Diet Food Plans that Deliver

[Silverlaker]

Yeah, I know how to diet, but I need a jump-start and have mucho problems w portion control. Thoughts? Live on the east-side and looking for good tasting, low-calorie food w lotsa options.

[Dogbite Williams]

I use the MJC diet - minimal junk carbs. I strongly limit wheat and sugar. I love ethnic food, so I don't even try to eliminate white rice. Just by severely limiting wheat and sugar, I lose about .6 of a pound per week without counting calories.

It's hard to imagine someone gaining weight by eating mostly sushi.

[westsidegal]

sadly, i can easily gain weight by eating mostly sushi.
found that out empirically.
quite the bummer.

[Tripeler]

Sushi? Simple. It's the rice.

[Chowpatty]

A colleague is using Sunfare.com. They have both a diet plan and a family meal plan. Like all the others, it's not cheap. He gave me one of his meals and it was quite good, they're completely customizable.

[foodforus]

Since you are trying to figure which is best, Paleta will be featured on tomorrow morning's KTLA channel 5 between 5:30-7:30am. I guess the chef will be doing demos. try or "see" before you buy :) Just got a message about it in my FB inbox.

[Silverlaker]

Thanks all! I knew I could count on you guys. Anyone try NutriSystem -- my friend had to unexpectedly go out of town for months and left me six weeks worth. It sounds icky (haven't picked it up yet). I'm suspicious -- nothing is refrigerated!

[shebop]

I did Nutrisystem a couple years ago - lost 10 pounds in 6 weeks - which was all I wanted to lose so it did work for me. You need to add your own fresh veggies, but I found it pretty easy. I don't eat meat so it was the soups/pastas/pizzas that I depended on. I added a lot of vegetables and a lot of pepper!

[laytonj1]

Susan's Healthy Gourmet... Check to make sure they deliver to your area.

www.susanshealthygourmet.com

[Silverlaker]

Oy, I know how to diet, that was not my point. This is the right forum for my query as I'm looking for good tasting low-calorie foods that deliver. Thanks to the other posters, have you eaten the food from the services you recommended?

[NYCnowLA]

Freshology

[Silverlaker]

Freshology looks the best to me -- is it as good as it looks? Pls share your experience if you may --

[NYCnowLA]

it is. i have been on it for a whole week! (woohoo) and i am extremely pleased. the food is very fresh and mostly very very good. let me know if you have any other questions :)

[Silverlaker]

I see you can pick& choose -- what don't you rec? I'm not a huge fish lover and of course, when I eat a lot of fish, I lose weight. I just called and they were closed. Do you have to commit to a weekly service? I'd like just to do about three or four days a week.

[cookie monster]

Freshology is great - good food, excellent customer service - just rather expensive. You don't have to do the full week - I had Monday-Thursday deliveries.

[omotosando]

I have been using Freshology for over a year. Overall, the food is pretty good and I am extremely picky.

Dinners tend to be a little boring because you get almost no carbs and very little fat - so basically a slab of protein and some vegetables. (They do have an option where you can ask for extra carbs, but that might slow down your weight loss). Dinners are definitely my least favorite meal. Especially because of the dearth of fat and carbs, I wish the dinners were better spiced, but they have to dumb it down a bit because many people don't like spices. When the chilies in my garden are fruiting, I step out the door and get some to add to my Freshology dinners.

If you have a sweet tooth as I do, the desserts are mostly excellent.

Breakfasts are actually my favorite. It's ironic because breakfast is probably the easiest meal to make for yourself, but I just love the Freshology breakfasts.

I tried the vegetarian option for a while, but it was mostly fake processed protein, so I went back to meat, chicken and fish.

[foodforus]

http://www.paleta.com/

http://www.paleta.com/sample_menus.pdf

[wilafur]

start with taking charge of portion control. eating tons of low cal food is not going to help.

[westsidegal]

wilafur, must respectfully disagree.
i've lost and kept off 25lb by 'eating tons of low cal food.'

at MARISCOS CHENTE, magdelena refers to me (in spanish) as the 'american woman who eats a lot.'

fwiw, i have no trouble polishing of an entire pescado zarandeado by myself (2.2lb of fish).
lunch would be TWO orders of their shrimp and octopus coctel.
'nuff said.

[mollyomormon]

okay, the fact that you can finish off an entire pescado zarandeado by yourself is very impressive!

[wilafur]

pescado zarandeado is typically made with snapper right? an ounce of raw snapper is approximately 28 calories. thus, 2lbs of the stuff = +/-900 calories. this does not take into account the spices, marinades, oil, etc that is used to cook the fish.

not quite a low calorie treat now is it?

i'm just saying if someone wants to lose weight, the/she needs to focus on what is the cause of the weight gain. end of day: eat less and exercise more = weigh less.

[westsidegal]

OR eat the same amount of food but choose foods with lower caloric density

[wilafur]

negative. eat less and exercise more.

