So I recently joined a gym and the personal trainer there spent a couple of hours with me and recently figured out a way to tweak my current plan. So here's what he came up with.
I am allowed a total of 1200 calories per day.
Protein (40%) - 125g = 500 CAL
Carbs (20%) - 60g = 240 CAL
Fats (40%) - 50g = 460 CAL
Apparently my calories were varied throughout the week but the main problem was the carbs. I apparently eat to many carbs and not enough protein. Does anyone have any ideas how to decrease carbs and increase protein? Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated!!!
I think they want you to cut down your servings of grains and starches, like cereals, breads, potatoes, rice, and pastas. You can replace some with Non-salted nuts like hazelnuts/filberts, almonds, walnuts, or macadamia nuts but be sure to count them out in servings. Your other options are hard-boiled eggs, 1 oz cheese, and lean meats like turkey, chicken, lean beef or pork, and fish like tuna or salmon, etc. Try to have soups, salads and raw veggies for more of your carbs each day.
60 grams of carbs seems REALLY low to me, even if you cut out grain products. But that's probably why I'm not a low carber. I cut my grain products in favor of vegetables, but mostly because of reducing calories, and now for my grains I only get one whole wheat pita a day (36g weight on the scale, mostly carbs) and a bowl of steel cut oats (27g). But in fruit and vegetables and dairy I normally eat another 100 or so grams a day according to my LoseIt app, to make up about 50% of a 1600 cal a day diet.
You would really have to plot out fruit and veg carefully, I think. Plus milk and yogurt have carbs in too. (12g in a cup of skim milk.) A medium apple has 25 carbs. A cup of broccoli has 10. A tomato has about 5. Or don't they count fruit and vegetable carbs?
Look for a South Beach or Atkins type diet book in the library. I think especially Atkins is going to have that kind of profile.
I would also ask about the nutrition qualifications of the trainer. What is the source of their advice?
Last edited by bronzeager; 03-26-2010 at 06:54 AM.
It's easy to decrease carbs ... and ask your trainer if you can "subtract" the fiber from your carb total for the day which makes 60 grams easily do-able.
I know you are not on the Atkins Diet (low-carb), but this list of foods that are acceptable on Atkins might help you get started.
Try Egg Beaters? They really are good. I made this last night...
I sauteed some fresh mushrooms in some I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray until soft and then dumped in 2 servings (60 cal., 12 grams protein) of Egg Beaters....little salt and pepper.....mushroom omelet! YUM!! Ate it with tomatoes (I love eggs and tomatoes for some reason) and a big salad.
Well, I said I wouldn't make a good low-carber (she said, as she crunched a piece of oven-roasted cabbage with teriyaki sauce), I just notice which things do have a lot of carbs.
Also, I'm not one for protein shakes and protein bars, but this is exactly the sort of situation they are created for. They have them health food and GNC-type stores, larger grocery stores and Wild Oats/Whole Foods places. Protein bars and Atkins type bars are in the pharmacy sections and even checkout counters at Target and Walmart too.
Last edited by bronzeager; 03-26-2010 at 12:34 PM.
I don't know about this. He did say I would loose a lot of weight on this diet and I guess I can see that happening but I just feel so hungry and so irritable with horrible headaches with this. I basically ate the days allowance of carbs in just the cereal this morning. I really don't think this is going to work for me. But I do know that I am loosing weight on the 5 factor diet so maybe I will continue with that and try to eat more protein and decrease carbs as much as possible. Also, I think I'm going to try to aim for no more than 1200 CAL a day which should also help. Thanks for all your help guys!
I've been slowly figuring out how to do this. It's been achieved finally, through buying a lot more vegetables and meat, and passing on carb-based side dishes a lot of the time. One thing I'm doing is learning to cook some favorite Chinese dishes, in a low-oil way, and those are all meat and veggies!
1200 calories a day requires LOTS of bulky food. I'd stay away from calorie-dense things like protein powders and nuts.
To stay low carb AND low cal, you'll have to give up virtually all grains. You want to eat lots and lots and lots of veggies, and those are carbs--low calorie, very bulky, but carbs. Think cauliflower and broccoli and cabbage and brussel sprouts (all of which are the same plant) and strawberries and carrots and green beans.
For protein, I eat tons of meat. Much more filling than powder! Baked chicken breast, baked tilapia, very, very lean ground beef, browned and rinsed, baked port tenderloin.
I eat very little fat, not because I avoid it, but because it's not, to me, filling. Fat has so little volume: I want lots and lots of bites of things.
You might also try adjusting slowly: eat 1400 or 1500 calories with those rations for 2 weeks, then cut calories.
I use to be a carb fiend too...i didnt set out to change it specifically but it has happened anyway (to give u a idea i eat pasta maybe once a week where as i use to eat it every day) now my grains tend to be barley, chick peas and lentils. On the australian biggest loser website there are quite a few recipes that use good carbs (theres a lentil and cous cous one which is yummy!). I found it was once i started to look outside the box...that my carb intake cut down
I can't say enough good things about steel cut oats for breakfast. But make sure you have a little protein with them, like skim milk or yogurt on top, or a few nuts; before I figured that out I used to be starving about 3 hours later.
There are other whole grains you can similarly use for breakfast -- barley, or wheat berries. I cook them sometimes when I have run out of the oats. You don't have to eat them sweet either. They take a while to cook, but I cook up a batch (about 1 1/2 cups dry) for a whole week and keep them in the fridge to warm up in the morning. About 1/4 cup makes a full cup cooked, at about 150 cal, with 5 grams of the 25 carb grams being fiber, plus 4g protein.
The dense black European rye breads, that come in rectangular packets, have a similar nutritional profile -- a good amount of fiber and protein going with the carbs. They are almost completely whole rye grains. They are good with strong flavored fillings; I like cream cheese and salmon (also high protein). It's the kind that looks like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpernickel My German grandmother faithfully ate a piece every morning for her "Darm" (er, digestion to put it politely). It may seem odd at first if you are not of Northern/Eastern European heritage.
Only if you don't have a lot of fiber in your diet now, work up to to the full serving slowly...
Yeah so this morning I woke up with the worst headache of my life! I actually never have had any problem with headaches ever until recently. So, I have decided that this is really not for me. I am going back to the 5 factor diet and just going to try to eat the higher protein lower carb foods. I just have a good feeling about that diet and although that diet cut out a lot of my bad foods. To give you an example, I no longer eat high sugar foods, drink pop or eat cookies and cakes. I don't eat nuts or high sugar cereals. I was actually feeling healthier and more full of energy. Now, I just feel sick, always have a headache and don't want to do anything! So definately going back to the 5 factor diet started this morning.
Need to increase protein, decrease carbs - HELP
