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How the heck do I figure this out?
So I started counting calories a week ago. SparkPeople said I should eat 1200-1550 calories a day, so that's been my daily goal. I have stuck within it (except for 1 day), and lost 6lbs in a week.AWESOME....but am I eating enough calories?
My pre-weight loss life consisted of VERY little day time eating, and mostly snacking late in the evening, with almost no exercise. Now I eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day (most days, some days, like today, I may nap and miss a meal), and walk about 2 miles a day (at a fast walk). Is this enough? Am I doing it right? I have never done this before,and just kind of jumped in blind. Also, do you allow yourselves to have things like, Thinsations for example? I realize they don't have a lot of nutrients, I just thought they may be an easy way to avoid a binge, especially if you're one of those gals (like me) who craves chocolate at TOM. I would LOVE any help I can get here. I want to be successful, and I want to be sure I am making the right choices, and have very little, except this site, and my SparkPeople to go on. |
:cheer2:I'm not a calorie counter - but it sounds like you are working in the right range - you are losing weight but not depriving yourself of valuable nutrients. I don't do things like Thinsations because I have zero willpower, and it would trigger a binge of magnificent proportions! Congratulations on the 6 pound weight loss - it sounds like you're off to agreat start! :)
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As long as you aren't feeling famished you are probably okay though I would stick closer to the 1550 calories and never really go below 1500.
I mean at your weight you may be able to eat 2000 calories a day and still lose- but if this is working for you and you aren't feeling any negative affects like you are very hungry or feeling unwell than I'd stick to it. If you are hungry try eating 1800-2000 calories a day and see how that goes. |
IF you are sticking more around the 1200 calorie range, you need to get any empty calorie food, (anything that doesn't pack a lot of nutrients for it's calorie buck) OUT of your diet. 1200 is low, (I did it) but my doctor very firmly stated that if I went that route, no junk food of any kind, even if it is low calorie junk. If you go the higher calorie route, a treat here or there is okay I guess, as long as at least 1200 calories a day come from good vitamin rich food sources.
Welcome to 3FC,it's great to have you around. I wish you the very best on your weight loss journey. |
Thanks so much for the replies...
So should I be watching carb/protien/fat intake as well? I have been trying to watch it all, which is a bit overwhelming at first. Granted, without "watching" them, I am not thinking of going on a bread only diet or anything, obviously all things within reason, but wonder if I should be concerning myself with those numbers still. Lori tyvm for the warm welcome! I am loving being here. The support, information and different perspectives are really amazing, and success stories like yours make me realize I CAN do this. You look incredibly amazing by the way! |
Originally Posted by OhMyDogs: |
Hi, when I started this journey I downloaded a program called Mynetdiary to help me figure out everything.
27% fat 62% carb and 21% protein that is what my nutritionist recommended. The fat must be like olive oil, Omega 3 and so on and staying away from saturated fat, I must say that I never reach that percentage. The carbs are mostly vegetable (excluding potato) fruits and whole grain. I removed all white rice and pasta and replaced with whole wheat. The protein mostly fish and chicken and an egg here and there. |
Keeping it simple.
I've been aiming for 1200 with good results. I decided the only way to deal with the warring diet experts is to ignore them all. I strive for one thirds each of protein, fat, carbs. But every thing that goes in my mouth is high-quality nutrition, no processed. Fats are avocados, greek yogurt, nuts, cheese; carbs are mostly veggies and fruits and my grains are seriously whole and high protein. Lots of lean meat and fish. I bring several little containers to work and munch all day long at my desk so I don't feel deprived or get obsessive. Dinner is a small portion of what everyone else is having. Water, daily exercise and a multivitamin round it out.
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I am using SparkPeople right now, which helps me count everything, but it still seems very hard to keep everything in range.
I have removed white rice, white bread and white tortillas, and just eat whole wheat now, and am just not eating pasta at all (I'm not a fan of whole wheat pasta yet, so for now, just avoiding it). I am working hard to eat fish (I am NOT a fan, and never have been, but am forcing some down my throat here and there). So where do potatoes fit in? Or do they? I have been making mashed potatoes and just being very cautious about how much I have in a meal...should they be totally excluded? |
Potatoes are a good source of potassium but turn into sugar quite fast, not the best carb to have. It is all about moderation, did you try mashed turnips and carrots quite tasty and lower calories and carbs.
