Need some help with my diet

JakeBrownVB
JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I am a 20 year old male who has lost around about 1 stone in 3 weeks (210-196 lbs)

The majority of that weight was lost in the first 2 weeks and the third weeks was only a pound or two. I need help with my diet please!

My diet consists of:

Bowl of porridge done with water and maybe a bit of brown sugar in the morning.

Vegetables like lettuce and peppers for lunch as well as a bannana and 50g of monkey nuts.

Either a slimfast shake or plain chicken for dinner.

I am wondering about my diet because on my counter says if i need 1870 calories a day to loose 2 pounds a week!! however with my diet above i am only at 1000-1200 calories. I am not that tired or hungry from this diet and still manage the gym 3 times a week.

Is this diet fine? what could be better about it? please can I not get a flood of messages about "starvation mode" unless you fully understand the meaning of it (which before you think you do, you probably dont). I am going on holiday in 3 months and want a six pack by then so I need help and advice! thankyou!

Replies

  • Peni_Davidson
    Peni_Davidson Posts: 54 Member
    As long as you are getting the minimum requirements of protein, vitamins and minerals and you feel ok, Go for it. :smile:
    I wish I had your dedication, mine will have to come off a lot more slowly.
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
    bump
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Well done on your loss so far! Weight doesn't come off nice and steadily, so don't worry if you lose more or less one week than you did previously.

    1000-1200 is very low for a male. You could improve it by:

    Making your porridge with milk. This will give you some vitamins and calcium, as well as calories. Try sweetening with a few berries rather than sugar.

    Salad is a great choice for lunch - add in some protein like chicken, tuna, or cottage cheese.

    I'd lose the slimfast shakes, they aren't the best choice. Chicken or other lean meats, with veg, you could stand to add in some carbs like rice or pasta, especially if you are exercising.

    Good luck!
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
    Thanks! I did try takin chicken to work before but I thought it tasted horrible! how many calories should i aim for a day? i really think my fitness pals recommendations of 1870 calories is really high!. I know you probably should but I want to loose more than 2lbs a week!

    Thanks for help so far
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    If you lose weight too quickly, you'll end up losing muscle, and having loose floppy skin folds - not attractive!

    If you have a lot to lose, then 2 pounds a week is fine. As you get closer to your goal, your weekly loss should taper off.

    Taking your own lunch to work is great - do you have access to a fridge or microwave?
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
    Luckily i have access to both :)

    I am just worried that by my holiday in July I wont meet my goals, which as vain as it sounds is to have a great looking body. That only gives me a few months and I am constantly fretting that I wont loose another body fat % to look good. I take my weight training steady as I like to focus on form and technique rather than killing it and doing myself an injury and so my diet is just the last thing thats concerning me and wether I will loose enough fat
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
    I also find it hard to measure my progress as loosing 2 lbs a week can be hard to actually see if you have done so or not. With weight fluctuating 2-3 pounds a day, weight training and general water weight. So i figured the best way would be to find and monitor my body fat % but it seems that is much much harder than I thought
  • kalyse
    kalyse Posts: 23 Member
    how tall are you?
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
    6 foot exactly :)
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    I think a good exercise regime will help you to look good - what are you doing at the minute?
  • marygee1951
    marygee1951 Posts: 148 Member
    Hi - looked over your diet and had a few thoughts. My calorie allowance is 1750 a day - and I usually end up with around 300 left-over calories. I don't exercise, so I don't have extra calories to use up.

    I went to a dietician and one thing she had me change was eating protein at ever meal - I hadn't been doing that before.

    I eat a lot more than you! And I'm doing very well with the pounds coming off. Of course, no matter how much I lose, I always want to lose faster -- like we all do.

    I try to keep it simple.

    Breakfast - usually either an egg with mushrooms or peppers/onions in a tortilla wrap -- or peanut butter on a bagel thin -- or I'll put some cheddar cheese on a tortilla and bake til cheese melts.

