Weight-Loss Input on Diet Needed

Weight-Loss
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Kakes2

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Hi Everyone,
I know that I can't be the only one who is confused about what to eat and what not to eat. I am admittedly overwhelmed with all the research out there and I feel like I have no clue what I am doing. However, I feel it may give me some piece of mind if someone could give me some feedback about what I have been eating. Background: I am 4ft 10inches, 27 years old. Currently weight about 167lbs. I exercise mostly every day (45 min. cardio).

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs (made with almond milk) OR smoothie made with 1 cup plain, nonfat yogurt, frozen berries/banana and a handfull of kale.

Snack: 1 cup strawberries/grapes OR pretzels OR carrots OR low fat mozzarella cheese stick.

Lunch: Plain grilled chicken with ketchup/BBQ sauce (1tbsp) OR salad with tomato, broccoli, cucumber, carrots, light salad dressing (1 tbsp), few croutons/sliced almonds.

Snack: Fruit OR carrots (if I am hungry).

Dinner: Usually grilled chicken with ketchup/BBQ sauce (1tbsp) with a veggie (broccoli or green beans) OR shrimp w/ salad.

Snack: carrots is usually the only thing I'll let myself eat after dinner, only if hungry.

As you can see, I am doing my best to stick with fruit, veggies, and protein. Also doing my best to avoid dairy and sugar. I live with my parents so there are often lots of temptations around (bacon, cookies, ice cream, etc.). If I can't avoid the temptation altogether, I might have a bite or one piece. A huge improvement from the binge eating that I've done in the past. I would like to get more adventurous with my cooking but for now I actually don't mind plain grilled chicken at all. Hardest part for me in these last few weeks is avoiding carbs. I try to avoid carbs and sugar like the plague but it is SO difficulty to not eat bread once in a while, or a cookie here or there!

Please feel free to leave me any feedback, good or bad. I really want to have some direction on what I'm doing and as I've said, this just feels like a guessing game. I really don't want to be counting up my calories all day every day. I want to make healthy choices and feel good about what foods I am putting in my body.

On a side note, one of my coworkers drank a coke today (I used to LOVE pepsi) and I was shocked how many calories of crap were in that one can! I don't think I will ever drink that stuff again!
 
Seems reasonable, you'd still should consider counting your actual calories, will help you with whatever goals you currently have for yourself.

Also, the one thing you left out, that might be most important, is what you are drinking everyday.
 
Thank you for replying, Upton! I am reluctant to count my calories because I'm not sure what I would do with that information. People say all sorts of different things about how many calories per day you are supposed to eat vs. how much exercise you get. I think it is all very confusing and different depending on how you ask.

Good point about leaving out what I am drinking. WATER ONLY! I do like soda but I have given it up all together. Haven't had any in probably 3 weeks or so and I have no desire to have any. I actually have a few bottles in my fridge right now (living with parents who buy crap!) and I have not been tempted to drink any at all. My hope is that I will eventually have a sip and think it tastes gross - it IS gross anyway. My water intake has been a bit tough since I have been known to go all day without drinking a single thing. Bizarre, I know. I have been sure to bring a water bottle with me to work every day and remind myself to keep drinking. Certainly an adjustment for me.

I drink alcohol occasionally. Very rarely, so therefore I haven't even thought about what alcohol is a "better option." Anyone who can weigh in on that would be great appreciated!

Any other input is welcome...
 
You don't necessarily have to do anything with the calorie information. However, if in the future you would decide you want to lose and/or gain weight, it will be easier if you know how many calories you are consuming and then modify that number to meet your new goals :)
 
Hi Kakes, I'm Mark... your story touched me. I'm 27 and live with my parents parents right now too. They also live a very unhealthy lifestyle, and constantly bring junk food into the house that I am always tempted by and sometimes can't avoid :/

Anyways, I grew up in a terrible diet too. To be honest, I didn't know what to eat growing up either... I had an extra 40 pounds by the end of college and didn't know how to get rid of it... even though I exercised all the time!

Long story short, there was one man who changed my life. I read his book that feel into my hands by accident, and he explained food, nutrition, and their effects on the body in a way that was easy to understand. Black and white. His book spoke to me because every claim he made was backed up by hundreds and hundreds of scientific studies on large populations over time. It was jaw drooping to read. I realized a lot of what I had heard before that about food was fraudulent or incomplete information that left me fat and ignorant about how to eat for true health, normal weight, and longevity. If I hadn't read his book, I'd still be overweight, guaranteed!! (I lost all if that weight by the way... it's been almost 4 years!)

Like I said, your story speaks to me because I was there four years ago. I'm sooo glad someone gave me that book, and I pass this advice on to you in the hopes you can have similar success!

