New food strategy for me!

I did workout B in stage 2 on Tuesday evening and I consider it to be a very difficult workout. .... and yesterday I couldn't get enough food!  I was ravenous all day.  I chose pretty good things for the most part, but did end up having a slim-a-bear 100 cal fudge bar (these are incredible!).   All in all I ate way more than maintenance.

Some days though, I am not really hungry enough to eat 5 meals a day.  I feel like I am eating when I am not even hungry!

I've always been one of those people that can seemingly eat everything in sight and not gain weight (except for the couple months after I quit smoking & gained 8 pounds - those pounds are gone now), so I'm starting to realize that I should just trust my body & my interpretation of its signals.  Why mess with a good thing?  I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  right? 

So from now forward, I am only going to eat when I am hungry - no more - "gotta eat because Alwyn said so."    If I am starving, I will eat more, if not, I will skip it. 

What do you guys think of this?

sounds good to me. we are all different. even before reading the book the last few months (pre-wedding) i would have something like 5-8 meals/snacks a day. the biggest one after my workout late at night, even tho they say not to eat late. it worked great for me, but some find that eating late does not do them any good.

i think everyone should eat when they want to eat just make sure to not get too hungry in between. & if you have enough energy then you know you're doing something right.

I am still trying so hard to figure out what "works" for my body 'cause I have never been able to be as thin as I want to be. I was eating 1200 cal or less a day trying desperately to lose weight up until a few weeks ago when I got this book. I was ALWAYS tired and had zero energy and i realized the calorie deficiancy is why. I am trying to eat maitenance since that is what is recommended but I can't imagine my body needed that much food. I was wondering how you guys that are seeing results are doing with the diet as far as the food you eat. Is it all really good, healthy or have you had a little flexability with it? It's really hard with a husband who can eat anything he wants (and loves to eat everything that makes me pack on the pounds) and never gain an ounce! I'm trying really hard to get all the protien I need but then I realize I end up eating so many calories trying to get all the protien. I'm just not sure what to do 'cause I really don't want to gain weight but I can't possibly get enough protein without eating all those calories!!

Original Post by ckfyamaha:

I'm just not sure what to do 'cause I really don't want to gain weight but I can't possibly get enough protein without eating all those calories!!

 Oh yes you can! Try eating cottage cheese, lean meats like chicken, and light tofu. Light tofu is my favorite- I can give you lots of tips for how to prepare it if you want. If you haven't tried it, you should! A serving is only about 50 calories.

I've never tried tofu before! I do eat cottage cheese every day, and I need to eat more chicken for sure! I would love to know how to prepare tofu! What kind of food do you eat it with? Do you find yourself making the same thing for dinner every night to get the protien with low cals?

what does tofu taste like for the most part? Im interested...

Tofu pretty much is tasteless on its own, it takes on the flavors of the food it's cooked or combined with.  There are a lot of different kinds, from very soft and "silky" to firm, some already baked.  I've never used light tofu.

An easy way to make tofu is the following: 

1. Buy firm  tofu. 

2. Take it out of the package and slice it. Put it between sheets of paper towels and press down to take out the water. 

3. Very lightly spray olive oil in a fry pan / put on medium high heat

4. Fry the tofu in the olive oil until golden brown - you just want to cook it so it is slightly cooked. 

5. take it out of the fry pan and sprinkle low sodium soy sauce on it. 

6. Use the fry pan to stir fry vegetables of your choosing - you should not need any more oil for that 

7. Eat with brown rice and you have a very quick and nutritious vegetarian meal. 

I also used to put silken tofu into everything my daughter ate when she was a baby because she came from China malnourished and needed protein. It worked. 

You can put it in everything. Cottage cheese has alot of sodium so I do try to avoid it. 

Thanks.

I've just started freezing my firm tofu overnight after draining it between paper towels in the fridge with a weight on top for about a day- it really improves the texture! I cut it into cubes and cook the cubes in a pan on medium heat for about 20 minutes. Then I add some mushrooms to the pan. After the mushrooms have a chance to cook, I mix in some whole wheat pasta (or spaghetti squash) and pesto and top it with fat free mozzarella. If you like a creamier noodle dish, add some half-and-half, evaporated skim milk, or cream of mushroom soup along with the pesto. It's my favorite dish ever, and totally worth the prep time.

