My 2009 Diet/Gym regieme - is it healthy?

column

I'm trying to loose weight and get fit - I'm 14 stone.

I didn't really prescribe this - it's just the way it's happened this week - I've been told that it' unhealthy.

What do you think?

Monday
Branflakes
Seafood Chowder using coconut milk instead of cream
Nuts and Fruit
Slimfast shake
Tea
gym for an hour - 7 k on the bike plus weights

Tuesday
Branflakes
Chicken/Pistachio Salad
Nuts and Fruit
Branflakes again

gym for an hour
Fruit smoothie using water and frozen fruit

Today
Slimfast
Branflakes
pair
Salmon stir-fry for lunch
1 quality street chocolate

this evening - gym for an hour

cmyk

Have a read of the 'diet and nutrition' sticky, all the information you need is covered in there.

In a nutshell though there are healthy and unhealthy elements of that diet. Someone more qualified than me might elaborate a bit more on that.

Have a read of the ingredients/calories etc of some of the stuff you are eating too ie coconut milk and bran flakes. I have no idea what the point of the slimfast shake is? But again read the diet and nutrition sticky, lots of information in the there to help educate yourself on what's healthy and not.

Roper

column wrote: »

I'm trying to loose weight and get fit - I'm 14 stone.

I didn't really prescribe this - it's just the way it's happened this week - I've been told that it' unhealthy.

What do you think?

Monday
Branflakes
Seafood Chowder using coconut milk instead of cream
Nuts and Fruit
Slimfast shake
Tea
gym for an hour - 7 k on the bike plus weights

Tuesday
Branflakes
Chicken/Pistachio Salad
Nuts and Fruit
Branflakes again

gym for an hour
Fruit smoothie using water and frozen fruit

Today
Slimfast
Branflakes
pair
Salmon stir-fry for lunch
1 quality street chocolate

this evening - gym for an hour

It's really, really unhealthy. In short, if I wanted to give someone I hated a diet just to make me feel better, I'd probably give them that.

Firstly, you're eating nowhere near enough. You might think that the less you eat the better but you will not lose weight over a sustained period with that diet. What will most likely happen is that you will lose some weight very quickly as long as you keep up that diet. You'll say yipee it works. Then as you body fails to repair itself properly you'll either feel awful or just crash back into whatever old habits you had. Probably both.

Change and weight loss are best achieved through sustainable programmes and diets. I got someone in this morning who is extremely overweight and has been through the mill in terms of diets, quick fix slimfast shakes and fads. He's literally spent thousands trying to make himself thinner, and he's not. He came in this morning, 6am, expecting to work out and we hardly did anything except sit down and talk about diet and the way forward for him. Fitness and fat loss are for life, not just for new years!

Firstly, cook for yourself. If you can't do it now, learn how to do it. You'll burn a few pots and screw up a bunch of times initially but you need to learn how to do it and do it healthy too.
Secondly, do NOT take slimfast shakes or meal replacement shakes of any kind. You need nutrients not pollyfilla
Thirdly, eat green veg with every meal. And eat 3 proper, healthy meals a day. Drop the bran flakes and make some eggs or porridge.
Lastly, get a good programme from someone who knows what they're doing.

It's really, really simple. I don't use the word easy as it's not, it's a challenge. Show us your gym programme too.

Best of luck.

column

Thanks for the feedback...

I can cook...love cooking and have the time to cook for myself...

I will read the "sticky"....

AARRRGH

Roper wrote: »

It's really, really unhealthy. In short, if I wanted to give someone I hated a diet just to make me feel better, I'd probably give them that.

Hah that's a bit harsh.

But I agree, you're not eating enough food, and your diet isn't sustainable.

Basically you need to create a diet which will keep you healthy and which will be easy to stick to for years to come.

In my opinion, your diet seems to consist of snack food, not meals. So you need to add two or three meals into the mix. These can be simple meals like brown rice, some vegetables and a chicken breast. Or cous cous, some fish and some vegetables.

Try to stick to unprocessed food is a fairly good rule of thumb. So you could scrap the bran flakes and replace it with porridge. You can also add more treats if you want - the odd milkyway (88 calories or thereabouts) isn't going to kill you.

Put everything you eat into www.fitday.com so you can track how balanced your diet is.

Racing Flat

You should eat a lot more. Don't be too worried about the volume if it's healthy stuff.

Breakfast you could probably do with a less sugary/salty, more complex carb with some protein - porridge and nuts, or eggs with toast.

