Rate/ Slate my diet

whitewave

Hi all, looking for advice on improving my diet. I've been working over the last few months to improve it, making small changes bit by bit rather than a drastic changes as I know I wouldn't stick with it. Would love if anyone had any advice on further changes I could make/areas I'm lacking etc. I'm female, mid-20's, approx. 11 stone, would like to cut down to 10 stone if possible.

Breakfast: Porridge, with berries (raspberries/blueberries/blackberries) or jam if I don't have fruit. Hate honey but I know jam is too sugary, I shouldn't be using it.

Lunch: tuna/ham salad, peppers, raw spinach, feta, tomatoes and pesto/balsamic vinegar OR leftovers from dinner the night before

Dinner: Fajitas (without the wraps) - just the spice mix, chicken, peppers, sweetcorn, kidney beans and spoon of salsa OR chicken and broccoli bake OR soup (bought, not homemade...need to get onto that!)

Snacks: Fruit (Banana or grapes), Yoghurt, small square of dark chocolate, rice cakes and peanut butter

Any advice?

Heat_Wave

What height are you?

Stench Blossoms

How many calories is it and have you worked out how many you should be eating?

Not the worst diet I've seen but depending on portion size you might not be eating enough.

whitewave

Sorry, forgot to say I'm 5'7". I use myfitnesspal and it says I should get about 1200 calories per day, which I'm good to sticking to (I think). Portion size is something I'm not great with, if anything I probably eat potions that are too large. Need to start weighing food I suppose?

thegreatiam

whitewave wrote: »

Breakfast: Porridge, with berries (raspberries/blueberries/blackberries) or jam if I don't have fruit. Hate honey but I know jam is too sugary, I shouldn't be using it.

That breakfast is almost all sugar. Honey is sugar, moreso than jam. fruit is all sugar too.

Just because the sugar is in fruit or honey/jam it's no real difference from having it in the spoon.

Try to limit the amount of sugar you eat.
Consider something like eggs and ham in the mornings.
You can have what you are having right now, but the problem is that with so much sugar its just unnecessary calories.

whitewave wrote: »

Lunch: tuna/ham salad, peppers, raw spinach, feta, tomatoes and pesto/balsamic vinegar OR leftovers from dinner the night before

Good choices, how much tuna/ham in the salad? its a good mix, and you can change it up often. just make sure to get a proper portion of protein. olive oil is a good dressing too, dont be afraid of the fats.

whitewave wrote: »

Dinner: Fajitas (without the wraps) - just the spice mix, chicken, peppers, sweetcorn, kidney beans and spoon of salsa OR chicken and broccoli bake OR soup (bought, not homemade...need to get onto that!)

Again, how much is key here.
You can have wraps with fajita, just make sure to count the calories (about 180-200 in a good sized wrap) If youre doing fine without them then carry on.
They key to portions is to get a piece of meat that is the same size as the palm of your hand. then add 2 or more portions of vegetables.

whitewave wrote: »

Snacks: Fruit (Banana or grapes), Yoghurt, small square of dark chocolate, rice cakes and peanut butter

Again sugar in that fruit. while it is ok to eat fruit, yoghurt, etc you just have to be aware of the amount of sugar you're consuming.

Start to track your food in an app like myfitnesspal or similar. You will be able to see that there is a lot of sugar here.

whitewave wrote: »

Any advice?

the diet is ok, it looks like it can be varied. but your eating 3-5 portions of fruit a day. thats a lot of sugar.

You also need to look at fats, your body needs these. a spoon of virgin olive oil mixed with balsamic over your salad is a good start.
Avocado, nuts, fish and meat etc.

snacking on nuts is ok, just be strict, no more than 25g per portion once a day.

Try to get it so that youre eating a bare minimum of snacks. Aim to fill up at meal times.

Keep those evening meals and lunches varied. use different veggies and salads, different types of meat and fish. Not only to prevent getting bored but also to make sure that youre getting a good variety of vitamins etc.

runawaybishop

whitewave wrote: »

Sorry, forgot to say I'm 5'7". I use myfitnesspal and it says I should get about 1200 calories per day, which I'm good to sticking to (I think). Portion size is something I'm not great with, if anything I probably eat potions that are too large. Need to start weighing food I suppose?

based on what you said you are looking at 1.7k calories to maintain your current weight, dropping that down to 1.2k seems a bit much. Are you exercising also?

whitewave

runawaybishop wrote: »

based on what you said you are looking at 1.7k calories to maintain your current weight, dropping that down to 1.2k seems a bit much. Are you exercising also?

How did you calculate that? I'm basing 1200 purely off myfitnesspal, I'm guessing there are more accurate methods?

I'm poor for making myself exercise to be honest, only getting to classes in the gym 2 or 3 times a week, so I need to work harder. When I do go, it's to spinning, circuits or body pump classes.

Thanks for the advice above aswell, I know my diet needs to be improved so I've some tips to start working on already!

runawaybishop

whitewave wrote: »

How did you calculate that? I'm basing 1200 purely off myfitnesspal, I'm guessing there are more accurate methods?

