New please help with diet

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Hello everyone for the past week and currently I have been eating a big salad for lunch and dinner and for breakfast oatmeal. The salad is one of those pre made salad from sams and I add 3 to 4 cheese cubes in it along with a handful or 2 of chicken breast no dressing. Now my oar meal I make in microwave as instructed half cup of oats and 1 cup of water. I add 4 grapes and a little stevia sugar too. I was hungry last night so I ate a sandwich that had two wheat bread and 1 slice deli cheese and 1 white turkey the ones that are located by bologna was that ok? And can i do this to lose weight? Also I am starting to work out again I have trainer
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Replies

  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
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    Welcome! You need to go to the "most helpful posts" pinned to the top of this board to get yourself started on the program It looks like you just recently decided to start losing weight and posted before getting familiar with the tools. This is a great site with a lot of friendly, helpful posters to help you along the way. Best of luck!
  • DennysWifeMrsMattox
    DennysWifeMrsMattox Posts: 66 Member
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    Hey There!

    I am just starting back after having a baby, so I'm in this to drop a lot of weight.

    How much are you trying to drop?

    How often are you working out?

    What time are you working out?

    What time are you eating?

    How much sleep are you getting?

    Why the pre-made salad? (Any chance you can buy the stuff and take it with you?)

    Do you measure the chicken, or just guess?

    A sandwich for dinner isn't the best choice. Veggies and fruits are a great idea if you feel hungry at night. Try eating fish and baked chicken before 8pm. If you are a lady (It doesn't tell us on here) like me, having carbs (bread) for dinner really doesn't do good stuff for us. Carbs with breakfast is a better idea, and wheat with low calories is the best :smiley:

    If you can answer my questions, I might be able to pass along some advice. I plan to drop about 50 pounds in 109 days. I am on a good track to do it so far.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited August 2016
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    cityruss wrote: »
    After you weighed and logged all of this did you meet your MFP calorie and macronutritional goals?

    That'll tell you if it's OK or not.

    ^^^^ this!

    edited to say: I do not cut out carbs or any foods as advised by the post above. Sandwiches are simply fine!! I just make sure what I like to eat is within my goals. I would not survive through food restriction.
  • dariusshaw
    dariusshaw Posts: 29 Member
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    Thanks for replies I am a guy by the way I weigh 248lb and at least want to weigh 200 or less. I eat pre made salad because it's like a grab and go meal just add what I want. I only add chicken breast no I don't weigh them I don't know how, along with 4 cheese cubes. I started exercising literary today and yesterday with a trainer but, trainer fee are high so my membership with trainer ends September 20 I think. I will still have access to gym just bye my self. For breakfast at 5:00am I eat oatmeal 1/2 cup oat with 4or 5 grapes and around 10:00am my training sessions start .after training I eat my salad at 1:20 pm then start second work shift. Now some days I have school so after work I head to school at 6:00pm and I'm out around let's say 10:00pm I arrive home at 10:40 then eat salad again. Now on weekends no work or school so I would say breakfast at 10:00 am because I stay up all night then just eat salad when I am hungry. I have a cheap manual treadmill and recently bought 20lb dumbells haven't used dumbells waiting on trainer say so. sorry for long post .
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    There are many ways to do salad.........but salad is going to get old really fast.

    My diet includes everything. Pasta, rice, sandwiches, etc. I don't cut anything out. HOWEVER, I can't snack whenever, I can't dish up pasta without regards to portion. It's all available.....but it's all controlled. That's my future on maintenance too.....all available....but within limits.

    Just log everything you eat. Meet your calorie goals. Tweak your macros (you don't have to do this right away). But you may find higher fat is filling, or higher protein....whatever. Find macros that help you stay the course.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
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    Start logging. You're probably not getting the right macros just subsisting on salad, even if you are adding chicken. If you want to weigh your food, grab a food scale. You can find one that weighs with oz or grams on Amazon.com for likely around $10-$15. It's worth the investment. If you don't want to weigh food, you can still log it, it just won't be as accurate.
  • dariusshaw
    dariusshaw Posts: 29 Member
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    I eat my salads out of a sure fresh container not sure if I can take picture of it and post it but how do I log that
  • dariusshaw
    dariusshaw Posts: 29 Member
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    Oh and I don't think I can view my macro what ever that is I have to be premium
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited August 2016
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    You can view your macros in the food diary. The web version doesn't do a full nutrition breakdown in one glance but the mobile version does; no premium account required.

