Weightloss Diary

Day two.

Breakfast- 30g Trim flakes with 125ml semi skimmed milk - 162 Calories
Snack- Mini cheddars - 129 Calories
Dinner- 100g pasta, 50g cheese, quarter of a jar of tomato and garlic sauce
Snack- Small milkyway Chocolate bar 98 Calories
Tea100g pasta, 50g cheese, quarter of a jar of tomato and garlic sauce - 200g, 100g, half jar of sauce = 1199 (half for dinner and half for tea)

2+Litres of water.
x
 
Same criticisms remain, unfortunately- need more protein, more vegetables, more fruit, more food. You're not 5 foot nothing, female, and completely sedentary- therefore you need more than 1200 calories. In fact, I calculated your calories the other day. You need 1800 calories, at an absolute minimum. You're not getting the nutrients or the fuel you need.

Do you have a food processor or a hand mixer? Take that sauce (or better, make your own, use a tin of tomatoes, add some crushed garlic and spices), and in it put steamed then blended veggies (take 80g carrot and 80g courgette, chop up into smallish pieces, put the carrot into a microwave safe container with two teaspoons of water, cover with cling film or a lid, microwave for two minutes, remove cover, add courgette, microwave for two minutes. Then blend them into a puree before you add them to the sauce) and mix them in. That should minimise the taste (it's how they suggest people hide vegetables from fussy children). But then that's only 2 of your 5 a day, and really, if you look at nutritional guidelines from other countries, most recommend more than 5 a day (Australia recommends 7- 5 veg and 2 fruit).

The snacks are ok calorie wise, but they're terrible nutritionally. They provide virtually nothing. What happened to that fruit smoothie?

The only reason that much pasta is ok is because you're starving yourself otherwise (that's irrespective of whether you're hungry or not, you're eating starvation rations). A serving is 50g, and really you shouldn't have more than one lot of that a day. You're having 4.

Fortyfour has said above that your weight loss shouldn't be at the expense of your health, and I'll have to agree. You're going to make yourself sick/ malnourished on that kind of diet, both due to lack of food and lack of essential nutrients.

You really, really need to rethink this. You've said you don't like meat, vegetables, or fruit- unfortunately they are essential (well, meat can be replaced with vegetarian substitutes) to your diet. Find things you do like, and incorporate them.

Make a list of the vegetables, fruit, and meat that you like or can tolerate. Include them in your diet. Every day.
 
Or try something like this: (cut the beef stock and the sugar, and when they say "tomato paste", substitute tomato puree)
 
And another thing (sorry, I'm dogpiling you, but you need it)- is what you're writing a complete and accurate account of everything calorific that goes into your mouth? Because I know for at least one of your entries it hasn't been.

EricRogers said:
Day one.
Breakfast - 30g Trim flakes, 125ml semi skimmed milk - 161CaloriesSnack - Fruit smoothie - 1 Apple, 1 Banana and 4 Strawberries - 200 calories?Dinner - 100g Pasta with garlic and tomato sauce - 357 CaloriesTea - 100g Pasta with garlic and tomato sauce - 357 Calories
Click to expand...

In response to "how did your first day go today?"

EricRogers said:
Mine went Okay. I had a few chips though and like 2 pieces of donner meat. I suppose its not that bad least I didnt eat more. Im happy with the first day. Its nothing compared to what I used to eat. How was your day?x
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A food diary isn't "everything I ate today that I think will make me look good", it's "everything I ate today". I don't see donner meat or chips on that list, do you?

I can't accurately evaluate what you're eating unless you tell me everything you're eating. (Although I'm sure you know what I'd say about that- while it's good you're having meat- chips are starch not a vegetable- you can probably do better with it, and you'd be better off boiling that potato and adding a little bit of salt to it rather than having chips)

I want to help you. But short of finding out where you live, taking you shopping, cooking for you, and forcing you to eat certain things (and let me tell you, besides the fact that that would be illegal and totally creepy, I don't want to put that much effort in for a stranger on the internet, as much as I like helping strangers on the internet), there's only so much I can do for you. If you're repeating bad habits over and over again it becomes a futile effort for me to tell you to change your habits, don't you think?
 
Day three

Ok so, I was getting a lot of people telling me I needed all of my nutrients to ensure weightloss. So today I changed my dinner to make sure I got protein which is essential.

