I've been counting for a month or so now, and its been going pretty well, but I know there's room for improvement. I want to add healthier meals and snacks, so what do you guys usually eat? Or how much protien, veggies, ect? Thanks for the help
This is what I do but sometimes I have to tweak it. I usually have one fruit a day in the morning. Most of my meals consists of dairy, veggies and meat. My snacks are like nuts, cheese etc. Oh, I have recently discovered green tea but other than that I usually drink water.
Calories 1200 - 1500
Carbs 80 - 100
Fats 60-ish or less
Sodium less than 1500
Protein 70 - 100 (I like it in the range of the carbs)
I have learned to give up bread, rice, pasta, corn. That has helped me a lot.
@Dusti wow you eat so healthy im jealous and a bit nervous.... but im gonna do it in baby steps thanks for this guide. I cut out pasta, eat wild or brown rice and whole wheat bread maybe once a week or less. Is corn bad? Lol im mexican lol so corn will be hard to give up tortillas! I already traded flour for whole wheat
Carbs - 80-100 total, 60-75 if you remove fiber... although I did two days at 50 total carbs and dropped 1lb so I may play around with that.
Fats - 45-50g... focusing on good fats, pretty much everyday I have one snack of 2tb low-sodium peanut butter, which has 16g of fat alone.
Sodium - under 1400
Sugar - Under 30, usually under 20... if I'm over its typically because I had an apple or orange.
Protein - 80-100g, pretty much exclusively chicken, eggs, and a pre-workout protein shake.
I try to have veggies take up 2/3 of my plate with lunch and dinner... I love spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, broccoli, and snap peas. If I ever dont think I got enough veggies for lunch, I'll usually do a big vegetable stir-fry with egg whites added for dinner.
... and now Im really craving some veggies :-( I just got my wisdom teeth out so I havent had anything but protein shakes, cottage cheese, and smoothies for 48 hours. :-(
@LLBoldAsLove87 awwww I'm sorry I've had mine taken out too and I felt and talked like a chipmunk for like three days, bu thanks you so much for showing me all your numbers, what do you use to count?
I eat 1500-1600 cals daily, with one cheat meal per week/bi-weekly. I keep my sodium low (about 1500-1800mgs). Don't monitor fat grams, protein grams, fiber grams, but I know I get enough because I use lean cuts of meat and make sure protein is included in every meal and snack, I don't use fatty cuts of meat, I cook with flaxseed AND I eat veggies twice per day.
BTW, I love ethnic foods...one of my favorite dishes to make and EAT is authentic Jamaican curry chicken, carribean black eyed peas. I also cook and eat various Thai foods. Next week I will be experimenting with Indian food. Many of our fellow 3FC'rs cook mexican food and love it! The key is not to deny yourself your favorite foods, but to learn to cook them with less fat, sodium and sugar. There are many low-fat, low calorie international cookbooks out there or you can experiment on your own. For instance, whatever the recipe calls for I always always cut waaayy down on the sodium. If it asks for 3 tbsp olive oil, I use 1 tsp or 1tbsp olive oil to saute my onions, garlic, etc. If the recipe calls for sugar, I use splenda. Ok..I'm rambling. Hope this helps.
Last edited by joyfulloser; 02-04-2011 at 08:33 AM.
Vanny... I use LiveStrong's Myplate feature... its free to track the basics (fat, protein, carbs, sodium, etc.) and then has some features you can pay for (tracking things like vitamins, iron, etc.... I just do the free option).
I like Livestrong's program because they pretty much have EVERYTHING I eat, you just start typing the name and a drop down menu will appear.
@joyfullloser mmmm... jamaican curry sounds good. I love indian food its my favorite! Bittered chicken, garlic nan, mango lassies, Im getting myself hungry!
Mmmm...thanks for the Indian food suggestions...I'm gonna go look them up (I have no idea what's in that...haha!). If I find a good low calorie/fat recipe, I'll post let you know. Thanks
I generally do about 1500cals/day. I try to have my calories made up of mostly lean proteins, then carbs, then fats. I use the Birds eye Steamfresh frozen veggies like crazy because the fresh ones go bad too quickly for me.
Typical day
B - Omlette with 2 servings egg beaters, diced meat (some turkey product) a wedge of laughing cow cheese, spinach if I have some and a tablespoon or 2 of salsa
Morning snack - 2 sticks light string cheese
Lunch - Leftover protein from dinner the night before (chicken breast, pork loin chop, etc) 1-1.5 cups of veggies, and a light yogurt
Afternoon snack - can of water packed tuna with a little mustard and salt and pepper
Dinner - Varies. I like to try lots of new recipes. Always includes lean protein, and 1.5-2 cups veggies. If my carbs are low, I will have some whole wheat pasta, brown rice or an apple
Evening Snack - Quest protein bar.
I shoot for around 120-140g of protein, less than 115 grams of carbs and less than 50 grams of fat.
I always plan my menus at least a day in advance, otherwise there is no way I could keep my counts even close to what I want them to be. I plan my day and then do a lot of tweaking to get things where I want them. If I know that I will be having a higher calorie/fat/carb dinner, I account for it the rest of the day.
Whats on your plate?
