Revaluating my plan, would appreciate some input
 

Hey guys!

So I have been trying to play around with foods recently to make them more grad student friendly, and I just wanted to see what you guys would think of it. I wanted to keep it low carb so here it goes! Everything is weighted out with measuring spoons/digital kitchen scale.

Breakfast (I like to keep it light for breakfast) (295)
Oatbran mixed with 2 eggs
slice of pepper jack cheese

Lunch (400)
4 oz meat (chicken breast)
6oz broccoli slaw
1tsbp mayo (I use the regular stuff, zero carb and high fat since it's my only source of fat)
1 tsbp mae ploy sweet chili sauce

Dinner (350)
4 oz tuna
1 tbsp mayo
1tsbp mae ploy sweet chili sauce
6oz of steamed brocc/cauliflower mix

Snacks
-2 carbmaster yogurts throughout the day (120 cals)
-almond+ dark choc chips mix (300 cals) ----> I think I need to drop this :(

So my total calories for the day is around 1500. Is that too high? I exercise 6x a week for an hour so I figure if I at least burn 300 (stairmaster which gives me a **** of a workout!) I would net 1200? I also doing circuit training at the gym 3x a week now! Our school offers free training services so I'm taking advantage of that.

I like these food because I don't feel like I'm on a diet when I'm eating them. Granted I've been eating like this for two weeks and haven't seen a drop in the scale, but it's still only two weeks. What do you guys think? Drop the mayo and mae ploy sauce? Should I add in anything?

My BMR is supposed to be around 1473 cals, so I feel like I'm pushing it sometimes with my intake, but school/studying makes me hungry and I don't want my grades to suffer.

The number crunching is driving me a little crazy too. I used to drop weight so quickly and now it takes forever to see the scale move. Not complaining since it's not going up, but still! Ah I'm so impatient!

Seems ok to me but you need to monitor and adjust as needed over time.

I would advocate weight lifting over cardio but do what you enjoy.

Thanks JohnP!

I really like the burn from cardio to be honest!

Apart from lifting weights, is there anything (diet wise) that might help drop weight a little faster? Oh and how often should we adjust? Like every 10lbs or so? I've been eating this amount of calories since I weighed in the 180s to be honest (sometimes I ate even less) but I'm finding it harder to drop lower than this in school, for some weird reason.

I'd drop the cheese and add some beans. Maybe use the mayo with olive oil in it.

Thanks InATizzy! I love beans but I'm trying to keep it low carb since I've seen the most success with that, just curious what type of beans are you talking about?

Two weeks isn't very long. I'd say to give it a little time and also consider tracking your measurements--pick just one area if you like, like waist or abdomen, or a thigh. Maybe you are building up muscle mass from your workouts thus masking your fat loss on the scale.

Great that you like your menu! It's likely to be a sustainable plan. If you do something more stringent, you may burn out before you get to your goal or in maintenance.

That said, I would consider switching out the chocolate or perhaps eat it shortly before your workout. I never could lose a pound as long as chocolate or peanut butter was in my diet. :)

FWIW, I did very low carb, Ideal Protein diet. They have an interesting method for maintenance that may also help in weight loss phase: keep carbs and fats separate as much as possible. A carb meal would be ~ 3:1 carbs to fat grams and vice versa for a fat meal. The thinking is that it's carbs and fat together that cause insulin to store fat so keeping them separate prevents that... chocolate could be a hindrance.

Good luck!

Diet wise, it looks good to me, but I would also take out the chocolate. You could try some calorie cycling to keep your body guessing. Workout wise, I would try some HIIT a few times a week, which I've read is a great way to burn fat. I'll bet you've lost weight but are retaining water, since that tends to happen with workouts. I think you're doing great. Take photos as another way to track progress. I really wish I had done that. See how your clothes are fitting and I also think measurements are a great tool.

Skip the mayo, cheese, chocolate and almonds and you are good to go.

Maybe just portion control? I don't know if this applies to you, but i tend to become too flexible with portion sizes and the calories slowly start to creep up. I'd rather have slightly smaller snacks and meals than to cut and entire snack (almonds and dark chocolate). I'd propably use less mayo, but then again i'm a vegetarian and don't use a low-carb approach to my eating habits.

Also, i don't think you should eat less than this, because you are very active!

Yeah the chocolate and almond should go :( the mayo and cheese are my only source of fats though, still ditch them?

I feel like I have no standing to contradict IanG, who has had such amazing success, :) but I'd hesitate to drop the fat from your diet. Give yourself some more time. Two weeks isn't very long and all that working out, at least for me, leads to water retention that can mask true weight loss.

Also, 1500 calories absolutely does not seem to be too much.

