Having a hard time with eating enough to lose weight help!

[Neowind]

Ok so heres the deal. I am 5'11" and weigh about 192 pounds. I am wanting to lose down to 170 pounds and lean down. I have almost 5 months to do it so time is not the problem. I am having a hard time finding enough healthy food to make 1700 Calories a day or at least doing it with low carbs and fat. Heres an example.

Totals of the following are:
1645 Calories
52g Fat
172 Carbs
121 Protein


Breakfast:

1 Scrambled Egg
2 Pieces of Whole Wheat Toast
8 Ounces of Grape Juice

Lunch:

Grilled Chicken Salad with few crutons (sp)
16 ounces of Decaf Sweat Tea

Dinner:

90% Lean Roast in crock pot
1 Small White Potato
10 Green Beans
1 Roll

After workout:
8 oz of Cola

Late Snack:
GNC Protein Shake



Can anyone give me some insight what I am doing wrong? This meal if i ate it everyday then I would lose 2 pounds per weak supposdly with that calorie range.

PS. I workout 3 times a weak with weight lifting. I try and run for 30 mins 2 other days of the week.

[sooner_ed]

Hey Neowind, how's it going. So you're trying to lose 22 pounds in five months, huh? Not a problem. You have plenty of time so nothing to worry about. I do have a few suggestions for you.

1. It will be ok to eat more than you have listed. You can eat up to six small meals a day. Some say three meals and three snacks, others say six small meals...six of one and a half a dozen of the other, if you know what I mean.
It's ok to have more than one scrambled egg for breakfast. Don't limit yourself too much or you will not have enough energy throughout the day to rev up your metabolism. You can change up your breakfast as well. Oatmeal is a very good option, but it's up to you.

2. As far as lunch is concerned, it depends on how much salad you're having. Throw in a little fat to go with it such as a 1 oz piece of 2% lowfat cheese or something like that. Make sure you're having a mix of protein, carbs, and fat.

3. I'm concerned about your dinner. Why are you counting the number of green beans? Just keep this thing simple. Don't get caught up in the numbers game where you feel you have to count things exactly.

4. Cola is not a good option after your workout. You don't say when you workout. You would want your protein shake after your workout. About an hour later, have some good lean protein with some complex carbs, such as a small baked potatoe.

5. Feel free to have some small healthy snacks throughout the day to keep a steady flow of energy and to keep your metabolism high.

6. If you eat healthy and in the appropriate portions at the right times, the key to your weight loss will be in your exercise. A combination of lifting weights and aerobic exercise will give you the greatest results.

Just make sure you are eating enough. You will never lose weight if you are not eating enough because you will put your body into a starvation mode and it will hang on to every little bit of food you eat. Also, drink 3-4 liters of water each day to keep your body properly hydrated. That way your body will not retain any unneccessary water.
And also, make sure you're eating a variety of healthy foods including some fruit. Throw in many more vegetables than you have now. Your body needs nutrients, not starvation. You will get most of the nutrients it needs through a diet of a variety of healthy foods. Throw in a good multivitamin and a very good exercise program and you should have no problem :

[Neowind]

Wow I want to thank you for an AWSOME response. I workout at about 5pm each day right after work. Vegetables are very very hard for me because I hate all of them. I really don't like a single one. So I will have to just suck it up and try and eat some more of them. I am not taking a Vitamin now so I should probably go for one of those also. I will try and cut the Cola out also as its probably not good but beating that craving is another hard part to deal with.

[SNPiccolo5]

What really works- think very clearly about how BAD the cola actually is for you, and tell yourself that drinking it is horrible- if nothing else- drink diet.

-Tim

[Aw-De-Oh]

Put a piece of raw steak in a glass of Coke, leave it overnight, wake up in the morning, take a look, and come to your own conclusion on whether you should drink it.

On the up side, it's good for leaning the grime off the toilet.

[Barry]

More protein and less carbs....Get rid of the fruit juice, bread, and potatos...or at least limit them...Also try not to eat them in the evening...Eat some cottage cheese instead. Also eating small protein rich meals every 2 hours or so is much better than 3 meals a day. You can eat a lot of food and keep the cals down if you do it right.

[Neowind]

Well the problem I am having is keeping the Calories up instead of down. I can't find healthy foods with enough calories. I feel like I am eating more now then I was when I was not dieting yet my calories are very low now and high then.

[sooner_ed]

Originally Posted by Neowind

I feel like I am eating more now then I was when I was not dieting yet my calories are very low now and high then.

