Help. I'm being stubborn

beeeyotch

I've noticed that although I'm meeting my calorie goals every day, my carb counts are through the roof. Carbs were 56% of my daily intake today and 30% fats and 14% protein. Here's what I ate: breakfast- oatmeal and a banana. Lunch - healthy choice chicken tortilla soup a red delicious apple and a special k bar. Snacks- a clementine a piece of dark chocolate and 1 oz of salted cashews. Dinner was homemade pizza on a thin whole wheat crust and fat free cheese w turkey pepperoni. I had two slices and a glass of milk.  I know I need to lower my carb intake but all I can think is that I CAN'T have so much. Please rind me of what I CAN have. Please give me some good meal options. Thanks girls you are life savers

Mrs Acorn Blue

First of all, carbs aren't bad.  Fruits, veggies, whole grains and beans/legumes are technically carbs and they should make up a good portion of your diet. 

I think you need to start eating real food.  Nix the special k bar and the smart one...it's full of chemicals and sodium.  I'd replace the smart one with a big salad and some sort of protein...grilled chicken, tuna, egg whites, ect.  It will keep you full longer and it is healthier. You can also do whole grain wraps or homemade soups if you get bored. You can grill up some sort of protein on the weekend and keep it in the fridge with salad fixings and it's easy to throw in your lunch that way.  Oatmeal is good for breakfast...you can add a little yogurt or PB to that for some extra protein and/or make it with milk to keep you full longer.  Google "overnight oats"...there are a ton of yummy oatmeal recipes that you can make in bulk and eat throughout the week.  Your snack was good.  The dark chocolate is a better sweet treat than the fiber one bar.  You'd be better off replacing the fiber one bar with a cheese stick and some WW crackers or 1/2 of WW bagel toasted. 

Your dinner sounds find but I think I'd pick part skim or regular cheese and just use less.  Again, the fat free is full of chemicals and I think it tastes like plastic.  Just my opinion.  I often make WW pizza for dinner and either top it with veggies or have a big salad with it.  Fruits and vegetables are your friends...low in calories, low in fat and very filling.  Every plate at your meals should be 1/2 fruits and veggies, 1/4 lean protein and 1/4 whole grains.  Snacks should be a whole grain and a lean protein.  Some of my other snack ideas are an apple and PB, banana and PB, nuts and a piece of fruit, cheese stick, crackers and some fruit or a veggie.  Good luck!

mr+ms

Things you CAN have: any kind of meat, fish, eggs, any kind of vegetable, any kind of cheese/unsweetened yogurt, any kind of fruit, nuts, seeds. Instead of drinking calories in the form of milk, try some teas or mineral water.

If you want real foods that pack more carbs (which could replace the flour-y & sugary items in your diet), try to stick with very minimally processed grains like rice, quinoa, buckwheat, fresh corn, steel cut oats, etc. Legumes and potatoes are also dense sources of carbs.

That really covers a lot of the food universe if you think about it. Most of the contents of a supermarket (and the typical American diet by extension) is just endless variations on wheat flours, corn, soy, refined sugars and vegetable/seed oils. The marketing is the only thing making one product different from another.

Here are some easy lower-carb swaps in your sample:

B a few eggs & big serving of vegetables and/or meat

L same chicken soup without the tortillas or any sweeteners (here's where you could make your own and sub corn for corn chips if you want the carbs... or skip corn if you don't)

S apple & cheese

S cashews & clementine

D turkey sausage & lots of vegetables (you could use pizza-style herbs if you like that flavor), sprinkled with real cheese 

One important thing you can see in the swaps is that you have a lot more room for vegetables there, more protein and you can adjust the fat to lower or higher easily. With more protein, you might not even need both snacks.

aswartzw

Carbs aren't all bad.  Going along with the others:

Your breakfast is okay.  

Lunch: the only thing not processed is the apple.  Maybe make more of your dinners and take the leftovers for lunch.  Maybe just mix up a big pot of veggie or chicken soup on the weekend so you have homemade soup to take during the week.  Maybe do a wrap with grilled chicken or with tuna or salmon packets

Snacks are good.  Maybe do an apple with peanut butter, an orange with almonds, greek yogurt mixed with fruit, carrots/celery

Dinner:  try to balance a protein (fish, chicken, etc.) with a healthy carb (ie. brown rice, sweet potato, etc.) with veggies (the more, the better); you easily could've added a salad with your pizza to make it more balanced

What I notice is you had no green veggies at all.  I aim for at least one green veggie everyday.  They are just too good for you to skip them.  You simply need to add more veggies and fruits.  A quick remedy would be to do a smoothie with spinach and protein powder or flaxseed for a snack.    

Milk: I usually save this for my coffee and drink water and tea for the rest of the day

 

Sadlebred

The pps have some good advice. I'll add that a frozen meal for lunch like a Smart One or Lean Cuisine is not bad on occasion. I eat one a week or so b/c I don't have any leftover and don't have time in the morning to pack something. If you don't have time to make leftovers or something, try organic meals like Amys brand or Kashi. They tend to be "cleaner" than Lean Cuisine, etc. They are still a bit high in sodium, though.