Need help with a diet plan!

[vfem]

I want to come up with a healthy diet, but something I can get some weight loss off of as well.

I usually eat pretty good, but I've been eating a lot of snacks after dinner. I am officially going stop eating after 7:30. In fact, after dinner, every night the family and I are going back to walking. I have managed to put on 5 lbs in the last 3 weeks mainly from quitting yoga (time issues) and constantly in the kitchen cooking for my business.

First of all, my current weight is 180. I have not weighed this much in my life except when I was pregnant. My goal weight is 155. But I am going to start trying to get to 165 as something more reasonable.

I want to go hard core for the next 2 weeks, so I want a good breakfast lunch and 1-2 snacks. I will not be drinking ANY soda or such, and I will mainly be sticking to WATER WATER WATER (and maybe my morning coffee with skim milk and no sugar). I do not eat pork or beef as a general rule already. I also do not eat fast food (no mcdonalds, no kfc, none of it) as a general rule).

So what suggestions do you have for items you think I should go with?

I'm thinking I want to be diverse, I don't want to just JUMP into a fad diet or anything right away. Should I count calories? Whats a good # to actually lose with?

So please share your low fat, low calorie, low sugar/no sugar great ideas to shed these evil evil evil pounds!!!

 

[lockedhearts]

I always find it easier to make small changes, like cutting out soda for water. I eat a lot of salad for lunch, make them my self and usually use spinach over lettuce. One thing I did several years ago, was cut out sugar, I use Splenda and that alone I lost several pounds.
I am one, I have an urge to bake occassionally, so I will bake cookies, bread etc, then give it away, if I leave it in the house I eat it.
I also cut down my portions for dinner and if I need "dessert" I eat light yogurt

 

[babylady4]

Add as much natural color to your diet as possible. Avoid eating too much 'brown' food (processed). Use smaller plates and do not take seconds. Cook with Olive Oil, and eat as much fresh food as possible.

Great snacks are yogurt, grapes, baby carrots, popcorn without butter, hummus with pita chips or veggies (measure out a portion of hummus so you limit yourself...), sometimes I have the Quaker oatmeal squares for a crunchy snack or even frosted mini wheats......

My Summer breakfast consists of thawed mixed berries, homemade vanilla yogurt, and Great Grains pecan cereal. Holds me for hours! In the Winter I make Steel cut oatmeal with wheat berries, flax seeds, and toased almond sliver and pecans. Lunch is a bagel with a little bit of cream cheese, ham and lettuce; and some fruit. I'll throw in some sort of snack like hummus and pita chips for the afternoon, depending on what I had for breakfast (if the oatmeal I'll have the yogurt for a snack), or even more fruit. Lots of water all day long as well.


You get the general idea. Kicking soda completely is an easy 10 lbs gone! My killer is chocolate...................

 

[PineappleMama]

^Ditto... snacks are okay, just a question of WHAT you snack on... yogurt, fruit, veggies all okay but twinkies, fries... gotta go.

Many have said that it's actually better to eat 5 smallish meals than 3 large ones.

Then there are the ones that think eating a large lunch, but small dinner, is better because you've got more time to run off the excess calories. Going to bed with a full tummy isn't good. Just sitting you burn calories, breathing, etc. But when sleeping your heartrate and breathing slow so even that small amount of calorie burn is decreased.

So, if you have to eat late in the evening make it something light on the calories... no growling tummy, but also no overload on your slowed systems.

The evening munching IS a problem for me too so I feel your pain.

Ohh and the tea thing... I'm a tea addict and loathe artificial sweeteners (splenda aka CHLORINATED sugar is the worst) so I get a LOT of calories just from the sugar tea I drink... that's my major vice that I need to cut down...

Taking a walk after supper to get that metabolism rolling doesn't hurt either.

Just remember that Non-aerobic exercise will build muscle... it's only aerobic that will burn fat... that's the bugger for me. I have to hyper ventilate to burn, and by that time I'm ready to collapse, no way I can hold that heartrate for half an hour.

Diet is a four letter D-word that shouldn't be said in polite company.

