Drinking Water / Eating Better

[jlewisinsyr]

To tell you the truth I don't drink much at all. A cup of coffee around 5:30 a.m. then I usually try to have a bottled water during the day and at night either a cup of milk or a cup of pepsi. This is all BEFORE...now I have a cup of coffee early morning then 3 bottled water and usually a cup of milk with dinner.

Although I'm eating healthy I'm trying to watch my calories as well.

Today I had a cup of coffee and a nectarine for breakfast. For lunch I had 4 crackers and a babybell cheese = 105 calories and a bag of healthy pop mini popcorn - 100 calories.

So in short you've taken in 250 calories total, for the first 6 - 8 hours of the day? You need to probably take in some more in the morning to really get your metabolism up (plus the water bit I mentioned), maybe a bowl of cereal and some milk - that should run about 200 - 250 calories.

Then eat something a little more filling for lunch, try to stay around 300 calories, but maybe something like a Kashi microwave meal or something like that (watch the sodium content though).

This will help keep you feeling full and at this point, you've only taken in 500 - 600 calories, leaving about 600+ (depending on where you should be for proper burn rate) for snack/dinner. That should be more then enough to eat a healthy dinner and maybe even have a hundred calorie pack of popcorn for snack.

If you take in less the 1,200 calories, you most likely will hit a brick wall with your dieting/eating healthy as your body will go into a conserve state for lack of a better term. One other thing I forgot to mention is look for foods with a lot of B vitamins, these are great in pumping up your metabolism and encouraging you to lose weight, they are also hard to get too much of (some vitamins in excess quantities actually cause issues).

I've found that it seems better to separate the "eating healthy" from the "trying to lose weight."

Completely disagree, they go hand in hand with each other. If you're not eating healthy, you may lose weight temporarily, but it won't be sustainable as you didn't change your eating habits. Diets do not work on the long term, you need to eat healthy and eat the right amount of food to have long lasting weight loss and a healthy lifestyle (this includes cholesterol, sodium, etc.).

 

[monkeybug]

To tell you the truth I don't drink much at all. A cup of coffee around 5:30 a.m. then I usually try to have a bottled water during the day and at night either a cup of milk or a cup of pepsi. This is all BEFORE...now I have a cup of coffee early morning then 3 bottled water and usually a cup of milk with dinner.

Although I'm eating healthy I'm trying to watch my calories as well.

Today I had a cup of coffee and a nectarine for breakfast. For lunch I had 4 crackers and a babybell cheese = 105 calories and a bag of healthy pop mini popcorn - 100 calories.

A 205 calorie lunch seems mighty lean. Are you snacking through out the day? It is not healthy to cut too far back on calorie intake. Start off by cutting out 500 a day, as you lose weight you will have new calorie needs, and can adjust how much you are eating. Eating enough is VERY important. You can find out how many calories you should be eating at all the previous mentioned websites. You would be surprised how much you can eat when you are eating healthy choices. To be honest it can be hard to eat enough!

 

[monkeybug]

To tell you the truth I don't drink much at all. A cup of coffee around 5:30 a.m. then I usually try to have a bottled water during the day and at night either a cup of milk or a cup of pepsi. This is all BEFORE...now I have a cup of coffee early morning then 3 bottled water and usually a cup of milk with dinner.

Although I'm eating healthy I'm trying to watch my calories as well.

Today I had a cup of coffee and a nectarine for breakfast. For lunch I had 4 crackers and a babybell cheese = 105 calories and a bag of healthy pop mini popcorn - 100 calories.

Also have you considered making lunch your big meal for the day? I know that can be hard if you have a family (it doesn't work for me) but it is a great way to keep your energy going through out the day.

 

[lovemygoofy]

To tell you the truth I don't drink much at all. A cup of coffee around 5:30 a.m. then I usually try to have a bottled water during the day and at night either a cup of milk or a cup of pepsi. This is all BEFORE...now I have a cup of coffee early morning then 3 bottled water and usually a cup of milk with dinner.

Although I'm eating healthy I'm trying to watch my calories as well.

Today I had a cup of coffee and a nectarine for breakfast. For lunch I had 4 crackers and a babybell cheese = 105 calories and a bag of healthy pop mini popcorn - 100 calories.

