occasional weekend time for just you and DH -- center it around some activity that's "not" exercise -- going for a walk/hike, going bowling, etc... it's good for you both physically and your relationship.

[teen persuasion]

J, you do remember that we have 5 kids, right? Occasional weekend time?
I think that the next 3 months of weekends are booked w/ concerts or performances of some type. DS2 alone got into 3 different All-County ensembles. On 2 solos - figure that one out. And musical season officially begins today - drama girl will be busy w/ rehearsals from now until mid-March (pit doesn't begin practicing until later). There's a Youth convention somewhere in the middle of all that, too, and a whole bunch of family b-days to celebrate.

[The J]

Yeah -- two of them are teens -- make them watch the other three -- that's what they're for (on a side note, I have to confess that I laugh every time I see your screenname, because I invariably read it "teens tweens and a twot")

Even if it's a couple hours in the morning, or a couple of hours at night, some time to yourselves will be a good thing.

[teen persuasion]

J, it's not about who's watching the little guy, it's about transportation. We've generally got to play divide and conquer to get everyone where they need to be. I will admit it is getting better now that DS2 has his license and can drive himself and a sib or 2 when they are in the same concert/sport/performance, but the majority of the time it is 3+ places at a time.

About the screen name - DD1 was just telling me I need to update it. She (AKA college girl) is no longer a teen, there is currently only one tween, and the tot(X) is soon to be 6. Actually, the tween will be a teen before fall. Yikes!

[mtntigger]

The other thing I do is spread my lunch out -- I usually start eating around noon, but I don't finish my lunch until 1 or so. I keep a container of hummus in the fridge at work, so I can just bring in some things that are dippable, which also helps when I get the munchies.

Yeah, I do that too. It's not the hunger that gets to me, it's the boredom and frustration at work and eating is one way for me to channel it.
Granola bars, radishes, and celery - check. Oh, I eat sweet peas in pods; those help too. About the water, yeah, that does help quite a bit. I bring in limes so I can cut them up at work to put in the water. I just need to be more conscientious to actually drink it.
Nuts and cereal, I love too much, so those won't work. Thanks for all the ideas!

[Jake 48]

I would like to lose 10-15 #, switched from regular soda to zero calorie,( I know shouldn't drink soda, but that is my vice) I already hit the gym 3x a week, so will continue. DW follows "body for Life" and goes to the gym 3-4x a week and lost 55#in 2010. good luck to all!

[thyme4change]

Well folks, the holidays are officially OVER.

Not for me. My birthday is this week and for years and years my friends would never celebrate with me because of their "New Year's Resolutions." (Money, calories, drinking, whatever.) They always lasted just long enough to not go out for my birthday. The weekend after - everyone was back to eating too much, drinking too much, and charging it all on their credit cards. It really ticked me off. So, I put an edict down that all resolutions start the day after my birthday. About the only person that has ever stuck to it is my husband. Bless his procrastination filled soul!

However, I will say that whenever my family goes through a period of craziness and our eating gets all out of whack I make a resolution to shape up dinner. It happens a few times per year. Summer is usually crazy - it is hot, the kids are not in school, work is busy that time of year, and usually our regular meals fall to crap. It also always happens around Christmas. Things just get crazy and we up the amount of pizza delivery and cereal for dinner nights. So, although it wasn't a new years resolution, we have gone back to our normal 3-part meal. Small amount of protein, a healthy portion of fiber-filled starch and a large quantity of vegetables. And no cake or cookies.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Teen Tweens ... some suggestions for your DH.

BREAKFAST. How big a bowl of bran flakes is he eating? Suggest that he measure so he can see if he's eating one serving or ... six servings. Eliminate orange juiice ~ it's liquid sugar. Replace banana (really high sugar) with strawberries/raspberries/blackberries or an apple. Add some protein ... a cheese stick? Some eggs? Turkey? And read the label on his bran flakes ... are they high fiber? Any added sugar or HFCS? If so, consider switching to a healthier cereal and measuring his portion.

LUNCH: Where oh where are the veggies? Replace the PBJ with turkey and romaine, maybe with hummus. You really want to bump up the protein and the fiber ... veggies would do the trick. Mix n Match sliced red peppers, snow pea pods, baby carrots, broccoli, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, radishes, mushrooms, etc.

DINNER: Build your dinners around your protein and your veggies (aim for 3-4 servings), and then add in the carb as a side dish. Replace pasta with beans, replace rice with quinoa or bulgur. If you must have pasta, make it one a week and choose whole grain/high fiber options.

[dianartemis]

I exercised after work today...protesting the whole time...but I did it and I didn't phone it in.

[teen persuasion]

DH "measures" by filling the bowl - when he can no longer add more w/o it spilling, he has enough. I'd love to "lose" those bowls so he needs to use more reasonable size ones. I'd like to give him a smaller size dinner plate, as well, since he tends to overdo portions at dinner (at least until the kids shout "Hey, there are 3 more people that haven't gotten any yet"). There aren't enough of that size for everyone.

I agree about the OJ - I can't drink it, or my blood sugar spikes and quickly dives within an hour, so that my hands start shaking. At least he has cut back on the amount he drinks - I convinced him to use a juice glass, not the 12 or more oz glass he had been filling!

Yes, we definitely need to get more veggies. I keep trying to expand their horizons.


I've been thinking about when DH's weight began creeping up, and I believe it was after we got our first computer, 10 or so years ago. The games suck him in, and I think it is the time spent sitting at the computer vs. whatever he used to do in that spare time. Ten or so years ago, it was probably getting down on the floor and chasing the rugrats around.

Just tonight at work, it was dead, so I was reading the newest Consumer Reports - "How to make your money last forever" (or something to that effect) caught my eye, but there was an article about stopping weight creep that confirmed my theory. It said that sitting around burns about the same calories as if you were sleeping (very little), but just standing while reading mail, etc. was a (relatively) big improvement. We sit around so much now, it has a cumulative effect.

I've mentioned to DH before that I'd like to put the desktop up at a standing level, so whoever is using it can't just sit there. I know that at work I'd rather have the circ computer at standing level, like the public access catalog one. I'm always up and down, putting books on the cart, in the office, on the shelves, etc. but I have to sit to type at the keyboard (I can scan standing up).

[thyme4change]

If he likes computer games - buy a Wii or a Kinect.