Dear Shredheads - What Should I Eat?

@andiepants: I have a Dear Shredhead question! What should I be eating daily to maximize weight loss? Give me an example of daily intake!

That's a great question!  Unfortunately, there's no simple answer.  There are "fad" diets that work great for losing weight quickly, but I think what you're really looking for is how to maximize weight loss and keep the weight off.  By definition, a diet ends...and when most people go off of their diet, they end up gaining all the weight back (and in my case, even more).

What you want to do instead is eat sensibly.  What a concept, right?  While you're losing weight, eat a well balanced diet but reduce the total number of calories you're taking in so that you burn more than you eat.  Of course, this means that I can't put up an all-purpose menu because you'll want to tailor it for what you like to eat.

How Much to Eat
First, we need to figure out how many calories to eat.  In my last Dear Shredheads post  I mentioned some calorie calculators, but for our cause we can simplify a bit.  I'm not qualified to recommend a specific calorie level, but WebMD recommends that to lose weight, most women should eat between 1,000 and 1,200 calories a day. 

It's unclear to me if the 1,000-1,200 calorie recommendation includes exercise, but FITWatch's calculator implies that a calorie deficit (how many fewer calories you should eat than you burn) of 500-1000 calories would be appropriate.  No matter what, they will not recommend going below 1,200 calories (for women) or 1,800 calories (for men).

If you are breastfeeding or have other concerns, please ask your doctor for a calorie recommendation (1,200 seems too low to me for breastfeeding moms).  If you feel weak or unwell because you aren't eating enough, eat more and see a doctor.

What to Eat
Now that we know how much we can eat, we're set!  Let's take a quick example.  Assume you're going to eat 1,200 calories per day.  If 1/2 cup of ice cream has 150 calories, we can live on 8 cups of ice cream a day, right?

Alas, it's not to be.  Again, from WebMD:

A safe diet should include all of the recommended daily allowances (RDAs) for vitamins, minerals, and protein. The weight loss diet should be lower in calories (energy) only, not in essential vitamins or minerals.

There's that pesky well-balanced diet thing again.  Stupid nutritionists. (ha!) So you'll need to be eating healthy foods.

A good goal when grocery shopping is to try and stick with the stuff that's along the perimeter of your grocery store.  Think about buying mostly foods that are along the outer edge:

• Fruits and vegetables - hardly a bad item in this section!
• Dairy - stick with lower fat or nonfat.  Egg beaters are wonderful with some parmesan cheese.
• Meats - try to get lean meats, vegetarians can go for soy based products.
• Bread - get "whole grain" to help with fiber and nutrients.

For everything else you buy, the less processed the better.  And beware of low-fat items, because very often they bump up the flavor with sugar or other sweeteners and the calories can go up (or stay the same).  You may decide this is worth it (I often do), or you may not.

Does this mean you have to make everything fresh?  No, I'd go crazy if it did.  Just try to do your best and when you can eat the best stuff, take advantage of it.

Next time I'll be putting together some simple meal ideas to (hopefully) help you get your menu planning started.  Or at least give you some ideas...

- Bill

Comments

[Sabz]

Eat from a smaller plate and drink from a smaller glass (or just stick to plain water)
also helps to drink a cup of plain warm soup before a meal. It tricks the brain into thinking you're satiated early. Just watch for sodium if you get a packaged variety.

[Motherhood Uncensored]

Yes, you must eat way more when bfing!

Also, I find that I need to SLOW DOWN when I eat. I eat way too fast and then way too much. If I eat and then give myself some time, I find that I'm full.

[CO]

www.thedailyplate.com is a great site to count calories and it also has a calculator similar to the one posted above.

[Hellcat13]

Ditto www.sparkpeople.com - they help determine your appropriate calorie level and give sample menus (that said, listen to your body. I was given a range of 1200-1550 calories/day, but with the amount of exercise I was doing, I would get quite weak if I didn't get enough. 1400 or so seemed a happy medium.

I also reduced my calories gradually...I went from whatever I was eating before to 1400-1700, then when I got used to that, I readjusted and went down again, to the 1200-1550 level. Made the jump to a low-calorie diet a little less drastic.