OK, my understanding of your equipment is:
1 small mini-fridge
1 microwave
Potentially a hot plate or foreman grill or other such appliance.
I’d recommend an electric skillet, which can be used for a variety of purposes from frying an egg to making a stir fry. It’s a pretty versatile appliance. This can be called either a “skillet” or a “wok” - the shape varies but for your purposes consider them the same thing. I’d pass on the hot late and grill for now. Keep it simple.
You may also consider a rice cooker or similar appliance allowing you to cook rice, noodles, and various grains.
Excellent! More on that later.
The important thing is that you realize you have a problem and you are willing to take steps to fix this. Remember, weight loss and good health are not sprints, they’re marathons. The important point is not how fast you make changes but that you make real changes and keep them.
OK, here are some ideas. Use whatever (if any) work for you:
Buy smaller plates. I kid you not. I have a sister with a genuine medical problem that causes her to gain weight extremely easily and have a hard time taking it off. Nonetheless, most of the time she keeps to a reasonable weight. Years and years ago she bought smaller plates. This makes a smaller portion look larger, and don’t discount such visual/psychological tricks. Part of eating healthy is portion control. Smaller containers can help you with that.
Fresh fruits and vegetables. When my husband came out of pancreatitis as a diabetic losing weight really was a matter of life and death for him, or perhaps whole limbs vs. amputation and such. We figured out what vegees he liked to eat raw and even when they’re expensive we buy those. (He likes bell peppers, radishes, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and turnips (!) raw.) What vegees do YOU like? Many raw vegees will keep at room temperature for several days (I recommend covering them, though, to keep them from drying out or attracting flies and such). If they’re available you’re much more likely to snack on them then high calorie foods. You can throw some next to a sandwich for a side dish instead of chips. You can toss some on top of lettuce for a salad.
Fruits are much the same. Apples and oranges will keep on a counter, as will bananas, plums, peaches, nectarines, etc. Buy different ones whenever you go to the store so you don’t get bored.
Eggs are your friend. Just don’t over do them. An egg for breakfast, or a hardboiled egg as a snack or sliced over a salad (you know, lettuce with your raw vegees) ups the protein of a largely vegee/fruit meal and helps satisfy both hunger and nutritional needs. Some stores either offer half-dozen batches of eggs, or will let your cut a carton in half if storage is an issue. If you have an electric wok it should be deep enough that you can use it to boil a couple eggs.
Potatoes are your friend. The problem isn’t the potato it’s what people put ON the potato. I microwave a baking potato 5 minutes, then let it sit for 5 more to cook it. If you skip meat then adding a *little *butter or low-calorie margarine is quite alright, or olive oil. Just salt is pretty good. Instead of cheese crumble a hardboiled egg over it. I often eat a baked potato and salad for lunch. You have to watch the portion of the fat/oil you use, but if you can do that (using herbs and the like for flavor) then this can be a highly nutritious and tasty lunch. If you like salad. And potatoes. If you don’t like those then, no, it won’t work.
Stir fry! Here’s a basic stir fry for one person:
1 tablespoon oil (any kind, really, though peanut and canola are often recomended)
1 tablespoon soy sauce (or other oriental sauce)
Optional: A dash of ginger, or garlic, or other spice.
Heat oil/sauce/spice in a skillet or wok until it starts to bubble
Take four ounces of meat, cubed (doesn’t matter what kind - beef, chicken, fish, whatever. I’ve also used deer, tofu, eggs, and beans. Really, it’s 4 ounces of protein, any sort, mix and match if you want) and put it in the skillet. Stir until browned/cooked, just a few minutes at most.
Add cubed/chopped vegetables. Anything you like. Stir until leafy stuff wilts and harder stuff softens. In some cases, you may want to add things like carrots first then leafy stuff later. While not ideal, there’s no reason you can’t use canned potatoes or carrots to save on cooking time.
Serve hot over rice. You can also serve over rice, quinoa, noodles, etc. If you can afford it, you can buy pre-flavored microwavable rice and noodles (I like to use Lipton’s mushroom rice a lot when doing this, but whatever you like)
If you use more western flavorings and leave out the soy you can get various styles of meals. For example, meat and vegetables in an Italian-style tomato sauce over spaghetti. You can buy bags of frozen vegetables already cut up. Use half an 8 ounce bag for each serving.
Double the portions and eat one, save one for later. Most meat and fish will keep two or three days in a fridge. My husband likes to eat leftover stir fry for breakfast - which is arguably healthier than a lot of other things he could be eating.
A basic meal is a starch/grain (rice, noodles, whatever), vegetables (make that half of what you eat), and protein, which can be animal origin or things like beans. Watch the portion size, that’s a big problem.
Also, if you like sweets design some into your meal plan. Very important that you control portion size but it’s a lot easier to stick to a plan if you permit yourself, say, a brownie a couple times a week, or a single cookie after dinner. Me, I can forget about sweets, I crave fat and sugar so my reward food is something like sausage (mmmm…) or bacon, which I keep to once a week or less. But I do get it occasionally. I have a truck-driver friend whose reward to sticking to his diet all week is a margarita (He took off 80 pounds and has kept it off for several years, even with his weekly margarita). You do need little luxuries and small rewards.
You have to find what works for you. That may take some time and some work and experimentation but you can do this! Rah! Rah! Rah! (That’s me cheerleading). You can do this even with a micro-kitchen and inadequate storage. You need to change some habits, not beat yourself up, and realize that slow and steady is the best way to go the distance.
