Losing Weight... eating more good foods, recipes?

Hi everyone,
I am currently in the process of trying to lose weight and am having success with 3 meals and 3 protein shakes a day as my baseline for eating right and every 2 to 3 hours. I have cleaned up my eating and watching my marco-nutrient intake really made the difference that I have made. Anyone have any tips or favorite healthy meal recipe and/or descriptions? Any health food will do, I am eating goal amounts of marcos as follows:

1g - 2g protein per pound
1.5g - 2g carbs per pound (last time I checked about 1/3 carbs were sugar from good food sources.)
Xg fats per pound (I only eat good fats so I do not monitor them regularly, when I have checked around 30g-45g)

My calorie intake averages about 2,200.

I am starting to strength train 3 days a week, and I train jiu jitsu at least 3 days a week. If you have any feedback on my meal plan numbers or any favorite diet food recipes I would love to hear it :) I don't need micro-nutrient advice, such as ingredient or mineral improvements yet. I need to learn how to eat more correctly and cleaner before I fine tune things, otherwise it gets hard to deal with all at once.

I started from 190 and have gotten as low as 175.8 so far, but cheat day bumped me back up to 178 :P

Look up mike dolce bro :)

Hit up my wife's FB page brotha, she can help ya:cool:
https://www.facebook.com/conniewoolseycoach

I would def recommend a paleo solution. Get rid of grains, and hit the sweet potatos.

This was a hit at the training camp. You can get the organic cane sugar and agave at publix.


Tori's Granola Clusters:

Dry Ingredients:
4 cups rolled oats
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup dried fruit (I usually do I whole pack of dried cranberries)
1 cup nuts (I prefer sliced almonds, I might do more than 1 cup sometimes. Also, walnuts are really good as well, peanuts and pistachios...not so much. :/)

Wet Ingredients:
5 tablespoons melted coconut oil
2 tsp real vanilla
½ cup Agave nectar
1/4 cup pure cane sugar (Vegan sugar)
1 tbsp honey (If you like more of a honey taste or don't have enough agave nectar, just add more honey.)

Add Last:
3 egg whites, lightly beaten


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 300°

Mix together dry ingredients in a big bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together all WET ingredients EXCEPT for the egg whites.
Heat bowl in microwave for 1 minute, just long enough to melt the coconut oil. NOW, whisk in the egg whites.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir, making sure all dry ingredients are well coated. You will know when you've stirred enough, the oats will start to cluster together. Also, at this point you want to taste a bite to make sure it will be sweet enough for you.

Split mixture between two oiled baking sheets. Spread evenly and press down firmly into a thin to medium thick “donut” shaped single layer with a spatula. (This prevents an uncooked middle.)

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes (takes 25 in my oven for decently crunchy, 23 for more chewy and 27-30 for more of a really crispy brown bottom) until granola is golden brown and crisp at the edges. Do not stir while baking. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on baking sheet before breaking into Medium sized clusters.

Makes 9 cups or 72 oz.

When dropping weight I like drinking and mixing different teas with stevia at night after I pass the cut off time for eating rather than eating a cookie or snack. Caffeine free or I would never get to sleep. An early cut off time helps me drop off extra pounds pretty quick, just a little hard to do when you train at night. Dreams get more vivid 2 when your energy isnt going to digesting food at night

Gonna try those granola clusters one of these days

Nobody needs 3 protein shakes a day.

No grains, nothing processed, no added sugars. Eat more animal proteins (cage free and if possible organic eggs are awesome!), more healthy fats, whether they be animal or otherwise, (extra virgin olive oil and avacodoes are awesome, as are macadamia nuts in moderation, oh and coconut oil too), and more brightly colored vegetables and fruits (again, organic if you can).

The first 10 or so days really suck when you first cut out all the garbage, but once you get past that initial stretch and make eating like this your regular routine, you'll have no problem with weight coming off. I'm about 5'8" on a good day. Earlier in the year I was able to drop from 187 to 162, and still felt and looked like I could dip into the 150's for a walking weight easily and safely, in about 2 1/2months eating like this, with the addendum that I ate a piece of fruit before and after every class if I was going to be working out on consecutive days. I would get hungry, but never absolutely starving, and the food actually tasted so much better.

I will say that if you give up grains, do NOT give yourself a cheat day. I had one in late May and my will power just evaporated. A couple of weeks here and there I have been able to keep it grain free, but for the most part I was back to my old eating habits. The result was last week I was clocking in at about 195 #. I've since dropped all the grains again, and will be back to a respectable weight soon.

Also, three protein shakes a day? That may be a bit overkill, especially if you are getting adequate amounts from the food you eat. Doesn't matter if it is from a protein shake, a massive bowl of fruit or a super sized Big Mac meal, your body will hold onto any extra calories it can and do its damnedest to store them as fat.

Forks over knives! Check it out :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mario Lopez Alvarez

Forks over knives! Check it out :)

---

http://kristensraw.com/blog/2013/03/...ood-be-better/

Thank you all for the advice :) I will try to incorporate what I can into what I am doing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tori Applegate

This was a hit at the training camp. You can get the organic cane sugar and agave at publix.


Tori's Granola Clusters:

Dry Ingredients:
4 cups rolled oats
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup dried fruit (I usually do I whole pack of dried cranberries)
1 cup nuts (I prefer sliced almonds, I might do more than 1 cup sometimes. Also, walnuts are really good as well, peanuts and pistachios...not so much. :/)

Wet Ingredients:
5 tablespoons melted coconut oil
2 tsp real vanilla
½ cup Agave nectar
1/4 cup pure cane sugar (Vegan sugar)
1 tbsp honey (If you like more of a honey taste or don't have enough agave nectar, just add more honey.)

Add Last:
3 egg whites, lightly beaten


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 300°

Mix together dry ingredients in a big bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together all WET ingredients EXCEPT for the egg whites.
Heat bowl in microwave for 1 minute, just long enough to melt the coconut oil. NOW, whisk in the egg whites.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir, making sure all dry ingredients are well coated. You will know when you've stirred enough, the oats will start to cluster together. Also, at this point you want to taste a bite to make sure it will be sweet enough for you.

Split mixture between two oiled baking sheets. Spread evenly and press down firmly into a thin to medium thick “donut” shaped single layer with a spatula. (This prevents an uncooked middle.)

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes (takes 25 in my oven for decently crunchy, 23 for more chewy and 27-30 for more of a really crispy brown bottom) until granola is golden brown and crisp at the edges. Do not stir while baking. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on baking sheet before breaking into Medium sized clusters.

Makes 9 cups or 72 oz.

---

That sounds amazing, definitely going to try it out.