Please review my food diary on April 4

joowelz

Please review my food diary on Monday, April 4 and tell me what I am doing wrong.

My meals on this day is typical of what I have on a daily basis. My breakfasts, lunches, snacks and desserts are almost always consistent. Dinners change in terms of which protein and veggies I have that night.

I want to hit my calorie goal of 1600 but always go over quite a lot because I feel hungry after dinner. I've been mixing peanut butter into Greek yogurt as an evening snack because the pb satiates me. It feels like it sticks to my stomach and quiets down the roaring hunger lion. But as we all know, a mere tablespoon is 100 calories so this is really harming my weight loss efforts.

DancingMoosie

Your user fees is private, so I can't see your diary. You need to go into settings and change it to public.

snowflake954

I saw your diary. I would ask you your stats and how much you told MFP you want to lose a week. It is very possible that you asked for a 2lb a week loss and MFP gave you a low calorie goal per day. If this is what happened, asking for, say, a 1lb loss a week will give you more calories everyday and it'll be easier to hit your goal. This is a common problem. Since you say you are roaring hungry before bed that could be the case.

Without more information it's hard to help. You seem to be logging and eating just fine. Some people exercise more so that they get more daily calories, however, that can boost your hunger too. You have to find a comfort zone with your deficit. It should not be a huge sufferance. Change things around until you find your sweet spot. It takes patience and the realization that weight loss takes time. So many go for a big deficit to lose weight fast. It leads to burnout and failure.

joowelz

Sorry I should have provided that information. My goal is 1/2 lbs weight loss per week with only five pounds left to go. I am adding back only 50% of my exercise calories. I am part vegetarian (no mammal meat), 5'6 and currently 163 lbs.

AnnPT77

Would it help to shift your meal times (such as eat dinner a little later, or add in some snacks), or save some calories for after dinner?

One thing to consider might be trying peanut butter powder in your Greek yogurt instead of regular peanut butter. It has some PB flavor, some good protein, but less fat so lower calories. Based on the date you suggested we look at, you seem to be getting a decent amount of fats, even before your evening peanut butter, but are somewhat short of your protein goal.

It's possible that you're finding the yogurt/peanut butter sating because of the fat, but it also might be the protein (or just the timing of your eating/nutrients across the day). If the protein is what's helping you feel more full then subbing the peanut butter powder (or even a protein powder) might give you a lower calorie but filling option. There are various brands of peanut butter powder, with minor variations, but the one I use is 35 calories per tablespoon (8 grams), with 4g protein . . . the same amount of protein you're getting from your peanut butter, but at less than half the calories.

Another name for peanut butter powder is defatted (or semi-defatted) peanut flour. Almond butter powder also exists. They're just the nuts with fats removed, powdered, maybe a bit of salt or a tiny amount of sugar, depending on brand. There are also chocolate peanut butter powders (cocoa is an ingredient), calories not much different.

What it takes to keep a person full and happy tends to vary individually, so this next might be totally wrong for you, but just something to consider. I'm a vegetarian myself (ovo-lacto), so I do need to pay attention to protein.

While I was losing weight, I found that getting enough protein through the day, and specifically getting a solid amount of protein in breakfast, was really important to me, to feel full through the whole day. The addition of protein to breakfast mysteriously helped me feel less hungry in the evening, besides. To do that, I was willing to allocate a few more calories to breakfast, too.

Like you, I enjoy oatmeal at breakfast, and find that filling. I've swapped my breakfast oatmeal formula details several times since weight loss, so it's hard to remember the lowest-calorie version (I've been in maintenance for 6+ years). I think I've always had around half a cup (really 112g) of plain nonfat Greek yogurt in the oatmeal, which is 11.9g of protein for 66 calories (Kirkland brand from Costco, but others are similar).

I always keep a big tub of plain nonfat Greek yogurt on hand, and add my own berries or sweetener as needed. I found half a cup of yogurt with chocolate peanut butter powder and some frozen berries to be a nice, filling snack, too, for around 150 calories total. That was sweet enough for me, from just the berries and the touch of sugar in the peanut butter powder, but a tablespoon of apple juice concentrate or all-fruit spread would only add 30-40 calories and some sweetness.

The plain Greek yogurt is also a good sub for sour cream or mayonnaise in some uses, with more protein and fewer calories, really versatile. It also becomes a creamy salad dressing with a bit of salt and some dried herbs (need to let it sit for a bit to soften them & spread the flavor), thinned with skim milk (or water) if needed for consistency.

I think it can be more common to have evening cravings because that's the part of the day where we tend to be more fatigued, even if subtly, and cravings are an energy-seeking thing. That may be why redistributing some of the more slow-digesting nutrients earlier in the day could be helpful for people like me, but that's pure speculation.

Apologies for rambling, and best wishes for finding a solution!

joowelz

Thanks Anne, i always enjoy your posts. Congrats on being in maintenance for 6 years!!! That's the dream 😆 I will try this pb powder. Never heard of it before. That's one of the reasons these forums are so helpful

Luke_rabbit

Other options for flavoring plain nonfat Greek yogurt (approximately 1 cup) to make it dessert-like are:

5 grams/1 Tbsp cocoa powder (my brand is 10 calories) plus, if desired, sweetener of choice. I add Splenda when I remember. A bit of cinnamon is a nice addition.

1/4 of a package of sugar free instant pudding mix (7 grams, about 25 calories). Cheesecake flavor is popular, but I've enjoyed several different options. I believe this is better if you mix it up, let it sit in the fridge for an hour or two, and then mix again, but I'm rarely that patient.

I like to add blueberries, either fresh or frozen wild/small ones or fresh raspberries.

These options don't add extra protein or fat, but, at least for me, it seems to be the protein in the yogurt that satiates. I do get plenty of fat throughout the day.