I need some diet advice

[byu71]

I am tired of aching all over the place.

I really think a big part of my problem is diet and age has caught up with me and I can't compesate due to my superb athletic body.

First criteria would be healthy eathing. Second would be losing weight. I figure I need to drop about 30. I have made a start and where I used to drink about 8 cans of diet coke a day I am down to 0-3 a day.

Here is a problem I do have though. I don't cook. I can microwave. I could boil something or cook something as easy as scrambled eggs.

Anyone have a good diet I could read about and see if it would work.

I plan on also in the future reading this category and not automatically ignoring it.

[TripletDaddy]

What about grilling? Are you able to grill a chicken breast or piece of meat? You don't have to be able to cook complicated things to eat well. Or at least to eat dramatically better. Your first step is fixing all the stuff you currently might be doing....eliminating soda, candy, junk, eating bigger portions, eating fast food, etc. If you stop doing that, you will begin to lose weight.

[byu71]

What about grilling? Are you able to grill a chicken breast or piece of meat? You don't have to be able to cook complicated things to eat well. Or at least to eat dramatically better. Your first step is fixing all the stuff you currently might be doing....eliminating soda, candy, junk, eating bigger portions, eating fast food, etc. If you stop doing that, you will begin to lose weight.

Yes, I can grill. Good idea. I have eliminated fast food by eating a McDonalds or Wendy's salad most every nite. However, the grilled chicken breast is a good idea. I am also starting to eat a lot of oranges and tangerines. I might start doing Grapefruit in the morning.

[CardiacCoug]

Cutting down on DIET coke won't make you lose weight. You've reduced your caloric intake in that department from zero to zero.

Lots of whole vegetables and fruits would probably help a lot -- you should grill or roast veggies and lean meats and try to really limit your carbs and that will get the weight off quickly. Find some whole fruits and veggies that you like for snacks in place of whatever else you snack on.

[byu71]

Cutting down on DIET coke won't make you lose weight. You've reduced your caloric intake in that department from zero to zero.

Lots of whole vegetables and fruits would probably help a lot -- you should grill or roast veggies and lean meats and try to really limit your carbs and that will get the weight off quickly. Find some whole fruits and veggies that you like for snacks in place of whatever else you snack on.

Thanks and let me give a blanket thank you to anyone that offers a useful suggestion or suggestions. I have finally gotten serious about this thing even though I have heard it is hard for old people to lose weight. However, eating healthier shouldn't be all that hard.

[TripletDaddy]

Yes, I can grill. Good idea. I have eliminated fast food by eating a McDonalds or Wendy's salad most every nite. However, the grilled chicken breast is a good idea. I am also starting to eat a lot of oranges and tangerines. I might start doing Grapefruit in the morning.

Keep in mind that those fast food salads are often very high in calories and if you put the dressing on them, you might as well go eat a few slices of pizza. Seriously they are that bad.

It might be fun if we all put together sample meals for you to make that don't require a lot of work or cooking.

[CardiacCoug]

Ever thought about using a crock pot a little bit? I have very little knowledge or talent in the kitchen, but when I throw some veggies and meat in the crock pot it usually turns out pretty good. Then you have some leftovers for later too.

Just throwing that out there as another idea.

[Mrs. Funk]

Glad makes microwave steamer bags for vegetables. I've never used them before, but it looks pretty easy. No pans required!

[New Mexican Disaster]

Glad makes microwave steamer bags for vegetables. I've never used them before, but it looks pretty easy. No pans required!

We use these all the time at my house. They work quite well.

[byu71]

Well I have at least tomorrow figured.

2 tangerines and an Orange for Breakfast.

Lunch, salad not from MAc or Wendy.

Dinner, grilled chicken will veggies cooked in Glad Bag.

Bed time snack tangerine.

At least day 1 is taken care of. Other ideas are appreciated along with the ones I have gotten.

[hostile]

Fish is pretty easy to cook. Just place under the broiler until done - about 10 minutes for 1 inch thick piece of fish. You can add salt, pepper, herbs, lemon, etc to suit your taste. We do this with salmon, halibut, trout, etc.

I'll second the whole fruits and veggies. Also, go through your cupboards/refrigerator and just throw out anything that you think might be unhealthy/tempting.

[Surfah]

Why not take a cooking class? You can meet chicks that way.

[ERCougar]

i used to be intimidated by making myself a salad, thinking it was never really worth the effort for one person. But now,i just keep a head of romaine lettuce (don't waste your time with iceberg-nutritionally empty) in the fridge, some shredded carrot in a glad container, and a good lo cal dressing that you like (the one I'm into recently is nakano seasoned rice vinegar-not hard to find and 20 cal per tablespoon). Tear off a couple of big leaves, beak then into bite sized pieces with your hands, throw on some shredded carrot, article with a little dressing and voila,,, salad in about 30 seconds. I actually look forward to it every day.

[Shaka]

Glad makes microwave steamer bags for vegetables. I've never used them before, but it looks pretty easy. No pans required!

I've discovered the steamer bags in the last few weeks. They are super easy and the veggies seem to be decent quality. One of these steamer bags and some chicken cooked up on the George Foreman is starting to replace the other crap I've been eating. I've also started snacking on tuna fish directly from the can. I don't know if this is a great snack but it takes the edge off hunger.

I can't remember what kind of phone you have but I have a calorie counting app on my EVO that works great. When I started using a calorie counter it really opened my eyes to what I was eating and helped keep me motivated to continue the process.

Unfortunately the last year has been a rough one and I got out of the habit of both exercise and calorie counting. My diet went to crap as I ate a lot of hospital and fast food. Spring has brought me renewed motivation as well as a bleeding off of the stress of the last year. I will be joining you in your effort.

[Donuthole]

Well I have at least tomorrow figured.

2 tangerines and an Orange for Breakfast.

Lunch, salad not from MAc or Wendy.

Dinner, grilled chicken will veggies cooked in Glad Bag.

Bed time snack tangerine.

At least day 1 is taken care of. Other ideas are appreciated along with the ones I have gotten.

Don't let TripleDad scare you away from fast food salads altogether. He's right, the dressing is terrible, and they usually give you enough for 2 portions. And some of the salads are bad becasue they include fried food and bacon. Only then is it even close to eating 2-3 slices of pizza (unless you're talking mini pizza), especially if you make sure you know what you're eating.

3 slices of Little Caesar's Large pepperoni pizza (very average-sized slices, IMO) will run you 840 calories. If you eat the very worst salad at McD's (Premium Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken - 430 calories) and add two servings of the worst dressing they offer (Newman's Creamy Caeser - 190 per serving) you still come slightly out ahead (30 calories) of where you'd be if you'd eaten 3 small slices of Pizza. So DDD is right int hat if you eat the very worst salad and the very worst dressing, you're nearly eating the equivalent of 3 average sized slices of pepperoni pizza.

However, a couple tweaks, and your fast food salad is weight-loss gold. Consider:

Order the same salad with Grilled Chicken instead of crispy (fried), and you can subtract 110 calories. Substitute 2 servings of Newman's Low Fat Family Recipe Italian Dressing in place of the creamy caeser, and you just cut another 260 calories. Suddenly your salad, which is just as filling, is 440 calories--very reasonable for a dinner meal.

So TripleDad is right that some of the fast food salads are bad for you. But if you know your info (grilled chicken over fried; low fat dressing over fully-leaded) you can feel good about eating a fast food salad for lunch or dinner.