Low Calorie Recipes

[Schielke]

Soba, what are your thoughts on creatine?

[SobaAddict70]

No thoughts yet, since I'm not using any.

I've been told to keep it to fresh food, vitamins, LOTS of water, rest, etc. etc. I use a high protein/low carb shake as a post-workout meal and also prior to beddie time. (I don't always have it as a beddie time meal -- I find that having it prior to bed reduces the soreness significantly the day afterward.)

Later down the road (like around 6 mos. to a year) I might use creatine, but right now I don't see the need. Given my recent gains, creatine at this point would be just a waste as far as I'm concerned.

Marlene/tryska/EJRothman (anyone?), your thoughts?

FYI, the GNC sales rep where I got the mass builder powder from REALLY tried his hardest to sell me a batch of creatine. I had to verbally put him in his place after the third try.

hah

Soba

[misstenacity]

No thoughts yet, since I'm not using any. 

I've been told to keep it to fresh food, vitamins, LOTS of water, rest, etc. etc.  I use a high protein/low carb shake as a post-workout meal and also prior to beddie time.  (I don't always have it as a beddie time meal -- I find that having it prior to bed reduces the soreness significantly the day afterward.)

Soba, I've been using my "turbo smoothie" after long workouts for several months and I love it. It is more in line with Zone proportions than technically a high protein / low carb beverage, but it tastes pretty good, which is more than I can say for those super-protein products.

(Note, I give you my product brand names so the nutrition breakdown is correct)

Makes one huge smoothie (about 20-24oz).

1.5 c soy milk (Vanilla Silk)

1 c frozen fruit

1 scoop fortified whey protein (Wild Oats' Show Me The Whey)

1 T flax seed oil with particulates (I use Barlean's brand)

Blend! (add more liquid if necessary to render the fruit)

Nutrition: 440 calories, (16/30-7-2/28g fat/sugar-carb-fiber/protein), 35% fat, 38% carb, 27% pro.

RDA - Vit D, 45%; B12, 75%; Ribo, 45%; Calcium, 55%. All others less than 25%.

The good stuff:

Omega-3: 6200mg

Omega-6: 1800mg

Omega-9: 2040mg

Aminos:

Lots of all of them. I don't have the label in front of me, but it is "fortified" with: free-form L-glutamine, free-form branch chain amino acids (L-leucine, L-valine, L-isoleucine), in addition to the aminos naturally present in the whey protein.

It is very yummy and great for recovery when you've trashed your muscles.

Miss Tenacity

Albuquerque, NM

[Schielke]

Creatine really is the one supplement that truly works as advertised. I have used with great results in the past. It allows you to work out harder and aids the recovery of your muscle cells. You will put on a bunch of water weight right away, but it is inside of your muscle cells as opposed to retained water which is just hanging around outside and not doing much good.

Ben

[project]

This list has some champion dieters. How do you do that? I don't have a clue.

Years ago, I tried Atkins: Had a great time eating lots of Porterhouse steaks, broiled lobster tails with melted butter, omelets, etc. Spent a lot of money on food. Kept the grams of carbohydrates very low, plenty low enough to lose weight according to the Atkins book. Got the right color on the test strips. Continued for months but didn't lose any weight at all. Bummer.

Years ago there was a canned product Metracal. There was a lot of milk in it. Bought cases of the stuff and nearly lived on it. Also ate Mrs. Paul's Fish Sticks (they were decently good then), lots of carrots, etc. Lost about 50 pounds. Then got weak. Once passed out, fell down, hit my head, got a cut. Went off the diet and all the weight came back at just 1 pound a week right back to where the weight had been and then basically just stayed right there. Perfect example of set point.

Some years ago, there was a product from Carnation called Slender Bars. Then the ingredients were strong on peanuts, powdered milk, vegetable oil, and chocolate. One package of two bars was to be a single meal, and a box of four packages had a little less than 1000 calories. So, I ate a box a day plus a can of Campbell's Chunky Beef Soup and a 12 ounce can of V-8. I could lose about 25 pounds on that before getting too weak to function. Then Carnation changed the product and, I believe, eventually dropped it. Bummer.

I tried running: I got up to 20 miles a week and was losing weight. Then my Achilles tendons developed calcium spurs. I had surgery to remove the spurs. Tendons stayed sore for years. Never could run on the tendons again. Bummer.

