Weight-Loss Question on meals, and my nutrition in general

[Eoghan]

I'm one week into trying to lose weight and loving it so far. Anyway, I sometimes feel my meal structure and what I eat is lacking if not terrible

I have Alpen with some milk for breaskfast at 8, and a glass of water/orange juice, then I run or lift weights 1.5-2 hours later, depends on the day

Then at 12 I usually aim to have lunch, but this is where I usually feel like I don't know what to do. I usually have two whole grain bread sandwhiches (thats two slices cut in half) with some ham, no butter or anything. Glass of water/juice and maybe some fruit too

From here I never know what to do, I don't know if I should snack when peckish or wait till 5 or so for my dinner. Any ideas?

And as far as my dinner goes, I don't prepare it, my Mum does, and I usually have to hope it's something good :L I never know if the dinner I'm eating is going to out do my exercise and put on more calories and stuff I don't need. I usually have potatoes with some meat and vegetables. Sometimes we have spaghetti bolognese too but the serving size sometimes is hard to judge what I'm eating

Some days we I don't get dinner at all then I'm left feeling totally lost as I don't know what to prepare for myself. So what I'm asking is basically how often should I eat and what? Is what I'm eating ok? On weekends I don't get dinner so looking for good stuff to make for myself, any ideas?

 

[amy1985]

Hi and welcome

Your food looks reasonable (so far as it can be controlled), but it depends on the portions and your needs. Are you getting enough fruit and vegetables (at least 5 servings of 80g/ about 2.8oz) and dairy? When you have spaghetti, do you have vegetables with that? (You don't have to tell me the answers to that, just something to think about for yourself) Another thing is that most juices have all the sugar of the fruit without all of the nutrients, I would stick to water (or watered down juice).

What I'd suggest you do is have some awareness of how many calories/ kilojoules there are in what you're eating, and what you need for your body and your weight goals (as the science of weight loss, at a fundamental level, is burning more calories than you eat). I used this website when I started out, and I recommend it to a lot of people: This will tell you what your body needs to keep you at the weight you are (if you do the calculation and follow the link to "daily calorie needs", and multiply for activity). You then need to decide how much weight you want to lose- reduce that number by 500 for one pound a week, or 1000 for two pounds a week (but never reduce that number under 1200 if you're female or 1800 if you're male). This will give you a number to work with. You can do two things with that. One is, as I do, calorie count- measure (optimally weigh) and record what you eat and get it under that number where you can. That's not realistic for a lot of people. The second is to simply have an awareness of how many calories are in things, and to think about whether the food (its' health value, how filling it is, how good it tastes, etc) is worth that portion of your "budget" (for example, if your calorie allowance is 1800 and you go out for a meal at Nando's, and want their large side order of chips- which, according to their UK website, is 900 calories- is it really worth half of your food for the day?). Also look at your choices and see if you can make lower calorie choices (for example, I no longer eat regular bread, I eat rye bread, which is much more filling and comes in at 93 calories per slice as opposed to 110). I imagine the second approach is much more manageable than my own.

As for snacking and stuff, you need to do what feels right for you. Personally, I snack a lot, but, as with above, I try to make it low calorie choices. (For me, even if I'm not hungry, I find my blood sugar drops if I don't eat at least every few hours) In fact, I'd say that in general- there are some principles to keep in mind, but if it doesn't work (e.g. you're hungry or feel sick all the time) then you need to change what you're doing. I'd say eat three meals a day at a minimum, and don't let yourself go hungry.

Can you talk to your mum about the kind of food she prepares, ask her about it, and perhaps ask her if she's willing to experiment with diet food (e.g. lean mince for the spaghetti)? She may give you some ideas of what to cook. Additionally, there are recipes on this website, in the appropriate section as well as in other places (I link to the recipes I use, although I tend to cook for a large group so I can use the leftovers). I find most of my recipes on recipe websites, searching for low calorie or low kilojoule. Alternately, if you take some lean meat (about 100g or 3.5oz), fry it in low cal cooking spray (or a monounsaturated oil- e.g. olive oil- used as sparingly as you can manage), and either sautee (similar to frying) a big pile of vegetables or steam them (if you don't have a steamer, use a microwave safe container, put your veggies in them- I'd recommend boiling potato, and make sure skins are at least pierced or the veggies are chopped up- cover the container, and zap in the microwave. You may need to experiment to see how long different vegetables take, but I typically steam carrots, courgettes, and peppers, and start with carrots, microwave, then add courgettes, microwave, then add peppers, microwave, because the carrots need the most time and peppers the least). Then add some sort of sauce if you want to, sparingly if you can so you save calories (this is how I learned to cook. If you sautee you can combine the vegetables and meat in one dish- chop up the meat into small bits- then add the sauce to it to create a sort of stir fry). You can serve with rice or pasta if you want to (follow the instructions on the pack- and boil without oil, it'll be a bit dryer but it's better for weight loss).

Hope this gives you some ideas