Sport Advice needed with my diet/calories

Sport Fitness
L

ladybug

0
Hi, I just joined today and I am working pretty hard to lose all of my extra weight. I am 23 years old, 5'9", and currently weigh 170#'s. I started out close to 200 a couple of months ago and have done pretty well so far. Most of my weight is muscle, you would never guess that is what I weigh if you saw me-its more of a psychological thing for me I suppose. I would like to get down to 145 because that is considered a healthy weight for me.

I exercise between 4 and 6 times per week ranging from 30 minutes to 90, and try to do weights at least 3 days a week.

I have used some of the websites to find your calorie requirements and figured that I need a minimum of 1500 per day-contrary to the popular belief of 1200. I have been switching it up as well-some days 1500 some 1300 some 1700 and some even up to almost 2000. I eat pretty healthy- a lot of grains, fruit, and veggies; not a lot of meat lately though. I have my days as you will see in my journal...trying so hard to cut out things like pizza etc, but some days its hard. Hopefully this is okay (im new) but I have included my fitness journal at fitday... I was wondering if you could take a look at it and make any suggestions on how to improve my diet. I'm not going by any specific diet paln, just trying to eat healthy.

I am having trouble fitting protien in my diet and I know I need more. Any improvements you could help me with would be much apprecitated.

Thanks! :)
 
More protein. You only got 60g yesterday, but got 86g of fat!
Not good. 60g is what the USRDA is, and that's way too low for fitness minded people. I looked back several days and that's your general trend...high fat, high carbs, low protein. Not wise. Fat is a necessary nutrient, but you're taking in too much.

You want close to 1g of protein per pound of lean mass since your goal is to shed fat. In other words, you should try to get about 130-140g of protein a day. your carbs/protein/fat calorie ratios should be around 40/30/30 (very rough guideline)...instead you got 39/14/46

get those ratios more in-line. fat has 9calories per gram, while carbs and protein only have 4cals per gram. So for every gram of fat you drop, that's 2g of prot or carb, or a gram of each! That's equates to a higher volume of food eaten, making you less hungry.

The simple fix to your protein situation...is eat more! Have some egg whites at breakfast. Have a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese as a snack. Ditch pretzels, candy, soda....lots of empty carbs there...and I'd stop with those sugary granola bars too. I don't like the looks of the egg rolls either.
Are you eating out a lot, or just buying lots of microwave stuff? All that processed food is crap. The less that's done to your food from the time it leaves the ground (or is slaughtered) the better. Buy actual chicken breasts/tenders, not nuggets or deli meat. Lean cuts of steak, fish fillets or canned tuna (if chunk light tuna is gross to you, try white albacore, but don't exceed 3 cans per week due to mercury levels being higher in white albacore than the type of tuna in chunk light, which you can have 5 cans per week).
Raisin bran isn't too bad for a cold cereal...but I'm not a fan of a lot of bread when trying to shed fat...I'd ditch the muffins and bagels for old fashioned oatmeal.

Yer doing good with the veggies, but you might wanna make your own fat free ranch, or vinegrette. lots of recipes on the net, but basically use a healthy oil like virgin/extra virgin olive oil.

milk is ok too, stick to skim though, and remember it contains carbs so log it in fitday. everyone needs calcium, especially women.
 
Thanks Malkore, I appreciate the advice. I didnt know how many grams of protein to eat a day so that helps. Also, are protien shakes a good thing or no (if I make it with skim milk or H20)?

Regarding the egg rolls...they are frozen, I rarely eat out. I will incorporate more fresh things.

If I were to make chicken ahead of time (like cook on Sunday) how long can I eat it for? I suppose I could make it and freeze it.

Thanks Again!
 
Chicken is good for 3 days...technically longer, but after three days it really starts getting a little funky tasting. But then you only have to cook twice a week. We steam our brown rice twice a week to save time, and dishes. It keeps 4 days without going weird. Sometimes we add onions, canned beans (drained, either kidney or black), or wild rice.

Protein shakes are a good way to get in what you can't through normal foods. They work best as snacks (with fruit) and post-workout.
 
Good advice from Malkore. Definately more lean proteins and less fat. I'm glad you're not going too low in calories. Keep in mind that calorie calculators are not real accurate, so if you don't get the results you want, you may not be eating the right calorie level for you.
Making the chicken ahead of time is a great idea. Also, tuna pouches are quick and easy. Egg whites and 96% lean ground beef are good options as well.
Sarah
 
Thanks Sarah,

Do you find that calorie calculators are too low or too high? I definately feel an improvement after increasing my calories. My doctor basically guessed and told me to stick around 1200 but I didn't feel that was enough with my activity level and have increased it to roughly 1700.

Thanks again guys! :-d
 
They can be either too high or too low depending on the person. I'm glad you're feeling better after increasing oyur cals. 1200 is VERY low. That probably would not have been a good idea.
Sarah
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top