any thoughts on my diet?

pete snyder wrote:

this is my average menu for 6 days out of the week
then on fridays i might grab a burger out or have some junk food.

lunch
2 turkey sandwichs 320 cals - 8 g fat

This is an intersting place to start. I'm taking that to mean you don't
eat breakfast. I personally find that my body runs much better - higher
metabolism - if I eat small meals throughout the day. I plan for four
or five, starting with something with both protein and whole grains in
it for breakfast. A frequent winter breakfast is oatmeal mixed with
protein powder. A super-fast one would be cottage cheese mixed with
flavored yogurt. (I also noted, as other did, that you were low on
calcium.)

I grew up eating sandwiches for lunch every day and so this was a hard
thing to retrain myself, but I find that four slices of bread makes a
huge dent in my calorie budget for what I get out of it. I much prefer
to eat some chunks of meat on top of a salad (in summer) or warmed up
with left-over steamed vegetables (in the winter.) The chunks of meat
differ daily - leftover grilled meat from the previous dinner, or a can
of tuna, or sometimes chunks of cold cuts (though I don't like to get
that much sodium and preservatives usually.)

Unless you're eating sprouted wheat bread that is denser than lead I
doubt you're getting much fiber in these two sandwiches, either. So my
advice is to replace some bread with veggies.

snack over the day on
beef jerky 150 cals - 1 g fat

Have you ever considered the Zone diet or any of the other glycemic
index based diets? One of the points they make is that you ought to try
to get some carbs and some proteins and a dose of healthy fats in every
meal. Beef jerky is constipation city for me. I am more likely to eat
a handful of almonds or an apple with some peanutbutter on it or have a
myoplex lite shake. It's very important to plan snacks: simple carb
crap food always miraculously appears whenever I'm tired and hungry, but
healthy snacks just don't unless I thought ahead. Now I just figure I'm
going to have a 3 pm mini-meal and shop for it the same way I'd shop for
breakfast foods.

--
dinner
chicken 2 frozen breasts boiled with fat removed 340 cals - 7 g fat
1 onion 70 cals
peas 80 cals - or instant mashed potatos
mushrooms 25 cals

This is really sad. First of all, it's a huge portion of chicken
breasts. I'd rather see you eat some breakfast and have a planned
late-night snack than eat 400 calories of flavorless chicken. And why
are you boiling it? Get a George Foreman grill and add some Season All
to the breasts. Way more flavor. I slice up the leftovers and put them
on my salad the next day.

And where are your phytochemicals? I see maybe three servings of fruits
and veggies. I put fruit in my breakfast, veggies in my lunch, an apple
in my snack and have heaps of steamed vegetables or salad in my dinner.
They provide bulk, nutrients and are relatively calorie dense.

Instant mashed potatoes are no different than sugar to your body, and I
suppose to load them up with margarine, right? Ditch margarine
completely (unless it's one of those plant sterol ones) and ditch the
mashed potatoes, too. You can boil some new potatoes or roast some
slice sweet potatoes in the same amount of time. For slightly more time
you can have some delicious brown basmati rice that is great in leftover
lunches.

--
air popcorn 200 - 2 g fat
a frozen meal under 300 cals and 5 g fat
frozen peaches 150 cals
--

Is this the third meal of the day? Or an alternate dinner? I like
popcorn for a snack. One of my favorite tricks from my low-fat days is
to spray it lightly with "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter". Now I don't
have it for two reasons: it's not balanced with proteins and fats, and
I've become allergic to corn. :-(

rounding up on all the calories and fat so
im sure im well below 1500 cals 25 g fat per day

I personally find that I do much better when I get more like 1/3 of my
calories from each macronutrient. You're reporting about 15% fat and
that is a pretty sucky way to live. Fat is satiating, fat is healthy
(as long as it's from plant and fish soucres) and my body runs better
with fat. My skin is elastic. Dry patches disappear. I'm more
regular. My metabolism is higher.

