Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with diet

Should I benchmark my body?

catlet — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:34:37 -0800

Many MeFites are curious about metabolism, and so am I. I am particularly curious about metabolic rate testing: its accuracy, the experience, and whether it's worthwhile for me. I am 40, female, 5'8", and a mesomorph with stellar bone density. I've struggled with my weight all my life, although I was not clinically overweight until college and not obese until my mid-20s. I then spiked up to 297; about five years ago, I dropped 50 pounds that have never come back. Three years ago, my doctor advised me to do medically-supervised liquid fasting; I got down to 185 and a size 12, but regained the weight over the next couple of years (I did not realize losing that much also lost my coping strategies for the insane amount of stress I had/have). Over the past few months, I have gotten back on track and am working out more regularly and strenuously than I have ever managed. I'm giving you this background info because I am teetering between confused and worried, thus my AskMe today.

As I said in this comment, I do about 7 hours of hard cardio a week and lift 3x, and have done so since April. I am also monitoring what I eat, primarily by doing Weight Watchers, but I've also started using FitDay to get a detailed breakdown. I range between 1400-1800 calories a day, most of it non-processed "real" food; I have maybe 2 drinks or glasses of wine a week. I have lost two pounds in three months, although I'm down 3 sizes. I swing between worrying that I've completely ruined my metabolism over the past 27 years, and wondering whether I'm actually undereating and triggering starvation mode (again). My gym network offers metabolic testing with the BodyGem tool, and I'm thinking about doing it to get closer to my body's truth than the 10kcal/pound formula. This article (refereed journal) indicates that the BodyGem is more accurate than the formulas.

So, after all that... have you had metabolic testing done? Did the results surprise you, or was it what you thought? Did you use the results to change your eating successfully? Does it need to be done regularly (quarterly/yearly/etc) to be truly useful? I appreciate any info you can pass along - anecdotal, scientific, practitioner stories, you name it.

I didn't poop this morning, therefore I shall OM NOM NOM all day long

woebot — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:41:55 -0800

Why do I crave sugar on days when I've had a lackluster/no bowel movement? Normally I take a dump within a half hour of waking up, and my day is all sunshine and flowers afterwards.

On days where I don't poop in the morning (either from constipation [rarely], or because I don't have enough time/privacy to poop in peace) or if I don't completely expel all the poop that needs to come out (time restraints. sigh.), I notice an increased craving for sweets and an increased appetite in general (but mainly in the area of super sweet junk food and drinks). The cravings stop once my bowel movements go back to normal.

While this doesn't horribly cripple my life in anyway, I am quite curious as to why my bowel movements change my eating behavior as it seems to do. Any ideas?

Diabetes, you are not invited to my pizza party

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:12:22 -0800

I want to be fit, but I loathe "fitness." I want to lose weight, but I become so angry at the whole concept of being another woman on a diet. How can I reconcile my anger with my genuine need to be healthy? I am a second-generation nerd, and I have a lot of the same body issues as many of you, I expect. I was raised by kindly, bookish people, and from my earliest experience, sports and fitness were only pushed on me by rough, uncaring, incurious authority figures. Physical activity was for boring, loud people who were impatient with my many shortcomings at the strange games no one had ever taught me. The smart, gentle people who were interested in me sat inside in the quiet, and never broke a sweat if they didn't have to. I was a grown woman before I glimpsed the possibilities of a deep, healthy enjoyment of your own body.

As for dieting, I have a truckload of issues that I'll just send around to the delivery entrance. Suffice it to say that I was put on a popular adults' diet at age eight, and it made me a food-hoarder and secret eater. As a feminist, I demand to eat. I love food and I am not sorry. I bitterly resent the way that diet writers speak to me. (The only exception has been the Hackers' Diet, and it is no coincidence that it was written for men. It's not very sophisticated as a diet, though.) It is very easy, when I'm craving sweets, to blame the patriarchy and have a Three Musketeers.

But. I want to do the right thing for my heart. I do not want diabetes -- it runs in my family and I do not want to let myself get it. I don't want to let this abdominal fat damage my long-term prospects for, well, having a long term. And I, not the people in my past, am ultimately responsible for my health, and for moving my own flat white ass.

How do you fight the resentment? How do you get over choking on the voice that says fuck you I'm not in second grade anymore and you're no better than me whenever you go to the gym? How do you diet with a full respect for yourself?

