Food questions before creating my plan please

[SlimmerMe]

I have GOT to change how I eat. And am finally getting to the point of where I will present a plan that I know I will actually do.

I have a few questions about certain foods.

Ezekiel Bread: how many slices can I have a day?

Cheese? any cheeses okay at all? other than cottage? something harder?

Cereal? is there any cereal which is okay?

Skim milk? for cereal if allowed above.

Rice? anything other than brown rice okay?

Fruit: can I blend a fruit juice in the AM with orange juice, blueberries and peaches? or is this just way too much sugar or actually okay.

Orange juice? can I have some?

Soup? Tomato soup or She Crab soup. I love both. Any comments?

Best meal replacement shake? anything? just in case? not for bulking

My goal is to shed BF while changing my mindset and bad habits.

The time has come. I need to step up to a better plate.

Thanks in advance for any input.

PS: PLEASE DO NOT SCREAM~ A year ago I would have never ever thought I would be here asking any of this. Repetition is the best teacher.

[RaginCajun]

i will let the gurus chime in on this one. bad habits are so hard to break. i have read your thread on sweets and understand completely. i will be following this to see how you change up your lifestyle/diet. good luck woman

[RaginCajun]

i am just putting this up for reference, its off of one of damien's threads. do u see any of your choices on this list?


Acceptable proteins for your healthy lifestyle diet:
The goal is to eat lean protein. Meats/other sources low in fat/carbs.
Ground beef (93% lean or better)
Lean steak (Flank, flat iron, or top sirloin)
Bison sirloin (the highest quality red meat)
Chicken breas
Turkey breast
Tuna (canned or sushi grade)
Salmon
Tilapia (mostly all white fish)
All shellfish
Venison
Whey protein (post-workout recovery purposes only)
Casein/Cottage cheese (before bed only)

Black-List Protein sources. Do not eat these because they are high in fat. And not the
good kind we find in nuts and olive oil – I’m talking about cholesterol raising saturated
fat!
1 Bacon
2 Sausage
3 Expensive fat-marbled Steaks (Ribeye, Strip, Filet)
4 Pork and beef ribs
5 Pork/Lamb chops
6 Restaurant ground beef (80/20 fat – most burgers)
7 Duck
8 Chicken legs/thighs
9 Chicken skin
10 Cheese


Acceptable Carbs for your healthy lifestlyle:
Complex carbs are now your creed. These are slower-digesting, natural, low on the glycemic index carbohydrates that digest slowly and provide us with sustained energy. They do not drastically affect our blood sugar and do not cause insulin spikes. Thus our body sees no reason to store them as fat, it would rather burn them for energy. Simple carbs such as enriched white breads/pastas/rice/potatoes/sugars (including most fruit) cause insulin spikes and are high GI foods. They should not be eaten when on a strict diet. Fruit can be consumed early in the day or pre/post-workout because of it’s high nutritional value but should usually be avoided due to being a form of simple sugar. Remember, healthy, low-calorie foods aren’t always the correct foods and such is the case with fruit.
1 Oats/Oatmeal
2 Grits/Cornmeal
3 Unsalted/non-buttered popcorn (great, low-cal snack)
4 Sweet potato (the best choice)
5 Butternut squash
6 Whole wheat pasta (not enriched)
7 Organic whole wheat bread (not enriched wonder bread crap)
8 Brown rice
9 Ezekiel bread
10 Swedish grain bread
11 Gluten free bread
12 Wheat couscous
13 Corn
14 Quinoa
15 Lentils
16 Beans
17 Many more, look up the GI (glycemic index) for healthy choices

Black List:
1 White pasta
2 White bread
3 Baguette
4 Bagels
5 Cookies, cake, muffins, cupcakes, all sweets basically.
6 White couscous
7 White rice
8 You get the idea…


Don’t get discouraged upon reading this list. I still make desserts all the time with whole
grain flour and splenda. I buy bagels and baguettes at the health food store that use
complex carbs as a base. If you’re dedicated, you don’t have to miss out 100%


