Don't know where to start

njs030

ja1986 wrote: »

I just want to update this to show how yesterday went.
Up since 6.30
11ish had omelette and plum
4ish had low fat yougart and banana
6 had homemade chicken curry

So I was starving at 4 and reached for the yougart and was still hungry so had dinner at 6 and around 9 was hungry again .
I didn't go for the chocolate! But had a sausage sandwich which is probably worst.

I didn't have any carbs until dinner at 6, maybe this is why I was so hungry. Should have tracked my calorie intake yesterday to see why I was peckish

What type of curry? What size portion?
How many sausages? How much bread?
How many eggs in the omelette? Was there cheese, how much?

Op use my fitness pal to track what you eat and have steady meals throughout the day rather than eating nothing all day and loads at night.

Also there's nothing wrong with carbs!! Try to avoid white over processed carbs like white bread and cakes but otherwise they are fine as long as you know the amount you're eating and the calories used.

Alf Veedersane

While you can make choices to offset it, you're going to have to be ok being a little hungry at times if you want to lose weight.

But you need to get a handle on the calorific value of what you're eating in order to understand where you can make changes. Low-fat yoghurt doesn't mean low-calorie yoghurt. It usually means they've reduced the fat content and increased the sugar content.

ja1986

Iv just tracked my calorie for the day and I'm left with 400 left.
Breakfast small breakroll with ham
Fruit

Lunch yougart

Dinner 2 jacket potatoes with light soft cheese and ham.
Around 4 coffees today

njs030

What are your daily calories and how did you work them out?

ja1986

notjustsweet wrote: »

What are your daily calories and how did you work them out?

My fitness pal.
It's 1410 per day for a 2lb lose a week.
I tracked everything on the app today with the barcode scanner and scales

mathie

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

While you can make choices to offset it, you're going to have to be ok being a little hungry at times if you want to lose weight.

But you need to get a handle on the calorific value of what you're eating in order to understand where you can make changes. Low-fat yoghurt doesn't mean low-calorie yoghurt. It usually means they've reduced the fat content and increased the sugar content.

ja1986 wrote: »

Iv just tracked my calorie for the day and I'm left with 400 left.
Breakfast small break roll with ham
Fruit

Lunch yougart

Dinner 2 jacket potatoes with light soft cheese and ham.
Around 4 coffees today

100% agree with what Alf says here.

I'm guesstimating here but ...
one white roll plus butter = 356calories (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/buttered-roll-generic-deli-buttered-roll-60607483)
100g of sliced ham = 200 calories

556 calories

Personally I'd have eaten that previously and been hungry again 2 hours later.

Now I'd eat

Baked Beans No Sugar
Aldi, 210 g, 143 calories

the Deli Reduced Fat Hummus
Aldi, 50 g, 108 calories

3 large raw carrots
Calories 89

200g spinach - 58 calories

250g cherry tomatoes (1 punnet) - 65 calories

463 calories total

The main thing is that I'd be satiated for far longer than a ham roll.

Now you may not like some of what I eat but as Alf say "you need to get a handle on the calorific value of what you're eating in order to understand where you can make changes"

Try to think low calorie and high satiety.

Best of luck.

ja1986

mathie wrote: »

100% agree with what Alf says here.

I'm guesstimating here but ...
one white roll plus butter = 356calories (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/buttered-roll-generic-deli-buttered-roll-60607483)
100g of sliced ham = 200 calories

556 calories

Personally I'd have eaten that previously and been hungry again 2 hours later.

Now I'd eat

Baked Beans No Sugar
Aldi, 210 g, 143 calories

the Deli Reduced Fat Hummus
Aldi, 50 g, 108 calories

3 large raw carrots
Calories 89

200g spinach - 58 calories

250g cherry tomatoes (1 punnet) - 65 calories

463 calories total

The main thing is that I'd be satiated for far longer than a ham roll.