The book is called 'eat to live' by Joel Fuhrman. It's a little but old now..... he has a newer one called 'the end if dieting'... I've read then both and I still like eat to live more. It's specifically written for people who need to lose a significant amount if weight. Either book would be good to ess though. If you don't feel like reading a book, suggested by a stranger, then you (or anyone else who hasn't heard if this or his term 'nutritarian') MUST check out a video with him talking about food. Type in Joel Fuhrman on YouTube and go from there. I could quickly tell that what this guy says is closest to the truth, hands down. Listen for yourself, and then you be the judge. I swear by his information... he is my #1 expert for learning about what to eat and why... I don't believe anything else I hear. There is sooo much terrible information out there :/ I feel your pain.

Good luck :) I'm happy to answer any questions!!
 
Hey Markzilla, thank you so much for the suggestion. I will definitely have to look for the book on Amazon and give it a read. I am always up for learning new things... especially from those who know what they are talking about. As I said in my original post, I am confused by all the information out there. I know that to lose weight, you have to eat less calories than you burn but I've come to learn it can be much more complicated than that!

And I'm happy to know that I am not the only 27 year old still living at home. :) I am planning on moving out ASAP, not only for my privacy and personal space, but also for the fact that I won't have so many temptations around me. I love when people say, "Just don't buy junk and you won't eat it." Yeah, easier said than done when your "roommates" (aka parents) are the ones buying the junk!
 
You are very welcome!

You're right, it's not just about the amount of calories you eat/burn. The nutritional quality of each calorie is very important. I hope you read his book. He had another one called disease proof your child that talks about how critical it is for kids to get the adequate amount of micronutrients and petrochemicals they need to prevent disease later in life. Phenomenal information in that book too!

Omg same here! I can't wait to move out because I am constantly tempted with by junk foods. It's not so easy to avoid sometimes! When I have my own place, the contents in the refrigerator well be very different. The good news is, the more you eat natural whole foods, the better they taste. Your taste buds will change, your gut bacteria and neural cravings will become acclimated to healthy food :D. I still crave bad food and can't resist sometimes, but those instances are much more rare now. It feels to good to eat well and be thin :) After knowing what it's like to eat real good, I'll never go back to eating the mindless, taste deadening standard American diet.

How is your progress coming along this week?
 
I will certainly look into getting the book when I have a few minutes of down time!

I agree with you about the refrigerator. I basically have my own drawer in our refrigerator, where I keep all my produce and food that I buy. When I open the fridge, I just look away from all the other junk that's in there. Luckily my parents have learned that if they get food, I don't want any. I used to constantly have to tell them that I'd do my own thing and they would get offended. Now they are starting to understand.

As far as the cravings and such go, I am definitely craving junk food less and less. Sometimes I catch myself thinking about certain foods but I think that's normal because I've been eating crap for most of my life. I am able to stay away from the crap for the most part, but if I absolutely can't avoid it, then I can keep it to a very small portion. Baby steps! Most notably, I have not had takeout or soda in a month and I have no intentions of having any in the near future. I doubt that I would even like the taste at this point.

For the time being, I am feeling good about the food choices that I am making, but I think that's because I am seeing some changes on the scale. God forbid the scale stalls, I might need some talking off the ledge!
 
Hey Kakes2,

First, I have a special message for you at the end of this post, so feel free to skip to that if you don't care about my opinions about your diet.

One other question for you: is your diet working? Have you lost weight or noticed any less-than-concrete improvements like "I feel more energized"

Kakes2 said:
I exercise mostly every day (45 min. cardio).
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I personally am not a big fan of cardio, I used to be a runner and I found it boring. I also don't suggest it for my clients because it causes a lot of stress. So I'd suggest you ask yourself: is cardio helping me? Does it make me feel good or am I just doing it because I have to or some expert told me it was necessary?

Kakes2 said:
Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs (made with almond milk) OR smoothie made with 1 cup plain, nonfat yogurt, frozen berries/banana and a handfull of kale.
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please make sure the almond milk is unsweetened, otherwise you've just switched dairy for candy water.

Kakes2 said:
Snack: 1 cup strawberries/grapes OR pretzels OR carrots OR low fat mozzarella cheese stick.
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Low-fat is generally a bad idea, in my opinion. Fat is known for making food taste good. If you take fat out of food, it will probably not taste as good and food companies will have to add stuff to the food to make it taste good. What are they adding to your food?

Kakes2 said:
Lunch: Plain grilled chicken with ketchup/BBQ sauce (1tbsp) OR salad with tomato, broccoli, cucumber, carrots, light salad dressing (1 tbsp), few croutons/sliced almonds.
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Again with the low-fat: are foods healthier in their natural state or in a low-fat state?

snack, dinner, and the final snack are fine.

