what should i be eating to lose weight??

aveagejoe

hi there guys, have been a lurker on here for a good while, and was just looking for some helpful advice as i have started to reach a standstill in my weight loss goals! due to an injury in late 2010 i became lazy, but still managed to keep my appetite going, by may 2011 i managed to go up to a hefty 14 1/4 stone from where i started at just under 12 1/2 st! at the moment i am down to 12st 4lbs, and have been stuck there for the last 2months. ideally i would like to reach 11 1/2 as i am after gaining an interest in running and adventure races such as gaelforce and other events and hope to start competing in triathlons soon and from my basic knowledge i am carrying a bit of extra timber, and woulld like to get rid of it for a couple of reason's:
1) less chance of injury to my already bad knees if i can be a little lighter,
2) improve my performance and get all round better at my eating habits,
3)want to look and fell better!

so here is what i have been eating for the last 7/8 weeks,
brekkkie is always a bowl of porridge with a cup of tea
dinner is always 4 pieces of grilled chicken, with 75grams of boiled white rice, some fresh salad to make the plate look bigger and 1-2 pints of tap water!
supper then would be tea and a ham+cheese sandwich (white bread with butter)¬
i am also addicted to tea and could have up to 6-7 cups a day!
that is monday -friday! the odd kit kat aswell!!

wknd is then whatever herself is cooking for dinner, but i would still have porridge for breakfest, and usally sat night supper is a fry at my mom's as we help out in the farm at the wknds and that is the tradition!!

excercise wise, i run every week a total that varies from it lowest of 20 miles to a high of30-35miles, plus train 2 nights a week for soccer and a match every wknd!
any help is greatly welcomed as you have more than likely gathered that i don't have a clue what i should be doing!

height is 5'10, male, 12st4lbs!

seamus

Start tracking your calorie intake.
The size of a bowl of porridge depends on the size of the bowl, and do you make it with milk or with water?
4 pieces of grilled chicken? How big is one piece? Ham & cheese sandwich; how much cheese.
Small things can add up to more than you think. 7 cups of tea per day * 40ml milk = half a pint of milk per day = 200 kcal. If you like very milky tea, even more again.

And so forth. Although you seem to have gotten a grasp on your diet, and well done, to go further you will need to focus a little more and know how much you're eating calorie-wise.

Unless you're really hammering yourself with training, then losing weight when you're not particularly overweight requires more focus than just trying to eat healthily.

aveagejoe

seamus wrote: »

Start tracking your calorie intake.
The size of a bowl of porridge depends on the size of the bowl, and do you make it with milk or with water?
4 pieces of grilled chicken? How big is one piece? Ham & cheese sandwich; how much cheese.
Small things can add up to more than you think. 7 cups of tea per day * 40ml milk = half a pint of milk per day = 200 kcal. If you like very milky tea, even more again.

And so forth. Although you seem to have gotten a grasp on your diet, and well done, to go further you will need to focus a little more and know how much you're eating calorie-wise.

Unless you're really hammering yourself with training, then losing weight when you're not particularly overweight requires more focus than just trying to eat healthily.

thanks for the quick reply, coming from never really trying to lose weight or watching what i eat i'm finding it hard to grasp all the little details that by themselves seem like not a whole lot but together add up to be disruptive to my goal,
porridge always with water, in a normal cereal bowl and i would have it half full with the dry porridge before the water is added! the chicken is from super value and is the normal packet you get for five euros which has 12 pieces of chicken in it and that lasts me for 3 meals! ya, milky tea all the way:(

galwaymusic

Maybe you could try to change that white rice to brown. It's much better.
Try Quinoa. It takes tops 15 minutes and makes you feel full for longer. it has the most protein of all.
Try Kale and Spinach, also big in protein, obviously, since they're greens they wouldn't be calorific!
Porridge is the best brekkie, trying to take more of it myself. NO cereals!
Avoid steaks. Replace it with chicken, fish or pork. Steak is the worst IMO.

Also, white bread is like dough. It's pretty much nutritionless. Try brown bread instead, even those ones with seeds in them - much better.

Crash Bang Wall

I just have a question (dont want to start a new thread)

Trying to lose body fat (approx 1.5 stone) and Im using fitnesspal.com for advice etc. Im getting the calorie intake sorted slowly but surely (telling me approx 1800 per day) but where Im having the most trouble is the carbs v fats v protein. Below is my summary.