Please make me fit, oh MeFi

paultopia — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:08:41 -0800

Workout filter: where you, yes you, lucky intarwebs, get to judge my fitness + diet regimen (long, detailed) I'm a 29yr old male, who is seriously overweight but used to be a lot MORE seriously overweight -- I'm about 295ish now, I used to be around 350ish. Took off those pounds with a combination of undirected gym, cutting back on things like sodas, and starting grad school = biking all over the place on huge campus. Was starting a serious exercise plan about a year ago, then I broke my ankle. Getting back on track now.

Now it's time to kick out the jams. I keep reading that 2lbs a week is a safe amount to take off, so I want to do so, for a year -- the goal being to be under 200 pounds by the end of June 2009. I'm in decent health apart from the weight -- no major medical problems, lots of muscle, etc.

I like aikido and swimming a lot, and feel vaguely obligated to do yoga because my muscles are not very stretchy. I want to include muscle-building stuff too. I HATE long cardio ordeals, so my cardio will be in the form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

ERGO, here's the workout plan:

sunday: HIIT on elliptical machine (15 mins, or working up to it), 20-30 mins swimming

monday: 20-30 swim, 1 hour-1.5 hr long yoga class

tuesday: 1 hr aikido class, 20-30 swim

wednesday: weights (all muscle groups), swim

thursday: aikido, swim

friday: HIIT, swim

saturday: weights, swim

Diet: goal is 2000 calories daily. Not sure how to get there, since I'm a single, poor, grad student with a sweet tooth who hates to cook. Also a little too addicted to dairy-filled latte caffeine bombs, and I'd like to figure out a diet that permits that.

Does anyone have any wisdom on a) the exercise plan noted above (too grueling? too easy? poorly conceived?), and b) how to do a healthy diet without having to spend hours a day cooking or choking down inedible salads? (Links on the latter would be great.)

thanks...

Quick-fix short term diet, exercise plan, or supplements?

alpha_betty — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:42:44 -0800

In need of quick fix short term diet, exercise plan, or supplements to lose 5-10 pounds in 2 months. There are so many diets and supplements out there, and the main thing I hear about them is that they work for a few pounds, but are not recommended for long term weight loss. Given that, and knowing that I'm not looking for a magical long-term diet that's all junk and no exercise, I'm looking for a diet, exercise plan, or supplement that will help me lose 5-10 pounds at a minimum, but 20 would be ideal, in about 2 months. I do plan on beginning the couch to 5k program, which should get me a fair distance toward my goal, but I would appreciate suggestions or advice as to the best way to accomplish this weight loss.

(I know, I know, YANAD and YANAN[utritionist] but I would still like to hear your experience and/or information.)

What should we read to know what my pregnant wife should be eating?

MythMaker — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:23:56 -0800

Recommendations on what diet my 6-week pregnant wife should be following. We just recently found out that we're pregnant, and trying to figure out what my wife should and shouldn't be eating. What are the books or websites to look at that are reliable sources of information? Thanks.

Please tell me what to eat!

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 09:24:51 -0800

I make bad food decisions. I would like someone to tell me exactly what to eat for every meal, every day. After a bad few years, I need to get myself back down to healthy weight but I fail at food. I know all the principles of a healthy diet in theory, but that knowledge does nothing to make me eat better, it just makes me feel guilty.

I am tired of thinking about food. I don't want to try to figure out what to eat, or feel bad about what I do eat, or keep making excuses for why eating a giant bowl of pasta and some chocolate chip cookies is probably not that bad, right?

I've tried a couple diet plans, but they are all so open-ended and full of choices that I find it really, really easy to justify even more bad food decisions.

Are there any people or books or websites or diet plans or anything that will tell me exactly what to eat and how much, in order to lose weight and be more healthy? I don't want 'cheat days' or my choice of dessert or a list of 100 'serves 4!' recipes for me to put together and modify myself. I don't mind spending money or cooking, but I don't like wasting food, so having to buy a head of lettuce or whatever for one meal, one day, and then throwing the rest away wouldn't be good. I'd like the meal plans to make sense in grocery-shopping, weekly-planning way. Does anything like this exist?

(And just to be clear, I'm looking for the type of healthy diet that includes whole foods and common sense, not any fad diets)

Beware the fourth day

LN — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:56:19 -0800

Help me get past day three of my diet. I've recently begun dieting (the No-S diet, for those interested). This is not the first diet I've been on, unfortunately. I've noticed over time the same thing happens again and again. I'm as good as gold for the first three days of a diet, but by the fourth day, I'm so overcome with cravings that I'm ready to eat the four walls and floorohmygodimhungry OM NOM NOM

My rational self comes to a bit later, and I'm mortified with myself for having "lost it" so early on in the diet. It's really rather frustrating.

