Diet Community

Hi Derek and welcome!

We have a few tools and resources that can help you get an easy-to-follow meal plan going:

WebMD Healthy Shopping List Guide and List

Cheap & Healthy: 15 foods for about $2.00

10 Entrees You Can Make for $5 or less

I hope that helps - and congrats for all the healthy changes you have made!

Haylen

Hi Derek. Good for you for wanting to make a change!
Start slowly, add a few good things to take the place of the bad. Eat what you like, but better choices for those foods. You can have your steak and eat it too, if you eat smaller portions and not as often. Lean , highly dense proteins like boneless skinless chicken breasts are always good choices, not only because of their health benefits, but because they are fairly cheap if bought in bulk, and really fast to cook. Tilapia, canned tuna in water (for tuna melts with a small portion of low fat cheese) stuffed in lower calorie/fat pitas are nice, think RAW/Fresh for whatever you eat. Just don't even go down the freezer sections, most of those items are high in fat, sodium and sugar. NO NO NO BAD BAD !!!! lol
If you like condiments like miracle whip, buy the easy squeeze fat free one, its good. Just read the labels on everything you like, then pick a better healthier option.
Pack snax to go to work, raw baby carrots n hummus, Homemade sandwiches on those pitas again or in lettuce wraps, stuff like that so you don't eat that greasy, high calorie bar food.
Any exercise is good exercise. When the bar is slow, lift some cases of beer, for no other reason than to lift them. Do squats behind the bar several times a night, brace your foot up on a case and do some stretches. Just standing there , all night, become aware of your ab muscles, tighten , hold for a count of 15 and release, all night long.

Thank you TotallyWiggedOut for your great advice and encouraging words! I have an app on my phone that has been keeping track of my caloric and vitamin intake and it also helps me maintain my goal of being 180 pounds. I also can add in any exercises I do and it calculates the burnt calories so that I may be able to eat additional foods because of the extra effort I put in exercising. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated and thank you again.

If you want or need some quicky recipes for those chicken breasts or Tilapia, let me know, I surf here every day and can post some for you.
Good luck and dont forget to hydrate, at least 64 oz of water daily and don't starve yourself. Get close to the recommended caloric goals every day , focusing on healthy food choices.

I just posted a bunch of my regular recipes on the 50-100 lb weightloss community site. Under "recipes" if you want to browse us, more recipes will surely follow and most are quick and easy and I guarantee, HEALTHY.

Thanks! I will definetly check it out as soon as I find the community site lol. I love to cook! But now I must learn to cook healthy.

Clik Health A-Z at top, then diet and exercise then the 50-100 grp you'll find us! C U there

And Derek, with that reddish hair, I'd say you got the Irish kiss 'o Luck! lol good pic!

OOPS! sorry that's Eating and Diet , not diet and exercise hoo ha bad morning for using my brain I guess.

Here's the community TWO was talking about:

WebMD Diet Club: 50 - 100 lbs

Love your profile photo Derek!

The simple answer to your question is "Eat anything that grows from the ground; The more raw, the better".


Unless you've been living in the woods, I think you know this, already. So, the real question is, why doesn't everyone eat a, predominantly, plant based diet?

Because they "can't". Because they don't like the "taste". Because it's too "expensive". Because they don't have the "time". Because "I know many vegetarians who are fat"...

WRONG!

The real reason is because fruits and vegetables have not been artificially altered to cause them to be "addictive" (destructive). That's a nice little benefit from a few million years on evolution. Derek, you eat the foods you eat because you can't stop. Biochemically, hormonally, behaviorally, psychologically...You're "hooked".


Sorry. I have no tips or recipes...

My advice is, simply, you don't underestimate the power...the grip...your existing diet holds over you. My hope is that you "sneak-up" on a healthy diet just one bite at a time. Take your time and focus on establishing new empowering habits...at turtle's pace.


Note: Waiters and bartenders burn hundreds of calories every shift. Get a pedometer and count the steps you take in a night's work. It would not surprise me if you walked 4-5 miles (8-10K steps). At 6'2", you burn, roughly, 100 kcals/mile...

400-500 kcals/shift! That is one monster workout!

Then, you go workout on top of that??? This is why most food service workers eat like horses...

I do have Irish blood flowing lol

LOL thank you Haylen, I had to put up one and I thought this pic was good.

Hi Derek,

The Web MD Food and Fitness Planner is a great tool.

Robyn