Food Diary Advice

ashshields12

Hi, wondering if someone could give me some advice on my food diary? what I should change? what i could improve? any tips would be appreciated.

I am trying to loose weight.

Thanks

wrecktechno

This post is going to be all over the place sorry.
I think you could change up your breakie from cereal with yoghurt to maybe having a poached egg and piece of multigrain toast. Start your day with protein will keep you from getting cravings as bad. Also check the sugar content on Just Right, I am constantly AMAZED at how sugary Australian cereals are-it almost makes me cry. Oats with skim milk and half a banana are also a fantastic choice for breakfast.

I would increase your snacking. The general idea they say is to eat 5 smaller meals through the day rather than 3 large ones. Eat a few nuts and a piece of fruit, some avocado or cottage cheese with low sugar/calorie jam on ryevitas, oat cakes with a bit of peanut butter etc. Make sure if you have "sugar" like fruit to have protein with it eg nuts to keep your blood sugar levels stable. Just make sure the snacks are as healthy as possible-plus it'll stop you reaching for bad foods when you have a sugar craving.

Maybe instead of having milky ways, buy a block of Lindt ultra high % dark chocolate. You only need one square to satisfy a sugar craving.

I'd say try to keep the bacon intake low, as tasty as it is, it's not good for you.

I feel like you could eat a lot more, just make sure it's healthy. I think a habit people losing weight tend to fall into is to eat under calories but the food they eat isn't overly healthy. Like you could have 1200 calories worth of Oreos, you'd still be under calories but Oreos aren't a balanced diet. If you can, try making a salad for lunch but make sure it has protein such as chicken and a sprinkling of nuts or eggs or something in it.

If you're in Aus, you should get a Michelle Bridges book (my sister has one and I have one and we swap). She has awesome ideas for meals and things, plus you learn a lot about pairing foods and why you shouldn't have this or that at that time. That helped me mentally (I just need to put it into practice).

I find it easy to make healthy lunches if Im cooking chicken breasts for dinner, to cook an extra one to have for lunch with salad the next day. You could start to cook in bulk and freeze the leftovers to ensure that when you get home and you're too tired/lazy to cook, you don't reach for a bad or high carb food but you heat up some healthy leftovers.

Keep the carbs low at dinner if you can too. Maybe have the carbs at lunch and salad at dinner. As my old PT used to say, load up the cardio, cut the carbs and keep up the protein. Have protein with every meal.

Otherwise looking good!

ashshields12

Great advice thank you. I don't tend to get many cravings which is a good thing. I have thought the sugar intake on the breaky side of things was high (yes I'm in australia) might change to a poached egg and toast. I don't tend to snack much on the weekend. I tend to be busy and forget. I seem to work better on it during the week.

Are some nuts better than others? Never new about the protein with fruit thank you.

Not a big chocolate eater it seems to be when others have something I want it. Might just cut it out completely :-) it wont be hard.

Have heard the michelle bridges books are good...

I have so much to learn about eating healthy.

Thanks again

kathyms13

its quite simple realy, i havent seen your diary so cant comment on it but the best diet is eat fresh and lean. processed foods are full of carbs calls salts etc . the basic thing in diet is we get fat because we eat to much and the body stores it as fat, to loose it we need to cut back to let the body use stored fat. simples , sorry meercat impression

bathsheba_c

Looking over your diary, I would say that you need to eat more calories, but less fat.

With fat, I see that you are eating a lot of high-fat meats (primarily beef and bacon), as well as eating out a lot. You would be better off substituting some of those for for lower-fat proteins, such as chicken, turkey, and fish, as well as more eggs, beans, and low-fat dairy.

Since you eat out so much, you may also want to check your sodium consumption.

I also see that you are routinely eating under 1,200 calories a day and are usually hundreds of calories below your target amount. The site already sets your target with weight loss in mind. While you might think that eating even less than the site recommends will help you lose faster, regularly eating below you BMR (which you can estimate in the tools section of the website) will result not only in you receiving insufficient nutrients, but will also cause your body's metabolism to slow down, reducing weight loss.

lsgordon02143

I wouldn't worry *too* much about sugar; MFP tends to way under-estimate what you can eat. In general, though I realize there is much controversy on these boards, I think that you can eat pretty much unlimited fruit and not worry about its "sugar" due to all the goodies it has nutritionally.

Definitely don't go too far below your allotted calories. Good luck!!

wrecktechno

Great advice thank you. I don't tend to get many cravings which is a good thing. I have thought the sugar intake on the breaky side of things was high (yes I'm in australia) might change to a poached egg and toast. I don't tend to snack much on the weekend. I tend to be busy and forget. I seem to work better on it during the week.

Are some nuts better than others? Never new about the protein with fruit thank you.

Not a big chocolate eater it seems to be when others have something I want it. Might just cut it out completely :-) it wont be hard.

Have heard the michelle bridges books are good...

I have so much to learn about eating healthy.

Thanks again

Walnuts, almonds and pistachios I've heard are great. Try to avoid pecans, macadamias and brazil nuts because they are higher in calories.

I bought my ex a subscription to Men's Health magazine. I learnt SO much through that magazine. Never used the workout sections (though could probably adapt them to be female worthy) but the advice, tips etc were great. Women's Health is utter tripe though and not worth the money. I love the 'Eat This, Not That' section in MH.

ashshields12

Thanks for the advice, I have so much to learn about "eating healthy" and not just within my calories.

mollydubs

Definitely replace your very high breakfast carbs (ie cereal) with some very high protein foods (eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, that crap). It'll keep you fuller longer and less craving-y. Also fruits can be misleading. They're of course good for you but in moderation. Sometimes they'll spike your sugar levels and lead to a crash and then you'll probably eat some carbs because they're typically quick and easy to get a hold of when you're feeling crash-y.