[xMeaganx]

I was sent over here, posted on the "Starvation" thread and now here I am asking for your advice! Since I've been on my "diet" I've cut out most of the junk from my life, now I eat fresh veggies and fruit as my snacks. Normally I eat:

Breakfast: 8am
50 g. Kellog's red berry cereal
1.5 % milk (that is the lowest here)
1 small banana or 1 piece wheat toast minus crust

Snack:10 am
fruit 1/2 small apple 1/2 small pear. Or something similar

Lunch: 1pm
My boss cooks for me! Normally we have a meat, vegtable, and potatos or rice.

Snack: 3pm
veggies. (50g cucumber peeled,red pepper slices)

Dinner: 5:45-6:30
Leftovers from lunch.

Then I finish out my day. I am thinking of adding a snack or something back in for after dinner, however I tend to binge eat at night. This is why I haven't been allowing myself to eat after dinner just to get in calories. My calories are way low, I don't want to force them up by eating when I am full. I think that will lead me back into binge eating and that is not somewhere I want to go! But I've also been reading that it is important to eat more calories. I HATE nuts so I can't even think to start eating there, and the food I like is high in carbs (which I mean my quota daily on). Any suggestions would be great on how I should reshape my diet. I only have control over my snacks and breakfast as my boss cooks for the family and I eat with them. I could eat what they eat at night which is bread, cheese, sausage, senf (mustard), and pickles but I'm not really fond of German bread!

[aphil]

About how many calories are you eating per day? It is hard for anyone to estimate this for you, without having amounts, etc.

What are you averaging? My advice would be different depending on if you are just a little low...or a LOT low.

[Goldm00n]

Your breakfast and snacks look really good - keep close track of what your bosses cook as far as calorie count and portion size - once we start guessing I anyway alway under guess and I am eating much more than I realize. You just want to make sure you get all the servings you needing too.

Like for meat,, a serving size is 3 to 4 oz BUT if i have not had all I am suppose to have for the day I might have 6 OZ for dinner - now when your looking at portion size 3 to 4 oz looks pretty small,, think a deck of cards thats how big it is. See what i mean?

[fiberlover]

Can you sneak in some more protein items with your snacks, like say a string cheese or a small can of tuna? That will get your calories up without making you stuffed.
Are you way under calories for sure, or do you just think you are? If you aren't tracking you may be underestimating.

[aphil]

From another thread, the poster is around 1200 calories per day now, which is pretty low for her current weight.

[xMeaganx]

I've been tracking what I prepare through Spark People, what my boss cooks on the other had I don't. It seems that I am averaging about 900-1,000 calories per day. What is recommended for me is 1700-2080, but it seems like I will never get there! I could be under estimating on portion sizes with my lunch and dinner since I don't measure them, but I normally add a higher amount then what I think since I've been known to underestimate in the past.

[LindseyLouWho]

Do you see what your boss is putting in the foods at dinner? That could affect greatly how accurate your estimate is. For example, if the meat is in some sort of sauce, what's in the sauce? Is it butter based? Do the vegetables have oil or butter on them? If it's just plain meat and vegetables, though, then it's easier to estimate.

Also, you mentioned that you eat with the family and that your boss cooks the food for them. Is it possible to prepare something else for yourself ahead of time? I'm not sure if there's an easy way to do it without offending anyone, though. That's a toughie.

[rockstar87]

The more weight you have to lose the more your body can handle less calories because you've got extra fat in reserve. (It's also why you can't starve off the last 10lbs.) So I wouldn't stress yourself out over trying to reach 1800. It's my understanding however that it's very important for women not to drop below 1200 as it can decrease your metabolism. I know I have a tough time getting to 1200 some days. Have you thought about trying milk with a higher % of fat? An ounce of cheese would also be good and you'd get some protein in there as well (I agree, you need more protein). This would also be a good thing to incorporate at night. If you do want to eat something at night try to avoid carbs because they release insulin. Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is highest at night and is a key hormone in weight loss. (Sorry if this is getting a little too biochemical :$, it's my major.) The insulin released from a high carb meal late at night can interfere with HGH and inhibit it's progress and therefore hurt your weight loss.

