How much fruit can I *actually* eat

Dean_Mc

In the last few months I have put together a weight loss and overall improvement plan for myself. Rather than run to the gym as I would have before I decided to look at my diet first.

I have been changing the foods I eat on a gradual basis so it is less of a shock to the system, hopefully increasing my chances of making good habits.

In the last couple of weeks I have cut out all white bread, fizzy drinks and junk food. I have switched to water as my go to drink and have two weetabix every morning instead of skipping breakfast. I also have a dinner every night which is usually some form of chicken with steamed veg and steamed spuds. Finally for lunch I have a turkey sandwich with lots of veg, no mayo on brown bread.

This week I introduced fruit and nuts into my diet. For nuts I usually buy a bag of mixed nuts with raisins and have about half a cup a day in total. Fruit is worrying me as I am eating what I would consider a large amount. In one day I have the following:

2 x Granny Smith Apples.
1 x Kiwi
1 x Pear
2 x Easypealer oranges (or mandarins)

I tend to have an apple and kiwi with my sandwich at lunch, I have the pear in between breakfast and lunch and have the last apple and oranges over the course of the day.

Ultimately I have cut out most bad food at this point and am quite happy with the variation I get in fruit but I am worried that I might be having too much.

Currently I weight 20 stone and I have read that to maintain this weight over 3000 calories are needed for my height. I can't imagine getting the same volume of calories out of my diet as it stands now but I am worried I might be over doing it.

colman1212

If you are looking at dropping weight I would replace the fruit with vegtables and take it very easy on the nuts.

A lot of people buy a 500g bag of raisins and nuts and end up smashing them in 2 days. Nuts are very good for you but in small amounts. they are very high in calories so if you eat more than a handful you are uping your daily calorie intake significantly.

Raisins and fruit both break down into fructose which is essentially sugar. I would avoid these for weight loss purposes and replace with veggies.

I would look at keeping your diet high in protein, low in carbs, low in fats.
Bread is not a good thing when trying to drop weight either but one step at a time

colman1212

colman1212 wrote: »

If you are looking at dropping weight I would replace the fruit with vegtables and take it very easy on the nuts.

A lot of people buy a 500g bag of raisins and nuts and end up smashing them in 2 days. Nuts are very good for you but in small amounts. they are very high in calories so if you eat more than a handful you are uping your daily calorie intake significantly.

Raisins and fruit both break down into fructose which is essentially sugar. I would avoid these for weight loss purposes and replace with veggies.

I would look at keeping your diet high in protein, low in carbs, low in fats.
Bread is not a good thing when trying to drop weight either but one step at a time

It was all going so well until you got to here!

You can't sustain on a low carb & low fat diet, your body needs fuel. One or the other has to keep you going.

A protein rich diet without much fat/carbs leads to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation (in extreme enough cases, but yes, it's not advised).

A diet rich in whole, fresh foods will be full of protein and good healthy fats. You'll also get plenty of good fibre (carbs) and you'll be away.

@ OP - Fruit & nuts should be the 'treats' in your diet. Stick to meat, fish, vegetables for the most part. That's an awful lot of sugar (though naturally occurring) to be eating regularly. As above, nuts are really very high in calories (useful for those bulking!) and also omega 6 fats. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/nuts-omega-6-fats/ We should aim for a decrease in omega 6 and an increase in omega 3 fats in order to redress the balance that many modern diets skew.

Dean_Mc

If I swap out two pieces of fruit for an egg (evening egg ) would that be a bit better? I don't want to cut out the fruit all together as they are great alternatives to say a packet of crisps or a bar with my lunch.

Also, regarding the nuts, I know they are high in fats and cals but is a half cup over the course of a day really that bad? I have it figured for about 300 cals in total. Since I take all day to eat them (instead of snacks) I thought this was a good amount (given my previous diet was 300 cal PER snack a few times a day).

Try to snack less imo.

Eat more satisfying meals.

As always with these kind of questions "It depends".

It depends on your exercise levels. It depends on everything else you eat too.

If you're snacking on 300 kcals worth of nuts per day, and 300 kcals worth of fruit too, would you not be better off just having another proper meal of meat and vegetables?

danlen

This is sound advice:

Deleted User wrote: »

If you're snacking on 300 kcals worth of nuts per day, and 300 kcals worth of fruit too, would you not be better off just having another proper meal of meat and vegetables?

