Jeffbeerman2

Recommend foods that helped you get through your weight loss. I definitely need to reduce my calories in addition to getting back in the saddle to meet my goal.

A few I have found:
-Cole slaw made with fat free miracle whip and artificial sweetener (just tweak a standard recipe removing fatty mayo, dressings, and carbs)
-Pickles
-Fresh fruit (apples, pears, oranges, bananas) one piece is ~100cal
-single serve fruit cups sans syrup (peaches, etc)
-canned premium soups (Campbell's selects offer many choices that can replace meals under 130cal/serving or 260cal/can). Italian wedding, chicken tortilla, red beans w rice and chicken, etc.
-yogurt with artificial sweetener
-deviled eggs (sans yolk, filled with non fat cottage cheese blended with Dijon mustard sprinkled with paprika)
-eating out: Wendy's chili, W's side salad with half pack of dressing, W's jr burgers (all around 200 cal)
-odouls NA beer is around 60 cal for a treat with dinner

Let me know your favorites.

TrojanHorse

I'm all over progresso canned soup. They are unfortunately quite high in sodium (even the "lite" and "low sodium" kinds) but I'm rocking them for lunch.

Quaker instant oatmeal is my go-to breakfast although if I have a bit of time, I'll make an egg-white sammich (slice of cheese, 2 egg whites fried up in a little pan with olive oil spray and of course, an english muffin or something)

Banana in the afternoon is the snack of kings, IMO.

Big Pete 1982

Orville Redinbacker 100 calorie bag of popcorn.

chefisaac

Trojan: Switch over to Campbells bro. Much better for you in many realms. I work with this stuff daily and really, it is much better.

chefisaac

Wife and I ate at Cheesecake Factory and ate off the Skinnylucious menu. Pretty good. I had the turkey burger. Good taste but small. My wife had the cheesy enchiliadas. Outstanding they were.

If I am on the road, carrots and hummus, fruit, cheese sticks (I love cheese), and hard boiled eggs. If you have a WAWA store anywhere near, they are amazing for healthy items.

and p.s. thank you for support campbell soup. I work as a chef for them.

Gravity Aided

I prefer Campbells as well, make clam chowder by adding clams to potato soup . avoids the tinny taste clams take on .

chefisaac

Thats the way to do it. Manufacturing is tough on clams for sure!

TrojanHorse

Thank for the tip, I'll go do some label reading next time I'm in the shop. You mean their regular condensed soup or something else?

RatedZeroHero

or you could just switch to Paleo Living and not worry about silly things like fat and calories ever again...

tony_merlino

Because I'm cooking other stuff for my kids a lot of the time, I like really quick meals that I can make for myself several times a week (and most lunches). I try to keep lunches to about 300 calories, and dinners about 500 calories. I started out using the canned soups, but the high sodium content just seemed wrong to me, so I've branched out. I've cut out most canned foods for that same reason.

The first thing is that I take advantage of the pre-washed salads at the supermarket. They come in bags, and there's Baby Arugula blend, Spring Mix, Baby Romaine, Baby Spinach,... I use Ken's Steakhouse Lite salad dressing, but pour off the olive oil at the top to make it virtually calorie-free.

A couple of times a week I have Morningstar Farms Veggie Burgers. There are several varieties, running from 110 calories per burger to about 140 calories. With Pepperidge Farm seeded buns, a classic veggie burger runs about 250 calories, so two of them plus a salad makes a dinner. (The salad doesn't count - it's basically zero calories.) Preparation time: 10 seconds.

Uncle Bens sells single-serving microwavable rice, running between 220-230 calories. Also several varieties. They taste pretty good, and there's no guesswork about portion size. Preparation time: 60 seconds in the microwave.

High Liner Sea Cuisine Fire Roasted frozen fish fillets, running between 150 and 190 calories depending on the variety and whether or not you use sauce. I like the Tuscan Cod, the Applewood Smoked Salmon and the Asian Tilapia. Preparation time: About 5 minutes in the microwave.

I don't know if this counts as convenience food, but I also prepare a super-lean pork tenderloin about once a week. All you do is throw it into the oven for about 25 minutes. It's about 150 calories per serving, and you get 4 servings per package, so you've got several helpings of leftovers, which are good sliced up and served cold in sandwiches.

Along the same lines are the thin sliced chicken breast cutlets from Bell & Evans. I saute a package of these, also about once or twice a week, with garlic, lemon and hot peppers. This gives about 4 days worth of sandwiches, with the chicken contributing less than 100 calories to the meal.

On the sandwiches: I buy fresh French bread from Calandra's Bakery in Newark, NJ, cut the loafs up into 200 calorie pieces to use for lunches. I buy the bread once a week, and freeze it. 20 seconds in the microwave, and, if you feel like it, after they're microwaved, spray the bread with water and put it in the oven at 350 (not preheated) for about 5 minutes - it's like getting the bread fresh from the oven at the bakery.

I think I'm getting out of the convenience food realm here now, but to me, leftovers are a great convenience food - and much healthier than a lot of the packaged junk.

chefisaac

I love the Select Harvest soups. If I want to splurge, I go down the Chunky or Bisque route. Yummmmy!

vesteroid

Here is my favorite non pre cooked, non processed food idea.

Get one of those little Pyrex dishes that come with the plastic Tupperware type top. Go to Costco, buy whatever type of frozen fish you want...I like salmon, and the cod, but they must have 10 varieties. Take the dish and the fish to work with you and leave it out of the fridge. It thaws by lunch.

Open the pouch, throw the fish in the dish, sprinkle on whatever seasoning you like, put the lid on loosely, put in microwave on high for about 1.5 - 2 minutes ( depending on fish thickness and desired done ness)

Wala, fresh cooked fish that taste great in about 2 minutes.

TrojanHorse

If people in my office microwave fish, I immediately dislike them.

popcorn and french fries in cubeland are a close second but i can close my door to get around that.

(I might have to try your tip for home though, sounds good)

haplorrhine

I found this in search. I'm only 120 Ibs. I don't avoid sodium, carbohydrates, or calories. I do avoid added-sugars and spending money. I don't bring cooking supplies along, and this is what I eat away from the home.

Apples, bananas, bags of baby carrots, whole-grain sticks of bread (soft when heated), sunflower nuts, etc.

Target brand animal crackers are low in sugar, and Target has this value package
Market Pantry® Animal Crackers - 48 oz.
Mine are about 750 crackers for $5. That webpage has different portions listed.

skilsaw

I've leveled off between 246 and 250. Been stuck there for a couple years. Now that I've said it, I've probably jinxed my ju-ju and will probably gain another 50 lbs.

I've tried cutting back on sugar and fat. No cheese, fewer muffins, coffee with only milk... More vegetables, smaller ! portions of meat. (I but 8 oz strip loin steaks and cut them in half. - It is an expensive cut of beef, but when on sale for $8.00 per lb a $2.00 piece of meat is affordable) Lots of fruit. but I have to be careful with fruit. lots of natural sugars. I can buy 3 or 4 lbs of grapes, and then eat them all in one evening while watching TV.

My knees hurt, and I know it is made worse by packing extra weight.

I just yawn when a guy writes in this section of BF "I'm 203 lbs and hate myself." Unless they are only
4' 6" they have no problem.

mprelaw

If Mickey D's is telling the truth, I think I heard that an Egg McMuffin is under 300 calories?

mlander

Careful about microwaving ANY plastics! Do a google search for BPA / microwaves.

BPA is also in some canned soups. Terrible, terrible stuff for your system. Can lead to obesity. (It also may just the latest fad black-sheep, but hey, if it's bad for you it's bad for you.)

mlander

Oops, nevermind. Pyrex is glass righto? But STILL - don't microwave plastics, and be careful of BPA in soups.

TrojanHorse

Egg McSodium is indeed 300 calories - nothing wrong with a little bread, egg, cheeze & ham for breakfast but it also has 260 mg of cholesterol and 820 mg of sodium. 12g of fat isn't even that bad. I make my own at home, minus the ham and only use egg whites and it's still tasty.

snowman40

Planter's has some snack packs I like. They've been on sale the last few times I've gotten them.

I like the Energy Mix one, nice balanced release. Wholesome Nut Mix is good as well, but takes longer to enter my system so I eat a pack with lunch.

vesteroid

I am so going to hide empty tuna cans in your cube!

ZippyThePinhead

Myoplex lite (less than $1.70 each at local Wally World, sometimes less if you shop around) or Myoplex regular (more expensive, but for those of us with hypertension, 25% of your RDA of potassium per container). When time is short at work, a great 30-second lunch.

TrojanHorse

You're going on the list.

WonderMonkey

Canned Chicken Breast + a few crackers
Instant Oatmeal + scoop of quality vanilla protein powder

tergal

So i am not the only ones who does this, my partner looks at me like i have grown a second head when i do it .