Is this a nutritious day of eating? Totally lost track of what's good and what isn't

[TabithaTwitchel]

Tried SO many diets etc and embarked on yet another - I need to lose 3 stone and know I can do it but my problem is I've just been so bamboozled by all the differing healthy eating opinions out there

Anyway - can you tell me that this IS a good day of eating and I've made a decent start?

Home made baked berry breakfast crumble ...( frozen cherries and blueberries with an oat / egg whites/ chia seeds/ linseeds / cashew butter topping) served with some greek yogurt

Greek salad with quinoa

Paprika mushrooms on sourdough with a little light cream cheese

All portions moderate and not large but sufficient. I'm vegetarian so no meat or fish

It sounds fine. It depends on quantities though. Your breakfast in particular sounds pretty high in calories. Maybe count them for a while until you get into a good routine.

@AhBiscuits I try not to count calories but yes I know what you mean! Breakfast was 450 cals so not too bad really

If you want to loose weight, the only thing that I have found works is being in a calorie deficit. So while it's important to eat a range of nutrients for general health, in terms of weight loss it's calories in vs calories out.

I have to meticulously track and weigh most things to stay on track as I had completely no idea about how much a portion should be.

450 calories is quite a lot, depending on your height and activity level. I aim for 1250 calories a day which gives me a weight loss of 1-2lb a week, so breakfast is under 100 calories for me at least 5 days per week

Sounds great.👍🏻
Nutrition is more important than counting calories and under 100 is extreme.

It’s healthy but it’s fairly high in calories. However, it really depends on what you were consuming before. If you’re on 2000 calories a day now but you were consuming 3000 before, you’ll lose weight.

I don’t think that your diet is compatible with losing 3st at the moment.

breakfast, have some porridge, it will keep you full and fewer calories. You can use milk or water. Get rid of the nuts, fruit, etc. it’s just extra calories you don’t need and you can get them from lunch and dinner.

lunch sounds fine

dinner, have more vegetables, eggs are good, egg fried rice with vegetables, butter bean stew with feta, vegetable chilli , etc

Depends. Have you got a whole block of feta in your Greek salad, olive oil dressing, how much cashew butter?

It's boring as fuck but tracking and weighing is the only way you'll know.

It all sounds delicious!

are you exercising/moving much?

I think it’s good to have a good amount of healthy fats and protein so I would say maybe look at that- add in a scoop of vanilla protein powder to Greek yoghurt and dollop that on with the berries.

swap the cream cheese to cottage cheese. Blend it up to the consistency you like. V high in protein.

I would add in lots of green veg to each of your meals so you are getting those great nutrients and volume eating.

loads of water and a good walk and it’s perfect!

1200 calorie diets are too restrictive though. You have nowhere to go when you reach a plateau for example

I aim for 1600 calories a day - based on my tdee etc - and this works fine (err when I stick to it!) I just don't track slavishly - but I think I'll keep a closer eye for the next week or so to ensure I'm on the right track

@Revelatio I don't particularly want a diet where I can't eat fruit or a teaspoon of cashew nut butter

@Catsfrontbum you're talking the sort of thing that I naturally gravitate towards. The cottage cheese idea is a great one as I do struggle with enough protein.

I'll add in more veg tomorrow!

Could be nutritious (depending on the quantities of fruit and vegetables), which is great but I don’t think it’s a weight loss diet 🤷‍♀️

Sorry but some of you lot are insane.
We are so warped by diet culture that we think someone cannot lose weight on a healthy balanced diet. The three meals above, sound very balanced and nutritious.

Most people do not need to go on 1200 calorie diets to lose weight. You will see rapid weightloss but also metabolic crash (unless very petite already). It will not be sustainable.

Obviously we know nothing about the OPs height and weight, how much exercise she does, her metabolic level, her age, or her portion sizes/food weights.

OP asked if the above is a healthy day of eating. It absolutely is.

Focus on wholegrains, nuts, seeds, fruits and veggies, protein and healthy fats (such as avocado and olive oils).

OP, whatever your height and weight is, find a TDEE calculator online. You can calculate your total daily calorie expenditure. Don't get upset by calories, think of calories as pennies, you have (example) 2000 pennies to spend in the shop every day. Days you do a workout or walk more, you can spend a little more. A fitbit or apple watch is really useful.

It's hard for someone to say based on the above if you'd lose weight eating that amount. We don't know your portion sizes or how much energy you burn. Someone 4'11 needs a lot less calories than someone 5'11, obviously.

I'm 5'8, and am losing on average 1.5lbs per week eating 1900-2100 calories. I burn around 3000-3200 per day - I walk 12,500 steps a day and workout in the gym 3x per week weightlifting.

Also please take measurements and photos as well as weighing yourself.

I only lost 3lbs throughout January, which was demotivating initially. However because I also take my measurements, I know I've actually lost 35 centimeters from around my body, and dropped 8% body fat. I've essentially lost a lot of fat and replaced with lean muscle. I have much less belly than I did. But the scales don't show this.

Good luck!

It sounds delicious. Although I would tend to agree it's perhaps higher in calories if you are looking to lose weight.

If it helps, I chose to lose weight slowly after struggling to lose weight with stricter eating plans that I couldn't stick to. I'm post menopausal and short, so the maths weren't in my favour. Reducing by 500 calories a day to loose a pound a week would have left me with 1000-1100 calories - for months. Instead I reduced food by 200 calories and made sure I exercised every single day, even if it was just a walk around the village. Slowly but surely, It was enough to make a difference and I lost 20 pounds over eighteen months and have kept it off.

I don't follow a diet plan as such, but have cut out most ultra processed foods and have carbohydrates for one meal only.

The advice that clicked with me was from the "why we eat too much book". I can't remember the exact wording but it's something like start eating how you would eat if you had lost weight and simply wanted to maintain your weight by eating healthy foods.

Good luck with it - if I can do it anyone can

@redhairwearsflares I know , I agree with you and this is where you can get so mind fucked by it all!

My tdee etc brings me out at between 1600-1800 for weight loss and I lost two stone last year in 5 months. I ate three meals a day and two snacks and walked 5k each day

I'm doing the same this time but everywhere you look it's people making weird stuff with weetabix and muller lights and saying you shouldn't eat blueberries / nuts / avocados

The Greek salad for example was 1/3 block of feta, 8 cherry tomatoes, 1/4 cucumber and 1/3 red onion with half a pouch of grains. Home made dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic and oregano

Songs adding up the calories in that, it's 500

That's completely normal for a lunch.

I remind myself

eat real food, mostly plants, not too much.

Simple’s!

@Catsfrontbum ha now I have that book! Just putting it into practice!

If you are eating 1250 why so low for breakfast?

Sounds lovely. Keep it up - eat more and more and more veg and whole grain and healthy fats with every serving and you'll be grand.

Personally, I think 950 calories over breakfast and lunch is a lot, especially if you’re having two snacks per day. Did you really only consume 650 calories for the rest of the day? It’s definitely wise to record everything you consume.

@Kwasi I'm not having two snacks a day. I described a previous successful attempt

And yes, my dinner was no more than 650 calories

Also I find you get more taste from feta if you crumble rather than cube it and so naturally use much less.