[Trixie14]

Ok so everyone says 'It's calories in verus calories out!' so in your opinion do you really think it matters where your calories come from? Or does it just matter if you keep your calories at a certain number and exercise?

I don't mean eat 1500 calories worth of chocolate, but does it matter a whole lot how many calories you get from carbs, protein and fat? Do you think it makes a HUGE difference if you eat clean 50-75% of the time, and the other 15-50% of the time you don't eat as well as well?

I'm asking because #1 I'm curious as to what you all think and #2 I've been tracking my calories for about 2 weeks now, and I've noticed that I tend to eat too much carbs and fat, and not a whole lot of protein.

Here is my average over the past seven days:

Calories: 1426
Fat: 518 of those calories or 59 grams or 36%
Carbs: 731 of those calories or 186 grams or 51%
Protein: 148 of those calories or 38 grams or 10%

Now it isn't always BAD fat, and most of the time it is good carbs (whole wheat bread etc. not carbs from junk food)

Here is a typical day for me:

Breakfast: Special K, Oatmeal, Eggs, or Toast w/ PB & Jam (small amount of natural jam, not sugar loaded)

Lunch/Snack: Yogurt, Veggie's & Dip, Fruit (Fresh or Canned), A Sandwich, or a Nutrigrain Bar

Dinner: Spagetti, Chicken Burgers, Chicken Fingers, Fish, Chicken Pot Pie's or Kraft Dinner etc. Usually with a side of french fries, spiral fries, tater tots, Rice or Noodles...

Snack: Veggies & Dip, Fruit, or a Small Bowl of Chips, etc.

Dinner's usually the worst b/c I'm living with my bf and his parents, and his mom hardly does groceries, when she does it is all fast, quick, easy calorie and fat loaded foods...so there is really not much I can do about that so I've been trying to portion control when it comes to dinner and eat more of the healthful stuff and less of the less healthful stuff.

So as you can see my calories don't ALWAYS come from healthy foods, about 50-75% of the time they do, depending on the day...so will this HUGELY affect my weight loss?

I buy some of my own food, and I drink only water, I have a can of coke MAYBE once a week if that, I usually drink 2-3 bottles of water (That's roughly 4-6 cups), once the weather warms up it will be more. I also don't have a job right now (still looking) so once I do I will be able to buy more healthful food for myself more often.

So what do you think???

OH! As for exercise, I walk to the post office and back monday to friday (10-15 minutes), I use my stationary bike 30 minutes 5x/week (in the evenings), I go for a 30 minute walk maybe 2-3x/wk and next week I want to start adding in 2-3 full body strength sessions, and maybe another 30 minutes of cardio 2-3x/wk.

I also don't get up until around 12 usually and I don't go to bed until around 1-2am...but I'm hoping to change that and get up around 10 and go to bed around 11 or 12, so that I can add in strength and extra cardio in the mornings.

[happydaisy]

I think it's great that you are trying to get healthy and not using your current situation as an excuse to stall weight loss plans. I see a few easy changes you could make -
Breakfast - ditch the special k. It tends to be full of sugar/low fiber so doesn't hold you over as well. You could get the store brand mini wheats as a cheap alternative, or get store brand fat free yogurt and store brand frozen fruit and whirl together for a healthy, quick smoothie.
Lunch - make sure you are at least using a low cal/low sugar veggie dip. If the sandwich is on whole wheat and loaded with veggies and a serving of lean meat, that would be a healthy choice. Maybe trade the nutrigrain bar for some veggie soup? If you don't have time to make it there are several good varieties available inexpensive at stores - high sodium though so maybe not an everyday thing
Dinner - This is your problem area, which I understand because you're eating what someone else cooks. I would try really, really hard to avoid the fried chicken fingers, fries and tater tots. Portion control is a good start, but they are still loaded with calories, fat and most importantly the dangerous trans fat. . Is there anyway you could eat at home at least half the week, or do you live with bf and family?

Your cals look good, but I do think the quality of food you put in your body impacts your weight loss on some level and more important on your quality of life. It could give you a lower energy level and make it more difficult to stick to a workout/healthy eating program. I'd also try to add a little more fruit and veggies to your plan. Good luck!!

[happydaisy]

Oops - I just saw that you answered my question in your post. Since you do live with bf and family could you tell his mom you'd love to cook with her/for her sometimes and get together with her to make healthier menus?

[srmb60]

I believe it makes a difference to 'you' where your calories come from. In theory, you can lose weight on 1200 cals worth of donuts per day but ... you need nutrients for stamina, strength, building new cells, bone ...
Probably a lot of us learned this as we went along. First we just worried about getting those calorie counts down. Then as we learned more about nutrition and fitness, we tweaked our food to get maximum good out of the fewest calories.
Did that make sense? What I mean is, that I think your thoughts are a natural part of the process.