Also OP, you should really dump the Weetabix and brown bread before you consider anything else.

SunnyDub1

That's an awful lot of fruit to be eating in one day.
One piece of fruit a day is enough imo. Try eating more veg instead.
Just to add you say you are eating a bag of mixed nuts and raisins - raisin is also a fruit that contains a high amount of sugar.

Nuts are fine to have once in a while, but I'd sonner have 300kcals worth of meat and veg then a few nuts.

As mentioned above try snacking less. eat larger satisfying meals.
If you're gonna snack, snack on protein foods - eggs, hummus, carrot sticks, Greek yogurt etc.

Cut back on the carbs also. Weetabix isn't the best to be eating, trying have eggs instead or oats.

Dean_Mc

Cheers for the info guys.

Just to be clear, I am not eating a bag of nuts a day just a half cup but I take your point about improving meals over snacking. My main snacking points are between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner which means those two meals need bulking up to reduce snacking. I am also hoping my snacking decreases as my body gets used to such a reduction in cals.

As I stated at the start my current weight and previous calorific intake was huge compared to now so even sticking to this diet as is the weight would fall off me (-2000 cals per day!) but I want to keep the diet practical and sustainable for my lifestyle, taking the advice you have mentioned I am going to modify my diet next week to be the following.

Breakfast
Porridge + boiled egg + Apple.

Lunch
Sandwich as original with two small pieces of fruit. (I've cut out all bread save for these two slices, the are not up for debate yet )

Dinner
As original as it's healthy and gives me a lot of my veg intake and is pretty healthy (steamer ftw).

I'll cut the nuts down from half a cup to quarter of a cup too. I don't want to be too drastic so soon. Going from 4000 cals a day down to my current 2000 is a 50% drop so I don't want to be too hard on myself (This is a big lifestyle change and I want it to be long term).

danlen

Dean_Mc wrote: »

Breakfast
Porridge + boiled egg + Apple.

Lunch
Sandwich as original with two small pieces of fruit. (I've cut out all bread save for these two slices, the are not up for debate yet )

Dinner
As original as it's healthy and gives me a lot of my veg intake and is pretty healthy (steamer ftw).

If you are losing fat, feeling good, and feeling satiated on that then stick with it. You can always tweak things as you go or as progress stalls. As you say, no need to be too drastic too quick. Small, achievable changes.

Just a note on the dinner. If you are going to have something lean like chicken then make sure to add some fat (perhaps as butter or olive oil) in order to better absorb the micro-nutrients in the veg.

Dean_Mc wrote: »

I'll cut the nuts down from half a cup to quarter of a cup too. I don't want to be too drastic so soon. Going from 4000 cals a day down to my current 2000 is a 50% drop so I don't want to be too hard on myself (This is a big lifestyle change and I want it to be long term).

You are absolutely right in this regard. Initially changing the food quality alone will result in huge changes in how you feel and your body comp. Really you only need to gradually drop calories once your weight loss plateaus.

Dean_Mc

Thanks Danlen,

Yeah I am feeling better in myself, which is great.

I spoke to my GP about this and she was saying that ultimately the problem with a lot of advice on healthy food is that it comes from healthy people. Sometimes the misunderstand the shear volume of food some overweight people have become used to consuming (in terms of calories). She said that I could safely eat just fruit all day and it would still be a massive improvement over my diet.

After a good conversation she pretty much came to the same conclusion as you which was as long as there are sustainable improvements in the quality of food I eat then I am onto a winner. She also gave me a lot of advice of phantom hunger pangs overweight people get from their body adjusting to the calorie deficit which was good!

JyesusChrist

Dean_Mc wrote: »

Thanks Danlen,

Yeah I am feeling better in myself, which is great.

I spoke to my GP about this and she was saying that ultimately the problem with a lot of advice on healthy food is that it comes from healthy people. Sometimes the misunderstand the shear volume of food some overweight people have become used to consuming (in terms of calories). She said that I could safely eat just fruit all day and it would still be a massive improvement over my diet.

After a good conversation she pretty much came to the same conclusion as you which was as long as there are sustainable improvements in the quality of food I eat then I am onto a winner. She also gave me a lot of advice of phantom hunger pangs overweight people get from their body adjusting to the calorie deficit which was good!

