Hello First, let me say that you all are an inspiration to me, and I'm already finding this board very, very helpful.

There is a lot of conflicting information out there about diet and exercise, and I'm a bit confused. I'd like to hear some opinions on what I've been doing, because I want to do this right!

Here's what I've planned to eat today, and the routine I've been following for the past few weeks:

Breakfast:
1/2 C Kashi cereal
Skim Milk
1 Lg. Egg
Yoplait fat-free yogurt
Tea

Snack:
1 Sm. Apple
1 TBL Reduced fat peanut butter
8 reduced-fat wheat crackers

Lunch:
3 oz. tuna, packed in water
1 tsp. low-fat Italian dressing
15 baby carrots
Snack-sized fat-free cottage cheese
6 strawberries

Snack:
1/4 orange sweet pepper, sliced
4 (very thin) slices lean roast beef (luncheon meat)

Dinner varies, but is taken out of either a Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers cookbook, normally a protein, and either a vegetable or a starch.

Snack:
Banana

This comes out to be about 18% fat, 55% carbs, and 27% protein.

As for exercise, I do 30 minutes of cardio (treadmill and/or bicycle) 7 days a week, and 3 days of weight training.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Jen

You are right, there IS a lot of conflicting information out there, and different people here have different "philosophies" about the "right" mix of carb/fat/protein. As far as the types of food you are eating, it looks pretty healthy. I eat about the same amount of carb you do, but to me your fat intake is on the low side, even for a low-fat diet. I would ditch a little of the protein and add a little more good fat -- nuts, use regular pnut butter instead of reduced fat (which adds sugar/starch to replace the fat), olives, olive oil, mayo, salad dressing. I would also include a vegetable AND a starch at dinner. If you are shooting for low-fat, you might look at a ratio closer to 50-55% carb/20-25% protein/20-25% fat.

You don't say how many calories you are eating or what your current weight/height/age/etc is. Some people here advocate a flat number of calories for all women for the length of their weight loss program. I have followed a program where I have always eaten enough to support my metabolism, reducing the calories when I lost enough weight to reduce my needs. If you'd like to get some idea of the average, estimated calorie recommendations, plug your stats into this calculator: http://www.jimkaras.com/loss_math01.cfm. If you aren't already, you can use www.fitday.com to track your food and it will total your calories and ratios for you.

As for the exercise, looks good to me. One thing I would mention is that most exercise gurus consider a day of full rest to be sacred. Pick one consistent day per week where you don't do ANYTHING that raises your heart rate. This gives your body a chance to really recover and stay energized for your activity the other 6 days. Also, as you progress, you might vary your cardio (type, intensity, and/or duration) to force your body to adapt and keep burning the maximum amount of calories. Keep exploring additional exercise modalities -- yoga, pilates, different kinds of cardio activities -- to work on overall fitness and enjoyment.

Thanks so much for replying, funniegrrl.

Let's see . . . I am 27, currently about 198 LBS at 5'0'', and am fairly small-framed, I think. My goal is to get down to between 110 & 120 by my wedding in May of '06.

I do track my calories on FitDay, which has been very helpful. Since I've started this plan, I've been eating between 1200 & 1500 calories a day. I find that I'm never hungry, and it's a struggle to eat that much.

According to the link you posted, my BMR (working out 5-6 days a week) is 3011, but I don't know how to coorelate that really to anything I'm doing or should be doing.

My doctor is actually a source of some of the conflicting information I've heard. He told me that I needed to do aerobic exercise 20-30 minutes every day, and that heart rate and weight training were not as important. I just don't know what to believe. And as I'm sure you know, it's so difficult get to the gym that often. My schedule is just crazy, I work two jobs, and am planning a wedding. I work 6:30 am - 3:00 PM Monday through Friday, and then also work 3:30 - 8:00 M, W, & F. Between commuting and all the extra hours I work in addition to that schedule, it's hard, and exhausting.

Sorry to have written yet another novel, and thank you again. I'm really determined this time, and having people help me means a great deal to me.

Jen

This is not like the food "cheat day" concept advocated by the Body for Life authors and others, which IS largely reward-oriented. There are actually very good physiological reasons for a day of rest. I know many people who got into an "overtrained" situation, which prevented them from progressing further in their weight loss or fitness goals. When you have overtrained, your body feels "under assault" and your resting heart rate is elevated, you start feeling fatigued all the time, and your actual exercise performance declines, etc. Rest and recovery is a very important part of fitness, just as important as the actual exercise.

Here is an excellent article about rest from Krista's Stumptuous.com. While it focuses on weight training, the same is true for cardio. http://www.stumptuous.com/rest.htm

Now, granted, 30 minutes of cardio on that 7th day may not be a big deal in the short term. And, even if you do have a rest day that doesn't mean you have to be totally inert -- you can still go for a stroll, shoot some hoops in the backyard, etc. But, the idea is to not get your heart rate up into the aerobic training zone. Just remember it's much easier to PREVENT overtraining than it is to fix it.

I agree that your exercise schedule is fine as long as you are happy with it. I understand exactly what funnigrrl is saying but I think you have to consider your overall goals. Every healthcare professional or trainer that I've spokenwith has indicated that the rest day pertains more to someone who is actually "training" (a body builder, for example, marathon runner, etc.). But, if your overall goal is to lose weight, the best way to do that is to raise your heart rate for 20-30 minutes everyday thereby increasing your metabolism. And, besides losing weight it is good for your heart and helps raise your HDL cholesterol in the process. Having said that, I don't think it will hurt your plan in any way if you do choose to incorporate a rest day. But if you enjoy the workout I'd say keep it up. Once you reach your goal weight you may choose to concentrate more heavily on sculpting your body and then I would say it is time to revisit the "dos and don'ts" with your doctor and trainer.

I think you could eat another carb at lunch, like a piece of wole grain bread or some brown rice (fiber). Overall, looks great! Welcome to 3FC.