Hi,

I started calorie counting today. I have before, but always fold after starving a few days. Then after reading some things on here today, I am going to try to eat more to lose more. Go figure?

Anyways, this is what I have had today. I usually am good with vegetables, but need to go to the store to stock up on some salad stuff. I will up my vegetables. Also overlook the Hellman's (I had thought I was going to do low-carb) and I don't want to waste it, so I will use it for awhile.

Tell me what you think?


Breakfast:

Oats with 1/4 cup 1% milk and touch of Splenda
170 cals

Snack:

1/4 cup peanuts
160 cals

Lunch:

2 cups shredded cabbage with 2oz. turkey keibalsa, 1 T Hellman's, 2 T light sour cream, 1/4 milk.
Lean Cuisine Chicken Almond
470 cals

Snack:

9 Quakes, cheddar and 1/2 cup pineapple
140 cals

Got hungry and thought I might eat something crazy so I had a ham sandwich.
175

Dinner:

Veggie burger
2 cups blueberries
1 cup red raspberries
470 cals

Okay, after writing all of this I feel like I ate way too much. It totals up to 1665.

What would you change, if anything?

I weigh 223 and am 5'5.

Thanks

At your weight I think there's nothing wrong with 1600 calories. YOu can prob go higher and still lose weight.

I think mostly this looks good ... I do have a few thoughts:

You do need more veggies. As it is, it seems the only veggies you had today were the cabbage and whatever was in the Lean Cuisine?

For this snack, you could have had more fruit or veggies - an apple and cheese, carrots and hummus, etc. Quakes are pretty much empty of nutrition, so these are what I would consider wasted calories. That doesn't mean that you can't eat them - sometimes we just need to eat something that we WANT and there's nothing wrong with wasting a few calories now and then. But it's something to keep in mind.

This is a 1/2 sandwich right? One slice of bread and some ham? Otherwise, you might double check your calories here - most slices of bread are around 100 cals per slice. (Unless, this just occurred to me - you're eating some kind of low cal bread?)

.

The amount of calories sounds right i think. I would definitely add some more fruits and veggies though. You can eat so much more, for less calories. For snacks have apple w/almond butter, in your oatmeal add berries. Add lettuce and tomato to your sandwiches, and another serving of veggies w/dinner, every little bit adds up.
With the calories you don't want to starve yourself, that will backfire in more ways than one. If 1600 calories/ day is something you can continue doing, and lose weight, than you found the key to successful weight loss! Good Luck.

First -
1665 is not out of control. It might even be a little low if you are exercising.

What would I change?

I would dump the Quakes...they are fairly empty calories. The ham sandwich...turkey might be a better choice? More protein for less calories...and whole wheat bread (maybe you had ww...I'm jes saying) would be a good idea. 170 cals is pretty low...was it a small sandwich? Maybe it was just one piece of bread.

Hellman's is mustard? I don't see a problem with mustard. It's a great alternative to mayo.

The Lean Cuisine...they are great sometimes...but I try not to rely on them anymore. I had them every day at work for lunch for a couple years...great for portion control.

I think you are doing great - keep up the good work! I won't tell you to get more veggies in 'cause you already know that.

D'oh! 2 more things. If you are hungry a lot eating like what you put in your journal, you might skip the peanuts as well, they are quite calorie dense...you'll get more food for the calorie count with any number of other choices.

And - on 26 pounds!!!!

I agree with PhotoChick's responses. Another place you may be able to swap in vegetables is in exchange for some of the fruit. No doubt that fruit is good for you but it's higher in natural sugars and I don't believe it has as much fiber for you as the vegetables. It also tends to be more calorie dense than non-starchy vegetables. Three cups of berries and a half cup of pineapple is 5 to 7 servings.

I agree with the posters above. Less fruit - more veggies.

I would also swap the quakes and the bread in the sandwich for a low-cal, high-fiber / high-protein option.

And - ditch the Hellman's - a GREAT lesson to learn early on is that saving money by eating things that you have on hand that aren't wise choices is bad news. In the long run, you are much better off getting rid of it. You will face similar situations when people give you high-calorie, empty calorie foods.

Seriously, the way I was raised, this was a really, really hard thing for me to do - but it was a KEY step in making better choices.

Wow, I check my post and see 6 replies. Thanks for the support. I have spent a lot of time reading on this website for a few yrs now, but rarely contribute. It really helps.

A few clear ups:

The bread was 35 cal/slice. Turkey is a great idea.
I never even gave tomatoes a thought and I have still have some from the garden.

I love the quakes. I am not a candy/chocolate person, but those cheddar quakes are yummy to me. You guys have no idea what a big deal it was for me to have a serving and quit at that. Well, maybe you do. I'll work on it

Questions: What is the brand of the almond butter? Also, is it better to change the bread from 35/cal slice bread to a whole grain? What do I look for in a good bread?

Thanks so much.

Andrea

Andrea,

My suggestion would be to ditch the diet bread and instead have a slice of whole grain bread - just one - with the turkey. Yeah, it's more calories, but it's sooooo much better for you. And it will make you feel more full for longer.

And I do understand about the Quakes. It's ok to have them if you fit them into your calorie plan ... but see if you can make them a couple times a week treat instead of a daily thing.

.

I buy whole wheat bread that is 70 calories per slice. Put 2 pieces of turkey breast, 1 slice of cheese, some lettuce & tomato. BAM, a yummy lunch/snack. Sometimes I'll put avocado slices on it. I'll eat some baby carrots with it.

Thank you for all of the great responses.
I appreciate it.

Andrea

I love nuts but I would suggest find a low calorie pack or something. For me, I just dont like wasting all my calories on a 1/4 cups of nuts. 160 calories can go towards a big veggie salad that would fill you up more

Well .. I have to disagree with this.

Quality of calories is important, too. A handful of nuts at 160 calories will give you protein, healthy fat, fiber and help you feel full.

A low calorie pack is usually 100 cals of something junky (or close to junky) and will give you 100 calories of very little nutrition.

The 60 calorie difference between the two is more than made up by the nutritional value you receive.

When you're counting very low calories, it's really important to make the calories that you do eat COUNT.

.

I've been adding a 1/2 ounce or ounce of walnuts to my menu (or more). It was a little hard to "spend" that many calories on such a piddly amount of food but if you go read up on how walnuts are good for you it suddenly seemed very worth it.

Cocoa roast almonds - YUM - Funny how just a few nuts satisfy me better than a lot of traditional snacks.

This was a hard lesson for me. I went for years believing the "low fat" garbage that was spewn forth from the diet gurus. I went years without eating peanut butter, nuts, butter, salad dressing, olives, cheese, hummus, olive oil - because of the fat content.
Funny thing was - I never lost any weight and stayed obese.

I have eaten more healthy fats in the last year than in the last 10 years combined. And it only took me until at 50 to figure out how incredibly wonderful MUFAs are