Rate my diet

Libertine2002

Hi. Some great info here but I'm looking for opinions on my first diet. I'm 28 now and feel it's about time I start looking after myself. I'm not overweight but I'm carrying about 2 or 3 inches of belly fat that I'd like to lose as an incentive to increase my general health. I've been on a strict self-designed diet for over a week now with zero results so far. Can ye have a look over it and let me know if I'm on the right track? I seldom drink alcohol, maybe one weekend out of every 4 and just three or four Guinness at that.

Morning: 4 or 5 eggs (only 2 yolks), glass of fruit juice, 1 or 2 slices of wholegrain toast with a little full fat butter (I was told it's healthier than low fat rubbish). Cup of tea or coffee with one sugar.

Late morning: protein shake (one scoop with low fat milk) and a raw carrot

Early afternoon: 100g of almonds, cup of tea one sugar, 2 squares of dark chocolate as a much needed treat!

Dinner: turkey breast or 2 trout fillets with half a cup of boiled rice or pasta or 5 baby potatoes, portion of green veg, glass of fruit juice. Quick workout followed by another protein shake. I sometimes replace the meat with homemade bean burgers made with half a can of mixed beans and half a cup of flour.

Supper: raw carrot, bowl of muesli or porridge, mug of cocoa.

Sometimes I'll snack on a punnet of berries or a banana.

Am I on the right track here? Like I said, no results at all after a week. Am I being impatient? I don't want to lose weight as such, just fat! I'm sure there's a decent body in here somewhere! Sorry about the long post.

EileenG

It would help if you gave a bit of basic information about yourself, like are you male or female? What is your weight and waist size? What sort of workouts do you do?

It's hard to say from just looking without a better idea of portion size, but I get the impression that you are putting away a lot of calories. 100g of almonds, for instance, although quality nutrition, is over 600 calories. A bowl of museli can easily rack up another 300-400 cals. And I can't even guess at the portion size for your dinner.

What I can suggest if you want to lose weight is to cut out the sugar in your tea. Reduce the fruit juices (eat a whole fruit instead), replace white carbs with green vegetables. Keep protein shakes for after workouts.

You'd be better off eating three whole eggs than messing about with de-yolking eggs. Try adding some vegetable into your breakfast, mushrooms or spinach or peppers are all quick and easy.

Libertine2002

Thanks Eileen. I'm male, 5'10" and my waist size is actually 32 which seems quite small but there's a bit of a belly overhang! I'm about 12 stone. Dinner portion size is fairly average. I eat 4 mini turkey breasts which amounts to about the size of two regular chicken breast fillets. Otherwise it's two baked trout. Half a cup of rice or pasta and about two or three handfuls of green veg. My aim is to get to about 8 or 10% body fat in as short a time as possible without damaging my metabolism.

As for exercise, I usually do about 50 push ups and 50 sit ups in the afternoon and I walk to the supermarket every morning which is 4km in total. I'm a professional drummer also so I'm quite active during the week. I used the boards calorie counter and found I needed about 3000 calories a day.

One question, why would the 3 whole eggs be better? I was told most of the fat is contained in the yolk. I bought loads of mushrooms and spinach this morning so looking forward to a better breakfast! I'll definitely cut out the nuts to maybe once every few days. I had no idea muesli would be so high in calories. Is porridge a good alternative?

EileenG

Fat is not bad for you, so buying lots of eggs and throwing half of them out is silly.

Yes, porridge is generally a better bet than muesli.

If you are going to exercise at home, then 50 squats or lunges would be a better use of your time than 50 sit-ups. The abs are actually a very small muscle group, so working them can be tiring, but doesn't burn a lot of fat (and doesn't burn fat sitting on your belly). Squats use very big muscle groups and so does burn a lot of fat.

Libertine2002

EileenG wrote: »

Fat is not bad for you, so buying lots of eggs and throwing half of them out is silly.

Yes, porridge is generally a better bet than muesli.

If you are going to exercise at home, then 50 squats or lunges would be a better use of your time than 50 sit-ups. The abs are actually a very small muscle group, so working them can be tiring, but doesn't burn a lot of fat (and doesn't burn fat sitting on your belly). Squats use very big muscle groups and so does burn a lot of fat.

Good advice! Tried squats last night and I'm feeling wobbly today which must be a good thing for the fitness but not sure how I'll make it through two gigs today! thanks for taking the time, feeling optimistic now!

EileenG

Yeah, squats are killers. And you can increase the difficulty easily by adding weights or varying your positions (try prisoner squats with your hands behind your head), or by doing them one legged.