Water is a great start, here I can drink tap water but I know a lot of places it doesn’t taste good from the tap.

Veggies – I love my veggies, especially in soups, and curry or roasted in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil.

Fruit – yum yum, I usually only have apples, bananas and maybe oranges. I love all fruit but some of it is just out of my budget.

Wholemeal stuff – bread, rice ,pasta.

Chicken – we have frozen chicken breasts without skin on that can be cooked from frozen. very handy!

eggs – only 85cals in an egg….

herbs, spices, mustard – makes stuff tasty for little cals.

Hope this helps a bit.

Lindsey – I’m going to throw a sort of a “grocery list” under the recipe section at some point. You can check out my last entry for some of the things I’ve been eating & buying here.

Definitely pick up a couple of water bottles to swap out of the fridge a couple of times a day. I’d also pick up frozen veggies and a steamer for the microwave – personally I let fresh veggies go to waste far too often and you can keep the nutrients in frozen veggies if you steam them.

Here’s the steamer that I use.

Whole grains are a must, too! Switch out any white starchy foods you buy with whole grains.

The staples of my success [thus far]

Bottled water – there is always one at hand.

For breakfast
Special K cereal
2% Milk [I can't stand skim or fat free]
Special K breakfast bars [for breakfast on the run]
Eggs
Lean Center cut bacon [for the weekends]
Thomas English Muffin bread or a whole grain
Oatmeal

For Lunch
Lean Cuisine frozen lunches [to take to work].
98% fat free lunch meat [usually sliced turkey or chicken]
Campbell’s Soup at Hand [these are fantastic and very low calorie/fat content]

For snacking and filling up
A variety of 100 Calorie pack snacks
Bananas
Apples
Dried fruit packs [watch the sugar content on these]
Celery/Baby Carrots/Cucumbers/Lettuce or Baby Spinach
Lowfat yogurt [fruit flavored]
Cup O Noodle instant soups
100 Calorie packs of microwave popcorn [mini bags]

Basics
Low sodium soy sauce
Land O Lakes Light Butter
Kraft’s fat free swiss cheese slices
Variety of fatfree or low fat dressings or marinades

Dinner stuff
Boneless skinless chicken breast
Turkey tenderloins/medallions
Lean meat cuts [beef or pork]
Manwich [VERY low calorie/fat content!]
Canned whole potatoes
Frozen veggies for side dishes
Whole wheat pasta [tastes great, half the badness]
Idahoan Instant potato mixes [variety]

Those are the things that are always in the house or on the grocery list at some point.

There are other things that come and go – reduced fat peanut butter, lunch sized bags of chips for when I just need a fix in a containable size [heh] and Goldfish.

The idea isn’t to starve your body of what it craves, but to do it in moderation.

Good luck!

I love those organic (vegan) soups that come in a box–from Imagine or Pacific foods. The potato leek, broccoli cream, and butternut squash soups are my favorite.

Also, I keep a lot of frozen veggies and berries around. The berries make great quick shakes (with rice, soy, or almond milk). I keep a lot of fresh fruits sitting around in a bowl so I can grab one. Clementines were my fave, now it is back to bananas. And cereal for snacking.

For me, water (I have one of those Pur filtered sports bottles for the gym) is a must. I also like herbal tea.

I keep a protein bar with me all the time so I’m not tempted to grab a candy bar when I’m starving at the store.

And I love the Lean Cuisine frozen pizzas, I usually have one for lunch and jazz it up with some spices.

Man, Lindsey, the things in my fridge/freezer probably wouldn’t appeal to you. Sometimes I like fresh mushrooms dipped in ranch dressing with a couple pieces of toast for lunch. Other times I will have a large bowl of steamed broccoli and cauliflower. I like slim-fast smoothies, too. I use a light bread, D’Italiano lite to be exact, because I cannot stand crunchy whole grain bread. I know it isn’t the best for you, but at least it is low-cal.

You can do it. Good luck