Herbs, spices, lemon juice, flavored vinegars can add a lot of different tastes without adding a lot of calories-- also a tiny spitz of oil (not many calories)-- also try roasting the veggies after than been tossed with about. Works well with fish too ! Roasting or grilling fruits with a bit of cinnamon or netmeg or cardamom is so good.
And many soups are filling-- & low calorie if making your own-- and filled with veggies are a good alternative to filling that plate.
Good for you to lose so many #s !!
Diane

If you have a Trader Joe's near you, look at their low fat Ranch dressing in the refer case. It's VERY low cal (I think it's 35 for TWO tablespoons) and has a nice creamy texture. You could use it plain or with other herbs, add a few crumbles of blue cheese (30 cals for 1/2 inch square) or parmesan (22 cals per tablespoon) and use it on veggies (hot or cold).

You could saute mushrooms in beef broth and garlic and add the dressing or a tbl. of plain Greek yogurt (you wouldn't even really need the dressing or yogurt, but would make a nice stroganoff subs.) in at the end to warm but don't cook it. You could add your meat and serve over your rice. Must you eat rice or could you substitute other starches? I'd rather have that # of calories in a yam (79 cals per 1/2 cup) or winter squash like spaghetti squash (42 cals per cup), instead of plain rice.

I recently had a stir fry made by a friend who used avocado mashed up with a little lemon as a creamy sauce and stirred into the cooked chicken. A little went a long way and it was sublime! An oz only has 47 calories and would be a delish change from plain chicken.

You could also make a chimichurri sauce using no or very little oil - try it with water to thin it out. Very flavorful and low cal.

eta: I forgot my new fav low cal dish...cauliflower steamed to very soft, mashed with roasted garlic (or not) then mixed with one of those little low-cal laughing cow wedges. They have them in many different flavors and if you put one on about a cup of cauli, let it melt then mix it in...omigoodness it is so good and rich tasting. Less than 50 cals for the whole shebang. I found a brand at World Market called Sonoma Jacks and they have a "lite" version of one that's a Parmesan Peppercorn flavor, I believe. Same as laughing cow for cals., (25 per wedge) but quite different from the LC flavors. It is yummy.

Here is a link that might be useful: chimichurri sauce

This post was edited by olychick on Wed, Oct 16, 13 at 20:38

Also mixing beans and meat can make dishes with the flavor of meat and some low fat protein. I like the combination of chicken and chick peas alot.

Beans, beans beans! Did I mention beans? They have protein and do make you feel that you ate something significant. My favorite way is chili. Try curried lentils & rice too.

Soup is another way to get a good meal and under 350 calories. Campbell's has come out with some soups in fun flavors that come in microwaveable pouches. It's an easy cheap meal to have at work instead of getting lunch at a restaurant or ~shudder~ a fast food restaurant

The Dh and I like to have a dinner every now & then of cottage cheese fresh fruit and a whole grain bakery bread. Simple & yummy.

Breakfast on a weekday is usually yogurt and or granola bars. Get them both without the junk (no chocolate chips chocolate coatings, M&Ms, etc. I find these trigger my sweet tooth.) I aim for fruit flavored yogurts and fruit & nut granola bars.

Congrats on the weight loss!

This post was edited by booberry85 on Wed, Oct 16, 13 at 14:12

I too am heading back to a low-calorie meal plan. I lost 30 lbs a while ago, and have been maintaining for about 6 months. I'd like to lose another 10.

Beans are great. You can build a meal around Gigantes, chana masala, or stewed lentils. You can serve them on the side of another protein, or make them your primary protein, and there's lots of ways to prepare them. I usually make a big batch of beans, and freeze them in smaller portions for a quick meal later.

Try substituting rice with quinoa, barley, or farro. I find them more filling, and they have lots of nutrients.

I'm a big fan of the dinner salad. Lots of greens, varieties of vegetables, add chickpeas, or grains, throw in some pickled beets or beans, toasted nuts or seeds, dried fruit, a little bit of chevre or blue cheese for a kick of flavor, some sliced chicken or beef on top. There's so many combinations, that I can eat them several times a week and not get bored. I also make my own oil-free dressing with greek yogurt, vinegar, and seasonings.

Halibut, trout, and shrimp are other great options for seafood. All are really low in calories, so you can eat more than you would of salmon.

Marinating meats adds great flavor without the calories of sauces.