I found these recent New York Times articles about low-carb-with-fat eating to be very interesting:

http://nyti.ms/1pjKjg2


http://nyti.ms/1u723Sk


Best of luck to you!

I would say I don't think any of those things need to go. I eat chocolate, regular mayo, nuts...I have cheese at almost every meal. I eat 1550 calories a day and I'm continuing to lose at a 1.5 to 2 lbs per week.

Over the course of the last 5-6 months, I've dropped my calories from 1750 to 1550. I know I'll have to keep doing this as I get closer to goal. But before I do, I allow myself a month to make sure it isn't just my cycle playing havoc with the scale. And when I do drop my calories, I always find a way to incorporate the things I like so I don't feel like I'm on a diet.

I realize this is just my experience and it may not be the same for you, but I'd consider giving it a little more time before making a change. What's a few more weeks, right?

That is true! Honestly I might only ditch the chocolate and almonds because it tends to make me crave more chocolate/cakey type things so I might ditch for some diet soda or something.

Thank you all for the replies!

I know this might not be the right place to ask, but how often do you switch up your workouts? I used to run a lot but got bored, now I do the stairmaster and it makes me super tired, but I feel like im just focusing on my legs and will have a flabby upper body? Or does it not work that way?

I guess I hear some people say they lost all their weight off an elliptical whereas others say they had to switch it up because they never saw a loss. Should I just trust my HRM and workout until I'm burning into the calorie range I want?

Hi guys!

So I've checked my weight today I am 177 =(

I don't know what I'm doing wrong now. I feel like it's not water weight since I've been eating the same thing, stopped working out this week since we have block exams, and I'm gaining. I can also feel it too. Everything is tight, and I'm so uncomfortable, AND I'm always hungry!!!! I've been chewing on gum, diet soda, and keeping within my cal range, but I'm miserable!! I feel like giving up and just binging on carbs right now!!

Should I drop the calories more maybe? Since I stopped exercising? I need to find foods that give me more for less calories or something. I feel like I'm going downhill at the moment, and it's really depressing. :( ughhh weightloss is so hard at times like this!!!

Diet soda can definitely cause you to crave sugar more, so I'd personally keep that in mind if you have any types of sugary cravings. With that said, I still drink diet soda daily (bad on me!) and am able to still lose (as of now). I noticed you're attempting low carb, but I'm just curious...would you ever consider attempting low sugar? I know that type of eating lifestyle isn't for everyone, but it is something that works for me. If you wanted to consider something like that, you could try cutting the sweet chili sauce and replacing it with a low sugar sauce variant (personally I'm a sucker for buffalo sauce).

Also, I might just be super oblivious, but I just Googled this carbmaster yogurt thing. Where in the sane heck do you find that?! I can definitely ditch the Dannon Light & Fit for that, judging by that sugar count! (Though I stopped yogurt altogether because I couldn't account for one yogurt being over half my daily allowance of sugar) Is it costly?

Another thing that I let myself have from time to time is a diet soda float with no sugar added ice cream.

^ For the record (if you happen to want to read up on this more), I'm following Jorge Cruise's Belly Fat Cure, which allows up to 15g of sugar and 6 servings (up to 120g) of carbs per day. I do try to keep the carb count down to half that, but it works for me. :)

Grad school = stress. Your body needs fuel to run that brain of yours. Be kind to yourself. How about mixing up the veggies and getting some variety in? Have some raw bell peppers with cheese for a snack... add more fish in... have some nuts other than almonds here and there... How about a salad with tuna on top? Some raw tomato slices with mayo? Celery and greek yogurt dip?

How's your water intake? Try infused water with cucumber slices or lemon wedges instead of diet soda. How about going for a walk as some stress relief with the block exams going on? Also, have you had a "free day" recently, or have you been eating this rigidly for a lengthy period of time? A free day is good for your mental health, which can reduce stress, which can then help you get moving...

I'm going with stress being your major problem instead of exactly what you're eating. More variety would be good for more nutrients... I see a lot of cruciferous veggie and not much else...

Hang in there. Professional/grad school does a number...

From my own experience if you're going to reduce your carbs you can't skimp on your fats and protein. What I see in your menu is a lot of empty calories that would better be spent on protein and higher quality fats. Mayo is garbage, dreadful stuff, you'd do better using pure EVO or even real butter. You're wasting too many calories on yogurt, chocolate and nuts (nearly 1/3 of your allotment). Raw nuts are a high quality source of healthy fat and a pinch of protein but just 1 oz is usually 200 calories so you need to be careful. Nut butters can also be a great fuel source but watch out for sugars. One tablespoon of natural nut butter with no sugar added can go a pretty long way spread on anything from a slice of low carb toast to celery.