In my opinion its fine to eat as much fruit as you want. When I get hungry I eat a banana or an orange and could have like 3 of each a day. Fair play to you for making the change and the effort.

re.mark.able

I agree Jyesus Christ and your GP - fruit is the bomb.

One thing that stuck out to me was your dinner - steamed veg, potatoes and chicken.
This is of course a super healthy dinner but you never specified how many potatoes and how much chicken you are eating.
I'm not anti-carb in the slightest - but being aware of how many calories there are in your carbs is a good idea. Your average potato (3 inches in diameter), steamed is around 150 calories each.
Keep tweaking and reviewing your diet and reading around - don't settle.
And reconsider those wheat products when you get the chance.

Also, I would consider doing a calorie count for how much you burn on an average day - don't even bother counting how many you ate that day but just highlight for yourself how much exercise you're really getting - sitting all day won't get you anywhere fast

Dean_Mc

re.mark.able wrote: »

I agree Jyesus Christ and your GP - fruit is the bomb.

One thing that stuck out to me was your dinner - steamed veg, potatoes and chicken.
This is of course a super healthy dinner but you never specified how many potatoes and how much chicken you are eating.
I'm not anti-carb in the slightest - but being aware of how many calories there are in your carbs is a good idea. Your average potato (3 inches in diameter), steamed is around 150 calories each.
Keep tweaking and reviewing your diet and reading around - don't settle.
And reconsider those wheat products when you get the chance.

Also, I would consider doing a calorie count for how much you burn on an average day - don't even bother counting how many you ate that day but just highlight for yourself how much exercise you're really getting - sitting all day won't get you anywhere fast

Cheers for the response. I have been doing some rejigging which I will detail below. To answer your question on potato's. The other half buys these big feckers, I don't know what they are called but there is enough in one of those for me, I tend to lean heaver on the broccoli and cauliflower for "bulk".

New meal list:

Breakfast:
Flavahans oats with seeds (comes pre measured). I make this with super milk and a drizzle of honey and it fills me up until lunch.

Lunch:
1 x brown wrap with turkey, mixed leaf, red onion and a boiled egg. I don't have any mayo or butter (no point, its a wrap!)
1 x easy peeler or mandarin.
1 x half a quarter of a cup of nuts and dried fruit (dates, apricots, raisins).

Afternoon:
1 x half a quarter of a cup of nuts and dried fruit.
1 x granny smith apple

Dinner:
Plate of veggies with some form of chicken

Evening:
1 x granny smith apple


I have taken the advice posted and removed the weetabix and bread. Changing to porridge in the morning made a massive difference in hunger levels and I tend not to be hungry at all until lunch now. The bread change was simply because I can stuff more veg into a wrap and also remove mayo / butter without killing the taste. I snack twice a day, the afternoon and the evening.

All in all I am not hungry anymore which makes this much easier. I generally manage about 2 liters of water a day (not including coffee, etc).

I have a couple of things I need to change up still. I need to explore more foods so I can introduce variety. I need to cut down my coffee intake (6 - 8 cups per day) and I think I might increase the volume of breakfast and move lunch up about two hours and cut out the afternoon snack.

I am not counting calories or maintaining my stats, the purpose of this for me was to be healthier and not be fat. I think the key to this for me is to eat well on a subconscious level so I am trying not to maintain charts or lists.

I still do no exercise, I want to include this at a later date but for now I think my diet still needs to be concentrated on until it becomes second nature (at the moment I am still very aware of it).

re.mark.able

That looks pretty good man.
I few tips: consider replacing the super milk with something like rice milk - most low fat milks still have the same calories as their equivalent in coca cola, super milk included.
And with that said, you've failed to mention up to this point the amount of coffee you're drinking - if you're drinking this with milk then, with what i've said above, extra calories will add up very quickly.

That's great that you're not hungry and punishing yourself.
But there's only so long you can work on your diet - you could get to the stage where you only eat foods produced by a trusted a farmer who you know on a first name basis but if you have a very inactive lifestyle then the weight might not shift at a very good rate. I'm not saying you should take 2 hours out of every day to work yourself to the bone - just look at your routines and make them more active: walk more, walk faster, walk further, spend more time standing and walking around the huse and office, go for a walk instead of watching television, wave your arms around from time to time, dance if you really want to see the weight leave.

