Eating advice

[daviddsims]

Over the past year I have lost close to 35 pounds by eating fairly health and exercising. Over the holiday's I am up a few from my lowest weight but I am now jumping back on the bandwagon. One stumbling block for me has always been healthy meals. Usually the only thing I can come up with is a chicken breast and green beans. Sure I find a few other things but this is usually my meal that I fall back on. Just curious how everyone stays on a healthy eating lifestyle without getting burned out?

[Springfield]

Salad. Lettuce, tomato, cheese, carrots, olive oil and vinegar.

Fruits. Strawberry, blueberry, cantaloupe, honeydew. Love blueberries.

I'll do one of the above for lunch every workday. I'll then combine that with some saltines, pop chips or wheat thins. The carbs aren't the healthiest but I need them. I also drink a Blothouse Farm or Odwala or Naked drink of some sort.

For breakfast I'll eat a Fiber One bar, that's about it. I know people say to eat a large breakfast but I never do.

I eat whatever I want for dinner. Pasta, steak, chicken, sandwiches, traditional breakfast, whatever. No pizza. At all. That's for the weekdays.

On the weekends I eat whatever the hell I want (including pizza). If I gain a pound or two it's fine. I'll lose it the next week. Some weekends I'll lose weight if I drink a whole lot (and drunk message random members of ES). The next day after drinking a lot I don't tend to eat much, maybe one meal.

I play as much hockey as I can to stay "in shape". I could be in better shape but I could be in much worse. I also walk 1 mile two and from work from where I park my car each day.

Don't feel bad if you eat a whole medium pizza to yourself one day. Just don't use that as a "quitting point" on your diet. In general, moderation is best with everything too.

That's about that. Oh yeah, I typically don't eat fast food. I don't like the way it makes me feel. Don't eat fast food for months and then eat some and tell me you don't feel like crap afterwords.

[chipwhich]

Springfield, glad that works for you now, better shape that diet up for you, it's not a good diet as you get older.  In your 40's you will blow up.  And the Fiber One stuff is total crap.  You also need to avoid heavy carbs at dinner, like pasta.

[sherrardsd]

I eat pretty much the same stuff everyday. I do get burnt out on it and when that happens I eat an unhealthy meal (usually pizza once or twice a week)

For breakfast I eat oatmeal, cottage cheese, eggs, egg whites, or a combination of the above. I'm usually in a hurry so I don't mind eating the same stuff regularly for breakfast. Occasionally I have some natural peanut butter on toast because I love it.

For lunch I usually eat a turkey and lettuce sandwich on whole wheat bread. I don't eat chips or anything but I do like to eat almonds with lunch and throughout the day as a snack if I need one. I change the condiment on the sandwich occasionally for variety (mayo, honey mustard, horseradish etc)

Dinner is always fish/ chicken with a vegetable and some nights with brown rice. As I said I break this up when it gets old with unhealthy stuff but that's usually only 2 to 3 meals a week.

Another thing that helps is I like to use different marinades for the fish and chicken. Gives it a different taste so it's not like having the exact same thing every night.

I work out a couple times a week and stay active and I'm happy with the diet. It's not perfect but it's got food I like and the occasional junk to keep me sane.

Hope some of that helps in some way, good luck!!!

[Special K]

Hey Daviddisms, sounds like you need to spice up your healthy eating plan up a bit if you are wanting to stay on track long term.  By the way, congrats on the weight loss and maintenance.  Very big deal, especially maintenance

 

For me, I focus on staying as far away from processed food as possible.  Off the top of my head, the bulk of my diet is made up of fruit, veggies, chicken, salmon, tuna, very lean red meat, Jennie-O ground turkey patties, Jennie-O turkey sausage links, Jennie-O turkey breakfast patties, Ezekiel bread, Greek yogurt, smoked and plain almonds, this awesome protein pumpkin cake (recipe from bodybuilding.com), eggs, brown rice, Barilla protein pasta, protein bars and fruit smoothies with greek yogurt, fruit and vanilla whey protein.

 

A few of my general guidelines:

- I try to get my complex carbs (Ezekiel bread, brown or wild rice, protein pasta, etc.) in in the AM and early afternoon so they provide me energy during the day and during my evening workout.  For dinner, I stick to veggies and protein, maybe some fruit if I feel like it.

 

- Eat something green in each of my 3 main meals.

 

-  Drink a LOT of water (helps stave off cravings).

