Critique my diary, need help.

jrcox520

My diary is public, and I want some people to take a look at it. I'm finding that I am always ending up with too much fat, but I haven't been worrying too much about it because when I look at what I'm eating I can't really find a place to shave it off (back off my almonds.) Starting tomorrow I'm going to try netting 1200 instead of eating back all my exercise calories or what I have been doing, which is just creating a huge deficit. I'm worried that I'm creating too much of a deficit on exercise days and encouraging my body to hang onto the weight. So in a nutshell, I want to fix:

1. Staying within fat goals.
2. Getting more potassium, this one is really tricky.
3. Lowering my sugars, which I've broken everyday despite being under in carb goals.
4. Finding healthy ways to increase calorie intake on exercise days.

I'm open to any other suggestions as well. I've prefilled in tomorrow including my exercise calories. Have at it, please help!

DISCLAIMER: Yes, I ate pizza today. I enjoyed my leftovers from last night. No, I don't everyday. I realize that my foods tend to be higher in sodium and I'm always looking for reduced sodium versions of the foods I enjoy daily. I'm simmering homemade soup as I type! I watch my sodium through the Android app despite its absence in my online diary, and on most days I am under the 2500 MFP recommended. I have a months worth of entries, please don't base your response on days that are not the norm.

pkarim

Your diary looks good and you're getting a good amount of protein. The only thing I suffer from is eating processed and packaged foods. Things have bee easier fro me since I eat only minimally processed foods. I've also cut deli meat and make my own using fresh chicken and turkey breasts. See if eating more natural foods helps

LindsayChick

I agree w/ the previous post that I think your diary looks really good. I think being under your calories is the most important thing for weight loss.... but I admire you for wanting to decrease the fat some. I would also try to add in more "natural" snacks, like celery or apples and peanut butter, carrot sticks and hummus or even yogurt, which I find to be very filling and low calorie!

Great job and good luck on your journey!

HotMamaByVday

I believe you have too much sodium in your diet (via the processed, packaged foods). If you incorprate more whole foods (shop the perimeter of the grocery store), I think you will be able to eat more, feel more satisfied and lose weight faster. Real foods will also lower your fat intake. Lots of real foods have potassium without the added detriment of sodium (sweet potatoes are my go to, but also spinach and squash). Here is a website that lists potassium rich foods: http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/food/potassium-foods.htm

Hope this helps a bit. Feel free to add me as a friend.

MB_Positif

You should also be tracking sodium and maybe fiber or sugar. You can have up to 6 columns, just go into settings and see the other categories you can add. Overall looked like a decent day, but cheese has a lot of fat...and let me tell you, I adore cheese, but have really cut back and I have definitely lost a lot of my weight since I started eating less cheese! You can add me as a friend if you'd like!

vulrich93

I just took a brief look, and not sure if anyone else has mentioned this (I didn't look) but today I noticed you ate a lot of cheese. Cheese has a lot of fat, so try and reduce that amount slowly. Nuts like almonds contain the GOOD fats, but again watch the caloric amount. For a healthy cheese, I think the milk fat percentage has to be 22% or lower. Mozeralla is usually within the guidelines.

realme56

Right now I am getting my cheese punch with the Weight Watcher and Laughing Cow wedges. Fabulous flavors, spreadable and low fat/low cholesterol.
Potatoes are a great source of potassium and fiber, those cheese wedges act just like butter (well maybe a little thicker). I also use Tofutti Soy Sour Cream in place of mayo for tuna. I mix 2T Tofutti and 2T non fat greek yogurt with seasonings for my spreads.
That is my 2 cents worth for now.

CakeFit21

I think you should start tracking your sodium. I have a feeling you would be SHOCKED to see how much sodium you are taking in. That could easily translate into water retention. I actually wouldn't worry about your fat grams being over, but I would think twice about where you are getting them. I would NOT cut the almonds, they are probably the healthiest fat on there! Cheeses, pizza, sausage, deli meats, crackers, popcorn... everything is processed. You need more WHOLE foods! If you cut out all of that stuff all of those numbers would drop dramatically, I promise you.

Remember good fat doesn't make us fat. Fats and sugars from processed foods or what makes us gain weight and they don't give any nutrition.

OnedayMama

I would lower processed food. Cook some chicken breasts and use that as your protein. More fruit and veggies for carbs. I would stay away from crackers, even though they are low cal/sodium. Any processed food will have a lot more sodium which holds water in your body.

k8edge

Everything that you eat looks very healthy to me! If you are worried about fat I would look to cheese first... You eat cheese often and that is high in fat content. You can get your daily dairy through non fat yogurt and non fat milk. Just a thought...

cbinnd

High potassium, low fat foods like fish (tuna has 484 mgs per serving), many different kinds of beans (kidney, lima, white), dried apricots (814 mgs per serving), bananas, raisins, avocado (high in GOOD fat!), almonds are great - good source of fat and potassium. I would try to keep your fat coming from natural sources so you get the good kind your body can use as fuel. Those are also going to have more potassium per serving. You can google high potassium foods for a great list to choose what you like and will actually eat.

Maybe a great breakfast for you could be scrambled egg whites, spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers, etc. and a glass of orange juice. Throw in lots of veggies for bulk and you'll have lots of potassium with NO fat (just use nonstick cooking spray as the oil to saute everything in).

But your doing great!! Good job!


PS the info people are saying about sodium levels are very true!! When I started watching mine, my weight came off drastically and easily! One thing you should be aware of though is that the recommended levels of sodium has changed from 2500 mgs to 1500 mgs. MFP still has it listed as 2500 so be aware that's too high! (per my nutritionist)

flyingintheskyiamfly

Feel free to have a look at my diary for ideas. I've never gone over on fat (: Need to watch my sugar though, but it's all from fruit..

pelleld

Looks like too much cheese and processed foods and not enough fruits/veggies. I find that cheese has a lot of fat for a little portion, and for me just not worth it. The fat in the almonds is "good" fat, so I wouldn't cut that. But maybe on days you're getting close to your fat grams have only half a serving of the almonds? Some people will say that the fat grams don't matter as long as ou are under on calories, but for me it matters. Also, the processed food usually have lots of sodium which can hold up weight loss. Good luck to you!

jrcox520

Thank you all SO much, I really appreciate all this input. You're all right, I eat a lot of cheese and not enough vegetables. I can cut the cheese down, and I just bought a bunch of veggies today. I do watch my sodium via the app, and most days its below the 2500 allowance. I probably shouldn't have posted this on one of my more "carefree" days, lol. But yes, usually its right below and maybe a little over in sodium. When I first started the goal was just to stay within limits. Now I'm more interested in fine tuning and adding variation to what I eat. I'm pressed for time on workdays so being able to quickly prepare is essential. Cooking healthy on the fly is next on my to-do list. Thanks everyone!

TS65

I would say, don't worry about your fats as long as they are good fats (coming from nuts, avocado, etc.). You may want to track your sodium. A lot of what you eats appears to be high sodium items (whih would make you hold on to water). Your Florentine Pizza for examle - 1020g of sodium - over half your daily allotment (if you set it to 2000).

Just a thought.

cbinnd

Just remember sodium intake should be 1500 mgs or lower :happy:

IronSmasher

Holy €£@%

Try eating food?

You're averaging two pieces of food a day, the rest is junk

jrcox520

Be nice now.

mamagooskie

Okay so I didn't read the previous posts so I'm sorry If I repeat anything but here is what I found with your diary.

First off you are probably consuming way too much SODIUM!! The soups and processed foods have so much salt it's crazy.

Next too much eating out (Bostons, taco bell, chikifila, dominos) I looked at the last 2 weeks and you ate out 6-7 times (or ate leftovers I'm not sure) but anyway you really should limit restaurant food again mostly because of the sodium, but the fat in a lot of those foods is high as well.

Here is where you can cut down on fat:

*Cheese (don't eat it 2-3 x a day) and buy low fat varieties of all your faves.

*I notice you like eggs and eat them often....try egg whites instead and you can trim off sooooo much fat not to mention the cholesterol.

*use low fat mayo instead of regular

*light popcorn instead or try airpopping your own

*If you cut out the almonds all together you could easily shave off quite a bit of fat but that is the healthiest fat you eat and if they are a fave of yours just do the above suggestions and you should be able to have your daily dose off almonds and not go over in fat.

I think everything else looked pretty good though overall.....make sure you drink your water!!!

mamagooskie

I looked at your tommorrow diary and the fat is extremely high still.....actually I think it's higher than any day in the last 2 weeks!


For tommorrow I'd cut the cottage cheese out of breakfast and the nuts.

with lunch I'd eat 2 oz of meat not 4oz and that would lower your sodium to a more reasonable amount.

I would also skip the nightime nuts.

I'd also up your fruit and veggie intake DRASTICALLY!!

a whole banana at breakfast. twice as much carrots with lunch AND a salad. maybe have some sugar snap peas or celery for snacks , an apple, grapes, strawberries, blueberries anything fresh like that instead of the crackers you are having at night, and whenever you are having a sweet tooth.

I really think you would benefit from eating more fresh, unprocessed, whole foods.

jrcox520

@cberndt1987, thanks for the adjusted sodium allowance. I'll make the changes in my settings.

IronSmasher

Sorry Jacky, I think I was wound up by all the people saying how healthy it is.

There's lots of tips available at working fresh foods into your life, it can just take a little effort on your part, maybe some tupperware, freezer and a sunday afternoon prepping.

I buy cheat stuff, pre mixed veg or salads, pre chopped onions or peppers etc.

I can see from some of the weird and wonderful 'diet' stuff you get (which I'm not sure I can even get in this country) that you're trying really hard to get your nutrients. I just believe we can all have a much easier time with better results if we just try to eat fresh.
At least stuff with less than 5 ingredients, that you can pronounce the name of. I think that's far healthier than starting to worry about your macros already.

Good luck!

P.S. I tend to try to get back on track after a bad food choice as soon as possible. There's no point feeling guilty and bloated for longer than you have to

Molldoll0702

I agree with all of what has been said, especially about the sodium. I too need to get more disciplined when it comes to my sodium! But I overall think you need to eat more. Everyday you are under in your calories and you are earning exercise calories on top of that. I can see from what you said in your inital post that you are willing to eat at least 1200 calories to see if that helps and I strongly suggest you do that. When you dont eat enough your body goes into starvation mode and it holds on to the fat...you are doing yourself and your body a disservice by not eating your alloted calories each day. I suggest trying to eat your minimum alloted calories, increase fruits and veggies, and keep an eye on your sodium and you will be surprised at with the weight loss!
Good luck!

cbinnd

No problem! When I adjusted that for myself it made a HUGE difference! Thats when the pounds started melting off for me. I still struggle with it, and there are days I go way over but for the most part its good to watch If you have any more questions, friend me, and I can chat with my nutritionist and help you