I tried swimming. I had access to a nice pool, 100 meters long. Was able to get some decent exercise in that pool each night. Then the pool closed too early for my schedule. Bummer.

I got a bicycle and started cycling. People threw bottles and cans; in cold or wet weather, not much fun; the bicycle rims kept getting bent on ordinary road bumps; the 10 speeds were too low which meant that even going up hill I needed a higher gear (I'm a relatively high torque low RPM kind of guy); from high torque, I broke the bicycle pedals; got stronger pedals; the bicycle seat cut off blood flow. Didn't lose any weight. Bummer.

I got a high quality exercise bicycle -- solid accurate ergometer -- and got up to a reasonable level of exertion -- good resistance level, good speed, for a hour. Didn't lose any weight, and then noticed bicycle seat was cutting off blood flow. Gee, can cyclists be fathers? Changed seat; same problem. Have plans to construct a bench instead of a standard seat.

Okay, here's a question: I don't have any problem eating less. Salads with diet dressing, lean meat from roasted chicken, fish cooked in microwave oven with soy sauce and garlic, apples, etc. are all easy enough to do. Have the big USDA nutrition book; now foods have good nutritional labeling; have scales, etc.; so it's easy enough to pick figures for total fat and total calories per day and meet them. Hungry? Yes, but I can put up with it, partly by guzzling 2 liter bottles of diet soda.

But, it doesn't work. I get weak, too weak to function. Can't read or write. Can't think. Can't work. If push it, get horrible headaches that aspirin won't affect. If keep pushing it, get too weak to stand up; start fainting.

In the end, getting too weak to function was the main problem in dieting.

I have a friend that has lost a lot of weight. He keeps telling me how he does so well on fruit, chicken, salads, etc. I tried his things and got too weak to function within a few days. Bummer.

In all the discussions about dieting, don't hear people talking about how they fight the problems of getting too weak to function, and to me that's the main problem, the only really difficult problem. Am I the only one that gets too weak, or do others have some ways around the problem?

[SobaAddict70]

There's also mental attitude. If you have the right mindset, then nothing is impossible.

This is an oversimplification but it holds true for a lot of things, including weight problems.

Soba

[Schielke]

You shouldn't have to starve yourself to sucessfully lose weight. You should never be too weak to function when dieting, this kind of self-abuse destroys as much muscle tissue as fat.

Give the Body for Life (or other similar) program a serious look. It emphasises eating well instead of less and sensible exercise.

ben

[elyse]

project, when you're exercising that much, you can eat more. If not,you will destroy your body and bones. If you eat too little, your metabolism will stop, you will become weak, you will faint. Bad idea.

And keep an eye on your blood pressure.

[Susan in FL]

Rog, if I understood you, you asked for some recipes... Give me a little time, and I'll either post or email you more, if you wish. We count calories during the week, and I've found some good recipes.

Click here for a shrimp recipe we made for a first course this week. In larger proportion, it can be part of a main course.

To save calories and get a tasty mashed potatoes fix, we like Toasted Barley Mashed Potatoes, a recipe I clipped from I don't remember where...

1/2 cup pearl barley, 3 cups vegetable stock, 4 fresh thyme sprigs, 1 pound potatoes, 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk, S&P; toast the barley in a saucepan, add stock and thyme, cook for about 35 minutes, drain, discard thyme. In another saucepan cook the potatoes, drain, mash, and then stir in the barley, buttermilk, S&P.

Click here for a pasta recipe that isn't real high calorie (shrimp again).

Enjoy!

[sockettrousers]

Susan,

You're right, I did want recipes. Still, nobody asks a question on the internet and expects a straight reply.

Thanks for the shrimp pointers, I'll give them a try.

r

[Susan in FL]

Still, nobody asks a question on the internet and expects a straight reply.

LOL, ain't it the truth.

I thought I would share an obligatory chicken recipe, and of course a fish dish as well. The sauce with this chicken recipe is great! I like Miavita recipes and sometime make them simply because they look so good, regardless of calorie counting during the week.

Likewise, this fish recipe is a favorite of ours.

Happy New Year to All!

[shadow]

Hey Project!

I'd like to suggest something to you. On the South Beach Diet--which we follow with some good success, my husband has his low carb meals BUT the important part has been the guideline to have a snack in the morning and one in the afternoon. It keeps him stable--and he had the same reaction as you to most diets. I'm talking a handful of nuts, a stick of string cheese, celery and hummus etc. Something with enough body to satisfy , but not sugary.