 

As far as my meal ideas, I have a lot of cookbooks.  I hate cooking and have to have specific instructions if I'm to make something edible, much less healthy.  In addition, I'm not going to spend 2 hours cooking a meal, it has to be pretty fast.  So, to help me figure out meals to make so I don't get completely bored a go to a few places:

1.  I have several cookbooks (paleo cookbooks, a huge grilling book - my fave- that shows how to cook every type of meat, poultry, fish in the world, a Cooking Light book, a Sugar Detox book a girlfriend gave me).

2.  I get recipes online

3.  I belong to a few healthy eating Facebook pages where there are tons of recipes

4.  I follow several fitness and nutrition people on Instagram and actually have gotten quite a few recipes from that app

5.  Bodybuilding.com - I go here for some off my protein snack or shake recipes.  I absolute favorite is "Jamie Eason's Pumpkin Protein Cake"

 

There really are a LOT of free recipes and cooking ideas online, just google "healthy recipes."  Some of my favorite sites are www.foodnetwork.com/healthy-eating/

 

and 

 

www.eatingwell.com

 

 

Some of my favorite protein dinners are really basic:  lean ground beef hamburger patties (ideally from grassfed cattle), bbq'd filet mignon, baked salmon, Jennie-O Lean ground turkey meat patties, Jennie-O lean ground taco meat on salads.  You can google how to cook them in different seasonings, but if you want my recipes I'm happy to post them.  

 

Keep up the awesome work  Most of your weight/fitness battle results come from your nutrition, so do anything you can to make sure you stay interested in eating right

[ixcuincle]

Very easy to find healthy things to eat, check healthy cookbooks at the store. You're also making food at home instead of eating out so that's good. Processed food is bad, make food from scratch. Just avoid red meat and you should be fine 

[daviddsims]

Thanks for the awesome help everyone. Both the wife and I work and quick meals are the key.

[Sticksboi05]

Fruits are nature's gift to man. 

[Springfield]

Springfield, glad that works for you now, better shape that diet up for you, it's not a good diet as you get older. In your 40's you will blow up. And the Fiber One stuff is total crap. You also need to avoid heavy carbs at dinner, like pasta.

I've got 9 years to put it together. In my early 20s I could eat whatever I wanted and what I eat now is a huge change from that. I'm sure I'll change my diet to suit my needs as I age.

No point in forgoing things that I like and can still eat to maintain a weight that I'm happy with.

[dfitzo53]

We signed up for a local CSA that includes all the major food groups and we've been very happy with it.

 

Every week we pick up a basket that contains a mix of fruits and veggies, a couple selections of meat, some dairy and a bread.  All of them are sourced from local farms, bakeries and butchers.

 

The variety of the basket keeps us from getting pigeon-holed into one or two go-to meals, and the food is high-quality, all-natural and vegetable-rich.

 

Also, Corcaigh's advice from a similar thread is always gold.

 

"Eat food.

Not too much.

Mostly plants."

[ixcuincle]

That's the advice that Michael Pollan also gave in his book. Would recommend it 

[SkinsHokieFan]

Chipotle/smoothies and a reasonable dinner consisting of meat and veggies.

 

I don't eat breakfast, I only have a protein shake. 

 

Lunch is either a veggie bowl from Chipotle, consisting of NO sour cream or cheese, or a smoothie I make.

 

Dinner is meat and veggies.

 

I try to eat everything between 12-8 PM everyday, give or take an hour on either end. 

 

I generally avoid bread/carbs/dairy like the plague, with some exceptions here and there

[TheDoyler23]

I try and eat salads at lunch: Leftover meat from dinner, Spinach, peppers, cucumbers, dried cranberries,almonds and yogurt ranch dressing (Bolthouse farms -- tastes more like 'real' and is a good value for calories.

 

I bring a piece of fruit/geek yogurt for mid-morning hunger and something like carrots for the ride home, so I don't walk in the door famished and then over do it at dinner. 

[Springfield]

I ate 6/8ths of a medium Piasano's pizza for lunch today.

So beast.

[Captain James]

I eat a lot of wraps with the most fibrous/low carb wraps I can find. Turkey, lettuce, cheese, delicious. Load that sucker up with lots of meat. Peanut butter or mixed nuts make great snacks. Also, drinking milk really helps as it's a quick source of solid protein and it can be filling depending on the type you drink. Just a few things for now! 

[Special K]

Just a sidenote:  I definitely wouldn't recommend skipping breakfast if you are wanting to keep your metabolism going strong.  Skipping the most important meal of the day actually slows your metabolism down. 

