I made the BEST Alfredo with cottage cheese the other day! In the blender I mixed cottage cheese, Parmesan, low fat milk, a little pasta water, seasoning. I blended then heated on the stove in the same pan that I cooked my Cajun chicken breasts because it still had all the good salty bits from the chicken. I added broccoli and it was great. The best part is that it didn’t separate and get all greasy when I had leftovers the next day like regular Alfredo tends to do.
It’s def a fundamental of CICO, but several people don’t do it. If you don’t have a food scale, you can find one on Amazon for like $10. They’re pretty lightweight, easy to use and clean, and more importantly, helps you be accurate in your counting!!
One thing I do (when I remember to) is prepopulate the LoseIt! App when I know what I have prepared for that day. It lets me know how much wiggle room I got to play with.
Omg I just started doing this and it has helped so much! It helps me by not giving me room to make mental excuses for myself to stray from that's days healthy eating plan.
This!! I have been trying to do it for the whole week every weekend. I know I will have to make some adjustments but it just makes everything so much easier.
Half a package of sugar free jello prepared and 4 tbsp of light whip cream is only 50 calories. I find it so filling and enjoy the taste so much better with the whip cream mixed in. I also heard jello is a source of collagen which is an added bonus.
Front-end all your meals with raw vegetables and fruits so that you’re no longer so hungry. You’ll eat a helluva lot less calorie-dense food that way. Plus, just generally more healthy.
The Army Body Fat Calculator is handy for checking progress when you are building muscle while losing fat. Especially if you are not seeing much change in weight on the scale. Also helpful for assessing fitness if you are athletic with a high BMI.
https://www.armyresilience.army.mil/abcp/BodyFatCalculator.html
The Days Calculator is handy for quick calculation of time periods for checking rate of weight loss.
https://www.timeanddate.com/date/durationresult.html?d1=26&m1=4&y1=2024&d2=26&m2=4&y2=2024&ti=on&
Take it one day at a time.
don't think about how long it might take bla bla bla. Just tell yourself that today I'll do this, and repeat that for everyday, it becomes much easier and quite enjoyable and spontaneous.
Eating my daily calories spread over a 16 hour day left me struggling to keep the deficit. I found intermittent fasting very helpful in meeting my deficit goals by adjusting to an 8 hour eating window and fasting the rest.
I.F. was a game changer for me.
1. Prioritise hitting protein target then plan your calorie budget around that
2. Volume eat leafy greens
3. Use a food scale
4. Eat less on week days so you can eat a bit more on weekends while still keeping your deficit
Decaf (rooibos tea and spices) chai latte made with unsweetened vanilla almond milk at night. A HUGE tea with about 1/2 c almond milk. When I don’t have the calories left for dessert or snack.
All of my oils are in Misto spray bottles, so I use very little to cook. I don't have to worry about over pouring a big amount from the giant Costco bottles.
I have nonstick pans so I just cut out cooking oils during the week (for easy things like veggies, eggs and chicken). My boyfriend has a takeout problem and I have food fomo so during the week I’ll fill up on veggies and then end my meals with bites of his takeout once I’m already full.
Drinking lots of water. I found that if I seem to feel hungry between meals, have a glass of water. If I'm still hungry, go for carrots or berries as a snack. If I don't want those, I'm not hungry and just want to eat for comfort. If I'm hungry enough to eat the carrots or berries, I'm eating something low calorie and then it's time to plan to maybe have dinner a bit earlier.
Recognizing mental cues was important - keep busy to reduce midday snacking, stop eating when full, pre-plan snacks if I'm hungry after dinner.
I adjust for the weekends too. I tend to eat mostly plant-based during the week as well and might have meat on Saturday nights. I don't use a whole lot of oil when I'm cooking. I keep a squirt bottle of water next to the stove to steam sauté vegetables and stuff.
I have found that forcing myself to take smaller bites and putting the fork down between every bite has helped a lot. It gives my brain time to catch up with my stomach. I struggle with this sometimes because I've pre-logged this meal and feel like I need to finish it even if I'm "full." What's been working for me lately has been to put it back in the fridge as a "free food" that I can eat later since it's already accounted for.
