Weight-Loss Is this diet okay?

Weight-Loss
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Speeedy14

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Hello


I want to lose weight, tone up and get fit for football(Soccer) and generally look and feel good!

I weigh 168 pounds, I'm 5 ft 10 and using an online BF% calc it said 21%

So it's time to get my arse into gear and do something about it. I've read the stickies and here is my planned diet, not what I'm on as I want to make sure it's okay first, which I hope it is!

Breafast: Weetabix, Fruit Salad & Yoghurt.

Lunch: Chicken Ceaser Salad, Curried Chicken Salad, Lean Ham Salad,

Dinner: Oven Cooked Chicken w/ sweet potato & Veg. Chicken Curry w/ small portion of rice and veg. Chilli Con Carne w/ 2x more beans in a tortilla wrap with salad. Honey mustard chicken with rice and veg.

Snacks if needed: Broth Soup, raisins, mixed bag of dried fruit, Yogurt.

Drink: Water.


Obviously I expect there to be flaws, this is just a rough plan. Should I add a protein shake in there? If so what do you recommend?
 
Have you started this diet yet? One of the most important things to consider is, will this diet sustain you, or will you be hungry/ crabby/ tired all the time? Hungry and crabby is not conducive to sticking to a diet.

Have you calculated your calorific requirements, and if so, how does it compare to the calories in what you're having? (Could you give an idea of quantites- 1 weetabix, 2, 4, 10? with how much and what kind of milk? How much and what sort of fruit salad? ditto the yoghurt- and so on for the rest of your food) This might be ok, it might be horrible (for example- yoghurt can be good, but it can be too sugary, or worse it might have cream in it. Curried chicken might be good or the sauce might be horribly fatty) Need more detail to evaluate this properly (and "veg" doesn't tell me anything- carrots, courgettes, parsnips? how much?).

Give me as much detail as you can- ideally something like "2 weetabix with 100ml semi-skim milk, 100g fruit salad containing pineapple, peach, banana, and apple, pot of Tesco brand low fat yoghurt- approx calories (insert number here)", but "2 weetaix with half a cup of semi-skimmed milk, cup of fruit salad, serve of low fat flavoured yoghurt" is also workable. Calories are pretty key to this, but amounts will allow me to tell you, e.g., if you're eating too much meat and/ or not enough fruit and veg.

Is this what you plan to eat day in day out until you've lost the weight (so Caesar salad on Monday, curried chicken on Tuesday, lean ham on Wednesday, Caesar on Thursday, curried chicken on Friday, lean ham on Saturday, Caesar on Sunday)? You'll get bored with it, I promise you. Get some more variety in there. Look to the calorie amounts you need to eat and make varied meals (I'm always trying something new, at least for one meal a day)

Raisins and dried fruit are very calorie dense and so may not be great for a diet. They're good for you, but there's 90 calories in 30g of sultanas (taking something I have in my cupboard) as compared to 52 calories in a 104g gala apple (taking something I ate this morning). The apple is much more filling, and so you'll eat less and feel fuller.
 
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No I haven't started this diet yet, I will be soon though once my diet is containing the right amount of calories,protein etc.

I am trying to aim for 1500 calories per day, with what I have written it's around the 1100 +mark.

x2 weetabix with 100ml of milk, fruit salad would be 100g worth of Banana, apple, melon, pineapple, kiwi mixed up. (170 cals). Yogurts I'm looking at low fat ones, haven't decided as to which ones as of yet. (I was looking at muller light ones, is this a good idea?)

Lunch: Chicken Ceasar Salad is 188 calories, Curried Chicken Salad is 227 Calories, Lean ham salad is around 168 calories depending on how lean the ham is. I also thought lean ham with salad in a tortilla wrap which would be 184 calories.

Dinner: Oven cooked chicken with sweet potato,broccoli, carrots and coliflower will be 296 calories. Honey mustard chicken with rice and veg (peas and sweet corn) Total would be 268 calories.Low fat chili con Carni using lean beef mince. Total calories: 250.

Chicken curry with small portion of rice and veg: I’m looking at doing a homemade paste for this to keep calories down, still currently looking into this though and will update when I find something for this. However chicken will have the skin removed and looking at around 161 calories. Veg will be broccoli (20 calories) and cauliflower (35 calories).

What else would you reccomend adding to add the calories up to 1500 per day. Could I add a 4th meal to have at around 9-10? to make my calorie intake up to or close to the 1500 mark.

Snacks i've added things like: Peanut butter and crackers, broth based soups, fresh fruit, boiled egg with one slice of wholemeal toast, fresh fruit, and protein shakes.
 
First of all, are you male or female? If you're male (or a teenager), then a general safe recommendation is that you need to eat at least 1800 calories a day, so you'll need to adjust accordingly. Secondly, why are you aiming at 1500? Did you calculate a number for you or have you picked a number out of thin air? (Calculated numbers tend not to be quite so round- e.g., mine's 1885) You need to find a number that's right for you or else you either might not lose weight or you risk slowing your metabolism.