I'd take another look at fitday and see where your protein and carb
ratios lie, too. I find it's important to keep carbs below 50% in order
to not blow my calorie budget and yet feel sated. All that bread and
those crappy mashed potatoes - I wonder if you've blown it right there.

My feeling on carbs is that they've got to have a reason for going into
my mouth. Fiber or phytonutrients or entertainment. And since I don't
eat for entertainment all that often, mostly they've got to have some
good nutritional value. Holding together a sandwich isn't good enough.
"But I always have potatoes" isn't good enough, either. Look closely
at those two areas and evaluate whether you're getting enough nutrient
bang for your calorie buck.

i have been on it since early january and im down
55+ pounds

From where to where? (I'm troubled by the "on it" part of that
sentence, but I'll save that for another post.)

have just started walking 45 minutes in the evening
and am wondering how this will help me.

How could it not help you?

any thoughts on what im doing pros and cons?

I'd like to know more about where you're at right now. I always
recommend people do some weight-lifting so that their weight loss comes
more from fat than from decimation of lean body mass. After all, it's
not muscle and bone density you really want to lose, it's fat. It takes
a little bit of a mindset change to integrate that into your life, but
it's really worth doing.

i know eating bad food once a week is probably bad but
im not sure i could keep on this or any diet without some bad foods

There's no problem with feasting when it's an actual feast day. And
cheat days have a long and respectable place in our diets. We tend to
refer to them as "refeed" days here.

Dally
244/174/168

pete snyder wrote:

this is my average menu for 6 days out of the week
then on fridays i might grab a burger out or have some junk food.

lunch
2 turkey sandwichs 320 cals - 8 g fat

This is an intersting place to start. I'm taking that to mean you don't
eat breakfast. I personally find that my body runs much better - higher
metabolism - if I eat small meals throughout the day. I plan for four
or five, starting with something with both protein and whole grains in
it for breakfast. A frequent winter breakfast is oatmeal mixed with
protein powder. A super-fast one would be cottage cheese mixed with
flavored yogurt. (I also noted, as other did, that you were low on
calcium.)

I grew up eating sandwiches for lunch every day and so this was a hard
thing to retrain myself, but I find that four slices of bread makes a
huge dent in my calorie budget for what I get out of it. I much prefer
to eat some chunks of meat on top of a salad (in summer) or warmed up
with left-over steamed vegetables (in the winter.) The chunks of meat
differ daily - leftover grilled meat from the previous dinner, or a can
of tuna, or sometimes chunks of cold cuts (though I don't like to get
that much sodium and preservatives usually.)

Unless you're eating sprouted wheat bread that is denser than lead I
doubt you're getting much fiber in these two sandwiches, either. So my
advice is to replace some bread with veggies.

snack over the day on
beef jerky 150 cals - 1 g fat

Have you ever considered the Zone diet or any of the other glycemic
index based diets? One of the points they make is that you ought to try
to get some carbs and some proteins and a dose of healthy fats in every
meal. Beef jerky is constipation city for me. I am more likely to eat
a handful of almonds or an apple with some peanutbutter on it or have a
myoplex lite shake. It's very important to plan snacks: simple carb
crap food always miraculously appears whenever I'm tired and hungry, but
healthy snacks just don't unless I thought ahead. Now I just figure I'm
going to have a 3 pm mini-meal and shop for it the same way I'd shop for
breakfast foods.

--
dinner
chicken 2 frozen breasts boiled with fat removed 340 cals - 7 g fat
1 onion 70 cals
peas 80 cals - or instant mashed potatos
mushrooms 25 cals

This is really sad. First of all, it's a huge portion of chicken
breasts. I'd rather see you eat some breakfast and have a planned
late-night snack than eat 400 calories of flavorless chicken. And why
are you boiling it? Get a George Foreman grill and add some Season All
to the breasts. Way more flavor. I slice up the leftovers and put them
on my salad the next day.