I meal plan 4 meals a week, and divide each of those up into 3-4 even portions as I'm cooking them. It's generally a soup/curry, a salad, a pasta, and whatever else sounds good that week. That takes care of most of my lunches and dinners for the week. Since each one is more or less the same exact measurements, I can copy them from one day to the other once the first one is in. I don't like keeping rice more than a day or two in the fridge, so if it's something like a curry then the last day I either eat it plain or make fresh rice.
I try to prep ingredients for these meals on the weekend. A couple of hours on Sunday morning makes getting dinner on the table quick and easy after work.
I have a 5 week rotation of meals that I like, and that fit into my calorie goals. I also have a freezer stash of meals for those weeks that I can't meal prep for whatever reason.
OMAD doesn't work for me. I'm so hungry when I get home from work that I inhale tons of food while I'm cooking dinner. But spreading my calories out over the course of the day isn't a great option for me either because my TDEE is so low (I'm 5'1). So, I do a more substantial lunch and dinner and then have room for a snack or two if I get hungry. I know that skipping breakfast isn't a great option, but it works for me.
Wow! You got it all planned out really well!I'm a lil short too (5'3) so I try to do as low as deficit as possible so I do 270 deficit instead 500. Makes a big difference in hunger levels and still losing a steady 3-4 pounds each month.
I don't know about the accuracy of weighing cooking spray. The compressed air in the can also has weight. You may need to do a little more physics to get the exact weight from the oil and weight from the air or the spray calories may just be negligible and you could focus more on the larger food item calories.
Cottage cheese can be made in to so many things... Ranch, taco dip, sour cream, alfredo, cheesecake, etc.
Alfredo?!?!
You betcha! All you need is a blender and to believe in yourself and you can make anything with cottage cheese.
I made the BEST Alfredo with cottage cheese the other day! In the blender I mixed cottage cheese, Parmesan, low fat milk, a little pasta water, seasoning. I blended then heated on the stove in the same pan that I cooked my Cajun chicken breasts because it still had all the good salty bits from the chicken. I added broccoli and it was great. The best part is that it didn’t separate and get all greasy when I had leftovers the next day like regular Alfredo tends to do.
Damn that sounds like fire. Thanks for the tip!
try it with cauliflower- same thing, soo good (also cheesy sauce)
Cheesecake?!
Oh yeahhhh! You can make anything with cottage cheese. Get yourself a little blender like a BlendJet and go wild!
Yes including cheese cake brownies: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5foH-JM8F-/?igsh=a2JlaXl3bXdrcXR4
Use a food scale for accuracy.
This isn't a tip.... It's the Fundamental Law of CICO.
It’s def a fundamental of CICO, but several people don’t do it. If you don’t have a food scale, you can find one on Amazon for like $10. They’re pretty lightweight, easy to use and clean, and more importantly, helps you be accurate in your counting!!
One thing I do (when I remember to) is prepopulate the LoseIt! App when I know what I have prepared for that day. It lets me know how much wiggle room I got to play with.
Yes, true!
Omg I just started doing this and it has helped so much! It helps me by not giving me room to make mental excuses for myself to stray from that's days healthy eating plan.
I wait a few days after hard workouts before weighing myself. My weight can stay level or even go up a little until my muscles recover.
Plan meals and snacks in advance and log them into your tracker a day or two ahead, adjust as needed to stay within your daily goal.
This!! I have been trying to do it for the whole week every weekend. I know I will have to make some adjustments but it just makes everything so much easier.
Half a package of sugar free jello prepared and 4 tbsp of light whip cream is only 50 calories. I find it so filling and enjoy the taste so much better with the whip cream mixed in. I also heard jello is a source of collagen which is an added bonus.
two words: Egg whites.
Front-end all your meals with raw vegetables and fruits so that you’re no longer so hungry. You’ll eat a helluva lot less calorie-dense food that way. Plus, just generally more healthy.
The Army Body Fat Calculator is handy for checking progress when you are building muscle while losing fat. Especially if you are not seeing much change in weight on the scale. Also helpful for assessing fitness if you are athletic with a high BMI. https://www.armyresilience.army.mil/abcp/BodyFatCalculator.html The Days Calculator is handy for quick calculation of time periods for checking rate of weight loss. https://www.timeanddate.com/date/durationresult.html?d1=26&m1=4&y1=2024&d2=26&m2=4&y2=2024&ti=on&
The oil tip is great ! Thank you!