Breakfast - 30g Bran flakes, 125ml semi skimmed milk - 161 Calories
I will change my breakfast soon, maybe to a smoothie or something else.

Dinner - 2 Slices of bread with a thin layer of butter on both, 2 fried eggs, replaced the oil with "frylight" which is much healthier than oil, I also had a touch of tomato sauce - 574 Calories. I was happy with this amount as it was only early in the day and I needed enough energy until tea time.

Tea - 100g Pasta, 150g quorn chicken, 1/2 jar of tomato sauce - 614 Calories. I have been having pasta a lot only because I dont have any other healthy foods in for tea as its shopping day tomorrow. My tea will change as I will get more healthy food.

I also had a tiny tiny tiny, little piece of cake.

2Litres+ of water

Is this better than the previous days, opinion please!
x
 
Yes, that's better- 1349 calories plus an unknown quantity on cake (really could be anything from 50 calories to 500- some cake is very calorific). Still need more food, but you're in the safe range for a woman now.

Watch the calories/ sugar on the smoothie (sugar if nothing else may lead to a high GI rating which means a sugar spike and may lead you to be hungry/ want to eat again quicker). Have you thought about porridge? It's a staple in my diet.

Well done on the frylight, I use that whenever I fry (unless there's a good reason to use oil, which sometimes there is)

What are the stats on the quorn (calories per 100g, carbs/ protein/ fat)? I've heard it can be good but depending on how it's made it's not necessarily good for you. (It's probably ok given the calories you've mentioned though). Tomato sauce is usually very high in salt so watch that (yes, sodium's another thing you need to watch as well). Good that you're getting protein and that was probably a good source of energy and filling for a middle of the day meal. (By the way, what bread are you having? Aim for something other than white- wholemeal or seeded- it's better for you)

By tomato sauce, do you mean cooking sauce or ketchup? If ketchup, that's really bad. If cooking sauce... well it depends.

Do you like onion? Most of my meals (certainly most with a tomato base) benefit from chopped up brown onion sauteed (in frylight) before I cook the central ingredients. It's a nice caramelly flavour if you cook them until they're a little brown.
 
amy1985 said:
Yes, that's better- 1349 calories plus an unknown quantity on cake (really could be anything from 50 calories to 500- some cake is very calorific). Still need more food, but you're in the safe range for a woman now.

Watch the calories/ sugar on the smoothie (sugar if nothing else may lead to a high GI rating which means a sugar spike and may lead you to be hungry/ want to eat again quicker). Have you thought about porridge? It's a staple in my diet.

Well done on the frylight, I use that whenever I fry (unless there's a good reason to use oil, which sometimes there is)

What are the stats on the quorn (calories per 100g, carbs/ protein/ fat)? I've heard it can be good but depending on how it's made it's not necessarily good for you. (It's probably ok given the calories you've mentioned though). Tomato sauce is usually very high in salt so watch that (yes, sodium's another thing you need to watch as well). Good that you're getting protein and that was probably a good source of energy and filling for a middle of the day meal. (By the way, what bread are you having? Aim for something other than white- wholemeal or seeded- it's better for you)

By tomato sauce, do you mean cooking sauce or ketchup? If ketchup, that's really bad. If cooking sauce... well it depends.

Do you like onion? Most of my meals (certainly most with a tomato base) benefit from chopped up brown onion sauteed (in frylight) before I cook the central ingredients. It's a nice caramelly flavour if you cook them until they're a little brown.
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I did use ketchup:(. But It was only like 30ml of it, if that. It wasnt a lot. The cake was the tinyiest bit ever, I mean like 5cm by 5cm.
I do measure all my meals and write down the calories what it says on the back of the pack. To another comment, what was wrong on day 2? about the calories.
thanks for the advice :cheers2:
 
Ketchup is quite high in salt and has limited nutritional value. For lunch, my inclination would be to have fresh tomato with that sandwich instead (one of your five a day, more nutrients, way less salt).

Cakes can vary widely. I've seen cakes that are over 1200 calories a slice- so it's completely an unknown quantity to me. (Most cakes are very bad for calorie counting- very high in fat and sugar) A small piece is better than a massive piece, though- I actually wasn't criticising you for the cake, just saying "I can't quantify that to tell you how many calories you're eating".