Lunches seem good if you count all the chowder/salad fruit and nuts and shake . But you are missing a dinner, a meal that should be similar in size if not bigger than your current lunch.

column

my larder consists of the following

chicken
prawns
salmon
onions
chilli
garlic
ginger
red peppers
carrot
cashew/pine/pistacio/peanut nuts
potato
tinned tomatoes
olive oil
very good balsamic vinegar
apple/pear/lemon/lime
black pepper
peanut butter
cornflour
frozen rice
muscles
shallots
mushrooms
sugar free cereal
whole meal pasta
basil
sugarsnap peas
pineapple
coconut
crab meat
crayfish tails
sun dried tomato
pasrnip
butternut squash
yogurt
packet of toffee
baby leaf salad
brown bread
sea food mix - frozen
sweet peppers
honey

Killme00

column wrote: »

my larder consists of the following

chicken
prawns
salmon
onions
chilli
garlic
ginger
red peppers
carrot
cashew/pine/pistacio/peanut nuts
potato
tinned tomatoes
olive oil
very good balsamic vinegar
apple/pear/lemon/lime
black pepper
peanut butter
cornflour
frozen rice
muscles
shallots
mushrooms
sugar free cereal
whole meal pasta
basil
sugarsnap peas
pineapple
coconut
crab meat
crayfish tails
sun dried tomato
pasrnip
butternut squash
yogurt
packet of toffee
baby leaf salad
brown bread
sea food mix - frozen
sweet peppers
honey

Chilli Garlic Chicken with peppers = Heaven

Racing Flat

As an example of how you can eat a lot but still have a low body fat % I'll post my typical diet. My training is an hour run 5 times a week and a 90min run 1 day a week with 1 day off. I've a BF% of 10% and this is what I eat:

Mon & Wed
Breakfast
large porridge and orange juice

Mid-morning
Banana & apple

Lunch
soup and sandwich, fruit

Dinner
spaghetti bolognese/chilli con carne/chicken curry/vegetable chilli with fish/pasta with fish/steak veg and potatoes

Big portions - 2 plate fulls, spaghetti, rice, pasta will be wholewheat

Late night snack
fruit or chocolate or both

Tues & Thurs (do hard running training sessions those nights so fill up at lunchtime)
as above except
Lunch
fish/meat potatoes and veg or curry and rice, ie canteen dinner, with emphasis on lots of carbs and protein

Fri
as Mon/Wed, but Chinese takeaway for dinner

Sat/Sun
small porridge
training
big breakfast e.g. 2 eggs, 4 toast
light lunch
big dinner, homemade as above, eat out or takeaway

NB this is the minimum, you could add in the odd scone, fry up, crisps here and there. I'll also go to the cinema once a week or so and have large popcorn, coke and bag of chocolates.

I'm not saying this is healthy or should be copied just that you can eat a lot and still maintain low weight/bodyfat. I was 14 stone, got down to 11 over about an 18month period about 5 years ago and have stayed there ever since.

column

Racing Flat wrote: »

As an example of how you can eat a lot but still have a low body fat % I'll post my typical diet. My training is an hour run 5 times a week and a 90min run 1 day a week with 1 day off. I've a BF% of 10% and this is what I eat:

Mon & Wed
Breakfast
large porridge and orange juice

Mid-morning
Banana & apple

Lunch
soup and sandwich, fruit

Dinner
spaghetti bolognese/chilli con carne/chicken curry/vegetable chilli with fish/pasta with fish/steak veg and potatoes

Big portions - 2 plate fulls, spaghetti, rice, pasta will be wholewheat

Late night snack
fruit or chocolate or both

Tues & Thurs (do hard running training sessions those nights so fill up at lunchtime)
as above except
Lunch
fish/meat potatoes and veg or curry and rice, ie canteen dinner, with emphasis on lots of carbs and protein

Fri
as Mon/Wed, but Chinese takeaway for dinner

Sat/Sun
small porridge
training
big breakfast e.g. 2 eggs, 4 toast
light lunch
big dinner, homemade as above, eat out or takeaway

NB this is the minimum, you could add in the odd scone, fry up, crisps here and there. I'll also go to the cinema once a week or so and have large popcorn, coke and bag of chocolates.

I'm not saying this is healthy or should be copied just that you can eat a lot and still maintain low weight/bodyfat. I was 14 stone, got down to 11 over about an 18month period about 5 years ago and have stayed there ever since.

thanks for the hints - if I may say so I think your secret is you 5 runs per week

corkcomp

Racing Flat wrote: »

As an example of how you can eat a lot but still have a low body fat % I'll post my typical diet. My training is an hour run 5 times a week and a 90min run 1 day a week with 1 day off. I've a BF% of 10% and this is what I eat:

Mon & Wed
Breakfast
large porridge and orange juice

Mid-morning
Banana & apple

Lunch
soup and sandwich, fruit

Dinner
spaghetti bolognese/chilli con carne/chicken curry/vegetable chilli with fish/pasta with fish/steak veg and potatoes

Big portions - 2 plate fulls, spaghetti, rice, pasta will be wholewheat

Late night snack
fruit or chocolate or both

Tues & Thurs (do hard running training sessions those nights so fill up at lunchtime)
as above except
Lunch
fish/meat potatoes and veg or curry and rice, ie canteen dinner, with emphasis on lots of carbs and protein

Fri
as Mon/Wed, but Chinese takeaway for dinner

Sat/Sun
small porridge
training
big breakfast e.g. 2 eggs, 4 toast
light lunch
big dinner, homemade as above, eat out or takeaway

NB this is the minimum, you could add in the odd scone, fry up, crisps here and there. I'll also go to the cinema once a week or so and have large popcorn, coke and bag of chocolates.

