Diet confusion

Gilly

Gilly

Gilly

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Every summer I put on weight whilst footy season is over. Every year it gets more difficult to lose when it restarts and I'm struggling more than ever at the moment.

I want to drop about 3kg and although I thought I knew a fair amount about what was needed to drop weight in terms of diet and so on, I'm seeing lots of conflicting stuff though.

Current diet:

Sultana bran
Natural yoghurt + 2x banana
Light lunch (pasta, baked tater, etc)
Banana (afternoon snack)
Evening meal (protein + veg + carb)
Slice of toast for supper

Any glaring omissions? Anything I should cut? Am I too carb heavy?
 
Work out what it all adds up to, subtract 10-20%, profit! I'd say it is carb heavy, but most peoples diets are. Personally I'd start by dropping the 2 morning bananas and having a more proteiny lunch. Cut out the supper toast aswell.
 
Looks like quite a lot of carbs to me - though obviously if you're active you'll need the carbs. However, to help with satiety, foods high in protein and fats will help as well as being calorifically denser (so it doesn't matter if you don't eat as much/often).
 
I'm always hungry a couple of hours or so after the evening meal. Is there anything I can replace the toast with?

I struggle to get protein without carbs during the day. Any ideas?
 
I haven't explained my fitness routine, I'm already doing cardio.

My job doesn't really allow for me to eat every 2-3 hours.

When I said I was struggling to get protein without carbs during the day, I didn't expect 'eat protein' to be the answer ;)

Are we talking a tray of chicken or something?
 
You don't need to eat every 2-3 hours, some people just prefer that as it enables them to eat smaller meals (i.e. quicker) if they don't have time. Such as me, I'm often snacking throughout the day as I don't have a lunch break. :)

How about this for some ideas Mat - since you seem to be less fussy with food than you used to be ;) ;)

Roast a chicken the night before, and then shred it into a tupperware with some spinach, tomatoes (or other veg you fancy). Add some lardons if you want, and a few boiled eggs chopped up into that. Nice healthy salad, lots of proteins, some fats and a few carbs (from the salad and veg).

Makes a vat of chilli/or mince of some kind, and bring it in, make a small container of couscous, or wholemeal pasta, but as long as the ratio is biased towards the meat rather than the pasta - or jacket/sweet potato from time to time is absolutely fine.

If you like fish, you can do the same as the salad above but with smoked mackerel or tuna or a similar type of fish.

Bring in some nuts to snack on, un-roasted and unsalted.

By far the easiest meat to deal with is chicken, but it gets dull after a while unfortunately. You can be a little bit creative though to keep it interesting.
 
Have you tried cutting out the Pasta lunchtime? I've been eating just a chicken salad, with cottage cheese, sweetcorn, fresh beetroot supplemented with a post workout Protein shake. The fat has fallen off the last 6 months or so.

Try also introducing more high fibre to your diet. This will help your digestive system to work more efficiently whilst slowing the rate of which your carbs are released because it doesn't create insuline so quickly. Insuline is responsible for moving sugar to the blood but it's also responsbile for producing fat cells and storage. Reduce the insuline, reduce the storage. If you eat carbs, then eat Wholemeal.

http://www.spinalhealth.net/insulin.html
 
The pasta at lunchtime is a very new addition, I used to have a curry from the supermarket (yes, ready meal :o) but they stopped doing the deals and now they're more than twice the price!

I could get a whole roast chicken from the supermarket and eat half one day and half the next, but I know with it there I'd eat the lot :D That salad sounds good though Will.

I was going to roast some almonds to snack on. Is that a bad idea?

I'm assuming the natural yoghurt and sultana bran is OK? Would supplementing the bananas with apples help?
 
Gilly said:
The pasta at lunchtime is a very new addition, I used to have a curry from the supermarket (yes, ready meal :o) but they stopped doing the deals and now they're more than twice the price!

I could get a whole roast chicken from the supermarket and eat half one day and half the next, but I know with it there I'd eat the lot :D That salad sounds good though Will.

I was going to roast some almonds to snack on. Is that a bad idea?

I'm assuming the natural yoghurt and sultana bran is OK? Would supplementing the bananas with apples help?
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Pasta is ok, just make sure the ratio of them vs the protein/fats that you have with them is not a positive bias. Having some carbs with protein helps the protein absorption better and is better for recovery. For satiety high protein and fat is best! :) Just make sure it's wholemeal pasta, or if you don't like that, some fresh egg pasta is a good alternative - though the quantity point is still valid.

I like those salads, eggs, lardons, spinach/salad, olive oil and roasted pine nuts and shredded chicken! yum! :D

Roasting the almonds isn't the end of the world, you just get more goodness out of them without roasting them as you remove some of the oils by frying them.

Breakfast I tend to have mackerel fillets with eggs! But not many people can stomach that in the mornings - but tbh yoghurt isn't ideal (though things like greek yoghurt are slightly better), nor are many of the mass produced cerals as they tend to be full of sugars (and not the good type!).

If you have to have cereal I'd head over the porrage route, though a few eggs on wholemeal or granary bread is ok - though again, even better if you bake your own bread - less preservatives and inferior quality flours etc...
 
How about I make a spinach, lardons, nut salad with an olive oil, tomato, garlic and onion sauce with it? I need to have some taste in there because although I can stomach the greenery much better these days, I still hate the taste :p

I couldn't face fish for breakfast, but could easily manage a couple of boiled eggs.
 
I tend to have a couple of eggs scrambled, with a slice of wholemeal toast with peanut butter on it, that tends to stop the hunger until lunchtime. Don't often need a morning snack then.
 
My problem on a morning is sorting out a kid for junior school, and sorting out bottles for a newborn, whilst sorting myself out and getting to work :p
 
Gilly said:
The pasta at lunchtime is a very new addition, I used to have a curry from the supermarket (yes, ready meal :o) but they stopped doing the deals and now they're more than twice the price!
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I'd say the ready meal curry would be a lot better for your goals then having pasta at lunch! This is assuming it isn't one of those half n half curry/rice packs.
 
Zefan said:
I'd say the ready meal curry would be a lot better for your goals then having pasta at lunch! This is assuming it isn't one of those half n half curry/rice packs.
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That's why that's what I was eating whilst the offer was on, but I can't afford the full prices! It's nearly £100 a month purely on lunches!
 
If your not against ready meals etc. for lunch (food snobbery etc.) then Morrison's/Asda do some great little pot things, It's what I have for 80% of my lunches. They're about £2-£2.50 and generally 400-500kcals 30g/70g/5g p/c/f ISH. Perfect for lazy people like myself.
 
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