Could someone please take a look at my food diary?

queen_ana

Hi! Yes you're right, it's my name ironically enough it's also my ED diagnosis.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for looking over my foods and it's my TDEE not MFP's calculations. It's just that weight loss is slow compared to former ED status BUT it's worth it more this way, I just wanted to make sure my food diary looks "normal" and healthy. Thank you!

It seems that your intake is a bit all over the place - some weeks you're eating a better quantity, others not quite enough. Which TDEE website did you use to calculate? I like scoobysworkshop (http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/). If you like to log exercise, then pick sedentary. Otherwise if you don't log exercise but you do work out, then include taht in the calculation. 20% is low enough! Yes, the losses are smaller than if you way undereat, but you will come out much healthier and happier. I think I mentioned this before, but you may want to consider a food scale to weigh most of your foods (plenty of people don't weigh prepackaged foods or prepackaged individual portion stuff, I personally weigh anything prepackaged that's easy to weigh partially out of habit - whatever you do, just BE CONSISTENT!) although if this puts you into some bad ED habits then just measure as you are doing now. But weighing food often lets people see that they have been over- or even under-eating due to over/underestimating portions.

I'd say maybe consider upping your protein target (20-30%) but if you find that you feel too full all the time, then stick to the fat ranges and just eat more carbs. Carbs are a great way to get in more volume and calories but they are not as filling.

I used a site that I can't recall right now but I put "moderately active" bc I have to walk to school, about 4 miles in 1 hour total, then I do yoga/pilates/kickboxing at the gym for an hour, then maybe a run, then I hula hoop for about 30 min-60 min a day. Tbh, I sort of think I'm lying to myself about the calories and I SHOULD be eating at a 1700 level; my meal plans are about 1800-2200 a day but I can never consume it all, not matter what I try. I do eat inconsistently, you're correct. I will try to get that in order! And as for the food scale, I'd rather not, because I can become obsessive over it without even meaning to and then I won't eat a meal bc I'm mad at myself for not getting EXACTLY the amount of ____ I wanted to get.
Thank you for your time!

MelodyandBarbells

but again, you suggested that OP fill her extra calories with junk food-worst advice EVER.

adding in avacado, peanut butter, hummus etc is a much better alternative than adding cookies. High protein high fiber is the key to staying full longer and maintaining muscle mass when losing weight.

Nothing wrong with fitting in a bit of junk food in everyday a) if you want it, and b) if you're short on calories and have the room for it. I'd definitely rather have a snickers bar than hummus or avocado and I can still lose weight. Due to the weight loss, my body will become even healthier and my health markers better. And just because I have the snickers doesn't mean I haven't eaten *any* nutritional food at all, or sufficient quantities of it. It's solid advice

queen_ana

did someone seriously say to add more "calorie dense foods like junk food"........?

that's just ridiculous. "Junk" foods usually offer no nutritional value, worst advise EVER.

OP can get extra calories in if need be by adding "Healthy" foods and good fats.

I'm thankfully not that attracted to junk foods. I dislike chips, most fries are too oily for me, I get an upset tummy with grease EASILY, so I think I managed to dodge that bullet do you have a fav healthy food? I'm looking to add some more variety to my palate. Thank you for your help!

ana3067

did someone seriously say to add more "calorie dense foods like junk food"........?

that's just ridiculous. "Junk" foods usually offer no nutritional value, worst advise EVER.

OP can get extra calories in if need be by adding "Healthy" foods and good fats.

Junk food is fine to eat in moderation when the goal is to lose fat. ALL food is fine in moderation when the goal is to lose fat, and if OP has a hard time eating to her caloric limit then an easy way to do this sometimes is to just have, say, a donut. Or a few cookies. That way if she's not really feeling hungry but has been accurately logging everything and is a few hundred calories short of her goal, then she can eat a cookie and not make herself feel uncomfortably full as it's not high-volume enough.

