Help with diary!

maddienortonaus
maddienortonaus Posts: 43 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi there,

I've just started in the last week but looking back at my food diary I haven't been going so well. I was wondering if someone would be so kind as to look at it (it's public) and give me some suggestions? I know there is some not so good stuff (e.g. there's a kit kat in there) and just as an explanatory note.. on my diary for Saturday night I logged 1000 calories for dinner - I had a small bowl of Singapore noodles but I didn't know how much it was so I just guestimated it at 1000 to be safe.

Thanks!!

Replies

  • koko12
    koko12 Posts: 81 Member
    are you looking to gain muscle? lose fat? lose weight? whats your goal(s)
  • maddienortonaus
    maddienortonaus Posts: 43 Member
    looking to lose weight!
  • zytah
    zytah Posts: 153
    it doesn't look like you eat terribly but in my honest opinion you need to eat a little more. im 5'4 and at 148 lbs at the moment, I eat around 1600-1800 calories a day easily (even tho MFP has me at 1210 calorie goal), light exercise (yes. I eat back my exercise calories and love it) and steadily losing around 1 lb a week.
  • DatMurse
    DatMurse Posts: 1,501 Member
    what are your stats?
  • maddienortonaus
    maddienortonaus Posts: 43 Member
    84kg (185lbs) and 165 cm (5'4) - so very overweight. That being said my highest was about 200lbs at the start of 2012 and dropped to about 140lbs in a matter of 3 months. This was around Sept 2012 and was due to an eating disorder.. it took me a few months/inpatient hospital to get over the ED but have piled back on the weight. I really do want to lose weight the healthy way this time but I feel like I'm always eating terribly/unhealthy.
  • maddienortonaus
    maddienortonaus Posts: 43 Member
    what are your stats?

    Sorry, new to the forum - forgot to quote you!
  • maddienortonaus
    maddienortonaus Posts: 43 Member
    please? anyone? :(
  • Silver14
    Silver14 Posts: 141
    Hey there!

    Can I recommend: 1 eating more calories, atleast 1200 minimum, 2. Eating more protein! It fill keep you full and give you nice muscles, and 3. Make your dinners, not lean cuisine etc. it's tempting, but home cooking is much more tasty and better for your body, as well as filling! I also noticed your breakfast is tiny! Maybe try adding some protein or fats in there? Some yogurt, milk, and egg, almonds, peanut butter etc. it will make it tastier and much more nutritious :) good luck

    And we're the same height :) yay
  • Hope502012
    Hope502012 Posts: 98 Member
    Hi!

    I'm 5'4 too and I agree with everything Silver14 has recommended. Also drink lots of water and keep logging everything. Use an HRM to be accurate on exercise and scales for food.

    Wishing you the very best of luck:smile:
  • maddienortonaus
    maddienortonaus Posts: 43 Member
    Thanks for all the tips everyone :)

    As far as the dinners go I don't have much option because I live at college.. the dining hall food is very very bad (chips, pies etc) so I've taken to eating in my room. Do you have any suggestions of meals I could make in my room that would be better? I have a microwave, toaster and kettle :) Love yoghurt so maybe I'll add some to my breakfast to fill it out a bit and add some calories?

    I have a polar HRM which I wear when exercising but I've been too lazy to look at my logs and add what I burnt - I'll make sure I do it from now on.

    Thanks again!
  • bonelessskinless
    bonelessskinless Posts: 147
    first of all congrats on kicking the ED! That's the biggest accomplishment.

    your diary is fine so far

    the sugar is the only thing i see that is often over especially because it may be even higher if you weren't using quick calories.

    i try not to use quick calories

    on days that i don't drink water i tend to eat more. record your water and drink more of it.

    research what you want to eat for your next meal using the data base. instead of looking it up after you eat it. a lot of times you'll decide you want to do something different to keep it balanced.

    This website is about weekly goal meeting and then eventually monthly. it's all about the long haul.
  • bonelessskinless
    bonelessskinless Posts: 147
    Do you have any suggestions of meals I could make in my room that would be better?

    google healthy dorm food/ healthy microwave food
  • maddienortonaus
    maddienortonaus Posts: 43 Member
    Awesome! Thanks so much :) I think my water is all good, I buy 15L a week so I drink at least 2L a day. I see what you mean about the sugar.. I'll try to cut some. And thanks for the tip for the googling healthy dorm cooking.
  • BenW1980
    BenW1980 Posts: 9
    Why don't you go for a low carb diet? Its tough but after a week or so of your body getting used to it along with regular daily exercise there is no reason why you shouldn't loose between 2-3lbs a week.

