Someone critique my diary?
therequiiem
Posts: 133 Member
I feel like I've been at this same number for two weeks or so. I would like someone to take a look at my diary and see what I could be doing better... I'm scared to eat a lot of fruit in a day because of the high sugar content, even though it's natural. What is a good carb amount to eat for 1200-1500 calories? Does anyone eat refined carbs, if its just a small portion? (Like crackers)
I've run out of food ideas as well. I'm a rather picky eater and eat the same thing a lot.
I've run out of food ideas as well. I'm a rather picky eater and eat the same thing a lot.
0
Replies
-
make your diary public and will try again.0
-
I feel like I've been at this same number for two weeks or so. I would like someone to take a look at my diary and see what I could be doing better... I'm scared to eat a lot of fruit in a day because of the high sugar content, even though it's natural. What is a good carb amount to eat for 1200-1500 calories? Does anyone eat refined carbs, if its just a small portion? (Like crackers)
I've run out of food ideas as well. I'm a rather picky eater and eat the same thing a lot.0 -
if you want to have crackers, Bob Greene, the author of Your Best Life Diet, says eat only the serving size which is 5. I don't think it will bother you if you aren't consuming them by the packs.0
-
My problem is when I get certain "treats" to have, I plan on eating only a few but that never happens. I don't over indulge, but I either have the serving size or a little more. This past week I've been eating vanilla wafers and light reduced fat buttery crackers everyday. Small portions, though... should I just avoid these all together???0
-
I ate some crackers the other day, but I'm trying not to make a habit out of it.
Carbs go straight to my waist, so I haven't been eating bread of any sort lately, although I love eating sandwiches. My carbs are pretty much stuff like whole grains, beans, and corn lately, with just a little fruit.
Hope this helps.0 -
The first thing I notice is that you eat a lot of carbs in a day. I try to limit myself to 1 serving of something, whether it be bread in a sandwich, a slice of toast, crackers, or what have you...0
-
I like your diary but my constructive critique would be to reduce the sweets..0
-
I woudl try to eat more veggies (carrots, brocolli, etc....). Also, i would actually suggest reducing your carbs and increasing your protein. When you are trying to lose weight, you don't need to have 60% of your calories from carbs. In fact, when I first started I was 40/40/20 (carbs/proteins/fats). The additional protein will help stimulate muscle growth which will increase your basal metabolic rate (BMR); these are the amount of calories you burn if you slept for 24 hours.0
-
The first thing I notice is that you eat a lot of carbs in a day. I try to limit myself to 1 serving of something, whether it be bread in a sandwich, a slice of toast, crackers, or what have you...
How many carbs should I be eating? I try to cut down but I love them =/0 -
I woudl try to eat more veggies (carrots, brocolli, etc....). Also, i would actually suggest reducing your carbs and increasing your protein. When you are trying to lose weight, you don't need to have 60% of your calories from carbs. In fact, when I first started I was 40/40/20 (carbs/proteins/fats). The additional protein will help stimulate muscle growth which will increase your basal metabolic rate (BMR); these are the amount of calories you burn if you slept for 24 hours.
What carb ratio do you recommend for someone eating 1200-1500 calories? I feel like it's going to be hard giving up carbs! I also have just not been into vegetables lately....=(0 -
You need to eat more protein. You are eating too many carbs during the day and not enough protein. I see you are almost 20g away from your protein goal nearly everyday. Protein is going to keep you full longer as well which is another benefit of it. So try adding a little more protein in each meal as well as your snacks. Also, how many times a week are you exercising?0
-
I see so many people with their carb goal as less than 100 or more than 200. How do you know which is right for you?0
-
I woudl try to eat more veggies (carrots, brocolli, etc....). Also, i would actually suggest reducing your carbs and increasing your protein. When you are trying to lose weight, you don't need to have 60% of your calories from carbs. In fact, when I first started I was 40/40/20 (carbs/proteins/fats). The additional protein will help stimulate muscle growth which will increase your basal metabolic rate (BMR); these are the amount of calories you burn if you slept for 24 hours.
THIS!!! Higher protein, lower carbs and fruits n veggies. :-)0 -
You need to eat more protein. You are eating too many carbs during the day and not enough protein. I see you are almost 20g away from your protein goal nearly everyday. Protein is going to keep you full longer as well which is another benefit of it. So try adding a little more protein in each meal as well as your snacks. Also, how many times a week are you exercising?
It really depends, I try to go at least 3x/week. I don't particularly eat meat except at dinner time, so I rely on my protein from dairy and other things... which has sugar =/0 -
Hey girl,
Just had a quick look at 2 days of your food diary. Your calorie count looks good and you are staying within your 'budget'. One thing that may help is if you reduce the amount of refined sugars that you are eating with your carbs, try and cut out some of the processed food and replace it with whole foods. Like replacing a snack bar with a banana. Think about eating foods that are as close to their natural form as possible with nothing added.
Also- it might help if you try and add some more protein to your diet just to shake up your weight loss. Centre your main meal around a lean meat (chicken or fish) and lots of vegetables.
For protein based snacks try: plain yogurt with a handful of frozen berries, cottage cheese sprinkled with sunflower seeds, a skim milk cheese stick, an apple cut in half and spread with peanut butter (no sugar added), or even have a non-fat latte.
Good luck xx0 -
You are supposed to get approximately 40% of your calories from carbs.