I'm not an expert. You may not want advice from a fat girl though I've lost just shy of 40lbs in the last year you need to eat more in the morning. You probably are not a morning eater or maybe rushed for time. Think about it this way..you spend more calories running around in the morning getting ready, getting kids ready and then to work than you do at night when you are home on the couch or whatver. You should be eating more in the morning to work off instead of more at night when you aren't burning it off as quickly.

A yogurt with some granola on top with the fruit and coffee would have been fine. Sometimes I have a nutrigrain frozen waffle with a bit of peanut butter and sugar free jam. I normally eat a bowl of oatmeal with skim milk and something in it.

Your lunch sounds like a great snack! Again you will be running the rest of the afternoon and should be filling up the middle of the day to spend those calories in the afternoon into the evening. Do you like salad? I keep a big thing of ready baby spinach, cut up veggies, and some kind of meat in the fridge so can just throw together quickly for a lunch on the go. Keep some flavored wraps in the pantry and you can make a wrap if you don't dig the salad.

It's not about cutting out food, it's about better and smarter choices or at least for me it is. In the morning when I"m waiting for my coffee, I jump rope for 2 minutes. I waste more than that standing under the hot water of the shower so while I'm waiting for my coffee I jump rope. It makes me wake up and I'm kicking my body into gear for the day.

Find things that help your schedule and foods and ways to accomodate you. I still love fast food and so easy to do when alone! I just make tradeoffs instead of denying myself completly. Sounds like you are on a good start with the water and food choices. Good luck with your lifestyle change.

 

[Trish Bessette]

A 205 calorie lunch seems mighty lean. Are you snacking through out the day? It is not healthy to cut too far back on calorie intake. Start off by cutting out 500 a day, as you lose weight you will have new calorie needs, and can adjust how much you are eating. Eating enough is VERY important. You can find out how many calories you should be eating at all the previous mentioned websites. You would be surprised how much you can eat when you are eating healthy choices. To be honest it can be hard to eat enough!

See this is where you guys are really helping me...never doing this before I have NO CLUE what I was eating a day in calories. A ton I know that! A typical day would be a bagel w/cream cheese on my way into work, for lunch a sandwich, bag of chips, water or soda, dinner would be whatever I make at home and always some sort of sweet dessert around 7 p.m. - nothing big but maybe 4 or 5 cookies.

I think I do need to incorporate a little more into my daily routine as I feel like I'm starving

Just looking at that box of organic water crackers that are paper thin and only 4 of them are 70 calories make me want to I dont think the entire sleeve of them would even come close to filing me up

This is really a whole new way of thinking...of living...of grocery shopping.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for your help! Keep the ideas coming! I'm making note of everything.

 

[Trish Bessette]

I'm not an expert. You may not want advice from a fat girl though I've lost just shy of 40lbs in the last year you need to eat more in the morning. You probably are not a morning eater or maybe rushed for time. Think about it this way..you spend more calories running around in the morning getting ready, getting kids ready and then to work than you do at night when you are home on the couch or whatver. You should be eating more in the morning to work off instead of more at night when you aren't burning it off as quickly.

A yogurt with some granola on top with the fruit and coffee would have been fine. Sometimes I have a nutrigrain frozen waffle with a bit of peanut butter and sugar free jam. I normally eat a bowl of oatmeal with skim milk and something in it.

Your lunch sounds like a great snack! Again you will be running the rest of the afternoon and should be filling up the middle of the day to spend those calories in the afternoon into the evening. Do you like salad? I keep a big thing of ready baby spinach, cut up veggies, and some kind of meat in the fridge so can just throw together quickly for a lunch on the go. Keep some flavored wraps in the pantry and you can make a wrap if you don't dig the salad.

It's not about cutting out food, it's about better and smarter choices or at least for me it is. In the morning when I"m waiting for my coffee, I jump rope for 2 minutes. I waste more than that standing under the hot water of the shower so while I'm waiting for my coffee I jump rope. It makes me wake up and I'm kicking my body into gear for the day.

Find things that help your schedule and foods and ways to accomodate you. I still love fast food and so easy to do when alone! I just make tradeoffs instead of denying myself completly. Sounds like you are on a good start with the water and food choices. Good luck with your lifestyle change.

