Hello all,

I wrote a post about hunger and it was suggested that I post a typical day to see if anyone could maybe point out problems.

To give just a bit more information: I'm almost 45. I try to consume about 1450 calories a day. A friend let me borrow her bodybugg and it told me over a bit of time that I burn on average about 2000 calories per day when I don't exercise. If I do not cheat at all, and stay within my calories, I lose about 1 pound per week. I try to exercise 3 hours per week. 90 minutes of weight stuff and 90 minutes of cardio. For me, it is easier to eat less than go to the gym. I try hard to enjoy exercise... but.... I don't.

So then... a typical day:

Brownberry Double Fiber Bread 1 slice 90 cal
Rose Canadian Bacon 2 pieces 30
2% cheese 50 cal
Non fat latte (for calcium) 120

3 oz chix breast 166
3 oz onion 27
celery 10
.75 Cup peas 88
1 T light mayo 50
relish 27

Trader joes chix sausage 140
4 cup broccoli 120
salad 100
kraft seven seas dressing 180

snack
fruit smoothy 238

Total calories 1436

I tried to sort of piece together a typical day. I aim for 25% fat, 40% carb, 35% protein, but it doesn't usually work out like this.

I have found that protein and fiber stay with me which is why I eat the Brownberry bread. I also have fiber one bars occasionally. I'm not a big apple fan and can't eat yogurt or oatmeal.

*sigh*

The hardest problem for me is just being hungry (real hunger, not boredom or comfort eating). I go for volume. Who else would choose to eat 4 whole cups of broccoli?! I have large salads and wish I could do lowfat dressing, but the only kind I like is Seven Seas. I use as little as possible.

I'm a teacher, so at least for most months of the year, my schedule is regulated. One BIG problem for me is that I've had my breakfast and lunch by 11:40. I have to eat before I leave for school in the morning and my lunch begins at 11:19. Since I go to bed around 11 pm, that leaves a WHOLE lot of day. I suppose I could eat my breakfast at lunch, but I don't know if I could wait that long to eat in the morning.

Anyway. Here it is. I'm sorry this is so long.

I would truly appreciate any suggestions you might have for me.

I suggest instead of eating your whole lunch, break it up into 2 smaller portions or have 2 large snacks...one during your 11am lunch hour, and one right when you leave school...Then you should not be starving when you get to dinner.

You don't say what time you get up in the morning, but as you are a teacher, I assume it must be pretty early. I would guess, with the 11 pm bedtime, that you are probably only getting 5 to 6 hours of sleep per night. If that is the case, I would strongly suggest getting more sleep--a minimum of 7 hours per night is what you should shoot for. This is important because sleep has a direct effect on hunger; the less you sleep and the lower-quality your sleep is, the more hungry you will be. Not getting enough sleep also slows down your metabolism and makes it harder to lose weight.

Other than that, I would say eat more protein. Change out some of your fat calories for protein if you are determined to stay at your same calorie level.

Also, break your meals up more so that you are eating at least 2 to 3 snacks, as well as breakfast-lunch-dinner.

Well...you could try having a piece of fruit before work, your breakfast at lunch break, your lunch after school, dinner around 7 and then either another piece of fruit or 1/2 the amount of smoothie. Generally speaking, just eating less food alone won't help you to lose weight well. Why not start walking around the building or the parking lot at lunchtime...and take some of the other teachers along to visit and chat away the time? If you like to shop, head for the mall and do laps while you window shop. Arm yourself with a bottle of water or some herbal ice tea so you won't be tempted to get junk at the food court. Do you like to hike, or go do stuff? If there's a zoo nearby, you can walk around and look at the animals...twice ;-) Just get moving a little and believe it or not, walking is one of the best "exercises" a person can do. You ca vary the pace and terrain. And find a friend or get a dog or borrow a friend's dog to go with you for company. Take an ipod or walkman. Books on tape. Or snappy tunes that make ya wanna hippity hop while you're walking. I think the key is to have fun while you are active and you won't have to slog through the gym stuff. I promised myself an ipod when I get into onederland :-) I NEEDS me some tunes!

I HATE to exercise, but there are a lot of things I enjoy doing that are more active than just sitting on the sofa...and the idea is to get moving around more, every little bit helps. It doesn't mean you have to go to the gym. And if you are doing enough activity, then you may need to increase you calories to lose weight so your body isn't trying to conserve to compensate. Sounds crazy. And there are so many really good salad dressings that are low in fat and calories. A couple of companies make a light raspberry or raspberry walnut vinegrette and other types that would allow you to have plenty of salad and add another low cal snack for the calories you would be saving.

Not sure if any of that would help, but I hope maybe you can find something I typed of use!

Barb

I'd be starving on that too.

You're breakfast is not all that filling. You said you liked volume - I don't see much volume there. For me, regardless of how much darn fiber is in a piece of bread, it just doesn't stick to me. Same with that little itty bit of bacon and that little bit of cheese. Those are not such filling/voluminous/stick to the ribs foods. I like a higher protein breakfast WITH some carbs. A 150 calorie bowl of oatmeal with a 3 egg white omlette for instance - 200 calories. FILLING. Or some fat free/sugar free yogurt with fiber one cereal or some low fat cottage cheese

Lunch? You can have 2 cups of cauliflower - much more filling than the peas, lose that mayo and have THREE cups of cauliflower- with that chicken or a small salad - again more filling

180 calories worth of dressing??? Wowzer. ZERO filling power. You can have an apple for a hundred calories and get much more bang for your buck - calorie wise, nutrition wise, FILLING wise. Dress your salads with lemon juice, balsamic vinegar or a FF dressing. Save oodles of calories that you can have elsewhere. Have more chicken, more veggies instead.


That smoothy - also pretty caloric - with not much filling power. How about a ff/sf yogurt with fiber one. Or a veggie platter with salsa?

I would shave some calories off that breakfast and that lunch and add in a snack (an apple, pear, yogurt, cottage cheese, veggie platter, etc). I'd probably also have a smaller breakfast since I was eating lunch so early and have some calories when school is out.

Think veggies, veggies, and more veggies. Cut down on those condiments. Rework your timing - do some shifting around.

just from a quick look it seems like you need to eat a bit more. Do some google research on calorie requirements for your current weight....there is a formula that figures it for you but my guess is you will feel better and lose more is you feed the machine (feed the machine, work the machine) a bit more..... If I eat too little my body shuts down. I too need lots of volume to feel full. Add bulk wherever you can. I eat about every two hours in order to stave off hunger and have been averaging 2.4 lbs per week.

Firstly, I agree with Robin ...

1 -- latte = way too many wasted calories; you could have a nice big fluffy omelette + an orange or a peach + a regular coffee for that many calories + have a few left over to go into another snack like any number of fruit, like berries.

2 -- Peas = other veggies are much less calories: green or yellow beans, or cauliflower, carrots, greens, or a cabbage coleslaw, etc. More filling and bulky too! How about having that chicken on a nice romaine salad instead? With a small tomato + a baby cuke + carrot sticks + slivers of onion ... nice!

3 -- Condiments = like mayo and relish could be replaced with mustard instead or lite dressing or sour cream, etc.

4 -- South Seas dressing = take it to the sea: youch!!! you can have a huge dollop of 1% sour cream for only 20 calories; and any lite dressing like Ranch (which is delish IMO), ceasar, french, italian, cuke, and many others for much less than 180 calories; more like 35 cals. Save some for another snack like fruit (berries, peaches, nectarines, melon, or a pear).

5 -- Dinner salad: what is in your salad that comes to 100 cals? Mine only come up to about 50 cals or less; even 1 cup of cabbage coleslaw is only 20 cals. 3 romaine lettuce is only 5-7 calories. Celery, cukes, tomatoes, radishes, onions, are all low in cals and a little go a long way to make a nice big salad.

6 -- 4 cups of Broccoli? You could have only 2 cups and have something else later as a snack like a baby cuke and/or tomato salad, etc.

7 -- Smoothie -- is too high in calories; again using frozen berries with skim milk & sweetener would bring that way down in calories too; again saving some for a bigger snack. Try frozen strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, peaches, or blueberries too. ie 1 cup strawberries (53) + 3/4 cup skim milk (66) + a bit of Splenda = 119 and saves 111 calories for something else.

Diet puddings and jellos are 60 calories or under; cupasoups 50-60 calories each (easy and filling) although homemade would be even better; and leftovers could be frozen. Say make a big pot once a week and freeze in containers to have for dinner during the week or on the weekend for lunch.

When you say 25/40/35%'s ... how does it really turn out?

I have been to a few nutritionists and the thing I hear over and over is that you need a little protein and a little carbs with each meal and each snack.

If I were you - plan your breakfast, plan your lunch, then plan two afternoon snacks, your dinner and then the option for an evening snack.