Now you may not like some of what I eat but as Alf say "you need to get a handle on the calorific value of what you're eating in order to understand where you can make changes"

Try to think low calorie and high satiety.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the reply. To be honest I did feel like I could have eat more for those calories. Proud of myself for doing the jacket potatoes when they were all eating takeaway!
Was in such a rush today I grabbed 2 sausages from a deli to fill me until lunch in work. Those calories are ridiculous! I need to check calories before I eat them ha.
Now I'm working in an Asian street food place and I have a 9 hour shift so I need to think wisely here.
Any suggestions?

Alf Veedersane

You need to be more prepared. It appears as though the majority of the food you eat is something hastily grabbed from somewhere.

If you put some preparation into what you are going to eat in advance of when you're going to eat it, then you'll reduce the chances of grabbing sh*te on the fly.

If yesterday you had sat down and planned what you would eat and when you would eat it and had it prepared this morning to bring with you to eat today, then you wouldn't be running into buy sausages from a hot food counter and you wouldn't be wondering what you'll have to eat during a 9-hour shift.

Plan your week out on a Sunday night. Prepare lunches and/or dinners in advance and have them ready to go. Otherwise you'll end up in a shop or supermarket looking for the least worst option, which will rarely be a good option.

mathie

ja1986 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. To be honest I did feel like I could have eat more for those calories. Proud of myself for doing the jacket potatoes when they were all eating takeaway!
Was in such a rush today I grabbed 2 sausages from a deli to fill me until lunch in work. Those calories are ridiculous! I need to check calories before I eat them ha.
Now I'm working in an Asian street food place and I have a 9 hour shift so I need to think wisely here.
Any suggestions?

Avoid things smothered in sauces. There can be a lot of calories in them.
http://calorielab.com/foods/asian-sauces/124

Try to eat as close to whole foods as possible and avoid processed.
So brown rice over white.
Prioritise fruit and vegetables.

For example :
whole foods ...
one large red pepper = 50 calories
100g mushrooms = 21 calories
300g wholegrain rice = 330 calories

processed ...
300g white rice = 451 calories

Just FYI a large jacket potato has 279 calories which is quite calorific.

You can see how you can spend your calories wisely or unwisely.

Mars Bar

Seriously, prep is the way to go.

I already have what I'm going to eat for lunch and dinner for today in MFP! I know where I have some leeway and where I don't.

ja1986

Morning everyone thanks so much for all the advice. Iv stayed within my calories for the last two days but I'm seeing I need to be a bit more clever in what I'm eating to get more for my calories.
Does anyone have any nice dinner / lunch ideas. Just doing my shopping list now.
I'm going to switch the whole house over to brown rice/pasta and wholemeal bread.

Tea-a-Maria

ja1986 wrote: »

Morning everyone thanks so much for all the advice. Iv stayed within my calories for the last two days but I'm seeing I need to be a bit more clever in what I'm eating to get more for my calories.
Does anyone have any nice dinner / lunch ideas. Just doing my shopping list now.
I'm going to switch the whole house over to brown rice/pasta and wholemeal bread.

Anything made with lean mince I find is good. Think chilli con carne, spag bol, shepherds pie and the like. Sweat onion, carrots and celery for the base, then add your spices, tomatoes, etc. Homemade burgers with roasted sweet potato fries are also a good shout.

Stir fries are also a great way of getting in lots of veg. Look up some simple marinades for your meat to mix it up. I'm a fan of lemon, ginger, honey and soy sauce. Mix them together, fire in some chopped chicken and leave to marinate for an hour or overnight then fry off.

You want to try and work in as much veg as possible. Also try to batch cook things that freeze well, like curries and stews. If you can set aside an hour to do some meal prep and freeze things, it'll make the rest of the week a lot easier.

Dtp1979

ja1986 wrote: »

Morning everyone thanks so much for all the advice. Iv stayed within my calories for the last two days but I'm seeing I need to be a bit more clever in what I'm eating to get more for my calories.
Does anyone have any nice dinner / lunch ideas. Just doing my shopping list now.
I'm going to switch the whole house over to brown rice/pasta and wholemeal bread.

