Rate my Diet

Heat_Wave

Hi all,

Female
5'8
10.7 stone

I would like to lose 7lbs. I would also like to reduce my cholesterol, and overall live a healthy lifestyle.

I have dramatically changed my diet in recent months. A typical days diet for me would have been a croissant and latte for breakfast, large baguette filled with mayo, cheese, chicken etc for lunch, another latte and chocolate bar for a mid afternoon snack, and a huge portion of something carbalicious for dinner (spaghetti etc).

Now today, this is a typical days diet for me:

Breakfast:
Two eggs
Latte

Snack:
One oatcake
Tbsp almond butter

Lunch:
Wafer thin ham
Olives
Sundried tomatoes
Pumpkin seeds
Half an avocado

Snack:
Banana
Tbsp almond butter

Dinner:
Fish
Green Vegetables
Brown rice (60g)

I feel like I am eating non stop, and yet I am constantly hungry. Exercise consists of a 30minute walk with the dog in the evenings.

Weekends: I usually get one takeaway, have 4 glasses of wine, enjoy 2 croissant, and one mocha.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
HW

Mars Bar

You have practically zero protein in that diet. It's no wonder you're hungry!

Blue Whale

Mars Bar wrote: »

You have practically zero protein in that diet. It's no wonder you're hungry!

2 eggs at breakfast, some ham at lunch, and fish for dinner... hardly zero protein?

caviardreams

Blue Whale wrote: »

2 eggs at breakfast, some ham at lunch, and fish for dinner... hardly zero protein?

Yes, depending on portion sizes that could be 70-80g - could still beef it up a bit (excuse the pun )

OP are you weighing the almond butter? I only say that as a nut butter addict myself, who finds it so easy to estimate a tbsp that is really about 3 tbsps (quickly leading to the jar!) and 1 "official" tbsp has 100 calories so it can add up.

The easiest way is probably to estimate your required calories - then estimate your diet as is, and see what you need to cut down on. A good approach is to aim for a deficit of 500 calories a day - 3500 in a week - and thus 1lb of weight loss in theory. As you only have 7lbs to lose you could even do it more slowly than this if you wish though. It's always tricky to lose the last bit too. Without measuring and tracking your calories and what you are actually consuming it is difficult to know where you stand.

A quick win would probably be cutting out the takeaway and croissants, and/or switching the latte for an americano.

Mars Bar

Blue Whale wrote: »

2 eggs at breakfast, some ham at lunch, and fish for dinner... hardly zero protein?

Wafer thin ham wouldn't have much protein.

So just the eggs and fish.

Mellor

Mars Bar wrote: »

Wafer thin ham wouldn't have much protein.

So just the eggs and fish.

Maybe 18-20gs per 100g, about as much as the fish, more than the eggs.
Probably 60g overall, not a lot but not zero either.

caviardreams wrote: »

OP are you weighing the almond butter? I only say that as a nut butter addict myself, who finds it so easy to estimate a tbsp that is really about 3 tbsps (quickly leading to the jar!) and 1 "official" tbsp has 100 calories so it can add up.

Weighing stuff like butter can be very fiddly. A handy way to estimate if you have it regularly. Is to write the date on the lid when you open the jar. Then when you finish the jar you know how long it lasted.
If a 300g jar lasts 10 days, you know it was roughly 30g a day, not the 20 you told yourself. Also counts the sneaky spoonful at 9pm making tea.

Mellor

Heat_Wave wrote: »

Hi all,

Female
5'8
10.7 stone

I would like to lose 7lbs. I would also like to reduce my cholesterol, and overall live a healthy lifestyle.

I have dramatically changed my diet in recent months. A typical days diet for me would have been a croissant and latte for breakfast, large baguette filled with mayo, cheese, chicken etc for lunch, another latte and chocolate bar for a mid afternoon snack, and a huge portion of something carbalicious for dinner (spaghetti etc).

Now today, this is a typical days diet for me:

Breakfast:
Two eggs
Latte

Snack:
One oatcake
Tbsp almond butter

Lunch:
Wafer thin ham
Olives
Sundried tomatoes
Pumpkin seeds
Half an avocado

Snack:
Banana
Tbsp almond butter

Dinner:
Fish
Green Vegetables
Brown rice (60g)

I feel like I am eating non stop, and yet I am constantly hungry. Exercise consists of a 30minute walk with the dog in the evenings.