20lbs in 6 weeks is incredible. That's more than 3lbs/week! At the risk of sounding like I'm lecturing, I hope you're not being too aggressive. I found if I kept my calories too low, I was more likely to crave the bad stuff, got headaches, and was just irritable.

The best thing I did was drastically reduce refined sugars and flours. It really helped curb cravings, and pumped my energy and attitude.

I included a link below to the Eating Well site, where they have listed a few 350 calorie meals. Maybe that will provide some inspiration too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eating Well 350 calorie dinners

Some suggestions from my dieting experience -

- Bolognaise sauce on spaghetti squash. Spaghetti squash is a godsend, it is easy to prepare (cut in half, bake, then pull into long strips w/ a fork - lots of online how-to's), has a pleasant neutral taste and a substantial texture, soaks up sauce well, basically you can treat it just like pasta at only 31 calories/cup. And meat sauce is not particularly caloric.

- Mashed rutabaga. Just boil, peel, and mash with butter and salt. Treat it like mashed potatos, at 70 calories/cup. I love the way this tastes, it has a slightly nutty flavor. I gather mashed cauliflower also works, and of course you can mix these with mashed potatoes.

- Roast vegetables in a salad. Salads would be a perfect diet food if they were more filling. With just plain greens, I have to eat practically a whole head, and while that is not very caloric it is kind of boring. It turns out that if you include some substantial, chewy, massy thing in with the leafy greens, the end results feels and eats like a filling meal. Roasting vegetables gives them lots of flavor and they are far lower calorie than the other stuff one might put in a salad (chicken, nuts, eggs, etc).

- Slice bread thinly. There is something about the feel and chew of bread that is very filling, but bread is a calorie pig alas. Well, if you slice the bread much thinner than normal, you can get the sandwich with 1/3 of the bread calories. For example, instead of a full thickness piece of baguette, use 1/3" slices, toast them (so they won't fall apart), use a layer of mustard or light mayo (helps the thin bread not get soggy). Similarly, you can slice a bagel into 1/3" thicknesses. You can also use a pita or wrap.

I second the recommendation for Eating Well recipes. If you have followed the What's for Dinner threads over the years, you've seen at least a quarter of the recipes I've made from their cookbook linked below. They pack in a lot of flavor for the amount of calories.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eating Well Serves Two

Way-to-go!

Another vote for "Eating Well" recipes. I also love the cookbook, "Better Homes and Gardens New Dieter's Cook Book" which I find all the time at used book stores and thrift shops. Check your local library for a copy. Here's some favorite recipe choices and calorie counts from the book.

-Ham and Potato Skillet (181 cal.)
-Veg.-Bean Soup with Ham (199 cal.)
-Salmon Cups with Creamed Peas (199 cal.)
-Tomato & zucchini Salad (46 cal.)
-Spaghetti with Cottage Cheese Pesto (153 cal.)
-Meatball Sandwiches (324 cal.)
-Stuffed Cabbage leaves (221 cal.)
-Curried Beef and Rice (313 cal.)
-Roast Pork with Cabbage and Carrots (164 cal.)
-Orange-Roasted Cornish game Hens (1/2 hen 195 cal.)
-Tortilla Pie (288 cal.)
-Polenta with Chunky Meat Sauce (263 cal.)

Skip the high-glycemic foods, even if they are low-calorie (white bread, white rice, etc.). Carbohydrates are as much a problem as too many calories. In fact, if you are really daring, or hit that proverbial "brick wall", eliminate wheat from your diet for 2-3-months and see the difference.

Add fiber so you feel full longer. High-fiber foods, as well as adding Inulin, coconut flour, and hi-maize resistant starch..... Or even something as simple as adding a small apple (or 1/2 of a large apple before each major meal will make you feel fuller, and people generally consume less total calories. In fact, there is a whole weight loss diet based on this. "The 3-Apple-A-Day Plan" by Tammi Flynn, M.S., R.D., but you can skip the book and just add the apples.

Good luck!

-Grainlady

No Trader Joe's or World Foods near me but I have bought low cal dressing one at 30 cal per tbsp and another at 5.

5 jumbo shrimp ---------69 calories
1 cup kidney beans ---218 calories
1 10" wrap---------------200 calories
1 cup Isreali cous cous --176 calories
2/3 cup mashed potatos -- 169 calories

I love spaghetti squash but have a hard time thinking of it with spaghetti sauce I think I should try it.