[Mocountyskins]

I lost 75 pounds in 6 months with a magic pill called Adderall XR. Don't want to eat anything at all from breakfast or lunch if you put food anywhere near your mouth you start to gag. By dinner time the pill starts to wear off so you can eat but you can't eat a lot so you have a salad or 1 serving of meat with some greens and maybe a piece of bread. Drink a LOT of water. And because you eat so little you don't even need to work out that much. I worked out for 1 hour a day 5 days a week and was able to lose that much. I did it again recently without working out at all since November 8th and I'm down 18 pounds. The problem is that you can go 2 days without eating at all and if you forget to take the medicine you will eat EVERYTHING in the house. I know this is very unhealthy and dangerous but there is not enough time in the world to lose the healthy 1.5 pounds a week, I prefer to lose 5-10 pounds a week. Once you hit your goal you might think oh the weight will come back right away! Well yes, if you pick up your old eating habits but if you're a nazi and watch your calorie intake and try to stay below 1800 with only being able to drink 1 day a week and NO FAST FOOD, then the weight will not come back on. The hard part is getting the prescription. Luckily for me I've had one for 11 years now for ADHD and it just so happens that that is one of the side effects so now i take it everyday.

 

Oh and my motivation is buying designer clothes that go for like $150 a piece that I can't fit into but I could if I lost 15 pounds that way I am forced to lose weight or I wasted my money. Oh Also because I'm going back to University for the first time in 2 years so I don't want to look like a slob when I meet people.

[SweetAlfred]

IMHO stick to foods that are few in ingredients, for example:

 

Broccoli

 

Ingredients: Broccoli

 

and do simple math, if you burn/work off more than you consume then things should balance/move in the other direction.

[Enter Apotheosis]

Over the past year I have lost close to 35 pounds by eating fairly health and exercising. Over the holiday's I am up a few from my lowest weight but I am now jumping back on the bandwagon. One stumbling block for me has always been healthy meals. Usually the only thing I can come up with is a chicken breast and green beans. Sure I find a few other things but this is usually my meal that I fall back on. Just curious how everyone stays on a healthy eating lifestyle without getting burned out?

 

What do you eat when you're not eating healthy?  If you're going to sustain a healthy diet you still have to eat what you enjoy.  The obvious starting point is to learn how to make small, healthy adjustments to reduce the impact of the less-than-healthy things you love and start accruing a collection of go-to recipe sources (websites, cookbooks, etc.).  Be adventurous when you're in the mood to try and cook something up and try and develop a rotation of good, quick meals you can make as well as fast food or carry out options that aren't totally a betrayal of your efforts.

 

Oh and my motivation is buying designer clothes that go for like $150 a piece that I can't fit into but I could if I lost 15 pounds that way I am forced to lose weight or I wasted my money. Oh Also because I'm going back to University for the first time in 2 years so I don't want to look like a slob when I meet people.

 

The problem is that you can go 2 days without eating at all and if you forget to take the medicine you will eat EVERYTHING in the house. I know this is very unhealthy and dangerous but there is not enough time in the world to lose the healthy 1.5 pounds a week, I prefer to lose 5-10 pounds a week. Once you hit your goal you might think oh the weight will come back right away! Well yes, if you pick up your old eating habits but if you're a nazi and watch your calorie intake and try to stay below 1800 with only being able to drink 1 day a week and NO FAST FOOD, then the weight will not come back on. The hard part is getting the prescription. Luckily for me I've had one for 11 years now for ADHD and it just so happens that that is one of the side effects so now i take it everyday.

 

Do you even listen to yourself?  Honestly, the way you said all that makes it sound like if you don't already have a serious problem you've at least got some budding eating disorder or body dysmorphia.

[Special K]

I lost 75 pounds in 6 months with a magic pill called Adderall XR. Don't want to eat anything at all from breakfast or lunch if you put food anywhere near your mouth you start to gag. By dinner time the pill starts to wear off so you can eat but you can't eat a lot so you have a salad or 1 serving of meat with some greens and maybe a piece of bread. Drink a LOT of water. And because you eat so little you don't even need to work out that much. I worked out for 1 hour a day 5 days a week and was able to lose that much. I did it again recently without working out at all since November 8th and I'm down 18 pounds. The problem is that you can go 2 days without eating at all and if you forget to take the medicine you will eat EVERYTHING in the house. I know this is very unhealthy and dangerous but there is not enough time in the world to lose the healthy 1.5 pounds a week, I prefer to lose 5-10 pounds a week. Once you hit your goal you might think oh the weight will come back right away! Well yes, if you pick up your old eating habits but if you're a nazi and watch your calorie intake and try to stay below 1800 with only being able to drink 1 day a week and NO FAST FOOD, then the weight will not come back on. The hard part is getting the prescription. Luckily for me I've had one for 11 years now for ADHD and it just so happens that that is one of the side effects so now i take it everyday.

