Hi there... I am in need of some assistance and advise with my meal plan. I am 38 year old female, 5'3". I started my weight loss program May 14th, 2009 weighing in at 223 lbs. I am now down to 202.5 and exercise about 3 times a week by using the exercise bike for 30-45 minutes each time. I am pretty boring when it comes to meals and find it simple to stick to pretty much the same old thing most days. Here is a sample of what an average day looks like for me: (+ I drink as much water as possible)

Breakfast:
Bowl of Oatmeal with skim milk and tsp. brown sugar
2 Slices of Weight Watchers Toast with light Cheese Whiz
Coffee

Lunch:
Fruit such as a nectarine, orange or apple
A selection from the Weight Watchers Smart One's Meals (I know these pre-packaged meals are not the greatest but they are easy to grab in the morning and they prevent me from opting to grab something from takeout at lunch time)
Some added protein such as a small can of tuna

Snack:
Another fruit

Dinner:
A Selection of cooked veggies
Salad such as Ceasar with light/fat free dressing
Serving of lean Meat (size of palm I was told to use as a reference)

Any suggestions to help me do better in this area would be great!! Thank you in advance for the assistance!!


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Hi and welcome.

My first suggestions would be that you register for a site like fitday.com or thedailyplate.com and start logging the food you eat every day. That will help you to know how many calories you're eating and what the breakdown of macro nutrients (carbs/protein/fat) is.

On the face of it, the diet doesn't look too bad, although I think you could eat more protein and I think you're not getting nearly enough healthy fat. You need about 20% at a minimum of your calories to come from healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds, and that sort of thing.

Finally, I'd say add some weight lifting or body resistance exercises to your routine. Just working out on the exercise bike isn't going to help you to maintain lean muscle while you're losing weight. You need to work your muscles at least 2x-3x per week.

Hi Kara...thank you for the advise! I do use Weight By Date to track my daily calories and values. I typically run between 1500-1700 calories and as you say my proteins are a little low usually. I guess I am struggling between calorie intake and recommended nutrient values. I am looking for some simple alternatives to increase the value without uping the calorie count. Maybe switching from the cheese whiz to peanut butter would be a smart change? That should slightly increase both my healthy fats and protein right? Should I change the second fruit a day for some cashews or something like that?

Thank you again, I really appreciate it!

Peanut butter for the cheese whiz would be a good substitute.

I don't really like the packaged meals, as I've said, but if you must have them, then make sure to avoid the ones that have noodles or rice. Those are very high calorie items with little nutrition value. See if you can find frozen meals that are mostly veg and meat.

This is just a suggestion I'd make - I know that different things work for different people and I'm not saying what you're doing is wrong necessarily ... but here's my philosophy on eating.

I try to avoid artificial and packaged foods as much as possible - and I try to eat real food as much as I can. That means also avoiding "diet" foods. Weight watchers bread? Diet salad dressing? All those things? I think that the reason most people get hungry on a diet is that they're eating this food where all the good stuff has been removed and it's replaced with chemicals and processed nutrients.

I guarantee you that a single slice of whole grain bread with some peanut butter and a banana or an apple will keep you feeling full and satisfied a LOT longer than 2 slices of weight watchers bread with diet cheez whiz. Sure - it has a little more calories, but it's also more nutritious and more filling and (IMO) healthier in the long run.

A salad with chicken or tuna and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar will keep you a lot more satisfied and full feeling than a packaged smart ones meal.

Etc.

As an example, here's what I eat almost every day and you'll notice that there's nothing in there that's packaged, "diet" or artificial.

Breakfast: 1 container 2% Greek yogurt, blueberries, coffee (300 cals)
Snack: apple with 1 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese (200 cals)
Lunch: 1 slice whole grain bread, tuna or chicken breast salad (a little mayo, a little dijon mustard), pickle slices. A lettuce, tomato, cucumber salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar. (350 cals)
Snack: 1 boiled egg, 1 can low-sodium V8 (210 calories)
Post workout: 1 scoop protein powder in water (100 calories)
Dinner: grilled or roasted meat of some kind, veggies and/or salad usually drizzled with olive oil (400 calories)
Total: 1660 calories, around 120g protein

My dinner changes every night - I like to cook and I like to experiment - but my breakfast, lunch, and snacks are the exact same almost every single day, unless I bring leftovers from dinner the night before for lunch the next day.

I'm not saying you have to eat like this, but if you're looking for a way to raise nutritional value while keeping your calories the same, I am a big believer that eating real food is the best way to do it.