Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Using a site like myfitnesspal will go along ways towards tracking calories. I am on a 1620 per day limit, and when I stick to it I lost the poundage consistently. I am also an "older" woman.
I don't think frozen meals are all that unhealthy. There are a lot of good ones out there now, with more "natural" or even organic ingredients. And the bonus about them is that you know exactly how many calories are in there. I have recently started to buy more of them for that reason, I too have gotten lazy about cooking and plus it is hard for me to regulate calories. I am an "older" woman and fairly active, but have put a few pounds back on this year and want to hold it in check. I also like my two glasses of wine in the evening. I think the trick is to really track calories and try to be at least moderately active every day. I also feel it is more realistic to lose the weight slowly especially if you don't have a lot to lose.
I don't think frozen meals are all that unhealthy. There are a lot of good ones out there now, with more "natural" or even organic ingredients. And the bonus about them is that you know exactly how many calories are in there. I have recently started to buy more of them for that reason, I too have gotten lazy about cooking and plus it is hard for me to regulate calories. I am an "older" woman and fairly active, but have put a few pounds back on this year and want to hold it in check. I also like my two glasses of wine in the evening. I think the trick is to really track calories and try to be at least moderately active every day. I also feel it is more realistic to lose the weight slowly especially if you don't have a lot to lose.
It is true it can be hard to track calories in a home-cooked meal. Between weighing, measuring, calculating, it is kind of annoying, lol!
It is true it can be hard to track calories in a home-cooked meal. Between weighing, measuring, calculating, it is kind of annoying, lol!
I just do my best with home cooked meals. My mom made dinner for us the other day, and I simply looked up the main ingredients online and did the calculation. Or look up the particular meal online. I also try not to be too conservative in my calculations, since that won't actually help me.
I agree that it can be annoying - I did this with all of our regular home cooked meals and just keep the list on my laptop. I can easily look it up, and I can even choose what I want for dinner based on the calories left in my diet.
With my Fitness Pal you can automatically import recipes you find on the internet and it will give you the calories, or manually enter your recipe.
But yeah, it is a pain.
__________________ ____________________________________________
My posts as a Mod will always be in red.
Be sure to review Terms of Service: TOS
And check this out: FAQ
Moderator: Relationships Forum / Hawaii Forum / Dogs / Pets / Current Events
1400 calories a day is plenty for me. I'm 64, 5'8" and 128-132 pounds, and I usually eat about that much most days. Plus, I walk on the trail near my house 2-6 miles almost every day unless the weather is bad, when I do the same on a treadmill at the gym. I listen to podcasts so the time flies by. I'm retired, so I realize a lot of younger working moms don't have as much time to exercise as I do, but even when I was one myself, I walked as much as possible, at lunchtime, for example, and I rode my bike the 3 miles each way to work and back in good weather. (I was fortunate at the time to live in a town with an extensive bike path system that went directly from my house to my office.)
When I packed on an extra 5 pounds last year, I decided to cut out any snacking after dinner. My snack almost always consisted of a container of fat-free Greek yogurt and a handful of nuts or an apple, so it was healthy food, but that's a LOT of calories when you add it up over a week, let alone a month or a year. So at the beginning of this year, I cut out the evening snacking, cut out a bit more sweets (I do have to have a little chocolate here and there!), got the 5 pounds off quickly, and have kept it off. But eating habits are hard to change - mine were good to begin with, so the changes I made weren't drastic; it was just a matter of cutting out the evening snacking. I'm also very careful about restaurant meals. I tend to stick with ethnic restaurants with healthier dining choices than the chains have.
Another thing I do this time of year - I do NOT buy Halloween candy until the night before, and I try to buy a kind I'm not that crazy about. Then, if any is left over, I take it to the hospital where I volunteer for the other volunteers I work with to share. My one dietary downfall is sweets, so I do have to exercise some willpower in that area!
there has to be a caloric deficit in order to lose weight. 1700 is probably maintenance of your current weight. Since you aren't active, then it has to be diet.
I eat about 1400-1450 four days a week. I've NEVER gone to 1200...far too low for me. I'm 43, 5'10 and active and eating too few calories is counterproductive. (On my cheat day though I probably consume 3000 calories, so I eat lower throughout the rest of the week to balance things out)
My solution is never to allow myself to get hungry. I eat every 2-3 hours. At 1400 I'm sufficiently full, not stuffed, but satisfied. It's going to take some time to get used to it because your body is used to having lots of food. But if you taper the calories gradually it will eventually adapt to the lower calorie diet and actually feel full from it.
My workweek diet is probably a protein shake/muscle milk for breakfast 100 calories (need something quick and easy at work), two hours later I eat a snack that's about 250 calories, two-three hours later I eat another snack that's 200 calories, two-three hours later I eat my afternoon meal 250-310 (a frozen dinner. again need something easy at work), in the evening four hours later I eat my dinner (home prepared meal) 550 calories, and I also eat a 100-150 calorie dessert. Rinse and repeat.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
