9 stone, 5'4. Want to lose half a stone.

lostsansyou.

Hey guys, I'm 21 year old student and as the title says I am looking to shed around half a stone to be the weight I feel would suit me best.

I've really started to be careful about healthy eating so this would be my typical diet at the moment:

Breakfast:
1 bowl of porridge with low fat super milk.

Lunch: 2/3 slices of brown bread with chicken and cottage cheese.
1 apple/banana.

Snack: Cup of black coffee with a splash of low fat milk on top. Maybe 1/2 plain rich tea biscuits with it. Or sometimes a nature valley bar instead.

Dinner: Salmon fillet (or other meat eg chicken), small serving of brown pasta ( br. rice) , big portion of veg eg brocolli, peas, carrots.

Before bed: Sometimes I might feel hungry so I'd have a bowl of cereal.

I generally don't eat chocolate or crisps. About twice a week I would treat myself to a mocha in starbucks

I walk to college and back every day which is about a 40 min round trip. I've started running 3 times a week as well for about
30-40 mins.

Any advice at all about how I can achieve my goal would be greatly appreciated and I will happily take it all onboard.

Thanks so much for reading!

harrythehat

It sounds like you're putting a lot of effort in already. 9 stone doesn't sound big at all for a girl of 5"4 if you ask me.

pinkypinky

Actually, I think 9st is quite small for your height. You may need to get fit and that will improve your muscle tone which might be enough for you. I'd replace the biscuits and snacks with fruit or some nuts. If your college has a gym, you could consider getting a weights program...you have the cardio covered.

dlofnep

Try oatcakes for a snack. It's the snacking that will get you. Although, I think 9 stone is normal for 5'4". I don't think you should aim lower.

Dannyboy83

lostsansyou. wrote: »

Breakfast:
1 bowl of porridge with low fat super milk.

Lunch: 2/3 slices of brown bread with chicken and cottage cheese.
1 apple/banana.

Snack: Cup of black coffee with a splash of low fat milk on top. Maybe 1/2 plain rich tea biscuits with it. Or sometimes a nature valley bar instead.

Dinner: Salmon fillet (or other meat eg chicken), small serving of brown pasta ( br. rice) , big portion of veg eg brocolli, peas, carrots.

Before bed: Sometimes I might feel hungry so I'd have a bowl of cereal.

I generally don't eat chocolate or crisps. About twice a week I would treat myself to a mocha in starbucks

I walk to college and back every day which is about a 40 min round trip. I've started running 3 times a week as well for about
30-40 mins.

Any advice at all about how I can achieve my goal would be greatly appreciated and I will happily take it all onboard.

Thanks so much for reading!

You should never eat a meal containing Fat + carbs
You should never eat a meal containing carbs only.
You should either eat; protein + carbs //or// protein + fat.

Nature valley bars are not a health food - don't know where that idea came from. Forget about them.


That said - there is nothing wrong with your diet (actually I would use full fat milk and be more liberal with it [no more splashes of low fat milk] - calcium is too important for a woman's body and her looks and it will help you to lose puppy fat and tone up.

Here is my advice:
Your diet seems very healthy - all you need to do is gradually decrease your carbohydrate portions while gradually increasing your protein portions.

For example:
Get a decent protein powder and have 1 scoop with your breakfast while reducing the amount of oatmeal to 3/4 cup or 1/2 cup.

Drop the cereal before bed (or if you have problems sleeping then keep it but reduce the portion by half) while adding cottage cheese or a protein shake like USN IGF1 (available in most Irish pharmacies, 1kg=35)

You basically do that for a few weeks until you reach your goal weight.
Then you can reduce the protein again if you want and gradually increase carbs.

lostsansyou.

pinkypinky wrote: »

Actually, I think 9st is quite small for your height. You may need to get fit and that will improve your muscle tone which might be enough for you. I'd replace the biscuits and snacks with fruit or some nuts. If your college has a gym, you could consider getting a weights program...you have the cardio covered.

harrythehat wrote: »

It sounds like you're putting a lot of effort in already. 9 stone doesn't sound big at all for a girl of 5"4 if you ask me.

