Is this a good menu for today? 1359 calories?
 

BF 1 c special k / 1 c milk 239 cal
1 c peach mango v8 80
L 10 light tostitos / 1 c salsa / 1 slice melted light velveeta 178
ff snack pack pudding 100
D Homemade beef vegtable soup (1.5 cups) 200
1 slice homemade whole wheat bread with yogurt spread 150
4 strawberries/ 2 tsp hershey lite syrup / 2 tbsp coolwhip free 100
sn 2 coors lite 202
carrots / lite ranch dressing 100

Total 1359
It looks ok to me but I dont know abot the carbs fats proteins etc.

sorry, typo on the salsa its supposed to be 4 tbsp

1359 calories is fine. I wish there was more protein, but we'd have to put all that in some sort of calculator to see percentages.
Homemade bread and soup! Yum!

more
 

i would say you need MORE beer... I was a guisness drinking man and know I drink micelob ultra you should give it a try. cut some carbs/cals off that coors light

Where are your 5 servings of fruit and veggies? Where is your lean meat? Are you using fat free milk on your cereal? I would skip the chips, velveeta, chocolate syrup, and beer. Personally, I don't think it is a very good menu at all.

Here is my daily menu:

BREAKFAST
1/2 CUP OATMEAL
25 GRAMS PURE PROTEIN POWDER

LUNCH
1/2 CUP COTTAGE CHEESE
1 CAN TUNA

SNACK
1/2 CUP FIBER ONE
1/2 CUP SKIM MILK

DINNER
5 OUNCE CHICKEN BREAST
1/2 CUP BEANS
2/3 CUP MIXED VEGGIES

SNACK
APPLE
1 T. NATURAL PEANUT BUTTER
25 GRAMS PURE PROTEIN POWDER

TOTAL CALORIES PER DAY = 1200

Originally Posted by littlegg:
BF 1 c special k / 1 c milk 239 cal
1 c peach mango v8 80
L 10 light tostitos / 1 c salsa / 1 slice melted light velveeta 178
ff snack pack pudding 100
D Homemade beef vegtable soup (1.5 cups) 200
1 slice homemade whole wheat bread with yogurt spread 150
4 strawberries/ 2 tsp hershey lite syrup / 2 tbsp coolwhip free 100
sn 2 coors lite 202
carrots / lite ranch dressing 100

Total 1359
It looks ok to me but I dont know abot the carbs fats proteins etc.

It looks to me as if your menu had 3 servings of fruit and veggies, and 4 "treats" for the day. (chips w salsa/a beer/pudding/hershey syrup & cool whip).
I personally don't think you are going in the right direction. :(
I think that having a small treat each day is a wonderful way to keep you from cheating and feeling deprived, but you are having 4 a day, not one. Rather than having 4 treat snacks per day-limit it to ONE-and limit it to under 200 calories. The beer or pudding would have been just fine if it would have only been one of those things, for instance.
You can lose weight on what you are doing-but you are not going to be healthy, and you are going to have a hard time fueling your workouts and gaining muscle, and losing fat on this unclean diet. You are also not getting in your basic nutrients.
There is more to the system than just counting calories-you also need to see food as FUEL for your body. Your body needs vitamins and minerals, it needs fiber, and it needs proper protein. Yours is not getting it. It would be like trying to fuel up your car/truck on Jello instead of gasoline.
Concentrate on getting in more fruits/veggies (giving you vitamins, fiber, and the nutrients that lower risks of cancers and slow the aging process), protein in lean meats, eggs, legumes, nuts, and soy (which stabilizes your blood sugar and fuels your muscles), and dairy or soy products for calcium (which feeds your bones). If you are eating carbohydrates, stick with whole grains-such as whole grain pasta over white, whole grain breads over white or refined (the key word is WHOLE), and staying away from simple sugars where you can.

Aphil

Originally Posted by TexasMommy:
Where are your 5 servings of fruit and veggies?

psst...I only see 2/3 cups mixed veggies on your menu :o :devil:

This is a learning experience...todays menu
 

I am in the learning phase, is this better?

2 eggs cooked with pam spray 259 cal
1 c skim milk 86
2 whole wheat brread 161
Beef vegtable soup 1.5 c. 200
snak pak ff pudding 102
spinach ( I love spinach) 1 can 98
yogurt spread 4 tsp 60
strawberries 4 22
lite hershey syrup 1 tbsp 25
cool whip free 1 tbsp 13
home made bean salad .5 cup 45
ff cottage cheese .25 c 41
Brandy 2 oz 128

Total 1239 calories 50+ GRAMS OF PROTEIN

Originally Posted by littlegg:
I am in the learning phase, is this better?