Acceptable fats for your healthy lifestyle:
We look for fat sources that are high in omega-3, 6, and 9 fatty acids. Also, many are high in protein. We do not want saturated fats such as butter, cream, meat fat. We don’t want test tube fats like trans (the worst). We want mono/polyunsaturated fats that our body can use for something other than calories. Remember, even good fats are high in calories.
1 Natural peanut butter (no sugar added, just roasted peanuts)
2 Natural almond butter
3 Cashews
4 Almonds
5 Peanuts
6 Flax seeds
7 Flax seed oil
8 Salmon and Trout (great fatty proteins)
9 Fish oil
10 Extra virgin olive oil (should be used on all veggies/salads)
11 Chia seeds
12 Grapeseed oil
13 Macadamia nut oil
14 Coconut oil (very low smoke-point, should not be heated directly)

Acceptable miscellaneous foods:

These foods don’t provide much as far as macronutrients but are great for adding vitamins/minerals and taste. Notice some of these other foods are dairy. Dairy is another animal’s milk. We lack the enzymes to digest it as they do and it’s high in fat/sugar. It should only be eaten early in the day for nutrient purposes with the exception of whey and casein (cottage cheese).
1 Skim milk (Hood brand is only 45 calories and 3g of sugar per cup)
2 Greek yogurt (no sugar added)
3 Berries (all berries are much lower in sugar than other fruits and packed with fiber/nutrients – eat berries)
4 Green Vegetables. These are technically carbs but they are packed with fiber (a type of carb that isn’t used as energy or stored). In bodybuilding/nutrition – we refer to most vegetables as fibrous carbohydrates. While a serving of Broccoli may have 6g of carbs, 5 are from fiber. Meaning that it contains only 1g of storable carbohydrates. In addition, green vegetables are a calorie neutral/negative food (our body uses more calories to digest them than they contain – think celery). Veggies should be eaten with every meal. Every day. If you do this, you can become almost impervious to getting sick. Some vegetables are better than others for healthy diets.
5 Many non-green vegetables. Most are fine – just check labels, some have a good bit of sugar and should be eaten in moderation only (carrots)

[RaginCajun]

hope this helps some. and the gurus should help you come up with a plan that you can stick with!

[baseline_9]

I have GOT to change how I eat. And am finally getting to the point of where I will present a plan that I know I will actually do.

I have a few questions about certain foods.

Ezekiel Bread: how many slices can I have a day? It is stat dependent so we would need to know ur 'Plan' but from what I have read it is a good carb choice.... We dont have it in the UK tho

Cheese? any cheeses okay at all? other than cottage? something harder? Hmmmmm Im sure you could find a 'lower fat cheese' but IMO its not a good food choice... once in a while

Cereal? is there any cereal which is okay? dont ezikiel do a cereal?? If not then just look for one that has little sugar and lots of whole grains in it.... Buy that one and then add some regular oats to it to make it even better (kind of dilute the nice stuff down a bit....

Skim milk? for cereal if allowed above.On a strict cut I would say out witht he dairy.... Try and find a soy/nut/low sugar alternative and sweeten with splender...

Rice? anything other than brown rice okay? Basmati Rice is almost as low on the GI scale as brown rice and it is the best tasting rice there is.... If u wana eat the very best rice (Low GI) Brown Basmati is great.... White basmati tastes great tho and is relativly low GI...

Fruit: can I blend a fruit juice in the AM with orange juice, blueberries and peaches? or is this just way too much sugar or actually okay. Try and limit your fruit intake to berries.... Berries are generally lower is sugar and more nutrient dense... Win Win IMO.... and they taste great... Frozen are great also..

Orange juice? can I have some? Orange juse/ Pepsi are both interchangable.... LOL thats me being funny... Its a NO NO.... If u want orange juce, peel and orange or 2, add some ice to a blender and blend them down...

Soup? Tomato soup or She Crab soup. I love both. Any comments?Not great TBH

Best meal replacement shake? anything? just in case? not for bulking Cottage cheese, whey, casein, oats, peanut butter, raspberrys, ice cubes... All these make great options for a real food MRP...