Love the idea of mashing cauliflour with potatos will definitly try that

I haven't eaten bread in a long time bought WW bread for hubby so he could have a whole sandwich not just half.( he has lost 15lbs) and we switched to splenda and splenda brown sugar mix.

I don't calorie count my veggies any thing but corn and peas I consider free. Hubby won't eat yams or most winter squash.

I tried almond milk for cereal as it is only 40 cal per cup over 110 for 1% I just can't do skim.

No worries about over doing it I also have 3 100 calorie snacks per day.

I tried making a gelatin mousse with almond milk it did not turn out so good. I will keep trying as gelatin with splenda is also super low cal.

I am going to try that mushroom stroganoff tonight I just happen to have mushrooms on hand.

Thanks for the Eating Well link I will have a better look later. I can see ways of reducing their calorie counts already.

PS weighed in today and lost another 4lbs

The Eating Well site is a good one, I like it a lot, along with Cooking Light and Live Better America. Diabetic recipes are good to check out too, they are generally low calorie and healthy.

I also mix things in mashed potatoes, last night it was turnip and carrots, it didn't even need milk or butter and I love rutabaga. I sometimes cook potatoes in chicken stock to make them more flavorful and thus use less butter.

Beef stew is a favorite, you can use a lot of vegetables and a little meat, and I like the Apple Cider Brined Pork Roast from Cooking Light, at

APPLE CIDER BRINED PORK ROAST

3 cups apple cider
3 cups water
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup salt
1 tbls black peppercorns
1 tbls coriander seeds
1 2 lb. Pork loin, trimmed
2 cups cider
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh sage
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until salt dissolves. Remove from heat, cool, and pour into a Ziploc bag or container big enough to hold the pork loin. Add pork, seal and let marinate 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350, bring 2 cups cider to a boil over medium high heat. Boil until cider is thickened and reduced to 1/4 cup, about 15 minutes. Set aside. Remove pork from bag or container and discard brine. Place pork on broiler pan or baking dish and lightly coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining herbs and bake about 1 hour, until pork is done, basting twice with the reduced cider in the last 20 minutes of baking. Remove from oven, baste with remaining cider reduction. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Serves 8

200 calories per 4 oz. Serving, 6 grams fat

We like this with Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes or rutabaga. A brown rice pilaf or multi-grain side dish would be good too, and still get you in under your 350 calories. The brine is also good for chicken.

Good luck and congratulations on that 4 pounds!

Annie

Get a smoker and smoke some fish.

Smoked meat don't need sauce.

I am lucky, I really enjoy tofu.

dcarch

I lost 40 pounds last year and the most important thing I learned was portion control.

I ended up using a lot of frozen meals - Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, Healthy Choice, Honestly Good, etc.They are good, and there are a lot of choices now, and the calorie and fat counts are reasonable. And they are more interesting and tasty than most of the meals I would make myself

I know some of you will snarl and post a few snarky comments, don't waste your time.

I found these to be much more cost effective, filling and kept my daily calorie intake at about 1450 calories. I cut WAY back on meat, and used a lot of meatless meats, since I also needed to cut back on fat and cholesterol. One egg a week, max. Buying ingredients and not using them is so wasteful, and I can't afford to throw away food/money.

I made my own breakfast - oatmeal or my own egg, cheese muffin or PB&J on toast.

Lunch, at work, was a frozen meal, or some soup. I used the frozen meals for dinner. It was usually about six when I got home, I don't like to eat late. When my DD and her family moved it, it was a bit harder, since I was doing most of the cooking initially but I did it.

I found a smartphone app called "My Fitness Pal" really helped. I've used it for about a year and a half and now I'm pretty comfortable with the portion sizes and do a pretty good job day by day.

Good luck.

This post was edited by momj47 on Wed, Oct 16, 13 at 23:54

I will definitly try the apple trick to see if it makes a difference.

Way to go Momj47 - I keep looking at those packaged meals and they just seem so small for the amount of calories in them. I think I would come away hungry still but maybe with the apple trick .....................who knows.

Eggs at 74 calories per large egg ............they are my friends. 3 hard boiled for BF each morning if I eat cereal I get hungry. It does not seem to last as long.

Congrats on the weight loss!

Recently read a study that showed you can reduce calories by adding water (-230), adding pureed fruits and veggies (-300) or reducing fat (-400). They altered the meals one day a week...participants didn't know which or how...and they consumed that many less calories, unbeknownst to them, so it's a painless way of cutting calories. So you might try, as others suggested, going for soups or pureeing vegetables.

