Trying to fix my diet - can you tell me how I did today?

You did fine today. Maybe smaller portions later in the day. You need a cookie now and then.

Your BMI of 23 is at the high range of normal. Overweight, though, is at 25. quit worrying about your BMI if you are working out.

If you want to lose weight cut the number of carbs you are eating. No waffles, no bagels, no potatoes, no cereal. Two slices of very complex grain whole wheat toast instead of waffles. Have the bagel toppings in a salad. Have a piece of fruit instead of the cereal.

Don’t beat yourself up over things like a cookie. I’m jealous of your lunch, I think I might have that tomorrow, because it sounds awesome. Yum.
You could consider more protein in your diet in place of starchy carbs, then you may feel fuller on less food. For example, if you had a bit of chicken in place of the rice & potatoes for dinner. That’s just personal preference, but it may allow you to consume less over time than a carb dense diet like you are eating now.

Lol, man, I need that cookie more than now and then. I’m trying to quit cookies, I’m a cookie monster in disguise! lol.

Interesting way of approaching it though, @zenvelo. I actually quite like your ideas, and I’ll try those next. I thought the whole wheat bagel thins weren’t so bad though, so long as I don’t put a lot of cheese in it?

Ah I’ve heard that before somwhere, @ANef_is_Enuf. About eating protein to feel more full. I guess I have a lot to re-consider now!

Thanks so far guys.

@yoshiboshi protein breaks down more slowly than most carbs, which makes you feel full for longer. High fiber carb foods break down more slowly than low fiber carb foods (for example.. your whole grain bagel will not break down as quickly as a white bagel).

From one carb junkie to (what appears to be) another, try replacing some of the carbs in your diet with protein and veggies. For example, instead of eating a burger on a bun.. I love it in a bed of lettuce or wrapped up in some whole iceberg leaves. Choose just rice or just potatoes, and replace one with a bit of lean protein. You’ll notice a difference.

I do more fruits and veggies. Plus I average two cookies a day.

Eat your desert within a ½ hour after eating a protein. Your meals all sound low-protein. I agree with all of what @zenvelo.

Realistically, you should never deprive yourself of a cookie, pie or whatever your food likes are. Just eat them wisely…after a meal have one small portion.

You can work off that cookie on a bike, a walk or a jog. Get moving every day!

Its not that you ate too much… you made some good choices and some not great choices-
but not terrible. I first suggest keeping a food journal on hand. Write what youre going to eat BEFORE you eat it, because it makes you actually pause a second and think about it that extra second where you might decide you don’t need the cookie :]
Food is definitly a hard thing to control and I totally understand that. It can be quite a compulsive thing, so try and slow it down a bit, planning ahead can really help as well as pre portioning things.

Some carbohydrates are good. It is the first source of fuel your body uses- so especially if you’re exercising you needto properly supply your body with energy. As @ANef_is_Enuf suggested, adding some protien will help. y suggestion is eating protiens and carbohydrates together. For example: egg whites and whole wheat toast. A lean cut of meat like chicken breast and steamed vegetables. Keep healthy tings like vegetables and fruits sliced up in the fridge when you’re feeling hungry and need to snack on something. If you’re a mindless eater- sometimes gum can help the oral fixation of just eating because youre bored.
I think that I know what you mean with the whole cookie thing too. I believe that moderation is great- if you can successfully do it but some of us have trigger foods that cause a compulsiveness to eat other not so healthy foods etc….

hopefully this helps :if you like my ideas and have more questions let me know :]
I’m a senior health fitness major in college so Ive got lots of resources !
I commend you for working on being healthy !

Livestrong.com has a food journal tool called MyPlate, and it’s pretty awesome. It allows you to write in everything you’ve eaten for the day, and it calculates how many calories, fats, carbs, sodium, etc you’ve consumed. A lot of it is done by brand name, so it can be really accurate. I find that logging what I’m eating makes a huge difference in what/how much I eat.. as @boxer3 suggested.

Do you have a specific goal? For example are you shooting for a certain number of calories or grams of fat or grams of carbs? It might be easier for you to build your menu if you know what you are working towards.

As far as the diet I agree with everyone above, its slightly carb heavy. I too am a carb junky (as well as a cookie monster). What I do when I am trying to eat better is try to make as many of my carb whole grain as possible. Now I don’t mean “whole grain” bread and pasta, I mean granola bars with whole oats the kind that you have to actually chew and get stuck in your teeth for hours. Bread with chunks or grains and seeds in it, brown rice (yum). Also protein is good for you. If you aren’t a big meat eater try beans, some raw nuts or even some nut butter (go easy on the nut butter a little goes a long way lol). Its good to have a little fat in your diet as long as its good fat- I personally avoid “fat free” or “low fat” as much as possible. Also what did you drink? That is as important to your diet as what you ate. If you are a woman its a good idea to incorporate your daily dairy needs as well- don’t want osteoporosis creeping up on you.

Finally, you should be eating at least every 3 hours. Incorporate snacks into your diet. Its not a bad thing to feel like you have eaten a ton throughout the day, you want to keep your metabolism up and the only way to do that is to keep eating small meals frequently.

