Review my Diary? Ideas?

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Ive tried MFP a few times and got lazy about using it, but Im really sticking with it this time. I was wondering if someone could look through my entries and tell how im doing? I'm pescetarian, meaning I do not eat any meat but I do eat seafood. My meals are pretty repetitive so Im looking for new ideas or just how I've been doing in general. I try to avoid as much unnecessary carbs as possible by obvious things like not eating any bread etc. I know there are smarter choices I could make for lunch but I have a very stressful/high intesnsity job where I literally have about 5 minutes to eat at my desk so I've just been doing the best I can. Thanks for any help
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  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    your diary isn't open.

    but do you weigh your food? measure you liquids? choose correct entries....

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide?hl=Logging+accurately&page=3#posts-19337078

    Not sure why you don't eat bread...carbs aren't bad...
  • SKMC0214
    SKMC0214 Posts: 58 Member
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    It would be way easier to review your diary if it was open. :)
  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
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    Yeah, you've got to go to your diary settings and make it public for us to review it.

    Tip for lunch though: a protein shake? Quick, nutritional, low in carbs, and portable. I like chocolate protein powder blended with skim milk and a banana.
  • soundforgenine
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    Thanks, I didn't realize it was on private :) The shake sounds great, thanks for the idea.
  • FoxyLifter
    FoxyLifter Posts: 965 Member
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    Just had a quick look at yesterday

    Eat more calories
    Eat more protein
    Eat less carbs

    Look at the link Stef have you and it will explain everything. Good luck! :drinker:
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    Nothing in there looks too terrible, in my opinion. Do you have specific goals you'd like help with?

    If it were me, I'd eat less pre-packaged stuff. Like, instead of prepackaged grits, I'd just eat some steel-cut oatmeal. Instead of processed strips of "meat" I'd just eat beans and whatever real meat I do eat. Instead of processed eggs, I'd just eat an egg. But that's me.
  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
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    There's nothing wrong with carbs, but when you're limiting your intake of meat, it's important to focus on protein. I think a shake or meal bar at your lunch is probably a good idea since you can't get much protein without meat at fast food, and it seems like you need the fuel for your job.

    You've been eating quite below your goal for the past few days. Do you have your goal set at maintenance or are you eating that much below what's recommended for you? If you undereat when you start a lifestyle change, you're probably going to get frustrated and hungry.

    On that note, how are you measuring your foods? For example, I see 100g of apple. Did you weigh that out? Because that's much less than an entire apple, at only 26 calories.
  • soundforgenine
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    Yeah I need to get a scale the next time I have an off day. I just chose one of the larger portion sizes that was listed in there. I dont feel hungry throughout the day so I havnt worried about the undereating, also I figured it would allow for some inaccuracies as Im learning such as the apple. My goal is to drop weight and lose fat, I've gotten very out of shape. Ive been tracking everything here and doing weights and pushups throughout the day when I have a quick bit of downtime. Im hoping to try and wake up earlier to start running before work soon.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    you need to eat more food seriously...

    As a man the minimum set for you by most medical authorities is 1800...

    If you continue ot eat so little you will lose a lot of muscle...

    Eat some more protien (at least 1g for every pound of lean body mass), start a progressive load lifting program like Stronglifts 5x5
  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
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    Yeah I need to get a scale the next time I have an off day. I just chose one of the larger portion sizes that was listed in there. I dont feel hungry throughout the day so I havnt worried about the undereating, also I figured it would allow for some inaccuracies as Im learning such as the apple. My goal is to drop weight and lose fat, I've gotten very out of shape. Ive been tracking everything here and doing weights and pushups throughout the day when I have a quick bit of downtime. Im hoping to try and wake up earlier to start running before work soon.

    In the meantime, measuring cups and spoons are your friends. Look for the USDA listings in the database (the ones without the asterisk). They're pretty accurate and have multiple ways of measuring. For example, right now I'm eating "Apples - raw, with skin" and I chose "1 medium - 2-3/4" diameter" but there were options such as "1 cup, chopped" and stuff like that.

    It looks like you're undereating a lot but it's probably the measuring if you're not feeling hungry or tired. Also note that you'll probably need more fuel for your body if you go running! You'll be hungrier.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    You're male? Oh my. Eat more overall then.

