Quote:
Originally Posted by julie14401
this is a typical day:
I am in college and I am taking a nutrition class. We learned in class a few weeks ago that it doesn't matter what you are eating with regard to weight loss. Of course eating healthy foods is better for us due to vitamins and minerals but as long as we have a calorie deficit, we should lose weight. It doesn't matter where the calories come from.
Ha ha. I won't argue the point, as simplistic as it sounds- I'll just point out that apparently, your body doesn't agree with the school's hypothesis. So, maybe you should do a bit of confirmation bias!
As for your foods of choice, I'm going to have to be blunt and say they're terrible (from a nutrition as well as a weight-loss standpoint). To make things a bit more "college bound" for you, I will break down the problems (with solutions) with the example diet you have provided:
breakfast: whole wheat oatmeal(150 cals)- No no no! First and foremost, nutrition-wise the balance of Omega 6s to 3s in oatmeal is a dastardaly 30:1. Oatmeal has been long touted as great for heart health, but more and more studies are coming out confirming the damage of such imbalance, and the glycemic load of grains is not good for heart health, blood sugar, or weight gain. You should take on a better adage, i.e. "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." If you're not doing some ridiculous workout when you're awakening, you should make this your most calorie-dense meal of the day (that doesn't mean go crazy, but you don't seem to have a problem with that as you limit calories, anyway) A better choice would be two eggs with some manner of leafy greens or leafy green salad. That way you get the fiber (or more than the fiber) you'd be getting with oatmeal without the high glycemic load and omega imbalance of oatmeal. Plus, the added COMPLETE protein will assist in weight loss and you'll be at about the same amount of calories you were before (150); though again, I'd personally do more for the "most important meal of the day."
Snack: fruit(80 cals), vegtable soup(150 cals); this is actually fine, just be sure the vegetable soup (if not homemade) is not filled with a bunch of hard-to-pronounce preservatives or, is as especially the case in commercial soup brands, sodium. One other commenter mentioned water retention; ills of that like come about in the company of excess sodium. Still, fruit is a great choice.
Lunch: coffee with 1 sugar and skim milk (25 cals), Egg salad sandwich(350 cals); Don't think I have to give a lecture on coffee, as we all know what caffeine does to adenosine receptors in our brains now don't we? Add the sugar to that, and well...you know. The egg salad sandwich could be good and could be bad, depending on its components. Again, grains are definitely not only the enemy to weight loss, but to general overall health. You'd be better (hate to sound redundant) using leafy greens as your carb of choice. Better in nutrients, fiber, and calories than any bread will ever be, from white to whole wheat 1000-grain (or whatever they're advertising these days to make people think bread is healthy)
Snack:nonfat cottage cheese(70 cals); Just have the full-fat variety, really. The efficacy of low fat, low cholesterol diets has even been called into question by the "officials;" the American Heart Association published a study (will furnish if necessary) likening certain illnesses (amongst them atherosclerosis) to lowfat low-cholesterol diets. I know you're trying to keep kcals down, but honestly; the difference in a serving isn't enough to affect your weightloss goals.
Dinner: usually some type of frozen dinner(350 cals); again, NO. Too many preservatives. Even the organic type foods have a certain amount of potentially harmful preservatives allowed in them. Plus, it's highly dependent on the type of carb, type of meat (if you can call whatever is in those things meat), and the glycemic load or fat content is in the particular meal. In general, you want to avoid these things. Better option? Boil or broil some fresh fish and half of a sweet potato, maybe even with some curry or turmeric or something to up the anti-inflammatory value while helping you with weight loss.
Snack: cereal(150 cals); Nope. Again, grains. They almost instantly metabolize to glucose, and excess glucose is excess glycogen. Excess glycogen gets stored as fat for cell-fuel later. Go instead for a 150-calorie serving of macadamia nuts. Good omega 3 to 6 value, hunger-satisfying fat, and doesn't metabolize to junk within seconds.
Sometimes I will have 300 calories worth of chocolate worked into my 1350. I kind of have a weakness for chocolate; No judgment here, I completely understand as a sweet-tooth myself! My suggestion is to do what I have done (Hear me out, this may seem impossible); I buy 100% unsweetened baking chocolate (Ghirardelli or whatever you have available). I've found that by itself, a couple of squares is actually surprisingly good, but I also sometimes have a square or two with a dab of (heavily flax-seed supplemented) peanut butter, or eat it together with a banana slice. I think you'll concur that 300 calories of sugared chocolate isn't agreeing with your weight loss efforts.
Anyway, hope all this helps! Also hope I don't come off as pompous or condescending, but tough love; y'know? Your weight really sounds fine, though your food choices should take a bit more consideration in my vainglorious opinion. Ha ha.