White vs brown rice/pasta etc will make very little difference. Maybe a little more fibre in brown but nothing worth talking about

Dixie Chick

Well done you. And it is great to see you are getting the jist of better bang for your buck

The thing with counting calories alone is that sometimes nutrition might be overlooked but you seem to be doing well.

Do you own a slow cooker, so easy yo make bolognese, chilli con carne, curries etc. You can make and freeze huge amounts. You are doing so well within the space of week to be working on getting proper food into you.

Alf Veedersane

Dixie Chick wrote: »

Well done you. And it is great to see you are getting the jist of better bang for your buck

The thing with counting calories alone is that sometimes nutrition might be overlooked but you seem to be doing well.

Do you own a slow cooker, so easy yo make bolognese, chilli con carne, curries etc. You can make and freeze huge amounts. You are doing so well within the space of week to be working on getting proper food into you.

Making likes of chillies, Bolognese, curries etc are great because you can make a big batch with very little work involved and have a load of dinner portions ready to freeze and have another time.

The best thing is you've started to make changes. Too many people wait until they think they have the perfect set up rather than just start making positive changes and improve the different elements that need to be improved over time.

OldNotWIse

Hi OP.

I find eggs are great for starting the day. They are full of protein. I'd often scramble 2 eggs with a chopped shallot, some cherry tomatoes and a little bit of cheese. It's yum and will stop me grazing in between breakfast and lunch.

I recently lost a lot of weight and the single biggest change I made was having "dinner" at lunchtime and vice versa. Home made stew or curry with brown rice or baby potatoes in the middle of the day is very comforting and leaves you fuller for longer. Then you have lots of time to burn it off throughout the rest of the day. I found this preferable to having the same meal at say 8 or 9 at night.

Also be sure to fill up on fruit and water during the day.

Good luck!

OldNotWIse

ja1986 wrote: »

Ya I really need to start eating properly. Will try those oats. Would the oats be too heavy to eat at night as a dessert rather than the chocolate

Lidl sell oats (I think they are in the Deluxe range) that are extra fine to make a really smooth porridge. I guess the GI score might be higher but still, the porridge is simply amazing. I don't take dairy so I make mine with almond or soya milk and the taste is actually far nicer. The soya milk gives it a little extra sweetness so you don't need to add too much sugar. It is smooth, sweet porridge bliss! The almond milk is also nice, gives a slight nutty taste which is lovely if you sprinkle cinnamon on top! Also, almond milk tends to be more filling. Feeling the porridge love lol

Alf Veedersane

OldNotWIse wrote: »

Lidl sell oats (I think they are in the Deluxe range) that are extra fine to make a really smooth porridge. I guess the GI score might be higher but still, the porridge is simply amazing. I don't take dairy so I make mine with almond or soya milk and the taste is actually far nicer. The soya milk gives it a little extra sweetness so you don't need to add too much sugar. It is smooth, sweet porridge bliss! The almond milk is also nice, gives a slight nutty taste which is lovely if you sprinkle cinnamon on top! Also, almond milk tends to be more filling. Feeling the porridge love lol

You can also get a 2.5kg bag of 'Instant oats' from My Protein for €8.50. It's very, very fine. Like flour. Makes for a really smooth porridge. Also, a 50g scoop looks small in the bowl but when you add in 4 scoops worth of liquid and add heat, it multiplies in volume hugely.

Mellor

mathie wrote: »

300g wholegrain rice = 330 calories

processed ...
300g white rice = 451 calories

The difference between white and brown rice is nothing like that. Also a lot higher in calories.

100g White Rice = 365 Cals
100g Brown Rice = 370 Cals

Dixie Chick

When I make my porridge in the mornings i blend them with half a banana or an apple in the nutribullet before cooking them. They consistency is like Redi Brek and so sweet as well so no need to add anything.