Weight-Loss My Diet...Can Anyone Give Some Pointers....

Weight-Loss
C

coconeedstolose

0
I am just under 200 lbs and got this way eating WAY too much and not moving very much at all.

I recently started eating 1200 calories each day 6 days per week (1 cheat day). I do cardio each day for 1 hour and lift weights about 2 hours per week. I do neither on my cheat day.

Breakfast: Low Carb Wrap (Lavash) 120 calories, Turkey 30 calories, Low Fat Mayo 30 Calories. Coffee with 4 Half n Halfs 80 Calories. Total is 260 for breakfast.

Lunch (This is my worst meal). Grilled Chicken on top of lettuce and tomato with about 1 table spoon balsamic vin. 300 calories and 2 Bud Lights 200 calories. 500 Total For Lunch.

Dinner is light and almost no carbs: Baked Salmon 180 Calories, Veggies and half low carb wrap (Lavash). 260 Calories For Dinner.

Snacks are usually the half and half I put in coffee. Or some veggies, occasionally fruit.

I don't eat the exact same thing each day so sometimes instead of salmon it is grilled chicken for dinner and sometimes instead of grilled chicken for lunch it is grilled mahi.

I've lost about 4 pounds so far but I have about 46 more to lose and I wanted to be able to achieve my final goal. Does anyone have any comments on my diet? Is the 200 calories beer disastrous even though I stay within 1200 for the day?
 
  • Alcohol consumption can make you hungry and you are more likely to binge after a couple of drinks.
  • Alcohol consumption slows down metabolism for a couple of hours.
  • Also, your body will burn off the alcohol first, before it starts burning fat or blood glucose for energy again. Hence, the more alcohol you consume, the more time your body will take to switch back to fat burning mode.

Personally, for me drinking/eating out with my friends is fun, and I really look forward to it. I have a few drinks at times, but I do not exceed more than 3 drinks a week. Doing so hasn't hampered my results, in fact I've lost 28lbs in the last 49 days.

Having a beer or two once a week shouldn't hamper your results. In fact the cheat meal and booze once a week should trick your body into not slowing down your metabolism due to your caloric deficit. I suggest you check your body fat and weight weekly to make sure this is really happening.

But, if possible, try to stay away from alcohol whenever you can. Just don't make it something you have to do every week. However, if you can't or don't want to do this, at least take the following steps to minimize damage:

  • Make sure you don't drink the night before your workout, if you workout in the morning. Alcohol consumption compromises the intensity of your workout.
  • Eat something healthy an hour before you drink beer. Alcohol on an empty stomach is a sure fire way of causing a binge attack.
  • If drinking any kind of drink that has soda in it, opt for diet soda.
  • Just drink enough to get a buzz. Give enough time during and between drinks for the alcohol to have it's desired effect.

Hope this helps.
 
Hi there and welcome. I have a couple of thoughts for you about what you're doing.

First and foremost, 1200 calories is too few for you at your current weight, especially with the amount of exercising you're doing. If you drop your calories too much, too fast, you'll cause your metabolism to drop fast with the result that you'll stall out your weight loss and get frustrated and give up.

At your weight you should probably be eating around 2000-2200 calories in order to lose at a safe rate.

The next thing is that when you reduce your calories, you MUST make sure that the calories you're eating count. Reducing your calories and still eating a bunch of low-nutrition foods may cause you to lose weight, but you'll be losing lean muscle rather than fat, and you'll find it harder and harder to exercise as your body grows fatigued - because you're not getting enough nutrition. You need a lot more veggies and fruits, and probably more protein.

Looking at your diet as shown, here's a suggestion of how I would change it:

Breakfast: Low Carb Wrap (Lavash) 120 calories, Turkey 30 calories, Low Fat Mayo 30 Calories. Coffee with 4 Half n Halfs 80 Calories. Total is 260 for breakfast.
Instead of a low carb wrap, get yourself a whole grain wrap. You're far better off eating whole grains and having the complex carbs, than you are eating enhanced low-carb food.
Cut the 1/2 and 1/2 down to 2 per coffee- that would free you up to add an apple or some mixed berries or a banana or SOME kind of veggie to your breakfast.

