Advice for my weight loss diet please

curly from cork

I have been watching several threads here in a quest to lose weight. There seems to be so many approaches . I'm confusing myself ! So I've decided to go down the low calorie / healthy good option. I am trying to avoid eating low fat sugar ladened products ( which seem to link as I've read here ) I am a total chocoholic but have discovered dark choc covered corn cakes made by an Irish company and have switched to eating these instead of a bar (or two) of choc. I would appreciate any feedback on my last few days intake if anyone has time . At the moment my exercise is limited to 15 mins steady flat waking due to a gluteal tear but I will progress that as the days go on. I realise this is almost no exercise at all . My work is a desk job so I have tried to curtail calories .. Here goes ,
My stats
Female aged 49
Height 5' 6
Weight 11 stone 12 lbs
Desired weight 11 stone
BMI 27
Thursday .
Breakfast porridge two heaped scoops , skimmed milk , raspberries & blueberries
Lunch strawberry yoghurt full fat . One banana
Snack one choc corn cake
Dinner chicken casserole : 2 skinless thighs, carrots, kidney beans, made with chicken stockpot
Snack one choc corn cake, one orange

Friday
Breakfast porridge as above
Snack choc corn cake
Lunch mug of homemade butternut squash soup
Snack one banana
Dinner salmon fillet baked, stir fry veg.
Snack choc corn cake, one orange

Saturday
Porridge as above
Snack. One Apple , one choc corn cake
Lunch butternut squash soup
Snack one homemade bun
Dinner pasta with courgettes tomatoes and prawns
Snack one choc corn cake, one orange

Sunday
Brunch two boiled eggs, 2 slices brown toast
Intend to have chicken and broccoli bake for dinner

What do you think ?

easygoing1982

curly from cork wrote: »

I have been watching several threads here in a quest to lose weight. There seems to be so many approaches . I'm confusing myself ! So I've decided to go down the low calorie / healthy good option. I am trying to avoid eating low fat sugar ladened products ( which seem to link as I've read here ) I am a total chocoholic but have discovered dark choc covered corn cakes made by an Irish company and have switched to eating these instead of a bar (or two) of choc. I would appreciate any feedback on my last few days intake if anyone has time . At the moment my exercise is limited to 15 mins steady flat waking due to a gluteal tear but I will progress that as the days go on. I realise this is almost no exercise at all . My work is a desk job so I have tried to curtail calories .. Here goes ,
My stats
Female aged 49
Height 5' 6
Weight 11 stone 12 lbs
Desired weight 11 stone
BMI 27
Thursday .
Breakfast porridge two heaped scoops , skimmed milk , raspberries & blueberries
Lunch strawberry yoghurt full fat . One banana
Snack one choc corn cake
Dinner chicken casserole : 2 skinless thighs, carrots, kidney beans, made with chicken stockpot
Snack one choc corn cake, one orange

Friday
Breakfast porridge as above
Snack choc corn cake
Lunch mug of homemade butternut squash soup
Snack one banana
Dinner salmon fillet baked, stir fry veg.
Snack choc corn cake, one orange

Saturday
Porridge as above
Snack. One Apple , one choc corn cake
Lunch butternut squash soup
Snack one homemade bun
Dinner pasta with courgettes tomatoes and prawns
Snack one choc corn cake, one orange

Sunday
Brunch two boiled eggs, 2 slices brown toast
Intend to have chicken and broccoli bake for dinner

What do you think ?

TBH I would try and change the foods I've bolded.
Your having 2/3 chocolate corn cakes a day for a snack. I know you say your a chocoholic but if I was trying to lose weight I'd be going away altogether or at least minimising the amount of chocolate I had regardless of it being dark.

Could you not try and change your snacks to a fruit salad or even an apple and orange. or 2 boiled eggs.

Maybe change your full fat yogurt to fat free or natural.

As far as I know bananas are one of the higher calorie dense fruit out there.

Do you not find having porridge every morning a bit repetitive/boring.
You could play around with eggs, poached,scrambled, boiled or fried in fry lite or coconut oil.

curly from cork

Thank you for your reply easy going . Yes I will definitely consider switching from porridge to eggs some mornings . I was eating full fat yoghurt as I thought low fat was supposed to be full of sugar ? As for the corn cakes excellent advice ! I know I eat a lot of them I will be trying to reduce them over the coming weeks .thanks sgain .

