Just tell me what to eat...

Hello all.  So - I've got a "thought"...tell me what you guys think.

I'm male, 25 years old, 6'3" and about 216 lbs. I should be eating anywhere from 1800 - 2000 Calories a day to lose weight. So my thought is to break that down into 300-400 Calorie breakfast, 500-600 Calorie lunch, 500-600 Calorie dinner, and two 100-200 Calorie snacks.  This model will give me a 1500 minimum and 2000 maximum daily Calorie intake.  That part sounds good, right?

Well, my thoughts were to compile a "list" of possible meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.  I figure with a list about about 10 each I could mix and match for the "standard" meals and then spend the time paying more attention to the "nonstandard" meals.  By that I mean - cooking on nights I have free or the weekends and learning as much as I can about healthy eating and such.

So - what I need from you guys is some healthy choices for one or more of the four "meals" I listed within the Calories that I gave.  If I can get one or two from a group of people then I'll be good. 

Here's an example of breakfast: whole wheat bagel (150), halved and toasted with 1 tbsp peanut butter (95) and an apple (80) Total: 325 Calories

Well, what do you guys think?  Can I get some help ???

For breakfast I like to eat a lowfat yogurt (90 calories), with 1/2 cup of granola(110) you could add a peice of fruit as well to meet your minimum.  This is my daily routine as it is very easy and delicious. I just grab a yogurt and have the granola bag already at work.

I recommend egg whites or egg beaters somewhere in the breakfast.  Keeps you full and is very satisfying.  I like peanut butter but not in the morning for some reason.

I make a breakfast sandwich with the following:  100 cal english muffin, 1/4 cup egg beaters, 1/2 slice of Kraft fat free cheese, 1 slice turkey bacon.  And then I have a 1/2 grapefruit on the side.  Total = 240 calories. 

What I did was made an Excel worksheet with all the common foods that I like for each meal. I looked up the brands that I normally buy or if they were really high in caloriers/per serving, I looked up alternatives.

I listed the food/serving size/calories per serving.

I broke it up in sections-- Breakfast Foods, Lunch Foods, Snacks, Fruits, and Dinner Foods.

I used the food browser on this site and for certain foods not listed, I checked the manufacturers website.

One idea for "quick" meals is if you like chicken......cook up some chicken when you have extra time and freeze it in single serving size containers. You can reheat it and throw it on a tossed salad, chop it up and make a chicken salad to have on toast, a whole lot of things you could do with it.

Already seperated in single serving containers, you know how many calories each serving is and don't have to take the time to weigh it and such.

You can do this with other meats as well.

Original Post by amanda_z:

For breakfast I like to eat a lowfat yogurt (90 calories), with 1/2 cup of granola(110) you could add a peice of fruit as well to meet your minimum.  This is my daily routine as it is very easy and delicious. I just grab a yogurt and have the granola bag already at work.

What kind of granola did you find that was only 110 calories per half cup????

I consider breakfast the most important meal of the day and probably eat most of my calories then, as I am fueling for the day.  One of my favourite things to do is to start breakfast the night before, as I am sometimes rushed in the morning after I get up late!  I have a mini crock pot, you can get these free sometimes when you buy a big crock pot (they are so convenient, you put stuff in and it cooks/simmers and tastes great, you don't have to watch it all day long and it is ready for dinner)

so the night before I place 1/4 cup of each whole grain:  wheat, barley, oat, rye and fill the small crock with water.  You may also want to add a few dates or cut up apples, any fruit really, and let this simmer along with and flavor the grains for natural sweetness.  This simmers all night and is a deliclious hearty cereal in the morning.  You can buy whole grains in many grocery stores with the big bins and they are so nutritious and have almost NO CALORIES but are such great fuel for the morning.  You  can add milk to this (I use soy milk) and have other fresh fruits on the side.

This gives me lots of energy.  Anyhow, it is good to expand your ideas for breakfast and try new things.  You probably don't have any whole grains I bet so find some and get a small crock pot, and I think you will be very surprised and happy. 

let me know how you like this.

Those are great - keep em coming!

This is more in the way of general information - things I found helpful in making good choices

Using a Food Pyramid  There are a variety of food pyramid paradigms.  Pick the one you like or use different ones to help you eat the correct proportions of all the food groups

The World's Healthiest Foods A non profit organization devoted to improving diet and nutrition

The List of the World's Healthiest Foods A list of foods with complete nutritional information and health benefits