As far as fruits go, I’m doing a LOT of frozen berries from Casade(?) Farms - the organic ones. The raspberries(defrosted) go in fat-free yogurt, the blueberries cooked in oatmeal. I never get sick of berries, and these are even better than anything I can get fresh up here, even in the summer. Downside is that they are expensive, but they get me eating fruit besides oranges and apples.
Try roasting some vegetables. They take on a whole new flavor. I break cauliflower into bite-size flowerets, same with broccoli, use whole green beans, asparagus spears, etc. Spritz with olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and pepper (or you can get creative with spices and herbs), and generally about 30 minutes in a 300 - 350 degree oven. I try to keep them around for quick snacks, but I admit that they do go quickly.
Also, beans are a good high fiber food—tossing a few chickpeas into a salad, bean soups, hummus etc.
I don’t weigh myself again until Tuesday but I feel more optimistic because I’ve been doing everything right for the past week. Even if I only scrape off half a pound I’ll be happy. It’s hard not to get frustrated when people with more to lose are dropping it quickly like I did at the beginning but it helps to hear how hard it is for others that are down to the last 10 or so also. On the upside, all of my jeans fit comfortably right out of the dryer again and I don’t have that panicked 'what if I can’t lose it?" feeling.
I eat a big salad every day and lots of veggies with dinner but I don’t snack on raw vegetables that much. I hate raw celery with a passion and can only eat so many carrots without hating the sight of them too. I cook a lot of Chinese food. It can be very low-calorie and still delicious, and I can serve my partner’s over rice or noodles so that it fills him up.
Fiber One cereal. I was told I needed 30 grams of fiber a day, and one serving of Fiber One Honey Clusters cereal (one cup) is 13 grams! Some days I have a cup and a half without blowing my calorie budget.
Wheat Thins now has a “high” fiber cracker, multigrain crackers with five grams. I also like Triscuits.
Kashi Crunch is eaten by the boatload (buttload?) around here. Affectionately referred to as Super Mega Colon Blow, it comes in several flavours. My eldest enjoys the Almond Honey Buttblast.
Plain old oatmeal or hot cereals are usually quite high in fiber. I make a big batch of Irish Cut Oatmeal once a week and then just microwave it for breakfast.
How do you make it? I want to eat more oatmeal because I’m scared of my cholesterol, but I digest it way too fast. Two hours later and I’m staaaaaaarving again. I’ve heard the Irish/Steel cut oatmeal is more filling and I want to try it out.
Here: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=445650
Steel-cut oatmeal with raisins or currents. I’m very fond of currents, but raisins work too, and the two fruits have essentially the same calories per volume measure, too.
This stuff fills me up for hours, and it’s a pretty big serving, too.
And on another note: @!##@. The “two pounds” I lost two days ago are now only one. This feels absolutely endless. (Not to mention, if I want to lose a “real” five pounds, I have to end up a little below that because there’s always 2-3 pounds of rebound weight once I’m eating at normal calorie levels again. I’m assuming this is because eating more of everything means eating more fiber, and thusly holding more water weight in my colon than I am now.)
Kaio, you’re stepping on the scale too often. Cut it down to once a week at the most. I was weighing myself every two weeks, the weekend after payday. You’re getting too caught up in the day to day fluctuations. I went from 125 to 127 to 128 since Wednesday, and now I’m back to 125. Your weight can vary wildly from day to day. So, once a week at most, sweetie. You’re giving yourself unnecessary angst and freaking out over nothing.
205, can’t complain under the circumstances. Bro-in-law took us out to dinner on Friday and I managed to go for quality rather than quantity, but it was still a lot more than I’d have normally eaten so a 1 pound loss is better than nothing.
It’s Monday morning here in Aus, so weigh in time for me. I resisted the temptation to climb on the scales all week, so I’ll be interested to see the result.
<drumroll please>
And I’m down to 88kg from 90…errr, sorry to all the Americans, I’ll have to convert to pounds…
That’s down to 194 pounds from 198.4, so 4.5 pounds down, or 2kg.
Not a huge loss, but it’s a start in the right direction (and given that I had a very busy weekend and didn’t get time to do any cardio exercise, it’s still a good result). So, yay me! Gives me the motivation to keep up the exercise this week.
I add a handful of pecans to the frozen blueberries and oatmeal for a little extra protein.
Good job! Way to go!
It’s hard to resist the temptation to step on the scale daily when you’re trying to lose weight. I want to see it go down, especially if I feel I’ve been virtuous the day before. That’s asking too much too fast. I know that logically, but…
I’m not going to find I’ve lost two pounds just because the previous day I ate fruit for snacks and worked out. It took a lot longer than a few days to gain this extra weight.
And if the scale has gone up, despite my efforts at a more healthy lifestyle, that just seems to push me into the “what’s the friggin’ point–forget it” attitude.
Weighing weekly, which I will now try to do instead, is probably a better way of reminding ourselves that this is a long process, and to keep focused on goals which are more distant than than the instant gratification of whatever’s in the kitchen cupboards.
Oh, do I hear you. Sometimes I just jump on there, looking for some movement, and like every actual weigh-in, it’s the SAME. For WEEKS. Ahem. Anyway, I’ll try to resist the temptation, too.
Tell me about it. But if it worked like that, we could eat a plate of celery and carrots and lose ten pounds.
I don’t even own a scale. This keeps me from hopping on it every day. The down side is I have to borrow my neighbor’s scale whenever I want to weigh myself.
SpazCat, I just follow the directions on the package. I nuke it for two minutes in the morning (the serving is about 1.5 cups, a LOT) and toss in a little bit of brown sugar, cinnamon, and skim milk. That holds me over until around ten or so (and I eat breakfast at about 5:20).
169.5 this morning.
Against all odds, another inch off the waist this week. I’m down to 34% body fat according to the army. No actual weight loss though, but since I’ve been lounging around on the sofa all week I’m just glad to have maintained.
Oh, you’re funny!
A good way to get fiber without too many carbs is Mission Wheat Tortillas–one tortilla is 8 grams of fiber! I like to use them to wrap up some turkey and reduced-fat swiss cheese.
I’m also a huge fan of the Fiber One franchise. I love their bars and their cereal.
Also Barilla PLUS pasta is excellent and includes plenty of Fiber and Protein.
Okay, I have a secret. This will blow you guys away if you’ve never heard of it.
Fiber Gourmet Pasta. Insane amounts of fiber (18g per serving), insanely low caloric content (only 130 calories for two ounces), and I can say from personal experience that it tastes exactly like regular pasta. I have the sampler box, I’m particularly fond of their Mac and Cheese and they’ve just come out with rotini and penne! Yum!
I discovered Weetabix in Ireland a few years ago and love, love, love it! It can be hard to find (in the cereal aisle,) depending on where you live. Lots of fiber, especially when enjoyed with stewed plums!
I’m a lifelong Weetabix fan. I think I have seen it in the health food aisle here, but I usually just pick up enough to last awhile when I’m in Canada.