Now, the logical part of my brain knows that the cravings on the fourth day are just my body getting down to the nitty gritty of burning stored energy reserves. Rational Me knows that it's all just a game of wills, and that soldiering through it is the only way. But when that fourth day hits, no willpower in the world seems sufficient to stave off the overwhelming cravings. And it's not like I'm starving myself; I estimate I'm consuming somewhere in the vincinity of 1500 to 1700 calories a day.

There are loads of Mefites out there who've dieted and lost weight, and I'm willing to bet at least some of you have had to deal with this. What tips or suggestions can you provide to help me get past the fourth day?

Feeding My Cats Homemade Raw Meat Diet - Good Idea?

billysumday — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:50:59 -0800

I want to make my own homemade, raw meat (chicken and rabbit) cat food. My girlfriend thinks it's a bad idea. Almost everything I can find on the interwebs suggest that feeding a cat a BARF (biologically appropriate raw food) diet is healthy for the cat. This wiki suggests that there is no scientific evidence pointing to a clear resolution - in the references section there are some vets arguing one way or the other, but nothing concrete. Has anyone been there, done that, or have any other advice? Following the advice and instructions of this vet, I'd like to grind up whole pieces of chicken, add the necessary supplements, and feed that mixture to my cats as a supplement to their dry food.

Girlfriend is pragmatic and a Ph.D. student in the sciences and is demanding solid research to support this idea. There is no solid research, so far as I can tell, but there are a lot of supplemental anecdotes by random people on the internet that swear by this diet. Also, online companies selling people raw food to feed to their cats.

I would love any suggestions people have of other, better recipes; advice on how to make homemade cat food; and ideas to convince the g/f to feed the kitties my super awesome Billysumday's special all-natural feline delite raw food diet.

I'd like to Cook a non english breakfast

Baud — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:31:33 -0800

help me find some healthy *and* cooked breakfast possibilities. Dear hive, I would like to start my day with a real cooked meal (meat, vegetables, etc.). It seems that in my case hot food sends positive signals that cold food (non toasted bread) does not.

Traditionnal english breakfast (eggs, sausage, bacon, etc.) feels a bit fatty to me. I'm looking for something hot on my plate, healthy and balanced.

What do you suggest I cook myself while waiting for the first coffee of the day to kick in ?

Will I lose my metabolism if I stick with this workout plan?

JamesJD — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:51:34 -0800

Will I lose my metabolism if I stick with this workout plan? I'm 20 years old (male) and I have always been pretty thin (around 120 lbs). I think this is because I have a super-fast metabolism. I can eat very calorie-heavy foods without gaining very much weight.

I've started lifting weights for the first time this summer and my trainer recommended a pretty ambitious diet (far more than I have ever eaten before in a single day) which I have posted below.

My fear is that if I follow this diet it might permanently slow down my metabolism. Is this a warranted concern? Also, I'll probably only be working out for 60-90 minutes per day, so I'm worried about becoming fat (even if I become slightly more muscular).

Is there anyone else who has been in my position who can comment? Thanks.

The diet:
1 gallon of water throughout the day

breakfast: 6 scrambled eggs, 3 slices of bread, one bowl of cereal, 6 slices of bacon, one apple

whey protein shake (with two servings of protein)

lunch: 12" subway sub, rice, chipotle burrito, 2 chicken breasts

whey protein shake (with two servings of protein)

dinner: (same as lunch)

whey protein shake (with two servings of protein)

post-dinner: 3 packs of oodles of noodles, peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Looking for a diet regimen recommendation, like a daily meal guide (also, vegetarian).

Jason and Laszlo — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:43:52 -0800

Looking for a diet regimen recommendation, like a daily meal guide (also, vegetarian). Looking to lose a few lbs. Please let me know if you have seen something helpful online or in a book, like monday: toast, fruit, veggies, xxx calories. etc. I'm a vegetarian but eat some dairy like cheese (and chocolate, heh)

thanks!

Leg cramp while dieting - can it be stopped?

humblepigeon — Tue, 27 May 2008 23:58:52 -0800

Whenever I diet I get cramp in my left calf at night. It's easily cured by standing up but makes me leap out of bed cursing. What's causing it? And is there any way of stopping it? If I've got to buy something, please bear in mind I'm in the UK. I've tried wearing a support bandage/stocking but, while that makes it feel better, it doesn't actually stop it.

