My diet is terrible and I'm fat :(
what's the saying "garbage in garbage out"
I was hoping we could start a thread that shares healthy meals to help inspire myself others improve their diet.
recipes and pictures whether they be breakfasts, drinks or anything else are welcome.
Thanks in advance
Dave
Could go the route I am and use Myfitnesspal to count calories and keep track of how much you're supposed to be eating. At first you'll think it's ridiculously low, but once you start finding low calorie foods like vegetables that you enjoy eating and that make and keep you full, it gets pretty interesting.
For example, I skipped breakfast today because I was lazy and had 2 Italian sausages with a cup of baked beans for lunch. That came out to be just over 800 calories and I could barely finish my lunch. I usually just drink water all day, but if I have spare calories at the end of the day (and I usually do anymore), I'll have a beer or glass of bourbon with dinner. Tonight I'll probably make a box of Mac and cheese with a side of some vegetables and still have enough left over for a beer, and that's not including the walking I've done today to burn off calories.
Take a look at this thread too for ideas:
Simple healthy food ideas and I mean simple
Some things I recommend:
* Bake stuff (chicken breast, potatoes/yams, veggies, etc) - generally you use less fat when baking
* Use coconut oil
* Use fresh herbs to add flavor
Single-skillet bowls
There's plenty of yummy meals that you can make in a single skillet with very few ingredients. Just choose your veggies and whatever type of meat you like, cook everything in a single skillet, throw it all in a bowl and masticate all night long.
This
Thanks loads guys I'm definitely going to check out incorporating these into my daily routine.
My routine:
Wakup:
16 oz water
8 oz 'shake' with 1 scoop of protein powder and 1 cup of oatmeal.
10am:
20oz water
1 banana
1 can tuna
Lunch:
Meal prep chicken (at least 6oz chicken, usually 8-12oz chicken)
Green veggies with chicken
20-40oz water
3pm:
1 scoop protein powder in 6oz milk
1 apple
20 oz water
6pm:
Pre-workout
Workout from 630ish until I get done
Drink 1 scoop protein then eat supper (whatever wife cooks in moderation.)
The idea is you eat smaller stuff throughout the day so you don't get hungry and you supply your body with nutrients. You can be fat because you don't eat enough just as easily you can be fat because you eat to much. I eat a bunch of protein because I spend a considerable amount of my week in the gym lifting weights.
40% of what you 'gain' in the gym comes from what you put into your body.
Get to the gym and move your body. Lift weights and do cardio. I don't do cardio daily, but I do high rep continuous lifting so I get a good bit of cardio from that.
Don't buy crap off the counter. Make it yourself with the ingredients you buy yourself.
My meal prep this week:
1/2 cup brown rice with chicken stir fry (i just threw this together):
3 pounds chicken cut and put into 1 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil, cook until done
Once that's done take out of pan and cook vegetables. This is personal preference but I do:
1-2 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil
2-3 zuccini
Shredded carrots (alot)
Onion (alot)
Broccoli (alot)
Cook that until it's cooked down good, put the chicken in there and add your sauce.
Sauce:
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup cold water
4-6 Tbsp ginger
10 Tbsp corn starch
1/2 honey
Cook it a bit, let it sit, put in containers. Bam, lunch for a week.
You'll eat what's available. If what's available is healthy, you're a step ahead.
Start avoiding carbs in the evening. Carbs aren't bad, but it's not good to let it sit in your guy as you sleep.
Meal plan 3-days ahead, shop, and cook your meals to prevent fast food purchases. And where ever possible minimize centre isle items ie. can and dried goods that are super saturated in salts and preservatives. I haven't eaten Rotten Ronnies is 15yrs (fast food).
If your converting your taste buds over from garbage in to health in, it will take a while before you can taste a carrot, celery, or cucumber, or snap peas orrrr apples, and bananas...... because high fat and salt is the meth of nutrition.
My breakfast is a 1-1/2 litres of coffee, 3/4c of yogurt (3.5%), 1/2c of granola (low sugar), and fruit frozen raspberries.(8-8:30) And a bonana or apple at 10:30!! Lunch is a small portion of leftover dinner. no shlubway.
I've heard 5-6 small meals a day.
My kids LOVE DIY pizza, way less greasy than order in. Anything you want on it, plus if you buy the partly skimmed mozzarella its a nicer softer cheese. Wicked lunch.
Someone say healthy meals?
Make everything you eat yourself from fresh stuff you buy in the produce section. There are literally thousands of places online where you can get recipes ranging from simple and healthy to delicious and healthy. I mean... I used to work in a produce section. People walk in and out of Health Capital every day and they don't even realize it. It feels like worlds away from the hermetically-sealed packets of sludge sold everywhere else in the store.
Peppers, bell peppers, carrots, onions, beans, basically anything that doesn't come in a packet, bottle or tin is great. Live somewhere fairly rural? Farm stands have the best stuff, I find.
Go wild. So long as it's fresh produce and you're not eating too much of it, you'll be fine as far as nutrition goes. As others have said, it'll take a while for you to get used to it because all the crap you normally eat numbs your taste buds. That's not to say it can't be yummy, you can find all sorts of ways to spruce up whatever you're eating, tastewise.
