Help me - On low Calorie, back to Atkins

[Goirishgo]

Long story short, I had great success on Atkins about 5 years ago. Maintained a low(er) carb diet for a long time, but the casual cheat and carb creep have been a disaster.

Two weeks ago, I decided I needed to get back the control, but to be honest I didn't want to think about eating. I didn't want to spend the time cooking, measuring, preparing. I needed something simple, something the was "brainless", so I went to the store, stocked up on south beach meals, and frozen veggies. I have been keeping my calories low, and I have lost 12 lbs in two weeks. The problem, is that I know I felt more satisfied on atkins.

So here is my situation. I have a lot to lose, over 50 lbs. I enjoyed the eating the south beach meals becaues I didn't need to be so focussed on preparing food. It really is easy. I need that similar type of control to transition back to the low carb induction. On the atkins, I stalled because even if I did everything PERFECT, i was probably eating too many calories.

Can some of you please give suggestions on easy things I could eat, that are simple to prepare, and make this diet easier for someone that doesn't have the patience at this point to cook, measure, prepare, meals for the week? I am NOT a picky eater. I can't get by on anything if I see results, but I know I HAVE TO TRACK MY CALORIES, and to make that as easy as possible, I will need easy things to eat, because those are the easiest to calculate.

Any suggestions?

[kate58]

There are quite a few recipes in the book, many of which only take minutes to prepare. Another great source is Linda's site

I think shopping is much more important than anything. Having lots of legal stuff - meat, veg, cheese, salad ingredients etc - in the fridge so that you can just grab some stuff and cook makes it easy. Cooking a steak, a piece of chicken, a chop or some fish while boiling up some veg only takes minutes, stir fries are also quick and easy.

You don't have to do major planning to cook ahead. There are also lots of times when it's very easy to cook more than you need and refridgerate or freeze some of it for another time. Don't cook 3 chicken drumsticks for example, cook 30 of them. It doesn't take any longer. Put some in the fridge for the next few days, and freeze the rest. Ditto with anything made from ground meat - I made Turkey tacos last night, but with about 4 times as much ground turkey as I needed. Most of it is frozen now and there for a quick grab some other time. Ditto with bolognese and lots of other things.

For lunch I find that making sure I have things like tins of tuna, frozen shrimp, avocado, salad leaves and stuff like that always available makes it easy to rustle up something quick and filling.

Just make sure your cupboards are full of good stuff that's quick to prepare and you absolutely won't need ready meals.

[kelly50]

Well I am NO cook, so I make very simple meals. Broiling up a lot of chicken thighs, wings, or pork chops for several meals at a time is easy. Each Monday I stop at the corner vegetable vendor and buy several fresh veggies for the week, whatever looks good, to steam each night. Leftovers are lunch the next day. On the weekends I boil a dozen eggs and slice them in half, add mayo to the yellow center, sprinkle with paprika for snacks during the week. Sour creme, mustard, mayo with added chives, cilantro, other fresh spices, are used for dipping raw veggies for snacks, too.

[Mickkey]

I always cook more too, to either freeze or keep on hand. I will throw 2 baking hens in the oven to bake, and de-bone them to eat during the week. Sometimes I will freeze some for later. There's nothing to baking a chicken.

I make hamburger patties up ahead of time, freeze, and take out just what I need. Sometimes I will make up more veggies than I need as leftovers for lunch or supper the next day. I usually make up a BIG bowl of salad for the week, with cucumbers, radishes, onions, celery, etc. If not, I keep those already washed, and cut up bags of salad you can get in the grocery on hand.

Plus, I cut up celery and put in plastic snack bags to grab to take along somewhere if I have to. I also will boil up some eggs to have on hand, and I always keep cheese in the fridge.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it only takes a small amount of time. It helps so much to be prepared, because as you know life happens, and sometimes catches you unaware.