I'm poor for making myself exercise to be honest, only getting to classes in the gym 2 or 3 times a week, so I need to work harder. When I do go, it's to spinning, circuits or body pump classes.

Thanks for the advice above aswell, I know my diet needs to be improved so I've some tips to start working on already!

BMR calc, there are loads online. If you are exercising 1-3 times a week you would eat more actually: 2k to maintain and 1.5k calories a day to drop 1 pound a week though i think cutting 25% of your intake is a bit much. I would drop down 300 calories (so 1.7k) maybe and ensure you are getting a good amount of protein and decent fats. Eating too little can be counter productive.

Animord

Myfitnespal puts everyone on 1200 calories if they say they want to lose 2lb a week. Which everyone does.

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Animord wrote: »

Myfitnespal puts everyone on 1200 calories if they say they want to lose 2lb a week. Which everyone does.

Yes I agree, I am 5 ft 6 and 9 and 1/2 stone and my fitness pal puts me on 1200 kcals per week also.

Op, I love that old el Paso fajita mix but do you know the main ingredient is sugar?

To make your own, try some fresh chilli, corriander and cumin seeds and lime juice, I use a rachel allen recipe that I found on line if you want to google it. Also with it is her recipe for salsa and guacamole, they are delicious, you can eat as much of the salsa as you want, no need to limit it to 2 spoons.

Juniorhurler

thegreatiam wrote: »

That breakfast is almost all sugar. Honey is sugar, moreso than jam. fruit is all sugar too.

Just because the sugar is in fruit or honey/jam it's no real difference from having it in the spoon.

Try to limit the amount of sugar you eat.
Consider something like eggs and ham in the mornings.
You can have what you are having right now, but the problem is that with so much sugar its just unnecessary calories.



Good choices, how much tuna/ham in the salad? its a good mix, and you can change it up often. just make sure to get a proper portion of protein. olive oil is a good dressing too, dont be afraid of the fats.




Again, how much is key here.
You can have wraps with fajita, just make sure to count the calories (about 180-200 in a good sized wrap) If youre doing fine without them then carry on.
They key to portions is to get a piece of meat that is the same size as the palm of your hand. then add 2 or more portions of vegetables.



Again sugar in that fruit. while it is ok to eat fruit, yoghurt, etc you just have to be aware of the amount of sugar you're consuming.

Start to track your food in an app like myfitnesspal or similar. You will be able to see that there is a lot of sugar here.



the diet is ok, it looks like it can be varied. but your eating 3-5 portions of fruit a day. thats a lot of sugar.

You also need to look at fats, your body needs these. a spoon of virgin olive oil mixed with balsamic over your salad is a good start.
Avocado, nuts, fish and meat etc.

snacking on nuts is ok, just be strict, no more than 25g per portion once a day.

Try to get it so that youre eating a bare minimum of snacks. Aim to fill up at meal times.

Keep those evening meals and lunches varied. use different veggies and salads, different types of meat and fish. Not only to prevent getting bored but also to make sure that youre getting a good variety of vitamins etc.

Any good alternatives to fruit for say an 11 o clock snack?

Stench Blossoms

Juniorhurler wrote: »

Any good alternatives to fruit for say an 11 o clock snack?

nuts

Celly Smunt

Anybody noticing the huge price hikes on nuts at the moment?, went into my local dunnes earlier and natural nuts were 4 times more expensive than the salted crap.

Juniorhurler

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

nuts

I tend to have about 20-25g nuts at about 4 as I don't get dinner until 7.30. I would eat probably 4 pieces of fruit between 11 o clock snack and as part of my lunch. Say one banana, an apple and two satsumas. Is this too much sugar. I used to eat a lot of chocolate and maybe my body is looking for a sugar substitute.

Celly Smunt

Juniorhurler wrote: »

I tend to have about 20-25g nuts at about 4 as I don't get dinner until 7.30. I would eat probably 4 pieces of fruit between 11 o clock snack and as part of my lunch. Say one banana, an apple and two satsumas. Is this too much sugar. I used to eat a lot of chocolate and maybe my body is looking for a sugar substitute.

Vanilla pods are great (I find) for getting over sweet cravings.Just suck or chew on one for a few minutes and you'll be sick of sweet stuff.

thegreatiam

Juniorhurler wrote: »

I tend to have about 20-25g nuts at about 4 as I don't get dinner until 7.30. I would eat probably 4 pieces of fruit between 11 o clock snack and as part of my lunch. Say one banana, an apple and two satsumas. Is this too much sugar. I used to eat a lot of chocolate and maybe my body is looking for a sugar substitute.

each peice of fruit could be 20-30g of sugar. Think of it that way would you sit down and eat 5 tea spoons of sugar as a snack?

Eat more at meal times. Bring 2 lunches with you.
Nuts are ok, in moderation.
dried meats like biltong and jerky are ok too.
Veg is good. Stick of celery, carrot, with hummas etc

What is better is not snacking at all and eat bigger meals. or bring big meals divide them into 3 or 4 portions to eat through out the day.
Make sure the food you eat fills you up.
Meat and plenty of veg at each meal.
Stop snacking from boredom.