Alf Veedersane

Switching to low fat isn't a great idea for the reason you suggested. With some yoghurts, there is too much sugar in either case so consider that.

How big is a scoop of porridge?

It is only worth considering changing to eggs if porridge is indeed getting boring or you like eggs anyway. You don't have to be bored by having the same breakfast everyday.

easygoing1982

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Switching to low fat isn't a great idea for the reason you suggested. With some yoghurts, there is too much sugar in either case so consider that.

How big is a scoop of porridge?

It is only worth considering changing to eggs if porridge is indeed getting boring or you like eggs anyway. You don't have to be bored by having the same breakfast everyday.

is there not a difference between low fat and fat free. i always thought there was but i always bought fat free.

Alf Veedersane

easygoing1982 wrote: »

is there not a difference between low fat and fat free. i always thought there was but i always bought fat free.

Fat free has a lower fat content than low fat. That's the difference between them.

The problem is both will often have sugar added to make up the taste deficit.

curly from cork

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Switching to low fat isn't a great idea for the reason you suggested. With some yoghurts, there is too much sugar in either case so consider that.

How big is a scoop of porridge?

It is only worth considering changing to eggs if porridge is indeed getting boring or you like eggs anyway. You don't have to be bored by having the same breakfast everyday.

My scoop measures 15 g . I use 2 scoops , and tbh I would used a heaped scoop on second 15g .. So maybe 40g everyday with the skimmed milk and berries . Thanks for replies Alf .

Alf Veedersane

curly from cork wrote: »

My scoop measures 15 g . I use 2 scoops , and tbh I would used a heaped scoop on second 15g .. So maybe 40g everyday with the skimmed milk and berries .

Ah ok, it's a scoop specifically for it.

Have you tried plugging what you eat into MyFitnessPal to see what the calorie content is like?

Oh and nothing wrong with the corn cakes as such but not so many in a day.

Macy0161

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the bananas at this stage. They're still a piece of fruit, so better than a lot of alternatives. A medium banana is probably only 70 odd calories in my experience of weighing and tracking calories. Just try weighing a few, peeled, and see what it's coming out at.

I can only go with what's worked for myself - I started the diet snacking on the likes of nutrigrains, oats and honey bars. It worked to a degree, but as things have gone on, I've swapped the out/ made better choices. Just track the calories, honestly. It kinda forces you to make healthy choices - why waste 200 calories on x bar, when you could have y for less.

RonanP77

I wouldn't know a lot about nutrition bit I lost a few stone last year and one stone this year so I know how to lose weight.

Both times I've used apps to help me, Myfitnesspal seems to be the best. It has a very big library of foods compared to others. It'll tell you how many calories to take on each day, it gives the occasional comment when you enter something and there are charts then to show how much of everything you're taking in compared to your RDA.

Give it a go. You also need to up your exercise once you're injury free. Don't go crazy though, increase your distance or time by about 10 % per week.

Alf Veedersane

If you use MyFitnessPal, it's useful to know what your todal daily energy expenditure is.

Based on the stats you gave, I've worked out that you're looking at ~ 2000 kcals per day (well, the calculation is 2074).

That is what your body uses to function and during the course of a day where you're at a desk burning very little. It doesn't account for exercise but it doesn't need to.

If you want to lose weight, consume less than that.

Your diet is fine, bar a few minor tweaks, e.g. chocolate corn cakes. Using MyFitnessPal gives you an idea what you're consuming on a daily basis. You don't necessarily have to track it daily forever but it's useful to know what you're getting on board on a daily basis initially and as time progresses, you'll have a better understanding of how to tweak and theeffect of the tweaks.

Don't get caught in the trap of wanting to lose the weight as fast as is humanly possible. making small changes to what you eat so that you lose weight will be easier to manage and more likely to be sustainable.

Macy0161

Actually, I should've added my usual caveat about My Fitness Pal. Great for tracking, but work out your calorie needs and deficit using the something like the sticky on this forum.

I've lost over 4 stone at this stage - my current calorie goal worked out properly (500 deficit) is still the guts of 600 calories more than My Fitness Pal gave me at the start!

Alf Veedersane

Macy0161 wrote: »

Actually, I should've added my usual caveat about My Fitness Pal. Great for tracking, but work out your calorie needs and deficit using the something like the sticky on this forum.

