1. He's - all in all - in great shape. Before he graduated college, he was very active physically and will still choose to participate in any sort of sport if there is time, but as you know... there just isn't much time these days.
2. Because of his surgery, he was unable to do anything for 6-8 weeks. Ouch. During which time, my mom came out and made delicious meals.
3. He has his annual PT test for the Air Force in ONE month and needs to lose about 10 pounds and 2 inches off his waist to pass with an "Excellent."
With the stress-level in his life the way it is right now (very high), of course I want to help. Cooking and having healthy meals is my way to aid this cause, but here's the problemo: I've always just cooked "normal." Nothing too extravagant, but never dieting either. I know that he (who am I kidding? Me too!) basically needs to be eating lots of veggies and protein, and cut out the carbs, but I am at a loss as to how to make that into a yummy meal! It doesn't help that I despise the kitchen and cooking...
Sooo... any tips? Good recipes? Knowledgable facts on cutting the calories and losing a bit of weight? I'm all ears...
12 comments:
stir fry! Lots of yummy chopped veggies (broccoli, carrots, onion, squash, cabbage, bean sprouts, etc.) stir fried in coconut oil, a splash of chicken broth, soy sauce, honey and salt. Serve over a little bit of brown rice if you want or not. And top with a grilled fillet of chicken or fish. Yummy!
We do lots of fresh salads topped with salmon too. (un-cooked fruits and veggies are great for helping gout!)
Look at all your normal foods and check the ingredients for sugar. I'll be you're taking in more than you think. Cereal, bread, turkey, yogurt, peanut butter, jelly, spaghetti sauce, salsa... try to find sugar free alternatives (not fake sugar, just unsweetened or more naturally sweetened).
And no sweetened drinks. Just water, iced tea, black coffee.
No dessert. =( Fresh fruit instead.
Hey Jenny!
I thought I'd share Aaron's tips because he lost over 30 pounds this past year just in time for his PT test by doing a few simple things...
1. He only drank water (no other beverage unless he treated himself to a Coke on the weekend).
2. Careful about portions (he used a smaller plate and limited himself to only one pass by the dinner dishes).
3. He spent 15 minutes in the evenings doing as many push-ups and pull-ups as he could.
And, I've enjoyed trying recipes from Cooking Light's website. Most are pretty yummy! Hope that helps!
Drink water only; no coffee, juice or sodas.
No Salt - retains fluids & body weight
Dinner:
Chicken - boneless breast in frying pan w/only a Tblsp olive oil. add herbs for flavor (I like fresh sage or thyme & pepper). cook on med. low for about 5-7 minutes per side.
Cucumber/Tomato salad - chop peeled cucumber & two roma tomatoes in small bite size pieces. Toss w/chopped fresh dill and pepper (yummy & satisfying)
Lunch
Tuna salad w/cottage cheese (instead of any mayonnaise), chopped red onions & pepper. I eat it on rice cakes if I'm dying, but on lettuce is lower cal
since we had been doing that no dairyor no wheat or no sugar diet i cam e across a few things. practically everything we are used to buying has sugar in it, but there are alternatives for most things that are flavored with juices instead. jam, bread, peanut butter, etc. just really try to buy everything in as much of a whole state as possible... it is only a lot of work that first timeyou go grocery shopping, then you will know what to get in the future, try to limit diary intake. our bodies just don't need as much as we give them.
dinners could be, (salads with every dinner because it cleans out the intestines) baked potatoes with veggies, stir fry, gluten free spaghetti (called rice pasta) with sugar free spaghetti sauce. (add abit of parmesan cheese for yumminess).chili is good.
snacks could be unflavored nuts and dried fruit, tortilla chips and sugarfree salsa instead of potato chips and ranch dip.
But really jen, stay away from sugar! It really is in a lot of things so veggies are just somethingyou need to train yourself to like. And after a while of not eating sugar or sugar flavored things your taste for natural foods increases!
Look into the paleo diet - eating like the cave men ate. It's low/no carb, heavy in lean proteins and veggies. But still delicious! Even simple things like having burgers minus the bun or lettuce wraps instead of sandwiches will help a lot. Good luck!!
