My diet sucks. Help.

redcard

So, I work in an office. I commute 100 miles per week, I'm not overweight, but would be nice to lose a few KG of fat and get some muscle in there instead. I'm 5ft 8 and 70KG. I want to get involved in some road racing before the end of the year.

My current diet consists mostly of cereal bars, cup-a-soups, diet Pepsi and other pre-packaged snacks. It suits me in that it enables me to track calorie count effectively but I know the salt and processed content of the foods isn't doing me any favours.

I use MyFitnessPal and it says I'm burning around 800 calories per day, and this seems to be pretty accurate based on how my weight fluctuates. So I have around 2,800 calories per day, which should give me a small deficit each week, as well as giving me some scope for pigging out at weekends.

Any ideas / eating plans to share??

stueys

Drop what you eat and move to porridge in the morning, banana or fruit for mid am snack, tuna salad for lunch, salmon/chicken/beef with sweet potato in the evenings.

Processed food is crap, it's the cheapest of cheap ingredients mixed with salt to make it palatable. Eat food that's as natural as possible and try to get more protein in your diet from lean meat or fish. Protein powder mixed with milk or water is also a fairly quick yet healthy snack.

ianbar

think general rule is to avoid most types of processed foods, you could probably eat more if the right things but we way better off. you can eat pretty much as much fruit and veg as you can, but porridge is a defo to have.

redcard

Porridge would be good, but I don't have a microwave or cooking facilities, so would have to be instant oats or Oat Burst.

He do people working the 9-5 manage? I could take tuna pasta in every other day, but think I'd get bored pretty quickly.

astrazen

redcard wrote:

Porridge would be good, but I don't have a microwave or cooking facilities, so would have to be instant oats or Oat Burst.

He do people working the 9-5 manage? I could take tuna pasta in every other day, but think I'd get bored pretty quickly.

May seem strange but try porridge oats with cold milk and then add runny honey. Don't heat it up, just eat cold. Maybe add some grapes and nuts.
Tastes fantastic.

JayKosta

Check around at local churches to see if they have any 'diner meals' on various evenings.
Make a reasonable donation instead of taking a 'free meal', and you might find some decent food that is convenient and not overly expensive.

Also look for local sources of 'bakery breads' and sliced meats & cheese. Canned fruit is also good - I like pear halves, and pineapple chunks.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

sloppyschleckonds

Substitute something unhealthy in your diet for Raisins

cojones

can the diet pepsi (pun intended). Just because it says diet it doesn't mean it's healthy. I gave up processed foods, excessive sugar, chocolate, crisps, etc in February, lost 10lbs and improved my power to weight ratio that I actually enjoy climbs now!!

cojones

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Substitute something unhealthy in your diet for Raisins

excellent advice...I replaced the chocolate I used to snack on at work with loads of different dried fruit and nuts all mixed up. I just nibble it throughout the day and it stops me getting hungry and gives me energy for the commute home. I never thought it would happen but I actually 'like' fruit now! :shock:

jibberjim

Eat food, when you're hungry. I assume your diet isn't actually as described in that there are other foods there too? If it is then it's pretty deficient in fat and protein, so the advice to eat more carbs in the form of porridge * or raisins doesn't strike me as very sensible.

* There's some protein in the oats and milk of course, but it's still mostly carbs

BeaconRuth

redcard wrote:

My current diet consists mostly of cereal bars, cup-a-soups, diet Pepsi and other pre-packaged snacks.

You're right with the title of the thread.

When I worked in an office I took sandwiches for lunch - always including some kind of lean protein (chicken, cottage cheese or tuna) and with some chunks of raw vegetables (carrots, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes). Then I loaded my work bag up with fruit each day too and it all had to be eaten before I came home again. Probably a couple of bananas, an apple, a peach, some grapes and an orange.......... that was just one day's worth.

You really don't have to eat cereal bars, cup-a-soups, diet Pepsi and other pre-packaged snacks.

Ruth

ashleydwsmith

The problem I have noticed is to eat healthy is expensive. I am in the same boat as the op, however the second postdoes simplify what to do.

fish156

ashleydwsmith wrote:

The problem I have noticed is to eat healthy is expensive.

But eating unhealthily is costing you a lot more than a few extra £s.

Stueys wrote:

Processed food is crap, it's the cheapest of cheap ingredients mixed with salt to make it palatable. Eat food that's as natural as possible and try to get more protein in your diet from lean meat or fish. ...

^ This.

buckles

ashleydwsmith wrote:

The problem I have noticed is to eat healthy is expensive.

Is it? People keep saying this, but is it actually true? Have you not got an outdoor market nearby? Fruit and veg is well cheap at such places.

SpainSte

^^

This isnt always possible though.

Ref the point about expense:
When I started trying to eat more healthily I just substituted my old routine for a new one - I would still buy ready prepared stuff from the super market, just much healthier stuff, salads, chicken, etc etc. This works out to be very expensive.
Best thing to do is plan your meals for the week and buy it all individually and make it yourself.