Cal Carbs Fats Protein
Totals 1,753 208 32 134
Your Daily Goal 1,810 249 60 68
Remaining 57 41 28 -66

Basically is it calories thats the main factor or is the breakdown equally as important. Main souces of protein is chicken (sandwich at lunch, and a meat with an evening meal)

Exercise consists of 2-4 bootcamp classes per week, and 1 hour of 5 a side soccer.

Thanks in advance

A

Its not a final table but its nearly there

Monife

galwaymusic wrote: »

Maybe you could try to change that white rice to brown. It's much better.
Try Quinoa. It takes tops 15 minutes and makes you feel full for longer. it has the most protein of all.
Try Kale and Spinach, also big in protein, obviously, since they're greens they wouldn't be calorific!
Porridge is the best brekkie, trying to take more of it myself. NO cereals!
Avoid steaks. Replace it with chicken, fish or pork. Steak is the worst IMO.

Also, white bread is like dough. It's pretty much nutritionless. Try brown bread instead, even those ones with seeds in them - much better.

Why no steak? Surely a bit of lean beef/steak once in a while would no harm, be good for you in fact. I thought you were suppose to eat a bit of red meat every now and again?

saa

I know BMI isn't great but you're not overweight just at risk, and people in the healthy catagory find it a lot harder to lose weight so as I put in this I think for the period of time for losing I think you might need to consider adding some weight training and making sure your nutrition is as good as it can be maybe for a period of time.

Not sure how it works but alls I know is simple carbs and sugar are quick release energy foods into the blood which is conducive to weight gain and lower levels of energy in a shorter time than the complex carb alternatives.

I think you're smart though as some people go all out low carb low cal working out and then as they get lighter they have no where to go not that many ways to improve their lifestyle, you could try calorie cycling and more importantly take on extra exercise you needs to get that metabolism going again. You do running and cardio but starting some weights can help you loads.

I lost the first 20 lbs quick enough with diet and light exercise, next 6 pounds over 6 weeks took getting more serious with the nutrition and exercise but not over doing it, I just couldnt get away with eating sugar, white bread same thing lol, sweet cereals, takeaways and lose anymore I got really sensitive and fluctuated for months, changed to whole wheat foods but then found reducing even that and eating cheese, butter wasnt necessarily a bad thing for my weight loss. Im not sure why im writing all this as youre really active its just about changing it up.

Try logging your food into cronometer for a few days of what you eat now and then add some more nutritious foods you like in and see how your nutrition report changes, its all about the foods you likeyup in short try an exericse using your arm muscles and add in more complex carbs, protein, dont fear good fats and stick to portion sizes.. but maybe thats just me being a grazer and all.

SunnyDub1

cut out the white bread.. In fact try cut out all breads.. brown bread is just like dyed white bread imo.
Cutting out bread & rice will cut down your carb intake, which will alone give results. Porridge is good, try add some seeds and fruit or else replace with eggs.
Replace with wraps and salad, and maybe leave out the cheese and butter or at least only use a very small amount.

Try have a piece of fruit or handful of nuts with your tea instead of a kitkat.


Make sure your taken in high protein foods such as chicken,fish,lean eggs, meat,nut,beans.

High protein,low carbs, and plenty of exercise and you will see results fast

EDIT: Try having 6 meals every day - 3 reasonable large (breakfast,lunch,dinner) 3 snacks and don't eat after 7pm. A sandwich is a bit much for a super considering its after your dinner which is a mean meal.

Chain_reaction

SunnyDub1 wrote: »

cut out the white bread.. In fact try cut out all breads.. brown bread is just like dyed white bread imo.
Cutting out bread & rice will cut down your carb intake, which will alone give results. Porridge is good, try add some seeds and fruit or else replace with eggs.
Replace with wraps and salad, and maybe leave out the cheese and butter or at least only use a very small amount.

Surely a few slice of spelt seeded brown would be better than a milled to death white wrap??

tuxy

SunnyDub1 wrote: »

don't eat after 7pm.

Isn't this a confirmed myth? The total intake for the day is the main factor regardless of time consumed. Although fitting meal times around activity levels would probably be good for energy levels.

Orla K

tuxy wrote: »

Isn't this a confirmed myth? The total intake for the day is the main factor regardless of time consumed. Although fitting meal times around activity levels would probably be good for energy levels.

I don't know, it seems to be a kind of intermittant fasting. So if IF works then why not that, but total calories would count more.

Stench Blossoms

Chain_reaction wrote: »

Surely a few slice of spelt seeded brown would be better than a milled to death white wrap??

But no bread would be better again

Chain_reaction

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

But no bread would be better again

True!

I'm doing alright eating it myself though.