Quote:
|
All in all it's not bad at all. It's got all the food groups. I can see the logic in chosing the low cal or low fat versions of typical foods.
|
Oh, totally!
Don't think we're beating up on you here.
We're all different and you definitely have to find what works for you. Each of us can tell you what we do, and hopefully it'll give you some ideas that you can incorporate into your own plan.
In fact, instead of piecemeal - here's what I do when I'm exactly on plan (and keeping in mind that I am not always exactly on plan!
).
Food
I aim for 1500-1600 cals a day, broken into 3 meals and 3-4 snacks per day.
I am trying to include more protein in my diet to build muscle, so my goal is about 120g protein per day, or 35% of my calories from protein.
If I get that, my average day is 40% carbs / 35% protein / 25% healthy fats.
My average day's food intake looks something like this (this was from Monday):
Breakfast: homemade yogurt, blueberries, coffee (185 cals)
Snack: apple and 1 oz sharp cheddar cheese (200 cals)
Lunch: huge salad from Sweet Tomatoes (no dressing, blue cheese crumbles, red wine vinegar) (350 cals)
Snack: can of V-8 juice (105 cals)
Snack (pre gym): boiled egg (70 cals)
Post gym: protein shake (usually 1 scoop protein powder mixed into 8 oz of orange juice) (260 cals)
Dinner: 4oz grilled chicken breat, 1/2 large baked sweet potato, zucchini and yellow squash sauteed in a little olive oil (400 cals)
For Monday that put me at exactly 1570 calories. Every once in a while I will treat myself with either a glass of wine with dinner (another 150 cals) or a drink before dinner (citron martini, also 150 cals) or a serving of Starbucks low-fat mocha yogurt (120 cals).
Also on Saturdays I don't track my food. That doesn't mean I binge or go all out, I just relax a little and sort of keep a mental tally instead of logging everything into my Daily Plate diary. And if I want to have a burger or whatever, I do.
Exercise
From my post above. I use a Polar HRM and try to aim for burning about 500-600 calories a day from exercise.
The truth is, I could be a lot stricter with my food - I probably consume an extra 1000-1200 calories over the course of a week (between not counting strictly on Saturdays and my couple-of-times-a-week treats). But I am still losing doing what I'm doing (even if not as fast as I could), and I'm becoming stronger and fitter - visibly and measurably so.
And there are weeks that I am *really* motivated and stick strictly to 1500 cals and hit the gym every time I plan to ... and on those weeks I do lose a little faster. So I know I have the ability to manage my weight by just tightening up a little for a few days.
But I have intentionally chosen to be less strict with myself and accept a slower rate of loss because this is my life and I don't want to set myself up for a way of eating that I cannot maintain long term.
I hope that helps you out some.
.
