Would this be enough nutrition/calories? and which veggies are "the best"?
ErikaAurelia
Posts: 127 Member
Hello everyone!
It's been a while since I've been here, but I have decided that I will start using my fitness pal again
I am trying to make up my mind about food, I don't like cooking, on top of that I only have one hob plate, no oven and very small storage for food (small cabinet, very small fridge and even smaller freezer). I do have a microwave.
I don't mind eating the same few things every day, most veggies I prefer raw, which is good since I only got one hob plate. I eat a pescetarian diet (still eat dairy products and eggs).
My problem has been to get enough calories, but also eating the right things, so here's hoping I'll get some input!
This is how I've planned it so far (to keep it cheap and simple for myself):
Breakfast
I have decided that breakfast will probably switch between these two:
1. 3 egg omelette with salad*
2. 2 sandwiches with mackerel in tomato sauce (mixed with some spices) with cheese - this would give me 4 sandwiches (due to the amount in one can of mackerel w tomato sauce) which means I would eat the other two as snacks between meals
Lunch/Supper
For lunch/supper I've thought about combinations like:
2. Quinoa (or egg noodles) with tuna/mackerel (mixed with something, not sure how yet) and salad*
3. Parsnips, parsley root, carrots (whatever mix of root crops) with salad* and cottage cheese
- for lunch/supper I will probably also have pesto or some kind of vinaigrette
Snacks (two times/day)
For snacks I've decided on nuts, fruit, berries or those mackerel sandwiches (if that was the breakfast I had).
*Salad
The salad I'm not sure how I should mix, I know I will mix nuts into it, and I want a leaf veggie (not sure which one to pick, which one is the most nutritious but in the same time tastes good? I've thought about spinach), tomato and cucumber are the common ones I suppose, mainly for taste... and bell pepper ... what more should I have in a salad to make it a good salad?
How does this sound nutrition-wise? Would I get a good mix of protein/carbs/fat? Might be difficult to tell the amount of calories since I don't state the potion sizes, but I eat quite small portions.
I feel like this might be a lot of fish, but I like mackerel in tomato sauce and tuna in water since both of those can be stored in the cabinet and I can eat them as they are (no cooking needed). Eggs are fine, but however I cook them they just seem like breakfast food to me. Cottage cheese I suppose is fine.
Any suggestions?
Suggestions about salad choice is highly appreciated!
It's been a while since I've been here, but I have decided that I will start using my fitness pal again
I am trying to make up my mind about food, I don't like cooking, on top of that I only have one hob plate, no oven and very small storage for food (small cabinet, very small fridge and even smaller freezer). I do have a microwave.
I don't mind eating the same few things every day, most veggies I prefer raw, which is good since I only got one hob plate. I eat a pescetarian diet (still eat dairy products and eggs).
My problem has been to get enough calories, but also eating the right things, so here's hoping I'll get some input!
This is how I've planned it so far (to keep it cheap and simple for myself):
Breakfast
I have decided that breakfast will probably switch between these two:
1. 3 egg omelette with salad*
2. 2 sandwiches with mackerel in tomato sauce (mixed with some spices) with cheese - this would give me 4 sandwiches (due to the amount in one can of mackerel w tomato sauce) which means I would eat the other two as snacks between meals
Lunch/Supper
For lunch/supper I've thought about combinations like:
2. Quinoa (or egg noodles) with tuna/mackerel (mixed with something, not sure how yet) and salad*
3. Parsnips, parsley root, carrots (whatever mix of root crops) with salad* and cottage cheese
- for lunch/supper I will probably also have pesto or some kind of vinaigrette
Snacks (two times/day)
For snacks I've decided on nuts, fruit, berries or those mackerel sandwiches (if that was the breakfast I had).
*Salad
The salad I'm not sure how I should mix, I know I will mix nuts into it, and I want a leaf veggie (not sure which one to pick, which one is the most nutritious but in the same time tastes good? I've thought about spinach), tomato and cucumber are the common ones I suppose, mainly for taste... and bell pepper ... what more should I have in a salad to make it a good salad?