You seem to have it pretty right, @boxer3. I actually really like that food journal idea, and I especially like that livestrong.com has one I can use (since I am a mostly computer person anyway). That’s awesome, I’m going to start using it right away! :)

Oh and @abysmalbeauty, yeah, my goal is lose about 10 pounds. I actually don’t drink anything but water all day, and occasionally do I drink tea. I have a cup of coffee once a day in the morning. Hm, that’s a lot of changes that I am going to have to make. Guess this is going to be harder than I thought. Baby steps I guess though :P

Not terrible. However, if your goal is weigh loss I would look for alternatives to some of the grains, particularly the bagel. Although grains are packed with nutrition, they are also way high in calories.

I feel like I should point out that the OP said bagel thin, which isn’t the same as a classic “bagel.”

@yoshiboshi Its a great tool to look back and see how you’ve progressed too , someties we get so caught up we don’t notice what a great job we’ve been doing- and it will help you see what works best for you:] I like to write down y exercise as well

Wow, I just started using that livestrong tool, and wow, so glad you suggested it :) This is going to make organizing and handling my nutrition and diet so much easier.

Oh and yeah, maybe I should have pointed out that the bagel THIN is only 110 calories per bagel, which is why I chose it over a regular bagel. I don’t know if that makes it better though?

I definitely love Livestrong’s site, I’ve been using it for a long time. It’s very user friendly, so I hope you’ll find it as useful as I do.

I would add lots more vegetables and back off on the cereals and breads. If you want to loose weight, I would go with skim milk instead of 2%.
Also, you didn’t say how much water you drank or how much physical activity you got?

1 small plain waffle-210 calories
1 cup of broccoli -50 calories. You could have 4 entire cups of broccoli for the calorie price of 1 plain (no butter, no syrup) waffle.

Coffee in a diet is no good. It’s an inflammatory.

A diet is only going to work if you’re going to enjoy it. So if you are going to be miserable eating 4 cups of broccoli in place of a waffle, most likely you won’t stick to your changes. You should feel good about your diet and any progress you’re making. It is true, though, that if you do some research you can make some really wise substitutions. I’m not disagreeing with Judi’s comment, because she is absolutely right, just trying to point out that feeling guilty over your cookie or your waffle sets you up for potential failure in the future. Find substitutions that you actually like, and if you wake up and really feel like you want to have a waffle today.. then have a waffle. If a cup of fruit sounds just as good that day, then opt for that. Just don’t be militant, or it becomes a chore, and you are less likely to stick to your plan long term.

I wasn’t saying it had to be broccoli. I was just trying to make the point that some of her choices were high calorie, low density foods and there are other options to keep you full without using so many calories.
It could be a big bowl of vegetable soup, a vegetable stir fry, (easy on the oil) even a baked potato with a low fat chili (instead of butter and sour cream) will fill you up for a lot fewer calories than 3 waffles.
How about an egg white omlet stuffed with her favorite vegetables and a little low or no fat cheese. Vegetables increase volume with very few calories.

I agree. I was just trying to stress that it doesn’t have to be something that she won’t enjoy. Not that broccoli is not enjoyable, I just know that the OP was already struggling with guilt over a cookie – and as awesome as broccoli is, it isn’t a waffle. That’s all. Yours was good advice, I was just expanding on it. :)

I would add eat brown (with the husks) instead of white rice.

Hm, I guess it depends on when that broccoli is eaten. I probably can’t eat broccoli for breakfast, haha. Dinner, sure. But my waffles are actually 190 calories per TWO waffles, which actually isn’t all that bad. But I think @ANef_is_Enuf has a point about not enjoying your diet and thus not sticking to it. Actually, I have a tendency to get tired of certain foods if I eat them too much. Like I had this thing where I ate salads every day, and then suddenly, I got sick of looking at them, ha. But I agree @Judi, there are some better options than waffles out there. I guess the only reason I eat them is because they’re very easy and quick to make (I usually only have about 30 minutes to eat before I leave the house). I doubt I have time to make an omelet every morning >:

Oh and as far as water, I drink it practically all day every chance I get. I think I dehydrate easily, so I am always thirsty. I also run 3 miles a week (unless I have a sickness or a headache) and two days of those week I am at a college campus in which I have to walk 15 minutes from my car to class and back. Blech.

You should probably change out some of the “white carbs” with higher fiber complex carbohydrates.

For example: instead of regular waffles try Kashi whole grain waffles Vans and Trader Joe’s also make very good whole grain waffles.

Make a batch of these Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies (and substiture Smart Balance Buttery Spread for the butter and you can also add chunks of dark chocolate like this instead of using packaged, chemical laden chocolate chips) Oatmeal cookies are much higher in fiber than regular chocolate chip cookies.

Instead of white rice, eat brown rice and find some ways to doctor it up so it isn’t so bland, like cooking it with low fat chicken broth or low sodium beef broth or even mushroom broth. You could also switch up your grains, so instead of eating rice, have some whole wheat cous cous, or some quinoa or some wheat berry salad or some barley salad (you can always throw in some beans or dried cranberries and fresh herbs).