    Say you decide to cut your calorie intake to 1500 a day, split those 1500 cals into a ratio of say for example 50% protein, 25% carbs and 25% fats.

    I'm guessing you have downloaded the myfitnesspal mobile app. if not do so as you are able to track your calorie intake by scanning bar codes on the packets of food your going to eat or entering them manually. Its a must to get your macros bang on instead of just winging your diet.

    Incorporate a protein powder also for after your workouts also include chicken breast, turkey, red meat and tuna, sea food for your meals.

    Eat as much veg as you like especially leafy green veg, broccoli and spinach. This will also help you to stay regular.

    Fruit is also good but too much is bad due to natural sugar therefore carbs.

    As for carbs. I would avoid things like sweets, crisps, chocolate biscuits, fast fatty food,, pizzas etc etc. All the usual stuff really, Choose sweet potatoes over normal ones, brown rice instead of white and whole-wheat pasta over normal. Baked Beans are good and full of fibre too.

    The only thing left are fats.. some are good some are bad.. I think its the Saturated fat you want to stay away from and the good fats are Poly and Mono... Avocados are good.

    Hopefully this will be of some help to you. If you find the protein content too high then you can always go 45% protein, 30% carbs, 25% fats. or 40/30/30 you may find that easier to start as you will have more carbs to play with...
  • ppdes
    ppdes Posts: 83 Member
    it doesn't look like you eat terribly but in my honest opinion you need to eat a little more. im 5'4 and at 148 lbs at the moment, I eat around 1600-1800 calories a day easily (even tho MFP has me at 1210 calorie goal), light exercise (yes. I eat back my exercise calories and love it) and steadily losing around 1 lb a week.


    Wow! I'm impressed. I have a calorie goal of around ~1300 which I mostly stuck to and did 30 mins brisk walk +20 mins of high intensity circuit training. No weightloss yet.... though I am not fussy about it. I want to lose probably just 12 pounds... so I dont get worked up with this issue, but its still surprising.
    Becuase earlier I ate without any heed and now I have not only started calorie counting, but I also have increased my protein percent and started exercising... so I was just puzzled...
  • nika_bolinhos
    nika_bolinhos Posts: 42
    Hello,
    I'm glad you decided to lose weight in a healthy way. It's the good way to go if you want it not to come all back.
    Since I started I lost about 15kg, about half of it was before joining MFP.
    I took a bit of an odd approach when I started dieting. Seeing that my main problem was the little things I ate between meals because I was feeling peckish I decided that I had to find a way to end that, not only a strong mind, but a way to reduce the urge to do that. So I decided to eat more animal fat. People seem to be afraid of fat and avoid it, but it's the way to go if you want to have your fill of calories and end the urge to eat between meals.
    It was amazing, as soon as I cut back on vegetable oil and start using butter and lard, yes lard, to cook my meals I started to lose weight. It helped me to keep away from grains and carbs in general, I stopped eating between meals, my urge for sweets diminished as well and I started to feel full of energy making my days more productive.
    It was the best change I have made and the best part is that all the food I cook tastes amazing, if you never had bacon that was fried in lard you are missing in one of the wonders of the world. If I have an egg and bacon roll for breakfast at around 9h be sure I will not be really hungry before 15h, like that if I am working and eat at a normal lunch time, around 13:30, I will eat less and fill very full with a small portion or meat and veg...I think you get the idea. Since changing that not only I lost a lot of weight, but my husband as well and we have more energy to exercise and enjoy ourselves.
    Don't starve yourself, there are many ways to go that are effective and healthy.
    Good luck
  • DatMurse
    DatMurse Posts: 1,501 Member
    Why don't you go for a low carb diet? Its tough but after a week or so of your body getting used to it along with regular daily exercise there is no reason why you shouldn't loose between 2-3lbs a week.

    Say you decide to cut your calorie intake to 1500 a day, split those 1500 cals into a ratio of say for example 50% protein, 25% carbs and 25% fats.

    I'm guessing you have downloaded the myfitnesspal mobile app. if not do so as you are able to track your calorie intake by scanning bar codes on the packets of food your going to eat or entering them manually. Its a must to get your macros bang on instead of just winging your diet.

    Incorporate a protein powder also for after your workouts also include chicken breast, turkey, red meat and tuna, sea food for your meals.

    Eat as much veg as you like especially leafy green veg, broccoli and spinach. This will also help you to stay regular.

    Fruit is also good but too much is bad due to natural sugar therefore carbs.

    As for carbs. I would avoid things like sweets, crisps, chocolate biscuits, fast fatty food,, pizzas etc etc. All the usual stuff really, Choose sweet potatoes over normal ones, brown rice instead of white and whole-wheat pasta over normal. Baked Beans are good and full of fibre too.

