What is the biggest issue in my diet?
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ppaliwa
Posts: 9 Member
I weigh almost 300 pounds and I am trying to lose weight and be healthier.
Here is what I ate today. I would say it is a pretty standard representation for how most of my days go. (Although, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and binge a bunch of junk food, which contributes to weight gain.)
Is there anything that jumps out to you? Something that I'm very clearing lacking in my diet, or something I am eating too much of?
Breakfast (8am)
- Eggs (2 or so)
- Cappuccino (about 380 calories)
Lunch
- Medium-sized salad (w/about 2 tablespoons of ceasar dressing) (romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, turkey, corn, croutons)
- Chocolate soy milk drink (140 calories)
Bonus:
- Half a glass of lemonade (was kind of forced upon me lol)
Dinner (about 11pm)
- Canned pasta with tomato sauce (about 500 calories)
Post-dinner food (2am)
- Vegetable soup (150 calories)
I also had about 2-3 bottles of water throughout the day.
I know it's not enough food if I were to eat like this every day. But whenever I can manage to eat less, I take advantage of it.
Thank you for your perspectives
Here is what I ate today. I would say it is a pretty standard representation for how most of my days go. (Although, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and binge a bunch of junk food, which contributes to weight gain.)
Is there anything that jumps out to you? Something that I'm very clearing lacking in my diet, or something I am eating too much of?
Breakfast (8am)
- Eggs (2 or so)
- Cappuccino (about 380 calories)
Lunch
- Medium-sized salad (w/about 2 tablespoons of ceasar dressing) (romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, turkey, corn, croutons)
- Chocolate soy milk drink (140 calories)
Bonus:
- Half a glass of lemonade (was kind of forced upon me lol)
Dinner (about 11pm)
- Canned pasta with tomato sauce (about 500 calories)
Post-dinner food (2am)
- Vegetable soup (150 calories)
I also had about 2-3 bottles of water throughout the day.
I know it's not enough food if I were to eat like this every day. But whenever I can manage to eat less, I take advantage of it.
Thank you for your perspectives
0
Replies
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Depending on how much turkey and cheese was in your salad, it looks like you might be low on protein.
And I don't see healthy fats anywhere either: plant based oils, nuts, avocado, fat fish,...
PS: it would be a lot easier if we could look at your diary directly (you can temporarily open your diary in the settings) to see more precise numbers.3 -
PPS: 380 calories for a cappuccino? That sounds huge in terms of calories and very disproportionate to your other foods. Liquids aren't going to give you much satiation, most likely, so personally I avoid 'liquid calories' as much as possible.
Or is that number for the cappuccino and eggs combined? Still a fairly high number, since two eggs is probably 180kcal?6 -
What Lietchi said above.
How many calories are these? As a wild guess I'd say it's not much more than 1500. With your weight you might be able to eat more than that if it's really this low. Are you male or female, btw? Getting good nutrition is important for health, but eating enough is also important, mostly for keeping up the weightloss. Too little and you might just crave in, binge, give up.3 -
Yep--what jumps out at me is a cappuccino for 380 cal. Mine in Italy (at a bar) is 74 cal. That's 300 cal saved where you can eat some filling food. I do overnite oats w protein powder. There are interesting threads on what people are eating for breakfast. Take a look.
I'd say eat more fruits, vegetables, protein and fats.
You don't give your stats or daily calorie goal. Eating too little can lead to binging, and once started, that's a hard habit to break. Eat enough to lose gradually, find your sweet spot-where you lose and don't suffer. Lastly, try to move more, even walking is good to start. Good luck. You can do it.5 -
I meant to say Frappuccino - One of those very sugary Starbucks drinks. 380 just for the Frappuccino, not including the eggs. I was craving it as a treat.
I haven't been recording my food or calories and just quickly typed this up at the end of the day, but I will consider tracking more in-depth for a while to get more data.
I am female and 5"0'
I don't have a calorie goal, and right now I am really trying to just eat less in general but without the stress of calculating how much exactly I am eating in every bite. I keep a mental note of roughly how many calories I'm eating and making sure it's less than 2,000/day. But it seems I am being too careful and should probably make a point of eating a little more.
