I'm alive! And giving advice...
I had a request on some tips to get people started on weight loss. I must say that I am not having a hard time of it, as long as I remember that 1) I have ADD and have to take extraordinary steps just to remember what it is I *want* to do from day to day, and 2) It's not all going to come off at once--2 pounds a week is really really good. So here are my tips for getting started, as if I were writing for a magazine. Except that I'm eating meat, and I don't know what vegetarian foods would work for me now. When I dieted as a vegetarian, I remember having to take in a lot more actual food, because all the meat substitutes were so much lower in calories that I had to add more to make the total minimum number of calories. But I wasn't ready to think that hard about what I ate, so I didn't stick with it.
Marlinya's Weight Loss Tips for People Like Her Who Don't Cook
1. Toss all food that isn't going to help you lose weight. Regular bread (80-100 cal./slice), starchy snacks, potatoes, rice, pasta...toss it. Don't buy it anymore. When you reach your desired weight, you can add them back in moderation. But for losing weight, they will just make it that much more difficult.
2. Make a standard grocery list, and only buy what you need for a week. Have a regular grocery shopping day, so you don't run out of food and go for fast food.
3. Substitute: skim, soy, almond, or 1% milk for 2% or whole milk; 45-50 calorie bread for 80-100 calorie bread; high-fiber cereal for lower-fiber cereal (as high-fiber as you can go and still find it tasty); veggies for pasta/rice/potatoes.
4. Snacks--plan to eat 2 a day: fruit (leave it out so you'll see it and remember to eat it); mozzarella cheese sticks; nuts; low fat yogurt; raw veggies.
5. Breakfast: cereal and fruit. If you need something else once in a while, eat some toast with peanut butter, or 2 scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar and bacon bits (from your salad fixin's)
6. Lunch: hearty soup (no chowders!), broth-based soup & sandwich, or broth-based soup & salad (buy bags unless you'll actually remember to chop up a head of lettuce). Get a good lunch bag and a few cold packs, while you're at it. :-)
7. Dinner: meat & veggies, not meat& veggies & potato/rice/pasta. I stopped making rice with my Beef & Broccoli, and now we just eat extra broccoli and don't miss the rice anymore. We also cheat and buy rotisserie chicken from the store and steam some veggies, and sometimes I make crock pot dishes that don't have starches in them, and we eat those for about 5 days.
8. Try this for dessert: melt a square of baker's chocolate in a bowl in the microwave. Add 1/3 cup All-Bran cereal (in the stick form), and stir until it's coated with chocolate. Stir in 3 tbsp vanilla yogurt, and put raspberries on top--yummy yummy, and so high in fiber that you won't be able to eat anything else afterwards.
9. With every meal and snack, drink a whole drink--water, tea, low-cal soda, etc.
10. Make it comfortable! If you find you keep getting hungry and it's unpleasant, add a snack that is higher in fiber or protein, or eat a little extra at your meals. If you're over 200 pounds, you will need to eat more than someone who's 150, even if the both of you want to lose the same amount of weight. It's very similar to the hard lesson I learned about my voice lessons: You're supposed to be having a good time. If not, tweak the plan until it's enjoyable for you. No running around being hungry or tired or headachey because of a "diet."
That's my advice, and I'm sticking to it!
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