2 eggs cooked with pam spray 259 cal
1 c skim milk 86
2 whole wheat brread 161
Beef vegtable soup 1.5 c. 200
snak pak ff pudding 102
spinach ( I love spinach) 1 can 98
yogurt spread 4 tsp 60
strawberries 4 22
lite hershey syrup 1 tbsp 25
cool whip free 1 tbsp 13
home made bean salad .5 cup 45
ff cottage cheese .25 c 41
Brandy 2 oz 128

Total 1239 calories 50+ GRAMS OF PROTEIN

Well, you had 1 1/2 servings of dairy today...a little better than last time. You had about 2-4 servings of veggies depending on the can size and how much was in the soup. What I would really, really like to see though-is maybe cutting out the daily alcohol. I light beer or small glass of wine is okay now and then, but alcohol really should not be consumed on a daily basis-and I have seen it in your last two menus. The brandy, pudding, and choc.syrup/cool whip count as 3 treat foods for the day. This is one lower than the four treat foods from the menu before-but see if you can keep the empty calorie (no or little nutrition) treat foods to 1 or 2 a day max. This includes alcoholic beverages. I would like to see the 3-4 treat a day habit dropped to 1 or 2, and fruit being put in their place.

4 strawberries is only about 1/4-1/2 a fruit serving...1 cup (45 calories) is a serving size of strawberries.

I am glad that you are taking this as a learning experience. :) It does take time to learn how to eat better.

Originally Posted by jillybean720:
psst...I only see 2/3 cups mixed veggies on your menu :o :devil:

We aren't talking about my diet.

I have reasons why I aim for 50% protein in my diet. ;)

I think perhaps people have seemed a bit overcritical...

I'm not sure how long you've been doing this littlegg but I know it took me a LONG time to get where I am today, and as you can see by my Fitday that's not a perfect place either. Yes, more veggies are good, add them when you can. The things I would say to get rid of now are that chocolate syrup...I don't keep any in my house. Personally I couldn't control myself to 1 tbsp a day and eating chocolate with fat and sugar on a daily basis is only going to make you want more. I finally got out of the habit of having to have a "treat" or "dessert" after dinner every day. I do keep ff/sf chocolate pudding around (which is good that you have) and ff cool whip as well (though it doesn't get used as much as you'd think). Try strawberries with your pudding? Maybe mix the strawberries, pudding and a little ff cool and have that be an every other day snack, than try to slowly cut it out.

I think the reason people are so quick to help you is because they know that eating *cleaner* will make you feel much better, more full, AND reduce binges which is important in the long run. I'd be interested to see your protein and fat ratios for these days. They are good yes but I am assuming by your posting here that you want to make them better. So keep hanging around and keep thinking about it. You can't change to perfect in a day but you can try small changes. Are you vegetarian? Any reason there isn't any meat in your menus? If you can have the meat start adding some lean meats. I'm with the others on the beer too...I know it's not easy, but you'll feel better and once again be less likely to want to snack or binge. Maybe find something else to do when you think about having that beer? Read a good book? Read a good magazine? I have a stack of books I want to read and turning to them has been wonderful in helping my willpower.

I think her menu looks okay. No, it's not "perfect", but then neither is mine. She's eating more fruit that I am and getting a few veggies in there.

When you're on a calorie-restricted diet, it's not easy squeezing in all those 'recommended' foods. 5 servings of fruits and vegetables? Yeah, I suppose that would be easy if that's all you ate. If you don't eat it at all, it's very easy to suggest. But not always easy to do.

I'm not saying it's impossible, as I'm sure there are some people here that can do it. But when you're also trying to squeeze in protein, calcium, whole grains, beans and legumes (for fiber) etc, it's not exactly easy.

Here's what the National Cancer Institute recommends as a serving of fruit and vegetables:

1 medium fruit or 1/2 cup of small or cut-up fruit

3/4 cup (180 milliliters) of 100 percent juice

1/4 cup dried fruit

1/2 cup raw non-leafy or cooked vegetables

1 cup raw leafy vegetables (such as lettuce)

1/2 cup cooked beans or peas (such as lentils, pinto beans, and kidney beans)

Well, like I said, they can recommend it. But getting it is a different story.

The "food pyramid" suggest 3-5 servings of vegetables. 2-4 servings of fruit. 6-11 servings of bread, cereal, rice and pasta.

Yeah. Right.

If I ate that much bread or cereal or rice or pasta, I'd put back on the weight I've lost.

As for the 3-5 servings of vegetables, that's a little more doable. Again, it's not impossible. But when you're trying to squeeze ALL of this stuff into a 1200 calorie limit, even without junk (which I rarely eat) you're gonna do some struggling.

Personally I don't go by what the 'experts' say is right. I eat what I can work in. Some days that includes lotsa veggies, some days it doesn't. I eat as many healthy foods as I can for as much as my calorie allowance will let me and take a good multivitamin. I've got enough to worry about every day without stressing over how many servings of so and so food group I'm getting.

Incidentally, I don't eat ANY fruit at all because I don't like the stuff. Although my new 'promise' to myself is to include more berries into my days, so I'm going shopping tomorrow and berries are on my list.

Originally Posted by LLV:
Well, like I said, they can recommend it. But getting it is a different story.

Yes, I agree. I am on a 1200 calorie diet right now and it's hard to get in all of the recommended daily allowances. I believe the servings that they suggest is for a 2000 calorie diet.