Weekends: I usually get one takeaway, have 4 glasses of wine, enjoy 2 croissant, and one mocha.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
HW

There's not a huge amount of food there. It's probably about the calories you need to lose weight, depending on portion sizes.
Almond butter is good for you but calorific. It's not really helping, personally I'd rather spend the calories on something for filling.

The biggest thing for me is the takeaway, and two croissants at the weekend. That's a lot. Depending on sizes, and what you order. It could be 2000 calories plus what ever else you eat. It could wipe out the rest of your weeks deficit.

caviardreams

Mellor wrote: »

Weighing stuff like butter can be very fiddly. A handy way to estimate if you have it regularly. Is to write the date on the lid when you open the jar. Then when you finish the jar you know how long it lasted.
If a 300g jar lasts 10 days, you know it was roughly 30g a day, not the 20 you told yourself. Also counts the sneaky spoonful at 9pm making tea.

Totally agree - balancing a gooey spoon on a scales is a nightmare.
I usually weigh the full jar, and then while still on the scales, I take out a 'spoon' and subtract what's left to get what you have used. Or else pop the jar on, zero the scales, and take out a spoon measure, and then you can tell the weight by the negative weight on the scales.

Mars Bar

Yeah I put the full jar on the scales, take it off, scoop out my butter and put it back on and take the difference.

j@utis

I would suggest to limit weekend binge eating to one day and stick to your plan remaining 6
Also try to calculate how many calories you're eating. it doesn't look like much food, esp your breakfast is only ~250kcal depending on the size of the latte. I would swap calorific drink for more actual food that you can chew.

Bananaleaf

For weighing nut butters I would suggest buying mesuring spoons like the one in this picture - https://www.google.ie/search?q=measuring+spoons&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&site=webhp&tbm=isch&imgil=AkAO-ORctkBfpM%253A%253BKq_i6FfjlxEJtM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.amazon.com%25252FCIA-Masters-Collection-Piece-Measuring%25252Fdp%25252FB000HV9HHY&source=iu&pf=m&fir=AkAO-ORctkBfpM%253A%252CKq_i6FfjlxEJtM%252C_&usg=__nDN0uHhnDGDwMGbfiNH4ZYlIe1w%3D&dpr=1&ved=0ahUKEwjg2cCQnbrNAhUDApoKHeMzDSoQyjcILg&ei=nMdpV-CbEIOE6ATj57TQAg#imgrc=AkAO-ORctkBfpM%3A

This way is a lot less messier and you know it is accurate. I bought mine in the USA but when I checked in an online conversion they are more or less the same (source: http://www.onlineconversion.com/cooking_volume.htm)

You can probably buy in Home Store and More here

Mellor

Bananaleaf wrote: »

For weighing nut butters I would suggest buying mesuring spoons like the one in this picture - https://www.google.ie/search?q=measuring+spoons&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&site=webhp&tbm=isch&imgil=AkAO-ORctkBfpM%253A%253BKq_i6FfjlxEJtM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.amazon.com%25252FCIA-Masters-Collection-Piece-Measuring%25252Fdp%25252FB000HV9HHY&source=iu&pf=m&fir=AkAO-ORctkBfpM%253A%252CKq_i6FfjlxEJtM%252C_&usg=__nDN0uHhnDGDwMGbfiNH4ZYlIe1w%3D&dpr=1&ved=0ahUKEwjg2cCQnbrNAhUDApoKHeMzDSoQyjcILg&ei=nMdpV-CbEIOE6ATj57TQAg#imgrc=AkAO-ORctkBfpM%3A

This way is a lot less messier and you know it is accurate. I bought mine in the USA but when I checked in an online conversion they are more or less the same (source: http://www.onlineconversion.com/cooking_volume.htm)

You can probably buy in Home Store and More here

But that's volume, you'd really want to know weight for the calories
Once you measure it once, it'll be more or less a constant.

CloudCumulus

I wonder could I ask a wuick question here.
I grudgingly got brown rice to try it out cos everyone says it's better.
I wasn't a fan (a bit rubbery) but when I compared the nutritional info on the front of both boxes (not the more detailed one at the back) with my usual basmati rice, the basmati was lower everything ( kcal, fat, salt etc.)
Is basmati better or is there something else in the brown rice that I'm not seeing?

Bananaleaf

Mellor wrote: »

But that's volume, you'd really want to know weight for the calories
Once you measure it once, it'll be more or less a constant.

On the spoons it tells you the gram in brackets, so 1UStbsp is 15gram I think.

