Critique my diary please

Brianna716
Brianna716 Posts: 303 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Please no comments about 1200 calories. I'm still losing on it and I feel good. If I come to a plateau I plan to switch to TDEE-20%.

What changes would you make?

Replies

  • pinkyleigh83
    pinkyleigh83 Posts: 148 Member
    It doesn't look bad, you seem to be doing well so far. I'd eat more for breakfast though. And based on overall health I'd choose high quality products whenever I could-organic, pasture raised, grass-fed....that kinda thing. But that's getting picky! :)

    If you are losing & feel good so far why would you want to see about changing anything? Not being rude or snarky, just genuinely curious.
  • Brianna716
    Brianna716 Posts: 303 Member
    I'm just looking for input. Maybe some of you know more than I do about what's good to eat. I've been trying to cut back on the junk food & fast food but I have my weak moments.

    I've never been much of a breakfast person, I can rarely eat any food before 10 am. At that point I don't want to spoil lunch.
  • TAMayorga
    TAMayorga Posts: 341 Member
    I am no expert, but you look pretty good to me. You are doing much better than I am in getting your protein in, and I like that you figured out how to put fiber as one of your "nutrients" that you track. I was just thinking of that myself and didn't know it was an option.
  • efirkey
    efirkey Posts: 298 Member
    Your diet looks pretty good to me. Maybe try to stack more of your calories earlier in the day or distribute them a little more evenly.
  • michellesz
    michellesz Posts: 429 Member
    I would personally have more for breakfast to get your body fueled for the day & give it more to run on. This will in turn speed up your metabolism. If you think about it we tend to eat meals every 4 hours & some times less with snacks in between. From the time you eat dinner the night before to the time you wake up & eat breakfast is probably averaging 12+ hours. Your metabolism will get sparked with more fuel to start its fire & to keep it burning. You may want to watch your carbs & fat intake, but more importantly I would be cautious of your sodium intake. I personally would steer away from the canned soups as they are loaded with tons of sodium as you can see, which in my personal opinion leads to retention. A suggestion would also be to try to incorporate a few more daily servings of fruits & vegetables in to your meals or snacks. Personally, I think you are doing great & eating a lot of good varieties of healthy foods & snacks. Keep up the good work!!!
  • itsuki
    itsuki Posts: 520 Member
    Your sodium is a bit high, and your protein is a bit low. Other than that it's looking good - if you start to plateau, try upping your calories by 100-200, but if you're losing for now you're probably fine.
  • michellesz
    michellesz Posts: 429 Member
    Agree with the need for additional protein. I love for my fiber and protein to both be over! Great for recovery and elimination. Great sources would be chicken, turkey, tuna, fish, beef, beans, eggs, milk, dairy like cottage cheese, yogurts etc. Most definitely!
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    I see a lot of myself in your diary (when I'm being "good", I mean). I see a lot of work snacks. Which isn't a bad thing, but if you ate a larger breakfast, you might find less of an urge for snacks at work. I used to snack every two hours, on the dot. But I'm doing better now getting more calories in at breakfast, which means I can often make it 6 hours before I really need lunch.

    And the reason I say this is, when I personally ACTUALLY EAT breakfast and ACTUALLY EAT lunch, I tend to eat healthier things (whole, homemade foods) overall than the things I end up nibbling on at my desk (often "healthy" convenience, prepackaged foods).

    Just a thought. Keep it up, you're doing great.
  • Brianna716
    Brianna716 Posts: 303 Member
    Ok... I'm seeing a lot of breakfast references!

    What would you all suggest for breakfast then? I would be preparing and eating it at work- I do have access to a full kitchen though.

    For what it's worth, I wake up around 8 am and go to bed around midnight-1am
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    OMELETE!
    1 egg, 1 egg white or 2 eggs
    1/4 or 1/2 avocado
    chopped mushrooms
    chopped kale or spinach
    chopped tomato
    1 piece of ezekiel bread toast (contains no flour, therefore low on the Glycemic Index)
    jam/butter/apple butter/etc.

    You can chop the vegies in batches and keep little ziplocs of them, so you can just add 1T or 1/8 cup of each one. Something like that.

    Or, I enjoy maybe two slices of the ezekiel toast with just the avocado spread on it. Yum!
  • majope
    majope Posts: 1,325 Member
    What happened on the weekend? Did you fast for two days, or just not record what you ate? And what about the days when you've only logged 300-500 calories for the entire day? Those are a concern. If you're really eating nothing or next to it, why? To lose more quickly? If you must go with 1200 calories, at least eat them all!

    But if you're not recording everything on those days, why not? Are you maybe going on binges? Or just forgetting to keep track? It's hard to assess your diary without knowing what's going on in the gaps.
  • Brianna716
    Brianna716 Posts: 303 Member
    What happened on the weekend? Did you fast for two days, or just not record what you ate? And what about the days when you've only logged 300-500 calories for the entire day? Those are a concern. If you're really eating nothing or next to it, why? To lose more quickly? If you must go with 1200 calories, at least eat them all!

    But if you're not recording everything on those days, why not? Are you maybe going on binges? Or just forgetting to keep track? It's hard to assess your diary without knowing what's going on in the gaps.

    This past weekend I was doing a lot of physical activity- snowmobiling and sledding- that I wasn't quite sure how to log. I did my best to eat reasonably but I just didn't log it. When you see 300-500 calories, I just didn't log dinner for the night because I went to a restaurant that doesn't provide calorie counts and it's hard to estimate what to log.
  • gracielynn1011
    gracielynn1011 Posts: 726 Member
    I have a cup of yogurt and fruit for breakfast most mornings. Some times I do an egg omelet though, if I don't have to go to work that day and have time to actually cook.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    If you're feeling fine with eating a small breakfast, then there's absolutely no need to eat more at that time. Contrary to what seems to be popular belief, breakfast does not boost your metabolism or any other such thing. Meal timing is irrelevant except on a personal basis.

    I only see two days this past week where your sodium was particularly high, so don't worry too much about that. Keep an eye on it, and try to get it down a little, but provided your health (specifically blood pressure) is good, don't sweat it too much.

    I'd recommend just getting some more protein, really. Since you're eating meat, that shouldn't be a big problem. Whatever you like for meat (or other protein sources) should be good.
  • JennKie1
    JennKie1 Posts: 200 Member
    Water???
  • Brianna716
    Brianna716 Posts: 303 Member
    Water???

    Probably 6 cups a day.
  • twinketta
    twinketta Posts: 2,130 Member
    It looks good, if your breakfast is good for you then keep on with what you are doing. If/when you reach a plateau (most likely will happen sadly) then you can look at changing things around.

    Try to get to 8 cups of water a day tho, even though most food contains water etc., it is good for keeping your skin etc healthy.

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