Having loads of trouble- please advise.

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Replies

  • abigailmariecs
    abigailmariecs Posts: 192 Member
    I completely understand feeling sick when you eat breakfast. I would suggest starting small; a scrambled egg, half a slice of dry toast, or a granola bar. I use to have a problem eating breakfast until I had my children. I nursed and knew that I needed the extra calories to continue to do so. I started with just half a slice of dry wheat toast every morning until my stomach got use to being fed in the morning. Now I can have a full slice or even a bowl of cereal; however, I still cannot have a really big breakfast or anything with syrup or I am sick all day. The important thing is to eat breakfast, even if it is just a small amount it will get the metabolism going for the day.
  • zafferFL
    zafferFL Posts: 402
    here we go, some myths about breakfast...before anyone else says that you NEED to eat it.


    http://www.ditch-diets-live-light.com/breakfast-buzz.html


    I'm a firm believer that forced, big breakfasts are one of the causes of weight gain because we are instilled with this as children...do some research for yourself before just repeating something you were taught.
  • SunnyAndrsn
    SunnyAndrsn Posts: 369 Member
    I would suggest using the create foods option under the My Foods tab, and creating your own recipe base. I know it's a PITA at first, but in the long run it's helpful and gives you more data to work with. Most recipes don't take that long to log, IMO, a lot loss than 30 minutes. I wouldn't bother to add most of the spices, except salt if monitoring your salt content is important to you.

    I'm not a big breakfast person either, but if I eat it on my first break at work that seems to help. I usually just do a bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit, or oatmeal and fruit. Anyway, just my 2 cents worth on the breakfast and logging thing. I've found that it DOES matter to log ever single tablespoon and cup of ingredient, at least for me.
    So #1 When I log something i log it as a meal. It's faster and easier for me. If I logged ever single ingredient, it would amount to the same calorie count, but take half an hour. I simply don't have the time every single day to write down every table spoon and cup of an ingredient. The problem with this is that I'll look up what I ate and select whatever option seemed the most reasonable compared to what it was I cooked for myself. Therefore it looks like I eat pre-packaged meals and fast food.

    Let's be very very clear: I make my food. I do not eat packaged or fast food.

    #2 I don't have that many entries per day because I'm not a very hungry person. I eat a couple times a day, I rarely eat breakfast (it makes me feel sick).

    I am not trying to make excuses, just clarify the situation. I'd rather add "PF Changs: chicken and broccoli" than add "8 oz chicken, 2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs rice wine vinegar, 1 tbs olive oil, 5 mushrooms, 1 red pepper, 1 cup broccoli, 2 tbs lemon juice, various spices, etc etc etc" just to get one meal. The calorie count, thusly, may be higher than it should be.
  • TRMite
    TRMite Posts: 60 Member
    one thing I'd recommend is to try to make a game out of getting over your percentage for vitamins. that helps me eat more healthy, especially on the days when I burn a lot doing cardio and thus NEED to eat more. You definitely seem to need more fruits and veggies in there. I can't imagine your getting enoug Vit C, A or Iron. Again, I try to make a game out of it (what do to get more XYZ) and that has helped me learn pretty quickly what foods are high in what vitamins.
  • spapsidero
    spapsidero Posts: 60
    Sounds like ur stressing about this big time! I am the same way. All these experts say u need to eat 6 small meals or 3 big meals and snacks a day. When I do this I gain weight. I started cutting down portion size. I use a 6 inch plate to eat off of it makes me think I'm eating more. I also eat only when I am hungry not by the clock. I have been doing this for a year and I have lost 80 lbs and have kept it off. Three weeks ago I got the supplement CLA at GNC. Dr. Oz had a show saying this supplement gets rid of stubborn belly fat. I tried it and it works! I've lost 6 inches off of my belly area but only lost 2 lbs. I feel smaller in that area so I'm happy with it. I use to stress about the number on the scale and decided not to care about it bc my weight fluctuates so much. After that the weight started coming off. And it hasn't come back!
  • kiwigal7
    kiwigal7 Posts: 13 Member
    I looked on your diary and see that you don't eat breakfast. It is important that you eat breakfast because it gets the metabolism started, and like a fire that is dying, you have to keep the fire stoked to burn. Also I agree that you need a variety of different foods in your intake to change it up a bit therefore giving you different nutrients that you need to be healthy.

