Published on July 18, 2006 By pseudosoldier In Diet
I've been keeping track of my diet for two days now, although I've been trying to be extra good since I got back on Friday. The Air Force diet tech gave me an outline of what I "should" eat: I'm heavy enough right now to have 2200 calories per day and still lose about 2lb/week (especially with my increased PT which kicks off this week).

A big mistake I've already made is that I did not have enough calories during the day yesterday. It wasn't just the depression that drove me to the Stovetop stuffing last night, but also the fact that I hadn't had any "grain" foods and that my caloric intake to that point was hanging around 1500 (and that was after the canned pears).

I'm also flirting with some meal plan outlines I've seen in Muscle&Fitness, but I'm definitely going to have to review them to see how I'm supposed to get so many dang grams of protein in a day. Yesterday I managed 131 but today was down to 75 (because I pushed a salad for lunch adjusting for my lack of vegetables the day prior). I know that if I'm going for weight loss (not muscle building at this point), I need to just keep it balanced, but... I think I'm going to make sure I have some protein with my salad (tuna or pre-cooked shrimp) though.

Oh, and my caloric intake for today was only 1247. Not so good... and it's really too late to try to up it now. Tomorrow, I'll try to be better. After the diagnostic PT test and the height/weight/bodyfat test.

Comments
on Jul 18, 2006
My husband gets 50 gram slams from GNC. They have 50 grams of protein. Just a thought. I definately think it's better to get protein in your diet but you might want to keep a few around for the days when you just can't get it all in.

You also might want to check out the books Body for Life and Eating for Life by Bill Philips.
on Jul 19, 2006
I vote for the AF diet tech. He/she isn't trying to sell you a magazine.
Adding protein to a salad sounds sensible. Maybe you can do some health snacking to keep things in balance.
I'm not much for dieting - I try to stay away from the junk food.
Start everyday "new" - you can't fix yesterday anyway - so try not to beat yourself up over it.

Hope you and your kids get a full-length visit next time. Good luck.
on Jul 19, 2006
I'm snacking, basic equivalent of 6 small meals a day.

But take this lunch, for example:
2 cups spinach mix salad, 1 can tuna, 1 Tbsp olive oil vinagrette: 187 calories, 40 fat calories, 4.5g fat, 27g protein, 2g net carbs, 4g fiber (yes, those are all things I'm tracking).

I mean, adding the tuna did a lot for that lunch, but even six meals at that calorie count doesn't get me anywhere near the 2200 calories/day that I "should" be getting. Adding vegetables doesn't actually help that... adding fruit does, but then my carbs go way way up. (10 dried apricots = 38g net carbs) Even that 'healthy' frozen yogurt (non-fat) that I picked up yesterday sets me back 23g net carbs for one serving (1/2 cup, by the way).

I have whey protein powder, and I may just try out a shake (frozen yogurt, yogurt, fruit, protein powder, maybe milk, maybe peanut butter) for dinner (or after dinner snack). I also need to be careful about how late I eat since I don't want to crash my metabolism right before bed...

I guess I'm just saying it's a lot to keep track of to try to balance out. I'm confident I'll achieve some sort of balance right in time for my kids' visit.