Please critique my food diary

stefraab

DISCLAIMERS:
- I am still nursing my 1.5 yr old - this is why my deficit is only 1/2 lb a week.
- I know I don't "need" the odd beer or bite of chocolate. These are treats I allow myself.
- I'm very honest with my logging. If I ate it, it's in my food diary.
- I tend to overestimate how many cals things are or serving size in an effort to not cheat myself by overeating.
- I know I need to watch my sodium sometimes. It gets a little out of control

I'd love to know what people think about my diet. I've been stuck at 160ish for what seems like forever. This is always the barrier I hit and I'm starting to flip out a little that I won't be able to get under it (no where near a "healthy" weight for my height. I have a TON of body fat).

How's my balance? Thanks in advance all!!

alohabrie

First glance - you need more fruits and vegetables.

momma3sweetgirls

I went back about 10 days in your diary and it really looks pretty good. You're eating most of your exercise calories, which is good. One thing I noticed is that you are more often than not UNDER your fiber and OVER in Fat. I track exactly the same things in my diary and I always try to make my Fiber and Protein in the red (negative) and the rest in the green.

Have you thought of changing up your exercise regime? I don't know what you are currently doing, but sometimes our bodies just adapt to what we're doing and need a change to get things moving again.

Good luck.

dls06

Watch the processed foods. Eat more fruits and Vegetables. You eat a lot of High Carbs, I would Lower your carb goal and it will raise your protein so you won't be over on protein so much. And you already know to watch the salt.

tbrown1025

I would echo the more fruits and veggies. Also, if possible, try to use less pre-packaged foods, as this is where your sodium hits will come from. If you really want to challenge yourself, try dropping your sodium goal to 2100 - this could help encourage you to eat more whole/natural foods. Also, you could play around with your macronutrient percentages as well.

stefraab

I went back about 10 days in your diary and it really looks pretty good. You're eating most of your exercise calories, which is good. One thing I noticed is that you are more often than not UNDER your fiber and OVER in Fat. I track exactly the same things in my diary and I always try to make my Fiber and Protein in the red (negative) and the rest in the green.

Have you thought of changing up your exercise regime? I don't know what you are currently doing, but sometimes our bodies just adapt to what we're doing and need a change to get things moving again.

Good luck.

Thanks! Yes.. I def need more fiber. I was wondering if I should take some sort of fiber supplement?

Also - I have committed myself to doing the 90 days of P90. When that's over I'll switch it up, but I wondered if that was one of the issues too. I just increased the difficulty though recently. i went from 1/2 to 3/4.

stefraab

Watch the processed foods. Eat more fruits and Vegetables. You eat a lot of High Carbs, I would Lower your carb goal and it will raise your protein so you won't be over on protein so much. And you already know to watch the salt.

What kinds of processed foods do you mean? We never eat anything store-bought... all the meals are all homemade. Do you mean things like granola bars or the hamburgers?

Also - yes. I probably should be eating fewer carbs. How do I go about lowering that goal? I looked in the diary settings but didn't see anything...

Thanks for your advice!

stefraab

I would echo the more fruits and veggies. Also, if possible, try to use less pre-packaged foods, as this is where your sodium hits will come from. If you really want to challenge yourself, try dropping your sodium goal to 2100 - this could help encourage you to eat more whole/natural foods. Also, you could play around with your macronutrient percentages as well.

We never eat pre-packaged foods. Honestly I think a lot of the sodium comes from the odd sauce. I find it in two recipes we make: homemade pizza (obviously, cheese etc) and this vegetable pad thai - I think it's the sauce that goes into it.

Do you know how I can change the sodium goal? I def need to watch that sucker.

Thanks for your help!

mjemerson

Try doing vegetables in every meal. Try cutting out eating pasta everyday and maybe do it 1-2 times a week. You are doing well though with your logging and really it looks good I am just trying to be nit-picky. More vegetables will always help you to lose weight though. My biggest problem is quality of calories and not quantity. When looking at the labels stay far away from white flour, enriched flours, semolina (just another word for white flour).

ChantalGG

Are you making your own pad thai? Or it is frozen or packaged?

stefraab

Try doing vegetables in every meal. Try cutting out eating pasta everyday and maybe do it 1-2 times a week. You are doing well though with your logging and really it looks good I am just trying to be nit-picky. More vegetables will always help you to lose weight though. My biggest problem is quality of calories and not quantity. When looking at the labels stay far away from white flour, enriched flours, semolina (just another word for white flour).

No that's great - I need the nit picking.
We've had a couple pasta-heavy weeks. I have been trying to avoid it. I'll give the "chef" a little talk (i.e. my husband :-)).

Thanks!!

stefraab

Are you making your own pad thai? Or it is frozen or packaged?