Instead of white potatoes, switch to sweet potatoes or try the plethora of other veggies out there like Brussels sprouts, rutabagas, beets, kale, broccoli and cauliflower (especially the colored varieties) Roasted veggies are one of the yummiest ways to add veggies into your diet, so it’s not just the same old potatoes every day. Roasted butternut squash is also fantastic!

Switch to non fat milk on your cereal and in your coffee. You’ll probably not notice the difference because the cereal and coffee are such strong flavors by themselves. After you switch, after a few months, regular milk will seem too thick to you.

Here’s some other tips for getting great nutrition (more bang for your buck) while at the same time adding fantastic new flavors to your limited menu.

Go for the soup, but make sure it’s chock full of beans and veggies and/or whole grains. Make sure the broth is super low fat and low in sodium. It’s much better to make your own homemade soup and then freeze some of it. It’s not onlly cheaper, but you can completely control what goes into it. Even the “healthier” soups in cans are pretty awful.

Some good options for soup:

Clear Asian Mushroom Soup (use the Smart Balance instead of butter. Note: mushroom are full of fiber and extremely low in fat and taste fantastic in all sorts of dishes)

Asparagus Cauliflower Soup

East Indian Lentil Soup

Fresh Tomato and Basil Soup (use Smart Balance instead of butter and choose a low fat, low sodium chicken stock)

Black Bean Soup

Kale and White Bean Soup

For your sandwiches, you should try to cut out the cheese completely. The reason is that if you put a little bit of low or no fat cheese on your sandwich you will either not like the taste, or you will want more. Your best bet is to find some sandwich fillers/toppings that make you feel satisfied (including the mouth feel and the taste)

For sandwiches, load up on the lettuce and try other varieties besides plain old boring iceberg lettuce (yes, it’s low in fat, but it’s also low almost non-existent when it comes to nutrition, whereas other lettuces and leafy greens are chock full of vitamins and anti-oxidents) so go for the romaine and the butter lettuce and the lambs lettuce and the baby greens and the spinach and the arugula and the dandelion greens.

Then pile those sammies with sliced fresh broccoli and cauliflower and beets for a crispy addition.

Instead of cheese, use mashed beans as a garnish. Instead of regular mayo, switch to Vegenaise which has no cholesterol and actually tastes great, unlike most low fat regular mayos. Learn what a serving size is and stick to it.

Mustard is also very low in calories, as is vinegar, and get yourself some non-fat plain yogurt. You can make sandwich spreads, fruit and yogurt smoothies and all sorts of dips with it. And it’s great on top of a bowl of vegetarian 3 bean chili and you can spoon a dollop onto a bean burrito with salsa and NO cheese.

Ditch the diet soda and diet fruit drinks. Learn to love and appreciate un-sweetened home made, decaf iced tea. Earl Grey is especially nice. You can drink the decaf version all day long without getting the jitters, it will keep you feeling full longer, keep you hydrated and it’s full of anti-oxidants.

Then learn to season your foods (soups, veggies, meats, or whatever) using low or no cal, but high flavor ingredients like peppers, and citrus juices and grilled mushrooms and vinegars and onions and garlic.

Eating lower fat foods and changing the way ( and what) you eat, rather than going on a diet, can be very tasty. If you learn how to prepare and try new foods that are good for you, and lower in fat, and have higher nutrition quotients, then you’ll be much happier in the long run. Good luck : )

Sorry to keep blathering on, but food, especially healthy food is my passion.

I found a great site that has a whole bunch of low fat delicious marinades for grilled chicken

And here is a good site that explains step by step how to roast vegetables (you only need a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil, and you can use one of those spritzers so you can completely control how much you use. I would add garlic and butternut squash and baby beets, both red and gold, and rutabagas to this list)

Fish can be a very good part of a healthy, low fat regimen. Here is a site that talks about how to buy, and prepare all kinds of fish and which types of fish are best for a low fat diet.

Here’s a great dip to use with fresh sliced veggies, or as a sandwich topping. Greek Tzatziki (I always use non-fat plain yogurt, but I make it thicker by putting the yogurt into a coffee filter lined net strainer set over a bowl. I cover it with plastic wrap and let the excess liquid drain out of it over night. There is absolutely no need to whirl this in the blender either, just add all of the ingredients to your fat-free thickened yogurt, stir well and let the flavors infuse over night. This is one of my favorite dips of all time. It’s delicious and refreshing and super low fat. This dip tastes good with veggies and also as a sauce to put over a piece of grilled white fish.

Another good dip that’s great for veggies or sammies is Spicy Black Bean Dip that is almost identical to Trader Joe’s fat free bean dip, but you can make it yourself if you like to cook.

Want to add a little pizazz to your sandwich without adding any fat? Try some fresh basil or a few sprigs of raw mustard greens or jarred roasted red sweet peppers.

Pickles are another way to jazz up just about everything. These Pickled Red Onions are delicious and easy to make. Here is a whole site dedicated to making all sorts of Japanese Pickles

I think I need to get a copy of the @Kardamom cookbook, a collection of her Fluther food postings….

@zenvelo Ha Ha Ha, that is so sweet of you : )