But yeah, you're right in what you say that once you weigh it the one time it becomes constant, but with people who are not as disciplined I don't think that works. I use the spoons because if I didn't I would definitely either miscalculate the grams on purpose or by accident every other time

Bananaleaf

CloudCumulus wrote: »

I wonder could I ask a wuick question here.
I grudgingly got brown rice to try it out cos everyone says it's better.
I wasn't a fan (a bit rubbery) but when I compared the nutritional info on the front of both boxes (not the more detailed one at the back) with my usual basmati rice, the basmati was lower everything ( kcal, fat, salt etc.)
Is basmati better or is there something else in the brown rice that I'm not seeing?

I'm no expert and am only learning as I go along but I think it's the same principle as brown bread versus white bread. I think the white has very little nutritional content whereas the brown contains the husk (?) I think which contains all the nutrients.

For meal prepping I think brown rice keeps better for longer. Doesn't go soggy like white rice does

Mellor

Bananaleaf wrote: »

On the spoons it tells you the gram in brackets, so 1UStbsp is 15gram I think.

That's not possible.
A spoon of of one ingredient could have a completely different weight to a spoon of another.

It probably says 5ml not grams. If it says grams, its wrong.

Wesser

I would suggest cutting out the daily latte, the oatcake the seeds and avocado, the almond butter, and the weekly wine , croissants and takeaway. I would add in loads of water and more fruit and salad.

But if you really want to learn how to loose loads of weight without feeling hungry then you need to go to slimming world.

Bananaleaf

Mellor wrote: »

That's not possible.
A spoon of of one ingredient could have a completely different weight to a spoon of another.

It probably says 5ml not grams. If it says grams, its wrong.

maybe it does say mls sorry! I don't have them on me at the moment to check and I was just being cocky and guessing.

Okay I understand you now. I don't eat nut butter so I prob shouldn't have thrown in my tuppence to begin with. I use them to measure out nuts but calorie content of the nuts is listed per tbsp on bag so that's where I was confusing things.

But I suppose then what I would do here if I did eat the butter would be to measure out the tbsp that once then to get the grams so then I would know. But I would still use the spoon I reckon. That's just because I wouldn't trust my own judgement to get the measurement right.

Would that work? (albeit a superfluous step for some)

Mellor

Bananaleaf wrote: »

But I suppose then what I would do here if I did eat the butter would be to measure out the tbsp that once then to get the grams so then I would know. But I would still use the spoon I reckon. That's just because I wouldn't trust my own judgement to get the measurement right.

Would that work? (albeit a superfluous step for some)

That part was fine. And a very good suggestion imo.

A normal tablespoon, it could be 20g-40g depending on on the mood on the day. But using a measuring spoon leveled off would always be a set amount. Weighting it out once, is definitely easier than weighting the jar every time.

caviardreams

My (unintentional) solution is generally to eat the full jar in one go, then you know exactly how many calories it is and saves the weighing :o

Alf Veedersane

Wesser wrote: »

But if you really want to learn how to loose loads of weight without feeling hungry then you need to go to slimming world.

Or just understand the basics of nutrition.

Nothing wrong with the likes of seeds, avocado or almond butter. You just need make sure your intake of them is in keeping with the goal.

You can't just substitute fruit and salad in for everything.

Zillah

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

You can't just substitute fruit and salad in for everything.

Of course not, don't be absurd. There are also rice cakes to consider.

Walter H Price

If your not feeling full Op could always bulk out the protein for lunch grilled chicken fillets in homemade sauces are always nice (if your buying any sauce be carful check for sugars , Bunalun is the best you can get 28cal per 100g no addded salt or sugar) , instead of a banana as an afternoon snack you could go for some chickpeas , cashew nuts a half a protien bar (agin be carful look for reduced carb/sugar ones , quest and Fufill are the best i think) or beef jerky (only get good quality jerky or make at home) dinner just bulk out your veg add peas spinich stuff like that.

Looking at what your eating it looks heathly enough but you could probably eat a little more at lunch or maybe add a second afternoon snack , ditch the coffee for herbal tea (peppermint in perticular) as the caffine and stuff in the coffee will speed up you matabolism and make you hungry and sugar or sweetner in it would also make you hungry. as a rule of thumb if your dieting and hungry you can always just look to boost your lean protein intake (grilled meats, nuts , pulses and eggs) and bulk out the green veg with meals

Also id keep the weekend treats to either wine or a takeawy not both and i wouldnt go a croissant both mornings at weekends

Irish_rat

OP I think you need to eat more. Good food but maybe add another meal with a good bit of meat and veg.

Add more fruit and nuts in too. Ditch the oatcakes. Looks good then