6-4-07 Planning is Key!

[mtomm[$]]

Planning meals is the best way to control intake. Think about pre-packing a entire day's worth of food. Only eat what is in the bag.

I bring breakfast and lunch to work in my bag and I have a few snacks that fit in to my daily planning. I cook chicken/beef/pork in the crock pot over the weekend (I like to put my yams in too). To this I add steamed mixed vegetables (broccoli, carrots, zucchini or some other such healthy veggies).

My breakfast is a protein shake of milk and protein powder. I snack on string cheese sticks.

People who eat the same things everyday tend to weigh less than those who haphazardly plan and eat their meals.

Try "packing" breakfast and lunch for several days in a row even if you work from home.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Read recently one reason you'll lose weight if you eat the same things every day is you get bored with them and eat less. That's part of what makes the "all grapefruit diet" or "all cabbage soup diet" work - not just the water weight, but the killing of one's appetite

[MiracleMax]

I don't know how Nick does it. He takes the same kind of pop tarts, pudding, sandwich and chips every day and then also has leftovers for lunch every day at work. I get so sick of eating the same thing all the time that I'm more likely to cheat and eat other crap than just eat less of what I have. A lot of times I'll find something I like and will fill me up and works great for a while, but after a couple weeks or months, I'm so sick of it, I can barely stand to even look at it anymore, much less eat it. So I try to keep a variety of good snacks around, but still get sick of stuff after time. My biggest problem is finding high-protein snacks. I've got the bars, but am starting to get sick of those so am trying to find substitutes right now.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

I use lowfat cottage cheese and lowfat cheese sticks to bolster my protein. I also look for high protein in other foods (cereals, granola bars, etc - Kashi is good for that), or make substitutions like cream cheese instead of butter on toast.

[MiracleMax]

I always forget that cheese is a good choice. I love cheese! I need to pick up some cheese sticks/cubes at the grocery store this week. Nick brought up tuna, which is a good afternoon choice, but doesn't help me in the mornings, which seem to be my biggest problems most days.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Why not put tuna on a bagel? Eggs (or eggbeaters) aren't bad choices either. I don't have to worry about my cholesterol, according to my doctor and my last blood test, so I'll nuke an egg and have it with high-fiber toast in the morning.

[MiracleMax]

I have a hard boiled egg every morning, or at least on the ones when I remember to bring it to work. Tuna just doesn't seem like a morning thing to me. I can't eat much when I first get up, so I just have one of those yogurt smoothies (there's enough varied flavors that I haven't gotten sick of them yet), an egg when I get to work around 8 or 8:30, a protein bar around 9:30 or 10, lunch between 11 and 12, some sort of snack between 2:30 and 3:30, then dinner usually sometime between 6 and 8. Mostly it's my snacks that I'm trying to find good stuff with protein to keep from getting bad headaches (I'm hypo-glycemic), and have to eat every couple of hours.

[theworm[$]]

I had pb crackers for breakfast - they're not as bad as they sound and I can grab the snack packs as I race out the door.

I brought a frozen tofu scrambler pocket for lunch

Dinner is veggie wings w/ baked veggie pancakes and cherries.

[hadassahchana[$]]

Breakfast was half a plain bagel with some strawberry jam - just a little. No butter. And a kiwi.

Lunch was half a turkey sandwich with tomato and no mayo, and a bunch of carrots.

Supper was steamed rice with stir-fried veggies with hardly any oil. The boys also had sweet and sour chicken to go with their veggies.

Today was stress+, and I still think I did ok. If it stops raining later, I'm going for a walk with Libs, otherwise just a really busy day.

[theworm[$]]

Cindy - you did great!!!

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

I ended the day with 1198 calories - 43% carbs, 24% protein, 33% fat - yikes. The two big fats were cheese (light cheese, but too much) and olive oil (good, but not in great quantities). I like to try to keep carbs at 50% or lower, protein at 25% or higher, and fats below 30%. Yes, I know, calories are what matter, but I'd like to see that the calories I eat are also good calories as much as possible

[murasaki]

High protein snack: turkey pepperoni--all the protein of regular pepperoni but without as much of the "bad stuff." You can eat 17 slices and it's only 80 calories.

[mtomm[$]]

Don't worry about the fat. Really fat has gotten a bad rap. As long as it isn't all saturated there is nothing wrong with getting your calories there. Percentages mean nothing really. Fat will always have a high percentage because of its high cal content.

Look at what you eat in grams instead.

Yesterday my cals were 1240

Protein grams: 122
Carbs: 91
Fats: 32

Find which number of grams keep you comfortable and happy. I just make sure I get plenty of protein and let everything else fall where ever.

