Diet advice?

[Veovis]

Hi all,

So I've moved back to my hometown and now I'm stuck here for the next few years so I can pay off my student loans. Since there's nothing to do around here and I have no friends, I'm going to try to go from clinically obese to underwear model. I have a gym membership, but my diet and eating habits are extremely poor. Could any comrades suggest some resources where I can find some cheap, easy and healthy meal recipes and tips to get my eating habits under control?

[ellipsis]

Brown rice. Kale. Also see if there is a local food not bombs chapter, hang out with them, you'll learn about cooking healthy food.

[Quail]

When it comes to getting your eating habits under control, it might be helpful to try and identify why you overeat. For a lot of people there is an emotional aspect to overeating, so dieting alone won't help you to change in the long run because it doesn't address the emotional issues that cause you to overeat. I binge eat when I feel bad about myself, and just knowing that I do that means that when I feel the urge to overeat I can try to take a step back and figure out what is bothering me and what I can do about it.

As far as good eating habits go, I'd suggest trying to eat 3 meals a day with healthy snacks. Don't deprive yourself of fatty food, but try to eat small amounts of healthy fatty food such as nuts instead of junk food. Try making meals based on lentils/pulses and fresh vegetables. Dried pulses are stupidly cheap, a good source of protein and generally good for you.

Also, if you feel hungry, you should ask yourself whether or not you're really hungry. Often people feel hungry due to emotional hunger, or because they're thirsty. If you feel hungry, try drinking a glass of water and waiting ten minutes.

[Firebrand]

The best time to think about your diet is while you are shopping. As you do your weekly shop give yourself a maximum quota of unhealthy stuff like cake or crisps, and don't go above that, it is much easier to make these decisions when there is no immediate desire for food. If you are struggling at fridge point it will always be a losing battle, if you go to the fridge and there is nothing there except fruit and veggies then you will end up eating a lot more of those. Also don't buy food on the go, or pop out for a packet of crisps, only get food from your weekly shop, and maybe a takeaway or resteraunt meal on special occasions.
Oh and a really easy trick is to avoid soft drinks. It's surprising how easy it is to get used to just drinking water, much easier than controlling your eating habits.

I should probably point out this is based on a friend's experiences since i've never dieted in my life.

[#FF0000]

The general guideline I follow is this: more protein, fewer carbs. You don't have to cut carbs out completely but try to get them from sources other than breads and pastas, e.g. fruits/vegetables.

Meanwhile eat more proteins. Nuts/legumes/lean meats/fish/eggs. Avoid eating too much lunch meat tho cause it's full of sodium and isn't that good for you.

Eat more "real food" too basically.

This might help you out a bit. (http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf)

Start countin calories and keep track of measurements. After awhile you'll be able to intuit these things almost.

[Veovis]

The general guideline I follow is this: more protein, fewer carbs. You don't have to cut carbs out completely but try to get them from sources other than breads and pastas, e.g. fruits/vegetables.

Meanwhile eat more proteins. Nuts/legumes/lean meats/fish/eggs. Avoid eating too much lunch meat tho cause it's full of sodium and isn't that good for you.

Eat more "real food" too basically.

This might help you out a bit. (http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf)

Start countin calories and keep track of measurements. After awhile you'll be able to intuit these things almost.

Only thing with these high protein/fat diets is that I don't want to risk high cholesterol. My grandfather died of a heart attack.

When they say that the diet is the hardest part of the weight loss plan, they mean it.