Tina, I'd love advice from you anydaythank you.

I am a morning person and you are right - I DO need to incorporate more into my breakfast. I'm just fine having small portioned dinners.

I like salads for about 3 days...then they bother me. I just bought some whole wheat pita bread that I thought I'd stuff with lettuce and some tuna fish - I love tuna!

I don't care for yogurt either - I just bought the Chobani Greek yogurt today and couldn't stand it. This is when I get disappointed.

The best part is my DH is ready to make this change so by having him as excited it helps to keep me motivated.

However...why can't lettuce taste as good as McDonald's french fries

 

[Christine]

See this is where you guys are really helping me...never doing this before I have NO CLUE what I was eating a day in calories. A ton I know that! A typical day would be a bagel w/cream cheese on my way into work, for lunch a sandwich, bag of chips, water or soda, dinner would be whatever I make at home and always some sort of sweet dessert around 7 p.m. - nothing big but maybe 4 or 5 cookies.

I think I do need to incorporate a little more into my daily routine as I feel like I'm starving

Just looking at that box of organic water crackers that are paper thin and only 4 of them are 70 calories make me want to I dont think the entire sleeve of them would even come close to filing me up

This is really a whole new way of thinking...of living...of grocery shopping.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for your help! Keep the ideas coming! I'm making note of everything.

You sound like what I used to do. I had no clue what I was eating daily so, while I was eating my normal calorie-laden food, I logged it all into fitday.com and I figured I was eating about 2400-2700 calories per day. I then found, through tweaking, that I could cut back to 1700-1800 per day, still feel sane, and drop pounds.

I suggest you try to remember a typical day for you and enter it either on fitday.com or sparkpeople.com probably has a counter. Enter that in. See what you need to cut out of your typical day or what substitutions can be made to reduce your calories down to the weight loss zone for you (it might be 1500 per day or 2000 per day). You might find that getting rid of one sode, the cream cheese and the bagel (subbing oatmeal), and the bag of chips could be just enough.

It sounds like you are going way to far and austere (and not healthy) at this point.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Tina, I'd love advice from you anydaythank you.

I am a morning person and you are right - I DO need to incorporate more into my breakfast. I'm just fine having small portioned dinners.

I like salads for about 3 days...then they bother me. I just bought some whole wheat pita bread that I thought I'd stuff with lettuce and some tuna fish - I love tuna!

I don't care for yogurt either - I just bought the Chobani Greek yogurt today and couldn't stand it. This is when I get disappointed.

The best part is my DH is ready to make this change so by having him as excited it helps to keep me motivated.

However...why can't lettuce taste as good as McDonald's french fries

You don't have to eat the salad 3 days in a row by any means. That's what I mean about creating a system that works for you. Do the salad twice a week or beef up the fruits and veggies in other ways like you said with the pita bread.

I'm not a big yogurt eater either. I buy the small cups, think hotel size, from sams and I pour them into a bowl/cup top with granola or berries and usually a sprinkle think 3-4 of chocolate chips(its all about tradeoffs) If you don't like yogurt then don't eat it. There are tons of other things out there. What about making up some smoothies instead?

Some other things that have really helped me is cutting back on regular hangout things like starbucks and bakeries or whever the girls got together. Once I cut back on the lattes and even "light" baked goods I could tell a difference. I now make my own "light" versions of goods for treats and have my own coffee with sugar free creamer.

One book you might check out is Cooking Yourself Thin. This show was on a short time on lifetime and made lots of great looking foods. It also explains the basics of changing your lifestyle. I also use the book "Use this not that" or something like that. It's about making swaps in your grocery store products. You can still buy frozen foods or ice cream or whatever but it shows you to make better decisions. When I see that a frozen pizza is the equivalent of 50 piece of bacon or whatver that really hits home!

My theory is don't deny yourself but don't over indulge.

 

[Trish Bessette]

You sound like what I used to do. I had no clue what I was eating daily so, while I was eating my normal calorie-laden food, I logged it all into fitday.com and I figured I was eating about 2400-2700 calories per day. I then found, through tweaking, that I could cut back to 1700-1800 per day, still feel sane, and drop pounds.