Thank you so much for the help. I will try to eat more healthy fats, protein, and vegetables. Though I am not much a fan of fruit - is a banana in the morning every other day enough?2 -
You don't need to eat fruit if you don't want to, just vegetables is fine.
That being said, if you have cravings for sugar (like that frappucino), eating fruit might help alleviate those.4 -
It jumps out to me that this is a lot of processed food!
I personally eat a lot more than this, I have at least 1 snack in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, I also binge sometimes but I noticed I have less cravings when eating less sugars and store-bought food.
Try to pay attention at what you eat, I don't know you or your habits and I understand not everyone has a lot of time to cook their own food, but preparing meals by yourself is a great starting point.
Eggs in the morning are great, try to sneak in some veggies or fruit or some bread, to keep you fuller.
For your salad, try a healthier version: some bread instead of croutons (which are usually fried), grilled chicken or some chickpeas instead of processed turkey, parmesan cheese instead of cheddar or no cheese at all.
As an Italian, canned pasta is a stab in my heart haha so if you really want pasta, try to cook it yourself, it's the easiest in the world and you have more control on the ingredients! A portion of boiled pasta with fresh tomato sauce (you just prepare it simmering some tomato sauce with good olive oil, salt and pepper) is way healthier and better in taste.
Last but not least, I agree with cutting liquid calories, it's ok if once or twice a week you treat yourself to a frappuccino or another drink, but 3 in the same day (frappuccino+soy drink+lemonade) will make your sugar leels go crazy and crave for more!1 -
Sorry to say I'd be subbing a lot of those choices.
If I ate 2000 cal. a day I'd be gaining and I'm 5'9"F. MFP allows me 1200 and if I exercise I'll add those in so a good day gets me 1400-1500 cal. Canned pasta reminds me of my Chef Boyardee days and my taste buds go yuck. Frappuccinos wouldn't be in my diary whatsoever, unless I cut down my calories for the rest of the day. When I get those kinds of cravings I usually sub SF hot chocolate or make a smoothie, being careful there as well because it depends on what you add to it. I don't use full fat dressings. Chocolate anything is a treat or I figure it into the calories.
My diet consists of lean proteins, lots of nonfat plain yogurt which I doctor up with SF syrup. I eat a fair amount of veggies. I have eggs 1x a week, making myself an omelet with 1 egg and 2 egg whites, lots of sautéed veggies in the middle. I stay simple and basic, nothing fancy or canned for me. Canned foods are notoriously salty as well, something to consider. Breads, pastas, rice, potatoes, corn, etc. are occasional choices for me because they don't pack the bang for the buck, But that's just me. When I do want a sandwich I pick low calorie breads that are 40-45 calories a slice, or I'll choose a spinach wrap loaded with veggies and little bit of turkey. Cheese is another occasional choice for me. The one food I do love and probably eat too much of is peanut butter. But I keep it within calorie range.
My suggestion would be, since you're just starting out is to enter your stats into MFP, select foods you do like that are reasonably healthy, and go from there. Learn to substitute the foods you're used to eating, with healthier versions and weigh/measure them. You might not have a clear idea of what foods look like at 4 oz., 1/2 c. etc.
Wishing you good luck, you can turn this around!!2 -
@ilariadm1
Yeah, you're right, it is a lot of processed food
I've been trying to find ways to eat less processed food, but right now I live in a dormitory, and all I have are a very small mini fridge, a microwave, and a toaster. So I can't make use of most of your suggestions at the moment. However, I will be moving out in about a month, so I will save your post and look at it later!
I'm also quite poor, so that's made it a little rougher too.
If anyone has tips on how to eat less processed food while having these restrictions in place, I'm all ears!
Also - The grilled chicken in place of turkey suggestion was interesting to me. Grilled chicken is healthier than turkey?
I didn't really realize until your post that almost half of my calories for the day were from liquids. That's a yikes! I used to be addicted to pop, and I only recently managed to stop (about 2 weeks ago). I would drink at least a liter of pop a day, usually. I suppose I should try to stick to only one sweet beverage a day at max and then slowly try to switch to every other day and then maybe only once or twice a week.
I wonder if I'm not addicted to pop, but sugar specifically? Lately my body has sometimes been shaking lightly, and I had no idea what was causing it, but I'm wondering if it's sugar withdraw...?
