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| Mon, 01-29-2007 - 12:09pm |
Hi there,
I have been kind of following the South Beach diet for about a month now...did the Phase I, but didn't lose a pound so i moved onto the PHASE II in the new year. I have mostly adapted my eating habits to this however I am finding the weekends to be VERY hard. We have been dealing with a lot of stress at home lately so I find myself turning to cookies or popcorn with mucho butter!
Anyways, I am active...i do spinning a couple of times a week and work out with a personal trainer 3 times a week as well. I walk, and am going to start running again soon. The activity part has never been a problem for me. In all honesty I should be totally fit if it was just to do with working out.
Anyways, the case is that I am not. But like today, I have folled the plan to a T and I'm starving (i just ate my lunch).
My next meal is a snack in 2-3 hours from now...but I don't think it's enough.
I am on my way to the gym for my weight workout...this takes about an hour and is pretty intense. I do a type of circuit training, using weights and the ball.
And then tonight at 5 my daughter and I go to a spinning class which again is SUPER DUPER intense.
Here's my eating plan for today.... PLEASE, let me know what else I can eat to get me through my day without fading OR running to the cookie cupboard!
6:30 - 1 cup Optimum Plus cereal with 1 cup of mixed berries
9:30 - apple and a peice of low fat 'laughing cow' cheese
11:45 - Greek Salad
2:30 - teeny little yogurt
6:00 - Chicken breast, salad and asparagus
Remember....i just finished my greek salad and i'm STARVING!!

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With all the exercise you're getting, I'm not surprised you're starving. You're not really doing South Beach properly, you've just sorta pieced together some idea that South Beach is low carb (which it is not). You need to be getting more whole grains in your diet. Add some whole grain crackers or a piece or whole grain bread to your lunch -- maybe try stuffing part of the Greek salad into half a whole wheat pita. Did you have protein in your salad -- add a few slices of chicken breast to it. I assume you had milk with your cereal in the morning? A full cup of skim milk would be good then. And have another piece of fruit. You can have 3 servings of fruit per day, and 3 servings of grains as well, when you're in Phase 2. You should be having a minimum of 4 1/2 cups of veggies per day. You could have some whole grain crackers dipped in hummus for your snack this afternoon. And definitely something whole grain tonight, maybe some brown rice sweet potato.
Basically you need to eat more food. It will keep you satisfied as well as keep your metabolism humming along. Take a look at the food journals that people keep if you want more ideas.
The goal for each day should be:
2-3 fruit servings
2-3 whole grain servings
2 dairy servings (does not include cheese)
4 1/2 cups of veggies (should include 1/3 to 1/2 cup beans)
unlimited protein
I hope this helps. Let us know if you have any other questions.
Wow, you are a lifesaver!! I went and got myself a chicken wrap after I got your post. It made me feel a million times better.
So basically I've been following the South Beach book menu plan and that's what it was listing as a daily menu...now i'm not sure if it's because it was at the beginning of Phase II, and if so should I be sort of following the guide in the last week. That seems to have a lot more food and seems to be more accurate to the numbers you've mentioned.
Good for you -- glad you feel better! That was a whole wheat wrap, right? ;-)
The "rule" of moving from Phase 1 to Phase 2 is to add 1 fruit and 1 grain each day for a week, then move to 2 fruits & 2 grains per day for another week, and then for the rest of your weight loss to have 2-3 grains and 2-3 fruits per day, depending on what works for you. I should think you would be able to lose weight in the upper end of quantities because of how much you exercise.
Good luck and feel free to check back in for further advice or hints.
FYI, here's a typical day for me:
Breakfast (aim for about 300 calories)
1 slice toast or 1/2 cup Uncle Sams
1 fruit
1 cup skim milk or 1 cup yogurt
1 egg (optional)
Snack: (aim for about 100 calories)
Fruit & 1 string cheese
Lunch: (aim between 300 to 400 calories)
1 slice bread or 1/2 cup starch
2 to 3 ounces protein
veggies or salad with 1 Tbs. lite dressing
1 cup milk
Snack: (aim for 100 calories)
whole wheat pita & 2 tbs. hummus
Dinner: (aim for 350 to 500 calories)
1/2 cup starch
3 to 4 ounces protein
Salad &/or veggies
And an FYI - I even ate MORE on an average day in phase 2 than what Mags posted. Her's was about 1400 calories and I ate 1600-1800 calories per day on phase 2 and now about 2000-2200 on maintenance. So there is NO need to starve yourself!!! The more you eat (of the GOOD stuff) the more you burn!
belizesig1
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Hi, you've gotten great advice from Maggie but I wanted to suggest that you may want to take a closer look at the Optimum cereal you are eating.
wow, well it's funny because the first thing that popped into my head is Lucky her, she gets to eat all those starchy carbs because for some reason I've brainwashed myself to think that's bad. Even tonight when I was telling hubby about your post and how i thought it was such great news...he was skeptical. To be honest, my goal has always been to find a healthy happy balance in how i eat. I hate the idea of starving myself and tried to explain to him that when you don't eat enough food your body will hang onto whatever little bit it gets but when you eat well enough for your body, it'll be easier to lose extra body fat. He didn't seem to get that. Am I right though before I argue too much that I am?
So are you still in the Phase II or have you moved on to the maintenance aspect of the program?
Well I don't think I was as hungry, but I made more of an effort because I really had to. Most of the food in Phase II is stuff I would normally eat, except that I'd eat double that portion...and a couple times a week, I would throw in some goodies for myself.
Also in Phase I, I was kind of on my annual break from exercising so I definitely didn't work up the appetite I do now.
I guess I'm a little worried about how much I eat because I can REALLY pack it in, healthy or not. I don't eat greasy fried food...very very rarely that I ever do, but even if it's couscous, hummus and chicken (that's what i had tonight) I can really eat a lot of it.
I think I have a bigger appetite than my hubby does....
I was just reading your 'Story' and I'm so impressed. You look fantastic and it's great to hear all the other benefits you feel from getting healthy again. Good for you!
So did you really eat 1800 calories a day and still lose that weight? That's amazing. I honestly probably only want to lose about 20lbs or so but I'm trying to do it before my wedding in August, and I really want to keep it off.
Thanks for posting your story on here too....it's very admirable.
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