User's comments:
I am 1,56m tall and weigh 68kg. My goal weight is 58-60kg for now. I'm not doing any extensive exercise, but we do ballroom every Thursday for 1 hour.
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Here is a description of what I eat every day:
Breakfast
1 Weetbix with +/- 150ml full-ream milk, coffee + 2 sugars and milk.
Lunch +/- 11am
Normally 2 pieces of plain brown toast, no butter or anything.
(This I have every day during the week)
Dinner varies between:
Macaroni & Cheese
Spaghetti bolognaise
Piece of chicken grilled in oven with either chips or potatoes & rice
Piece of pork grilled or fried with chips or potatoes & rice
Fried eggs on toast with chips
(My husband is one of those "vleis-rys-en-aartappels" type of guys.)
Could you perhaps tell me what am I doing wrong and what I can do to better my weight?
Expert's comments:
Your BMI is 28 kg/m2, which is considered overweight, and you are correct in wanting to do something about it for your health (normal range is between 20-25 kg/ m2). Lowering your BMI will decrease your risk for developing chronic health problems such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol.
You should measure your percentage body fat and your waist circumference (less than 88cm for females and less than 102cm for males) to assess any improvement in your body composition. Losing centimetres rather than kilograms tends to be a better reflection of losing fat mass. In reaching your goal weight, remember that attaining optimal health, and not just weight loss, should be your overall mission.
Although dietary changes are essential in the steps to a new lifestyle, the combination of dietary changes as well as behavioural changes and regular exercise has been shown to be the most effective way to achieve and maintain weight loss.
An hour a week of mild intensity physical activity is insufficient for increasing your metabolism and burning fat. You should strive to exercise at least 4-5 times a week for 45-60 minutes at a time. This should ensure that you are burning adequate energy compared to intake, and increase your metabolism and muscle mass (metabolically active tissue), while reducing fat. Muscle mass is three times heavier than fat mass. So, if you are exercising more frequently than usual and building muscle mass, your weight may in fact decrease very slightly initially.
I would like to make the following suggestions regarding your food intake:
Firstly, any dietary changes need to be implemented for the entire family – their health is as important as your own. It is still possible for your husband to enjoy meat and be healthy!
You need to start including the nutritional necessities and cutting back on the unwanted extras. Vitamin-and-mineral-rich fruit and vegetables are lacking in your diet. Your diet is low in fibre, but bordering on high when it comes to added sugar and fat.
Select low-fat or skim milk and dairy products instead of full-cream milk and dairy products.
Condition your taste buds to have less or no sugar with your coffee and tea, decreasing the amount added over a period of 2-4 weeks.
Be careful of fat-laden methods of food preparation – reduce the amount of fried food and try to rather opt for boiling, steaming, poaching, grilling, baking, roasting, braaing and stir-frying with only a little olive or canola oil.
Regarding the meat you eat: make sure you buy lean meat cuts, e.g. lean beef or ostrich; skinless chicken pieces; or remove the visible fat or the chicken skin prior to cooking.
Red meat should be eaten approximately 3 times a week, fish (fresh/canned) 1-2 times a week and chicken or turkey 2-3 times a week.
Including more legumes in your food will provide more fibre to the diet as well as a low-fat protein source, e.g. green beans, peas, canned beans, chickpeas, and lentils.
You should be eating 3-4 different vegetables and 2-3 different fruit a day. Perhaps you could get your daily fruit in at snack times.
To ensure sustained blood sugar and energy levels, you should never miss a meal and if you find yourself getting hungry in between, choose healthy snacks to keep your energy levels stable. Each meal (and possibly snack) should consist of a fibre-rich starch, low-fat protein and a fruit or vegetables. In the case of your lunch, plain bread will not sustain you for longer than an hour or two. Below are a few ideas for healthy sandwich toppings. Baked potato and a low-fat, vegetable-containing topping is also a great lunch alternative.
I would suggest a daily multivitamin to supplement your overall nutrient intake. It should provide 50-100% of the recommended daily allowance for all the vitamins.
Remember that calcium is an important nutrient. Low-fat and fat-free dairy products are still some of the best absorbed calcium sources available, but other foods include canned salmon, pilchards, sardines (all with the bones), dark green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds, oranges. Should your diet be lacking in dairy (250ml low-fat cow’s milk provides approximately 200mg calcium), you should consider a calcium supplement which provides at least 600-800mg elemental calcium as well as magnesium and vitamin D to aid absorption.
Avoid ‘doubling up’ on a food group, i.e. at dinner the starch should be either rice OR potato but not both; if you make a sandwich, use either thinly spread mayonnaise OR margarine but nor both.
You need to drink sufficient water – approximately 6-8 glasses a day, depending on the heat and your activity levels.
Ideas for low-fat sandwich fillings:
Lean cold meat (roast beef/chicken/turkey/ham) with mustard or lite mayonnaise (spread thinly), tomato and lettuce
Marmite, Oxo or fish paste
Try different flavoured low-fat cottage cheese with avocado, peppadew, cucumber and tomato
Smooth low-fat cottage cheese, cucumber and sweet chilli sauce
Cheese spread with tomato and pickles
Egg, tuna, salmon or chicken mayonnaise (MAX 2-3 tsp lite mayo) with lettuce and tomato
Baked beans, basil leaves and chutney
Leftover lean mince, lettuce, cucumber and chutney
Thinly sliced cheese, e.g. Mozzarella cheese with tomato, lettuce and Oxo or Marmite
Avocado pear, tomato, cucumber and lettuce
Peanut butter and jam (spread thinly)
Variety is key and a healthy eating plan should by no means be meager or boring. Ultimately your health, your husband’s health and your family’s health is paramount to maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
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