L£@H's Vegetarian Journal

L

L£@h

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]Hi! I thought I would start my own journal in this section, to help keep track of my diet and hopefully get some help and suggestions on how to change and clean it up! :)

Day 1 - Yesterday

Breakfast - Coffee with 3 Sweeteners and Semi-skimmed milk

Lunch - Salad sandwich with 2 slices of Weight watchers thick sliced bread, lettuce & tomato with low fat dressing

Dinner - Low fat chips made with fry light in the oven, Quorn lasagne and salad followed by another coffee with 3 sweeteners and semi skimmed milk

Day 2 - Today

Breakfast - Again I missed breakfast, so I had a Coffee with 3 sweeteners and skimmed milk

Lunch - 1 slice of Hovis thick wholemeal bread, half tin of spaghetti, 2 quorn sausages - All cooked in the microwave - except the toast :p
 
Hey L£@H,

That's great that you've started a journal. It's a great way to get tips/advice!

I'll have to admit, I've never heard of quorn sausages before, so I had to look that one up!

My first suggestion would be to have breakfast. Nothing heavy, but even 1/2 cup of non-instant oats, a small piece of fruit and a tablespoon of peanut or almond butter (or just a serving of almonds, which is around 10 I believe) would be a good start. I don't know the size of your coffee, but limit the amount of caffeinated drinks to 1-2 servings per day. Also, try to reduce the sweeteners... the less you use, the better, although it may take some time to adjust to the taste.

Lunch looks decent although I think you're better off finding a high-quality bread with 3 or more grams of fiber per slice. Just watch closely because they often label the serving as 2 slices.

At dinner, I would suggest avoiding having 2 starches at one meal ( ie. pasta and chips, or pasta and toast). A much healthier option would be to replace the bread & chips with veggies.

Hope that helps :)
 
PLBFitness said:
Hey L£@H,

That's great that you've started a journal. It's a great way to get tips/advice!

I'll have to admit, I've never heard of quorn sausages before, so I had to look that one up!

My first suggestion would be to have breakfast. Nothing heavy, but even 1/2 cup of non-instant oats, a small piece of fruit and a tablespoon of peanut or almond butter (or just a serving of almonds, which is around 10 I believe) would be a good start. I don't know the size of your coffee, but limit the amount of caffeinated drinks to 1-2 servings per day. Also, try to reduce the sweeteners... the less you use, the better, although it may take some time to adjust to the taste.

The coffee is actually something I'm trying to cut down on, I literally switched from using sugar to sweeteners just yesterday :) and hopefully I will get more water in my diet soon!

Lunch looks decent although I think you're better off finding a high-quality bread with 3 or more grams of fiber per slice. Just watch closely because they often label the serving as 2 slices.

I don't usually look out for anything else, other than the calories so that's something to keep in mind. I'm a complete novice to the whole label looking, as you can tell lol

At dinner, I would suggest avoiding having 2 starches at one meal ( ie. pasta and chips, or pasta and toast). A much healthier option would be to replace the bread & chips with veggies.
Would you believe I'm a vegetarian thats not too keen on veggies haha I will try to convert from carbs, their just so darn good though lol


Hope that helps :)
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Thank you so much for your help :) It's nice to finally find a forum where the members aren't horrible or unwelcoming :)
 
L£@h said:
Thank you so much for your help :) It's nice to finally find a forum where the members aren't horrible or unwelcoming :)
Click to expand...

I'm sorry that you've had such bad luck with forums in the past. You shouldn't come across that here, just watch out for those pesky spammers!

Don't worry about not having the 'perfect' diet, especially at the start. Just make small changes and in no time, you'll be eating great! Many people just make one healthy goal at a time, work on incorporating that into their daily routine for a while, then add another healthy goal.

I'm not a huge fan of companies that come out with their own line of 'diet' products, like breads, pastas, microwave meals, etc. The better you become at reading nutrition labels and comparing products, the better off you'll be in the long run. What I usually do is pick one product (for example, peanut butter) that I'm gonna look at the next time I grocery shop. I'll buy the rest of my stuff as normal, but then I'll spend some time looking at the labels and picking out the 'best' peanut butter. Then the next time, I'll look at something else. Over time, you'll find the best options for you and you'll become very proficient at reading those darn labels!