Ok, being that I have a man that seems to be built like Travis...but a bit shorter, haha. They can gain muscle no prob...but with that comes fat when there is inactivity. So, in Chile...hahaha, I ended up causing Jas to thin down on complete accident! The meals were super easy too. Becuase we were living so frugally we were not buying many snacks...at all. So, not much snacking was happening...though he still ate cookies and what not. If Travis exercises and runs even 3 times a week for a half hour he'll have a lot of "cheating" room. If he can't, I bet he'll still lose weight. Men lose weight really easily with just small changes in diet. So yes, only water is good.
We also ate a ton of soup. I made homemade chicken noodle and beef stew all the time. The great thing is that it goes a long way...as in you can stretch it into leftovers for lunch/dinner the next night. Less cooking Jay! :) It's also easy to prepare...pretty much involves you chopping up a bunch of stuff and walking away. We also had stir fry a lot like Lara said. Chicken breast in an option but...it was expensive so we didn't eat it a ton.
I honestly think that you won't have to do much to make him lose 10 lbs. That's not much at all for a guy. Another random trick...and we did it to make our snack foods and treats last longer than a day, not so much to be healthier. With chips, cookies, and other snacks we would pour out what we want onto a napkin and then put it back in the cupboard. It's amazing how much more we'll eat when the bag is open and just right there.
Or...you can just walk by Travis every time he goes to put something unhealthy in his mouth and say, "A moment on your lips, a lifetime on your hips," or even better...point to his belly and say, "I had one of those." That'll make him feel fat! hahaha. ;)
Yes. on paleo. Read Good Calories, Bad Calories. William dropped over 30 pounds and is never hungry. It is a challenge to do at first, but he is always good for his PT exams. It is naturally gluten free and sugar free. It does allow agave nectar for sweetness or honey which is low on the glycemic scale. Don't know if the doctors limit some food or protein due to gout, though. He uses almond flour, coconut flour, etc. so has variety and uses spaghetti squash in place of pasta, and cauliflower pizza crust, cauliflower grated like rice for stir fry and mashed/whipped cauliflower in place of white potatoes which is really yummy. look at Elana's pantry website for good gluten free baking.
Hey Jenny- It's been awhile, but from time to time I read your blog. I recently had to sit on my but b/c of surgery too, and here's what they told me:
1. Drink tons of water and eat LOTS of fruits (the water from the fruit helps break down the starches I guess.
2. There's "Cooking for Two" and a "Light and Healthy" that are put out by Cook's Illustrated that have some good meals.
3. A recipe I like:taco salad w/ cilantro lime vinaigrette (I've made there meatless version, or just substituted ground beef--whatever we're in the mood for.) Oh and salads are always great, quick and easy. A good dressing I've stirred together is a combination of maple syrup and balsamic vinegar.
-Leta
I've been getting recipes from eatbetteramerica.com when I am feeling uninspired and am tired of baked chicken.
We've been adding in a lot of steamed veggies and making sure we are cutting out bread. Nightly walks have been wonderful both for the exercise and some sweet time together.
LOTS OF WATER! Like everyone else and their mother has already said. :)
Some really good and super easy salads: spinach with strawberries and almonds on top, then top with some vinaigrette (which is probably not the healthiest; I suppose you could also eat it sans dressing, and/or add more proteins, like sunflower seeds).
Also good: avocado, cucumber, and tomato together, in a dressing of 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, black pepper to taste. (It might be a little vinegar-y if you're not a vinegar person. Also, you should mark this as the one time you'll ever see me know a recipe off the top of my head, 'cause I hate cooking and endeavor to do it as little as possible. :)
Grill meats, eat lots of proteins. Almonds are really good for the heart!
I'm totally with the smaller plates/smaller portions comment, and we eat veg/chicken stir fry religiously.
I'd also recommend 2 sites:
101cookbooks.com has lots of healthy vegetarian recipes that are delicious
and Eating Well's website lets you search by ingredients you have on hand AND your health goal, ie: losing weight
http://www.eatingwell.com/search/advanced_recipe_search
good luck!
Paige Kiser you must include that your husband has quite the little sweet tooth for ice cream. I saw him packing his bowl full before we moved! So unless he cut it out completely he was able to loose that weight while enjoying a little yummy once and awhile.
Jenny, we love doing kabobs with chick and veggies like squash, zucchini and red peppers. So good with out a carb in sight. Joshua has also been on a huge salad kick. No dressing, since he doesn't like it, but I do a vinagrette so its not as fattening as a creamy dressing. And running; running, running, running. I've lost 5 pounds since we got here a few months ago just by running 3 miles every morning. And for guys they loose it faster, atleast that's how Joshua is. Good luck!
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