    Lunch - big salad with chicken or cheese -- or a hot veggie with cheese wrap. (I avoid sliced cold-cuts because they have so much sodium -- may not be an issue for you - they're good because they add a nice variety)

    Dinner - generally baked/grilled chicken or beef or fish, with potato or rice, and veggies -- or pasta with lots of veggies added, with either tomato sauce or bbq sauce, with ground beef or turkey added -- frozen Lean Cuisine with veggies added to bulk it up.

    Snacks - fruit -- sugar free jello or pudding with cool whip -- fruit smoothie -- toast with cinnamon/sugar.

    Hope I've given you some good ideas.

    Mary
  • Cheeky_0102
    Cheeky_0102 Posts: 408 Member
    losing more than 2 lbs per week isn't going to help you in the long run, and will cost you muscle mass, which is the stuff you need to keep the weight off and burn more calories naturally
  • kalyse
    kalyse Posts: 23 Member
    Luckily i have access to both :)

    I am just worried that by my holiday in July I wont meet my goals, which as vain as it sounds is to have a great looking body. That only gives me a few months and I am constantly fretting that I wont loose another body fat % to look good. I take my weight training steady as I like to focus on form and technique rather than killing it and doing myself an injury and so my diet is just the last thing thats concerning me and wether I will loose enough fat

    awesome that your worried about form when lifting!! so many people forget that! are u adding any weight each week to keep progressing? 96 and 6 ft tall is not bad at all! what do u do for cardio? HIITs is awesome for fat burning.

    you say you want a six pack and honestly, no matter how hard you work in the gym you cant out train a bad diet!! (i know it sucks to hear that) some guidelines for a diet are to keep you protein intake up (to preserve muscle mass)! eat every few hours - food is fuel. you want a lean protein, a COMPLEX carb (long grain brown rice, whole gain bread), and veggies at every meal. you can use things like mustard and salsa or Mrs dash seasons for flavor. drink a gallon of water a day ( u will pee 8 millions times but adequate water intake will effect body fat by 1%-2%) since you want to cut try to stay away from fruit - but if you must eat something sweet choose berries.

    DO NOT LOOK AT THE SCALE! take measurements, look at before pics and feel how ur cloths fit. muscle is dense, fat is fluffy so it takes up less space. 130lb @ 30% body fat looks completely different than 130lb @ 15% body fat
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
    My workout routine at the moment is a mix of weights, focusing on chest, biceps and triceps in particular with legs and stomach exercise thrown in. But as for my cardio I do a 9 minute interval training run each time im at the gym (3 times a week). I usually go fast for a minute then slow for 30 seconds over and over and usually do 130-150 calories in 9 minutes.

    That is pretty much all the cardio I do and the rest I just focus on weights, my job is reasonably active as far as walking about goes but there is a good few hours a day at the computer.

    p.s. should I just been my tin and a half of slimfast? i noticed the sugar on them is like 50% of what mfp says your allowed!. Thank you all sooo much for your help
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    If it was me? I'd bin it. It's not a great source of nutrients - go for real food instead.
  • kalyse
    kalyse Posts: 23 Member
    make sure you train legs - you dont want to have this awesome looking chest and arms then have really skinny legs. try adding medium intensity cardio 1-2 days a week on the days you arent lifting and maybe making your intervals a little longer like 20 mins. -also do your cardio after weights

    personally i would stay away from any of those weight loss drinks on a regular basis - the only supplements i suggest on the regular are protein shakes. they are low carb, low sugar and high protein. i buy optimum nutrition brand. whey protein is great for after lifting (digests fast and helpds recovery) and casein protein is good before bed (digests slow and feeds muscle while you sleep).

    nutrition is key! you HAVE to eat or you will get "skinny fat" instead of fit -- and from what you are saying im assuming you want to be fit. a few months should be more than enough time for you to see results
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
    I definitly dont want to get skinny fat! and i sure see what you mean. I also worry about protein because I have often been told if you have high protein but dont put enough effort into your training then the protein goes to fat.

    At the moment with nuts a bannana and some like 200g of chicken I am over my daily protein recommendation. Is this true about protein?

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