How does this sound nutrition-wise? Would I get a good mix of protein/carbs/fat? Might be difficult to tell the amount of calories since I don't state the potion sizes, but I eat quite small portions.
I feel like this might be a lot of fish, but I like mackerel in tomato sauce and tuna in water since both of those can be stored in the cabinet and I can eat them as they are (no cooking needed). Eggs are fine, but however I cook them they just seem like breakfast food to me. Cottage cheese I suppose is fine.
Any suggestions?
Suggestions about salad choice is highly appreciated!
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Replies
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Plug that into the tracker and see what comes out. You're going to want a little more variety though for sure as time goes on.0
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If I want to keep my kitchen in order and not spend money on things I won't use it is for the best to keep to few things. I do have frozen broccoli as well, forgot to mention it, but over all, above seems to be what I see myself capable of doing. At the moment I avoid cooking by eating at my parents home.
I have not weighted anything so it is a bit hard to put it in as a day atm. I'm mainly asking since I don't have any of these groceries at home atm (except tuna, mackerel and eggs). If this plan sucks I'd like to know before I buy it all
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I would suggest looking into canned salmon or other fish in addition to tuna.
Yes it may have marginally more calories but does also offer more omega 3's. Also in terms of your preference to tuna... have a look at pages 2 and 3 of the following link (and other similar, of course): http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2014/10/can-eating-the-wrong-fish-put-you-at-higher-risk-for-mercury-exposure/index.htm
I would urge you to plug your food choices into MFP and see how many calories the various portions give you.
Some of your choices do not necessarily strike me as the cheapest/most satiating in terms of calories, or grocery bill costs... but that's the beauty of mfp, we each get to try things and make our own choices. Plus I have no clue if you're trying to lose, gain or maintain!
In general you may want to plug your stats in www.smartbmi.com and see what it has to say about your goals.
If you're at a normal weight (and definitely if scoring 33-35 on smartbmi) you may want to consider recomposition instead of caloric restriction.
Note that staples such as oatmeal, potatoes, legumes can be price effective, filling, and not necessarily super expensive in terms of calories DEPENDING on what else you mix in with them.
A baked or boiled potato topped with 0% greek yogurt and eaten intact with skin will result in different levels of calories as compared to one with full fat greek yogurt or one slathered in butter and sour cream!
Same applies to, for example, oatmeal, topped similarly, or served with fresh apples vs for example trail mix
Frozen peas and frozen broccoli are good too!
Anyway. Your plan only "sucks" in terms of variety.
And possibly I have a disagreement with your choice of tuna as a daily staple.
Of course, in my opinion, that of a person who has been on a weight loss journey these past few years, you are "throwing" away a lot of calories on breads, dressings, and some such that I wouldn't... but again... YOU are the one who has to try these things and see what it is that you want to eat ;-)
General recommendation: start with the MFP defaults for carbs, fats, protein. They are far from terrible. In general it is suggested that women may want to eat 0.35g to 0.4g per lb of body weight as a MINIMUM amount of fat. In a caloric deficit, double the RDA of protein (assuming good kidney function and no kidney problems) will help protect lean mass. We're talking around 0.8g per lb of body weight (if very overweight, consider 0.8g per lb of body weight at top end of normal bmi). The rest whatever suits you. There exist various suggestions to keep ADDED sugars at below 80/100g a day. Where do you live? Most countries have "food recommendations" for their citizens A goodly amount of fruits and vegetables (5+ x 80g servings = 400+g a day) would also not be a bad start!