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Yeah, I'm not so much a mashed turnip fan, BUT...maybe if I mix them with potatoes for a while, and slowly increase the ratio of turnip to potato, maybe I'll get more accustomed to them. I WANT to eat healthy!!
So would potatoes be better to have for say lunch? When I have the afternoon free to walk them off? I am a stay at home mom, and both my kids are in school full time, so I have a lot of free time! lol BTW Thank you for your responses. I am trying so hard to get this all figured out! |
Originally Posted by OhMyDogs: And as a note to the wheat pasta? Try boiling it for another min or 2 past aldente, my husband can't tell, and he thinks he's eating "regular"... LOL. :D |
Hi, me again, potatoes are not bad but not the best for loosing because they transform into sugar. That is what my trainer explained to me how the body use sugar and fat as fuel. When you want to loose weight you want to loose fat. Let s say you take a Walk, your body will use the fuel that is easiest to get, it is sugar called glycogen, once the sugar is finished it will then
use fat. If the food you eat converts into sugar you will burn little fat compare to someone that limits the amount of sugar contained in carb. |
OK, I get it, potatoes aren't the best :tantrum:
So what do you all use as a "carb" with supper then? In my house, we basically have rice (recently it's become whole grain brown rice) and potatoes...very occasionally bread and butter. I have the world's pickiest kid (this is NOT an excuse), so I try to work around her, or make things she'll eat (she's a freaking beanpole!), BUT her pickiness does not rule the roost. |
I just don't eat a carb with supper- my carbs are from vegetables. Cauliflower, broccoli, salads, green beans, zucchini, carrots, peas, etc. I don't do corn cuz it's not that good for you. Sweet potatoes are also good if you like regular potatoes- I adore sweet potatoes now :) I agree that regular potatoes are just not good- that should be a once in a while treat IMO. There are cauliflower recipes that are like mashed potatoes- I have never tried them but I love cauliflower.
Introduce the kids to sweet potato fries omg YUM :) Baked sweet potato fries- not fried. Also when I make things like meatloaf I mix in ground up veggies (onion, tomato with the peel cut off, zucchini) and everyone eats it and loves it. My husband says I make the beat meatloaf, little does he know it's full of veggies along with ground turkey ;) My friend makes mac and cheese for her daughter with ground up broccoli so it can't be picked out. Active lifestyle makes some great pastas- check those out- whole wheat pastas have come a long way from the disgusting crap they used to be (no offense to anyone lol). |
If you're counting calories, the good news is that you can have anything you want, provided the portion size is kept under control. The bad news is that it's sometimes overwhelmingly tough to control portion sizes of some foods.
If you can eat a smaller portion of calorie-dense mashed potatoes and find them satisfying, go for it! For some people, though, white potatoes present a problem because their starchiness triggers a desire for more starchy goodness. Keep an eye on your food journal and if you're feeling particularly hungry, check what you've eaten lately and see if there are lots of high-glycemic-index carbohydrates on there. Potatoes aren't inherently bad, though. Really, no food is--"badness" and "goodness" is all relative and it's often more productive to think of them as better-suited or less well suited to your plan. If you find that potatoes don't bother you, but want them to pack less of a caloric wallop, try mixing up your cooking methods. Roasted fingerling potatoes are still just potatoes, but you get a lot more fiber (from the skins) and much fewer calories from them than you would from mashed potatoes. Mashing your potatoes with turnips or cauliflower will also lower the calorie load without affecting taste or texture much; plus, mixing your veggies will supply you with a broader variety of nutrients. White potatoes used to constitute about 80% of my vegetable intake during any given day. Now they're just an occasional thing, maybe once every couple of weeks, because there's such a wealth of other great stuff to eat with meals that I just don't get around to them that often. If you have an adventurous palate, I encourage you to try roasting or mashing some other good stuff--not because potatoes are "bad," but because so many other things are delicious. :) Oh, and please don't feel as though you need to choke down fish just because it's "healthy." Eating stuff you dislike just makes you feel deprived. You should only have to hold your nose to swallow nasty medicine, not dinner. :D |
Check out daily burn http://dailyburn.com/locker_room I like this website WAY better than spark people. I found spark people to be too complicated. Daily burn tracks your calories, fat, proteins, carbs, it sets you up with daily goals that you can adjust, tracks your workouts and it's simple.