    The thing is, you're telling us what you're eating but we'd need to do a lot of work to figure out how many calories you're eating and how many you need. Instead, what you really need to be doing is entering your height, weight and activity information into MFP to get a calorie goal and then entering the food you are eating into the Food Diary to see if the calories you're eating are close to the calories MFP says you need to be eating to lose weight. It's really that simple. Then you can vary what you eat every day and just aim to stay close to that calorie goal.

    If you're buying premade salads then they should have calorie and nutrition information on the package or bowl the salad was sold in. Once you add the salad in once, it'll be available to easily pick from your recent foods list. You can then add the chicken and cheese you added, too, so you'll get the full information from your meal.

    Buy a food scale and use it. They are relatively inexpensive and a very handy tool so that you know exactly how much you're eating. Things like cheese have a lot of calories and should be weighed so you can make sure they fit into your calories. A cube of cheese about the size of playing dice contains around 100 calories. If you're eating 4 of them on a salad that's 400 calories. If they are bigger that's more calories. Best to weigh them so you make sure exactly how many calories there are.
  • dariusshaw
    dariusshaw Posts: 29 Member
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    Ok I logged in everything I ate today so I still have more calories left and judging buy app it says I am under the goal of protein and macro etc is that ok or do I need to eat some more stuff
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
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    What time are you working out?
    Workout timing doesn't matter for weight loss.
    What time are you eating?
    The time of day one eats has no affect on weight loss or gain.
    A sandwich for dinner isn't the best choice. Veggies and fruits are a great idea if you feel hungry at night. Try eating fish and baked chicken before 8pm. If you are a lady (It doesn't tell us on here) like me, having carbs (bread) for dinner really doesn't do good stuff for us. Carbs with breakfast is a better idea, and wheat with low calories is the best :smiley:
    Sandwiches are fine for any meal if someone wants to eat one and it fits their macros and calories.

    Carb timing has no affect on weight loss. Carbs are not bad and can be eaten any time.

    Why is it bad for females to not have carbs for dinner? Many have pasta/rice/veggies with dinner and lose weight just fine. Do you have any scientific evidence backing up this claim?

    The time of the last meal of the day does not matter unless reflux is an issue... Eating after a certain time does not equal fat/weight gain. The metabolism runs 24/7. Sometimes I eat around an hour before sleep and I've still lost weight.

    Weight loss is ALL about calories. Eat less than your TDEE (maintenance calories) and you will lose weight.


  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Yes you need to eat more stuff. Peanut butter has fat and a little protein and packs a lot of calories in a little package. Milk has a little protein too.
  • pleaserose
    pleaserose Posts: 8 Member
    edited September 2016
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    Try smart ones or lean cuisine meals. You can add extra veggies if you want . If you do sandwiches do carrots and or a rice cake. Also you should probably add snacks . Apples , peaches , fruit cups , fruits and veggies are very safe. I was also told staying away from carbs is a bad decision because when you start eating the carbs again you gain all the weight you lost back. If you want variety egg whites and toast will make a breakfast . Grape fruits , slim fast shakes , special k meal bars are good too . Certain cerals if you eat the serving size. Soups are good too if you eat the serving size or plan your dinner for the whole can . I recommend fit star for at home working out too. Two sessions a week are free.
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
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    My only concern would be that you're going to get bored really fast. You can eat all foods within reason. Just do a little research and see how many calories are in your favourite foods and see if there is a way to fit them into your calorie goal once in a while.
  • dariusshaw
    dariusshaw Posts: 29 Member
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    Yea you guys are right I logged 8nbmy weight etc and food it says I was eating less than required I thought that was the goal to eat less. Well anyway I ate a salad for lunch and for diner I had two baked fish steaks and 5 shrimp i think I have to buy a food weigh too. I hope that meal didn't ruins my diet plan. Also is crystal light liquid good to add to water?
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    pleaserose wrote: »
    Try smart ones or lean cuisine meals. You can add extra veggies if you want . If you do sandwiches do carrots and or a rice cake. Also you should probably add snacks . Apples , peaches , fruit cups , fruits and veggies are very safe. I was also told staying away from carbs is a bad decision because when you start eating the carbs again you gain all the weight you lost back. If you want variety egg whites and toast will make a breakfast . Grape fruits , slim fast shakes , special k meal bars are good too . Certain cerals if you eat the serving size. Soups are good too if you eat the serving size or plan your dinner for the whole can . I recommend fit star for at home working out too. Two sessions a week are free.