This is awful advice.  Holy ****.

 

Adderall XR is a HIGHLY addictive AMPHETAMINE.  It's a schedule II drug that you need a doctor's prescription for to treat ADHD and narcolepsy.  You don't tell people to take it to lose weight!  Unbelievable.

[Springfield]

I hope that was a joke post.

Hey guys, I hear if you smoke this wonder drug you'll lose insane amounts of weight. It's called crack. It also has a wonderful cousin called crystal meth. The crystal keeps you awake for days though so you have to keep smoking it or you sleep for AGES!

And while we are at it, I don't need sex any more either. I've found this great drug called heroin. It is like a constant orgasm... Untill I fall asleep. I can't get enough of the stuff. Sometimes, if I REALLY have to have sex I'll help myself to this great drug called Molly. It makes the sex so incredible that I never want to have sex without this Molly. It's all good though because the heroin I'm taking doesn't make me want sex.

But yeah guys, I'm super skinny now and completely fulfilled in my sex life. I need some drugs to help my teeth though, and this nasty rash where I inject my heroin at. Any thoughts?

[Spaceman Spiff]

I got a vitamix this year, I absolutely love it.  I make a smoothie for breakfast and a smoothie for dinner.  I make a trip to costco about once every two weeks to stock up on supplies.  My go to recipe is:

 

OJ....but sometimes just water, OJ has a lot of sugar.

Frozen strawberries

frozen pineapple

frozen spinach (I get two big bags of spinach and freeze it so I don't worry about it going bad before I can use it)

frozen kale 

vanilla protein powder

 

I'll usually do that for breakfast and dinner, I make it big enough to fill up a Nalgene bottle so I can drink it throughout the morning.  My other go to recipe:

 

spinach

kale

cucumber

granny smith (sour) apple

ginger root 

squeeze of lime juice

squeeze of lemon juice

ice

 

For lunch I usually get a chicken salad from chipotle, chop't, or a salad bar in my office building.

 

I usually pig out on Sunday when watching football, wings, burgers, whatever.  Pizza.  

 

What I've found is, the more healthy I eat, the less interested I am in eating bad foods.  After I shot the Dallas game last weekend, I left Fed Ex and hit a Wendy's on the way home.  I LOVE Wendys, I think a double from there is amazing....and after I ate it, I found that I didn't really enjoy it.  I never thought I'd ever feel that way.

 

I feel like **** after I eat a bad meal after being consistent with healthy eating which is enough to keep me eating healthy.  Planning to go out with a buddy to watch the game on Sunday and I'll probably have some wings but honestly I'm not even looking forward to it.  

[Corcaigh]

This is awful advice.  Holy ****.

 

Adderall XR is a HIGHLY addictive AMPHETAMINE.  It's a schedule II drug that you need a doctor's prescription for to treat ADHD and narcolepsy.  You don't tell people to take it to lose weight!  Unbelievable.

 

Don't be so harsh. Once he achieves an early death he'll have no problems keeping the weight off.

"Eat food.

Not too much.

Mostly plants."

 

 

That's the advice that Michael Pollan also gave in his book. Would recommend it

Yes, I stole it from Michael Pollan. Here's the article. It's an interesting read.

 

http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/unhappy-meals/

 

[China]

I hope that was a joke post.

Hey guys, I hear if you smoke this wonder drug you'll lose insane amounts of weight. It's called crack. It also has a wonderful cousin called crystal meth. The crystal keeps you awake for days though so you have to keep smoking it or you sleep for AGES!

And while we are at it, I don't need sex any more either. I've found this great drug called heroin. It is like a constant orgasm... Untill I fall asleep. I can't get enough of the stuff. Sometimes, if I REALLY have to have sex I'll help myself to this great drug called Molly. It makes the sex so incredible that I never want to have sex without this Molly. It's all good though because the heroin I'm taking doesn't make me want sex.

But yeah guys, I'm super skinny now and completely fulfilled in my sex life. I need some drugs to help my teeth though, and this nasty rash where I inject my heroin at. Any thoughts?

 

Ride the snake:

 

http://vimeo.com/28408779

[Corcaigh]

Ride the snake:

 

http://vimeo.com/28408779

 

Do you have a phone number to call so I can place my order?