    This is what I was thinking too. You need to start your metabolism and no breakfast is not doing that. I saw a nutritionist who told me to eat 6 times a day at the same time every day. So I eat at 9, 11, 1, 3 and 6pm, I dont like to eat after then so dont worry about meal number 6. But I make every second "meal" a piece of fruit or a snack bar or something. I also am trying to make the majority of my last meal raw. So salads, veges etc that arent cooked. I havent lost a huge amount of weight yet but hyave lost over 16cm in my measurements :)
  • piratehunter
    piratehunter Posts: 7
    Thank you all for your advice and support.

    I am having eggs for breakfast (this is my second day in a row). I had one egg white and one whole egg yesterday but today I'm only having 3 egg whites because some people mentioned I needed the protein (most of the protein is in the white) but I don't like eating a lot for breakfast. I kept it down yesterday so this is a good sign.

    I also changed how I was recording things in the past two days, and readjusted my sodium and carb daily "goals". Thanks again, and if anyone has anything else to share, please do.
  • kristinL16
    kristinL16 Posts: 401 Member
    IMO, you really do need to take the time to log everything you are eating accurately. Finding a similar meal is not good enough. For one thing, your portion is likely different than PF Changs, and the ingredients are not equal. There are ways to make logging easier. If it is recipe you eat often, you can use the recipe builder and save it for later. I try lots of new recipes and if I want to do a quick check on the calorie count I use this site.

    http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

    Most of my recipes are found online so I can just cut and paste into their site. I then quick add the calories here. If I make it a second time I will enter the info in the recipe builder and save. I am pretty new here so maybe there is an even easier way to do this, but thought this might help.
  • theginnyray
    theginnyray Posts: 208 Member
    So #1 When I log something i log it as a meal. It's faster and easier for me. If I logged ever single ingredient, it would amount to the same calorie count, but take half an hour. I simply don't have the time every single day to write down every table spoon and cup of an ingredient. The problem with this is that I'll look up what I ate and select whatever option seemed the most reasonable compared to what it was I cooked for myself. Therefore it looks like I eat pre-packaged meals and fast food.

    ...

    I am not trying to make excuses, just clarify the situation. I'd rather add "PF Changs: chicken and broccoli" than add "8 oz chicken, 2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs rice wine vinegar, 1 tbs olive oil, 5 mushrooms, 1 red pepper, 1 cup broccoli, 2 tbs lemon juice, various spices, etc etc etc" just to get one meal. The calorie count, thusly, may be higher than it should be.

    LOL You are adamant that you make your own food, but willing to log it as PF Changs? What the what?

    Take the time to log your meals - each individual ingredient. Once you log it, it's there for future reference. If it's a meal you make all the time, add it to your recipes.
  • ti2v78
    ti2v78 Posts: 26 Member
    The biggest difference I see that you can make it appears you already are making. Logging your food accurately is a huge difference. Once you have that under control (and as you do it, this becomes easier over time), then you can start to truly adjust your intake to see what changing your calories will affect.

    Oh, and eat when you want. Breakfast is not a required meal, and your metabolism does not need "stoking".
  • piratehunter
    piratehunter Posts: 7
    LOL You are adamant that you make your own food, but willing to log it as PF Changs? What the what?

    Take the time to log your meals - each individual ingredient. Once you log it, it's there for future reference. If it's a meal you make all the time, add it to your recipes.

    Yep, I am, because it's easier. And the option available on my phone aren't the same as on the website anyway.

    The only difference it seemed to make was the amount of sodium. I care about ease of logging because I'm taking the time left to do all the other things in my life including cooking and exercise.
  • dyannajoy
    dyannajoy Posts: 466 Member
    just a thought for breakfast...I too hate eating breakfast but I LOVE smoothies for breakfast. Mine are usually a banana (fruit), frozen broccoli and/or fresh spinach.(veggie) protein powder (protein of course) flax seed (omega oil) and almond milk. I can take this with me or sip on it as I am getting ready in the morning. I get tons of vitamins and minerals and it is easy to get down. Good luck!

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