[Silverlaker]

Oh, and if you're a crack addict, put down the pipe -- yeah, life is not that easy and people's weight struggles are very much an individual thing. 20% are hereditary and you're fighting nature.

[wilafur]

it's all about self discipline......i lost 40lbs by following the eat less/exercise more routine. granted i love to eat burgers, ribs, steaks, charcuterie/cheese, etc. however i limit those types of splurges to weekends only and eat healthy M-F.

it's all about putting in the effort and putting the onus on yourself.

[taiwanesesmalleats]

This might be the wrong forum for this question. To be honest, if you're looking to diet, I wouldn't eat out.

[Silverlaker]

I've always lost my weight, primarily, by eating out -- restaurants make the best salads, fish, high protein items. So sorry, it's all about KNOWING how to eat right and yes, this can easily be done by dining out.

[westsidegal]

gee, i lost almost all of my weight by eating out,
AND by eating out at restaurants that serve good food with good-sized portions.

maybe siverlaker and i should write a book. s/he could cover the east side of town, and i could cover the west.

[mollyomormon]

I imagine this thread will get bumped, but I have to say that this does amaze me. I love to eat out and do it often, but in order to maintain my weight, most of the food that I eat is food that I've prepared myself so that I know exactly what goes into it. It's simply impossible to know how many hidden calories go into a restaurant dish. I do eat at Mrs Winston's almost daily, which I guess is a restaurant, but since I'm making the salad myself from their salad bar, I know exactly what goes in.

[westsidegal]

try any of the coctels at MARISCOS CHENTE. (i get the shrimp/octopus)
tell them NOT to bring the chips to the table.

(if you absolutely need some carbs ask them to bring you only one tortilla--stress that you don't want more than one in the basket--they know this drill, i do it all the time)

pure DELICIOUS, FLAVORFUL protein.
no fat.
PHENOMENAL for dieting.

[mollyomormon]

I don't eat the chips there, just the plain fish and onions or one of the coctels or the aguachiles. But having not seen exactly what goes into the preparation of the fish, I'm not entirely sure there's no fat. Not that I'm adverse to fat at all, my point was just that it's quite hard getting a good sense of your caloric intake when you're eating out unless it's some chain that's now legally required to post the info.

[westsidegal]

i'll try to remember to ask sergio the next time i go whether he uses any fat in the coctels.
i know that there is some fat used in the prep of the pescado.

[mollyomormon]

I doubt there's added fat in the coctels or the aguachiles, but I would be surprised if there's not some in the snook. As I said, though, I'm fine with some fat, it's just that when you're eating out, it's hard to know how much is added.

[westsidegal]

i know there's some in the snook.

[Silverlaker]

Key to eating out is protein and veggies -- when dieting, I don't count calories and eat a high-protein, low carb (er, little "bad carbs") diet, working out at least 4x a week. I've had weight problems since I was a kid and have tried everything.

Again, why would this get bumped if I'm talking about diet food services in LA w restaurant quality food? I don't get why it wouldn't be here.

[westsidegal]

as a successful dieter, i completely concur with silverlaker: the "Key to eating out is protein and veggies"

i haven't kept 25 lbs off for 6 years while going out to eat more meals than not, without learning something.. . .

[mollyomormon]

Just in case this gets removed, as someone who is very interested in eating out nutritiously to hear more about your experience here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/680155

[westsidegal]

for a nice eat-out restaurant salad when dieting, my go-to place is 26 beach.
i get the tuscan salad, and tell them to leave the dressing on the side and to give me a double portion of grilled tofu on top and a ton of lemon wedges on the side to use to substitute for most of the dressing.
the salad is beautiful and large and flavorful and the tofu provides enough protein for it to be satisfying.

[taiwanesesmalleats]

The reason I said to not eat out isn't because there aren't good options out there. My point is if someone is having portion control issues as the OP said they did, eating out can be problematic. Sure it's easy to say eat protein and veggies, but you can never be entirely sure of the nutritional content of say, the dressing used on the salad. Of course it's all about knowing what to eat. I personally know so myself. I went from over 240 pounds to around 175 currently. It is much easier to track macro nutrients, carb to protein ratios and type of fat intake when you eat food you've made yourself.

[westsidegal]

for those of us who lose weight when eating out, i'd guess that very few would ever let the restaurant put the dressing on our salad.. .
there are a number of 'tricks of the trade' that make the restaurant approach extremely workable, and, in my case, more workable than home cooking.

[taiwanesesmalleats]

I personally also always ask for dressing on the side. But the thing is, people with portion control problems often just dump the whole thing on there which would negate its purpose. Also, what's in that dressing? If it's a high quality oil that's good for you, then great. But too often restaurants take shortcuts and have a heavy hand with things like salt. Cooking your own food teaches you not only how to cook, but helps with portion management.

[Silverlaker]

Nothing? C'mon, it's LA. There's gotta be something good out there:)