Diet/Nutrition/Meal Plans
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Shannonpal wrote: »chandraminick wrote: »If you need help figuring out what to eat, I can tell you what I did for three months, but I can not guarantee that you'll find it appetizing. It is just something that worked for me that I will be trying to repeat this time through the program. Not everyone has the same lifestyle and not every meal plan will work for everyone.
What did you eat? Or did I miss that post?
Well, as I said before, this may not sound appetizing or fun, bit it did work. My maintenance calories are about 1700 a day, so I cut them to 1200 a day so that in seven days I would cut 3500 calories a week which equals one pound. Some days I ate between 1200 and 1600 because I worked out doing the 30 Day Shred which burned about 230 calories at my weight, walking about thirty minutes, doing squat challenges or riding my bike. I syoppd eating all processed foods at first, and kept them to an absolute minimum later. Mostly I ate smoothies. I always used water, but never any dairy products. The base was a small banana or even a half of one and either a half cup or quarter cup of frozen blueberries. I used chocolate whey to flavor it and hide all the raw veggies I put in it. I tried to keep the smoothies between 250 and 300 calories each. Sometimes I ate as many as four of them a day and made up the rest of the calories in omelets made with egg white, onion, and mushrooms. I ate salsa on them and sometimes a little avocado. I did a lot of stir fry with veggies and drank a lot of water and hot tea. I wasn't working so I would do the shred every day, then a stretch routine, and then misc other exercises to burn calories during that three months. Mostly in my smoothies I used raw kale, spinach, cauliflower, frozen squash, raw zucchini, green and yellow, spices lile nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla. Anything that could be disguised with the chocolate protein powder.0 -
I avoided cooking because it only fueled my appetite. I didn't keep other food in the house, and even cleaned out all the crap before I started eating this way. I started going to the food banks after everyone had wiped out all the processed foods and junk food. They leave yhe veggies, and they just gey thrown out. I would pick up the fruits and veggies, take them home, soak them in vinegar water to get all the grime and pesticides off. I then cleaned them up, and put them in storage containers in the fridge. I used tons of this stuff in stir fry and smoothies. This us how I afforded yo try all the combinations of fruits and veggies that I could not afford in the store.0
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I forgot to say one of the most important things. You need to get a digital scale that measures in both grams and ounces, and you need to record all of this food in My Fitness Pal food diary. Then you know exactly how much stuff to put in your smoothies. The next day you don't need to enter all that stuff again becayse you can just copy the meal from the previous day.0
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If I remember correctly, I never did more than 45 minutes of cardio without eating because of catabolism and anabolism (right now I can't remember which is breaking down and which is building), but I didn't want to use up muscle in doing cardio after my energy stores were depleated. I also ate gala apples before the shred, and than drank the smoothies within 30 minutes after working out so that I would have the protein iny system within that time frame. It has something to do with repairing muscles, so you want to eat it soon instead of waiting. Mostly I ate to fuel myself instead of thinking about dieting.0
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@chandraminick After reading everything you did for the 30 days I need to ask a couple of things. 1 did you keep it up after the 30 days. How much weight did you lose or did you do something different like gain muscle and tone. I have done crazy things to lose weight but never really get into the whole shake thing. I like food to much and I have a husband I eat with. No way am I cooking and then drink a shake. How did you feel after the 30 days. I don't want these 30days to be a finish line and I need something I can maintain for years. I work full time and I am trying to write a book about weightloss and what really happens in this world we live in. One of the first thing I can say is that when we restrict things to mush you feel deprived. Funny how I don't feel food deprived but I feel really restricted with the workouts I have a choice of. I would much rather swing kettlebells than doing jumping jacks. The 30day shred is starting to remind me of crossfit. I know you can get really ripped with crossfit but if I have to do 1,000 jumping jacks I have to rethink if I am really devoted to do that. I do have to admit I am getting better with those pushups.0
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I am looking for some healthy things to make for dinner. I am thinking I need to do a weekly plan of what to eat for the week. Normally I can think of something pretty good the night before of the morning of. This does put a stress on me because I have another person to think about. I need to do a plan for the week0
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I love this website for healthy, easy, and incredibly tasty food. The premise is that she tries to cook things that are low cost. But I have found that most of her recipes also fit with my nutritional goals - balanced, with a good use of grains, beans, and proteins. Most recipes make enough that I can feed my husband and me, and then store 2-3 portions in the freezer for work lunches (I usually aim for a container with 300-400 calories plus yogurt and fruit for a total of about 600 calories at lunch). Anyway, this is my #1 recipe website. I have never made anything that I didn't like from it. https://www.budgetbytes.com/0
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I've made a change to my diet recently. It sounds crazy, but I've stopped snacking!
Last week, I went for acupuncture, because I've been retaining a lot of fluid in the joints on my left side. I have old injuries, and I find that a round of 4-5 acupuncture treatments every 3-4 years keeps everything moving well and addresses any fluid accumulation that happens for me.
Anyway, I was complaining to Paul (my acupunk) that I felt like my body is not processing things well. For about 2 months, I've been exercising regularly (5 days a week, ~45 minutes of cardio a day), doing yoga 4-5 times a week, and eating a small (500) calorie deficit. I should be losing weight, I should be getting more flexible, but I'm not.
He looked at my diet, and agreed that I was eating a good balance, and had no suggestions (which he usually does) about increasing x or y kinds of foods. But what he did say was that I need to stop eating every three hours. Now this is huge for me - I've been doing this for about 5 years, and get the shakes if it's 10am and I don't eat my yogurt and fruit.
He said that I was preparing my body for diabetes. Yikes! By keeping a relatively steady level of calories coming in, my body was constantly producing insulin. High levels of insulin mean that your body is always "fed" and therefore never dips into secondary energy sources (ie fat) for energy. Worse yet, because my body is always producing insulin, there is a tendency (as we hit those years of change in our late 30s and early 40s) for our bodies to exhaust in their ability to produce insulin...in other words, prompting a diabetic state where you have to supply your body with insulin - medication, needles, and strict dietary regimes.
He said I needed to go cold turkey from the snacks and suggested I wait until the weekend to do so. He told me I should continue eating my diet as it was, but just combine my snacks into my lunch and dinner. He suggested I'd probably end up eating less overall because of this, and he was right. I was finding that, because I was eating such small meals, I never really felt full, and so even if I had my full calories for the day, I'd snack in the evenings - going over my calorie plan for the day. But now, I eat the same 450 calorie breakfast, about 600 calories for lunch, and 6-800 calories for supper. And I feel full all evening, so no snacking.
After a week of this, I lost 2.5 pounds (in addition to shred, I try to do another 30 minutes of cardio 5 days, and then easy yoga most days; I also typically walk 10,000 steps a day just in the course of my workday).
I wanted to share this with you, in case some of my story resonates and in case this adjustment could be helpful for you. When I started eating snacks, it was during a time when i was doing a lot of weighlifting - and my snacks were primarily protein, with very little if any carbohydrates. I think that makes a big difference in terms of the insulin piece. Over time, as I stopped strength training, I kept snacking, but adjusted my snacks overall to be more fruit, less pure protein. They say little things add up, and I think in my case, this is a good example of that premise.2 -
I started using a preworkout powder this week, and I noticed that it has helped me focus, get through the workouts and my stamina has improved. Also losing seven pounds has helped get through the cardio.0