And where are your phytochemicals? I see maybe three servings of fruits
and veggies. I put fruit in my breakfast, veggies in my lunch, an apple
in my snack and have heaps of steamed vegetables or salad in my dinner.
They provide bulk, nutrients and are relatively calorie dense.

Instant mashed potatoes are no different than sugar to your body, and I
suppose to load them up with margarine, right? Ditch margarine
completely (unless it's one of those plant sterol ones) and ditch the
mashed potatoes, too. You can boil some new potatoes or roast some
slice sweet potatoes in the same amount of time. For slightly more time
you can have some delicious brown basmati rice that is great in leftover
lunches.

--
air popcorn 200 - 2 g fat
a frozen meal under 300 cals and 5 g fat
frozen peaches 150 cals
--

Is this the third meal of the day? Or an alternate dinner? I like
popcorn for a snack. One of my favorite tricks from my low-fat days is
to spray it lightly with "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter". Now I don't
have it for two reasons: it's not balanced with proteins and fats, and
I've become allergic to corn. :-(

rounding up on all the calories and fat so
im sure im well below 1500 cals 25 g fat per day

I personally find that I do much better when I get more like 1/3 of my
calories from each macronutrient. You're reporting about 15% fat and
that is a pretty sucky way to live. Fat is satiating, fat is healthy
(as long as it's from plant and fish soucres) and my body runs better
with fat. My skin is elastic. Dry patches disappear. I'm more
regular. My metabolism is higher.

I'd take another look at fitday and see where your protein and carb
ratios lie, too. I find it's important to keep carbs below 50% in order
to not blow my calorie budget and yet feel sated. All that bread and
those crappy mashed potatoes - I wonder if you've blown it right there.

My feeling on carbs is that they've got to have a reason for going into
my mouth. Fiber or phytonutrients or entertainment. And since I don't
eat for entertainment all that often, mostly they've got to have some
good nutritional value. Holding together a sandwich isn't good enough.
"But I always have potatoes" isn't good enough, either. Look closely
at those two areas and evaluate whether you're getting enough nutrient
bang for your calorie buck.

i have been on it since early january and im down
55+ pounds

From where to where? (I'm troubled by the "on it" part of that
sentence, but I'll save that for another post.)

have just started walking 45 minutes in the evening
and am wondering how this will help me.

How could it not help you?

any thoughts on what im doing pros and cons?

I'd like to know more about where you're at right now. I always
recommend people do some weight-lifting so that their weight loss comes
more from fat than from decimation of lean body mass. After all, it's
not muscle and bone density you really want to lose, it's fat. It takes
a little bit of a mindset change to integrate that into your life, but
it's really worth doing.

i know eating bad food once a week is probably bad but
im not sure i could keep on this or any diet without some bad foods

There's no problem with feasting when it's an actual feast day. And
cheat days have a long and respectable place in our diets. We tend to
refer to them as "refeed" days here.

Dally
244/174/168

pete snyder wrote:

this is my average menu for 6 days out of the week
then on fridays i might grab a burger out or have some junk food.

lunch
2 turkey sandwichs 320 cals - 8 g fat

This is an intersting place to start. I'm taking that to mean you don't
eat breakfast. I personally find that my body runs much better - higher
metabolism - if I eat small meals throughout the day. I plan for four
or five, starting with something with both protein and whole grains in
it for breakfast. A frequent winter breakfast is oatmeal mixed with
protein powder. A super-fast one would be cottage cheese mixed with
flavored yogurt. (I also noted, as other did, that you were low on
calcium.)

I grew up eating sandwiches for lunch every day and so this was a hard
thing to retrain myself, but I find that four slices of bread makes a
huge dent in my calorie budget for what I get out of it. I much prefer
to eat some chunks of meat on top of a salad (in summer) or warmed up
with left-over steamed vegetables (in the winter.) The chunks of meat
differ daily - leftover grilled meat from the previous dinner, or a can
of tuna, or sometimes chunks of cold cuts (though I don't like to get
that much sodium and preservatives usually.)

