Diet check

Soldato
Joined
1 Sep 2005
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Location
Scottish Highlands
So over the last few months I have started to really clean up my diet and get some more exercise in there to. I wasn't fat, but I was starting to get a bit of a belly which needed to go. I am happy with how it is going, I have already lost a decent amount of weight, my bodyfat is going down and my cardio fitness is getting better. It do however want to pass my diet and exercise routines past you guys to see what you think and if it can be improved further.

So foodwise I tend to have the following;

Breakfast (08:30):
Bowl of oat granola with semi skimmed milk and added raisins (strawberries in summer)

Lunch (12:00)
Sandwich consisting of 1 slice wholemeal bread, 1 slice of cooked meat, mixed salad, margarine.

1 Apple

Box of mixed fruit and nut (Mix it myself and generally consists of; Walnuts, Cashews, Almonds, Brazil nuts, dried Pineapple, dried Papaya, Raisins & Cranberries)

Afternoon (14:00)
Another Apple

Dinner (19:00)
Total mix of stuff. I love my food and cooking, so really don't want to compromise on variety. It is always homecooked though and generally consists of something like a stew or tagine with boiled veg. Generally fairly large portions (or certainly larger than I eat the rest of the day).

Desert (20:00)
Fruit yogurt

That about covers my usual day. I also don't drink any tea or coffee and very rarely drink any alcohol. Drink about 3-4 pints of water a day though.

Exercise wise I tend to do the following;

Walk to and from work each day. About 1.5 miles each way. Me and my GF walk at a pretty decent pace so generally do it in 20-30 minutes. So that's 15 miles on weekdays.

Every 3 days or so I also throw some weights around. I just do them at home, so they are probably not heavy enough or used in a structured enough manner. But they can't do any harm. Generally I do arm curls, French Presses & Single Arm Row. Problem is I live in a small flat, so don't have the space for getting anything decent set up. I should probably join a gym, but not sure if I would keep going, and having never set foot in a gym before I find the idea a little intimidating.

Saturday we try and get a walk in. Normally 15-25 miles with a 8-10Kg rucksack, including hills etc.

I have also just started running (about 4 weeks in) so once a weekend I try and get a run in. Up to 1 mile now, which I can do in just under 8 minutes. My lung capacity is my weakness at this point, but I can already feel it improve. Depending on how I get on, I am trying to get myself fit enough for the Great North run in September (half marathon). Some way to go yet mind.

So any suggestions on how this could be improved or any comments?

Also a few things I was wondering about calories etc;

If I was to eat some food that contained say 100 Calories. Does 100 Calories actually get absorbed by the body? Or does only say 95 calories get absorbed while the other 5 pass straight through?

Also if I was to eat say 3000 calories in one sitting, does the body ever reach a 'saturation point'. Ie, if you eat loads of food does it absorb it all, or just up to a point?

Edit; Oh and I'm 6'1" and 13stone if that makes any difference. :)
 
How many kcals are you actually taking in as that seems very small meals throughout day.
 
How many kcals are you actually taking in as that seems very small meals throughout day.

Not sure tbh, as I haven't worked it out. The amount has been coming down as I have been trying to cut out some of the carbs (I used to eat a lot of bread!), so could probably do with filling some of the deficit with more protein. If I was to make a guess, maybe 1900-2000 calories a day, but that is a total guess.
 
More meat needed!

No sorry couldn't resist. Yeah like Morba says it doesn't look like your are eating very much that is coming from someone who eat a lot so...

...get you calorie intake up here. It's easier to work stuff out from that :)
 
More meat needed!

No sorry couldn't resist. Yeah like Morba says it doesn't look like your are eating very much that is coming from someone who eat a lot so...

...get you calorie intake up here. It's easier to work stuff out from that :)

Is there anywhere decent with calorie values for various foods so I can work it out accurately?
 
Might be worth trying to google it. I've always tried to just get a rough estimate like I do with protein, for instance a large chicken breast is around 40g of protein, just check the back of packets and try and work things out from there.
 
Any addition for lamb, chicken, turkey, beef and cold water fish like tuna, sardines, salmon?
 
Thanks for the link. From that list and making a little spreadsheet, my diet is roughly;

Total calories per day: 2656
Fat: 925 calories
Carbs: 971 calories
Protein: 760 calories

Does this sound about right?

I'm not seeing where you are getting your protein from in your diet, especially not to the amount that you say there!
 
Any addition for lamb, chicken, turkey, beef and cold water fish like tuna, sardines, salmon?

I could try and squeeze more in at lunch. I do eat quite a lot of meat at dinner though.

I'm not seeing where you are getting your protein from in your diet, especially not to the amount that you say there!

Oat Granola 65.76 (Apparently I eat 4 times the normal portion?!)
Mixed nuts 59.224
Pork Stew 535.04 (This may be totally off as I guessed at a 400g portion)
 
You should try and aim to consume protein every 2-3 hours and eat like 6-7 meals per day and attempt to have 20 grams of protein per meal if you can.
 
Oat Granola 65.76 (Apparently I eat 4 times the normal portion?!)
Mixed nuts 59.224
Pork Stew 535.04 (This may be totally off as I guessed at a 400g portion)

That sounds well out.
400g of just protein and carbs (we'll ignore some fat for now, but there will be some), you are looking at 1600kcal.

Granola, oats primarily, will be packed with carbs more than protein so you will be taking in lots of carbs.
Just those 2 alone throw your carb kcals rather high
 
That sounds well out.
400g of just protein and carbs (we'll ignore some fat for now, but there will be some), you are looking at 1600kcal.

Granola, oats primarily, will be packed with carbs more than protein so you will be taking in lots of carbs.
Just those 2 alone throw your carb kcals rather high

I was going off the percentage breakdown of this website;

http://www.foodfocus.co.uk/searchresult.php?FoodID=9960
http://www.foodfocus.co.uk/searchresult.php?FoodID=20100

Are those breakdowns wrong? What's the best way of reducing carbs in my diet? I have just started eating eggs again (For some reason I didn't like them for the last 15years) so I am trying to fit some of them in for breakfast on weekends. I am also only using 1 slice of wholemeal bread (folded in half) for my lunchtime sandwich, while keeping the meat content the same. Any other suggestions?

Edit; Last night I had beef goulash, so my estimated specs for that are; 350g portion, 346Kcal = 97Kcal fat, 86Kcal Carbs and 162Kcal Protein. Does this sound off as well?
 
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Best way of reducing carbs is to stop with the oats and nuts and other high carb foods :p
 
When i eat i try to make sure i get Protein, complex carbs, and good fats/oils with each meal/snack. I eat 6 times day, about every 3 or so hours.
I aim to consume between 1800 - 2200 calories a day, and I make sure i hit at least 160 grams of protein a day.

This is working for me and is easy to follow I lose one to two lbs of fat each week.. You would have to work out how much protein you need, and then set a calorific intake per/day. From there you will see a improvement (or not) and adjust your diet accordingly.
 
That sounds well out.
400g of just protein and carbs (we'll ignore some fat for now, but there will be some), you are looking at 1600kcal.

Granola, oats primarily, will be packed with carbs more than protein so you will be taking in lots of carbs.
Just those 2 alone throw your carb kcals rather high

Thats 535 CALORIES from protein rather than grams I.e. 535/4, still seems a bit high actually :o
calories of protein from nuts and granola seems about right
 
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