Please Help!?
Question:
*1 cinnamon waffle plain
*About 10 raw baby carrots with 2 teaspoons of low fat ranch veggie dip
*Low fat Chocolate Chip Granola Bar
*About 1 1/2 cup Salad which i added shredded cheddar cheese, 3 chicken fries chopped up, and the south beach diets ranch dressing
*Cheerios w/ Milk in a regular size cereal bowl
*Drank mostly water, but I did have a half glass of sweet tea
About how many calories is this? Are these foods good for a diet to lose about 5 pounds in a few weeks or 1-2 months? Which ones are bad for me? Any ideas on what to eat to be healthier to lose more weight? Im about 5'3 if that helps and Im not over weight but yeah, REAL answers only..
Answers:
Assuming regular portions/servings for these foods and 2% milk on the cereal you ate around 1,000 calories, 48 grams of fat (ironic isn't it, since several of your choices were labled "low-fat"), 108 grams of carbs, 33 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber.
From a pure calories standpoint, your diet doesn't look so bad. The problem is that the fat/carb/fiber/protein ratios are out of whack. Fat makes up the largest portion of your diet today at 45% of calories, followed by carbs at 41% and and protein at 14%. Fiber is basically non-existent at 11 grams, which means the majority of your carbs were the non-fiberous, fast-digesting simple carbs that cause your blood sugar to spike and your body to sock away excess calories as fat.
Also, nearly everything that you ate was processed or came out of a box or bottle. This means it's typically loaded with sodium, preservatives, and high fructose corn syrup. Because it's processed, most of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals have been stripped out. Basically this stuff is little more than junk food ... in other words, empty calories.
If you want to lose weight and eat more healthy, you need to eat more "whole" -- which means focusing on eating foods that are as close to the way they came from the earth. So intead of eating processed waffles, eat a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. Instead of chicken fries, eat a boneless, skinless chicken breast or canned tuna. Instead of low-fat ranch, make your own vinegarette with olive oil and red wine vineager and some dijon mustard. Instead of a chocolate chip granola bar, eat an apple with some natural peanut butter.
In terms of fruits and veggies, try to eat them in their "whole" form. Avoid the juice forms. Frozen fruits and vegetables are sometimes more convenient, and in general, they are still as nutritious as fresh (sometimes more nutritious because they are packaged at the peak of ripeness and before vitamins start to degrade.)
You also need more protein. Get this from lean sources like seafood, fish, lean red meat like lean ground sirloin, filet, NY strip or top sirloin, turkey breast, skim milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, chicken breast and canned beans (black beans, kidney beans, etc.) Nuts in moderation are also good sources of healthy fats, protein and minerals.
By doing this, you'll naturally get more fiber, feel fuller, your complexion will probably get better, you'll have more energy and over time, you will lose weight.
Best of luck!
Check out dietfacts.com
it will tell you how many calories are in those foods.
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