Are you using 1 teaspoon of the chili sauce or 1 tablespoon? The first ingredient is sugar and it's quite high in carbs (1 T. has 8 carbs). Kind of a waste again. I know that foods can get bland but think savory, or add actual chilis instead of a processed sauce. Also consider mustard, a vinaigrette or pure balsamic vinegar.

You seem to be hanging onto that "sugar" thing. Diet soda, candy, gum, sweet chili sauce, yogurt, all sweet in some way and I've discovered for myself artificial sweeteners make things much, much worse. I don't care what the studies say or why, I know if I consume artificial sweeteners they throw something out of whack and I'm dreadfully famished, even if the calories are the same.

The lower carb thing is tricky, I'm nearly 50 and losing has been a nightmare until recently. I'm trying it myself for the first time in conjunction with calorie counting and seem to be finding success but I've learned I have to log things very carefully in my diet diary until I found my personal "sweet spot" calorically and carb wise.

One other thing, types of carbs really seems to matter (which is another reason why I mention the chili sauce and yogurt). After a lot of trial and error I've discovered certain carb sources don't work for me, period. Brown rice is an issue for me. I can have some once or twice a week, but regularly, nope, like hitting a brick wall, even just 6 oz a day, even if the carbs come under my allotment, it'll stall me faster than anything. I suspect everyone has foods like this that just flip some metabolic switch and turn off/prevent fat burning. I know a lot of people believe "a calorie is a calorie" but I don't, or at least I know as far as my own body is concerned, that is not the case.

I wish you all the best of luck in your diet journey and studies!

Your carbs are too high for a low carb diet. You don't get chocolate or yogurt at the beginning either. You need twice the protein you are getting and drop the oat bran. Have you used an online calculator to see how your macros are? A low carb diet is going to be a high fat diet and moderate protein. A good calculator for low carb is myfitnesspal.com or fatsecret.com.

For the person who asked about the low carb yogurt - I get it at Kroger. It is their brand and called carbmaster and is 10 for $4.00 most weeks. Tons of flavors, too.

I love the carbmaster yogurt! It's very satisfying when I want ice cream and I can have yogurt instead (ice cream makes my stomach all weird too!) I buy them at Fry's (Ralphs in Nevada) and I buy 10 of them $4! It's a great deal I think! I actually don't have a problem craving sugar, I want things like potatoes, breadsticks, hashbrowns, it's really awful I usually don't even care for those things.

When you say low sugar, how low do you mean? I haven't actually restricted myself to a number with sugar, maybe I should try that!


How low should I be keeping them? Below 50g? I'm sorry I'm a little confused the chocolate and yogurt at the beginning, do you mean I shouldn't include them since I'm starting the low carb diet? The reason I kept the chocolate was because I was craving sugar and the chocolate chips were 10g carbs/80 cals for one tablespoon, the yogurt is just something I like too, also low in sugar and carbs.

I thought I would still lose on this diet, because the calories are still low, so it shouldn't matter so much as long as I was eliminating the heavy carbs? Maybe I should re-evaluate my macros, thanks for the suggestion!!

Maybe I should switch things up, I've been eating this for the past month, im a little bored of it, and it's good timing since I'm out of the sweet chili sauce and chocolate/almond mix (this was actually raw almonds plus 1 tablespoon chocolate chips)

thanks for the replies! I will definitely try changing things around. I find the foods when I'm on a diet to be so boring so I guess a change right about now would be good. :)

Try walking for exercise.

Your plan looks good to me overall. But personally, I'm never able to lose weight while eating artificial sweeteners. Nuts & cheese are great foods, but for some reason - even counting their calories - I don't lose weight quickly when I eat much of them.

Skip the chocolate chips, aim for quality protein (less processed if possible), and rotate some new veggies in.

Remember that every body's different. What works for one person may not for the next. Just tweak your plan and see how you do.

Oh! And honestly, if you're like me, those cravings won't go away until you stop trying to satisfy your sweet tooth. Maybe a few months down the line you can play with that, but at the beginning, just skip all the pretend treats. In a few days, you won't even miss them. Promise.

Hello

the meal plans and snacks that you have shared seem very healthy and definitely the right approach. It's good to see that you're exercising 5 + times a week it will definitely help you lose weight and also maintain better health.

the best thing you can do is write down the goals that you want to achieve by what time frame you want to achieve them by. This will help you stay motivated. Good little tip would be to write down a few goals to active each week.

the most important thing is that you have clear goals most people are simply training and trying to lose weight but they don't know how much weight they want to lose or what they want to achieve.

are you writing down what you eat on a daily basis?
how are you tracking your goals?