Help a reasonably-fit vegetarian mefite turn into an extremely-fit meat-eating mefite!

cyanide — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:14:25 -0800

I've been a vegetarian all my life, but caught the fitness bug last year. I lost around 80lbs in about a year by jogging, working out at the gym and following a strict diet. Although I feel that my vegetarian diet is supplementing me well, I'd like to try non-vegetarian food just to see if I'm missing out on anything. More inside! Hello MeFites!
I've been a vegetarian all my life, but caught the fitness bug last year. I lost around 80lbs in about a year (from 280 to 200 currently, still a few lbs overweight at 6'1"), by jogging, working out at the gym and following a strict diet.

I'm loving every bit of my fit lifestyle and trying to find new ways to get fitter. I currently work out every evening for 1.5 hours and walk/jog for about 8kms every morning. Although I feel that my vegetarian diet is supplementing me well, I'd like to try non-vegetarian food just to see if I'm missing out on anything. My current diet includes a healthy amount of carbs and proteins and I'd love to know about non-vegetarian food which will taste reasonably nice (bonus points for finger-licking tasty stuff!) and provide me with the daily nutrients. I won't be eating fish (don't like the smell for some reason) for now, by the way.

Even though I love to cook, I won't be able to cook all this at home, and I'll probably be eating outside. I'd appreciate names of already-cooked meals which I can order wherever I go, and specific instructions to give to the cook, if any.

Thanks for reading! :)

heart health & my new diet

luriete — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:30:34 -0800

I am 37, 5'9", 185 & just had a minor heart attack. Diagnosis: diffuse coronary disease. I swim several times a week, and eat well. But I have questions about my new diet, the one that will help me lose 30 - 50 lbs in 2 years, as my cardiologist wants. Since the angioplasty & 3 stents, I'm changing the way I eat - eating more whole grains and fruit, hardly any meat. I am taking fish oil (1750 a day) plus my plavix and other drugs. My cholesterol is not particularly high, but my blood pressure was (I haven't smoked in 5 years and even then I never smoked more than a pack a week).

One thing a friend said was to eat lots and lots of sushi, which I love. I know that shellfish is high in cholesterol, but what about my favorite - unagi? It's very fatty, but is that the good kind of fat or the bad kind? I looked up how much fat was in it, but it didn't tell me if that fat was OK - are fish fats better than meat fats, or is it just a case of them being less bad for me, but not actually good?

I think I can do this new way of eating - lots of low-fat middle eastern, no salt, very little animal grease. But I am looking for other suggestions for interesting dishes and things I can order in restaurants that will keep me from getting bored of green salads when my friends are eating steaks and chicken wings (my favorite junk food!). Are turkey meatballs from trader joe's OK? I like them.

Anyway, just wondering if people could share their favorite low-fat recipes & tips for eating safe in restaurants. I have reservations at Incanto in SF in 2 weeks so I hope there's stuff I can eat there... :(

I'm hungry! Oh, wait ... I'm not. What's up with the fleeting hunger pangs?

grumblebee — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:31:42 -0800

Is it normal to have a hunger pang and then, a couple of minutes later, to not be hungry? I'm dieting and it's going well. More important, I'm trying to learn to eat only when I'm hungry. I can't believe I'm so out-of-touch with my body, but I have a hard time telling when I'm hungry and when I'm not. (I'm sure I'd know if I was famished, but I'm talking about garden-variety hunger.)

I'm slowly getting it. I'm slowly starting to think, as I'm reaching for the chips, "Wait! Am I hungry? Hmm. No, I'm not!" And so I stop reaching for the chips.

But every now and then -- when I haven't eaten for a while -- I get a pang: that sort of stomach-eating-itself feeling that's a little like heartburn. I get that, and I think, "I'm hungry! I should eat." But I find that if I wait a couple of minutes, the pang completely vanishes, and I can wait several more hours before I'm definitely hungry.

What's going on with the pangs? It feels like my body is signaling me that I'm hungry, but after the signal, it's going, "Okay. I made the effort to signal. I'm not going to bother with continual signaling. If he still hasn't eaten in a couple of hours, I'll give him another warning."