Calories in and out, dude. Or IIFYM, or flexible eating, or moderation, or "maintaining sanity while losing weight by not restricting the foods you love to eat because fad diets are not worth embarking on when trying to lose weight" (and for me a fad diet is any type of restrictive diet that will not be maintained for life - most people don't wind up maintaining their diet eating habits once they reach goal weight, it's much easier to maintain your eating lifestyle when the only thing that changes is the amount of food you're eating and not the type of food you eat).

all things in moderation yes-junk food low in fat NO. I never said you can't enjoy ALL foods-but you suggested adding "junk food" which is the most ridiculous advice I have ever heard. We all know we have to occasionally "treat" ourselves so that we can maintain a specific lifestyle or "diet"

but again, you suggested that OP fill her extra calories with junk food-worst advice EVER.

adding in avacado, peanut butter, hummus etc is a much better alternative than adding cookies. High protein high fiber is the key to staying full longer and maintaining muscle mass when losing weight.

No, it isn't ridiculous. I'm almost halfway to my goal and I eat ANYTHING. I just make sure that if I'm eating something, it fits my macros. Sometimes, I have "junk food" once a week. Other times it's more like 3 times in a day for a week because I just feel like eating it. Often if I need to meet my macros fro fat but do not feel like eating peanut butter, I will obviously not choose to down a tbsp of oil or butter. Instead I have maybe a donut. Or something chocolatey. Or kettlecorn if it's a higher-fat variety.

Why is adding in avocado so much better? What if you don't like it, or what if you just really like eating cheetos sometimes? If it fits into your macros, it's fine to eat, and what IS ridiculous is to place restrictions of any kind - whether it's complete omission or only allowing something once in a while, which for me in the past led to binging, whereas by allowing myself to eat it whenever I want I no longer binge. Obviously if omissions are used for medical reasons (diabetes, heart disease, w/e) then that's different. But if you have no medical reason for limiting the consumption of things you enjoy eating, then keep eating them and if you'd like, use them to meet your macros. I have in the past been able to eat 160+ grams of protein while strength training and also eating donuts in the same day.

If you choose to view food as bad or good, that's totally fine. No food is off limits for me, and this is a much more sustainable approach than embarking on a "diet" wherein restrictions are placed. You do not "have to occasionally treat ourselves[/b]" when these things are not off-limits. Food just all becomes food. You eat what you are craving or what works for your goals or in some cases what is easiest or sounds most appetizing. Am I going to skip having french fries because someone says that they are junk food? Am I going to say "I can only eat french fries once a month!"? No. I'm going to eat to enjoy my life, while making sure I am consuming enough protein to maintain my lean body mass until I am able to start bulking next year. At which time I will still eat wahtever I want to as long as it's within my macros.

So yes, protein is important, but as I've mentioned, you can easily meet protein needs while eating other crap you happen to love. I had a good 9 hour window of not eating today (went shopping and that took a long time - public transport sure is fun! - and then I went to the gym which took a while) and when I got home just now, I popped some spaghetti into the microwave (pre-weighed the noodles yesterday and weighed out my desired spaghetti sauce portion and logged it all) and thought "hm, maybe I'll have that Mars bar I just bought yesterday... but hm, I also really feel like having a bunch of fruit, which one do I want more?" and so I chose fruit. I'll probably have my mars bar tomorrow because I am still craving it, and it'd be a nice treat as I haven't had one in ages as I've actually lost my extreme sweet tooth once I stopped restricting food. I used to buy like, 3 boxes of chocolate at a time (like stuff you'd buy for a party or for lots of people) and I'd easily eat ALL of it in a day because I would say "okay I can't be eating this but it's just today."

I think that's about all I'm going to say on the subject. You clearly place food into good and bad categories (which to me is not the same as "nutritious" and "not nutritious," as plenty of nutritious foods are seen as being bad when dieting - red meats or fattier cuts of meat in general is a good example, or CARBS! everyone seems to think carbs make you fat, and there are no distinctions for many people) and that's fine.. but that does not mean that all of us who are working on losing weight are doing so by following a diet. We are simply eating less of everything we love. So OP can make up her own mind if she'd like to eat junk food (and in my original post I also said high-fat foods, which would imply thinks like nuts and nut butter and oils and butter and fattier cuts of meat and anything high fat; a lot of junk food just happens to be calorie dense, making it easy to eat to increase one's calories if they have a hard time eating as much as they should because they no longer feel hungry whiel eating at too large of a deficit).

ana3067

but again, you suggested that OP fill her extra calories with junk food-worst advice EVER.

adding in avacado, peanut butter, hummus etc is a much better alternative than adding cookies. High protein high fiber is the key to staying full longer and maintaining muscle mass when losing weight.