Kakes2 said:
I live with my parents so there are often lots of temptations around (bacon, cookies, ice cream, etc.). If I can't avoid the temptation altogether, I might have a bite or one piece. A huge improvement from the binge eating that I've done in the past.
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Why don't you set aside 1 day every week where you allow yourself to eat a cookie or two. It doesn't have to be a binge, just a few hundred more calories above your BMR.

this is surprisingly important, from a psychological point of view. If you say you are not going to eat sugar or dairy, and you take little nibbles of food every once in a while then that's basically going against your own word to yourself. That's not very good for your own self esteem!

And now for a very special message:
Kakes2 said:
I really don't want to be counting up my calories all day every day. I want to make healthy choices and feel good about what foods I am putting in my body.

I am admittedly overwhelmed with all the research out there and I feel like I have no clue what I am doing.
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The SINGLE, BIGGEST PROBLEM I see has nothing to do with your dietary choices - it has to do with your mindset.

"I don't want to count calories but I want to lose weight/get healthy" is more than an excuse, it's an insidious and probably habitual script! INvisble scripst like this can control your life if you don't change them. I know this is a problem because I too did not want to count calories or log which foods I ate. Many of the top coaches recommend that you track what you eat because it is such an effective tool for getting healthier and losing weight. It's important to realize that you're just a normal human - you're not special. If making a food log is helpful to others, then it will probably help you. I'd invite you to use myfitnesspal.com to track your food and calories. It's super simple to do and takes maybe 5 minutes per day.

The other script I'd invite you to watch out for is the "I'm overwhelmed by research" mindset. Modern research, especially nutrition research is absolutely awful. One of the reasons everyone says different things is because no one in the scientific community is able to get money to do research to say something concrete! (here's a funny video explaining this situation:
). I'm definitely a science supporter, but don't rely on it, a lot it is currently bogus until more repeat studies and counter-studies are done to show it works.

I'd suggest you change the "I'm overwhelmed by research mindset" to an "I'm doing an experiment on myself and seeing what works" mindset. Keep a journal of what you eat and make small changes every 2-4 weeks. Take notes and see what feels best. Keep an open mind. Just because someone says fat is good or fat is bad doesn't mean you should listen to them - you should test it out for yourself!

The reason you feel overwhelmed by the many contradictory perspectives on diet is because you're not putting enough faith in yourself. Journal your food intake, keep and open minded, and look at your thoughts in your head objectively. Base your food choices on what gives you the results you want. [/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
 
Base your food choices on what gives you the results you want.
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How would someone know that his/ her food choice is giving the result he/ she wants and it is not an aftereffect of many individual efforts that have culminated into favorable results?
I mean how does one isolate his/ her food choice, but controlably measuring the contribution of other factors? It seems like time intensive process which an academic researcher would undertake.
 
It's pretty easy to see if you're getting results. If you're goal is to lose weight, then you get results if you are losing weight.
And if you're getting results, then just keep doing what you're doing.

That was the point I was trying to make.

You are right that it's impossible to control for every variable. The human body is a 'open system' which means that there are so many variables, many of which are interrelated, that it's impossible to do perfectly accurate calculations on it. But, just because it's super complicated, doesn't mean you can't make accurate predictions about what will happen from measuring a handful of variables.

If you keep a journal with food choices, you will be more likely to see patterns of what works and what doesn't work. it's not meant to be an exact science, it's just meant to get results.
 
Yes, the control variables are not as vivid as one might imagine, diet and workout being the major two. Do I have to further breakdown my diet into breakfast, lunch, supper and inbetweens?
.
.
.
Im just being lazy I guess.
 
Are you asking how to log your diet?

I'd just use myfitnesspal or just write it down as you eat throughout the day. I measure amounts with measuring cups. It's apparently more accurate to use a scale
 
The time I've spent on thinking about changing my ways could be quantified in light years (for a bug).

Though I totally agree with you on the fixation we have on "scientific studies". Without checking the sample size or cohort we are eating up every piece of information that seems sensational (since media reports what will grab eyeballs) without a basic fact checking about whether the study has been replicated elsewhere in a randomized but controlled trial or not.

John Oliver did a great favor to all of us.
 
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I agree! It was definitely nice to see those ideas exposed. So many people, as you have said, just follow along with the media and devour chia seeds and lemon/tumeric drinks in hope that it will help them lose weight.

And, in case you didn't know, lightyears is a distance, not a time unit :p
 
Nathan_Ayala said:
And, in case you didn't know, lightyears is a distance, not a time unit :p
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Ohh yes, my bad :p
I would agree on the health benefits of Chia seeds and turmeric in isolation but i'm skeptic about their role in burning fat as I haven't encountered any study that supports it with a low margin of uncertainty.
 
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