What can I eat with no teeth to speak of?

mediocre — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:40:59 -0800

Dentures dentures dentures! In stage one of getting dentures, what should I expect in the weeks to come? Due to a degenerative bone problem in my jaw, my dentist says that I have no option other then to get full dentures. I am 27, so you can imagine the humiliation involved.. and to make matters worse, I play the banjo.. Today, a matter of minutes ago.. I got home from having 20 teeth extracted, basically all of the back ones. Now my mouth is full of gauze, pain, and blood. When this is healed, I go back and get a second surgery where implants are placed for the lowers for retention and we install the uppers. In the mean time, what can I eat? I know nothing the suction limits, but does this include things like smoking "tobacco" pipes where there is no vacuum suction.. even if you are sucking on the pipe.. No straws, no solid foods to speak of.. all I have are my front teeth for cosmetic purposes and they are almost useless for chewing.. Should I get on a strict soup and juice regiment, or can I eat things as soft as cottage cheese? Any help is appreciated..

V8 agrees with me almost too much

yorick — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:34:12 -0800

My lifestyle is pretty healthy overall, but I always feel extra-good after drinking V8. I'm trying to figure out why this particular beverage agrees with me so much when included in a diet that's already pretty good to begin with. This mystery V8-variable makes me feel pretty good. I wanna identify it so I can be more savvy with my feeling good pursuits.

Some extra data to help formulate theories:
- It's regular V8, never tried the low sodium or other varieties.
- Regular tomato juice doesn't do the trick, although it hints at it.
- Simply eating vegetables never has this effect.
- 2nd place in my "feel awesome"foods is Quinoa, albeit a distant second.
- Diagnosed with Celiac a year ago & maintain a gluten free diet.
- Even with a high-fiber low-sugar diet, I easily succumb to "food comas", although to a lesser extent post-gluten.
- My metabolism is super-fast, to the point that the only way I can GAIN weight is via exercise (which I do religiously)

Telecommuting made me gain 30 lbs in 6 months. HELP me stop the spread!

citystalk — Sat, 03 May 2008 09:43:19 -0800

Please help me stop the butt spread and weight gain related to my 12 hour/day telecommuting computer job before I am relegated to a muumuu. Six months ago I was a fit young woman. I worked in consulting at an office with a light commute. Healthy, refreshed after a good night's sleep, energetic, size six...

Six months ago I was offered an amazing telecommuting consulting job, where I sit at home on my couch with my laptop for 12 hours and eat takeout all day. I haven't time to cook, I don't have a proper desk or chair, and my body is falling apart.

In six months I've gained thirty pounds and I'm getting pimples. And my awesome clothes aren't fitting. And I have cellulite and rolls. And I wake up every morning, weekend or not, at six am because I telecommute on EST which messes up my clock. And I'm always tired and addicted to caffeine. I also have become sloppier.

I LOVE my job. The hours are horrible but they fly by each day when I'm in 'the zone' and the pay is incredible. In this economy I feel very blessed, but my body is rebelling and I feel gross, even though my hubby is super sweet and claims to be into the spread.

I'm not devastated at this point about my physical appearance, but it's the type of spread that won't stop spreading. And I'm only in my mid-twenties. And genetically, I'm prone to spread. And next year commences baby-making so I really, really need to get in shape, for health's sake as well as vanity. So here are my questions:

1) What kind of chair/desk setup might alleviate butt spread? I swear my perky tush has actually flattened (as well as widened) from all of the sitting. I've heard of these expensive bouncy ball chairs, and I'm willing to try them. Also anticipate back problems in near future, too, so this isn't all about vanity. :)

2) What kind of exercise can I do in ten minute increments at my house that can help me get in shape?

3) How can I reset my clock on the weekends so that I can actually get eight hours of sleep?

4) What do y'all do to unsludge if you telecommute? I really want to be fit again, there just doesn't seem to be enough time.

5) What snacks/cooking arrangements do you utilize? Maybe I should get a crockpot or something...

6) Any other advice???

THANK YOU HIVE MIND! You've come through for me and my friends many a time! :)

Shangri-la diet — have you tried it?

deeper red — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:47:03 -0800

Further to this question from 2006, has anybody tried the Shangri-la diet in the two years since? Note I'm not looking for information or websites. Already got them. I'm looking for personal experience stories.

What is a good daily diet for someone looking to get cut?

wildrain2008 — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:20:25 -0800

What is a good daily diet for someone looking to get cut? I like routines so I don't care if it's the same for most of the week. In fact I'd rather it be the same so I don't have to really think about it. Some background:
I've been going to the gym 3 days a week for almost 2 months.
So I know this is too early to expect results, but I can say that I feel them—my abbs have gotten harder and I see some body definition. Problem is there's still flab! I'm not fat, I weigh 190 and I'm 5'11. I want the flab gone! I want to see definition!