[sierra_ttw]

The main thing for me is that when I eat healthier foods, I feel better and have more energy, and when I have more energy and am happier, I'm far more likely to get moving. It's far easier for me to get up early in the morning now (I'm usually up around 6 or 7 even on days off), and I have way better concentration (which certianly helps with school!). Of course it's possible to lose weight if you restrict calories, no matter what type of food you eat, but if you want to be healthier all around, it would make sense to makes some changes in your diet. They don't have to be huge - something as simple as steaming some veggies to go with dinner can help a bunch. And I think the idea of you cooking a few times a week is a great idea - I find the more aware I am of what's going into my food, as in making food from scratch rather than eating pre-packaged stuff, the more likely I am to make healthy choices. You also avoid a lot of nasty preservatives and additives that way. And maybe offer to pick up the groceries sometimes so you have some say in what's in the fridge? Just some ideas...

[Trixie14]

Well making dinner sometimes is a good idea, but it would be hard to make something healthy when there is nothing healthy to choose from to make a healthy meal! lol We do groceries sometimes, but we pretty much have to buy the same stuff because if we buy only food's we like and no one else does we'll get into trouble, we buy some healthy things, but it is usually the same stuff everytime...

we do make dinner sometimes, most of the time just for us b/c my bf's mom doesn't cook every night, she cooks maybe 2 nights a week, so we could make healthy dinner's for ourselves...but like I said there isn't many healthy choices here and were really broke right now as well (my bf just started a job, after getting screwed around at the past 3 he has had, and I'm still looking for something) So we just have to make do with what is here, until we have more money, and can afford to buy more healthy stuff.

my bf's parents have got themselves in debt and his mom is real sticky about money, she even wants me to pay $50/week to live here which I think is way too much considering I buy alot of my own food and there is hardly ever any food to eat b/c groceries are done like once a month, if that, and I don't use much else...I even buy most of my own hygeine stuff (shampoo etc.)

Working part time that would be half my pay sometimes and I need money to spend, money to buy my own food/hygeine products and I want to save money. She is really horrible about money, everytime I eat something I feel quilty about it, like we might get *****ed at for eating too much. We really can't wait until we have saved up enough money to move out. We both need steady jobs first though...

So I think I'm just going to keep trying portion control with non-healthy foods, and hopefully I get a job soon so I can buy my own food more often! If I make sure to exercise and keep my other meals as healthy as possible then I should be ok...

[hockeyfan7]

I can't eat whole grains or any food with wheat, barley or rye in it. I don't eat a lot of carbs as a whole -- they come from fruit and veggies 95% of the time.

I don't pay attention to the % of fat, protein or carbs. I stick within the calorie guidelines.

And if I want to eat 500 calories of chocolate, I'm going to eat 500 calories of chocolate.

But I do eat fruits and veggies to get good nutrition. Can you buy some canned or frozen ones if fresh is too expensive? Canned veggies can be rinsed and drained to help get rid of the sodium. And I know my grocery store will frequently have bags of the store brand of frozen veggies 10 bags for $10 or $1 each.

[rebeleagle1965]

The thing that stuck out the most to me in your post is the amount of sleep you are getting. Eleven hours a day is on the high side. This is one of two things, either a symptom or a problem. Sleeping too much of the day because you are genuinely exhausted may be an indication of a really slow metabolism, thyroid problem, nutrient deficiency, etc. If you are healthy, then by choosing to sleep too much you are lowering your basal metabolic rate. Either way, it's not too good for the "calories out" end of the deal. I don't think it really matters what the calories come from if you burn at or more than what you take in during the day. What's left unburned turns to fat no matter what it came from.

[Less of Lena]

Regarding the sleep, she's still a teen, and teens do tend to need more sleep than adults. Most, unfortunately, don't get nearly enough. Sleeping 10 hours a night at age 19 may not necessarily be an issue, but it's certainly something to consider. Good point!

Also, there was a study recently saying that longer sleep hours may actually be beneficial to weight loss. Leptins (not sure on the name and even less sure on how they relate to weight loss) are only released after a full 8 hours. I'm not a medical professional, so I don't know all the ins and outs of it, but I'm sure someone here can elaborate (or blow the theory out of the water and tell me I'm full of bunk!).

Gee, wish I could get 10 hours a night!

[KriWes]

It's actually a myth that we need more sleep as we age. 11 hours is almost half your day which is a lot at any age over infancy. Also, when I was a teenager (not long ago) and sleeping a lot it meant I was depressed. As a teen it is really important that your calories are covering all your nutritional needs. If you can't spare money for anything else at least try to pick up a multivitamin that includes iron, calcium, and vitamin C. Anyway, just my two cents. Awesome to hear that you are still perservering and trying to get healthy despite the circumstances. Props to you sister! Keep trucking.

[Tampaquillowner]

Fat: 518 of those calories or 59 grams or 36%

For your heart health I would say that your fat intake is very high. Most places reccommend 30% or lower but from the books I have been reading lately it should really be closer to 20%

I am far from perfect but my fat intake is usually around 20% and I have never seen it higher than 30. I would urge you to cut down on the fat intake for the sake of your future heart health. Read some books like "The China Study" and it may help you understand calories and fat etc.

I am reading the above mentioned book right now and I was surprised to learn that in China they on average eat about 1000 or so more calories than we in America do. But we have much much higher rates of obesity than they do. Because their fat intake is very very low and the kind of calories they eat are much healthier in comparison to what we eat in the good ol USA.

I am slowly coming to believe that I should just do the exact opposite of what the average american eats to be healthy (-: