User's comments:
I am 1,64m tall and weigh 60kg. I know that's within the normal range, but I'd like to try to get down to 54ish. I currently live in Brazil, so my diet is 100% Latin American.
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Because I am living with another family, I don't have the freedom I would usually have to go to the grocery store and buy different foods, only to adjust when I have choices of foods. Here is what a usual weekday looks like for me:
Breakfast (5:30am):
1 choice of something to eat and 1 of something to drink:
one egg scrambled with minimal butter and a slice of toast
1/2 a medium-sized papaya
1 bread roll with a slice of cheese
1 cup of fat-free milk with low-calorie chocolate powder and zero-calorie sweetener (milk here is too bitter to drink plain)
1 glass of fruit juice (natural, fresh squeezed - not that artificial stuff from the grocery store)
Low-calorie cappuccino (60 cal per cup) with an extra dash of fat-free milk and/or zero calorie sweetener
Exercise 5:45 - 7:15 (1½ hours)
Post-gym snack (7:30am):
1 of the following:
Apple or banana
4-6 crackers with thinly-spread lite cream cheese
Butter-fried cheese on a slice of bread
1 cup of milk or fruit juice
Banana smoothie
Lunch (11:30am):
1/2 cup of beans mixed with carrot/sweet potato chunks
1/2 - 1 cup of rice
3-4 oz of meat
1 glass of fruit juice
Salad, whenever available (about 1-2 times per month)
Mid-afternoon snack (3:00pm):
1 or 2 of the following:
2 biscuits/crackers
1/2 cup of milk with sweetener (don't know if it's low fat or not)
1 small slice of cake
1 granola bar
1 fruit
Dinner (6:00 - 6:30ish):
1 of the following:
Sandwich: 1 bread roll, one slice of cheese, 2 slices of ham, occasionally lettuce/tomato
1 cup of "I don't know what" - it's like an extremely starchy potato that I don't think exists outside S. America
1 cup of vegetable/potato/bean soup
Post-dinner snack:
Here's where I run into trouble. I can't seem to stop snacking during the evenings. They're not necessarily unhealthy snacks, usually fruits/fruit juices, crackers, an extra half a sandwich or two.
On the weekends, my diet is dramatically different than during the week:
Saturdays, my morning routine is virtually the same as during the week (eat/work-out/eat) except that after my mid-morning snack, I have a 3 hour dance practice. Lunch is usually a slice of pizza followed by 1/2 cup of ice cream. Then dinner is either the usual dinner or a chicken sandwich at McDonalds.
Sundays, normal breakfast, meat and a type of very grainy flour for lunch, ice cream for a snack, and normal fare or 2-3 slices of pizza for dinner.
Do you have any advice for changing my habits throughout the week? Meal options that I should try to reduce or cut out? Do you have any advice for what to do on the weekends when my diet is largely a result of what my host family wants and my only option is portion control?
Expert's comments:
It is always difficult to eat in the manner you may be used to in a foreign country, let alone when you are living with a foreign family. I admire your courage to go to South America on your own and embark on what I am sure will be a life-changing adventure and experience.
I would like to comment on a few things, including your weekly and weekend intake:
Try to ensure that each meal, and snack for that matter, contains a combination of a starch (fibre-rich if possible), moderately low-fat protein, a small amount of fat (or fat free), fruit and/or vegetables. With the 1½ hour’s gym, you may need something more substantial than just an apple or a banana for example. ½ a papaya and a glass of milk should ideally be eaten with a healthy starch or carbohydrate.
I am not advocating over eating but under-eating and being hungry for periods of time not only leads to negative responses in the body, but also leads to negative responses in the mind. Bear in mind that if you are active, you have to obtain energy from somewhere – healthy food! Perhaps swapping your breakfast and snack would improve your energy levels. Try to include a fruit with a starch and protein for your mid-afternoon snack.
You mentioned portion control and this will be very important for achieving an acceptable and healthy weight. Balance is key – as I mentioned, you need to eat enough for your body and activity levels without feeling over full.
If food is dished for you, eat as much as you can manage and enjoy. Leave the rest if it is too much. If you dish for yourself, dish up as much as you think will satisfy you but remember that your eyes may be larger than your stomach – rather underestimate than overestimate your needs.
Eating healthily should by no means be boring or meagre and portions should neither be too big nor too small. Try to avoid going for ‘seconds’.
If you eat bread, ask for it without butter or margarine where possible. If there is ever a choice of brown or whole-wheat rolls or bread instead of white, you should rather opt for those. Try to avoid something like the butter-fried cheese. Plain thinly slices or grated cheese or even toasted cheese and tomato would be a better option.
At dinner, it is unnecessary to eat a roll as well as the potato you describe. Opt for one or the other.
This brings me to what seems to be your weakness – snacking into the night. Our metabolisms do slow down in the evenings after a long day at work and when we sleep. Eating early in the evening, as you do, is actually a very healthy habit as you should try to avoid eating after 8pm at night to prevent going to bed on a full stomach.