I don't think being hungry is a good way to go. It just makes it harder to stick to a diet.

[marthapook]

I don't think being hungry is a good way to go. It just makes it harder to stick to a diet.

I agree. The problem is that many don't know the difference between hunger and eating because it tastes good.

I try to eat until i'm no longer hungry. Many small meals throughout the course of the day works for me - it actually has increased my metabolism. Starving or depriving yourself of anything only makes you want it more.

And on the diet word... I simply refuse to do it. I eat what I want, when I want, always keeping in mind that if i over-do it today, tomorrow I'll have to eat lighter.

I try to remind my husband that - It's not the Last Supper. Three servings may make you like what you're eating less than if you were to have some more later or tomorrow. And you don't always have to finish whats on your plate - listening to how your body feels is the best gauge to know when you are no longer hungry.

[Zingano]

I've being trying to read up on metabolism and digestion, via a medical textbook I bought. Now I gave up biology before I was 16, so it was tough going, but it seems to me that there is no route for protein in the diet to either be used for energy immediately or to be laid down as fat. Can someone more erudite conform or deny this?

If true, it is course the reason for the success of the Atkins diet. However it seems to me that you don't need to go to such extremes. A better solution might be to just not count the calories from protein in your diet, and then eat plenty of high protein low fat zero carb food, such as fish, to fill yourself up.

[curlywurlyfi]

here are some quick and easy ones (which I will be using a lot in the coming weeks, having just returned from New Year in Italy where I ate truffles EVERY DAY, mainly with pasta, cream, gorgonzola, gnocchi, butter... aieeeeee).

Steam some baby new potatoes. Slice a skinned chicken breast into fingers and poach in a little (I usually use about an inch in the bottom of a 7-in-across pan) slightly stronger-than-usual stock. Slice a courgette (zucchini) into thin coins and when the chicken is two mins away from being done, drop the courgette into the stock with the chicken. When all ready, slice the potatoes into the stock and dot with some fierce harissa. Serve like a soup.

Sear a salmon steak in a seriously hot frying pan, then cook to how you like it. when ready and while it's still in the pan trickle over a couple of tablespoons of balsamic + 1-2 of soy (depending on sodium tolerance) to make a sauce. Scrape up any crusty bits from the pan. Serve with steamed green veg.

Finally, a good low fat salad dressing is a mixture of rice wine vinegar, soy, grated garlic or chopped spring onions, grated ginger, red chilli flakes, chopped coriander, and a couple of drips of sesame oil and maybe half a teaspoon of sugar. It is good as a dipping sauce too with eg prawns or chicken or tofu.

Good luck, sockettrousers! hope those pounds just fall off you.

Fi

[pattimw]

Check out Eating Well magazine - they have some very sensible, tasty recipes (and they don't use all the fat free low fat products in place of the real ones, one of my pet peeves)

their website, www.eatingwell.com, also has (some) recipes if you want to check it out first.

If I am trying to cut back, I will replace one of my meals with a soup or salad - as some have said before, they are filling and low calorie.

And i try to vary the salads, do a plain romaine and veg one day, spinach with almonds and cranberries the next, there's lots you can do.

[Naomi]

My New Year Diet:

Every January I used to dust off my juicer and start drinking things like beetroot and carrot juice, start sprouting beans and spend a fortune on vitamin pills that give me terrible indigestion. I would also consume vast quantities of:

miso soup

herbal teas

linseeds

various algae-like substances.

The net effect of all this was usually feeling so terrible after four days that I simply NEEDED hot buttered toast. Which heralded the end of my diet. This year I skipped straight to the toast.

My point is to keep things manageable, rather than trying a dramatic overhaul. Trying to change your eating habits can be so hard for a foodie. My French flatmate used to lose pounds by simply eating half portions of her usual food. This is what I do now and I am much happier for it.

Edited January 6, 2004 by Naomi (log)

[KarenS]

I lost 45 # on weight watchers. I went to the meetings for awhile and now do it myself. I have a big iron deficency (which can also make you weak and tired- i take iron supplements). I have also very low sodium (I never eat fast food, and hardly any "processed" stuff. My Dr. told me to feel free to salt my food, and do not drink too much water (I live in Hawaii, and work in a kitchen all day- so I drink a lot of water) If I drink 8c, I switch to sports drinks so I don't throw my system out of whack. You CAN drink too much water and make yourself very ill- your body needs sodium.