    The bolded part is not true. When you eat very few carbs you deplete the glycogen in your body. Glycogen binds with water so you lose a lot more water weight at first on a very low carb diet than on any other type. When you start eating enough carbs to replace the glycogen you will gain back the water that binds to it, too. You will not, however, suddenly regain the fat you lost.

    The reason a lot of people seem to think that starting to eat carbs again means all of the weight will be regained is twofold: 1) that water weight jump can be concerning if you don't realize it's going to happen and 2) most people go right back to eating the way they were before which means eating too many calories to maintain their goal weight.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    dariusshaw wrote: »
    Yea you guys are right I logged 8nbmy weight etc and food it says I was eating less than required I thought that was the goal to eat less.

    The goal is to eat less but if you've given MFP your information and told it how much weight you want to lose per week it's already figured out how many calories is "less". That's your goal calories and the weight loss is built into them. If you exercise and add that into MFP it will give you more calories to eat since you "earned" them. You should eat at least some of those extra calories, too, so you can maintain the weight loss and not lose too much too quickly.
    dariusshaw wrote: »
    Well anyway I ate a salad for lunch and for diner I had two baked fish steaks and 5 shrimp i think I have to buy a food weigh too. I hope that meal didn't ruins my diet plan. Also is crystal light liquid good to add to water?

    As long as your dinner stayed within your calorie goal (you did log it into MFP, right?) then it won't ruin your plans. Yes, Crystal Light is good to add to water.

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    My only concern would be that you're going to get bored really fast. You can eat all foods within reason. Just do a little research and see how many calories are in your favourite foods and see if there is a way to fit them into your calorie goal once in a while.

    This^

    Learning about your favorite foods is going to help in the future too. We can't "diet" as in temporary change (now) and then go back to our regular habits when we are done losing weight. Our regular habits are what got us here.

    Extreme changes (as in very low calories, only "diet" food, or extreme exercise) are almost always just temporary. There is a high percentage of burnout. The goal is to reduce calories......AND also change future behavior. We want to be healthy for life.

    Losing weight is just the first step. Keeping the weight off is the second (often more difficult) step.
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    dariusshaw wrote: »
    Hello everyone for the past week and currently I have been eating a big salad for lunch and dinner and for breakfast oatmeal. The salad is one of those pre made salad from sams and I add 3 to 4 cheese cubes in it along with a handful or 2 of chicken breast no dressing. Now my oar meal I make in microwave as instructed half cup of oats and 1 cup of water. I add 4 grapes and a little stevia sugar too. I was hungry last night so I ate a sandwich that had two wheat bread and 1 slice deli cheese and 1 white turkey the ones that are located by bologna was that ok? And can i do this to lose weight? Also I am starting to work out again I have trainer

    Darius, dude....your meals sound so boring. Are you going to be able to keep that up? At your height/weight/activity there is no need to starve to lose weight. You can eat prepackaged stuff if it's easier...there is nothing wrong with it. Bag salad is my friend too. But man, throw in some treats before you fall off the wagon..Even if it's just fruit and cheese.

    Using this website, you are gonna have to count calories to be successful...at least initially. After a month or so of that you'll have a good idea of what portions look like and what fills you up and you might be able to skip counting (or not). But you need a baseline to start from.

    Any zero calorie beverages won't impact your weight loss. It also doesn't hurt to have a beer or something if you have the calories for it.