Low-calorie advice?

[Eireann]

I gained a LOT of weight this past winter. Depression will do that, I've discovered.

Now, I'm determined to get rid of that weight, and more. Enough is enough. My therapist gave me good advice (eat smaller portions, chew slowly, etc.). He also told me that most people eat more calories per day than they think, which makes sense.

So, now, I'm looking at calories here, there, and everywhere. Ideally, I'd like to have a caloric intake leaning towards 2,000 per day.

What are good, nutritious foods/recipes that are low in calories, taste great, and are easy to make? Anyone got some ideas to share?

[Sapphire Silk]

There are all kinds of places you can find good recipes.

The real trick is to keep track of what you are actually eating. I suggest you start a food diary, and start counting calories. When you start doing that, you'll find it easier to see just how much you are really eating.

Avoid processed foods (TV dinners, boxed meals, anything pre-prepared) and fast food. They are packed with both calories and salt.

Cook with fresh ingredients.

When you get the urge to snack, drink water. Water will fill the belly and delay that eating urge, and makes it easier to take the weight off.

And don't forget to exercise. You need to burn more calories than you take in. 3500 calories is 1 lb of fat. A calorie deficit of 500 calories/day will lead to the loss of 1 lb/week.

[Eireann]

Before anyone else gives advice, I should have mentioned a few things.

- I don't eat TV dinners, McDonald's, burgers, hot dogs, and just about all processed food.

- I don't drink coffee, black tea (usually), soft drinks, energy drinks, or alcohol.

- I don't consume any artificial sweeteners.

- I don't eat much meat, and I don't eat beef at all.

Just to let you know.

[Der Cute]

myfitnesspal.com helps w/ portions and lets you figger out the size you just ate gave you X calories. That way you can tune portions down after you see what you're doing.

I like brown rice cooked in a broth, spice it if you want, steamed veggies. Add some protein somewhere, like tofu or chicken or something else.

If the foods you eat are already in the pretty darn healthy section, why not up your movement a bit? You can slowly tune the portions, but if you move more....it'll help.

[MaggieTheCat]

I like caloriecount.about.com for tracking what I eat and how much physical activity I get per day. It lets you enter ingredients to a recipe and then tells you the nutritional value per serving of that recipe. It also tracks all your nutritional needs, like protein, vitamins and minerals, etc, not just calories, and will tell you if you're deficient in something or getting more than you should.

Another thing that a lot of people advocate is making sure you measure everything you eat. The average bowl of cereal that most people eat is bigger than one serving. The best way to measure food is by getting a scale and weighing everything, but at the very least measure by volume if you don't have and can't get a scale.

Lastly, don't deprive yourself of stuff you like or normally eat. You will just go on binges later on. One cookie once in a while will do less harm than a whole bunch of them down the road. If you feel like a steak, get one and make 2 or 3 meals out of it.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

I hear that eating constantly throughout the day is good-- like either meals really slowly, or snacks, because it keeps your blood sugar from going crazy. Also,'low-glycemic load' diets seem to be bandied about as a general 'good for your health' thing (having to do with keeping your blood sugar level). Also, there's bunches of yummy stuff out there that people just usually don't eat! Like rice, lentils, beans, quinoa... go investigate! Lentils especially are crazy-good for you, and all four of those can be so, so versatile! They're also really easy to cook, just as easy as pasta, doubly so with a rice cooker. The water ratio for all of them is two-to-one (water:stuff). Add oil if desired for tenderness and non-stickiness. It's good you don't eat a lot of meat-- that stuff has loads of calories... which is why meat was such a big thing in any other time period than now. It was an affluence thing everywhere, still is in most of the world, but now is habit in places like the U.S.-- much like wheat. Cheese is ridiculously easy to overeat on too!
Standing burns more calories than sitting, and walking (not even powerwalking!) is better than nothing for exercise, and the weather is hopefully getting nice in your area. I also second the 'don't deprive yourself.' I know about the whole deprive yourself of a brownie, then eat the whole pan later. I'm so weak-willed! God help me when I have kids...
I hope the weight melts off like butter in a skillet!
Nefarious EDIT!!: make sure you are sleeping enough, and at regular hours. The body is incredibly sensitive to sleep patterns, and lack of sleep actually contributes to weight gain-- because of stress!
Also, 2000 calories isn't hard and fast. Myself, I need about 1500, because I'm not high-motion.
Another Edit: have you had stuff like your thyroid and hormones checked? Just in case. Also, healthy fats are good! Like nuts and olive oil.