I am very leery of splenda or most other artificial sweeteners. Most of the reading I've done suggest there are 2 sweeteners that don't raise blood sugar levels---stevia and xylitol. Other studies have shown that artificial sweeteners may not aid in weight loss as well as cause other problems.

Here is a link that might be useful: Artificial sweeteners

Congrats on your success. You are doing some things quite right!

Apples make me fat but then I am a carb watcher. Apple juice or any other fruit or fruit juice are big no no's for me.

If you have a Costco nearby then consider their five buck rotisserie chicken which is a big and tasty meal or meals. Snack on the chicken, it's low carb. Costco also has canned white meat chicken which doesn't taste all that great but with low carb(high calorie but low carb) mayo and a bit of celery, it's a good for me diet food.

But examine what you have been doing the past month and think about the reasons for your ongoing success. nah, I don't think the rice is any good!

I just remembered another of my very favorite low cal, low carb delicious recipes. These taste like real pancakes - of course no regular syrup, but I cook 1/2 c of blueberries with some cinnamon and use that. You don't even need sweetener once you are used to it. I just skip the sugar.

I eat these with 1/2 of an organic chicken sausage (65 cals) and a glass of Knudsen's Organic Low Sodium mixed veggie juice (35 cals). It is a great, filling meal and really satisfies the carb craving for me.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oatmeal pancakes

Try this BBC website. The recipes are very good.

Here is a link that might be useful: BBC good food

CLBlakey, I'm also a meatatarian & breakfast never fills me unless I have a couple of eggs - regardless of how much cereal, veg. fruit are available. A couple of eggs and an apple are more filling than the largest bowl of salad as far as I'm concerned.

How about 1 tsp raw tahini in your salad? Calorie count would be about 43 cal. (I can't find cal. count for 1 tsp but for 1 tbs it's 86 cal). One tsp of the raw stuff mixed with some vinegar and the natural juice that some vegetables (tomatoes are great here) give out after you let the whole thing stand for a while - will create a lovely tasty and filling sauce. You can add some crushed garlic for a zingier version. Cumin will also fit in well.

If the tahini contains too many calories - how about just a couple tbs plain yoghurt mixed with crushed garlic?

It wasn't until we started eating healthier a few years ago that I started using buttermilk for other than baking. I put a couple of cloves of roasted garlic in the blender with buttermilk, fresh parsley and a green onion or two and then add salt and lots of ground pepper to taste.

This basic sauce works as a salad dressing or I add spices or other ingredients like curry powder to drizzle over halved hard boiled eggs or some chopped olives and a gherkin pickle as a tartar sauce for baked fish.

I also mix buttermilk with riced potatoes or parsnips to add creaminess or use it in potato leek soup.

John, you can cook your spaghetti squash, cut side down, on a paper plate in the microwave when you want to save time. That also works for halved and cleaned acorn squash.

CLB, I wish you continued success.

I found a really low cal salad dressing at 5 cals per tbsp and mixed it with low cal sour cream to get a cream dressing.

I also found a trick to remove more fat from ground beef for taco salad I fried in water then drained and rinsed again in hot water then added my spices. here is a calorie comparison
Ground Beef - 80% Lean/20% Fat Calories Fat (g)
Pan-broiled patties* 230 cal 15 Fat (g)
Pan-broiled patties, after blotting 217cal 14 Fat (g)
Pan-broiled crumbles, after blotting only 191cal 11 Fat (g)

Pan-broiled crumbles, after blotting and rinsing 130cal 5Fat (g)

that is a 50 calorie reduction WOW!

I love garlic but my friends don't :(

Good topic! I've been off all breads, crackers, wheat of any kind since monday. Nice to back off randomly and try some new meal obsessions. Portion control is obvious, and finding rich and creamy replacements is not that hard. The fall season seems to do that for us. We love fresh kale salad. Just lemon and cider vinegar tossed and resting for a while to marinate.
A good bed for so many dishes and salad variations.
I like fruits and veggies from a spiral cutter. Changes the texture and they become noodles.
I just have and apple peeler that give a spiral. A good friend has a spiral cutter and makes some great pasta 'like' salads.
Just started using lentils. So many varieties available. Easily digested and this DalTarka recipe makes them so creamy and filling. (i don't use that much oil...just a tsp instead of two tbsp.)
We had this with lamb sausage and had leftover lentils and made a lentil baked sweet potato soup the next day.

Here is a link that might be useful: NYTimes Dal Tarka