Dean_Mc

re.mark.able wrote: »

That looks pretty good man.
I few tips: consider replacing the super milk with something like rice milk - most low fat milks still have the same calories as their equivalent in coca cola, super milk included.
And with that said, you've failed to mention up to this point the amount of coffee you're drinking - if you're drinking this with milk then, with what i've said above, extra calories will add up very quickly.

That's great that you're not hungry and punishing yourself.
But there's only so long you can work on your diet - you could get to the stage where you only eat foods produced by a trusted a farmer who you know on a first name basis but if you have a very inactive lifestyle then the weight might not shift at a very good rate. I'm not saying you should take 2 hours out of every day to work yourself to the bone - just look at your routines and make them more active: walk more, walk faster, walk further, spend more time standing and walking around the huse and office, go for a walk instead of watching television, wave your arms around from time to time, dance if you really want to see the weight leave.

Thanks,

I agree completely, working as a Software Developer I am pretty much sitting all day and that has to change. Being as big as I am I should notice a big improvement just by changing my diet but ultimately I want to be healthy and fit so I am looking into ways to bring exercise into my routine.

All and all thought the whole experience has been positive so I am happy to keep making improvements as I am slowly starting to see changes.

Diet is probably 70/80% of the battle

40 minutes of tough cardio is approximately 1 snickers.

One less large potato a day for a week is approximately a half marathon of running.

If you eat well, you will lose mass.

If you eat well & train well, you will change shape. This is what most people strive for. It's not a weighing scales most people want to 'beat', it's the spare wheel, the big thighs etc.

Get yourself settled into a good eating routine, eating good food and being positive about your progress. Once you're settled, ramp up that progress incredibly quickly by adding weight training for muscle maintenance and growth, and cardio for sanity and wellbeing.

You've got the right idea. I still think you're snacking too much though. Swap the lunchtime fruit for a massive portion of sauteed cabbage and brocolli. If you need quantity, hit the green leafy vegetables hard, they're so low in calories and have so many useful nutrients.

Microwave available at work? Makes life so easy. Cook dinner on Tuesday night. Half goes on the plate, half into a lunchbox for Wednesday lunch. Repeat daily!

El_Dangeroso

Fruit is awesome, fill your boots.

There was a study a while back showing the more fruit people ate while dieting the more weight they lost.

It's very filling for its calories and is the perfect way to round off a nice dinner instead of a stodgy dessert.

Tesco's finest oranges seem particularly juicy and sweet at the moment. I'm eating one right now and making my keyboard smell lovely.:)

Chancer3001

I eat a joke of amount of fruit too.

typical day would be 2 bananas, 2 apples, 2big oranges and if I have grapes or easy peelers, Ill eat the whole punnet of grapes or about 6 easy peelers!

Yes theyre pretty high in carbs, but theyre the best ones. If youre eating loads of it, do some activity - walk run jump etc

re.mark.able

Oh that reminds me, if you're going to eat fruit then actually EAT fruit - don't wuss out of eating the cores and seeds of apples and pears and such, you're missing out on more good stuff. same goes for the skins of oranges, kiwis and even bananas - similar vitamins and minerals to what is in the fruit flesh but at a much higher concentration, what use is it throwing it in the bin anyway? if you ate like 5 apples and left the cores of them all, that's like 1 whole apple you're not eating.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

you can eat apple cores?

i already put the banana skin in my breakfast smoothie, and i've tried (and failed) to love orange peel before... but apple cores?

re.mark.able

woaw, i'm surprised to see someone willing to eat banana skins and orange peel but no cores - yeah, every time I eat an apple the only thing left at the end is the stalk from the top. The core is a little bit harder and has less juice: less sweet taste but is more or less the same. Same goes for pears, pineapples as well as cucumbers, bell peppers and courgettes, there's some good stuff hiding in the centre.
I think it's more of a cultural thing that some of us don't eat cores, similar to the reasons why some of us don't eat more offal as well - only eating the good, tasty parts because we can afford to.
As regards orange peels - i was raised not eating them and i distinctly remember them being painfully bitter but since i switched to organic fruit, the orange peels i encounter are much milder, not in the slightest bit hard to eat.

Chancer3001

is this guy Bear Grylls or something?