I wrote this in response to day 2:
amy1985 said:
Same criticisms remain, unfortunately- need more protein, more vegetables, more fruit, more food. You're not 5 foot nothing, female, and completely sedentary- therefore you need more than 1200 calories. In fact, I calculated your calories the other day. You need 1800 calories, at an absolute minimum. You're not getting the nutrients or the fuel you need.

Do you have a food processor or a hand mixer? Take that sauce (or better, make your own, use a tin of tomatoes, add some crushed garlic and spices), and in it put steamed then blended veggies (take 80g carrot and 80g courgette, chop up into smallish pieces, put the carrot into a microwave safe container with two teaspoons of water, cover with cling film or a lid, microwave for two minutes, remove cover, add courgette, microwave for two minutes. Then blend them into a puree before you add them to the sauce) and mix them in. That should minimise the taste (it's how they suggest people hide vegetables from fussy children). But then that's only 2 of your 5 a day, and really, if you look at nutritional guidelines from other countries, most recommend more than 5 a day (Australia recommends 7- 5 veg and 2 fruit).

The snacks are ok calorie wise, but they're terrible nutritionally. They provide virtually nothing. What happened to that fruit smoothie?

The only reason that much pasta is ok is because you're starving yourself otherwise (that's irrespective of whether you're hungry or not, you're eating starvation rations). A serving is 50g, and really you shouldn't have more than one lot of that a day. You're having 4.

Fortyfour has said above that your weight loss shouldn't be at the expense of your health, and I'll have to agree. You're going to make yourself sick/ malnourished on that kind of diet, both due to lack of food and lack of essential nutrients.

You really, really need to rethink this. You've said you don't like meat, vegetables, or fruit- unfortunately they are essential (well, meat can be replaced with vegetarian substitutes) to your diet. Find things you do like, and incorporate them.

Make a list of the vegetables, fruit, and meat that you like or can tolerate. Include them in your diet. Every day.
Click to expand...

Specifically about the calories, you're not having enough of them. 1800 calories is your minimum. I'm going to keep saying it until I'm blue in the face. You're still far too low today, but better than yesterday. 1200 is enough for the shortest, most sedentary woman out there. Men are supposed to have no fewer than 1800.

Similar message to yesterday: EAT MORE CALORIES, more fruit, more veg. Much better on the protein though.
 
amy1985 said:
Ketchup is quite high in salt and has limited nutritional value. For lunch, my inclination would be to have fresh tomato with that sandwich instead (one of your five a day, more nutrients, way less salt).

Cakes can vary widely. I've seen cakes that are over 1200 calories a slice- so it's completely an unknown quantity to me. (Most cakes are very bad for calorie counting- very high in fat and sugar) A small piece is better than a massive piece, though- I actually wasn't criticising you for the cake, just saying "I can't quantify that to tell you how many calories you're eating".

I wrote this in response to day 2:


Specifically about the calories, you're not having enough of them. 1800 calories is your minimum. I'm going to keep saying it until I'm blue in the face. You're still far too low today, but better than yesterday. 1200 is enough for the shortest, most sedentary woman out there. Men are supposed to have no fewer than 1800.

Similar message to yesterday: EAT MORE CALORIES, more fruit, more veg. Much better on the protein though.
Click to expand...

I am trying as you can see, the calories were higher today:). shopping day tomorrow, So im going to stock up on veg bags and mix them with gravy so I dont get as much of the taste. Also getting fruit for smoothies. I will do it eventually. I just need time to adjust to the new diet and tips everybody is telling me to do. I appreciate your help though, throughout!
:cheers2:
 
Careful on the salt and fat on the gravy- if I were you I'd research that first and find out the nutritional value, or make your own (find some recipe websites which allow you to search for low kilojoule or low calorie).

It's good you're eating more, but I struggle to believe that eating 1800 calories is hard. It's hard *not* to.
 
amy1985 said:
Careful on the salt and fat on the gravy- if I were you I'd research that first and find out the nutritional value, or make your own (find some recipe websites which allow you to search for low kilojoule or low calorie).

It's good you're eating more, but I struggle to believe that eating 1800 calories is hard. It's hard *not* to.
Click to expand...

Ok I will do before I eat it. :D.