[misstenacity]

Resurrecting this thread, after some near-obsessive reading online of BFL (body for life) devotees (all women, of course! ).

I have some fitness commitments to get through by mid-July, but after that I am interested in doing a 12 week BFL challenge, and making the food up to eGullet (and my own) standards.

Is there enough interest out there to do a group progress report? Soba and Shielke, your comments and/or participation would be great.... and also any women out there especially.

On the recipes topic (the orginal thread), I have found excellent and very acceptable dishes in SPA cookbooks. I currently have Canyon Ranch, and it seems that rich/privileged spa goers are far more finicky with their food than your average "bowl of cream cheese with fruit" American diet book reader - and I myself have certainly been the latter in the past. Therefore, in spa cookbooks, you get things that are incredibly inventive in order to make a 200 calorie main dish that doesn't involve butter buds or protein powder. Now that's a welcome relief.

Also, I second the recommendation for "New way to Cook". Great stuff.

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[Tess]

Has anyone mentioned the eGullet thread: "Weight Watchers: Watch it go down?" It runs to nearly 50 pages now. Even if you're not interested in WW-- it's not for everyone, by any means-- you'll find a lot of excellent recipes and cooking ideas. If you are interested in WW, it's really a remarkable resource, I think. (Full disclosure: I lost over 20 pounds on WW, but it took a year. I cheated like crazy.)

There is a low carb thread, too; I forget the same but I certainly read it whenever I see it's been updated. Very good stuff there too. And of course the luscious Montignac thread.

[misstenacity]

Has anyone mentioned the eGullet thread: "Weight Watchers: Watch it go down?" It runs to nearly 50 pages now. Even if you're not interested in WW-- it's not for everyone, by any means-- you'll find a lot of excellent recipes and cooking ideas. If you are interested in WW, it's really a remarkable resource, I think. (Full disclosure: I lost over 20 pounds on WW, but it took a year. I cheated like crazy.)

There is a low carb thread, too; I forget the same but I certainly read it whenever I see it's been updated. Very good stuff there too. And of course the luscious Montignac thread.

←

Yep, I've seen all 3, and even read most of them. I do think the mindset of BFL is just different enough from both low carb and WW to merit its own thread.... the heavy (har) emphasis on weight lifting in particular. Though this being eGullet, that aspect of the plan might be pushing the permissible limits of discussion. Hmm.

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[Tess]

Andra, I'm sorry. I now realize my post was not very responsive. I read through the thread-- which I had somehow missed in the past-- and responded to the whole thing.

Yes, BLF is a subject on its own. If you start a thread, I'll be reading because I'm always looking for new ideas about diet and fitness.

[tejon]

Interested here as well. Weight has been creeping up due to some health issues, and it's getting very difficult to lose those pounds once they are there. I've heard great things about BFL, and would love to come up with sound, yet delicious foods to eat.

[ChryZ]

Each 3500 calories is equal to 1 pound of fat. Weight maintenance occurs when calories out and calories in are balanced over a period of time. Weight loss occurs when you burn more calories than you consume, at the rate of 1 pound lost for each 3500 calories deficit. Metabolism, age, activity, nutrition and even genetics are all part of this equation.

physical:

-activities boost the metabolism for a certain amount of time

-muscle mass burns calories, more muscle mass burns more calories (even when idling)

-muscle mass is leaner than body-fat while being heavier

-eating 6 small meals a day keeps the metabolism at a higher rate than eating 3 big ones

-it's only healthy to lose 1-2 pounds of body weight per week

-make exercising a habit, try to enjoy it, if you consider it a chore, then you'll not likely stick to it. Find something you enjoy and what's actually fun.

nutrition:

-portion control, don't eat big meals!

-stay away from fatty food like chips or any deep fried stuff

-slow and steady is better than a starvation crash diet

-cut back on simple carbs (sugar, soda, candy)

-snack on fruits and vegetables

-cut back on saturated fats

-drink a lot water

[Toliver]

Has anyone mentioned the eGullet thread: "Weight Watchers: Watch it go down?"

←

Exactly my thoughts. There is lots of inspiration and recipes/menus in that discussion. Here is the link:

"Weight Watchers, Watch it go down?"