Nope, everything you see in terms of lunches/dinner is homemade. We never by pre-packaged anything

mjemerson

The other thing I was thinking was veggie meats. I am far from a vegetarian but have substituted some of my meats for veggie meats because it is lower in fat, gets that serving of veggies in, and are usually high in protein. We have veggie burgers and do veggie sausages/ground beef so we can make breakfast sandwiches or make tacos. I know it's not the same but I actually have found them very yummy and you can always season things up the way you like which helps.
When doing breads look for a type that the slice is less then 110. The bread we use is 75 Cals a slice. Or use josephs oat bran flax pitas/tortillas.
Just some other ideas I thought of.

stefraab

The other thing I was thinking was veggie meats. I am far from a vegetarian but have substituted some of my meats for veggie meats because it is lower in fat, gets that serving of veggies in, and are usually high in protein. We have veggie burgers and do veggie sausages/ground beef so we can make breakfast sandwiches or make tacos. I know it's not the same but I actually have found them very yummy and you can always season things up the way you like which helps.
When doing breads look for a type that the slice is less then 110. The bread we use is 75 Cals a slice. Or use josephs oat bran flax pitas/tortillas.
Just some other ideas I thought of.

Thanks! that's a good call. Esp on the veggie burgers. I'm not totally mental about hamburgers anyway so it might be good to try switching it up!

stefraab

Thanks everyone! This has been most inspiring. I've got a bunch of new recipes now to try that are more vegetable based :-)

I still welcome more advice though :-)

tbrown1025

I would echo the more fruits and veggies. Also, if possible, try to use less pre-packaged foods, as this is where your sodium hits will come from. If you really want to challenge yourself, try dropping your sodium goal to 2100 - this could help encourage you to eat more whole/natural foods. Also, you could play around with your macronutrient percentages as well.

We never eat pre-packaged foods. Honestly I think a lot of the sodium comes from the odd sauce. I find it in two recipes we make: homemade pizza (obviously, cheese etc) and this vegetable pad thai - I think it's the sauce that goes into it.

Do you know how I can change the sodium goal? I def need to watch that sucker.

Thanks for your help!

You can change your sodium goals, as wella s your macronutrient percentages in your settings. You can change your goals by choosing the custom option.

What I meant by the processed foods is that I did see some instances of the granola bars, the veg. pad thai (perhaps that's homemade?), the pancake mix (that's from a box right?). But really (after a 2nd look and going back farther into your diary), you don't have too many processed foods, your'e doing really well with that -- those were just some things that jumped out at me, but it doesn't seem to be in excess amounts.

cutie2b

One thing that struck me is that you eat a large portion of your calories for dinner/night. How late are you eating? Right before bed time? Consider eating more calories for breakfast/lunch. The french and italians who have some of the lowest obesity levels eat most of their calories at lunch. And studies have shown having the most calories at Breakfast makes you eat less during the rest of the day. Just something to think about...

stefraab

I would echo the more fruits and veggies. Also, if possible, try to use less pre-packaged foods, as this is where your sodium hits will come from. If you really want to challenge yourself, try dropping your sodium goal to 2100 - this could help encourage you to eat more whole/natural foods. Also, you could play around with your macronutrient percentages as well.

We never eat pre-packaged foods. Honestly I think a lot of the sodium comes from the odd sauce. I find it in two recipes we make: homemade pizza (obviously, cheese etc) and this vegetable pad thai - I think it's the sauce that goes into it.

Do you know how I can change the sodium goal? I def need to watch that sucker.

Thanks for your help!

You can change your sodium goals, as wella s your macronutrient percentages in your settings. You can change your goals by choosing the custom option.

What I meant by the processed foods is that I did see some instances of the granola bars, the veg. pad thai (perhaps that's homemade?), the pancake mix (that's from a box right?). But really (after a 2nd look and going back farther into your diary), you don't have too many processed foods, your'e doing really well with that -- those were just some things that jumped out at me, but it doesn't seem to be in excess amounts.

Aah gotcha! Yes granola bars for sure. I've tried to cut down on them recently. I really should just eat a handful of nuts. And yes, the pancake mix is from a box. Hubby is the pancake maker - I should twist his arm and force him to make homemade. LOL.

All the lunch and dinner meals are homemade though, pretty much across the board.

Thanks for your help!! :-D

stefraab

One thing that struck me is that you eat a large portion of your calories for dinner/night. How late are you eating? Right before bed time? Consider eating more calories for breakfast/lunch. The french and italians who have some of the lowest obesity levels eat most of their calories at lunch. And studies have shown having the most calories at Breakfast makes you eat less during the rest of the day. Just something to think about...

You're so right. We do eat pretty early - between 530 and 630 - but I would ideally like to have a heavier breakfast & lunch and a lighter dinner. Unfortunately it doesn't always work out like that. Thanks for your input!