Day 4 coming up later!

Thanks:):coolgleamA:
 
Hi eric. I am glad you came back. I was afraid that we might have frightened you off.

But we don't want you to die! Or end up debilitated from poor eating.

I disagree with Amy in that i believe there is nothing wrong with using vegetable oils for cooking. You just have to be careful with the amount. I usually use 1-2 tsp in a meal. there's about 40 calories in 1tsp of oil.

As a vegetable oil, it means its polyunsaturated. This is good for lowering cholesterol. Better even than olive oil. But olive oil is the most delicious oil and perfect on a salad.

We do need oil in our diets for nutritional reasons. I am coming round to the view that it is a myth that fat makes you fat. Its only bad fat and too much of it that makes you fat.

Read about "good fats". Just google it.

Eric, please get some good solid nutrition books out of the library and learn about good nutrition. I would strongly urge you to buy the new CSIRO total well being diet book. You can see it on the internet. Its directly written for people with diabetes but its makes no difference if you haven't got diabetes. Anyone can use this book. I bought the first one. I can't tell you how much reading the nutrition section of that book helped me update my knowledge. The meal plans are excellent and you can learn about good eating habits from using them. They provide good simple recipes and you can have dessert guilt free. You don't have to follow the plans strictly but you can learn how to cook, how to eat, how to enjoy your food all at the same time as you lose weight if you follow the ideas in this book. YOu can order it online. I don't know how much it is but i can tell you it would be worth every penny.

The CSIRO is the Australian scientific research organisation. Its not for profit. It has a very good reputation. The first diet book was a best seller when it came out. Its totally helped me with my dieting.

You don't need to follow this book to the letter for always but its worth trying to absorb what it has to teach by following it for a while.

I feel you struggle psychologically to make yourself eat enough food. As if you felt it was wrong to enjoy eating. You may have a very complex relationship with food and eating. Or you may just not know much about healthy diet and dieting. I hope its not the former but if you can struggle along with us, being as honest as you can about what you are doing, you will get to where you say you want to go. If you hold back, you probably won't.

ps, i can tell you haven't looked at my diary. click the link below and read through a few of my day food logs. Note my weight going up and down but mostly down. Note how much food i am eating. I don't know exactly but i think its about 1500 calories a day.
 
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I think we're going to have to agree to disagree again, Andrea. In fact, as I recall you've asked me why I eat so much fat some of the time- it all does add up, even though I opt for low fat options where I can. Ultimately good fats can be found in other ways, and oil for cooking isn't something that's going to help keep you full or add substantially to nutrition. So it's basically just wasted calories (well, some is unavoidable, but 4 calories of Frylight is better than some ghastly amount that's probably in a reasonable portion of oil).

I agree that Eric needs to be more aware of his nutrition, although the CSIRO diet probably isn't as widely available in this country as it is in Australia (for obvious reasons). I think I've already linked that "healthy eating" pamphlet from Sainsbury's (simplistic but a good start), and the NHS also have a relatively good guidance. That's probably enough information for most people, I suspect (the NHS guidelines are more or less the framework around which my diet is based, and my diet is pretty healthy).
 
Day four. :)

Breakfast - 30g trim flakes, 125 ml semi skimmed milk - 161 Calories
Dinner- 400g potato(mash) 1/2 can beans, 2 boiled eggs - 640 calories :(
Tea- 400g potato(mash), 200g quorn, veg, gravy - 806 Calories
Snacks
5 x Jumbo snacker jack - 200 calories
Banana smoothie - 150 Calories
2 Litres+ water.

total - 1957 Calories

So today was going well to start with, I knew today was going to difficult as the shopping was bought and all of my family eat crisp and chocolate and I adore crisps. I didnt eat a pack or any chocolate which I am very please about. I am not happy with my calories as I didnt expect them to be that high, I was just trying to get all my nurtients.

Is this bad for today? opinions appreciated!!!
 