I suggest you try to remember a typical day for you and enter it either on fitday.com or sparkpeople.com probably has a counter. Enter that in. See what you need to cut out of your typical day or what substitutions can be made to reduce your calories down to the weight loss zone for you (it might be 1500 per day or 2000 per day). You might find that getting rid of one sode, the cream cheese and the bagel (subbing oatmeal), and the bag of chips could be just enough.

It sounds like you are going way to far and austere (and not healthy) at this point.

I went to fitday.com and plugged in a normal day before eating good. It came out to about 1,900 calories to me that doesn't seem like much. I entered coffee, bagel & cream cheese for breakfast. Tuna fish sandwich, bag of chips and pepsi for lunch, pizza, milk, bag of M&M's and bowl of cereal for nighttime. But the pie chart showed most of it as carbs so that was a big eye opener for me!

 

[Christine]

I went to fitday.com and plugged in a normal day before eating good. It came out to about 1,900 calories to me that doesn't seem like much. I entered coffee, bagel & cream cheese for breakfast. Tuna fish sandwich, bag of chips and pepsi for lunch, pizza, milk, bag of M&M's and bowl of cereal for nighttime. But the pie chart showed most of it as carbs so that was a big eye opener for me!

Are you sure you did it well. The 1900 does seem a little low for that. I would have pegged that at more like 2200. Look carefully at the portion size measurements that fitday uses. Sometimes I would have to double them based on *my* serving size.

The carbs was my big thing too. I always had that as the biggest piece of my pie!

 

[Trish Bessette]

You don't have to eat the salad 3 days in a row by any means. That's what I mean about creating a system that works for you. Do the salad twice a week or beef up the fruits and veggies in other ways like you said with the pita bread.

I'm not a big yogurt eater either. I buy the small cups, think hotel size, from sams and I pour them into a bowl/cup top with granola or berries and usually a sprinkle think 3-4 of chocolate chips(its all about tradeoffs) If you don't like yogurt then don't eat it. There are tons of other things out there. What about making up some smoothies instead?

Some other things that have really helped me is cutting back on regular hangout things like starbucks and bakeries or whever the girls got together. Once I cut back on the lattes and even "light" baked goods I could tell a difference. I now make my own "light" versions of goods for treats and have my own coffee with sugar free creamer.

One book you might check out is Cooking Yourself Thin. This show was on a short time on lifetime and made lots of great looking foods. It also explains the basics of changing your lifestyle. I also use the book "Use this not that" or something like that. It's about making swaps in your grocery store products. You can still buy frozen foods or ice cream or whatever but it shows you to make better decisions. When I see that a frozen pizza is the equivalent of 50 piece of bacon or whatver that really hits home!

My theory is don't deny yourself but don't over indulge.

Luckily I rarely went to Starbucks and instead have my coffee at home. However, bakeries are my weakness I have such a sweet tooth it is shameful. Not to mention my passion is baking! I had my life all planned out - owning a bakery and calling it Sweet Dreams

Ok back to eating healthy...

thanks again for your help!

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

Completely disagree, they go hand in hand with each other. If you're not eating healthy, you may lose weight temporarily, but it won't be sustainable as you didn't change your eating habits. Diets do not work on the long term, you need to eat healthy and eat the right amount of food to have long lasting weight loss and a healthy lifestyle (this includes cholesterol, sodium, etc.).

I don't think you read the rest of my post.

I never said you don't need to change your eating habits, you absolutely DO ... I said that just switching to "healthy eating" might not lose you any weight if you don't cut calories to the tune of 500 per day.

Switching from sandwiches of processed cheese, processed lunch meat and white bread to sandwiches with organic all-natural cheese, deli-sliced meat and whole-grain bread is certainly healthier in the long run, but it's more than likely got *more* calories (I know for a fact that the MG bread does -- some delicious looking and tasting brands of MG bread are TWICE the calories of basic white bread) and isn't going to help you lose one ounce of weight.

 

[Trish Bessette]

I don't think you read the rest of my post.

I never said you don't need to change your eating habits, you absolutely DO ... I said that just switching to "healthy eating" might not lose you any weight if you don't cut calories to the tune of 500 per day.