[Food Lady]

I have absolutely no idea how many calories I take in. I've lost a few inches in the last 2 years, though. This is what changed: I went vegetarian and consequently stopped eating out because there were few options. I had to learn to cook, actually. Eating less meat makes you hungrier, honestly, so I now eat every 3 or 4 hours, sometimes every 2. I have cut down on cookies, pastries, cake, etc, but I still eat 5 pieces of chocolate candy throughout the day, every day. I also like lattes, so I make my own with cocoa, a bit of sugar, & natural sugar sub, like xylitol or stevia. I have 2 a day, usually, one regular, the rest decaf. I don't count total fat, but I do limit my saturated fat (1% milk, non-hydrogenated margarine instead of butter, 1 serving--not 3 LOL--of sour cream, use olive oil for cooking, use whole milk yogurt, but have half a serving). I eat all the same stuff as before, but cook it at home so it has less fat. My big weakness is cheese, though. But I use less than a restaurant would. Also, I don't do side dishes. I'll have, say, enchiladas, and that's the dish. Or a waffle. And that's it, maybe eggs, rarely. Or a sandwhich. Or just a slice of veggie pizza. I just do that several times a day.

[Food Lady]

Oh, sorry, you wanted recipes. Tell us what you like to eat. I'm good at Mexican.

[Barracuda]

Go on the diabetic diet. Seriously. Cut the carbs and you cut the weight. Atkins may have been a craze that was deemed unhealthy, but research lately has shown him to be more accurate than was believed (Reader's Digest had an article about it a few months back.) Simple rules are avoid a lot of carbs, avoid ESPECIALLY processed "simple" carbs like that found in crackers, chips, white bread, white rice, etc. DON'T entirely cut out carbs, though. Set a limit (between 40-60 grams per meal is good) and make SURE you get at LEAST that amount, but don't go OVER. Remember, for every gram of fiber that is in the same food, you can subtract one of carbs (but it doesn't work, for example, to eat a high fiber item with a high carb item--the fiber must be in the SAME ITEM.) Recipes...hmm...Lean boneless chicken breasts are awesome. Seafood is another excellent protein option, as are some beans, although be careful of the carb count on those. Vegetarian dishes...lessee.... digging out the ol' cookbook. I have a number of good recipes, soups- Mexican corn soup, shrimp and greens soup with leaf spinach and leeks...Acorn squash bisque. among others. Also some meatless main dishes like Spinach-Feta bake and vegetable-polenta lasagna. I like the look also of Bean Quesadillas with homemade tomatillo salsa or the Italian beans with pesto. I also have quite a few vegetarian low carb pasta recipes and some meatless Indian dishes. And of course, seafood, I have a ton of different ways to prepare fish, either grilled or pan fried, and a few good ways to cook scallops and combine with veggies. Just let me know what kind of recipes you are most interested in. I also remember my book has a good recipe for chicken-stuffed zucchini if you can find a big enough zucchini.

[Barracuda]

Here is a simple, quick recipe although it involves some prep:

Grilled Salmon with Pesto

Buy a board for grilling at the store (a lot of them have cedar or pine boards for the purpose.) Soak the board according to the instructions then place a nice sized filet of salmon on top. Top thickly with your favorite type of pesto (or make your own, there are tons of recipes online,) and then grill on medium high heat until the fish is finished and somewhat crispy. Be sure to keep a squirt bottle handy and check on the fish often; put out any flames that start to catch on the board. The board will smoke, that is fine, but make sure you put out any large flames. Serve! Another way my family likes to prepare the fish is to top with dillweed, chopped onions and chopped fresh garlic instead of the pesto. You can also put a piece of tinfoil directly under the fish, but don't let it creep out past the sides of the filet much-you want to have the board exposed.

[MaggieTheCat]

Recipes

African Sweet Potato & Peanut Butter Soup

1-2 carrots
1 onion
2-4 cloves garlic
1tsp fresh grated ginger
Spices of your choice (I use cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger powder (if I don't have fresh ginger), garlic powder (if I don't have fresh garlic), cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, and sometimes a vindaloo curry mix, around 1/2 - 1 tsp of each)
salt & pepper to taste
40oz can sweet potatoes
small can (6oz, maybe?) tomato sauce
water
2-3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
5oz can evaporated milk (optional)

Heat a bit of oil in a large soup pot or dutch oven. Finely dice the carrots, onion, garlic, and ginger, if using; you can use as much of everything if you like to add more flavor, or omit or substitute as desired. Sautee the fresh veggies for a few minutes until tender. Add all the seasoning and spices and sautee for a minute or two to release their aroma. Add the canned sweet potatoes, liquid and all, and the can of tomato sauce. Add some water if it looks too thick. Let this simmer for 30-60 minutes until the sweet potatoes are very tender and fall apart when you stir them. Blend the soup in a blender or with a stick blender until smooth. Alternatively, just mash the soup with a potato masher or the back of the spoon for a chunkier texture. Add the peanut butter and let it melt in. Add the evaporated milk, if desired (I like the creamy texture it adds to the soup.)

This makes a LOT, you can easily half or maybe even quarter the recipe if you're cooking just for yourself. According to my recipe analyzer, it comes out to about 260 calories for 14.5oz (nearly a pound) of soup.