Speeedy said:
x2 weetabix with 100ml of milk, fruit salad would be 100g worth of Banana, apple, melon, pineapple, kiwi mixed up. (170 cals). Yogurts I'm looking at low fat ones, haven't decided as to which ones as of yet. (I was looking at muller light ones, is this a good idea?)
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Nothing essentially wrong with that (you haven't told me what milk you're having- whole, semi-skim, skim?). I wouldn't find it especially filling though (I tend to need 4 weetabix), and all that fruit might lead to a sugar spike which will make you hungry (ditto the yoghurt). Have you thought about porridge?

Lunch: Chicken Ceasar Salad is 188 calories, Curried Chicken Salad is 227 Calories, Lean ham salad is around 168 calories depending on how lean the ham is. I also thought lean ham with salad in a tortilla wrap which would be 184 calories.
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Are these store made or are you making these yourself? What's in them? (particularly that curried chicken- what kind of sauce is it in?) How are they so low calorie? Are they going to be filling? What sauces/ dressings are on them and how might you be able to cut them down? This is where I'd probably eat more to get your calories up- 220 calories is quite a low cal lunch, and I presume if you're out and about that'll give you more of a chance to binge on soemthing if you make yourself hungry.

Dinner: Oven cooked chicken with sweet potato,broccoli, carrots and coliflower will be 296 calories. Honey mustard chicken with rice and veg (peas and sweet corn) Total would be 268 calories.Low fat chili con Carni using lean beef mince. Total calories: 250.

Chicken curry with small portion of rice and veg: I’m looking at doing a homemade paste for this to keep calories down, still currently looking into this though and will update when I find something for this. However chicken will have the skin removed and looking at around 161 calories. Veg will be broccoli (20 calories) and cauliflower (35 calories).
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Seems reasonable enough ideas, but again, these are probably very small portions and I bet you'll be hungry (my dinners are sometimes similar to this and they're rarely under 300 calories, usually more like 600). Are you serving them with a grain (rice, pasta, couscous? I think sweet potato counts as a starch, ie a grain, for the purpose of nutrition). And don't go for small portions of veg. Particularly if you steam or boil rather than cook with other methods, vegetables are very low calorie and are a great way to fill up.

What else would you reccomend adding to add the calories up to 1500 per day. Could I add a 4th meal to have at around 9-10? to make my calorie intake up to or close to the 1500 mark.
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Eat as much or as little as you like to get to your calorie goal, as long as it's healthy. I'd recommend having bigger meals, personally, although I would leave some room for snacks. Given the calories you're talking about, I know I'd be extremely hungry on this diet and go completely stir crazy.

Snacks i've added things like: Peanut butter and crackers, broth based soups, fresh fruit, boiled egg with one slice of wholemeal toast, fresh fruit, and protein shakes.
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Peanut butter and crackers are probably a bad idea (both high in fat, peanut butter nutritionally ok but only in tiny quantities), fruit good, egg good but watch the calories (and how filling you find) the toast), would junk the protein shakes entirely as I don't think you need them. Consider wholemeal rice cakes as an alternative to crackers (low cal, relatively filling).
 
Thanks for the great reply again, while I write it up abit more details I used an online calorie Calculator and this is the result after my entering my age 19, weight 168 pounds, gender (male), and exercising 5 times a week.

you need 2772 Calories/day to maintain your weight
you need 2272 Calories/day to lose 1 lb per week
you need 1772 Calories/day to lose 2 lb per week
you need 3272 Calories/day to gain 1 lb per week
you need 3772 Calories/day to gain 2 lb per week

Seems abit high, so would going for about 1800 do? I don't eat that much anyway, it was just mostly crappy foods.
 
Don't worry about what it "seems" like, most people have no idea what they're eating- give it a go (if you're worried, go with 1772- although I'd be tempted to bump that up to 1800 given you may still be growing and your brain is certainly still developing (on that note, eat fish)). If I were you, I'd pitch at between 1772 and 2772 (given your brain is still developing- it will do until your early-mid 20's- it's especially important that you don't eat below that 1772 mark).

Find a good balance of foods that are nutritionally rich and hit your calorie requirements. For me, I need to eat low calorie foods because I have a massive appetite and I eat a lot. If you don't eat very much, then you should incorporate more nutritious higher calorie foods into your diet (e.g. nuts, cheese, bananas) to get to that number.
 
I usually have 2-3 weetabix but I've started adding a banana to it and that fills me up. I have had porridge before, so I think I will use that as an alternative for breakfast and use fruit salad as a snack.

The salads are homemade are have the following in them: Chicken Ceaser salad: 2 cups of cooked, skinless chicken, 1 large head of romaine lettuce, 1 cup of low fat croutons, ¼ cup of parmesan cheese. With a dressing made with 1/3 cup of plain non-fat yogurt, 2 tblsp of lemon juice, 1tbsp of olive oil 1 tblsp of white wine vinegar, 1tblsp of Dijon mustard, 1 garlic clove crushed.