Lunch (This is my worst meal). Grilled Chicken on top of lettuce and tomato with about 1 table spoon balsamic vin. 300 calories and 2 Bud Lights 200 calories. 500 Total For Lunch.
Alcohol aside, this is actually a far better meal than breakfast. Honestly, ditch the beer if you want to lose weight, though. A beer once in a while is fine. Or a glass of wine. Or whatever. 2 beers a day for lunch - not good. Add in more veggies here as well and maybe a drizzle of olive oil with the balsamic to add some healthy fat.

Dinner is light and almost no carbs: Baked Salmon 180 Calories, Veggies and half low carb wrap (Lavash). 260 Calories For Dinner.
Again, swap out the low carb wrap for a whole grain alternative or have a serving of brown rice or quinoa or some other whole grain type of product.

Add in a couple of REAL snacks - not half and half in your coffee, but boiled eggs, apples, celery and carrots and some dip or hummus, an apple and some cheese, some whole grain crackers and peanut butter.

You need a healthy and balanced diet to lose weight - not a starvation diet that has all the nutrients removed. :)
 
Lunch (This is my worst meal). Grilled Chicken on top of lettuce and tomato with about 1 table spoon balsamic vin. 300 calories and 2 Bud Lights 200 calories. 500 Total For Lunch.
Click to expand...

Aaahhhh.. I totally missed out this one.. I agree with Kara.. Can't lose weight with a beer every day.
 
I'm actually a big fan of Amy's products. They're one of the few frozen food brands that minimize the use of preservatives and that I think actually taste good after they're reheated.

The only thing you need to watch with Amy's (and most frozen foods) is the level of sodium. I find that eating any kind of frozen meal often has me retaining water the next day ... but in the grand scheme of thing, it's not all that bad.
 
I'm not a big fan of meal replacement bars for a lot of reasons, so I won't recommend them. Other people think they're fine and I think it's something you have to decide for yourself after researching them.

For comparison sake, a blueberry Nutrigrain bar has the following:
It weighs 37 g (which is a hair over an ounce, which isn't a lot)
130 calories
3g fat
24g carbs
2g fiber
2g protein
The ingredients include (stuff I think is bad, I've marked in red):
FILLING (HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, BLUEBERRY PUREE CONCENTRATE, GLYCERIN, SUGAR, WATER, SODIUM ALGINATE, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CITRIC ACID, METHYLCELLULOSE, DICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, MALIC ACID, RED #40, BLUE #1), WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS, ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, SUNFLOWER AND/OR SOYBEAN OIL WITH TBHQ FOR FRESHNESS, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF HONEY, DEXTROSE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SOLUBLE CORN FIBER, NONFAT DRY MILK, WHEAT BRAN, SALT, CELLULOSE, POTASSIUM BICARBONATE (LEAVENING), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, PROPYLENE GLYCOL ESTERS OF FATTY ACIDS, [/color]SOY LECITHIN, WHEAT GLUTEN, NIACINAMIDE, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, CARRAGEENAN, ZINC OXIDE[/COLOR], REDUCED IRON, GUAR GUM, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), FOLIC ACID.

Now, notice that in a supposed health bar, of the first 5 ingredients, 4 of them are some form of sugar. That means the primary ingredients in the bar are sugar. In fact in a BLUEBERRY bar, 2 forms of sugar come twice before the blueberries. That's healthy, huh?

Keep in mind that this is in a 1.3 ounce bar.

Or for 130 calories, you can have:
a cup and a half of fresh or frozen blueberries
a cup of low fat greek yogurt
a large apple and a 1/2 serving of peanut butter
a couple of slices of turkey on a slice of whole grain bread
a banana and some honey

All of the above things have more nutrition, more protein, more healthy carbs, and more fiber. And all of the above things are real food. There's no need for a list of ingredients because ... well ... they are the ingredients. There's no high fructose corn syrup. There's no PROPYLENE GLYCOL ESTERS OF FATTY ACIDS or RED #40, BLUE #1 or anything like that. There's just ... food.

Now, having said all of that ... have I eaten Nutrigrain bars? Yes. I've been on a road trip and when my choice at the airport at 2 a.m. is a Nutrigrain bar or a candy bar - I pick a Nutrigrain bar.

But when you have the option to eat anything else that's REAL food ... like an apple and a slice of cheese? Go with the real food.
 
Eating healthy has been the toughest for me. I found this great article that gave me tons of new healthy ideas I never even considered before: [link removed]
It was really so helpfull. Hope it helps you out!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top