Basically, just don't be fooled by the 'health claims' on the front of the package. Do your research :)
 
Breakfast - Coffee with 3 Sweeteners and skimmed milk and a Plum

Lunch 1 Slice of Hovis wholemeal bread lightly buttered with low fat spread, mushrooms and 1 quorn sausage

Dinner - Quorn Cottage Pie, Veggies and a splash of gravy

Today I have managed somehow to cut down on the coffee and opted to drink more water :)
 
I have been pretty rubbish today. I've had a busy weekend so slept in and didn't make breakfast :/

Lunch - Coffee and an Apple

Dinner - Fish & Salad, with a coffee

I plan to have Weetabix, Low fat greek yoghurt and chopped banana before my 60 min kettlebell workout later this evening :)
 
Hey Leah,

There was a bit of a problem on Friday and a bunch of posts were lost... Did you ask a question about what to look for on nutrition labels?
 
Breakfast - Half tin baked beans on 1 slice of toasted wholemeal bread, with a coffee

Lunch - I didn't feel like lunch after my breakfast so had nothing

Dinner - 2 medium sized potatoes, cut into chips with low fat spray in the oven, with a meat free kiev and salad.

Pre -Workout - I plan on having 2 weetabix with low fat greek yogurt

Workout - 60 mins Cardio and Kettlebell

The amount of calories consumed by the end of today, will be 1411. I'm not sure whether that's too many calories for me to consume, as I want to lose weight.
 
hmmm.... I can't remember if it was on this thread, but I know I had a good post! :) I don't remember everything I said, but I'll try to remember the main points:

1. Compare the serving sizes. Here in Canada, everything is listed in grams or mL. Many products will have different serving sizes so that their products look better. For example, some breads list a serving as one slice which contains maybe 5 grams of fiber per slice. Other companies have picked up on the fact that people look at fiber content on breads, so to make their product appear better, they say that their serving of bread has say 4 grams of fiber. The thing that is often missed is that the serving size is 2 slices on that particular bread, so really they only have 2 grams of fiber per slice, which is much less than the other product with 5 grams of fiber per slice.

2. When comparing similar products, you want to look for the product with less of these things:

saturated fats
trans fats
cholesterol
sodium
sugar

And try to pick the product with more of these things:

fiber
protein
vitamins
minerals

3. Practice makes perfect. It can be really intimidating and frustrating to read labels at first, but over time it gets easier. That's why I just pick one type of product to look at in depth each time I go grocery shopping. That way I'm not trying to figure it all out at once and spending 3 hours in the store :)

Hope that helps
 
That helps a lot, thanks :) I understand the thing about the bread but the other stuff, is going to a long time to process :D
 
Today I decided to lower the amount of calories I've been consuming and also cut down on the carbs, as I've been gaining a pound a day rather than losing it. On average the amount of calories I would usually consume on a daily basis would be between, 1143 and 1318 but yesterday I managed to get 1411 Carbs would be from 142g to about 182g. Although I have always eaten healthily, I'm still very new to eating properly and counting calories, etc so any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)

What I have eaten and plan on eating today: With daily intake totals, to see where I'm going wrong :)

Breakfast - 2 Scrambled Egg made with skimmed milk, on 1 slice wholemeal toast with sunflower spread and 4 baby button mushrooms. Followed by a coffee - Calories - 514.47

Dinner - 1can Tuna and Salad - Calories - 210.81

Pre Workout- - 2 Weetabix, banana and low fat greek yogurt - Calories 148.7

Daily Totals -

Calories - 874
Fat - 28g
Cholesterol - 400g
Sodium - 215mg
Carbs - 80g
Fiber - 12g
Protein - 63g
Sugars - 10g

The Protein and Cholesterol were way over my recommended daily intake, the cholesterol I'm assuming is from the 2 eggs I had for breakfast. I also haven't managed to eat 1161 calories today, which is the amount I have set myself as of today, using the livestrong.com tools.
 
Before I comment, have you posted your goals anywhere? Also, what is your current height, weight, and activity level?

I think for cholesterol, you probably mean 400 mg not g. The daily limit is 300mg.
 
