Diet Plan for a Picky eater

[ahenke]

I am a very picky eater, basically a meat eater but will eat salads or some grilled veggies at times. I do like beer on the weekends with friends. I work out 4 times a week for 30 minutes using Fitstar and am going to push that to 5 days a week and 50 minutes. I am just trying to lose weight so all information will be very helpful.

Thank you

Annie

[Esya]

As long as you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. Ofcourse you can eat more foods that are low in calories than you can eat foods that are calories dense and nutritional wise it might be better to eat with a great variety and more vegetables. But that does not mean you won't lose if you eat unhealthy (this is meant relatively) but below the amount of calories you burn.

So start logging your food and make sure it is below the calories burned. The calories burned is an estimation, so your tracker might be slightly off (HR enabled trackers typically a bit over while the others typically a bit under). Find how large the calories difference must be for you to start losing weight.

The more calories you burn by being active the more you can eat.

[ahenke]

Thank you for the advice, really appreciate it alot!

[Mukluk4]

I'd drop the beer on the weekends.  That is a giant calorie dump that can get out of hand pretty quickly.

[RKing10]

Definitely monitor your beer intake-its a waste of your calories. Make small steps-if you typically never eat veggies, aim for one to two servings a day, and slowly increase it. Make sure you are picking lean meats as well. 

[Dominique]

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@Mukluk4 wrote:

I'd drop the beer on the weekends.  That is a giant calorie dump that can get out of hand pretty quickly.

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Yes, see this topic on would I be healthier if I quit drinking.

[Dominique]

If you want to lose weight, then veggies are definitely your friend: they’ll keep you full with a ridiculously low amount of calories while providing vitamins, minerals and fiber. Beer is liquid bread without the fiber. 

[Dominique]

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@ahenke wrote:

I am a very picky eater

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To me, it looks more like you’ve decided to stick to a rather limited list of foods you’re eating, a bit like some people only listen to one type of music. However, just like you can educate your musical ear to appreciate more than one genre of music, you can also educate your palate and taste buds to appreciate foods not currently within your "comfort zone". Granted, the kind of foods that promote weight loss tend to be bland (compared to those that promote weight gain), but you can spice them up so as to make them bearable, or maybe even enjoyable. Kudos for increasing your physical activity! Note, however, that it’s very hard to "out-train" a poor diet: if your aim is to lose weight, you should improve your eating (and drinking) habits.

[elimari]

This. A lot of taste is acquired. Now granted some people are hardwired to have more difficulty than others but everyone can acquire new tastes. How you eat is ultimately your choice. I don't eat things I don't like, but yes I've re-trained my eating. An example, I couldn't stand black coffee a while back but realized that the sugar and milk in my coffee was a huge source of unnecessary calories. I slowly cut back on how much I added, but smoother sweeter coffee beans, then started sometimes having a small cup without any and while still having a little in my other cups, then it was none in my good hot coffee but still some sugar in my iced coffee and any cheap coffee and bit by bit those became black to. Now I prefer it. (that was the only real change I made that year and I lost 20 pounds btw). But yes it took me consistently edging up to my taste boundaries, toeing myself a tiny bit over the safe and comfortable. I never make myself choke down something I didn't like, that defeats the purpose of getting myself to like it, but I search for ways to get a tiny bit closer to it. 

Learn to cook. Each vegetable tastes very different depending on how it is cooked, boiled, grilled, fried. Al dente vs mushy. Do not discount a vegetable because you didn't like it one way.  Thought it was bitter or pungent? Try roasting it to bring out the sweetness. 

Similarly learn to cook so you know different herbs and spices to bring additional flavor. 

Try buying in-season, very fresh vegetables, but also try frozen and canned versions. 

When your taste buds are used to high-fat, high sugar, heavily flavored things yes, then healthy food can taste bland. But (and do this slowly) you can re-train your brain to taste all the subtle flavors in your vegetables. 

And of course there are plenty of ways to "hide" vegetables in your food too like parents do with toddlers. 

[SunsetRunner]

My wife found it hard to be on diet because of the similar issue. She is very picky and since she is Filipino, she mostly prefers her national cuisine which is very rich in fat ( mostly very fat pork, like for example "crispy pata" ) and sugar ( I mean VEEERYYY rich ). On the other hand, I adapt to new conditions very easy and didn't have the problem with reducing salt intake or remove sugar from my diet - I can eat pretty much anything if it comes to flavours. To help my wife the only feasible option was to cook what she likes but modify dishes to make them more healthy and keep calories under control. As an example, one of the dishes called "mechado" - I replaced raw sugar with sweet potatoes as this dish contains few bits of potatoes anyway. If so, why not to use sweet ones to give sweet flavour before obtained by adding pure sugar to the dish. Some creative cooking may deliver food that you like but in a healthier option.