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high healthy fat and low cheap carb has been my recipe for 70 pound loss over last 18ish months. healthy fats like real butter, cultured cottage cheese, yogurt, kefir, walnuts, flax seeds, pecans, raw almonds, fish oil supps
other foods i use - quality eggs, baked sweet potato, chicken bone broth, roast beef, chicken breast
dinner every night is a salad with all kinds of stuff in it, various veg/fruit/nuts and some feta cheese
Just eat whole, unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Lots of vegetables and fruits, lean proteins, whole types of grains - not necessarily wheat, but quinoa, faro, etc... A little dairy if you can handle it like unsweetened real yogurt, (the kind with cultures), easy on the cheese, nuts and seeds but sparingly. Eggs, fish, legumes, etc...
If you don't cook I would highly suggest starting. It's really the only way to control your food types and caloric intake.
Don't waste your calories on fast or junk foods. Stay away from baked goods like pastries, muffins, cookies...
I start out with a 1600 calorie diet, but can earn extra calories by exercising so it ends up being around 2000 calories if I use it all. I loosely use the South Beach diet from 20+ years ago as my basic diet, but I'm not real strict with following it.
I start my day with a cup of coffee and 3 tbs half and half for about 50 calories. I try to walk and then somewhere around 11 am I have a homemade breakfast taco (350 calories) from the freezer. I don't eat very much bread, but I do allow the tortilla just because I like the combination of turkey sausage, egg and hash browns to start my day. If I make a couple of eggs and some sausage or bacon, I will exceed those calories so I like to limit myself and I don't mind eating the same thing for breakfast each day. I avoid toast, pancakes and cereal although I love them. I get hungry too fast after eating them. I don't really like the healthy kind of oatmeal so I avoid it too.
For lunch, I may have tuna and pickles with a little mayo, or I may have leftovers, or a 300 calorie microwave meal. Or I like Caprese salad and may make a version of that. These are all light lunches and I get hungry again a couple of hours later because I try to only eat until I am full. I may take like two pieces of a thin turkey lunch meat and put 1/3rd wedge of laughing cow cheese on it and roll it around 3 or 4 bell pepper strips. I'll make three of those and it cuts my hunger. I may also eat a fruit popsicle or a piece of fruit. Those have sugar, so I only have 1 or 2 (around 100 calories). I try to buy reduced fat cheeses and may have a slice or string cheese that is usually 80 calories or so. I may pair it with 6 of the small round crackers and add in another 100 calories. If I want tortilla chips, I'll follow the serving size on the package and count out the number of chips for one serving. It just depends on what I'm hungry for that day. If I am eating out, I may have a salad or a naked burger without the bun. I try not to use all of the dressing and only mustard for the hamburger.
For our last meal, I usually try to cook... the more veggies I can get in there, the better, but usually it has a meat/protein too. We may have some of brothy soups, or a stir fry with minimal rice, or the sheet pan meals with veggies like green beans, carrots and broccoli with a lower fat meat like turkey sausage or chicken. I like to get on All Recipes and Pinterest and look around for things that are relatively healthy with minimal effort in cooking. Occasionally, we'll have something less healthy or we eat out. I try to stick to portion sizes based on my best guess of the calories. My husband and I may split a plate and take a second meal home.
If you stay away from prepared foods and mostly cook at home it should be no problems. Our diet is low protein, high on complex carbs (whole grain), high in vegetables, with some fruit.
Eggs are a great diet food. Start with all the nutritious foods you DO like and build from there. Unless is alcohol and rarely drink my calories. Coffee/tea no sweetner, sparkling water, and that's it.
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I actually listened to the Maintenance Phase podcast episode on calories today, and it turns out that the 2000/day FDA guideline is just an arbitrary number based on a self-reported survey and rounded down. Eat a balanced diet--there's not really a magic formula.
If you stay away from prepared foods and mostly cook at home
Prepared foods are fine if the company provides information on the calories, protein, etc. This way you know exactly what portion size you should be eating.
And when cooking at home, you still want to be measuring your calorie dense foods dairy, grains, oils/fats, nuts, liquor, etc. with measuring cups or a scale.
the 2000/day FDA guideline is just an arbitrary number based on a self-reported survey and rounded down.
2000 is probably fine for a person who is sedentary and 5'6" or less.
If you're tall and/or more active, your ideal number is probably closer to 2500-3000.
The best bet is to try an online TDEE calculator. Use that value as a starting point. And then go up or down until you're losing weight at a desired pace.
What I would suggest is spend a couple weeks laboriously putting everything you put in your mouth on a scale and then writing it down in a food log before you allow yourself to put in your mouth. The point isn't that it's sustainable because it totally isn't. Nobody has the time to weigh everything. The point is recalibrating your brain to recognize what a portion is. It's like a slap in the face every time you go and eat a portion and then realize that you're a pig and eating 2.5 of them and no wonder why you're still gaining weight on your "1,500 calorie that's really 2,800 calorie" diet.
The other way is to just rely on prepared foods. People do better eating at least some prepared frozen food for example just as there's less ability to eat 950 calories in your 400 calorie lunch if it comes in a box you put in the microwave. I'm not really a fan of it as unless you're going to spend the rest of your life eating those disgusting and overpriced frozen entrees you're going to have to address the root cause of why you need to lose weight sooner or later, might as well do it now and get it over with.
What I would suggest is spend a couple weeks laboriously putting everything you put in your mouth on a scale and then writing it down in a food log before you allow yourself to put in your mouth. The point isn't that it's sustainable because it totally isn't. Nobody has the time to weigh everything. The point is recalibrating your brain to recognize what a portion is. It's like a slap in the face every time you go and eat a portion and then realize that you're a pig and eating 2.5 of them and no wonder why you're still gaining weight on your "1,500 calorie that's really 2,800 calorie" diet.
The other way is to just rely on prepared foods. People do better eating at least some prepared frozen food for example just as there's less ability to eat 950 calories in your 400 calorie lunch if it comes in a box you put in the microwave. I'm not really a fan of it as unless you're going to spend the rest of your life eating those disgusting and overpriced frozen entrees you're going to have to address the root cause of why you need to lose weight sooner or later, might as well do it now and get it over with.
I totally agree with your first paragraph. When I was trying to lose weight I entered everything in to an app (fitness pal?). I've always been good with nutrition but I had no experience with with weight loss. Imagine my surprise when I entered my "snack" of raw nuts was 600 calories?!!
The 2nd para I don't necessarily disagree with you, I'm just so against it. Nutrient poor, high sodium... But I agree it may be helpful for those not used to, and don't really want to, count calories.
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