I know the feeling! It's weird eating up to six small meals a day. It seems like I'm always stuffing my mouth with food! Yet I don't gain any weight (although I am watching my muscles grow now). I think the end result of eating more smaller meals throughout the day is you're always keeping a constant store of energy going and keeping your metabolism higher. This in turn allows you to burn more fat while eating more food. I'm finding now, that from time to time, I can eat much more food now than I ever have before and not gain a pound. It's weird. It has taken a lot of time to adjust to that. My wife will watch me really pig out from time to time and she is totally amazed. She says I eat more now than I ever did when I was fat yet I'm not gaining any weight. Go figure.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by sooner_ed

I'm finding now, that from time to time, I can eat much more food now than I ever have before and not gain a pound. It's weird. It has taken a lot of time to adjust to that. My wife will watch me really pig out from time to time and she is totally amazed. She says I eat more now than I ever did when I was fat yet I'm not gaining any weight. Go figure.

Ed..you are eating much more healthy than you did before as well..Much more quality calories, not the simple carbs in the processed foods. My wife was the same way...She flipped out when she saw my meal plan, expecting me to blow up like a balloon but the opposite happened. I got so much stronger and now with more LBM, the fat burns off easier.

It is hard to get used to eating so many smaller meals, but Ed is right...You will be keeping a constant flow of calories, therefore your body will not feel the need to store them. When you starve your body it reacts by storing everything it can as fat.

[swanem]

Things I see "wrong" with your meals... no milk. No fruit/veggies. Get some yogurt and milk and cheese in there. Have an apple, some prunes, a banana. Carry a can of tuna with you to eat before you work out. Add some chicken in there too. I think chicken breast and tuna must be nature's perfect food. Low fat, high protein. Carrot/sweet potato soufflet is a nice way to get some veggies in there and still have a sweet dessert too. Make it with splenda and eggbeaters to make it healthy. I wouldn't worry THAT much about carbs, but more about where your calories come from.

[Neowind]

The wierd thing is that 3 days into this now I have actually gained weight. 2 pounds. But i can feel a much more present amount of Muscle just in these 3 weeks I have started my workout back hardcore.

[Neowind]

Update I have now lost down to 188 and it all fell off in like 2 days. Hope it slows down a bit now

[Neowind]

Well as you can see I have now gained more weight instead of lost weight. I started at 192 and wanted to get down to 170. I did lose down to 188 pounnds the first week but now I am up to 196. I have really cut back on my eating and drinking cokes and chocolate. I have been in the gym allot more though. Could it be because I am weight training now or should I still be losing when cutting calories.

[Octagon]

Originally Posted by Neowind

Could it be because I am weight training now or should I still be losing when cutting calories.

Wellllll, it's definitely possible to put on noticable amounts of lean mass especially when you're just starting to lift.

But if you've *really* been limiting yourself to ~1700 cals/day for the past two months you should have seen some drop on the scale by now.

If I had to guess I'd say you need to pay closer attention to intake. That means make sure you log *everything* you eat or drink and try to estimate the amounts as closely as you can. It can be a pain (and no, I'm not necessarily saying you have to dole everything out with a measuring spoon or weight everything) but it can be a very useful exercise and can point out blind spots in an otherwise okay plan.

Some other random thoughts...

Make sure you keep your water intake up. Can't stress that one enough.

Watch stuff like fruit juices. They're not (always, anyway) as bad as soft drinks but they can get pretty close. Even when there aren't a bunch of added sugars or sweeteners they're still pretty simple sugars and you're missing out on a lot of the nutrients and fiber you'd get from an actual piece of, you know...fruit.

'Cutting back' on Coke ain't gonna do it unless you're talking about cutting back to one or two a week. Ditto chocolate.

Don't get too caught up in scale weight. Over a period of a few weeks scales can provide useful feedback (like it's doing now, for instance). Over the course of a few days or even a week they're essentially useless (ie you don't *really* know whether you lost four or two or no pounds that first week, there's just too much short-term fluctuations to be sure) and if you let every day-to-day change freak you out or throw you off you're plan they become worse than useless.

Don't get too caught up in numbers period. You can only estimate things like calories in or calories burned (and calories burned estimates are *notoriously* inexact) which means trying to predict how many pounds per week you should lose given ABC meals and XYZ workouts is pretty much pointless. (Now, that might sound like it contradicts what I said earlier about food logging but it doesn't. The point of detailed logging isn't to 'know' exactly how many calories you're taking in - the point is to make us more aware of exactly what we shovel into our faces on a daily basis and on *that* basis it's invaluable).

[Neowind]

I have been drinking Sweat Tea every meal think this could be a factor? I really get sick when I drink water every meal. But I add the sweat tea to my calculations. How bad is Tea?