Reddit reviews Prepworks by Progressive Fruit and Vegetable Chopper

I use something like this and it makes dicing vegetables twice as fast! I found mine at a tjmaxx I think

ooooh. nice. I'll have to try that next time.

and yes! the mandolin slicer and a chopper-thing are daily workhorses in my kitchen.

SO USEFUL!

Here are some tips I learned along the way to lose 110lbs (365 to 255) at age 37.

I did this without counting calories (this would of drove me insane..) and trying to follow some obscure nebulous and restrictive "program" (I'm looking at you keto, paleo..) that I would need to study and constantly think about (losing weight you're already struggling so this is particularly difficult in the beginning) and in approximately 8 months. Exercise was certainly involved - more on that later..

Not eating healthy and or being overweight your living in a fog - your mind and body struggle to deal with every day life already behind an eight ball. You will need something simple and laid out to get started and begin to see results that doesn't require a degree in fitness or nutrition to figure out.

This is a wall of text but hopefully has some bits and pieces that you and others will find useful - I wish I knew what I know now 10 years ago so I am gonna share this as much as I can. I am no expert but I have some experience.

Back story:
----------------
6'3" former high school football player, amateur kickboxer (read: some what athletic) finds girl gains 100lbs over 15 years of flirting with hardcore MMO playing, shitty eating and many many attempts to lose weight the wrong ways. I managed to always lose the same 20-30lbs every time but I always rebounded and always gave up. This is what happens when you go train without eating healthy.

Eating healthy IS 95% of the work. Get it? Got it? Good. Be forewarned - Healthy eating IS hard work and hard work is a GOOD thing. We live in a world that sells us convenience which slowly kills us - Hard work and a daily routine is what will help you help yourself.

My revelation was finding http://www.fit2fat2fit.com this site has 6 months of the meals a personal trainer ate to lose the 70lbs purposefully gained. Most people will tell you to eat right, few will tell you what it actually looks like.

Also included shopping lists and work out plans - I opted to train differently myself.

My tools of the trade:
----------------------------

• Foreman Grill - [Amazon Link to Grills] (http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/182-2539320-6266833?url=search-alias%3Dkitchen&field-keywords=foreman%20grill&sprefix=foreman%2Ckitchen) cooking 4 chicken / turkey breasts in 12 minutes? No brainer. Depending on your budget maybe opt for something with a removable grill you can wash easily
  
• Vegetable chopper Amazon Link to Vegetable chopper - fast way to prep stuff
  
• Blender Amazon link to blenders - I choose a Ninja model but it was plastic and tended to crack..
  
  How I got started:
  -------------------------
  
• Put my laptop on the counter that day and followed as closely as I could
  
• I shop for food 2 to 3 times a week - always have the food you need
  
• I took 2 months to make sure I had eating healthy down - No gym yet - lost 30lbs in Nov. and Dec.
  
• By the 3rd month I was adding an extra class
  
• At 6 months I was training 4 to 5 days a week - your mileage here will vary - just stay active!!
  
  What my days look like:
  --------------------------------
  
• Wake up - urinate - check the scale (scales are ONLY one metric - this ONLY let me know if I plateaued so I needed to make changes)
  
• do dishes - make breakfast & prep snacks & lunch
  
• Work
  
• Shop
  
• Home - do dishes - make dinner (prep food for next couple days)
  
• Training / Exercise
  
• track progress - I used a simply google tools spreadsheet - no apps
  
• Bed rinse / repeat
  
  You have a child - your routine will obviously be different and around your family but this is my experience. I used to game for 3 to 4 hours - that time is gone spent eating right and training.
  
  What I did differently than F2F2F:
  ---------------------------------------------
  
• Made sure I had G.O.M.B.S every day - Greens, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries and Seeds - I added this in even when not called for
  
• I took an appetite suppressant PGX soft gels
  
  Lessons learned:
  ------------------------
  
• A scale is useful but NOT the only metric - measure yourself and keep track - the scale will mislead if you aren't careful. The body is an amazing engine that gains and looses 5 or so pounds over the course of a day so don't be deceived by daily fluctuation - weigh in once and think changes over weeks not days
  
• You need to eat to lose weight - seems counter intuitive but if you don't eat you flip the switch for your body to store energy - your body needs fuel to burn calories
  
• Eating healthy is putting the right fuel in for your body to run right - one doesn't piss in a gas tank and expect an engine to run right so why do we do this to our bodies?
  
• Do NOT try to change how you eat and exercise at the same time - learn to eat first & get into the routine - set yourself up for success
  
• Eating poorly makes your body crave junk food - it will NOT be easy in the beginning but as you continue to eat healthy your body will eventually crave the healthy food
  
• Water - This is ALL I drink. I used to drink a six pack of pop (soda) a day. No juice. No additives. No coffee latte or whatever. Just water. Okay occasionally green tea.. sue me.
  
