I joined a few weeks ago and have gotten interested in finding new yummy ways to eat the things I love.  I need some support, however, about the small stuff that gets to me.  I tend to eat when I am worried and stressed.  My fiance is very good but he wrokd most of the week and not here to get me through all the time.  I have been doing lots of cardio and lean muscle work in hopes to drop some inches.   I have founf that looking at my actual weight doesn't help a lot because I have a lot of muscle covered with fat.  So progress for me is seen in inches.  I could use a hand and someone to talk to and would be able and willing to support someone just the same.  Hope to here from someone soon.  Thanks

Julie

Hello,

I have the same probelm with eating too.. I have weighed myself today i have gained about 20 pounds in the last couple of months .... I what to lose at least 25 pounds.. so i'm going to go back to the ymca in my area in california and get on a treadmill and do some yoga and pilates classes too..... my family is a very picky eater and they won't eat things that are healthy... I 'm getting my daughter whos is 8 1/2 to eat alot healthyier... my husband doesn't chicken or fish, turkey just beef and pork . myself and my daughter doesn't like pork that much anymore... i have lost interest in eating pork.....

hope to hear from you ladys soon... jacqueline

Hello!
I'm having the same problem as well, except I need to lose more wieght. I've let it go too long, and now I'm getting married in about 2 months. I'm freaking out.

Jacqueline, something I've found useful is that if you are the one doing most (if not all) of the cooking, gradually 'healthify' it. If a recipe calls for cream of mushroom soup, use 99% fat free. If something calls for you to cook it up in vegetable oil (not quite fry, but brown), use olive oil. Do these things and don't tell them. They won't notice. And as for the beef and pork man, when I was trying to get my fiance and I to eat better, I slowly switched from using ground beef in things to ground turkey. Like, I would use 3/4 of the ground beef package and 1/4 ground turky. The next few times I would do it this way, then move to useing it 1/2 beef and 1/2 turkey and so on until I'm using only ground turkey. There are semi-healthy ways to cook pork, but pork itself, is an unhealthy meat. I really don't have any substitutions for this, other than gradually switching to turkey bacon. Yes, there is an obvious difference in taste, but if you cook it up, and only turkey bacon, then they'll have to eat it eventually, or go without bacon, which is better for them anyway.

So, now that's said, I have some questions of my own.
How does one build will power? Because I don't seem to have any. I'll go a little while not having sweets or bad salty things (by bad, I mean like cheese dip and thins like that. Yum...) but before long at all, I'll break and binge on these things. Horrible thing is, I know its bad and wrong and hurting me, but I keep doing it. It's like I can't control it.
That sounds wimpy and weak, I know. And I hate myself for it, but I can't stop. If anyone has any tips or something, please let me know.
JJ

So very very very true about the replacing meats.  My husband still doesn't know I've replaced the ground beef in his chili and lasagna with ground turkey!  And he loves it!

JJ - I need to lose much weight and I know building will power is not easy.  Don't go completely without these things you like.  Don't let it get to the binging stage, that's when it gets bad.  But also, don't keep the stuff in the house.  If you've gone several weeks without - say- chocolate and suddenly  have an urge, stop into a convenience store and get one small piece, as long as it's not very often.  Cheese dip is yummy :) but that I wouldn't keep in the house at all.  If you go out on a special occasion,  maybe get a small cup and share it but that's all I can think about that.

Also, clean out your cupboards.  Get rid of the bad stuff and if you haven't opened it yet, donate it to a food pantry.  If you snackk alot, keep things in the house you like, but are healthy.  I love fruit and keep grapes, bananas, and clementines in the house.  They don't go bad very fast and don't take a lot of work to make (cut up or peel).  If the bananas go bad I put them in a smoothie with tofu and peanut butter and 2 Tblspn. chocolate syrup,  just enough for flavor.

I hope this helps

Jen

Hey, I read the response about the bananas and had to reply.... on this site there is a recipe for Peanut Butter and Banana wraps.. it consists of bananas and peanut butter (reduced-fat) obviously but you also drizzle honey on it and mini chocolate morsels (sorry, can't remember how much of the honet and mini-choc's are in the recipe but it does wonders for little "devil" attacks as I call them...Now I made the wrap once and it was actually too sweet for me (and I looooooovvvvvvveee chocolate) so I tweaked it and instead of honey and chocolate morsels I used raspberry preserves instead and it was awesome.. just thought I would post that.

- Julia

hello JJ,

so next time when i do spagetti i should replace ground beef with the turkey... or can I mix them together? because he really loves my spagetti..  He won't eat turkey on Thanksgiving he'll have Ham....And he doesn't like chicken at all.. Me and daughter loves chicken and she doesn't care for pork either do I....i made ground chicken eggroll and my daughter who is going to be turning 9 in 2 months ... had ground chicken eggroll with veggies in them and she eat it... so from now on i'm going to be making them...

jacqueline

When making food for friends and familiy I slip in a lot of changes to cut the fat and calories. When making lasagna I use the whole wheat noodles, soy crumbles or 97 % lean ground chicken (or turkey). I make my own sauce with no added salt tomato sauce with added italian seasoning and veggies such as peppers, mushrooms, onions and spinach. I also top with 4 percent milk fat cheese and no one ever notices that it has been "healthified". You can do small little tricks to boost nutrion and cut the fat. As for the ham you can make it leaner by first boiling it (cuts out the additional sodium and some of the fat) before oven roasting. Choose leaner cuts of meat and make them last longer by cutting the meat up and adding veggies for a stirfy or a caserole.

Hi Jacqueline!

I can't stop recommending turkey tacos...burritos...etc to people.  Use ground turkey breast next time you cook up some taco meat.  The taco seasoning is strong enough that you really can't tell to much.  It tastes better in my opinion and most of the people I know that have tried it...actually prefer it.  I get corn tortillas or whole wheat flour tortillas for burritos and then use the baked tostitos for nachos...works great with non-fat cheese! :)  Load it up with salsa, tomatos, and lettuce and you'll be full in no time without all the fat and calories!!  You're kids should eat this up no problem...some friends of mine feed this to their kids and they suck it down!  Good luck! :)

~Christina