Edited to add ~ I try to stay around 1500-1800 calories a day. I also workout 6 days a week. |
Originally Posted by beerab: This is exactly what I do, and while I have always put veggies in meatloaf (I don't grind them up though), I just recently just started cutting the meat 1/2 beef and 1/2ground chicken or ground turkey. My family likes it fine, and I'm sure will come to love it. The first time I did it, I added taco seasoning (my family loves taco meatloaf) so no one would notice the different meats, but no one did anyway. I have no problem with my kids eating veggies.The picky eater prefers her broccoli raw with dip, the other likes hers cooked, but I try and put veggies in everything I possibly can! Nola, that is really some food for thought. I like the idea of "hiding" cauliflower or turnips. "Hiding" is a method I have had to resort to with a picky child, as well I have a diabetic husband who is in denial, and sort of on an "anti-health" kick right now. I'm not going to let it slow me down. I may slip from time to time, but i will not give up. I am hoping by "choking down" some fish, maybe I will, in the end, find I like it (it's been years). But, if I really dislike it, I won't end up eating it, seriously, if I really disliked it, I just wouldn't eat...lol Bad habit, but it's mine to own. Lauren, I will go right now and check out Daily Burn and see how it compares. I actually resisted using Spark People because of it's complexity. Now I have gotten used to it some, and can use the basic functions at least. |
Ummmmmm Daily Burn has my caloric intake as DOUBLE what SparkPeople had it at.....I don't know what to do with this info :(
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when I do grocery shopping I buy lots of vegetable such as, asparagus, green pepper, red pepper, squash, baby artichokes, zucchini, sweet potatoes. Then I prepare them for the whole week. This way I always have a side dish of vegetable. I roast all the vegetable in the oven with a little olive oil, thym, sea salt and pepper.
If I want to do an omelette, I only have to chop a few pieces and add to the eggs. If I want a wrap sandwich I included some of them inside. I can add them to salads. I serve them with pasta and tomato sauce. And the leftover are great to in soups. Onions, cauliflowers, turnips :), brussel sprouts are excellent also ove roasted. You can serve quinoa instead of rice, great source of protein. I always have on chick peas or Lima bean salads also. They keep well jn thé bridge. This way you still feed your child what she likes and you can have the roasted since they are ready and who knows she might be interested in trying them when she sees you eating them every day. |
I forgot, I dont like fish either but I eat scallops instead and crab meat. I supplement my need in Omega 3 by adding 2 tablespoon of chia seed in my oatmeal in the morning. This way I meet the daily requirement.
In the other post I wanted to write in the fridge not bridge LOL, darn french brain of mine. |
Michou
What a fantastic idea. I am the queen of "cook in batches". I am the LAZIEST person when it comes to making food just for myself, so I try and cook stuff up in batches, then freeze in portion sizes. I never thought of doing it with roasting veggies!! I am trying to broaden my horizons with veggies, there are so many I just walk by in the produce section, now I am slowly trying them. I tried eggplant, and wasn't overly thrilled, but will still eat the things it's cooked into. For example, how the heck does one cook artichokes (or leeks for that matter)?? I have never heard of quinoa, I will have to give it a try! |
LOL Michou,
My french is limited, my husband has NONE, but both my girls (5 years, and almost 7 years) go to a completely french school and are now bilingual. I knew what you meant ;) LOL |
Mmm... leek soup. It's delicious.
Quinoa is great, especially if you cook it with dried cranberries. Just cook the quinoa like brown rice ( 2 water x 1 quinoa ) and add the dried cranberries. Add some fresh Italian (flat) parsley and it's a great side dish. |
I love mashed cauliflower. Steam it first, then put it in a food processor or blender, then add a little bit of "i cant believe its not butter". Soooo yummy. And its got the same texture of mashed potatoes. Best substitute ever, and fairly low in calories.