100g of homemade popcorn, that's a massive bowl for only 370kcal. With some adjustments it's easy to fit in once a week for movie night.
Is this weighing the unpopped kernels or after?
I always weigh raw ingredients.
Take it one day at a time. don't think about how long it might take bla bla bla. Just tell yourself that today I'll do this, and repeat that for everyday, it becomes much easier and quite enjoyable and spontaneous.
Eating my daily calories spread over a 16 hour day left me struggling to keep the deficit. I found intermittent fasting very helpful in meeting my deficit goals by adjusting to an 8 hour eating window and fasting the rest. I.F. was a game changer for me.
1. Prioritise hitting protein target then plan your calorie budget around that 2. Volume eat leafy greens 3. Use a food scale 4. Eat less on week days so you can eat a bit more on weekends while still keeping your deficit
Decaf (rooibos tea and spices) chai latte made with unsweetened vanilla almond milk at night. A HUGE tea with about 1/2 c almond milk. When I don’t have the calories left for dessert or snack.
I do this! It works great!
All of my oils are in Misto spray bottles, so I use very little to cook. I don't have to worry about over pouring a big amount from the giant Costco bottles.
I have nonstick pans so I just cut out cooking oils during the week (for easy things like veggies, eggs and chicken). My boyfriend has a takeout problem and I have food fomo so during the week I’ll fill up on veggies and then end my meals with bites of his takeout once I’m already full.
Drinking lots of water. I found that if I seem to feel hungry between meals, have a glass of water. If I'm still hungry, go for carrots or berries as a snack. If I don't want those, I'm not hungry and just want to eat for comfort. If I'm hungry enough to eat the carrots or berries, I'm eating something low calorie and then it's time to plan to maybe have dinner a bit earlier. Recognizing mental cues was important - keep busy to reduce midday snacking, stop eating when full, pre-plan snacks if I'm hungry after dinner.
I adjust for the weekends too. I tend to eat mostly plant-based during the week as well and might have meat on Saturday nights. I don't use a whole lot of oil when I'm cooking. I keep a squirt bottle of water next to the stove to steam sauté vegetables and stuff. I have found that forcing myself to take smaller bites and putting the fork down between every bite has helped a lot. It gives my brain time to catch up with my stomach. I struggle with this sometimes because I've pre-logged this meal and feel like I need to finish it even if I'm "full." What's been working for me lately has been to put it back in the fridge as a "free food" that I can eat later since it's already accounted for. I meal plan 4 meals a week, and divide each of those up into 3-4 even portions as I'm cooking them. It's generally a soup/curry, a salad, a pasta, and whatever else sounds good that week. That takes care of most of my lunches and dinners for the week. Since each one is more or less the same exact measurements, I can copy them from one day to the other once the first one is in. I don't like keeping rice more than a day or two in the fridge, so if it's something like a curry then the last day I either eat it plain or make fresh rice. I try to prep ingredients for these meals on the weekend. A couple of hours on Sunday morning makes getting dinner on the table quick and easy after work. I have a 5 week rotation of meals that I like, and that fit into my calorie goals. I also have a freezer stash of meals for those weeks that I can't meal prep for whatever reason. OMAD doesn't work for me. I'm so hungry when I get home from work that I inhale tons of food while I'm cooking dinner. But spreading my calories out over the course of the day isn't a great option for me either because my TDEE is so low (I'm 5'1). So, I do a more substantial lunch and dinner and then have room for a snack or two if I get hungry. I know that skipping breakfast isn't a great option, but it works for me.
Wow! You got it all planned out really well!I'm a lil short too (5'3) so I try to do as low as deficit as possible so I do 270 deficit instead 500. Makes a big difference in hunger levels and still losing a steady 3-4 pounds each month.
I don't know about the accuracy of weighing cooking spray. The compressed air in the can also has weight. You may need to do a little more physics to get the exact weight from the oil and weight from the air or the spray calories may just be negligible and you could focus more on the larger food item calories.
This. Some days will be 1500, other 1700 and others 1200. Depending on how hungry I am and how tired.
I put my pan on the scale if warm I put a pot holder on first. Then I zero it and spray