 

[StupidBird]

Drink a glass of fiber 20-30 minutes before dinner. Never skip breakfast. Just don't buy the bad snacks, or give them directly to someone else in the house with instructions to hide them (I have to do that with chocolate and cheezy poos). On shopping day, prep and package all the veggie sticks, wash fresh fruit, mix gorp baggies, do batches of yogurt or kefir or whatever. Bake healthy muffins and freeze (individual muffins get snagged for running out the door snacks or microwave).

Kitchen gadgets: I love my steamer. I do veggies, or brown rice, or lentils. Rice and lentils can be mixed or not, and frozen in baggies for lunch salads. Love my crock pot too. Great for beans, lentils, soups. For awhile I was hooked on only seasoning with Olive oil and sea salt, and whatever was in the garden. Air popcorn popper: olive oil and chili powder, or garam marsala, or hot sauce.

 

[Arcnadius]

Go to your local Curves, it's on Main St, and pick up a book that I think is called Complete Results, or just ask for the food plan book. I followed the low-carb meal plans and lost 22 pounds (I also added exercise). Try to walk for at least 30 minutes a night, and try to cover a little more distance with each walk. If you can't add distance, then try to walk your usual distance a little faster each night.

Ditto the above posts...Drink LOTS of water and be sure you get adequate fiber. I take fiber gummy supplements and eat a Fiber Plus bar every day.

Go for it!

 

[Judy]

There are probably a few specific items in your diet that are causing the problem, along with the evening snacks. I know someone who puts Ranch dressing on everything, and makes it with full fat buttermilk, for example. Sodas are obviously one of yours unless you drink diet soda, and that tends to increase the desire for sugar. It has also been said that what we eat before noon gets burned, what we eat after noon goes on the hips. Just figure out what your sinful items are and cut them out. Remember that fats have 9 calories per gram, other foods only 4 calories per gram.

Most people don't need to diet, they simply need to make a few personal changes to their eating habits.

 

[vfem]

OK... I am just over whelmed... but I want to ask for specific things!

I naturally eat well, but its the late night snacking on junk that killed me (ice cream, candy, chips... thanks to hubby!)... and all the taste testing of my jams, and new cookie recipes.... and ect ect ect.

I love using natural items, I garden so I eat tons of fresh raw produce. I asked my husband what he thinks happened... and he tells me I don't eat enough! He says I may junk out at night but I always skip breakfast and don't eat until like 1-2pm everyday. Even if that is a healthy meal, carrots, apples, cheese, fresh pickles, salsa and eggs... ect.... I'm eating 'wrong'.

So I am literally writing out a schedule of what to eat, and WHEN to eat it. Today I had 1/4 of a bagel and sugar free apple sauce. 1/2 cup of coffee with skim milk and no sugar. I'm plenty full! I NEED to make myself eat lunch in an hour, and it will be low fat yogurt and 1/2 a peach.

Does that make sense? I need to force myself to schedule... and pick out what and what portion. Believe it or not I'm not a huge eater. Even dinner... never get seconds!

My mother and best friend wanted me to get my thyroid tested... I think I just need to get back to working out and moving again first!

 

[vfem]

I am happy to say I tried that SparkPeople site someone suggested. Its nice because it has a blackberry app :0)

As of today I'm at 176 already. I've cut calories much more then I thought I would very easily, but the big thing is I haven't eaten after 8 pm. I also have some hot green tea with nothing in it before bed, and it helps with the hunger pains.

Every morning I have the bowl of special K with berries. The rest of the day is LOTS of veggies and fruits, no soda, 1 coffee with skim milk and I've added tofu now as well for the protein needs.

I hope to be back down to 155 lbs by January because my goal is 150 for Feb. 17th 2011. That is my 6 year wedding anniversary, and I think it would be nice since that was my weight when we got married.

(I am a size 7/8 at 150 for some reason, this is a very reasonable weight for my body build.)

Any ideas of recipe or dishes to share to keep me on track... I would LOVE it!!!!

 

[sandspoultry]

I love Sparkpeople.com! I have lost over 50lbs. Hard work and watching what you eat. Sparkpeople is a wonderful site with lots and lots of information on it. Just becareful not to go on too low calorie of a diet. Females nothing less then 1200 calories a day and you will need to adjust that number depending on how much cardio you get in a day. If you do not want to join Sparkpeople.com then you can just go to the site and look around, read the articles etc.
Good luck from one NCer to another!!!
Sharon