Curried chicken salad: 2 cups of chicken breast with skin removed, 1/3 cup of plain non-fat yogurt, ¼ fat free mayo, 2 tblsp of curry powder, ¼ cup of raisons, ¼ of a cup of sliced almonds, 1 medium apple chopped, 2 celery stalks chopped, with Lettuce.

If these are too low, I could always add some more salad things to increase the calorie amount and to make it more filling to prevent binging on something else.

I have tweaked with the dinner meals to get the calorie amount up to the 600 mark by adding more veg, small portions of rice/pasta. Should I leave the sweet potato out and change it for pasta/rice/couscous. Also would you reccommend these being whole meal?

The peanut butter and crackers would be 2 tblsp of peanut butter (190 calories) and 5/6 crackers (150 calories) do you still think this is a bad idea?

I was going to have the protein shakes after exercise, do you think I shouldn't bother with these still?
 
Ultimately it's about what works for you. I get very hungry very quickly on weetabix, so I have porridge. If you're fine with weetabix, have that.

The salads sound generally good (although watch the calories on the cheese, it can be very high, and ideally things like mayo and oil should be limited in a diet, so I'd be looking at alternatives), a lot better than I was expecting. But again, it's about what works for you. If you like them, find them filling, and they fit in your lifestyle, have them (although add something to them- I think ideally lunch should be no less than 260 calories, which is about what mine is).

Your dinners sound good- don't go exactly by my calorie amounts, that's just what works for me (some people prefer a bigger breakfast)- it's just that you need to bump it up to the 1772 mark. What about having dessert? Low fat Greek yoghurt (160g) with chopped up and steamed apple (~110g) and plum (~85g)- about 250 calories.

Are you counting beverages in this, like milk in tea or coffee? It's one thing to say "I'll only drink water", but for most people that's not realistic.

The vast majority of people don't need protein shakes after exercise- if you're going to have that peanut butter (there's nothing wrong with it per se, it's just quite high cal for very little, and thus risky- make sure you measure and ideally weigh it very carefully because if you're a few grams off you've added a lot of calories you weren't planning for) then have it after you work out. After workout you want a source of protein and sugar (I usually have a very small serving of nuts- 25g or so- and some fruit).

I honestly don't think you need to be so rigid about this. Write down what you're eating, think about how it's working for you, adjust accordingly (for example, if you find 2 weetabix isn't filling enough, try 3 the next day and cut something down calorie wise later in the day). I don't "plan" like this- I eat what works (ok, for breakfast and lunch I eat generally the same thing a lot, because they work) when I'm hungry or it's a meal time, and I try to hit my nutrition. (Have you looked at my diary?)

Probably the best thing for you to do is try this. Have a week where you follow this plan (tweak as you like based on my recommendations or other factors). Record everything calorific (ie, everything that isn't water) that goes in your mouth, and measure as precisely as possible (ideally weighing). Start a diary in the appropriate section and note down as precisely as you can what you were eating, your mood during the day, whether you were hungry, how your exercise felt, whether you're gaining/ losing weight. Depending on how interested you are in your nutrition, use a calorie counter that will tell you about your macronutrients (protein, carbs, fat- the one I use is called cron-o-meter and can be downloaded free). You'll receive feedback from people other than me that way, and also you'll be able to track your own progress and how it works for you. I can't answer that- the things that work for me won't necessarily work for you (although you're welcome to try/ steal any of my ideas).
 
I don't seem to get hungry after having Weetabix, so I will stick with them with the semi skimmed milk and banana.

Okay so the only tweaking I would need to do to what I've chosen for lunch is if it's not filling enough to add a few other bits to it. The cheese I know I would need to watch but it wouldn't be more the 1/4 of a cup.

I think I will do that does it have to be steamed fruit? Or can I just cut fresh fruit up and have it with Greek yogurt?

I don't drink tea/coffee; I only drink water or milk (with breakfast). I did use to drink coke, but even that was hardly and I've now cut that out completely. So to be honest it is only really water that I drink.

I will make a record of what I eat for the next week with the amount of calories etc, following the diet plan I have made and see how things go and then tweak it if it's needed.

I will also download that cron-o-meter to help me out. I will also take a look at your diary and see if anything which you eat/do can help me boost my calories levels or help prevent me getting hungry.
 
As long as it works for you, it's healthy, and it's in calorie requirements, it's good :)

It doesn't have to be steamed (by steamed, all I mean is I cut it up, put it in a bowl, cover the bowl with cling film, and microwave for a couple of minutes- I don't own a steamer and think they're a waste of money), but I find that process makes the fruit taste sweeter and takes away from the tartness of the yoghurt.

Give it a go and see what you think of it. That's the only way you can tell if it's going to work for you.
 
Yes indeed, will give it a go and just see how I get on with it.

Oh I see, I never thought of that I think I will give that a try.

I appreciate the advice you have given me, and your time to help me with this.

I will let you know how I get on.
 
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