    The only thing left are fats.. some are good some are bad.. I think its the Saturated fat you want to stay away from and the good fats are Poly and Mono... Avocados are good.

    Hopefully this will be of some help to you. If you find the protein content too high then you can always go 45% protein, 30% carbs, 25% fats. or 40/30/30 you may find that easier to start as you will have more carbs to play with...

    you clearly do not understand the concept of energy balance. Your first statement shows you are a newbie and dont understand much.
  • DatMurse
    DatMurse Posts: 1,501 Member
    first of all congrats on kicking the ED! That's the biggest accomplishment.

    your diary is fine so far

    the sugar is the only thing i see that is often over especially because it may be even higher if you weren't using quick calories.

    i try not to use quick calories

    on days that i don't drink water i tend to eat more. record your water and drink more of it.

    research what you want to eat for your next meal using the data base. instead of looking it up after you eat it. a lot of times you'll decide you want to do something different to keep it balanced.

    This website is about weekly goal meeting and then eventually monthly. it's all about the long haul.

    Sugar is not a problem...

    the limit of sugar is worthless and doesnt mean much in terms of true dieting
  • BackToFree
    BackToFree Posts: 58 Member
    Unless there are rules against it, I'd start with getting an electric frypan, a small slow cooker/crockpot and a butane powered gas hotplate. All bench top gadgets, but will open up your options substantially. Stir-fry's, soups, casseroles, lasagne, braised meats, boiled eggs, etc etc can all be done with those.
  • xampx
    xampx Posts: 323 Member
    I do a microwave fish thing thats easy to prep.

    Tonights version is half a can of drained puy lentils, a can of ratatouille and 2-3 fish portions (defrosted). I layer them up in a microwave bowl, throw in spices and herbs, and microwave until the fish is cooked then mix it all together. If I have the calories left I will have it with cous cous/bulgar wheat/rice but I am usually happy to have it as it comes.

    ETA todays version, with 240g fish (pollock) is 479 cals 56g protein, 11g fat & 11g carbs
  • maddienortonaus
    maddienortonaus Posts: 43 Member
    Thanks for all the ideas! I popped out and got a convection oven for my room :) Strictly speaking they're not allowed but what the admin don't know won't hurt them.. whole lot of more options now :) how long would you guys suggest sticking to how I'm going now? Like say I had 3 weeks without any loss would you recommend switching to low carb or some other diet?
  • Danaburger99
    Danaburger99 Posts: 3
    Thanks for all the tips everyone :)

    As far as the dinners go I don't have much option because I live at college.. the dining hall food is very very bad (chips, pies etc) so I've taken to eating in my room. Do you have any suggestions of meals I could make in my room that would be better? I have a microwave, toaster and kettle :) Love yoghurt so maybe I'll add some to my breakfast to fill it out a bit and add some calories?

    I have a polar HRM which I wear when exercising but I've been too lazy to look at my logs and add what I burnt - I'll make sure I do it from now on.

    Thanks again!
  • Danaburger99
    Danaburger99 Posts: 3
    I work in law enforcement and have a crazy schedule....one thing I find yummy and fast that can be heated up in the microwave is blackbeans (seasoned) and ground turkey meat. OR the packaged Salmon with a boil egg mushed into it. These two things are my go to's for shift work.
  • BenW1980
    BenW1980 Posts: 9
    you clearly do not understand the concept of energy balance. Your first statement shows you are a newbie and dont understand much.

    LOLZ
  • zytah
    zytah Posts: 153
    Wow! I'm impressed. I have a calorie goal of around ~1300 which I mostly stuck to and did 30 mins brisk walk +20 mins of high intensity circuit training. No weightloss yet.... though I am not fussy about it. I want to lose probably just 12 pounds... so I dont get worked up with this issue, but its still surprising.
    Becuase earlier I ate without any heed and now I have not only started calorie counting, but I also have increased my protein percent and started exercising... so I was just puzzled...

    im sure in my case I have other factors on why im losing like my 2 boys who I chase every 5 minutes and lift in the air for hugs and kisses. that's good exercise there! I eat when im hungry and pound down water when Im not. I still eat what I want but I make sure it fits within all the pretty numbers of my diary. maybe im just a freak, I dunno. /shrug

    I don't put much emphasis on the scale anyways. sometimes I lose a pound, sometimes more, sometimes less. I always find something always moves. when the scale doesn't, my measuring tape says otherwise. id be perfectly happy weighing more as long as my measuring tape keeps telling me im getting smaller.

    for the OP, you can google dorm friendly recipes. theres a ton out there like http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/post/35441671100 for some ideas. i wish you luck! dorm living is brutal. :)

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