I'm not saying this is healthy or should be copied just that you can eat a lot and still maintain low weight/bodyfat. I was 14 stone, got down to 11 over about an 18month period about 5 years ago and have stayed there ever since.

+1 to that, I know it might not work for everyone but as someone who does about 6 hrs running per week I find it does allow a good bit of freedom when it comes to diet, I still wouldnt use it as an excuse to eat total crap but I know that when I slip of the wagon it wont have any weight consequences ... On the other hand, if I could only manage to fit in exercise 2 or 3 times a week for 30 minutes (like a lot of people I know) I would have to really watch what I eat.

just one comment on the slimfast, there is no magical ingredient in it, its just a low calorie filler, If you want to cut calories you could just fill up on fruit and veg and get the same result

rubadub

column wrote: »

Branflakes

Branflakes are pretty close to junk food IMO. They are marketed very well, and taste like bland crap so people figure "they must be good right"

http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/products/branflakes/Cereal/bran_flakes.aspx

Ingredients
Wholewheat, Wheatbran (21%), Sugar, Salt, Barley Malt Flavouring, Honey, Niacin, Iron, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (B2), Thiamin (B1), Folic Acid, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12

Translates as...
Wholewheat, Wheatbran (21%), Sugar, Salt, Sugar, Sugar, a fraction of a multivitamin tablet

- kJ 1383
- kcal 326
Protein (g) 10
Carbohydrates (g) 67
- sugars (g) 22
- starch (g) 45
Fat (g) 2
- saturates (g) 0.5
Fibre (g) 15
Sodium (g) 0.5

Branflakes are 22% sugar, that is over twice as much as is in coke.

In short ignore all adverts, ignore the front of packets, read the nutritional info on the packet to see the truth, and bear in mind the quoted portion sizes are not fit for an infant.

ronbyrne2005

rubadub wrote: »

Branflakes are pretty close to junk food IMO. They are marketed very well, and taste like bland crap so people figure "they must be good right"

http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/products/branflakes/Cereal/bran_flakes.aspx


Translates as...
Wholewheat, Wheatbran (21%), Sugar, Salt, Sugar, Sugar, a fraction of a multivitamin tablet


Branflakes are 22% sugar, that is over twice as much as is in coke.

In short ignore all adverts, ignore the front of packets, read the nutritional info on the packet to see the truth, and bear in mind the quoted portion sizes are not fit for an infant.

Actually if you mean % of total calories from sugar then coke is clase to or is 100% , different glycemic response etc too so dont be too harsh. Bran flakes in morning when you have been starving all night in sleep is'nt too bad.

rubadub

ronbyrne2005 wrote: »

Actually if you mean % of total calories from sugar then coke

I mean bran flakes are 22% sugar, coke is ~10.5% sugar. I do not like those overcomplicated things that have come in from the US, like "% calories from", and phoney portion/serving sizes. People here find it hard enough to even see what % of the product is sugar, without getting into overly complex calculations needed if they do this "% calories from" stuff. On most US packets you cannot see the %, you have to work it out yourself, very misleading.


My point is that many view bran flakes (and other crap) as healthy, they fall for the ads, they never bother to read the packs. They have that UK cyclist promoting them now on ads, people fall for this crap. Many are probably force feeding themselves this stuff while they could be nutritionally far better off eating something they actually like.

If you asked the average person on the street what % sugar do they think bran flakes have, would you think the average would be 22%? The marketing has worked very well...

And WTF is all the salt in there for?

cmyk

rubadub wrote: »

They have that UK cyclist promoting them now on ads, people fall for this crap. Many are probably force feeding themselves this stuff while they could be nutritionally far better off eating something they actually like.

If you asked the average person on the street what % sugar do they think bran flakes have, would you think the average would be 22%? The marketing has worked very well...

Agreed, between marketing and people's ignorance/lack of education of the information on the label, these in my opinion are the biggest problems facing people who are trying to eat healthier/lose weight etc. Maybe a sticky or entry on the nutrition sticky on the basics of actually how to read and decipher the info on some of the labels would be a good addition? I know the basics are there but maybe a breakdown of an actual label?

column

Right....

Branflakes and Slimfast......out...

Porridge and more running.....in

cmyk

Get yourself a good post workout meal too, not sure if you posted that diet in order but that should be about an hour after workout and contain some good carbs, eg brown rice and some sort of clean protein, chicken/fish etc.

column

yep - it was in order. I eat very little after a workout.