Quick Crock-Pot Baked Beans (this is a great side dish)

15oz can kidney beans
15oz can great northern beans
15oz can navy beans
15oz can tomato sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons dark molasses
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1-2 teaspoons hot sauce
1-2 cloves garlic, or 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, if you like an extra kick

You can use any kinds of beans for this recipe, just make sure you have about 45oz (3 cans, if using canned beans) total.

Drain and rinse the beans well. Place into a small crock pot. Top with the rest of the ingredients, stir to combine. Cook on low 3-4 hours. An 8oz serving is about 200 calories.



Want dessert?

Light Whipped Refrigerator Pie

3/4 cup pineapple juice (found in small cans by the rest of the juice in the grocery store)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1.5oz (1/2 small package) lemon jello gelatin
6oz (1/2 large can) evaporated milk
4oz graham crackers

Place the can of evaporated milk in the fridge to chill 1 day or at least 8 hours before you plan on making this.

Place the sugar and egg in a small sauce pan and whisk very well, until very light and well combined. Place over medium heat and whisk in the pineapple juice. Heat, stirring occasionally, until just boiling, then boil for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon jello. Cool until room temperature, at least an hour.

When the jello mixture is mostly cooled, place the bowl and whisk attachment of a stand or hand mixer in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, crush the graham crackers into fine crumbs in a food processor, or by placing them in a large zip-loc bag and hitting them with a rolling pine or the bottom of a sauce pan. Lightly spray a pie pan with non-stick spray. Sprinkle the crushed graham cracker crumbs into the pie pan and press down with the back of a measuring cup, getting some of the crumbs up on the side of the pan. Place the crust in the fridge to chill.

When the jello mixture is cool, take your chilled bowl and whisk out of the freezer. Pour the evaporated milk into the chilled bowl and whip until thick and foamy; it should resembled soft whipped egg whites. By hand with a wooden spoon or spatula, gradually add the whipped evaporated milk to the jello mixture, folding in gently so as not to deflate the whipped milk. When all the whipped milk has been incorporated into the jello mixture, pour into the chilled graham cracker pie crust. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

1/6 of this pie is about 235 calories. 1/8 is about 175 calories.

So, there you have a full meal, including dessert, with around 20g protein, 17g fiber, around half your daily recommended intake of vitamins A and C, for under 700 calories.

[Eireann]

Everybody else, feel free to post YOUR recipes!

Unfortunately, if I have a dessert on hand, I'll eat it all. But who knows? Maybe I'll get trained so well that I'll just have one piece of it per day, rather than hogging it all.

[ArcticChicken]

Salad is easy as shit. Take a handful of green stuff, toss it in a bowl, add something with protein, and a little bit of dressing for flavor. As long as the bulk of it is veggies and you don't drown it in dressing it's usually pretty low calorie.

Yesterday I had a salad with some seasoned steak strips, mozzarella, and just a little bit of balsamic vinegar for dressing. I know you don't eat beef, but it's just as easy to substitute chicken, and I actually think chicken would have been better on this one, I just didn't have any.

I love to add peppers (red ones, 'cause that makes it prettier) and red onions. I'm more picky about when I use tomatoes, but I know folks who toss cherry tomatoes on every salad they eat.

One of my favorite salads is greens, red onion, goat cheese and clementines. That one doesn't usually need dressing, just take a couple clementine slices and squeeze them over the salad.


On a non-salad note, the way my mom taught my picky ass to eat fish was to take a couple fillets of something (usually tilapia, sometimes salmon), sprinkle it with a little dill and lemon, chop up a bunch of onions and cook the entire mess in a non-stick pan with a little bit of olive oil.

[MaggieTheCat]

I just discovered a really good (and super simple) way to cook salmon fillets last week.

Take your (skin-on) fillet of salmon out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for about half an hour before you cook it. When you have about 10 minutes left, pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. Put about a tablespoon of butter in the bottom of a glass baking dish and stick it in the oven, so the butter melts and the pan heats up with the oven.

Sprinkle some herbs and seasoning on the flesh side of the salmon. Fresh or dried, any herbs that you like; I used a dried bouquet garni blend, which has oregano, thyme, rosemary, savory, basil, and a few other things. When the oven is pre-heated, take your pan out and put the fish flesh side down/skin side up into the pan, then bake it for about 5-7 minutes (depending on thickness.) Take it out and peel the skin off the top of the pan. Season that side if you want, then flip it over and bake it a few minutes longer until it's firm and just starting to flake.

Serve with fresh lemon juice, a brown/wild rice pilaf, and some fresh fruit and vegetables.

[Eireann]

This is just great!

I've discovered that eating fewer calories is not as hard as I thought. Yes, I do miss the high-calorie crap. Yes, it's weird eating three meals a day, rather than just grazing now and again. Yes, it's different to chew my food slowly (though as a child, that's exactly what I used to do. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I was so thin).

It's also interesting to read the calorie count of certain foods, either online or on the wrapper. One granola bar? 500 calories! Good God! I'm going to make my own damn granola. That way, I know exactly what's in it.

Keep those ideas coming!