IF you are dieting getting in PROTEIN is essential because it helps your body keep the muscle!!

Keep the muscle, keep the muscle, keep the muscle! You don't have to overdo protein but getting a minimum is very important.

[mtomm[$]]

murasaki said

High protein snack: turkey pepperoni--all the protein of regular pepperoni but without as much of the "bad stuff." You can eat 17 slices and it's only 80 calories.

I've never seen it!

[MiracleMax]

murasaki said

High protein snack: turkey pepperoni--all the protein of regular pepperoni but without as much of the "bad stuff." You can eat 17 slices and it's only 80 calories.

I'll have to see if I can find some. I know we have regular pepperoni at home right now, and it's not too terrible, but not great either.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

mtomm said

Don't worry about the fat. Really fat has gotten a bad rap. As long as it isn't all saturated there is nothing wrong with getting your calories there. Percentages mean nothing really. Fat will always have a high percentage because of its high cal content.

If I do not watch what I eat, just record it, I eat a huge amount of fat. Which adds up to a lot of calories for a little nutrition. Ergo the wanting to lower my percentage of fat. If I lower how much of my diet is coming from fat, that means I can "buy" more food and better foods with my calories.

I tend to go nuts with carbs if I don't track them, and get myself into a nice spike/drop/spike/drop cycle, so I want to watch my carbs.

Left on my own, I'd hardly eat protein except for cheese and the trace amounts of protein found in baked goods, potato chips, and ice cream.

So I will watch my percentages, and aim to keep fat and carbs down, because that's what works for me. YMMV.

[mtomm[$]]

I see what you mean and why but the percentage doesn't tell you if you are meeting the minimum RDA of a nutrient:

daily nutrient requirements are (generally) based on bodyweight, not the percentage of that nutrient in a diet. If someone requires, say, 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, they need 1 gram per pound whether it represents 10%, 50% or 100% of their total calories. If someone needs 5 g/kg of carbs to maintain performance, that's what they need whether it's 40% of their total calories or 60% of their total calories. If they need X grams of fat (X not really having been established at this point except for minimal essential fatty acid requirements), they need X grams no matter the percentage

If you need 100 grams of protein then I guess you can figure out what percentage of your calories that is and work it that way. Really just keeping track is really important and you are a great example of that.

[mtomm[$]]

The rest of the article I quoted above. Which does a much better job of explaining it than I can.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Good grief, I am not confusing RDA of nutrients for individuals with %s of fat/carb/protein I eat each day - they are two different things. The Self.com website that provides me with the fat/carb/protein percentages also tracks the RDA based on my height and weight, including fat/carbs/protein. My totals so far today:

**********************************
SELF Diet Club Nutrition Information
For Date: 6/5/2007

Amount for this Date
Calories 905 Calories from Fat 178

% Daily Need*
Fat 19.73g 49%
Protein 55.56g 93%
Carbohydrates 127.93g 85%

Sugar 13.5mg
Fiber 16.66g 66.64%
Sodium 1694.39mg 77.02%
Cholesterol 73.43g 36.72%
Saturated Fat 0g
Monounsaturated Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
Iron 6.95mg 38.59%
Calcium 353.98mg 35.4%
Phosphorus 662.47mg 94.64%
Vitamin A 9979.96 199.6%
Vitamin B6 0.65mg 50.22%
Vitamin B12 1.55mg 64.5%
Vitamin C 54.88mg 73.17%
Vitamin K 0mg 0%
Vitamin E 0.69mg 4.61%
Niacin 7.66mg 54.74%
Panto Acid 0mg 0%
Riboflavin 0.34mg 30.5%
Thiamin 0.69mg 62.65%
Folate 45.94mcg 11.48%

* Percent daily need is based on data entered in your Member Profile. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your nutritional and fitness goals.
*************************************

To me, I would so much rather try to focus on making the calories I eat useful calories, and watching how much fat I take in helps that. Also, I can increase the volume of food I'm eating and stay within my calorie range if I'm eating less fat.

I don't see the sense in not differentiating between fat/carbs/protein and "just calories," or I could eat three and a half Snickers bar and call it a day. I'd be within my calorie limit, but it certainly isn't healthy eating. Again, YMMV.

[mtomm[$]]

Good grief, I am not confusing RDA of nutrients for individuals with %s of fat/carb/protein I eat each day - they are two different things.

I know you are not and I hope anyone else reading understands the difference between micronutrients and macronutrients.

I'm confused by the above. Is 55 grams protein what you've already eaten today or they recommend 55 grams to be your daily total?

[MiracleMax]

(off topic, but what does YMMV stand for?)