I also add light silken tofu to all of my post-workout shakes. It thickens it up amazingly.

What do you ladies eat your cottage cheese with? I can't get past the texture.  I hear it's good with peanut butter, but I don't want to ruin my love for peanut butter! I want to like cottage cheese so badly but I just can't! It took me forever to like yogurt and now I finally love it so I figure it's worth a shot with cottage cheese.

Some people like it with fruit, but I don't like cottage cheese in sweet things.  (I never did develop a taste for strawberry or pineapple cream cheese either.) 

I like mine with diecd tomatoes and herbs (maybe pepper and/or diced onion too).  I also like it tossed with chunky-shaped pasta (whole wheat is better as the flavours work better together).  Pasta + cottage cheese + fresh ground pepper = quick easy yummy dinner

I also like my cottage cheese with things like pepper and cucumber and green peppers...no fruit in it at all!

I thought cottage cheese was gross until two months ago. I don't really know how it happened... I guess I just decided it was ridiculous to not eat something thats such a fantastic protein source. 

I love plain yogurt so I don't know if this'll work for you yet, but I started mixing it with plain yogurt, frozen blueberries and cinnamon (or cinnamon sugar if I couldn't find any plain cinnamon) for breakfast. Then I slowly altered the ratio of cottage cheese:yogurt as I got used to it. The frozen blueberries make it harder to notice the curds. Nowadays I do 2:1 ratio, but I can also eat it plain with blueberries and cinnamon if there's no plain yogurt around (I'm in college so I am at the mercy of the dining hall). If you don't mind sugar you can mix it with flavored yogurts too. I'm actually loving the stuff now... sooo funny, I thought I'd never. 

Also, I make fantastic protein shakes with cottage cheese since you can't taste it when its all blended up. One of my favorite "dessert" shakes is: chocolate protein powder, dutch process cocoa powder, cottage cheese, water, peppermint extract and ice cubes. 

i hated cottage cheese. But now I mix it with dannon light n fit yogurt. It's a big snack and only 160 cals. Teh yogurt makes it so good!

There is an old-school Weight Watcher's recipe for cottage cheese that I love.  Have an open mind, it doesn't sound good. :)

Toast a slice of whole grain bread.
Spread 1/4 cup of cottage cheese on the toast (spreading it to the edges)
Sprinkle with sugar substitute and cinnamon to taste (I sprinkle it pretty heavy)
Pop the toast under the broiler until the cheese just starts to melt (this is where you need that open mind)

Enjoy! It is so good!

Sometimes I leave out the toast and just mix some cottage cheese, cinnamon and Splenda and warm it in the microwave for a few seconds. It's good, too, but it's much more satisfying with the toast.

I have very different responses to cottage cheese depending on the brand, fat content, and curd size.  Folks who don't like one variant should try a bunch of others, they taste very different from each other.

I do not really like cottage cheese either but just reading the many ideas makes me want to go out and buy some and give these ideas a try!!!  I will try some of these combinations with plain yogurt because I am not very fond of that either.

im ok with cottage cheese... but i absolutely hate ricotta cheese mixed with anything... bleh it's so gross... maybe i should blend it in stuff. it's not the taste just the small curd texture... yuck it just hangs out in my mouth i had to ditch 1/2 of my yogurt this morning because i just couldn't make it through

Original Post by alevin:

I have very different responses to cottage cheese depending on the brand, fat content, and curd size.  Folks who don't like one variant should try a bunch of others, they taste very different from each other.

 I agree!  My favorite is Friendship 1% whipped.  To me, it's awesome.  But I grew up with a large curd, and with that my  mom would mince an onion and add some salt and pepper to it (and mayo, maybe you could add just a touch of light mayo) and i remember it being DEVINE.

I love cottage cheese (some types), I love it with fruit, I love it in place of Ricotta (though I do love ricotta) in lasagna, and I especially love it with corn.  I don't know why, but corn and cottage cheese tastes sooo yummy to me.