Nothing wrong with fitting in a bit of junk food in everyday a) if you want it, and b) if you're short on calories and have the room for it. I'd definitely rather have a snickers bar than hummus or avocado and I can still lose weight. Due to the weight loss, my body will become even healthier and my health markers better. And just because I have the snickers doesn't mean I haven't eaten *any* nutritional food at all, or sufficient quantities of it. It's solid advice

Exactly, it's not like we're eating only snicker bars, as much as we sometimes would probably like to! If I were to eat 2000 calories of snicker bars I'd not be meeting my protein needs and I'd be hungry most of the day - it's all about choosing foods you'd like to eat based on many variables, but having all foods as a viable option and not just because it's a cheat day or a treat once a month.

ana3067

Hi! Yes you're right, it's my name ironically enough it's also my ED diagnosis.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for looking over my foods and it's my TDEE not MFP's calculations. It's just that weight loss is slow compared to former ED status BUT it's worth it more this way, I just wanted to make sure my food diary looks "normal" and healthy. Thank you!

It seems that your intake is a bit all over the place - some weeks you're eating a better quantity, others not quite enough. Which TDEE website did you use to calculate? I like scoobysworkshop (http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/). If you like to log exercise, then pick sedentary. Otherwise if you don't log exercise but you do work out, then include taht in the calculation. 20% is low enough! Yes, the losses are smaller than if you way undereat, but you will come out much healthier and happier. I think I mentioned this before, but you may want to consider a food scale to weigh most of your foods (plenty of people don't weigh prepackaged foods or prepackaged individual portion stuff, I personally weigh anything prepackaged that's easy to weigh partially out of habit - whatever you do, just BE CONSISTENT!) although if this puts you into some bad ED habits then just measure as you are doing now. But weighing food often lets people see that they have been over- or even under-eating due to over/underestimating portions.

I'd say maybe consider upping your protein target (20-30%) but if you find that you feel too full all the time, then stick to the fat ranges and just eat more carbs. Carbs are a great way to get in more volume and calories but they are not as filling.

I used a site that I can't recall right now but I put "moderately active" bc I have to walk to school, about 4 miles in 1 hour total, then I do yoga/pilates/kickboxing at the gym for an hour, then maybe a run, then I hula hoop for about 30 min-60 min a day. Tbh, I sort of think I'm lying to myself about the calories and I SHOULD be eating at a 1700 level; my meal plans are about 1800-2200 a day but I can never consume it all, not matter what I try. I do eat inconsistently, you're correct. I will try to get that in order! And as for the food scale, I'd rather not, because I can become obsessive over it without even meaning to and then I won't eat a meal bc I'm mad at myself for not getting EXACTLY the amount of ____ I wanted to get.
Thank you for your time!

Then definitely stick to measuring foods as you are! I would say try to get up to about 2000 calories every day and monitor your results and your mental state eating this much. Is there a reason you have a hard time eating up to your target that I either didn't see or you didn't mention? Such as jsut feeling full already, or is it a psychological thing? If it's that you feel too full, then definitely up your calorie-dense foods. You can choose whatever floats your boat for this. Otherwise, you can maybe try drinking your calories more - have a glass of milk, throw in some juice or iced tea or pop if you enjoy that. Anything that isn't really filling but has lots of calories is a good way to up cals if you're not feeling hungry. A lot of people who eat at a caloric surplus to put on muscle will do this, such as eating lots of peanut butter or using more fats in general. I cannot stomach eating that much peanut butter all the time, so I do like using junk food on days where I'm just not that hungry, or maybe I've woken up late and so I don't feel as hungry because I'm not awake as many hours. Otherwise, you can just try increasing your portions. So if you log half a cup of grapes, try a full cup, or 1.5 cups. Or you have 1 latte, maybe have a second if you are keen on coffee. Small increases can definitely add up!

