My day is just about over. I am begining my diet today. Today I had a sausage biscuit for breakfast. With vanilla iced coffeee. A chicken salad craisant sandwich with a pepsi for lunch. Some Mexican casserole with a baked potato and a small roll for dinner. Wow! That sounds bad. Do you think it is good for a diet? What did you all eat today? I am trying to lose 50 lbs I am 21 yrs old
I had:
Breakfast: Oatmeal & Coffee
Lunch: Salad
Before Gym: Turkey Sandwich on low carb roll
After Gym: Whole wheat Quesadilla with fat free cheese and beans
My day is just about over. I am begining my diet today. Today I had a sausage biscuit for breakfast. With vanilla iced coffeee. A chicken salad craisant sandwich with a pepsi for lunch. Some Mexican casserole with a baked potato and a small roll for dinner. Wow! That sounds bad. Do you think it is good for a diet? What did you all eat today? I am trying to lose 50 lbs I am 21 yrs old
I would say that your diet needs some tweaking. Was the saugage biscuit on a white or whole wheat biscuit and did it have cheese? The vanilla iced coffee could be swapped out for black coffee (you'll save a ton of calories). The chicken salad could be masking a ton of calories depending on the type of mayo that was used and the croissant is filled w/butter. Depending on the Mexican casserole it could be healthy or not, I'm not sure what was used to make it. Was the baked potato a white or sweet potato? Again was the dinner roll white or wheat?
Did you count any of your calories?
I will give you a run down of my food intake for today:
Well, if it was all white bread than it's probably not a good choice. An easy thing to do right off the bat is switch to all whole grains/wheat. The vanilla iced coffee is probably not good either, especially if it is sweetened. I'm not sure if it was from a fast food restaurant or not, but the syrup is bad in the first place and most places make them with a lot of sugar as well. I usually just get a regular iced coffee with skim milk only.
Chicken salad, well that has mayo in it so for a diet it might not be the healthiest choice depending on what all is on the sandwhich, and the croissant is a lot of white bread as well and of course soda is never good IMO.
Casserole makes me think there was a lot of cheese which you have to watch and do you put anything on your baked potato. The potato in itself isn't necessarily bad, but you have to watch your toppings. As for the roll, again if it was wheat than that is your best bet.
I personally ate, a whole wheat bagel and some coffee with some low fat creamer for breakfast. For lunch I had a wheat tortilla with turkey and a little bit of olive oil mayo with a 60 calorie jello and an orange. For dinner I had some spinach lasagna, the cheese isn't the best choice, but I use whole grain pasta and ricotta cheese made with skim milk to make it the best I can.
Try tracking your food, you will see what calories and fats are coming from those foods and be able to tweak your diet as you see what things aren't so good for you. I would definitely cut out all soda or sweetened drinks, stick to a lot of water or unsweetened tea. Watch your coffee drinks, you can get an entire meal or more worth of calories in those. Switch to all whole grain/wheat, watch the cheese and try and load up more on the fruits and veggies.
You're just starting out and it will take a little bit until you figure out what works for you. The good thing is that you're starting! Start doing some research on healthy food alternatives and good swaps you can make for your normal food. This messageboard is filled with wonderful advice and tips to help you along the way.
Thanks everyone! Yes all the products were white flour and no there was no cheese on the sausage biscuit. The vanilla coffee only had syrup(no added sugar) The syrup has 100 cals per ounce so I dont think that is too bad. One way I am tracking is by updating on here what I am eating each day. Getting everyones feedback really helps! I have friends who are also trying to lose weight but I am the thinnest of them so it is kind of awkward to talk about it and I don't want them to feel I am pressuring them. It is good to be able to have supporton this website with people who are serious about losing weight!
I ran the numbers for what you posted. Again, not sure if you prepared the items, but these are calories for popular restaurant equivalents to what you ate.
Sausage Biscut - 430
Vanilla Iced coffee - 190 (medium)
Chicken Salad Crossant runs anywhere from 500-800 calories
Pepsi - 150 (12oz can)
Casserole - 400 calories per cup
Baked Potato - 160 (medium, no toppings)
Small roll - 80
This equals 2,210 calories and is too much to lose weight, unless you are exercising a TON or have an extremely big starting weight.