I'd also be wary of what you're eating for lunch and dinner because, as everyone else has said, you can't be 100% certain of what's in two of your major meals. Is there anyway you could go for like 2 weeks of knowing exactly what you put in your mouth? Weigh everything, prepare all your own meals, etc. If you notice significant changes in your weight maybe that was your problem.

[aphil]

"The more weight you have to lose the more your body can handle less calories because you've got extra fat in reserve."


Maybe so, but the more you weigh, the more calories your body burns through the day doing regular activities. A 250 and 150 pound woman walking a mile together for instance-it burns more calories (takes more effort) for the woman much larger to do the same 1 mile walk. Because of this, it is usually best for a larger woman to start out with a higher calorie range that she can lose at, and then adjust to a lower level when the weight loss slows.

[Hat Trick]

Originally Posted by rockstar87

If you do want to eat something at night try to avoid carbs because they release insulin. Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is highest at night and is a key hormone in weight loss. (Sorry if this is getting a little too biochemical :$, it's my major.) The insulin released from a high carb meal late at night can interfere with HGH and inhibit it's progress and therefore hurt your weight loss.

Avoid any type of carbs, including veggies or just certain kinds of carbs, like multigrain breads and crackers? What about things like hard candy (one or two pieces?) and popcorn (high fiber)?

[aphil]

I also disagree with not having any carbs in the evening. I think as long as it is portion controlled, then it isn't going to cause you any issues. If you are staying in your calorie range, then it isn't like you are going to be having an 800 calorie high carb bedtime snack.

If your evening snack is under 200 calories, and has healthy carbs (vs. refined carbs like donuts, candy, etc.) it will not effect your weight loss.

I, and many here, have lost weight successfully eating a snack at night that has carbs in it. My evening snacks are often fruit or popcorn.

In the end, it all comes down to calories in vs. calories out, and how healthy those calories that you are eating are.

[rockstar87]

The reason you should avoid carbs right before bed is hormonal... naturally everyone has different hormone balances so for some people it won't be an issue. Yes, theoretically a calorie is a calorie is a calorie and if you stay within your limit and create a calorie deficit you should lose weight.

However, insulin late at night interferes with HGH which, among many other things, is involved in lipolysis (fat breakdown) and forming lean muscle tissue. For someone who is restricting their calories this is important because you want to try and minimize the loss of lean muscle because that will slow down your basal metabolic rate. The idea behind not eating carbs at night is to try and maximizes the effects of HGH so you can maintain your lean muscle mass. Some people will never have a problem with this, but it is something to consider if your weight loss is slower than you would like or if you hit a plateau.

Also, I completely agree that a 250lb woman would burn more than a 150lb woman doing the same activity. What I meant to say there was when you have a lower body fat % your body is more inclined to try and hold onto whatever fat you have just in case you you're in a life or death situation and need that little bit of fat to survive. When you have more weight to lose you have a higher body fat % so your body is more inclined to drop some of that weight because you still have some fat leftover. When you first start a diet and are at your highest weight you're eating too many calories so there's no need for you to go extremely low to see results. You're used to like...3000 cals/day as opposed to 1800 so that's already a significant deficit.

[aphil]

Exercise also prevents you from losing lean muscle mass (even helping you to gain it) and maximizes fat loss.

[rockstar87]

Definitely. Losing muscle is the worst enemy of someone trying to lose weight so I'm always trying to avoid that as much as possible! Exercise also releases HGH because you need to repair the microtears in your muscle caused by exercise.

[Thinfor5Minutes]

I suspect the high carb/low carb/no carb debate will rage for years to come.

Personally speaking, I lost more than 50 lbs. following Susan Powter's "Stop the Insanity" program, which was high carb and low fat, when I was 42 years old. I ate bread, pasta, rice, potatoes in any quantities I wanted to, walked 30 minutes a day, and got down to 128 pounds. I kept most of that weight off until just a few years ago, when I entered perimenopause, and now I am finding that I need to reduce my calories further just to lose a little bit of weight. My husband is a vegetarian, so there is not a lot of meat consumed in my house; a high protein/low carb diet would never work for us.