Assuming that you live in America, it's getting to be fall, and fall in the US is squash season. Squashes are awesome. Go make stuff with squashes. Also in fall is apple cider. Apple cider is way better than the concentrated stuff.
If you're gonna make something with potatoes, go with sweet potatoes instead. Normal potatoes are pure starch. Sweet potatoes at least have some other stuff besides, like atrociously good amounts of vitamin A, calcium, magnesium and manganese.
Meats I would keep to chicken and fish. Avoid red meat. Red meats have absurd amounts of salt, sat fats and just grease in general. Nice on occasion, good if you're in a famine, but long-term, health issues abound.
Stop drinking sodas. There are flow-charts that shows the panic mode your body goes into when it drinks 8oz of coke. It's pretty gruesome. Drink water. Tap water is fine. Juice is also good depending on what's been done to it and how much you drink. Excess sugar just gets metabolized into fat unless you burn it straight off.
On that note, keep your meals varied and portioned reasonably. Everything in moderation.
On top of everything, supplement your meals with plenty of exercise. Some people recommend weightlifting, some recommend pull-ups, etc, some recommend martial arts. I'm gonna suggest running. Grab a pair of shoes with thin soles, go outside and run. Not on a treadmill, not in a gym, go outside in the fresh air and run. You can easily run a mile right off the bat, right now, right after reading this sentence if you pace yourself correctly and run with good form (mid/front strike. Don't run on your heels). Humans are natural runners, everything about the human body is designed for long-distance running, from your cardio system to your sweat glands to your Achilles' tendons. It's fun, it gets you outdoors and most of all, it's free. You'll be happier for it as well. And the longer you run, the more stamina and endurance you'll gain.
A bit general, I know, but hope it helps!
Squashes are where it's at!!! Acorn. Butter-nut, spaghetti, yellow zucchini. Other greans are brocolli, brussel sproats, cauliflower and cabbage.
The all recipes website it good because you can punch in things you like to eat and it will reverse lookup recipes that suit you taste buds.
Also make a recipe book (printed paper so you can note mods) and it's easier to think of something to make instead of caving and getting fast food.
Here is a simple thing I did and that is eat smaller portions. Also do not snack in between meals. That is a total NO! NO snacking in between meals. If you feel like snacking drink a big glass of water as that will help in keeping you from snacking. It fills you up. Also eventually you just get used to not eating snacks. You have to just get into that mindset of no snacks. Now this doesn't mean you can't eat or drink good though. I have managed to lose loads of weight and keep it down despite eating McDonald's McDouble burgers quite often. I just make sure that I don't have fries and that if I have a drink it is diet drink and stay away from the pop as it has caffeine in it which will just make you crave it and other sweet stuff.
Examples of healthy meals I had recently ...
Breakfast-
One banana and a drink of apple juice
Lunch/supper -
One sausage burger or whatever with raw broccoli and carrot sticks along with a drink of apple juice
Now could I be putting more things in my diet that are good for me? Yes.
Also something I do not have right now which is full of sugar but works for me in the morning is Minute Maid 100% Vitamin C enriched juices. For some this would be bad but for me it works because I need the energy as I walk everywhere and I work out a minimum of 3 to 4 times per week. I burn this sugar filled drink off no problem.
Oh and another thing I thought of recently that might work for you and for me too is just taking everything I want to have in a meal and putting it in a food processor and/or blender and making it into a drink. I have been able to learn that a meal is just an ends to getting the energy to do other things I want and I think others can get used to that too.
Thanks again everyone I've already started incorporating some of your ideas into my daily routine. Such as today instead of caving and getting something like chips (fries if you're American) I had a chicken wrap with some salad! To top it off I even walked home which is about 2.5 miles which I know isn't much but that's more than I was doing. Now I just need to keep it up and commit and I hope I see some results.
For a second I read the title as "Happy Meals".
In all seriousness, keep it up man, and best of luck to you.
2.5 miles is about the distance from my house to the local high school. Trust me, you'd be surprised at how many people cringed in shock and horror when I told them I was walking home one day.
It's a great start. Keep at it. Maybe even jog it later on.
My school is where I walked from so I can relate man and thanks a heap for the encouragement
Good on ya man, 4k is decent.
Another tip for food purchasing is to avoid corn syrup laced products. Minute made 100% and Sunny D. You won't find any ingredients on the sunny delight website but on the package it will say corn syrup (fructose glucose). In Canada at least, ingredients are listed in order of percentage, the most being first.
If it is in the center isle, fructose glucose is in it. Jarred or canned pasta sauses (sugar makes it shiny), etc.
Eat weed salad, that shit 100% organic & works better than wheat fiber ;)
If anyone's interested in my progress when I started this I was at 122kg (yeah....) I'm now at 117.9kg so I'm heading in the right direction. Again thanks for the support guys you're an amazing bunch of people!
best of luck and this is going to help you throughout life!
accumulation = in - out + generation - consumption
You can apply the above mass balance to your body (and even your bank account, e.g. salary, expenses, interest, fees). Just reduce your caloric intake and increase the quality for muscle gains which help in the consumption part. Do cardio, also helps in the consumption part.
Metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. ... Several factors determine your individual basal metabolic rate, including: Your body size and composition. The bodies of people who are larger or have more muscle burn more calories, even at rest.