[AmberD]

Hi Calorie Counters!

After maintaining my weight for the last 5 months, I've decided to try in earnest to try to lose again. (Great time of year to start, I know!). I wrote down what I ate today for the first time in forever and I was hoping I could get some critiques from you ladies on my menu. I'm pretty consistant in what I eat, I just need to work on portion control at dinner and cutting out alcohol.

Any help you ladies can offer will be greatly appreciated!

B: Cottage Cheese with Blueberries
English Muffin
(Usually I have two scrambled eggs in a bowl with a piece of turkey bacon, some salsa and a tablespoon of FF sour cream. About once a week I am running late for work, and eat instant oatmeal)

S1: Lite and Fit yogurt

L: Chicken with spring salad mix, snow peas and carrots. Tablespoon lite Ranch
(Sometimes for lunch I have dinner left overs)

S2:Grapes and blue berries (Always some kind of fruit)

S3:Carrots with Laughing Cow Cheese.

D:Half a filet of salmon, steamed snow peas and carrots and some spring mix salad (no dressing)
(Dinner is my only meal that varies alot. It is usually some kind of meat: Chicken/steak/ pork chop and some kind of vegetable. I've just been eating WAY too much of it before today)

Dessert: Chocolate chip cookie and half a cup of 1% milk (I know this should probably go, I have something bad like this about every other day.)

This is a pretty typical day for me. The last couple months a lot more desserts and alcohol have been involved, but I'm trying to cut those out.

I appreciate any critiques and suggestions (especially on how to kick my cookie habit)

Thanks!

[baffled111]

Amber, that looks like a very good start, but have you logged all that stuff to get a sense of the number of calories you're consuming? How many cals a day are you aiming for? The menu you've posted is a bit unspecific: how many blueberries? how many ounces are in half a filet of salmon?

As far as the cookie goes, yes, that can be a bit of a calorie-bomb! Personally, I eat chocolate every day and can't imagine life without some kind of dessert, so I just work it in to my calorie budget. There are some options--my bf loves those chocolate jello pudding cups and the chocolate jello pudding that you make yourself from the packet. I usually opt for a 160 cal low-fat chocolate and vanilla ice-cream from Dreyers, or a small amount (1/2-1oz depending on how many calories I have left) of high quality dark chocolate. If dessert is a priority for you, you just need to figure out how you can get it in without blowing all your cals for the day.

[em1183]

If you are maintaining your weight eating this amount, then just make small changes to start losing again. The easiest way for me would be to make the same amount of food, then leave a bite or two at each meal (assuming you eat everything you list). It's an effortless way to cut some calories, but it really adds up. I wouldn't get rid of the dessert (if you want, you could eat it once or twice a week instead of every other day), but banishing it will probably make you feel deprived and set you up for binging.
You could also add a few minutes to your workouts each day to squeeze in some extra exercise.
Great job on maintaining your loss! The weight might come off more slowly now, but it sounds like you are really making lifestyle changes, which we all know are better than losing too quickly. Good luck, and congratulations again!

[AmberD]

Baffled- I entered all my food into fit day and it came out to be 1680 calories, which seems fine for a maintainer but kind of high for a loser. I'm not sure what I should be aiming for and I don't know what I can do to get it down much lower. I'm pretty inactive at the moment. I started walking a half an hour a day this week. I intend to increase that for the next couple weeks and then begin running again in late December, but for now I'm pretty sedentary, so I don't know a good calorie place to aim for.

I don't really measure my food very well. I measure things like dressings, and margarine and half and half in my coffee when I have it, but fruits, vegtables and meat I just kind of eyeball. I fill a ziplock sandwich bag half full of grapes, and thats my serving. Same thing with the snack carrots. For dinner I fill half my plate with veggies and I try to eyeball a deck of cards size portion of meat.

Em thanks for the suggestions! My mom was a "clean your plate" type, and I LOVE to eat so it's really hard for me to leave anything! But I think leaving a few bites would be a good way to cut a few calories. I think you're right that I'm going to have to lessen the frequency of my dessert or find a lower calorie option

[baffled111]

Amber, you're quite tall, so it is entirely possible that you could lose on 1680 a day. Earlier this year I ate 1800 and dropped from 155 to 140 and I'm an inch shorter than you. How old are you?

Measuring is kinda crucial for calorie counting, particularly if you're trying to trim calories off an already good food plan. Add in some exercise and perhaps start measuring a bit more assiduously. It's a bit trial and error with the calories. If you start exercising a bit more and are careful about getting 1600 cals a day (and not just estimating), you might find that you start to lose. Or you might find that you need to drop your cals a bit further. There's only one way to find out.

You can trim calories on your dessert and you can trim calories on your breakfast. Perhaps have 1 whole egg and one yolk rather than 2 whole eggs.

But honestly, I think if you measure your food out and count it all carefully, and start being more active, you will probably be able to lose between 1600 and 1800 a day. Give it a shot.

[AmberD]

Thanks Baffled.

I guess I'll have to start measuring better. I suppose it's possible to over eat on healthy foods too. When I'm hungry... a tablespoon becomes a lot bigger.