I think I probably just need a little tweaking with my diet and what I really need is to tone up. I probably should start weights so will get onto my college gym nxt week about starting a programme. Thanks for that advice.
It's not that I think I'm fat or anything at 9 stone it's just a little puppy fat that I would like to get rid of really! Ideally I would love to be fitting into size 8 jeans instead of the size 10 ones atm! That's my ultimate aim really.

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

You should never eat a meal containing Fat + carbs
You should never eat a meal containing carbs only.
You should either eat; protein + carbs //or// protein + fat.

Nature valley bars are not a health food - don't know where that idea came from. Forget about them.


That said - there is nothing wrong with your diet (actually I would use full fat milk and be more liberal with it [no more splashes of low fat milk] - calcium is too important for a woman's body and her looks and it will help you to lose puppy fat and tone up.

Here is my advice:
Your diet seems very healthy - all you need to do is gradually decrease your carbohydrate portions while gradually increasing your protein portions.

For example:
Get a decent protein powder and have 1 scoop with your breakfast while reducing the amount of oatmeal to 3/4 cup or 1/2 cup.

Drop the cereal before bed (or if you have problems sleeping then keep it but reduce the portion by half) while adding cottage cheese or a protein shake like USN IGF1 (available in most Irish pharmacies, 1kg=35)

You basically do that for a few weeks until you reach your goal weight.
Then you can reduce the protein again if you want and gradually increase carbs.

Big thanks for taking the time to give me such a detailed reply. You've given me much food for thought, excuse the awful pun!

I know the cereal before bed is an awful habit that I just need to get rid of. Most of the time I wouldn't be that hungry before it's just out of habit I get the bowl out of the press!

Just wondering what kind of protein powder would you recommend? And would I get that in somewhere like holland and barrett? Literally no nothing about protein shakes/powders!

arandale

Lostsansyou, there is no mention of water, i think you would be better off drinking a glass of water as we are ofter thirsty when we think its hunger.

I too would love to know of Protein Powder.

arandale

Dannyboy83, forgot to say thanks for all that imfo. Looking forward to more!

Orla K

I'm about the same height as you and at your weight it's time to throw away the scales, go by how you look, how your clothes fit you and if you want your body fat (you can ask in the gym to get that done).

As for protein when I get the money together for it I'm going to go for a whey protein I'll probably go for this one (I haven't tried it yet so I don't so I have no idea what it tastes like) just keep an eye on the nutritional info of the one you do get.

As for doing weights at the gym, don't be fooled into to doing light weights with endless reps. I had an underweight kitten that was heavier than some of the weights that the guys in the gym gave me, she's now a tiny and underweight cat at 3-3.5kg.


As for the rest I'll say the usual, read the stickies, read as many threads as possible and take in all the information you get. Find out your calorie needs (formula in stickies somewhere, might be in health and fitness sticky) and use a site like fitday to record you calorie intake for a bit.

When you get get your programme from the gym you can post it in h&f and find out if it's any good or not (like what you've done with your diet)

Dannyboy83

lostsansyou. wrote: »

I know the cereal before bed is an awful habit that I just need to get rid of. Most of the time I wouldn't be that hungry before it's just out of habit I get the bowl out of the press!

Cereal before bed isn't an awful habit.
In fact, if it's low gi, such as oatmeal, then it will lower your bad cholestrol, provide you with fibre and eliminate hunger pangs.
Just drop the bread from your lunch time meal and you can eat the cereal every night if that suits you.

Just wondering what kind of protein powder would you recommend? And would I get that in somewhere like holland and barrett? Literally no nothing about protein shakes/powders!

It's up to you, it just needs to be low carb whey protein.

I recommend this one:
http://www.usnireland.ie/acatalog/pure-protein-igf-1.html

It's very low carb, very filling, tastes good and you can buy it at most Irish pharmacies.

If that's too pricey for you, then you can get a better deal here for example:
http://www.myprotein.com/ie/products/impact-whey-protein


I don't know what Holland and Barret have available.
Usually they are quite pricey in my experience.
You could go in and ask, but make sure it's whey protein - state explicitly that you do not want Soy protein