Group: Specific Diets & Nutrition

Created: 2012/01/01, Members: 104, Messages: 22775

With so many diets and nutritional plans out there, you can get lost. Find out what works best for others and share your experiences!

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Advice On Meals / Lifestyle needed

thestewman
thestewman
Posts: 2
Joined: 2005/04/17
Australia
2005/04/18, 09:22 AM
I'm 16 and have, over the last year, lost about 20kg to go from 80kg to 60kg at the moment. To be honest I achieved much of this through restricting my calories and excercing as much as I can. Come december last year (christmas holidays here in Australia) I decided to stop this way of eating (finally convinced myself it was stupid) and was happy with what I had done.

Then I found I slowly, but surely, went back to my old eating routines, until I had put on a few KG and then decided, stupidly, to go back on my diet. But it never worked, I would always not eat anything through the day then at night, succumb to cravings and binge eat. You may think this is a problem as it is, but add to binge eating the fact I would feel guilty and force myself to purge what I had eaten.

This vicious cycle went on for a few weeks until I finally refused to make myself purge after binging, telling myself to deal with the consequences of eating -- telling myself to eat right. After some research online and browsing various forums I have now, for the past few weeks, fallen into a healthy lifestyle of working out daily (mostly cardio at least once a day with some weights when I can) and eating right. I'm feeling good about myself and am liking this lifestyle change as it beats starving and my old eating habits (food actually tastes better now).

After reading quite a bit on the topic I've decided to switch to eating 5 small meals a day (to get my slow metabolism from starvation up again, plus i can fit it easily around school eating times (breakfast 7:30, recess 10:30, lunch 1:30 etc) and aim to consume 1700-1900 calories a day.

Before I stick to this I'd just like to check if anything about what I'm eating/doing during day is wrong. I'm aiming to lose some last tiny bits of puppy fat and generally be healthy.

For example, I've planned out what I will be eating tommorow:

8 AM: 2 eggs on 2 pieces 100% whole grain toast

(short 15 minute run before this meal)
11:00 AM: 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup milk /w cut up peaches

2:00 PM: salad bowl with mixed up: tuna (1 tin), tomato, cucumber, lettuce

(this meal is 3:30 hours after last but Mum gets off work 5pm so this would be earliest time to eat)

5:30: 3/4 cup brown rice, whiting fish (3-5 oz)

(workout on elliptical, 20 minutes warmup, 15 minutes HIIT)
(will be at sisters place so hopefully grab some protien straight after)
9:00: Was thinking TUNA or Chicken ? (really need suggestions for what to eat for last meal, which is meant to be the lightest if i'm correct?)


If you have read all that and would like to give any advice on what I'm eating or what I could be doing better I would greatly apprechiate it.


asimmer
asimmer
Posts: 8,201
Joined: 2003/01/07
United States
2005/04/18, 10:17 AM
Okay - you are still growing - so try not to be too restrcitive.
It sounds like you have recognized the unhealthy pattern you were in and are rectifying the situation. I do think that if you find yourself feeling the urge to binge and purge, you may want to seek out some professional counseling to deal with the underlying issues surrounding eating disorders.

You food intake looks good, but you could use some additional fruits and vegetables. have a cup of berries in the morning with your eggs and toast, add some cottage cheese or yogurt to your oats/fruit/milk for a little protein boost.
At 2 PM, is your slald bowl a bread bowl? If not, add some wasa crips whole grain bread or some other types pf whole grain crackers to round out that meal.

At 5:30, you need some veggies - a big serving o steamed broccoli or sauteed greens would be an excellent addition, or even a samll sweet potato, baked or mashed.

At 9:00 cottage cheese - 1%, and some walnuts would make a nice pre-bedtime snack that will stay in your system to rebuild your muscles and nourish your body while you sleep.

Good luck, and remember - moderation is the key. Don't over or under exercise or eat!

Addd weight training a few days a week instead of one of the cardio sessions and you should see faster results, not to mention greater health benefits. There are lots of great programs available for free here at ft!

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Every new day is a gift.
thestewman
thestewman
Posts: 2
Joined: 2005/04/17
Australia
2005/04/18, 07:42 PM
Thanks for the advice, I'll add weight training as you have suggested. Although I don't have access to a gym and have been doing some excercises with what I have at home, I'm new to weight training and the types of excercises done. Any advice on some excercises/sets I could do?

I'll have to pick up some cottage cheese from the store as I have none at the moment. I've actually got my mum shopping for fat free yogurt today as I was going to experiment with some in my oats, so it's good to hear thats okay. I'll try out the salad bowl with a piece of whole grain bread and I'll be sure to squeeze plenty of veggies into, at least, my 5:30 meals. And before bedtime I could definately get a few walnuts as we are in the middle of harvesting our trees full of them. :) Thanks for the advice.

I also have a question about Pasta -- my family is Italian and we eat a lot of it (Penne). I'm not exactly going to stop eating Penne but I've cut down on the amount of home-made sauce I put on it (made from meats) and even made a sauce out of some tuna the other night. Is this fine to have maybe 1-3 times a week (really depends) as long as portion size is kept to my limit?
asimmer
asimmer
Posts: 8,201
Joined: 2003/01/07
United States
2005/04/19, 10:32 AM
Pasta is fine as long as you watch your portion size - 2-3 oz cooks up to about a cup of pasta.

There is an at-home no=equipment program here under the exercise programs. Take a look at it, it should be a good start.

A tomato based sauce is very good for you - try this:

fresh or canned tomatoes - saute in olive oil, add garlic, oregano, basil.

If desired, saute some onions and mushrooms before and add to the sauce.

Also - you can have meat sauce if it is made with lower fat meats - there is very lean ground beef available now, and lean ground turkey breast makes a decent substitution.

Your best bet is to appoint yourslef 'healthy chef' and create some veggie filled sauces that still taste awesome!

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Every new day is a gift.