Currently this is what I eat:

bkfast.. rarely on time if I even have one.. usually vegetable omelet and ice tea (low sweet)

lunch: salad with dressing or if hot plate.. meet/potatoes/steamed veggies

dinner: meet/broccoli/mushroom stew.. (my own creation.. my fav)

supper: ah .. anything i can get my hands on in the fridge.. fruits/yogurt... sweets..

My ears are opened.. what do you guys suggest

Why does meat make vegetarians vomit?

giggleknickers — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:43:50 -0800

Why do vegetarians vomit if they eat meat? Every time I've seen a vegetarian eat meat, by accident or because they were giving up vegetarianism, they always vomited. I was just curious as to why this is. Does anyone know?

If you're going to answer, please have some knowledge about the subject and preferably have a source. I can come up with guesses myself.

Weight loss for kitty

odi.et.amo — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:01:29 -0800

How much food do you give your cat compared to the bag's recommended serving? My kitty (he's about 3 years old and 16-17ish pounds at his last vet appointment) has a bit of belly flub so I have him on Royal Canin Indoor Light 37. The package says 1 cup a day for his weight and build but that seems like an awful lot given he sleeps almost all the time. I feed him about a half cup per day in 2 or 3 meals but his flub remains unchanged.

I know you are not my vet. My vet did say to reduce his food intake from what he was eating of his previous food which I did for a few months (before changing to this food) and which didn't change anything. Based on your own experiences with a chubby kitty, should I be feeding more, less, more frequently, or other?

Killer arms

barrakuda — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:48:56 -0800

How do I add tone and definition to my upper arms? I want my upper arms to look nice and toned this summer. I am a girl, petite, not overweight and with little exposure to sports. I recently started going to the gym and I want to do something about my flabby upper arms. So... What are the best exercises I could do to tone them up? How often should I do them, with how many repetitions? Should I change my diet at all? Eat less? more? more specific foods? For the record, I do not want superscary muscles a la Madonna but rather a nice, toned look. Thanks.

Help me figure out how to stick to a good healthy breakfast.

actionpact — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:24:13 -0800

Eatingfilter: I'm an admitted chronic meal-skipper, trying to mend my wicked ways. Help me enjoy a healthy filling breakfast and stick to it! I know there were a few similar questions on MeFi, but none really solved it for me. So here goes!

When I was a kid, I ate normally. When I got into high school, I often skipped lunch for the library; and then the crazy schedules of college left me eating erratically and sometimes in all you can eat portions. Now, at 24, I'm finding it insanely hard to eat breakfast. My eating habits are okay, but need improvement. I sometimes don't feel hungry at all, and othertimes overeat in big portions/crave snacks/multiple meals. I'm trying to get fitter, but also regain more energy and feel more productive (as a freelancer who works from home, productivity and self-motivation are super-important!).

I am trying to eat healthy: I've cut out approximately 80% of high fructose corn syrup out of my diet, adding whole grains into the mix, as well as bulgur and beans to start. I don't each as much fruit and vegetables as I'd like, because I live with someone who doesn't care for vegetables, and lately the selection's been not so great. Still, I eat them when I can. But breakfast eludes me. I'm retarded about it-- even though I wake up from 8-9am each day (I am shooting for getting up between 6-7, but I think breakfast is a good first step? I find it hard to drag myself out of bed early just yet), I find it hard to put together a healthful breakfast without a lot of muss and fuss (read: dishes). Much less keep up at it consistently for longer than a week. Today I picked up a box of Kashi GoLean cereal and some organic milk and bananas, and while it's not very sweet and gives me a touch of heartburn, I'll eat it for now.

So what I'm looking for are your good suggestions for breakfast. If the three big factors are easiness to prepare, healthiness, and cheapness, I'll go with the first two, because even though I'm on a budget I'd rather spend a bit more to feel healthier than shovel junk down my throat. Of course, budget options are also appreciated :)

I know eggs are a good solution, but they seem to be more effort than I'm capable of in the morning. I don't want to eat bagels or granola, I'm not a fan of hot cereals or oatmeal, and certainly not cottage cheese (anything with that consistency, or is like mayo/cheese based typically makes me queasy). I am a big fan of foods I can batch-prepare/cook (perhaps in a crockpot?) and eat throughout the week with easy reheating-- would even be happy to learn a healthy muffin recipe or some such thing. I like almost all fruits except for grapefruit; and breakfast ideas can be savory or not typical American breakfast foods too. So what of it, Mefites? I know I'm picky on what I like, but you may be the thing that actually makes me like breakfast again. For that, I love you in advance!