The canned pasta was the most boring and bland pasta I have ever had! I will not repeat that.
@ReenieHJ Thank you for the substitute suggestions and for the general tips!3 -
Are you on any kind of a food plan associated with your school and can eat in a cafeteria, etc.? Just curious if you'd have that option. I know when my kids all went through college, their diets were notorious. Lots of fast foods, pop tarts, ramen, noodle heat-n-go dishes, that type of thing. They basically had the same appliances available as you do. Healthier eating is a challenge in those circumstances yet highly doable. Think fresh fruits and veggies/hummus, tuna, deli meats like turkey, lite breads. FF dressings. Lots of water to take over the chocolate and flavored drinks. Or tea. coffee, SF hot chocolate? A lot depends on what you like and will eat. I eat a lot of peanuts in the shell because I like peanuts and they take time to eat. 1
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Well, simply put, what you've posted isn't the reason you are 300lbs. So I wouldn't worry too much exactly about what you've posted.
Yeah, you should work on upping your protein, adding whole foods, and drinking less sugar, but you already know that.
Plus, the best way to make those changes is with small, incremental changes. You don't need to suddenly force feed yourself fruit every meal. Or switch turkey for chicken, which literally doesn't even make sense to me. Just try bit by bit to improve the quality of your food choices every day while keeping your calorie intake reasonable.
The bigger issue is understanding what got you to 300lbs in the first place, because it's probably not the "typical day" of food that you've just posted.
So either this isn't actually your typical eating, or you used to eat differently, or the binging you mentioned is not a rare occurrence.
That's really the important thing to focus on. What caused the weight gain, and how can you address it?
Nightime binging is statistically most often not an actual hunger thing. It's typically primarily driven by unmet emotional needs and often unprocessed trauma.
So maybe take some time to work on that? Try to figure out what the emotional basis might be for the binging behaviour.
In a lot of cases, the best diet is a good therapist, and LESS fixation on food, not more.
I personally understood this from my psychology training, so when I was obese, I lost weight by focusing on resolving the emotional triggers that caused my gain in the first place.
I also focused on little by little trying to just feed my body high quality foods that would make me feel better. I started small, I just started with breakfast at first. Once I had a solid routine of always eating well for my body for breakfast, despite having an insane work routine, I moved on and slowly improved the remaining meals.
It took me a solid year to work through the emotional issues and very incrementally improve my lifestyle, but after that year, the habits have stuck and I've never again gone back to unhealthy habits.
Good luck, and try to make this about taking really, really good care of yourself because you deserve it.8 -
@ppaliwa nope chicken and turkey are very similar, I thought you had some cubed/sliced turkey, which is usually very processed and packed with potato starch, salt and preservatives.
I can feel you about not having a lot of money, I've been a student on a budget for a very long time...here in Italy maybe it is different, but healthy food is not that expensive! And for healthy food I don't refer to that "organic/bio/superfood/vegan/etc" labels, rather to basic ingredients (fresh veggies, chickpeas, lentils, yogurt, bread, etc).
Personally, I think 1200 calories is the right intake only for a children or if you are above 60 yo, it isn't sustainable for a long time and it is very risky... the exact suitable intake for you can be defined only by a doctor/nutritionist, but I wouldn't suggest cutting that much.
I don't know what pop is but I assume it is a sugary beverage like Coke, so it's likely a sort of withdrawal crisis. I personally don't consume a lot of soft drinks, I think you could try with some flavored water (like squeezed lemon+sweetener) or some tea with sweetener, you prepare it in the morning, let it cool and bring with you in a bottle. It works for me when I dont't feel like drinking water!0 -
It really depends on where you are. Rice and pasta in bulk might be affordable, or pre-cooked beans (raw might cost a lot of energy in preparing them). Frozen vegetables? A few types of spices to get you started. Nothing unusual but a few things you can use for lots of things. And then some protein of choice.0
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@ReenieHJ Yes, I am! The cafeteria food is quite limited though and not that healthy. For breakfast, they have cereal, granola bars, some fruit, eggs, tater tots, toast, and sometimes sausage. (There are also a bunch of snacks and junk food like chips and ice cream.)
