Opinions on my Diary

tdlsaint

Hey guys, long time reader first time poster ;-)

Really, just looking for someone that knows nutrition to browse at my food log and see if they have any advice on tweaking it. I've been reading a lot of forum posts and trying to educate myself the best I can.

I'm a 43 year old male, I started out at 265 pounds and then had a friend tell me about MFP. I logged in and started using it at 261 pounds and when I weighed in yesterday I'm down to 235 pounds. I should be coming up on my 3 month date pretty soon, I'm not sure exactly how long it's been since my first log in.

What I'm thinking, is when I look at my logs, it seems that even though I eat mainly decently healthy foods, my sodium is always high. How hard is it to keep that in check ? I'd also just like general opinions on my dietary intake as well, in case someone notices a red flag that I don't know about. Thanks in advance!

chonnie29

Fridays food entry - no more cookie dough flavour bars for breakfast, eat some oatmeal with fruit. and lay off the cheese. besides that, you're good

momtokgo

There are no veggies in your diet, or fruit. Veggie straws do not count as a vegetable. Try some real ones, you might like them.

renstwin

You don't eat enough. Your goal calories are 2,000+ and you are only eating 1200-1400. Why?

Zoeotis

Hi

I had to look up veggie straws as I've never heard of them (I'm in the UK), I'm not sure if the are supposed to be an alternative to crisps or vegetables but you seem to eat them pretty regular and I think they might be one of the causes of high sodium in your diet. Maybe raw carrot sticks or celery sticks would work instead
Just a thought

ajelove

Anything that is convenient like the tyson chicken is going to be higher in sodium. Cheese and milk have sodium. Subway meat is going to be packed with sodium. I would suggest getting low sodium turkey and chicken lunch meat from the store, and stocking up on some salt free seasonings to cook your own meats with. I know it is hard ...but cooking my own food has been the only way I significantly reduced sodium.

tdlsaint

Aje, thanks, I hadn't noticed the sodium issue with the strips / chunks of Tyson, great heads up!

Zoeotis, ya, those straws are a crisps substitute more so than the veggie side, I picked them over pretzels due to how high in sodium pretzels are. I may see if I can stomach some carrot sticks this weekend to see how it goes.

Renstwin , I'm only averaging 1400 because that's what I feel comfortable with at the moment. To me it's a guideline, not a bible ;-) but I do appreciate you looking and replying, thank you!

momtokgo, I actually dehydrate bananas, plantains and apples on a quite regular basis and eat 100 calories worth at a time, but I get mixed reviews here on logging fruit, so I don't log it. Veggies, yea you're right, I probably need more.

Chonnie, if only it were real cookie dough eh ? It's a vitamin bar that tastes like anything but a cookie =0P When I pull up oatmeal and look at it's nutritional value paired with a fruit, the only real difference I'm seeing is the 198mg of sodium I'd save vs. the bar, plus Fiber I'm sure, what else am I missing about these balance bars?

Thank you to everyone that took the time to look, I'll definitely tweak my intake!

jesscod

MFP uses formulas based on your height, weight, age, and exercise level to determine how much energy to put into your body to lose a certain amount of weight. If you eat below the recommended amount you put yourself at risk for bodily starvation. Look up starvation mode - it is not a sustainable weight loss method. Just sayin'.


I would say instead of going for packaged foods - aim for fresh. You will reduce your sodium a lot right there.

Include high calorie vegetables like potatoes or collard greens.

Try cooking your vegetables (steaming, putting them in soup) if you do not like the taste of raw veggies yet.

Eat nuts - they are high in protein, healthy fat, and calories.

Hope that helps

tdlsaint

Cool, thanks Jess , I like potatoes and I'm not sure about collard greens yet. Just found out two days ago that I like spinach, so still trying new things.

When I filled out my profile, I went very light on how many pounds I wanted to lose a week, so if I couldn't stand the lower calories of losing more pounds per week on a more agressive input, I'd at least know what was the maximum I could eat and still lose at least a minimum. That's the big reason it reads as if I'm eating 600 calories less than what it suggests on a regular basis. Thanks for the heads up tho.

** For example, if I chose to loose 2 pounds per week, my current calorie recommendation is 1530.
Since I listed it as 1 pound per week, then it's the 2030 that you see instead.

Still good info to know, I think I may kick it up 200 calories based on looking back at that chart.

Thanks again.