reality check

[jan2011]

ahh i went onto fitday thinking i had a pretty healthy diet... but i have gained weight and am wondering why! i have realised i am eating about 700 more calories than i thought i was, and with the pie chart they show, im eating as much fat as protein, and most of my intake is from carbs. coming from someone who thought they were on a low carb food plan! my problem is i am vegetarian and am also fussy, i get a lot of calories from diary products so i am assuming this is where the fat is coming from. i am trying to revamp my diet. does anyone have any idea of what percentage of your calories should come from carbs and fat and protein, if you are trying to lose extra weight?

Fat is ok provided coming from natural sources (ie not from refined oils or even worse marg). I think I aim for 20%-25% fat.

Protein important for weight loss - I aim for around 30-35% of calories but that's high and would be hard for a veggie. I like dairy too but best to stick to greek yoghurt and cottage cheese both lower in milk sugar - probably I have 500g a day combined and no actual milk.

Carbs for me is around 45% - from dairy, fruit, veg, legumes. I don't eat grains, and I avoid tropical fruit and only very limited dried fruit.

What do you eat in typical day?

hi forever

thanks for your reply... do you find good results with your plan? i am eating quite healthy foods just way too much i am glad the fat is ok, its not coming from margarine or anything too bad.

i am eating fruits, yoghurts, cottage and cream cheese, lots of crackers, some jam, scones, tuna, beans (butterbeans, kidney beans, other mixed beans etc) nuts some dried fruit the odd bit of chocolate

i could eat more eggs and other fish more often if that would help and cut down on so much fruit and cracker type snacks would this help?

fruits - ok in moderation - best ones berries, apples. Avoid tropical fruit and dried fruit other that occasional.

yoghurts - stick to natural, fat free best. Avoid ones with added sugar.

cottage and cream cheese - ok

lots of crackers - not great, try to cut down. if you must have any go for wholegrain like ryvita but only 1 or 2 a day

some jam - not good at all. peanut butter better

scones - not good at all, can't think of anything redeeming

tuna - ok

beans (butterbeans, kidney beans, other mixed beans etc) - ok

nuts - ok in moderation

some dried fruit - ok in extreme moderation

the odd bit of chocolate - 85% best

Yes more eggs and fish would be better.

Sorry to butt in, but can I ask what you mean by tropical fruits foreveronadiet? And why to avoid them? Lychees for instance are tropical and they are only 6 calories each and are considered a super food. Mangos are tropical and are about 50 calories per quarter (which I mix in with my breakfast). In fact, the on,y fruits I avoid totally is bananas. I am not having a go at you.....just curious of your reasoning.

Tropical fruits very high in fruit sugar and hence affect blood sugar levels. This is less of an issue if mixed with lower GI foods. Yes fine in moderation but shouldn't be seen as "free to eat" good.

Ah, well I would say that is true about all fruits. None of them should be seen as free to eat. But in moderation, and within the limits of whatever diet someone is following, I think variety in the fruit they eat us a good thing. Yu get different vitamins and nutrients from diffent fruits as I am always telling my children who would just eat apples!

true re: variety but some fruit lower in sugar than others, eg berries esp low in sugar. My kids would live on strawberries if I could afford it!! I do eat some tropical fruit but not every day. Dried fruit I go for prunes, good for digestion and lower GI than other dried fruit.

thanks for the advice... reluctantly gave up my scone today...
i love berries. i also am addicted to pears... thankfully im not much into other fruits so don't need to worry about the tropicals...
maybe in place of the scone i could have some toast? lol ok the jam could go...(even the reduced sugar one?) but is peanut butter not high in calories? what about marmite?
need something to put on my crackers yes i have the wholegrain ones. not eating as much dried fruit.
i did make improvements yesterday and did go to bed a little hungry, which is probably a good sign.

sorry scone toast, same difference, may as well have scone if its nicer.

peanut butter ok, high in fat but healthy, just don't have loads.

not convinced wholegrain crackers are that great tbh, maybe one or two ryvita a day. choose low gi topping, peanut butter, pumpkin seed butter, homemade houmous...

sorry just one more question - do you think that the only carbs you can get away with are really from fruits and veg if you are trying to control your weight? thanks for all the ideas :)

No think carbs from dairy and pulses (esp for veggies) ok too.

If you eat reasonable quantities of veg, pulses and dairy (and some fruit) you'll still get 50% of your calories from carbs.

My personal experience is that weight loss on a moderate carb (no grain) diet is so much easier than calorie counting. Also I am not a fan of wheat....

thanks :) :)