For clarity:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=50956807&postcount=12

curly from cork

Thanks everyone just the feedback I was looking for . I will download my fitness pal when I get a chance later and see how I go . I suspect at the moment my calorie intake is way under 2000 but we'll see . Thanks again .

Alf Veedersane

curly from cork wrote: »

Thanks everyone just the feedback I was looking for . I will download my fitness pal when I get a chance later and see how I go . I suspect at the moment my calorie intake is way under 2000 but we'll see . Thanks again .

You'll need to have a good idea of quantities, e.g. pasta.

It will give you a calorie count of what you eat and a breakdown of carbs/protein/fat.

But plug in the numbers as best you can and don't underestimate.

If you're ok in terms of calories, you should be able to lose weight. It can be tweaked if the need arises.

househero

You could join a gym. Exercise is 90% of a diets success. Upper body weights will isolate your injury and make your body crave for healthy protein rather than sugar and fat.

RonanP77

For a sedentary female of your age you should take on 1800 calories to maintain weight. If you want to lose weight even slowly you'll need to be coming in a bit below that.

I'd be sedentary too, I drive a forktruck, I'm the same height as you and I'm 10 stone 9 lbs. I struggle to eat more than 1,600 calories a day unless I work out. I have been losing weight since Christmas but want to stay where I am now. Myfitnesspal is telling me to eat 2070 calories a day for that. That's a lot of food though.

Alf Veedersane

househero wrote: »

You could join a gym. Exercise is 90% of a diets success.

That's nonsense. Getting in shape is mostly down to nutrition.

househero wrote:

Upper body weights will isolate your injury and make your body crave for healthy protein rather than sugar and fat.

I thought it was because curls invoked the protein fairy who sent the stork to you with a bundle of gainz.

curly from cork

I am up and running on my fitness pal. I was pretty shocked to see that my daily calorie allowance is 900. A bit different to Ronans figure ?? Am I wrong ? That's with a weight loss of 2 lbs per week which I thought achievable , but maybe not?
I am now up to 30 mins per day walking at a steady pace so that's a great progress for me. On average the last weeks food intake has been approx 1000 cals per day . So I need to cut that back by 100 per day. I am not in a position to join a gym at the moment but I will keep building up the walking time.

Alf Veedersane

curly from cork wrote: »

I am up and running on my fitness pal. I was pretty shocked to see that my daily calorie allowance is 900. A bit different to Ronans figure ?? Am I wrong ? That's with a weight loss of 2 lbs per week which I thought achievable , but maybe not?

MyFitnessPal is great but it has some limitations. It's not great when it comes to calculating daily allowances or for calculating calories burned through exercise.

Using the calculator on boards, you had an daily energy expenditure of 2000 kcals. On scooby's workshop ot is about 1750.

900 is ridiculously low. And wrong.

Work off of 1500-1600 and see how it goes. You can tweak as you need to.

RonanP77

curly from cork wrote:

I am up and running on my fitness pal. I was pretty shocked to see that my daily calorie allowance is 900. A bit different to Ronans figure ?? Am I wrong ? That's with a weight loss of 2 lbs per week which I thought achievable , but maybe not? I am now up to 30 mins per day walking at a steady pace so that's a great progress for me. On average the last weeks food intake has been approx 1000 cals per day . So I need to cut that back by 100 per day. I am not in a position to join a gym at the moment but I will keep building up the walking time.

2 lb a week is achievable alright, especially at the start. 1800 is for maintaining weight, to lose any weight it will obviously drop a good bit. To lose 2 lbs a week I'd expect a big drop but 900 seems very low.

Maybe you should put it at 1 lb off per week and see what it gives you. The more exercise you do, the more calories you can consume too.

Mellor

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

MyFitnessPal is great but it has some limitations. It's not great when it comes to calculating daily allowances or for calculating calories burned through exercise.

Using the calculator on boards, you had an daily energy expenditure of 2000 kcals. On scooby's workshop ot is about 1750.

900 is ridiculously low. And wrong.

Work off of 1500-1600 and see how it goes. You can tweak as you need to.

The MFP numbers aren't incorrect, they look spot on to me.

The issue its not apple for apples, the stickies and Scoobys calc are estimating maintenance. But MFP includes a deficit.

Boards sticky: 2000* (maintenance)
Scooby: 1750-1850 (maintenance)
RonanP77: 1800 (maintenance)

MFP: 900 (2 lbs per week deficit)
2 lbs per week is huge, and its equal to 1000. Which means MFP is working out maintenance as around the same.
That deficit is far too big, but that's what the OP selceted.