    Do you want help figuring out a reasonable calorie goal? If you want, you could give us your age, weight, height, and a guess to how much you exercise, and we could help you figure out a more appropriate amount of calories to eat.
  • soundforgenine
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    You're male? Oh my. Eat more overall then.

    Do you want help figuring out a reasonable calorie goal? If you want, you could give us your age, weight, height, and a guess to how much you exercise, and we could help you figure out a more appropriate amount of calories to eat.

    Sure, that'd be helpful.

    Male
    26 Years old
    257lbs
    5' 11

    Goal
    Around 200 - 215 depending on how much I start working out.

    I'd say my day is light activity. Im at a desk for half of it, the other half walking around at a brisk pace.
    The only exercise im doing right now is pushups. Sets of 15 about 3 - 4 times a day. I have some dumbbells at home I do a few sets with before bed

    I'm going to purchase a digital scale today after work to start getting more accurate measurements because I dont really feel that im under eating. I think a good bit of it has been my guessing/estimation portions. Each time I've entered the 100g apple thats an entire apple, raw with skin. Same with Oranges or Banana.
  • soundforgenine
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    Also as I am going to be brand new to weighing/measuring food could you suggest some portion sizes to aim for?
    I eat a lot of rice for dinner, what is a good amount for my diet?
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    Everyone else is covering the total calories, but I'm also going to point out that you're consistently really low on protein. The general guideline is 0.8-1g of protein per pound of LBM. So if you're 200 pounds at 30% body fat (totally just making up numbers), you'd have 140 pounds of LBM and need 112-140g of protein. MFP is notorious for setting people's default protein macro really low.

    It's a little harder for pescetarians/vegetarians/vegans to get adequate protein, but not impossible. Some really good protein sources besides meat are cottage cheese, greek yogurt, string cheese, eggs, kefir, nuts and nut butters, and just plain old milk. Protein powder/bars/etc. are great too. Some meat substitutes (veggie burgers and whatnot) are decent protein sources and some are terrible, so just make sure you're reading labels when you choose those things.

    Feel free to look through my diary for ideas if you'd like. I'm ovo/lacto veg and average 120-140g of protein daily.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    Male
    26 Years old
    257lbs
    5' 11

    Goal
    Around 200 - 215 depending on how much I start working out.

    If you were my brother or someone else I loved, I would tell you to eat somewhere between AT LEAST 2000-2200 calories every day. And like 150 grams of protein. Do this for like, 6 months. During that time, lift weights and do some walking. After six months, I'd re-evaluate your goals.
  • GeapetCore
    GeapetCore Posts: 32 Member
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    You may want to track your actual steps for "walking at a brisk pace". What I consider to be a brisk pace (just hit the 299 mark), is what most consider to be leisurly pace. Also, make sure to incorporate fat burning exercise - light weights is great but you need to burn calories too.

    And when you do start doing fat burning exercise, make sure to track your heart rate to make sure you are in the fat burning zone. Too high and you can be harming yourself. Sorry - don't recall the specifics but I believe if you go higher than your target heart rate, you start burning muscle/organ tissue.
  • willrun4bagels
    willrun4bagels Posts: 838 Member
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    I'm vegetarian, eat 2200 cals/day, and get anywhere between 150-180 grams of protein a day. My diary is open to anyone if you want to get some ideas of higher protein food ideas. I try to keep my macros as close to 40/30/30 as I can.
  • mootscat
    mootscat Posts: 14
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    Im a vegetarian, no fish, so I know how important protein is. You are not eating enough. You have way too much leftover protein at the end of each day lately. Every meal should have a decent amount of protein. You seem to be skipping it at lunch.
  • mootscat
    mootscat Posts: 14
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    willrun4bagel - how did you get an AM and a PM snack category?
  • willrun4bagels
    willrun4bagels Posts: 838 Member
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    willrun4bagel - how did you get an AM and a PM snack category?

    There's a way in your diary settings to rename all of your meals. I'm on my phone right now and can't go through all of the prompts to figure out which option, but I think it's under settings -> diary settings. You can rename them to whatever you'd like.