For me, it all depends on what your priorities are. I have found that it is nearly impossible to "wing" healthy eating without having a plan. I have learned there are too many variables. It sounds like the choices itself, were not terrible, but like hopeful8 said, there are lots of things hidden.
I have started counting calories so here is my breakdown:
Breakfast: 2 egg whites, 1 cup of black beans, 1/2 cup peas, hot tea, a large banana
Lunch: 6 oz of chicken breast fillet with a small amount of orange glaze (homemade) two cuties tangerines
Snack: Klondike Slim-a Bear ice cream sandwich, No sugar added
Dinner: garden salad with radish, cucumber, grape tomatos, crutons, and balsamic vinegar spritzer,
Roasted Eggplant Parmesan, with homemade tomato sauce (really yummy!)
I may have an apple tonight, as well as some hot tea to relax. My total will definitely be under 1750 calories. (As we speak I am at 1650).
I would recommend that for a while you try some calorie counting. It may not be for you in the end, but for the first couple of weeks, It is a fantastic way to get a better understanding of what you are eating. It really put the whole idea of portion size in perspective, as well as the importance of condiments.
In the end, whether you want to count calories, just eat whole foods, all carbs, no carbs,.... just make sure you have a plan that you can follow
Hope this helps!
Some good substitutions would be:
- low fat turkey sausage on a whole wheat English muffin
- black coffee
-Turkey Sandwich on Whole grain with mustard, lettuce, tomato (and any other veggies you like).
- water or diet pepsi
-apple
- Grilled chicken with fajita seasoning, lots of grilled veggies, salsa, in a low calorie tortilla, or on top of lettuce.
- glass of low-fat milk
- baked sweet potato
Any kind of tea (caffiene free for me at night) is great before bed
To answer your question
Breakfast- 1/2 cup oats cooked in water, 1 sliced apple (baked in), 1 scoop protein powder, some nuts + coffee
Post workout protein
Lunch- Pizza (1 whole wheat pita with salsa and 1oz full fat cheese with 4oz grilled chicken, no oil)
Dinner- 1 cup rice with 5oz salmon with wasabi glaze
Before bed snack 1/2 apple & 1 mum mum (shared with husband + baby)
Really lacked on the veggies today, normal have a lot more
Even though it doesn't quite fit in my plan any more, a ready made breakfast that I use to enjoy were the Jimmy Dean Light ww turkey sausage sandwiches. Yum!
Me today:
Breakfast: Isopure Low Carb Protein Shake
Lunch: Salad with red peppers, mushrooms, grilled chicken, cheddar, and about a tablespoon of ranch
Snack: a handful of almonds (roasted them myself the other day!! yummy!); a Double Mug of Swiss Miss Diet Hot Chocolate
Dinner: Beef pot roast (portion was about 2/3 of my fist); sauteed brocolli, mushrooms w/ a tiny splash of low sodium soy sauce
Drinks: One diet mountain dew (12oz); One diet coke (12oz); the rest was water
I would recommend that you try to get used to green tea without any sweeteners if you drink it with sugar right now. It can be really refreshing even without sugar! It just takes a while..
I agree with others that your diet does require some tweaking to lose weight. I would first try working on your breakfast since it will not only motivate you to eat better the rest of the day but it will also keep you more full if you do it effectively. Lastly, it's a good small step! Everyone on here seems to have good plans laid out for their food intake. I would try to mock some of those. Eggs personally keep me very full but I don't get around to them to often. Oatmeal is another favorite as well as cereals with high fiber (and you can get a lot with high protein which keeps you full too!) Pair it with the least amount of fat milk that you can tolerate, add some fruit and maybe some whole wheat toast if you're still hungry. If you're unlike me and like to cook, I'm sure there's tons of yummy things you can make for breakfast.
This is what I ate today:
Breakfast:
1 cup shredded wheats with 1/2 cup of skim milk (cinnamon sprinkled on top)
1 banana
Snack 1:
Cottage cheese and an orange
Lunch:
1/2 turkey sandwich made with spinach leaves, 1/2 slice of pepper jack cheese, tomato, and mustard.
Some vegetable lentil soup with some quinoa mixed in for more protein and depth
Snack 2:
Laughing cow light cheese with large handful of cherry tomatoes
Dinner:
1/2 can of refried beans on a whole wheat tortilla with bellpepper
small salad of : romaine lettuce, spinach leaves, nonfat feta cheese, tomato and a little bit of non fat italian.