Unless you're eating sprouted wheat bread that is denser than lead I
doubt you're getting much fiber in these two sandwiches, either. So my
advice is to replace some bread with veggies.

snack over the day on
beef jerky 150 cals - 1 g fat

Have you ever considered the Zone diet or any of the other glycemic
index based diets? One of the points they make is that you ought to try
to get some carbs and some proteins and a dose of healthy fats in every
meal. Beef jerky is constipation city for me. I am more likely to eat
a handful of almonds or an apple with some peanutbutter on it or have a
myoplex lite shake. It's very important to plan snacks: simple carb
crap food always miraculously appears whenever I'm tired and hungry, but
healthy snacks just don't unless I thought ahead. Now I just figure I'm
going to have a 3 pm mini-meal and shop for it the same way I'd shop for
breakfast foods.

--
dinner
chicken 2 frozen breasts boiled with fat removed 340 cals - 7 g fat
1 onion 70 cals
peas 80 cals - or instant mashed potatos
mushrooms 25 cals

This is really sad. First of all, it's a huge portion of chicken
breasts. I'd rather see you eat some breakfast and have a planned
late-night snack than eat 400 calories of flavorless chicken. And why
are you boiling it? Get a George Foreman grill and add some Season All
to the breasts. Way more flavor. I slice up the leftovers and put them
on my salad the next day.

And where are your phytochemicals? I see maybe three servings of fruits
and veggies. I put fruit in my breakfast, veggies in my lunch, an apple
in my snack and have heaps of steamed vegetables or salad in my dinner.
They provide bulk, nutrients and are relatively calorie dense.

Instant mashed potatoes are no different than sugar to your body, and I
suppose to load them up with margarine, right? Ditch margarine
completely (unless it's one of those plant sterol ones) and ditch the
mashed potatoes, too. You can boil some new potatoes or roast some
slice sweet potatoes in the same amount of time. For slightly more time
you can have some delicious brown basmati rice that is great in leftover
lunches.

--
air popcorn 200 - 2 g fat
a frozen meal under 300 cals and 5 g fat
frozen peaches 150 cals
--

Is this the third meal of the day? Or an alternate dinner? I like
popcorn for a snack. One of my favorite tricks from my low-fat days is
to spray it lightly with "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter". Now I don't
have it for two reasons: it's not balanced with proteins and fats, and
I've become allergic to corn. :-(

rounding up on all the calories and fat so
im sure im well below 1500 cals 25 g fat per day

I personally find that I do much better when I get more like 1/3 of my
calories from each macronutrient. You're reporting about 15% fat and
that is a pretty sucky way to live. Fat is satiating, fat is healthy
(as long as it's from plant and fish soucres) and my body runs better
with fat. My skin is elastic. Dry patches disappear. I'm more
regular. My metabolism is higher.

I'd take another look at fitday and see where your protein and carb
ratios lie, too. I find it's important to keep carbs below 50% in order
to not blow my calorie budget and yet feel sated. All that bread and
those crappy mashed potatoes - I wonder if you've blown it right there.

My feeling on carbs is that they've got to have a reason for going into
my mouth. Fiber or phytonutrients or entertainment. And since I don't
eat for entertainment all that often, mostly they've got to have some
good nutritional value. Holding together a sandwich isn't good enough.
"But I always have potatoes" isn't good enough, either. Look closely
at those two areas and evaluate whether you're getting enough nutrient
bang for your calorie buck.

i have been on it since early january and im down
55+ pounds

From where to where? (I'm troubled by the "on it" part of that
sentence, but I'll save that for another post.)

have just started walking 45 minutes in the evening
and am wondering how this will help me.

How could it not help you?

any thoughts on what im doing pros and cons?