For lunch/dinner, there's a salad bar, sushi, customizable hamburgers, customizable sandwiches, customizable wraps, chicken tenders, and pasta that would have @ilariadm1 crying even more. Sometimes there is pizza too, and it's quite a wonder they manage to make pizza taste so terrible. Sometimes they will have something called a "power bowl" instead of the gross pasta. I don't remember what all the options are, but you can choose from numerous vegetables, rice, beans, cheese, sauce, and more.
I think I might get a spinach wrap for dinner tonight with turkey and veggies as you suggested 2 -
@Xellercin Thank you for the post! The way I presented the information was definitely confusing.
I say this is a "typical day" but that's really only referring to the past 2-3 weeks. Before then, my diet was much, much worse.
The biggest trigger for my binging sessions are my sleeping pills. They cause me to want to stuff my face endlessly. I sit there like a zombie in a daze. It's very difficult to overcome it. This strong urge to eat/binge tends to exist regardless of what I ate in the previous day, be it too few calories or far too many.
I really appreciate all of your help and I'm glad you are where you are now!5 -
I'm a bit hesitant to post this, and it might be out of your control...but do you always go to bed after 2am?
With an 8am start that would have me on my knees, and eating all the sugary stuff I could get my hands on to try and gain some sort of oomph to get through the day.
When you eat doesn't have much impact except for personal preference, but a lack of sleep can make it harder to make good choices just because you're to tired to care.
Fair enough if that doesn't apply to you, but that was the thing that really jumped out at me.4 -
@ilariadm1
Yeah, you're right, it is a lot of processed food
I've been trying to find ways to eat less processed food, but right now I live in a dormitory, and all I have are a very small mini fridge, a microwave, and a toaster. So I can't make use of most of your suggestions at the moment. However, I will be moving out in about a month, so I will save your post and look at it later!
I'm also quite poor, so that's made it a little rougher too.
If anyone has tips on how to eat less processed food while having these restrictions in place, I'm all ears!
Also - The grilled chicken in place of turkey suggestion was interesting to me. Grilled chicken is healthier than turkey?
I didn't really realize until your post that almost half of my calories for the day were from liquids. That's a yikes! I used to be addicted to pop, and I only recently managed to stop (about 2 weeks ago). I would drink at least a liter of pop a day, usually. I suppose I should try to stick to only one sweet beverage a day at max and then slowly try to switch to every other day and then maybe only once or twice a week.
I wonder if I'm not addicted to pop, but sugar specifically? Lately my body has sometimes been shaking lightly, and I had no idea what was causing it, but I'm wondering if it's sugar withdraw...?
The canned pasta was the most boring and bland pasta I have ever had! I will not repeat that.
@ReenieHJ Thank you for the substitute suggestions and for the general tips!
This happens to me when I go too long without food.2 -
You don't need to eat fruit if you don't want to, just vegetables is fine.
That being said, if you have cravings for sugar (like that frappucino), eating fruit might help alleviate those.
Yes, I was able to cut way down on ice cream and baked goods by eating more fruit.
When berries are out of season, I buy them frozen. They are cheap and store well.0 -
@Xellercin Thank you for the post! The way I presented the information was definitely confusing.
I say this is a "typical day" but that's really only referring to the past 2-3 weeks. Before then, my diet was much, much worse.
The biggest trigger for my binging sessions are my sleeping pills. They cause me to want to stuff my face endlessly. I sit there like a zombie in a daze. It's very difficult to overcome it. This strong urge to eat/binge tends to exist regardless of what I ate in the previous day, be it too few calories or far too many.
I really appreciate all of your help and I'm glad you are where you are now!
Are you taking Ambien? That's associated with sleep-eating. I struggled with sleep for decades. I'm finally in a good place now. In addition to paying strict attention to sleep hygiene, I am also aided by a substance legal in my state and that's as much as I can say about that here
https://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/getting/overcoming/tips0 -
I really can't say how much sugar you are eating but it always helps to try to cut out added sugars especially in liquid form. Pay attention to your nutrition labels. Also work on dealing with the binge eating it will derail your progress (been there done that).
How big are the bottles of water you are drinking? In the past I've thought I was hungry but really I was just dehydrated.
I read the book "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think" by Brian Wansink many years ago and it was enlightening so it might be worth a read if you can find a copy.0
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