Day 1 ...please review/advise

[Simone]

Well, today was not as difficult as I anticipated. Usually when I set my mind to do something the universe opposes every step I take. Not today.

7:30am Breakfast: 2 eggs w/1TSP of butter scrambled

12:00pm Lunch: 1 cup iceburg, 1/2cup raw spinach, 4.5 oz of canned crab meat, 2 TSP of mayo, 1TSP mustard, 1/4 cup olive oil, few dashes of redwine vinegar, salt and pepper

7:00pm Dinner: 4.5 oz (approx fist size) of roast beef with 1cup brocolli with added butter.

Water: 3 liters which is about 100oz.

Exercise: This morning, I walked 5k in just under and hour. That is roughly 3.3 miles.

That is all I put in my mouth today. The time between lunch and dinner were hard, but I stayed occupied. I wasnt' hungry, but I did have the munchies. I just wanted something in my mouth. Fed my kids with ease.

Now, will this get me to where I want to be? 167lbs?

[higgies]

Well, I don't see any reason why you couldn't snack during the day! You're more than welcome (even encouraged) to eat when you are hungry. Snacking on a fatty snack (like cheese or pepperoni) can help you get through those cravings you might start having.

Otherwise, the food looks good. Have you tried putting these into Fitday.com to check your percentages and stuff?

[Simone]

Fit Day percentages...how do they look?

Calories Eaten Today
source grams cals %total
Total: 1359
Fat: 103 929 69%
Sat: 23 205 15%
Poly: 14 129 10%
Mono: 58 521 39%
Carbs: 20 45 3%
Fiber: 9 0 0%
Protein: 91 365 27%
Alcohol: 0 0 0

Am I on target?

[higgies]

Well, I'd say you aren't eating enough. You want to go find out what your BMR is. That's the number of calories your body needs to stay at the same weight with no activity. Then you want to eat enough calories to reach it or go in between your BMR and AMR (Active rate). I always tended to stick a hundred or so calories below my BMR, but it was close enough. Second, your fat's alittle high. It's ok, but you want to try to stay around 65% fat, 35% protein, and 5% carbs. It's probably that gallon of olive oil you had in your dressing... just kidding!

You're doing well. Don't be afraid to eat! This isn't a diet as much as it is a Way of Life.

I was about 250lbs when I started, but I'm eating about the same now...and here's asample of something I'd have for a day:

Breakfast:
3 eggs, scrambled
2 links sausage
1 oz. cheese

Lunch:
Salad w/ 2cups lettuce, .5c cucumber, 6oz. chicken, 2 Tbspn dressing, 1 Tbspn bacon bits, something like that

Snack:
1 oz. cheese
1 oz. pepperoni

Dinner:
10 oz. steak
1 cup veggie

See, that's a lot of food...not too shabby for a "diet", eh?

[Simone]

BMR??

This is what I found on FIT Day.

Average Calories Burned
source cals %total
Total: 3753
Basal: 1920 51%
Lifestyle: 1553 41%
Activities: 280 7%


Is BMR the Basal Metabolic rate? If so, are you saying I should eat 1900-2220 calories per day? Not sure where I would have added them and still stayed true to the rules and the percentages. I was surprised to see that walking 3 miles only burned 280 cal. Bummed me out!

The olive oil was a guess. I poured it and didn't realize how bug the mouth of the bottle was. I refused to let my crab go uneaten. LOL. I will watch that for future.

[higgies]

Yes, you probably want to eat around 1800-2000 calories a day. It's easy to add calories by eating stuff like butter, olive oil, & mayo...just watch the fat a bit. Remember, during induction it's not so much about calories...so eat until you are satisfied. Maybe just eat larger portions of meat...that would add calories and help out your percentages.

Maybe some others can add some better advice.

[Finelly]

What can one say about a diet that requires you to eat MORE?

"YIPPEEEEEE!!!!!!"

Add some fat to your diet. 10 olives. sticks of cheese. devilled eggs. avocado.

If you stay below your bmr, your body will go into starvation mode and you will stop losing. This is one diet where it is a documented fact that the more fat you consume, the more fat you burn and thus the more you lose. (that is not a license to go overboard and eat a quart of whipped cream, mind you, but it really means that you need to make sure your ratios are good and that you eat enough calories!!!)

[Brook]

I'm not sure what you weigh now, but I'd imagine you are a bit munchy/hungry. I eat more than that around goal weight!

I agree with letting up a bit on the olive oil, and not because it's fat. I lost a huge part of my 82lbs keeping my fat percentages right around 70ish%. You don't have to be afraid of fat, just make sure you're eating good fats I'd just swap out some of the olive oil for FOOD

I'd also say add in a few more veggies. You can certainly afford them carb count wise (add some tomato/mushrooms/diced chicken/spinach/ to your eggs in the morning!), and the extra fiber in the veggies will help handle that whole munchy/texture thing too.

I'm not a big fan of counting calories during induction in particular. I don't believe it to be necessary, nor do I believe it should be a point of focus. Your focus should be on eating induction appropriate foods, following the rules, and paying attention to how your body reacts. There will come a time when you'll need to pay much closer attention to it - but induction isn't it IMHO.

If you feel you must pay attention to calories, try to shoot for your weight X 10 =calories goal range for weight loss. X12 if you're actively exercising. It's a good rule of thumb.

The BMR calculators are subjective & debateable. Dr. Atkins said to make sure you don't go more than 4-6 waking hours without eating something. While you don't want your overall intake to be too low (gotta stay real! fewer does NOT equal better for many reasons), you don't want to be eating more than your body is telling you to either. It's a delicate balance!

Overall - well done I wish you success!
~Brook

[New_Me_In_2005]

Simone,

I think that was a good start for day 1. Like someone said, maybe you can add mushrooms or some other vegetable to your breakfast. Since I'm avoiding cheese for 30 days maybe you could have some pepporoni chips or some tuna wrapped in lettuce between lunch and dinner. I like the wraps as it makes me think I'm either eating a sandwich or a burrito, a mind thing. Good luck on the rest of your 14 days and the rest of your life.