I read the other thread and don't worry, there's no 'correct' answer when it comes to personal goals. You said that you want to lose 22 lbs... is that 22 lbs in addition to the 11 lbs that you've lost since christmas? Also I forgot to ask you what your age is... sorry about all of the questions! I'm just pretty sure that you should be taking in more calories each day, but I want to get an idea of where you should be starting based on some calculations.

Fitness.com just posted a new tool here to figure out your ESTIMATED daily calorie needs:

Calories Per Day - Caloric Needs -

This is a great starting point for many people. Once you figure out a number, you can try it out for a few weeks, the adjust your intake up or down based on your results.
 
PLBFitness said:
I read the other thread and don't worry, there's no 'correct' answer when it comes to personal goals. You said that you want to lose 22 lbs... is that 22 lbs in addition to the 11 lbs that you've lost since christmas? Also I forgot to ask you what your age is... sorry about all of the questions! I'm just pretty sure that you should be taking in more calories each day, but I want to get an idea of where you should be starting based on some calculations.

Fitness.com just posted a new tool here to figure out your ESTIMATED daily calorie needs:

Calories Per Day - Caloric Needs -

This is a great starting point for many people. Once you figure out a number, you can try it out for a few weeks, the adjust your intake up or down based on your results.
Click to expand...

Hi. Sorry I haven't got back to you sooner.

I would like to lose an extra 22 pounds on top of the 11 pounds that I've already lost :) and I'm 22 :)

I used the tool from the link and based on my height and weight and a goal of losing 2lbs a week, i'm supposed to consume 1323 calories a day, so it would seem I'm under eating by about 173 calories
 
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Out of curiosity, why do you WANT to lose 2lb/week? After the first lb lost/week, the amount of fat-free mass that you lose tends to go up, while you don't tend to lose much (if any) more fat. There's no advantage to losing fat-free mass - doesn't make you look, feel or function any better. Do you want to lose WEIGHT, or do you want to lose FAT? Chances are, if you lose 22lb at the rate of 2lb/week, in 11 weeks time you'll be 22lb lighter, but you'll have only lost 11lb fat, whereas if you slow things down to lb/week, then in 22 weeks you'll have lost 22lb, with it primarily being fat loss.
 
L£@h said:
Today I decided to lower the amount of calories I've been consuming and also cut down on the carbs, as I've been gaining a pound a day rather than losing it. On average the amount of calories I would usually consume on a daily basis would be between, 1143 and 1318 but yesterday I managed to get 1411 Carbs would be from 142g to about 182g. Although I have always eaten healthily, I'm still very new to eating properly and counting calories, etc so any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)


What I have eaten and plan on eating today: With daily intake totals, to see where I'm going wrong :)

Breakfast - 2 Scrambled Egg made with skimmed milk, on 1 slice wholemeal toast with sunflower spread and 4 baby button mushrooms. Followed by a coffee - Calories - 514.47

Dinner - 1can Tuna and Salad - Calories - 210.81

Pre Workout- - 2 Weetabix, banana and low fat greek yogurt - Calories 148.7

Daily Totals -

Calories - 874
Fat - 28g
Cholesterol - 400g
Sodium - 215mg
Carbs - 80g
Fiber - 12g
Protein - 63g
Sugars - 10g

The Protein and Cholesterol were way over my recommended daily intake, the cholesterol I'm assuming is from the 2 eggs I had for breakfast. I also haven't managed to eat 1161 calories today, which is the amount I have set myself as of today, using the livestrong.com tools.
Click to expand...

Hi L£@H
A newbie to the dieting world here. Im really keen on knowing exactly how you counted those calories you were consuming. Not able to find a definite guide which tells me how many calories Im consuming. If you could explain that'd be great.

Thanks in advance
 
I didn't know that. I'm still very new to eating the right foods and working out the calories etc. I suffered with Anorexia for the majority of my teen years and it's only in the last 2 that I have started to really eat and enjoy food, however after messing with my body for so long I then found out I had an under-active thyroid, which was the worst thing for me at the time but now I know food is the best way to lose weight and also stay healthy, so I joined here hoping to learn more :)
 
Hi. I use livestrong.com its a really useful tool and has most brands of food, etc so you can get a good estimation of how much of what your consuming daily. There are a few others out there but I find this works best for me :)
 
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