At 1,200-1,500 calories per day, you are looking at 480-600 calories per day from carbs. Carbs have 4 calories per gram, so that means 120-150 grams of carbs per day (120 grams*4 calories=480 calories; 150 grams*4 calories=600 calories).0 -
I love carbs too, believe me! I'm a pasta and rice addict! Love bread! However, this contributes to the tire expanding around my waist and thighs. It is hard to give up carbs at first, but like I said, a serving per day, if you can not cut them out all together, should be doable. Carbs contain sugar and you eat sweets as well, sugar turns to fat. Replace some of those sweets with natural sugar like fruits.0
-
If you are afraid to add fruit, maybe add veggies. I think that might help. There are plenty of fresh, good quality veggies to be had this time of year. Try something new.
How are your workouts going? Maybe increase a little bit at a time both intensity and length of time.
Water intake isn't too bad but you could try increasing a little and see if that helps.
Just a couple of suggestions. You can do it! Everyone gets stuck occasionally.0 -
Your carbs are really high. I also use a 40/40/20 ratio of carbs/protein/fats. You should try to eat carbs and protein at the same level for your meals. Too many carbs and sweets will spike your blood sugar followed by a crash which will make you constantly hungry and craving more carbs. It can be quite a vicious circle.0
-
The first thing that I notice is that you already have a lot of processed sugar, I would eliminate those as much as possible and replace with the fresh fruit. If you have to have sweets (and lets face it, sometimes we do) I would try to go for the 100 calorie packs, fruit or a sweet flavored yogurt. Maybe try switching up your exercise routine as well as your diet. Try to incorporate something different and fun that you normally don't eat and see if you like it better. I would try to give some more advice about some alternative food options, but I don't know in what way you are picky. Hope this helps0
-
Overall I see some great choices in there - kudos to you.
Now the critique, (but first my disclaimer - this is just what works for me and is only my non-professional opinion, so take it or leave it).
I would change your macros to 40% carbohydrates, 30% fat and 30% protein. Ideally, you want to eat about a gram of protein per lb of body weight to help preserve lean muscle tissue as you lose weight - otherwise as the pounds go down you are losing both fat AND precious, hard to earn muscle. (I also recommend strength training 3-4x week with HEAVY HEAVY weights to also help preserve lean tissue).
For carbohydrates - you want complex - 100% whole wheat bread (good job), brown rice, veggies, etc... Stay away from simple carbohydrates or refined carbohydrates - white bread, white rice, candy, chips, cookies, your butter crackers (wink) etc....
For fat - try to get it from healthy sources - nuts or olives and their oils and fish.
For protein - lots of lean meat - usually fish or poultry or eggs (egg whites) though plain yogurt and nuts can be a source too. or you can continue supplementing with a whey shake or something. Check your yogurt - I'm not a fan of aspartame - not sure if your strawberry yogurt has it or not - I know that Chobani greek yogurt does not use aspartame as a sweetener - but I'd stay away from the fruit varieties because they are high in sugar.
speaking of which - you are smart to track your sugar - all sugar. I too, limit my fruits (yes fruits ARE healthy - will save this argument for another thread). Keep your sugar to 10% of your calories or less. You calories x 0.1 = this number. This number divided by 4 = # of sugar grams you can have in a day.
Drink lots and lots and lots of water.
I also find it helpful to try to eat lots of fiber - mostly through veggies, sweet potato, beans, or steel cut oats.
I'm not perfect by any means - but my diary is open also if you'd like to fish around for ideas. I have some "bad" days in there too though - you've been warned.
Good luck!0 -
Thanks everyone for your responses!
Vegetables are so unappealing to me. I do like a side of green beans, broccoli, peas, carrots, potato. I am mostly a fruit eater and dairy eater, which is not good!!
I'd love to eat more vegetables and cut out the dairy and sweets. They are just so unappealing to me.0 -
Your problem in a word is SUGAR...........in looking at your food diary you are going way over on your sugar intake.0
-
Your problem in a word is SUGAR...........in looking at your food diary you are going way over on your sugar intake.
Although not in my recent entries, my sugar intake is due mostly to milk and fruit.0 -
Here's a link for you:
Check it out! Someone gave it to me my first week on MFP and it helped me soooo much!
http://www.extremely-fit.com/fitness-tips/2011/01/8week-transition-diet/0 -
Firstly, I agree with the advice from WifeMomDVM.
How tall are you? If you are close to your goal weight then you may need to reduce your calorific deficit (up the cals a bit) to ensure you aren't losing LBM.
You say you exercise 3 times a week. What does this consist of? You aren't recording this in your diary so you obviously aren't eating back exercise cals. This could be creating too much of a deficit depending on exercise length/intensity/type.
Are you sure you're logging everything accurately? weighing or not? Or have been doing long enough that you can generally eyeball weights?
Re eating crackers etc: just because you eat these doesn't mean you will put on weight. You need to eat more than your maintenance cals to put on weight. You could eat the "clean" food only (lean meats/fruit/veggies) and go over your maintenance calories and you will put on weight. maintenance cals is NOT your 1470 target. Most likely around 2100 I would estimate.
Lots of takeaway food in there. It can be ok if you fit it into your calorie/maco goals but I would still try to limit it to special occasions where possible.0 -
If you haven't used the Tools section to eyeball your BMI and BMR, that might help. I also depend on the smart phone features (charts and reports) a lot. Keeps me in line.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions