[meegs223]

Hi everyone!

First I want to say congratulations to everyone who is doing so well, I often check up on here to see what new info or advice is up and to see how everyone is doing! It's such an inspiration!

I've struggled with unhealthy eating habits (overrestricting calories)through high school, and I finally decided to do things the right way! No more diets just a healthy lifestyle change!

My first question is whether or not my eating is well balanced, I try not to count calories because it normally ends up becoming too much for me and I get obsessive. I've been eating when I'm hungry, stopping when I'm full pretty much. Here's a sample day for me.. could you please let me know if it looks alright?

Breakfast (~6 AM)
-egg white omelette (~ 1/4 cup) w/ 1T reduced fat cheddar cheese and 1T green bell peppers

Snack (~8:30 AM)
-either low-fat yogurt or 2/3 cup fresh fruit

Lunch (~11 AM)
-Large Salad (2 C) w/ spinach, green peppers, tomato, cucumber, carrots and boneless skinless grilled chicken breast, Salad Spritzer Dressing
-1 C fresh fruit (canteloupe, strawberries, or watermelon)

Snack (~3:30 PM)
-1 banana

Dinner
-This normally varies, but it's either a lean protein with 2-3 veggie sides or whole wheat pasta or brown rice with ground turkey and fresh vegetables

If I'm hungry after dinner I normally have fresh fruit or veggies to snack on or maybe a handful of peanuts.

My other question is I have pretty "bulky" legs from cheerleading and playing softball in high school, I would love to slim them done and add muscle tone but I'm afraid using machines will just make them bigger so I've been doing squats and lunges with weights and also using the stairmaster everyday. Will that be enough to make a difference? Will the stairmaster bulk my legs up instead of slimming them down? Any help would be very appreciated! Thanks so much everyone!

Good Luck!

[vanojr9]

I'm no expert, I'm really not, but this looks pretty lo-cal to me. Are you perhaps in college? Most colleges have dieticians you can see free of charge who will help you work out a healthy and doable eating plan. Depending on how much you exercise, you might not be getting enough calories, and that can really stunt weight loss or fitness goals. Just a thought, maybe run this by a professional if you have access to one through a college or if your insurance covers it!

Good luck, I'm trying to find a happy medium too (stress eater here!).

[chinchillamoose]

You should either go to mypyramid.gov or sparkpeople.com and fill out a food diary on the site every day. On mypyramid.gov (it's a FDA site), you can say you want to maintain or lose weight gradually and they will adjust your ideal caloric intake. On sparkpeople.com (it's a free weight loss support site) there is an option where the food diary page will show a suggested menu. Both sites offer a nutritional analysis and will tell you if you need to increase your intake of certain nutrients.

[amanda]

as long as you're controlling your portion size, the meals seem healthy to me.

[lelgin]

Your snacks seem a wee bit carb heavy. You may want to consider replacing the banana with some almonds.

A really good book to read is The Zone. It gives advice on eating a balanced diet. Basically you need to eat in blocks (something like 9 grams carbs, 7 grams protein, 1.5 grams of fat) for healthy eating.

[pseub]

Are you trying to lose or maintain your weight? If you're trying to maintain, I think you're eating far too few calories. Even if you're trying to lose, I'd add just a little bit of fat to your menu, like a tablespoon of olive oil based dressing on your salad. It looks like you're getting almost no fat during the day. Our brains need some fat to function optimally, plus it will help keep you satisfied longer, and is essential for absorption of some vitamins and minerals. Or, have a whole egg instead of just the white. The yolk only will add 70 calories but it's loaded with vitamins and other good stuff.

I used to go on very low-calorie, low-fat diets and not only was I ravenous all the time, but I didn't lose much weight. Believe it or not, I started losing when I made sure to have some protein with every meal or snack, and added a little bit of fat back into my diet. After struggling with weight and ED's for 40 years, I finally felt like a "normal" eater, and my weight dropped back down.

[Martiinii_kiss]

in oreder to loose a little bit of weight, you have to feed you metablolism. unfort. the only way for your body to burn fat, and the only cell that burns fat is the muscel cell. by the looks of your diet, you are eating far too few calories to keep you metabloism up and running. i would try to eat between 1200-1500 cal., if you eat any less, you will slow down your metabolism, which will ultimatly lead to weight gain.

now the excerise, cardio is great, its helps alot, but in order for your body to build muscle, you have to strip your body of the extra fat, so dont worry about getting bulky, also another tip is, after the first 30min. of your cardio, your body burns off all of the glycogen stores and it goes into total fat burning, but you should not exceed 1hr. of cardio becasue you will not get the full advantage.
another fitness is to do your weights first, then the cardio becasue you weights also burn gylcogen stores.

now im shure your saying to yourself what does this girl know, is this stuff all true.

well, i learned from my dad, he is the midwest leading fitness/nuitrion-ist. he is also a body builder, if you have any other questions feel free to ask, or if you have any questions about what i just told you, dont hesitate to ask =]

[thompk]

A little trick that I always do is not to mistake thirst for hunger...before every meal I drink two large glasses or two 12oz bottles of water before I eat...then when I eat...I only eat what is a healthy portion.
K

[amanda]

Originally Posted by thompk

A little trick that I always do is not to mistake thirst for hunger...before every meal I drink two large glasses or two 12oz bottles of water before I eat...then when I eat...I only eat what is a healthy portion.
K

that's good advice, water can go a long way toward helping fill you up, particularly if you're really used to large portions and trying to adjust to something that's more normal sized.