For someone who is looking to lose weight food is very important.  I have always said I wish our bodies were designed to go with out food, because it would be much easier, save time and cheap!

Here are some ideas I have used to lose this amount of weight.

Everything in moderation is a key I have found.  Let’s be honest, that doesn’t mean your favorite 1200 calorie sandwich or a bag of potato chips once a week/day is acceptable.  You have to still find ways around getting the taste out of food that you want with smallest amount of calories/fat.

Fast food:

If you like a particular sandwich from a fast food place, try to decrease some of the ingredients.  For instance, mayo big calories! Ask for without.  Cheese another big calorie. Leave the veggies! If it’s fried chicken, get grilled.  If you don’t like that order something else, salads, wraps or chicken nuggets.  Fast food resturants have paid people to come up with the menu plans to give people healthy options.  Use them for your lifestyle.  Can you have fries? Maybe one or two single fries, not orders, in moderation. I would suggest the majority of the time pick a different side.  If they have fruit or a salad get that.  You don’t have to completely take things out of your eating habits, just adjust them. If you are not enjoying food, you’ll never find a way to stick to a plan.

Home Cooking:

Cooking at home is the best way to keep from overeating, save money and choose healthy options.  Pinterest has loads of healthy recipes to choose from.  You can even choose budget friendly, so you can’t use the excuse of not affording the healthy foods! I get most of my dinners off Pinterest. If you work outside the home there are plenty of options to pack things up to take with you. Here’s a list of some of my favorite foods that are a weekly staple for me.

Breakfast:
I love all the Special K cereals (use with fat free milk),
whole grain waffles, low sugar syrup
turkey bacon

Lunches:
white fish, salmon brown rice
salads
turkey on wheat with miracle whip and veggies
baked potato chips
sugar free chocolate pudding snacks

Snacks:
Apple with peanut butter
dried fruit
yogurt
pretzels/veggies and hummus

Dinners:
chili with ground turkey
grilled chicken/sweet potato
tacos (these I will use the 83% ground beef for)
I eat everything my family eats, but I just control the portions.

These are just some quick ideas off the top of my head. Every week is something different. Some questions people always ask me don’t you get hungry? Of course! In the beginning this was extremely hard. I am not going to lie. I was hungry, dead tired and irritable. I just kept telling myself, drink more water, your snack is (blank) amount of minutes. Keep it up or all the work in gym would have been for nothing. Chewing gum helps a lot. If you are absolutely just so hungry you are shaking, eat. Pick something with a lot of protein or natural sugar. Listen to your body, not your mind. Food can be addiction. Especially if you are used to eating while watching tv or working at your desk. I always find if I am rushing to finish a meal, I become hungry faster later. I never eat standing up or in the car. I want my mind to remember eating. So I can tell it we already ate, you are not hungry. Sometimes I mistake hunger pains for thirst. Drinking water will quiet the stomach.
Eating healthy foods gives you so much more in your portions. If you notice, there are serving sizes on everything. They are there for a reason, to use! It’s so helpful to know if you can have something or not. I have not used a measuring scale or any calorie count system. I simply replaced all the “regular” foods with the healthy options and watched the serving sizes! It’s worked for me. I am the biggest pain when we go out to eat because I ask the waitresses what is in the food or ask for things to be left off. If calories are not listed on the menu I will ask how they prepare it and if it’s not something they can change I order something else. My family is very supportive of deciding on a place I am able to get a my food at.

What did I do if I just wanted something so bad for me? Well, this has happened often believe it or not. My answer to it is: I ate it. Like I said, if I had a craving, I had it. To stay in control I would eat a couple bites and put it away. Or just go all out, eat it, go to the gym and forget it. Again, I don’t follow a diet, I take responsibility for the things I do, eat and don’t. Sometimes my workouts are rough because I know I had something bad. I am in control of it because I set my failures and my successes.
This is a lot to follow, but after doing it so long it’s become routine. Find healthy foods you like to eat and workout. Doctors have been saying it for years and make it sound so simple. It is and it isn’t. That’s why I have decided to share. Some things that take the most time will give you all the time you need later. And you will have your health also.