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Originally Posted by OhMyDogs: If you're feeling energetic, healthy, happy, and craving-free on your current calorie level and are losing about 1% or less of your body mass per week, you probably have it right already, in which case--yay! :) If you're feeling hungry--really hungry, not just a little "nibbly" occasionally--you probably need to raise your caloric intake. Don't think that hunger's the only sign, though; pay attention to other things like lassitude, crankiness, inability to concentrate, an overall "blah" feeling. Subtler symptoms can also mean hunger even if you're not overtly feeling hunger pangs. To some extent, you kind of have to accept that calorie intake is a work in progress. Some patterns will take weeks or months to emerge. Right now, for example, I'm fighting the urge to cut back from 1500 because I've seen a four-day stall on the scale. Four days isn't enough to call a pattern; four days isn't even enough for some to call it a stall. Sometimes we just have to be patient and listen closely to our bodies. |
Look at you all with your awesome ideas!
Is it just me? Or did everyone feel a little "stuck" trying to sort this stuff out? I keep buying poultry breasts with NO plans for what to do with it. I pulled turkey breast out of the freezer for tonight, but have no idea what to make with it! I may just end up being "turkey breast" lol. |
Originally Posted by Nola Celeste: I just started my change of lifestyle on Jan 11...supposedly the first week is usually pretty big anyway? |
Artichoke if they are big you boil them with a few slice of lemon. If they are babies roasting them is perfect.
Leek are similar to onion, you need to wash them well because they are full of earth. Slice them, wash, dry and cook like onions. They are great in soups and stews. Quinoa is a grain, you must rinse it well because there is a coating that taste funky LOL and then you cook it like rice. If you need vegetarian recipes just tell me, I have tons of lebanese and armenian recipe, great healthy food packed with vegetable, beans and grain. |
Chicken breast LOL ahhhhhh.....
Chick Taouk 1 container of plain yogourt in food processor with 6 cloves of garlic, the juice of one lemon and a tablespoon of olive oil. Mix the marinade. Cut the chicken in cubes or the turkey and marinate a few hours. Put cubes on skewers and grill in thé ove or bbq, delicious. |
The first week is often a huge loss. I wish every week looked like my first! :D
I'm not a doctor, but that 1% figure is what my doctor gave me. It's an overall number, not just a first-week or even first-month number. And even then, it's a guideline; certainly people on medically-supervised plans exceed it and are perfectly healthy. Our bodies are astonishingly resilient, so one or two weeks here or a month there of faster loss isn't a problem. Look at it as a nice head start. Six pounds in a week is a fantastic first week. You might find that your first month is similarly quick. It's nothing to worry about, especially early on. :) |
Originally Posted by Michou: That sounds FABULOUS!! Can't make it tonight, cause my store (which is really a gas station, with a few groceries) doesn't have what I'd need, but I get the van tomorrow, and am going grocery shopping, i can not WAIT to try this out! It sounds almost like a Tzatziki!! |
You could make tzatziki to go with it, good source of protein and low in fat, do you know how to make it, just tell me LOL I know
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Originally Posted by Michou: |
Here you go LOL
1 container of greek yogourt (ticker than other yogourt) 1 cucumber 1 or 2 garlic cloves Oregano Salt Teaspoon of Wine vinegar. Peel and remove the seeds of the cucumber. Shred it, put in a sieve and sprinkle with salt, let it sit a few minutes, rinse, drain water and squeeze as much liquid as you can. Mash the garlic. In a bowling mix, yogourt, cucumber, oregano and vinegar, let sit for an hour in the fridge. This is a lot cheaper than the ready made version and it is fresh, enjoy. |
Thank you SOOOOOOOO much!!!
One more question...how many calories does it have per serving? And how big is a serving? LOL If you don't know, it's ok, I can plunk it all into SparkPeople and figure it out that way :) |
3 tablespoon is 53 calories, not bad for something that tasty
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WOW that's way better than regular salad dressing (which is 60 cals per tablespoon I think), and this is wayyyy yummier. I am totally going to make some tomorrow!
\ Thank you sooo much! |
Try milder fish to start out like tilapia which is also inexpensive.
I love this tilapia recipe- soo good :) http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recip...p?recipe=75983 Best part about sparkrecipes is you log in with your sparkpeople information and then click to add to your planner :) You can also save your favorite recipes and add your own as well and then it saves it in your sparkpeople. I wouldn't worry about the calorie counts on different sites- do what works for you. My sparkpeople is adjusted to 60-100 grams of carbs since I do low carb. |
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