Your calories are much, much better. Much much better. In fact, this is the number of calories you should aim to be eating. (1800-2100)

But mash isn't necessarily very good for you, especially in those quantities (similar problem to the pasta- and remember potato for the purposes of nutrition is a starch like pasta, not a vegetable)- it also depends on how you make it (hold the butter and salt). Also, as you've discovered, it's not terribly low calorie. Why are you having the same starch with lunch and dinner? You should try to mix it up a bit, have more variety in your diet (that's another thing you need to remember- what I've already told you about nutrition, and then have a reasonable amount of variety so you get all your nutrients. Potatoes provide different nutrients from rice, which provides different nutrients from bread, etc)

Snacker jacks aren't ideal nutritionally, although they're ok. Better off to stick to fruit.

Well done for resisting temptation, and for finally eating enough. Better, but still with room for improvement.
 
amy1985 said:
Your calories are much, much better. Much much better. In fact, this is the number of calories you should aim to be eating. (1800-2100)

But mash isn't necessarily very good for you, especially in those quantities (similar problem to the pasta- and remember potato for the purposes of nutrition is a starch like pasta, not a vegetable)- it also depends on how you make it (hold the butter and salt). Also, as you've discovered, it's not terribly low calorie. Why are you having the same starch with lunch and dinner? You should try to mix it up a bit, have more variety in your diet (that's another thing you need to remember- what I've already told you about nutrition, and then have a reasonable amount of variety so you get all your nutrients. Potatoes provide different nutrients from rice, which provides different nutrients from bread, etc)

Snacker jacks aren't ideal nutritionally, although they're ok. Better off to stick to fruit.

Well done for resisting temptation, and for finally eating enough. Better, but still with room for improvement.
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Thankyou. I am trying so hard, But i am a very picky eater. I just dont know what to make to eat which is healthy. Today I was horrified at nearly 2000 Calories! I just feel as if ive ruined it now. Ahwel more exercise for me tonight!

I didnt add salt or butter into my mash either :hurray:

I do feel that with your input its making me up my calories, which is possibly a good thing. I just need to change my diet around a bit.

I think im doing well overall though, I never used to make a meal it used to be all just like, chips in the oven with mayonaise, and chicken bits from the oven.

Thanks!!!
 
I think you've missed the point of what I and others have been saying to you. Yes, a bigger calorie deficit is what will cause you to lose weight. Eating too many calories will "ruin" your weight loss efforts. But eating too few calories will ruin you. Anything under your maintenance will cause you to lose weight (to a greater or lesser extent)- but too little and your body won't function properly.

Have you looked at my diary and seen what I'm eating? I think that might help you. And I really urge you to try more vegetables- onions and peppers, for example, which have a fairly neutral flavour (some people have a reaction to green peppers, so maybe not them).
 
amy1985 said:
I think you've missed the point of what I and others have been saying to you. Yes, a bigger calorie deficit is what will cause you to lose weight. Eating too many calories will "ruin" your weight loss efforts. But eating too few calories will ruin you. Anything under your maintenance will cause you to lose weight (to a greater or lesser extent)- but too little and your body won't function properly.

Have you looked at my diary and seen what I'm eating? I think that might help you. And I really urge you to try more vegetables- onions and peppers, for example, which have a fairly neutral flavour (some people have a reaction to green peppers, so maybe not them).
Click to expand...

I have checked you diary out, some of the things you make is too complicated for me to make, I am only 16. I live with my mum who works many hours so I look after myself. I did add some veg into my tea today. But I had 4 mouth fulls and literally nearly through up. I was heaving after every mouthful! I just can't do it. I even hid it in gravy, which wasnt a good solution as after I ate it i checked the calories which added an extra 200+ calories to my tea :(:(
 
You need to learn to cook, and you're better off doing it now than when I did (about two years ago, when I was nearly 24). I used to cook like you- pretty much not at all- and then I moved 12000 miles from home (yes, literally- I live in the northwest of England, and I'm from Australia) where my mum's cooking wasn't any use to me. Very little of what I do is complicated- what can't you manage that I make? I just follow recipes most of the time.

Why do you have such an aversion to vegetables? You just can't eat healthily without them.

Given you're 16, let me restress how important it is to eat healthily. You're probably still growing, and your brain will continue to develop until sometime in your mid 20's. Your development is at risk unless you eat healthily and enough (absolute minimum 1800 calories- if at the end of the day you've eaten under that, force yourself to eat more). There's way too much at stake here. Indeed, given you already have a healthy BMI, I would encourage you to forget about weight loss entirely. You're not overweight. You have more important things to worry about. You're still growing up.
 
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