My goal is to shed BF while changing my mindset and bad habits.

The time has come. I need to step up to a better plate.

Thanks in advance for any input.

PS: PLEASE DO NOT SCREAM~ A year ago I would have never ever thought I would be here asking any of this. Repetition is the best teacher.

^^^ Good luck Slim ^^^

[Windex]

I have GOT to change how I eat. And am finally getting to the point of where I will present a plan that I know I will actually do.

I have a few questions about certain foods.

Ezekiel Bread: how many slices can I have a day? As said before depends on the macronutrients, but I would guess no more than 2-3 slices a day.

Cheese? any cheeses okay at all? other than cottage? something harder? The cheese with the best Protein to Fat ratio is Mozzerella @ 10g of protein with 7g of fat per serving, the rest have way too much fat.

Cereal? is there any cereal which is okay? I would stick to rolled oats or Quinoa, much healthier. All the "healthy" cereal has too much sugar or the process in which they make the cereal diminishes the nutritional value.

Skim milk? for cereal if allowed above. Controversial. I personally see it fine in moderation. Others may claim to give your muscles a "soft" look, but if your not doing a competition I think it's perfectly acceptable, again in moderation.

Rice? anything other than brown rice okay? Don't know enough to give you an informed opinion. Brown rice tastes just as good as white rice in my opinion, and I can give you a list of good spices to help it taste even better ^_^.

Fruit: can I blend a fruit juice in the AM with orange juice, blueberries and peaches? or is this just way too much sugar or actually okay. In my opinion, Milk & Water only for liquids as the sugars in the fruits will just be used right away as it's just basic carbs and won't fill you up or give you sustained energy. You could alternatively put fruit slices in ice water to make it taste like juice, but infinitely more healthy (just don't eat the fruit in the water).

Orange juice? can I have some? See above.

Soup? Tomato soup or She Crab soup. I love both. Any comments? Soup, when made from scratch can be fairly healthy if you can find a good vegetable stock and can reasonably track the calories/carbs/protein/fat of the soup. However, soup tends to be high in sodium, which may cause bloating. I would potentially use tomato juice instead when your cooking your meats for a sauce.

Best meal replacement shake? anything? just in case? not for bulking I don't know if you mean using whole foods to make a shake or powder. If your just asking about powder to make a shake, find what tastes good or what isn't loaded with sugar.

My goal is to shed BF while changing my mindset and bad habits.

The time has come. I need to step up to a better plate.

Thanks in advance for any input.

PS: PLEASE DO NOT SCREAM~ A year ago I would have never ever thought I would be here asking any of this. Repetition is the best teacher.

My points are fairly similar to baseline.


Goodluck !

[FireGuy]

I will really throw a wrench in the thread and say the answer to every question you asked could very well be "yes" or "no". Answering any of them in a vacuum is nearly impossible as everything is intertwined. Also, my first recommendation would be to redefine your goal. Stating I want to shed bodyfat is not a goal. I am not trying to split hairs here but to be a goal it needs to have specifc results in a specific timeline. "I want to go from 20% bodyfat to 16% bodyfat by June 1st" is a goal. This forces accountability and makes the planning stages much more doable. We would now know what needs to be done and you are also forced to make adjustments to stay on course.

[SlimmerMe]

hope this helps some. and the gurus should help you come up with a plan that you can stick with!

Thank you OOranincajun00....always good to see it over and over again.

^^^ Good luck Slim ^^^

Thank you Baseline~

My points are fairly similar to baseline.




Goodluck !

Thanks Windex~

I will really throw a wrench in the thread and say the answer to every question you asked could very well be "yes" or "no". Answering any of them in a vacuum is nearly impossible as everything is intertwined. Also, my first recommendation would be to redefine your goal. Stating I want to shed bodyfat is not a goal. I am not trying to split hairs here but to be a goal it needs to have specifc results in a specific timeline. "I want to go from 20% bodyfat to 16% bodyfat by June 1st" is a goal. This forces accountability and makes the planning stages much more doable. We would now know what needs to be done and you are also forced to make adjustments to stay on course.