Switching from sandwiches of processed cheese, processed lunch meat and white bread to sandwiches with organic all-natural cheese, deli-sliced meat and whole-grain bread is certainly healthier in the long run, but it's more than likely got *more* calories (I know for a fact that the MG bread does -- some delicious looking and tasting brands of MG bread are TWICE the calories of basic white bread) and isn't going to help you lose one ounce of weight.

I knew what you meant and WOW am I cutting calories this week! By lunchtime I used to have about 700 - 800 calories in me. Today I only have 300 if that.

I DO know to add more calories to my breakfast and I will tomorrow.

I'm just hoping I feel better soon - I feel so bloated from this water and I've only had 2 water bottles today 16.9 oz each.

 

[Christine]

I'm just hoping I feel better soon - I feel so bloated from this water and I've only had 2 water bottles today 16.9 oz each.

The wonderful Dr. Oz and others in the medical community have debunked the water myth. Don't force the water if you don't want it/need it. No need to feel that way.

 

[Pluto 2]

your body will adjust to the water 3 16.9 ounces of water doesnt seem like its enough. so you are drinking about 51 ounces of water a day thats great if you weigh 102 pounds. what you do you take you body weight example 150 pounds divide it by half thats 75 ,than drink 75 ounces of water a day.

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

Whole grains may be more calories, but your body expends more energy digesting and breaking up those complex carbs, than those from a simple carb like white bread. Whole grain also benefits your heart, and make you feel full longer.

From everything I've been reading lately, the "extra digestion" calories burned isn't going to make much difference. 110 calories of white bread or 240 calories of a multi-grain bread ... no way is your body going to need 130 calories to digest it!

Again ... I'm not saying that you shouldn't eat healthy!! I'm just saying that if *weight loss* is you main goal that you HAVE to cut the calories!

If you substitute a 4000-calorie a day "bad" diet for a 4000-calorie-a-day "good" diet you still aren't going to see any significant weight loss. It's just not possible without cutting calories; either by exercising or eating less (either less in total quantity or by being careful about what *kind* of food), or both!

 

[legalsea]

Legalsea's Diet Hint of the Day: Remember, Vodka looks just like water, and gives you more 'bang' for the buck!

 

[Trish Bessette]

Legalsea's Diet Hint of the Day: Remember, Vodka looks just like water, and gives you more 'bang' for the buck!

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

I knew what you meant and WOW am I cutting calories this week! By lunchtime I used to have about 700 - 800 calories in me. Today I only have 300 if that.

I DO know to add more calories to my breakfast and I will tomorrow.

Be careful about the "WOW!" part ... cutting too many calories too fast can be unhealthy. That why I followed the suggestions of the calculator I posted earlier. They give a "maintenace" level of calories and a "weight loss" level of calories and an "extreme weight loss" level that you aren't recommended to use....

I actually needed to use a MSExcel spreadsheet to help sort out my breakfast, lunch, dinner and after-diner calories! It helped to balance things out and not feel hungry all the time.

It also helps that I eat a lot of the same things; for example, my typical breakfast is:
1 cup FF Plain Organic Yogurt wth 1/2 cup of frozen/fresh blueberries (~150)
1 banana (~105)
3/4 cup of bran flakes cereal (90)
For a grand total of ~345 calories!!

 

[Trish Bessette]

Be careful about the "WOW!" part ... cutting too many calories too fast can be unhealthy. That why I followed the suggestions of the calculator I posted earlier. They give a "maintenace" level of calories and a "weight loss" level of calories and an "extreme weight loss" level that you aren't recommended to use....

I actually needed to use a MSExcel spreadsheet to help sort out my breakfast, lunch, dinner and after-diner calories! It helped to balance things out and not feel hungry all the time.

It also helps that I eat a lot of the same things; for example, my typical breakfast is:
1 cup FF Plain Organic Yogurt wth 1/2 cup of frozen/fresh blueberries (~150)
1 banana (~105)
3/4 cup of bran flakes cereal (90)
For a grand total of ~345 calories!!

Thanks for showing me your typical breakfast. I really need to add more food. No wonder why I'm hungry - I'm not eating!

Gosh this is all so overwhelming doing it for the very first time - watch this, read this, not too much of this, eat more of this, drink more, drink less...