Sounds stupid but makes a massive difference to the overall cost.

ashleydwsmith

It is, I work in retail and there is a sainsburys near me. Now for lunch I can buy a sandwich a bag of crisps and a drink for 3quid, or a salad on its own for 3quid. I would prefer the salad as its healthy but it does work out more expensive.

THe other issue is having two kids and a missus who dont necessarily want to eat unhealthy food but arent too keen on the healthy stuff it could become difficult to plan meals in advance.

I should buy stuff and make sarnies etc at work but I dont trust the fridge!

sloppyschleckonds

Last time I checked, bread had little or no nutritional value.

ianspeare

I revamped my diet about 2 months ago and I've never felt better. I used to have a sandwich and yoghurt every day for lunch and I'd get a bit bored of it. Snacks consisted of chocolate or crisps with the occasional piece of fruit and dinner would be some kind of processed meal.

I ditched the sandwiches in favour of salads and have different combinations of what's in them each day. You could have a wrap or pitta filled to vary it up a bit and tuna pasta salad is still a healthy option. Snacks have switched to fruit/nuts-that's probably been the easiest thing to do.

For dinner I now usually have a fresh piece of meat with some vegetable, a stir fry or something based around an omlette/scrambled egg- there's plenty of quick healthy options out there.


I used to get bloated after eating too much dairy and have switched from regular milk to almond milk on cereal and this has definately had a great effect. Not once have I felt bloated since. Neither have I been majorly hungry or uncomfortably full since changing. Not weighed myself in this week but I'm 5ft 8ins and around the 68kg mark (although I'm a typical ectomorph)

Eating right is all about striking the right balance between the foods and working out what is best for you.

markp80

ashleydwsmith wrote:

It is, I work in retail and there is a sainsburys near me. Now for lunch I can buy a sandwich a bag of crisps and a drink for 3quid, or a salad on its own for 3quid. I would prefer the salad as its healthy but it does work out more expensive.

But you could choose the bag of grapes or sliced apple instead of the crisps, which is still in the meal deal
And the sarnies range from about 250 cals to over 600, so if this is your only lunch option, read the label and choose carefully! There's still wholemeal bread and healthy fillings to choose from in the Sainsburys meal deal range. (I don't work for them BTW, but I go there for lunch too )

Cheers,
MarkP

simonhead

Eating healthier can be cheaper if you are prepared to do a bit of prep and take your lunch in. I cook chicken breast on a sunday night and split it into 3 bags, one gets mixed with greek yoghurt, mint, uncooked baby spinach and spring onion and that is my lunch on top of a sweet potato that tastes fine cold.
Another gets mixed with quinoa and raw veg then frozen, just requires micro waving, the last is mixed with ricebrown rice and i make it into a sort of jamblaya, again frozen and just re heated. Cost is about £2. If you want something sweet (particularly in the evenings) make home made ice ceam with skimmed milk, yoghurt, mashed banana and a little melted dark chocolate (add a tiny bit of wasabi if you dare).

Going away from prpacked food has helped me shed almost 6 stone since last august

mikenetic

Try swapping one or two things out from your existing diet and take it from there. It's hard to stick with a completely radical overhaul.

For example, making things like your own flapjacks is dirt cheap and dead easy. You know exactly what's in them (ingredients and calories), you can mix up the contents a bit, they last, they are portable and they taste really, really, good.

If you have a garden/outside space leafy veg like rocket & kale are cheap to grow and packed with nutrients. We've got a fishpond in the garden and it's providing a steady crop of watercress at the moment

jakjtb

I dropped around 2 stones pretty quickly. I also commute around 100 miles a week Monday to Friday as well as a good 70+ mile ride at the weekends.

my diet at the moment is
Morning,
High Carb Porridge (something like wholemeal porridge)
Lunch
Brown bread sandwich with ham or chicken on
pack of crisps (not the best but meh)
Low fat yoghurt
Apple
Dinner
Home cooked low fat meal, pasta or similar

for snacks I have the odd bikkie.

I drink nothing but flavoured water and when I have a coffee I use sweetener.
I try and keep sugar to a minimum and completely stopped drinking anything that was fizzy, so coke (even diet or zero) and cut out all forms of chocolate, sweets, ice cream. what would be classed as 'Crap'.

I do however have a weekend treat with the mrs of malteesers or something like that and a monthly treat of a meal out.

if I could only cut out Guinness my diet would be fine. alas it is too nice, but I am still in the best shape since I was a kid. currently 6ft4 and 14.3 stone.

jane90

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Last time I checked, bread had little or no nutritional value.

Depends which bread you checked. Rye bread is very nutrient dense, with high levels of iron, calcium, potassium, zinc as well as vitamins B & E. It is also a good source of soluble fibre, hence delivering good levels of satiety.