Critique My Food Diary

You have to change the setting to public first, or no one can see it except your friends..

gosh, you're male, right? i'd say right off the bat that 1200 calories looks really low - i think the general rule is 1200 for women and 1600 for males, bare minimum. a quick look at the past week shows you didn't even net that 1200. i feel like what you're eating is pretty good, but yikes, please eat a little more, unless this is under doctor supervision over time your body's gonna hold on to every calorie.

Hi StatHaldol!

Not sure I'm a "nutrition buff" but I do like to think about food and nutrition. Here is my critique:

Good:
- Low saturated fat
- You're clearly trying to get the protein in
- You're eating vegetables
- I didn't see any junk when I skimmed through your diary
- Mmm tasty! hehe

Suggestions:
- I think you need to eat more! You appear to be eating 900 - 1200 a day, which is not really enough. Try putting the MFP goal to losing 1 lbs a week and follow the calorie count it suggests to you. Then use the extra calories for healthy snacks.

- Try to eat a few meals spaced throughout the day - I eat 6 x a day. Eating several times a day will keep your metabolism going and make sure you never go hungry! I usually try to make sure that each snack has a source of protein in it.

- You said you like fruit! Nothing wrong with fruit, but you might want to eat a little bit less fruit, as it's very sugary. You're eating a lot of simple sugar and very little healthy complex carbs, like brown rice, wholegrain pasta, wholemeal bread, etc. Try incorporating some wholewheat stuff as it contains useful minerals and vitamins and fibre. A serving of wholemeal pasta / rice is between 30g - 50g dry.

- Very important: try to eat more "good oils": oily fish, nuts, avocados, olive oil etc. It's high in calories, but actually it will speed up fat loss (if you have it in moderation, obviously!), by signalling to your body that it's not going to starve. It also helps your body absorb protein and lowers the bad kind of cholesterol. And it's tasty. Win! I saw that you had some salmon, that's a good source!

- Basically try to think of a balanced diet, and all the different macro and micro nutrients you want, and aim for that. I think you're doing pretty well. Definitely eat more though, or your metabolism will grind to a halt, particularly if you're not a teenager anymore...it's cruel that as we age, our metabolism slows anyway, so you want to avoid slowing it down even further, if you can.


Hope this helps!

PS: I really want some pineapple now, having read your diary!

i agree you need to eat more. Choices look good, but looks like alot of either your lunch or dinner is just fruit. Are you juicing for one of those meals?

You can set your goal to whatever you'd like (although it forces you to be at least 1200).

I also set mine to 1200, although I generally eat more than that.

You should also be tracking your sugar intake. Too much sugar is not going to help, even if it comes from a natural source like fruit why not try one fruit for lunch with some cottage cheese or to accompany a bowl of soup? You should also aim to drink over the recommended 8 cups of water a day. Good luck!