I'd like to know more about where you're at right now. I always
recommend people do some weight-lifting so that their weight loss comes
more from fat than from decimation of lean body mass. After all, it's
not muscle and bone density you really want to lose, it's fat. It takes
a little bit of a mindset change to integrate that into your life, but
it's really worth doing.

i know eating bad food once a week is probably bad but
im not sure i could keep on this or any diet without some bad foods

There's no problem with feasting when it's an actual feast day. And
cheat days have a long and respectable place in our diets. We tend to
refer to them as "refeed" days here.

Dally
244/174/168

pete snyder wrote:

rounding up on all the calories and fat so
im sure im well below 1500 cals 25 g fat per day

Low enough to count as an extreme low fat plan. Have you
checked alt.support.diet.low-fat for more detailed advice?

My main concern for you is planning for your Maintenance
phase. There's a bigger difference between an extreme
plan and maintenance than a moderate plan an maintenance,
so I'm worried you haven't planned enough. Low fat
starts at 80 grams per day for men, according to some
books. That would cut a little into your carb or protein
counts for a similar final calorie level if you intend to
stick near 1500. No hurry but it's something to consider.

i have been on it since early january and im down
55+ pounds

Then you are doing great. "If it isn't broken, don't fix
it." My fussing about maintenance is a thought project
for you now. Think now act latter. Plan ahead for extra
success.

have just started walking 45 minutes in the evening
and am wondering how this will help me.

Walking is good exercise.

any thoughts on what im doing pros and cons?

Pro - You are doing great.

Con - You have lost so much you can't even press down the
shift key any more! Oh NO! Time to panic! Or not ;^)

i know eating bad food once a week is probably bad but
im not sure i could keep on this or any diet without some bad foods

Moderation is great when you've figured out a plan you can
successfully pull off. Looks like you have done so.

pete snyder wrote:

rounding up on all the calories and fat so
im sure im well below 1500 cals 25 g fat per day

Low enough to count as an extreme low fat plan. Have you
checked alt.support.diet.low-fat for more detailed advice?

My main concern for you is planning for your Maintenance
phase. There's a bigger difference between an extreme
plan and maintenance than a moderate plan an maintenance,
so I'm worried you haven't planned enough. Low fat
starts at 80 grams per day for men, according to some
books. That would cut a little into your carb or protein
counts for a similar final calorie level if you intend to
stick near 1500. No hurry but it's something to consider.

i have been on it since early january and im down
55+ pounds

Then you are doing great. "If it isn't broken, don't fix
it." My fussing about maintenance is a thought project
for you now. Think now act latter. Plan ahead for extra
success.

have just started walking 45 minutes in the evening
and am wondering how this will help me.

Walking is good exercise.

any thoughts on what im doing pros and cons?

Pro - You are doing great.

Con - You have lost so much you can't even press down the
shift key any more! Oh NO! Time to panic! Or not ;^)

i know eating bad food once a week is probably bad but
im not sure i could keep on this or any diet without some bad foods

Moderation is great when you've figured out a plan you can
successfully pull off. Looks like you have done so.

On 8/1/2004 9:48 PM, pete snyder wrote:

rounding up on all the calories and fat so
im sure im well below 1500 cals 25 g fat per day

When I saw this the other day it raised a red flag for me. I really
thought that the body needed at least 30g of dietary fat per day to
process fat soluable vitamins. I am having a horrible time finding a
reference for this but I would use recommend using caution when going
*this* low in fat.


--
jmk in NC

On 8/1/2004 9:48 PM, pete snyder wrote:

rounding up on all the calories and fat so
im sure im well below 1500 cals 25 g fat per day

When I saw this the other day it raised a red flag for me. I really
thought that the body needed at least 30g of dietary fat per day to
process fat soluable vitamins. I am having a horrible time finding a
reference for this but I would use recommend using caution when going
*this* low in fat.


--
jmk in NC

pete snyder wrote in message . ..
rounding up on all the calories and fat so
im sure im well below 1500 cals

ummm... try not to lose more than 2lbs/week, k?