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You don't have to weigh things to plug them into the tracker. If you want a rough idea of nutrition, just estimate cup size of portions and experiment. You can switch the macros for nutrients like potassium, iron, calcium, etc, too. You might consider canned beans of various kinds, which are cheap, nutritious, store well and cook easily in the microwave. Overall it certainly does not sound like a bad diet--I see a lot less nutrition in many people's logs. but if you are eating 6 or more slices of bread a day, it will add up calorie-wise. Look for some salad recipes online. Everybody doesn't like the same thing.0
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Thank you for your detailed answer! (sorry about the wall of text following)
I did calculate the calories etc of what I ate a year ago and it reached under 1000 kcal, I'm supposed to be eating approx. 1800. So I'm trying to get enough calories and everything I need. (I've not changed much about how I eat, sadly, so I still eat way too little good food and then compensate with things like potato chips, cheese doodles (things with a lot of calories).
I want to be more healthy, so that is my goal, fit and healthy (changing the food first though). My BMI is 20.
I googled the smartbmi thing to get to a place in english, and it says I have a good weight for my age. I do however know that I have quite little muscle mass and more fat, and atm I also have quite much water weight due to poor diet (I notice that since I immediately drop 3-4 kg if I stop eating the bad things).
I have never seen canned salmon before, but that does not sound cheap. I do love salmon, but since I only have one hob plate I prefer it when I don't have to cook the meat, ofc we do have cold smoked salmon here, and gravlax, but that's not cheap. I could have salmon fillets as one meal I suppose, but then I would only have salad to it. We do have a lot of herring on sale atm (christmas coming), so I suppose I could go for that instead, doesn't need cooking either, which is nice.
I do like mackerel more than tuna taste-wise, I'm not sure how the Hg levels differ between those two, but I know tuna got a lot more protein. It says online that canned light tuna is safe, but I have no idea if the tuna in these cans are "light", I've never seen any such writing on it.
I also have read that you should only eat two fish-meals per week to avoid mercury, but since fish is the only meat I eat, it feels like I would have to find many different ways to get protein, sure, I would get almost 20g of protein from an omelette, the egg noodles and quinoa got some protein, but if I don't eat fish one day I would have to eat way more cottage cheese or whatever else that got protein.
Btw, I think my last visit on my fitness pal gave me some weird food goals, not the calories, but should I really eat 93 grams of protein?? I know I tried to reach that, I was basically eating meat to every meal, dried meat inbetween meals, and then a whole lot of peanut butter as snacks...and I still didn't reach that. How am I supposed to reach that?? I'd say that 50g/day would be a more realistic goal for me, a person that is unable to eat a whole lot of food x) (that was one horrible day, btw, way too much food)
Oh, and reason I did not put potatoes on the list is because I'm not a fan of the taste, haha, but I suppose I could do with them sometimes.0 -
You don't have to weigh things to plug them into the tracker. If you want a rough idea of nutrition, just estimate cup size of portions and experiment. You can switch the macros for nutrients like potassium, iron, calcium, etc, too. You might consider canned beans of various kinds, which are cheap, nutritious, store well and cook easily in the microwave. Overall it certainly does not sound like a bad diet--I see a lot less nutrition in many people's logs. but if you are eating 6 or more slices of bread a day, it will add up calorie-wise. Look for some salad recipes online. Everybody doesn't like the same thing.
Thank you for your reply I suppose I could try to do that, I am however a bit concerned about the Hg amount now as PAV brought it up, I know I've thought about it before, but for some reason I forgot. Even if the fish I eat is low on Hg, maybe I shouldn't eat fish every day? But how many days/week would be OK? In my mind 4-5 days/week seems fine, but ofc I start doubting it when they say two meals/week!
I completely forgot about beans, that's definitely something I could do. Bread I would eat max. 4/day due to me only having them then I eat mackerel (it makes 4 sandwiches), and I would only have that as breakfast+snack, meaning the days I have omelette as breakfast instead I wouldn't eat bread.
I suppose I would maybe change or add a few things later on, but for now I really do need structure in what I eat. I'm such a lazy person so I have to make this easy for myself, atleast in the beginning, to have me ease into it, after getting used to it I could allow myself to advance!0 -
I'm giving this thread a little bump It would be cool it I could start soon, but I want to be sure about how I should eat before I start buying things. 0
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It sounds like you're overthinking things a little bit. You can eat whatever you want that fits your calorie goals to maintain your weight, and within that goal you can eat whatever you want to meet your nutrition goals. If this plan fits your goals, is easy to stick to, and contains things you like -- great!