Kalikel

did someone seriously say to add more "calorie dense foods like junk food"........?

that's just ridiculous. "Junk" foods usually offer no nutritional value, worst advise EVER.

OP can get extra calories in if need be by adding "Healthy" foods and good fats.

I'm thankfully not that attracted to junk foods. I dislike chips, most fries are too oily for me, I get an upset tummy with grease EASILY, so I think I managed to dodge that bullet do you have a fav healthy food? I'm looking to add some more variety to my palate. Thank you for your help!

An anorexic who eats healthy food! Quelle surprise! (For what it's worth, I believe that once anorexic, always anorexic. At least for a few decades.)

You know if you ask random people, they're going to say things like, "Just have a donut!" You knew that was coming, right?

You can lose any way you want, but DO NOT SKIP A MEAL. I don't care if they're going to fire you for going to lunch, you eat. It is extremely easy to get sucked back in when you start dieting. You skip dinner, then you figure it's late, so why eat now. When you get up, BAM, you're back in the swing. You're enjoying the wrong stuff ("I like starving!") all over again.

Unlike most people, you need to eat every damn meal and make sure you hit a daily calorie goal. Even if you're all cured. Make sure you eat. every. meal.

You know how to lose. I'm not even going to try to get into that. You have your plan, you want to follow it, great. The second you start even wondering if you're slipping, eat a potato loaded with butter or a piece of candy or something. If you can't, get back to therapy.

You want to stay at a healthy weight, so if you must lose, you must. But be very careful about it. Never let your guard down.

Honestly, I'd eat a bunch and lose via exercise, unless exercise was your thing.

(Lecture over.)

Craisins have a decent amount of calories. Avocado (I've heard.) Peanut butter - not healthy, but so good. You can add hidden ones if you eat glazed carrots (like a honey-based glaze) instead of regular or a bit of gravy on your chicken. Pasta, obviously...and in cream sauce, tons of calories. You can just add a dab of that sauce, you needn't make the stuff swim in it. Butter on white bread, etc.

Good luck.

queen_ana

An anorexic who eats healthy food! Quelle surprise! (For what it's worth, I believe that once anorexic, always anorexic. At least for a few decades.)

You know if you ask random people, they're going to say things like, "Just have a donut!" You knew that was coming, right?

You can lose any way you want, but DO NOT SKIP A MEAL. I don't care if they're going to fire you for going to lunch, you eat. It is extremely easy to get sucked back in when you start dieting. You skip dinner, then you figure it's late, so why eat now. When you get up, BAM, you're back in the swing. You're enjoying the wrong stuff ("I like starving!") all over again.

Unlike most people, you need to eat every damn meal and make sure you hit a daily calorie goal. Even if you're all cured. Make sure you eat. every. meal.

You know how to lose. I'm not even going to try to get into that. You have your plan, you want to follow it, great. The second you start even wondering if you're slipping, eat a potato loaded with butter or a piece of candy or something. If you can't, get back to therapy.

You want to stay at a healthy weight, so if you must lose, you must. But be very careful about it. Never let your guard down.

Honestly, I'd eat a bunch and lose via exercise, unless exercise was your thing.

(Lecture over.)

Craisins have a decent amount of calories. Avocado (I've heard.) Peanut butter - not healthy, but so good. You can add hidden ones if you eat glazed carrots (like a honey-based glaze) instead of regular or a bit of gravy on your chicken. Pasta, obviously...and in cream sauce, tons of calories. You can just add a dab of that sauce, you needn't make the stuff swim in it. Butter on white bread, etc.

Good luck.

this is truly one of the most perfect things i've read in a while. you're right, anorexia is sort of like battling alcoholism, in terms of: recovery a conscious decision that's made every single day. Maybe one day I'll be able to look at food and not calculate calories or feel the need to burn off every single calorie, but right now it's just about not skipping meals, which I think I am doing super well or at least significantly better. I'm still struggling with meeting calories but I tell myself "oh you had an orange and watermelon, that's fine for lunch" but I'm working on upping calories while letting my body heal and also trying to lose the weight that I gained under no exercise and during my stay with the fam but your advice is perfect, thank you.