How is my food diary?

vienna_h

I'm pretty new to MFP and keeping track of what I eat, I didn't know what a calorie was until a couple months ago... can someone look over my food diary to tell me if I'm on the right track?

I'm female, 26 years old, 5'4, 116 lbs. My normal weight though is around 105 lbs. I want to go back to my "normal" weight and get lean. Probably my biggest problem is protein, even with protein shakes I usually don't get enough protein. I I'm not sure I'm counting my portions properly though, and I realize now I have a lot of bad snacks and desserts.

So... how does it look?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/vienna_h

AJ21STL

it looks good to me!!! I would make sure you eat at least 1200 calories though so you don't end up storing any body fat and slow your metabolism down. It sounds like you will lose your few pounds you want to shed in no time! Watch your sugar too.. That's the problem for me, ha! Keep up the good work ;-)

grimendale

I'd try to get a little closer to your goal. You want to get close to your net total. You should probably eat most of the additional calories in protein since your protein looks a little low. A good rule of thumb, the following is recommended:

1g of protein per lb of LBM as a minimum target

0.35g of fat per lb of total body weight as a minimum target

The balance can fall where you wish, taking into account performance, satiety and adherence.

Hope that helps.

CycleGuy9000

Looks good but you really should be at 1200 at least, anything below that and you're slowing down your metabolism. Try Hydrolized Whey Protein from Optimum Nutrition or a Whey Protein Isolate, this way you can get 30 grams of protein per scoop and not have to drink so much of it, Lean ground turkey is also high in protein.

CycleGuy9000

You also don't need to eat 1 gram of protein per 1 pound of your body weight, that's an old rule, 90 grams is exactly what you should be at for 1200 calories a day unless you're looking to gain muscle. Use this calculator and check out the other calculators on this site to give you some good ideas (http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nutrient_calculator.htm).

Hope this helps you!

Ang108

I'm pretty new to MFP and keeping track of what I eat, I didn't know what a calorie was until a couple months ago... can someone look over my food diary to tell me if I'm on the right track?

I'm female, 26 years old, 5'4, 116 lbs. My normal weight though is around 105 lbs. I want to go back to my "normal" weight and get lean. Probably my biggest problem is protein, even with protein shakes I usually don't get enough protein. I I'm not sure I'm counting my portions properly though, and I realize now I have a lot of bad snacks and desserts.

So... how does it look?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/vienna_h

You are mistaken in regard to your ideal weight. Depending on your bone structure the weight range for a woman 5'4" is between 114-151 pounds, which means that you are perfect. I am only five feet tall and can weigh more than 105 pounds. Maybe you should start lifting weights if you want to get " lean " and eat a decent diet with quality protein, which is not difficult to do.
Your food diary imo looks much better than many. I especially like that you eat a wide variety of vegetables. I would keep on doing that plus increasing your protein some. Maybe all you really need is lifting to get the body you like.

PS: I don't live in your country and therefore can't give you any useful advise on how to increase your protein easily.....but I am sure others will. Good Luck !

vienna_h

Thanks for the advice so far!!!

I never knew my protein intake was so low, so I'm glad I started adding protein shakes, but I think I will try one that has more protein per serving, like Optimum Nutrition or Allmax Isoflex. I don't really like meat and I don't eat poultry, and there is only so much tuna I can eat before getting sick of it! so I'll make sure to increase protein and reach 1200 calories every day.

I haven't lost any weight since I started MFP and working out. And yes, 105 lbs IS normal for me, I have been between 103 and 108 lbs since puberty. I only recently gained weight from an illness (I didn't recover well from surgery and my cortisol levels skyrocketed, I was in bed for a few months). If you look at my "progress photos" you'll see I have a very small frame and the extra weight I gained is entirely on my thighs... it doesn't look healthy lol. I've always been pear-shaped, but not this much! I'm one of those people for whom the BMI chart doesn't really apply.

I've been doing light cardio and strength training.

grimendale

You also don't need to eat 1 gram of protein per 1 pound of your body weight, that's an old rule, 90 grams is exactly what you should be at for 1200 calories a day unless you're looking to gain muscle. Use this calculator and check out the other calculators on this site to give you some good ideas (http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nutrient_calculator.htm).

Hope this helps you!

I did say it was a rule of thumb. I agree that 90 grams is fine, but she only ate 40 grams. I wasn't criticizing the macros, just the intake.

vienna_h

bump

corgicake

I'm guessing that you're likely vegetarian or flexitarian since there's no meat on the days I looked at. Other than needing to start hitting your calorie budget (read: not going under) and eating more beans and seeds it doesn't look too bad. In fact, those dinner ideas look pretty good...

vienna_h

I'm not really vegetarian, but I don't eat a lot of meat, as you've noticed. I just don't like eating it often, and I hate cooking it. Hence why most of my meat is from canned tuna or restaurant meals.

cute corgi by the way!