25 g fat per day

= ~250kcal/day. Why do you feel the need to limit fat intake so
drastically? While I don't follow atkins, its lesson one can trade fat
(especially healthier fats) for carbs is the key to my diet, and I'm
pleasantly surprised how easy it is losing on a lower-carb diet.

remember, low fat implies high carb, since protein should be held
constant.

i have been on it since early january and im down 55+ pounds

Not a bad rate of loss.

have just started walking 45 minutes in the evening
and am wondering how this will help me.

It'll burn some calories and maybe stimulate your metabolism a bit.
Energy and fitness is driven by distance not time per se, so the
faster you walk the more efficacious the exercise will be.

any thoughts on what im doing pros and cons?

i know eating bad food once a week is probably bad but
im not sure i could keep on this or any diet without some bad foods

I'm no expert, but I don't like the idea of starving all week only to
splurge on weekends. Whenever I eat out, as a rule I incorporate that
food into the plan and not go over my caloric limits for the day. This
always requires taking food home. No biggy, it saves money.

Wanting bad foods is not a crime, but I am surprised about how I
really don't desire any of the bad stuff like ice cream, chips & dip,
candy, Mt Dew any more. Cutting sugar out of the diet helped here I
think.

Heywood

232/186/182

pete snyder wrote in message . ..
rounding up on all the calories and fat so
im sure im well below 1500 cals

ummm... try not to lose more than 2lbs/week, k?

25 g fat per day

= ~250kcal/day. Why do you feel the need to limit fat intake so
drastically? While I don't follow atkins, its lesson one can trade fat
(especially healthier fats) for carbs is the key to my diet, and I'm
pleasantly surprised how easy it is losing on a lower-carb diet.

remember, low fat implies high carb, since protein should be held
constant.

i have been on it since early january and im down 55+ pounds

Not a bad rate of loss.

have just started walking 45 minutes in the evening
and am wondering how this will help me.

It'll burn some calories and maybe stimulate your metabolism a bit.
Energy and fitness is driven by distance not time per se, so the
faster you walk the more efficacious the exercise will be.

any thoughts on what im doing pros and cons?

i know eating bad food once a week is probably bad but
im not sure i could keep on this or any diet without some bad foods

I'm no expert, but I don't like the idea of starving all week only to
splurge on weekends. Whenever I eat out, as a rule I incorporate that
food into the plan and not go over my caloric limits for the day. This
always requires taking food home. No biggy, it saves money.

Wanting bad foods is not a crime, but I am surprised about how I
really don't desire any of the bad stuff like ice cream, chips & dip,
candy, Mt Dew any more. Cutting sugar out of the diet helped here I
think.

Heywood

232/186/182

pete snyder wrote in message . ..
rounding up on all the calories and fat so
im sure im well below 1500 cals

ummm... try not to lose more than 2lbs/week, k?

25 g fat per day

= ~250kcal/day. Why do you feel the need to limit fat intake so
drastically? While I don't follow atkins, its lesson one can trade fat
(especially healthier fats) for carbs is the key to my diet, and I'm
pleasantly surprised how easy it is losing on a lower-carb diet.

remember, low fat implies high carb, since protein should be held
constant.

i have been on it since early january and im down 55+ pounds

Not a bad rate of loss.

have just started walking 45 minutes in the evening
and am wondering how this will help me.

It'll burn some calories and maybe stimulate your metabolism a bit.
Energy and fitness is driven by distance not time per se, so the
faster you walk the more efficacious the exercise will be.

any thoughts on what im doing pros and cons?

i know eating bad food once a week is probably bad but
im not sure i could keep on this or any diet without some bad foods

I'm no expert, but I don't like the idea of starving all week only to
splurge on weekends. Whenever I eat out, as a rule I incorporate that
food into the plan and not go over my caloric limits for the day. This
always requires taking food home. No biggy, it saves money.

Wanting bad foods is not a crime, but I am surprised about how I
really don't desire any of the bad stuff like ice cream, chips & dip,
candy, Mt Dew any more. Cutting sugar out of the diet helped here I
think.

Heywood

232/186/182