Good point Fireguy and this had made me think overnight as to what my REAL goal is here so I appreciate this specificity.

I want to lose 20 pounds between now and June 30. So 3 full months.
That would be 7 pounds a month basically. And I would be thrilled to shed more but want to be realistic too.

I have a lot of muscle underneath this BF of mine. Right now I simply look thick and too big. Honestly I would have made a great natural BB.

Thanks for making me come forth even more so.

[scotty51312]

Slimmer I make a kick ass She crab soup. God i miss eating that stuff but its almost always made with heavy cream and butter and super high in fat.

[songdog]

Now slimmer you cant eat wat you want and loose.HEEEE I just started this also.Started Mon I lost 2 lbs every day.Yeah water but it a start.I do this while making my wifes meals.And servering her ice cream.I stay full with brown rice sucks sweet taters and wheat pasta.Theres where I get my cals.I just got to up my protein intake.

[SlimmerMe]

Bump please~

[FireGuy]

OK, you have 13 weeks and need to average 1.5lbs weight loss per week to meet your goal. For a female that's pretty much pushing the upper limit as far as what you can lose. You should expect to lose some lean mass along the way as well, remember even water counts towards your LBM. This equates to a 750 calorie a day deficit. I dont know what your weight of lean body mass is but it's safe to assume you are going to be fairly low calorie and fairly high cardio to make this happen. What do you have layed out so far?

[gbrice75]

Slimmer, sorry i'm late to this as you know I support your efforts. I don't want to convolute the thread by throwing in my 2 cents as the guys have already given sound advice. It looks like FG is getting you sorted, so you're in the best of hands. I'll follow along and jump in if I feel I can add something that hasn't already been touched on.

Good luck, I know you can do this! Even if you don't reach your exact goal but come close (as FG said, it's ambitious!!), knowing you did everything right should be reward enough.

[FireGuy]

^^Please dont eject yourself from the thread, your contributions are always appreciated. Plus, with 2 shows in the next 3 weeks I cant say how much time I will have to provide input and my brain power is going to be lacking to boot (even more so than usual).

[Damienm05]

Congrats on mod status Jorge/slimmer

[SlimmerMe]

congrats on mod status jorge/slimmer

thanks damien....

[SlimmerMe]

OK, you have 13 weeks and need to average 1.5lbs weight loss per week to meet your goal. For a female that's pretty much pushing the upper limit as far as what you can lose. You should expect to lose some lean mass along the way as well, remember even water counts towards your LBM. This equates to a 750 calorie a day deficit. I dont know what your weight of lean body mass is but it's safe to assume you are going to be fairly low calorie and fairly high cardio to make this happen. What do you have layed out so far?

Thanks for getting back with me FG! I will do it. Once my mind is made up. And this first 20 pounds was so much of the HGH/Test influence that I think it will come off.

Slimmer, sorry i'm late to this as you know I support your efforts. I don't want to convolute the thread by throwing in my 2 cents as the guys have already given sound advice. It looks like FG is getting you sorted, so you're in the best of hands. I'll follow along and jump in if I feel I can add something that hasn't already been touched on.

Good luck, I know you can do this! Even if you don't reach your exact goal but come close (as FG said, it's ambitious!!), knowing you did everything right should be reward enough.

PLEASE stay a bit~

^^Please dont eject yourself from the thread, your contributions are always appreciated. Plus, with 2 shows in the next 3 weeks I cant say how much time I will have to provide input and my brain power is going to be lacking to boot (even more so than usual).

Thanks!

Congrats on mod status Jorge/slimmer

and thanks again.....

[gbrice75]

^^Please dont eject yourself from the thread, your contributions are always appreciated. Plus, with 2 shows in the next 3 weeks I cant say how much time I will have to provide input and my brain power is going to be lacking to boot (even more so than usual).

Thanks bro, definitely not going anywhere. Just following along for now since at this point i'd only be echoing what you guys have said thus far. I'm with ya Slims!!

Congrats on mod status Jorge/slimmer

Thank you brotha.