You don't need permission from any of us to eat tuna or change your protein goals or make a salad you like. It's okay if your salad isn't "good" by someone else's standards and it's okay if you eat the fish you like instead of what someone else tells you is best. It's okay to have as much bread as you want within your goals. If something doesn't work for you -- the bread takes away from other nutrition, or you get tired of tuna every day -- you're smart enough to change it!
The rest of it, stuff like Hg levels and how many times per week you eat something, is really minor. Don't worry about it. Focus on your calorie and nutrition goals, satiety and pleasure, and how you feel eating this way. You're going to be fine.3 -
I'm asking for help/advice since I'm not good at these things, I don't want to make myself sicker. And I want to have a plan, else I will derail and "anything" will make me go back to an unhealthy diet, I can assure you, that's how I work. I need to start with being restricted.
It's not permission I'm seeking, I need advice. I've lived on chips/cheese doodles, any diet other than this will probably feel good, so I need to know what actually is good x)
Thank you for your reply though.1 -
There's been some good starter advice here. Nobody here can plan your whole food intake for you. Eat lean meats and vegetables in whatever form seems good at the time, log it in the tracker and be prepared to learn as you go. Everyone is different as to what restriction is tolerable enough to make them able to stick it out long time. The couple of suggestions here that don't work for you show that it's very personal. Somebody might do an extra 10 minutes on the treadmill so they can have butter on their potato, someone else might be happy to go without. I put an egg in my pancake mix because the meal won't hold me for long otherwise, you might find the straight pancake is great and you save on the egg calories. Only you can make these decisions. Nothing is going to happen if you don't get it perfectly right immediately but YOU have to start at some point, and if it's a bit daunting just think in a week or two you'll have a much better idea of what's right for you than you do now.2
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MelanieCN77 wrote: »There's been some good starter advice here. Nobody here can plan your whole food intake for you. Eat lean meats and vegetables in whatever form seems good at the time, log it in the tracker and be prepared to learn as you go. Everyone is different as to what restriction is tolerable enough to make them able to stick it out long time. The couple of suggestions here that don't work for you show that it's very personal. Somebody might do an extra 10 minutes on the treadmill so they can have butter on their potato, someone else might be happy to go without. I put an egg in my pancake mix because the meal won't hold me for long otherwise, you might find the straight pancake is great and you save on the egg calories. Only you can make these decisions. Nothing is going to happen if you don't get it perfectly right immediately but YOU have to start at some point, and if it's a bit daunting just think in a week or two you'll have a much better idea of what's right for you than you do now.
Maybe I phrased it poorly, but I've always had issues with eating enough of anything, or well, carbs I always got enough of, but protein and the calorie intake were (still are) far from goal. At the moment I'm not working out at all. I'm not trying to lose weight, I'm just trying to be more kind to my body, avoid future disease and maybe, eventually, having a good base where I can feel like I can work out without wondering if my food intake is too poor for it. So yeah, I just wondered if it sounded like a good combo of protein/carb/fat and minerals/vitamins. Calories, as said, might be a bit hard to say anything about since I don't state portion sizes.
But I suppose I will try to not eat fish every day, see if I can find other fish that's cheap and doesn't need cooking (that's low in Hg), and beans are nice, I usually eat those straight out of the can (don't judge me).
I'll make a food schedule for the week so that I don't end up leaving something to rot in the fridge.0 -
I read on one canned tuna that I got that it is skipjack tuna, which seems to be OK, but I think I will still try to not eat fish every day.0
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I now know that a 3 egg omelette is impossible for me, good to know I suppose.0
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ErikaAurelia wrote: »I now know that a 3 egg omelette is impossible for me, good to know I suppose.
3 egg omelette is too much? Really?0
This discussion has been closed.
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