MFP has its flaws, but that's the exercise section. The calorie calcs are spot on imo, if you ask for a huge deficit, you get a huge deficit.


*The boards stick has a few mistakes in it and overestimates calories a little, or a lot if you include gym calories.

Alf Veedersane

Mellor wrote: »

The MFP numbers aren't incorrect, they look spot on to me.

The issue its not apple for apples, the stickies and Scoobys calc are estimating maintenance. But MFP includes a deficit.

Boards sticky: 2000* (maintenance)
Scooby: 1750-1850 (maintenance)
RonanP77: 1800 (maintenance)

MFP: 900 (2 lbs per week deficit)
2 lbs per week is huge, and its equal to 1000. Which means MFP is working out maintenance as around the same.
That deficit is far too big, but that's what the OP selceted.

MFP has its flaws, but that's the exercise section. The calorie calcs are spot on imo, if you ask for a huge deficit, you get a huge deficit.


*The boards stick has a few mistakes in it and overestimates calories a little, or a lot if you include gym calories.

Fair point.

I just never had any faith in MFP allowances from previous experience so assumed.

Not quite the mother of all f*ck ups though, this time.

Mellor

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I just never had any faith in MFP allowances from previous experience so assumed.

People complain about the MFP numbets a lot. But usually a ridiculous target calorie amount comes from a ridiculous goal weight loss rate.

The MFP exercises energy is open to errors though, due to how it's they calculate it, and people over estimating in general.

Atlantic Dawn

Do as you do, change is don't eat after 8pm, report back in 2 weeks, problem solved.

Alf Veedersane

Mellor wrote: »

People complain about the MFP numbets a lot. But usually a ridiculous target calorie amount comes from a ridiculous goal weight loss rate.

Well yeah a deficit of 1000 is ridiculous.

Alf Veedersane

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Do as you do, change is don't eat after 8pm, report back in 2 weeks, problem solved.

So if they eat the same amount but just not after 8pm, they would lose weight somehow?

geniuspure

Eat less move more. . Stop looking for excuses there is no easy way or magic tablet. grill dont fry. Stop snacking. Cook dont eat out. And walk dont drive.

Mellor

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Well yeah a deficit of 1000 is ridiculous.

Yeah, definitely, or at least for a sedentary 75kg female.
125kg Juggernaut, not so much.

I think % based deficits are a good way to adjust for overall energy needs. ?From 10% to say 30% being a good range.
But its also a little intangible for a random person, compared to Xlbs per week.

Macy0161

Mellor wrote: »

People complain about the MFP numbets a lot. But usually a ridiculous target calorie amount comes from a ridiculous goal weight loss rate.

Even with a 1000 deficit as of today, and notwithstanding issues with alternative calculations, MFP would be still too low for me now compared to what it was giving me where I was (and I'm over 4 stone lighter now!).

For what it's worth, I aim for a 500 calorie deficit on the diet, and for a 500 calorie burn on exercise (based on a Garmin with HRM). I try to avoid eating into what I've earned, unless I've done something big that leaves plenty of room for earner calorie error.

curly from cork

Thanks for all the advice it's great . I'm a week in and have lost 3.5 lbs in the 7 days. Delighted with that .I know I may not get that result as the weeks go on. My calories on average have been 1000 per day . For the last 2 days I've got my walking up to 2 miles twice a day . I haven't eaten out in the week , that is to say not restaurant food . I definitely feel the key to it is stepping up the exercise. Plus 1000 calories is a challenge in itself but so far so good

RonanP77

curly from cork wrote:

Thanks for all the advice it's great . I'm a week in and have lost 3.5 lbs in the 7 days. Delighted with that .I know I may not get that result as the weeks go on. 

Don't be disappointed if that slows down a little. The first few weeks the weight will drop off you very quickly, after that it keeps dropping but usually a lot more slowly. I lost it very quickly but 1lb a week is normally counted as being good.

Alf Veedersane

Bear in mind that 1000 kcals a day isn't sustainable in the long term. But that's not to say you can lose the weight you want. You just need to be able to transition to something that's sustainable in the long term.

Use what you learn about nutrition to help. It's mostly down to food, as well. But a good manageable balance is great.

Well done so far