Your breakfast seems small. (except for the latte that adds a lot of calories and sugar) I would skip the bacon and throw an egg on that slice of bread. Or some peanut butter (be careful with PB, though - very "calorie dense")

Snacks I eat are:
- 1/2 C of low fat Cottage cheese (lots of protein) w/half an apple (you say you don't like apples - you can substite some other fruit - peaches or pineapple are yummy with cottage cheese)
- Half an apple with a string cheese
- PB on graham crackers
- evenings I have my 100 calorie bag of popcorn
- 12 sweet potato chips w/laughing cow wedge

Lunch: doesn't look that bad - you've got your protein (chicken) and your carbs (peas). mayo can add up quickly - but I can't eat everything plain all the time. I have some tastefully simple sauces (merlot sauce is yummy!) that are about 15 cal. a tablespoon. They taste GREAT on veggies. And b/c of the tangyness, a little sauce goes a long way.

A previous poster had a great idea for your smootie - using skim milk & splenda. 238 calories in a drink is a lot. And smooties never hold me over. You could have two 150 calories snacks throughout the afternoon that would probably hold you over better.

Do you eat shrimp, pork, fish, ? Shrimp is great - high protein, low cal. You could even have shrimp cocktail for a snack.

I find that I am less hungry during the day if I eat eggs for breakfast. I keep my fat below 30%, so have to avoid the yolks. I eat 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg for breakfast, along with 2 slices of whole wheat toast and a cup of milk. Comes to about 324 calories, and is very filling.

I have also found that snacks are almost useless for me if they don't include both protein and carb....instead of the whole fruit smoothie, maybe drink just have of it, and add in a low fat cheese stick? I have also heard it said that your body uses chewing to help placate hunger, so if you are drinking a lot of your calories, your body feels like it didn't get enough food.

Wow!

Ladies..... TRULY... thank you so much...

For a long time.. I thought I had tweaked about all there was to be tweaked...

Boy was I wrong!

Just one post and you all have given me so much food for thought.

Two things right off the bat are the latte and salad dressing. Those two things alone are 300 calories. I thought I was doing well to have the latte because of the calcium. I'm still not sure about that. It is nonfat and there is no sugar in it. But, the salad dressing is totally indulgent. I don't really like other salad dressings, but it is something I might be able to adjust.

So. Those two things are on my hit list. I'll be thinking about all the other things you ladies said, too.

SusanB... you asked about my ratios. It seems strange to me, but I am most often UNDER on the fat and then either my carbs or protein absorb the difference. THAT was a huge surprise to me. Do you think I should be doing something different? I truly appreciate any advice you might have.

Just thanks, ladies, I truly do believe that this is the best place on the net for weightloss support.

Cheers and best wishes to all of us!

I have a lot of dietary restrictions and am picky about salad dressings, so I understand using the full fat dressings over other versions. I use full fat dressing all the time, it's all I use. I make my own "ranch" dressing that has similar stats to your dressing. I just know that I have to use it sparingly. I can make a HUGE 4-5 cup salad with spinach, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, sweet peppers, onion, 3oz grilled chicken breast and 2 tbsps of regular dressing, if I really want to cut back, 1 tbsp for less than 500 calories and a ton of nutrients. It's super filling, lots of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, and it's five cups of salad, so very filling.

I think I would look into less latte and smoothies. Liquid calories never seem to sick with me very long. I am much better off to fill my calories with chewable food. I just seem more satisfied with it.

Really lovely fats? Avocado? Olive oil? Salmon? Nuts?

I love Amanda's huge salad suggestion.

I'm a bit of a purist (or snob maybe) and I'd trade out the bacon and sausage for a real hunk of animal flesh. I'm currently on the hunt for nice pork loin chops (on sale). I think I could use them about the same as I use chicken breast.

And honey ... there's always room for tweaking Doncha love it!

No fat, no sugar - great, but not good enough, simply because it's not satiating. They are empty calories. We must get the most bang for our buck. When one is adhering to a lowered calorie allotment, you MUST get FILLING power.

It's hard enough saying no to 95% of the junk out there in the world that we are bombarded with on a daily basis. To have to do so while being hungry - is next to IMPOSSIBLE and not an option for me.

Load up that salad with grilled or sauteed veggies - moist and adds lots of flavor. ZERO salad dressing required. I use a great FF raspberry dressing that I find a little too sweet, so I mix it with balsamic vinegar. Be creative! Search out, seek and find your own "right" mix. Experiment. Become a calorie snob.

How about a calcium supplement instead of the latte? I don't think the little amount of milk in a latte will give you that much calcium anyway. You already got many suggestions so I will skip mine - I only read the entire thread just now - but I have to say although I am not a calorie counter the dressing, the smoothie and the latter jumped out at me right away.
Instead of the calorie-heavy salad dressing (180) you can have a can of flaked tuna (canned in water, of course) - that's 130 calories and it will give you a lot more filling bang for your buck.