• Hunger & water - In North America we are very blessed with access to an abundance of water - we DON'T drink enough. We often mistake hunger for thirst - our sense of thirst is so muted it feels like hunger - DRINK A LOT OF WATER - if you don't have a clear urination you did NOT drink enough water
  
• Supplements, pills vitamins - YOU DON'T NEED THIS SHIT. You want to piss neon or fluorescent green so you can piss in the dark? Just add whatever the latest miracle vitamin and that's about the only benefit you'll get. Eating healthy is how you'll get the nutrition your body needs
  
• Eating out - We all do it - All I did was make sure whatever I ordered matched whatever the F2F2F planned meal was and stayed away from too many extras. No matter what situation you're in - have a plan and you'll struggle less
  
• Processed food bad. Your plate should ALWAYS have 50% green stuff on it.
  
• Organic if you can but I found it was helpful to always have a bag or two of prepackaged vegetables or salad handy a week helped immensely when I was feeling lazier
  
  MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS:
  --------------------------------------------
  
• You need to take responsibility for what you eat - this is the ONLY way you'll find success - you need to do this for you - you cannot expect anyone else to follow you down this path - you will have to cook for yourself and it may mean eating different meals than the family - people will not understand - initially it is an adjustment for everyone you know. Just do what you gotta do and ignore the silliness
  
• Healthy eating has to become second nature - a routine - something you just do and don't think about too much - put the time in to prep stuff ahead of time so when you're down and out and not feeling it you don't have to do much to stay the course
  
• Making your meals every day removes that choice you struggle with when you didn't bring lunch and snacks and you have to decide - help you help yourself here..
  
• You WILL plateau - make minor adjustments and you'll get over the hump. I would lose 10lbs over a month and then nothing for a couple weeks. A minor change - adding in some more exercise or switching up how I ate a bit got my body back into burning
  
• When you lose weight and you're heavy you've depleted fat cells which don't go away without surgery so if you stray too far from the path these cells quickly restore energy - I've learned the hard way
  
• There is no cheating - If you eat something less than ideal that's okay!! Enjoy that shit and simply continue along. You'll have earned a treat. Just keep in mind that treats will quickly kick start the junk food craving - as long as you're prepared this is no problem
  
• this is a life style change. Pure and simple. Never look back.
  
• the more weight you lose and or the healthier you become results in more energy - couple it with training and that mental fog you walk around in goes subsides and you function at full capacity - give it time you'll understand
  
  Exercise:
  --------------
  
• What do you like to do? Find some way to do that. Start small. Make sure you LISTEN to your body. You are a big human being so its going to be hugely important for you to protect it while you build its capacity
  
• There is many options that don't require a gym - stay away from super high intensity stuff in the beginning like P90x. My love for martial arts led to GSP's rush fit - I was in good shape by this time but I could do this at home with minimal equipment - you should be able to find something you can do but think long term - no short term burn the candle and both ends shit - LONG TERM!
  
• Yoga is a good place to start - great to build a solid foundation
  
• Cardio isn't the weight loss answer - it's great to build endurance but not necessarily to shed pounds - weight training - more specifically metabolic weight training vs. traditional weight training is a more efficient method - what that looks like I am learning myself - google is your friend here - Coach Scott Abel has a lot of good info BUT this a steep learning curve so probably too much in the beginning
  
• Rather than trying to learn something complex just find a good training program to get started - the F2F2F site training would be a good jumping off point
  
  I hope this helps you and whomever else is out there struggling - been there, done that, still fighting every day.
  
  EDIT: Fix links / errors
  

I chop a lot of stuff and I can highly recommend the Progressive International GPC-4000 Fruit and Vegetable Chopper.

You realize that these are all just ingredients, right? Like, if you wanted to go buy a 50lb bag of black beans you could do that. There's no need to get the freeze dried ones, they aren't any easier to use. I guess the vegetables come pre-chopped... but you could also just get one of these.

For prep:

• A vegetable chopper
  
• A cutting board chopper/dicer
  
• A garlic peeler. Seriously. If you cook with garlic, get. this. item.
  
  For cleanup:
  
  
• Soap dispensing dish brush. I can't explain why this makes cleanup so much faster and more painless, but it does. You also use way less dish soap.

If you want perfect cubes each time, use a large mandoline slicer to slice the tomatoes into discs, then use a vegetable chopper to cube the discs.

If you don't care about perfection, quarter the tomatoes and pulse a few times with a good food processor.