Regarding your snacks, if you are very hungry still after dinner, keep the portions small and opt for something like a fruit and/or yoghurt. Don’t eat after 8-8.30 pm. Remember that fruit juice, even if fresh, is a concentrated form of energy. It is always better to choose a fresh fruit over fruit juice as it is less calorie dense, provides fibre and by chewing and eating, it is usually more satisfying and fulfilling. If you have fruit juice, try to always dilute it with water.
Weekends are the area where you could make the most improvements. Your mid-morning snack will again be insufficient to sustain you for 3 hours of dancing. Check the content and portions of the snack. Perhaps keep a fruit or yoghurt and some juice to have halfway through your dance practice.
You tend to eat predominantly junk food on the weekend, which is high in saturated fat (the unhealthy kind), high in sugar and low in fibre. A pizza can be made healthier if it has a thin-based crust and has healthy low-fat protein and vegetable topping choices, e.g. grilled or Cajun chicken, mince, steak, avocado, light sprinkling of feta, spinach, ham, pineapple, sun dried tomatoes, olives, banana, seafood, grilled calamari, tuna, onion, sweet peppers or garlic.
Order a salad (with dressing on the side so that you can control quantity) with the pizza for additional nutrition. Look at your portions of pizza – depending on the size, don’t eat more than 2-3 slices. If you have a sandwich, ask for one that hasn’t been toasted and without butter or margarine. Again, a salad with the sarmie would be great.
Ice cream is a treat and once on the weekend should be sufficient. Choose fruit ice lollies instead on the other day.
Look at your fluid intake – drink at least 6-8 glasses of clean water daily and don’t overdo the fruit juices and soft drinks.
Although you are largely dependent on your host family’s food choices, there are still a few things that you can change to make sure you remain healthy. Very importantly, you do not have to feel obliged to eat absolutely everything on your plate if the food has been dished up by someone else. The more you get to know the family, the more comfortable you will also feel to be able to say “no, thank you” to certain things.
Understand your reasons/triggers for eating – hunger, stress, homesickness, frustration, tension, lack of self-discipline, the fact that others eat, difficulties to adapting to new eat patterns, increased availability of money to spend on food and socialising (eating & drinking with friends, peer pressure influences).
Always use hunger as your guide for eating. Occasionally, you will eat for other reasons, but let that be the exception rather than the rule. Social eating is, of course, not forbidden, but make sure that what you eat and how much you eat is in line with a healthy eating plan. Social eating can be managed by choosing your snacks wisely, sharing portions with friends, eating slowly, and drinking as much water as you can during a social occasion.
Remember that “treats” such as sweets, chocolates, chips/crisps, cake, ice cream, alcohol etc. are eaten for taste and pleasure. They are packed with energy, but contain very little real nutrition and should therefore only be eaten to treat yourself occasionally. Make sure you savour and enjoy them and limit yourself to small portions. Never deprive yourself of anything as this tends to result in binging on the specific forbidden food.
You should stick to a regular and healthy eating pattern as much as possible. Generally, eating three balanced meals a day is not associated with weight gain but rather what and how much is eaten between meals.
Here is a helpful guide to visualise portion sizes and how much is enough without having to measure any of the food:
CARBOHYDRATES/ STARCH: Approximately the size of your fist; a tennis ball; 1 slice bread
PROTEIN: The palm of your hand (no thicker than the ‘pinky joint’); 1-2 packs of cards
FRUIT: Size of your fist; a tennis ball
VEGETABLES: Unlimited
DAIRY: 1 cup low fat milk; 1 small tub low fat/ fat free yoghurt; matchbox block of cheese; 250-300 ml drinking yoghurt
FAT: 1-2 level teaspoons oil (canola/ olive), ‘lite’ margarine, butter, peanut butter, regular mayonnaise; 1 tablespoon reduced oil/ ‘lite’ mayonnaise and salad dressing; ¼ medium avocado; any spreads ‘thinly’ on breads/ crackers; 1 small handful of nuts or seeds
You need to check your calcium intake as this is an essential nutrient for bone mineralisation and metabolism, preventing osteoporosis and playing a role in weight maintenance.
The average adult woman needs around 1200mg of calcium every day. We absorb calcium optimally only until the age of about 35 years, so the best time to build strong bones is in your teens and twenties.
It is, however, possible to help maintain bone mass throughout your life by keeping up your calcium intake and exercising (weight-bearing exercise). Women should ensure that they are consuming adequate amounts either from the diet or a combination of diet and a calcium supplement (providing at least 600-800mg elemental calcium, vitamin D and magnesium for absorption).
Regarding your weight expectation, you are currently an ideal weight for your length with an extremely healthy BMI of 22.3 kg/m² (20-24.9 kg/m²). Being as active as you are, I would suspect that you are relatively toned.
As you are aware, I’m sure, muscle weighs up to three times more than fat so often a person with more lean body mass than fat mass could appear to weigh more on a scale. There is an extremely fine line between being “thin and healthy” and “being thin and unhealthy”.
Unfortunately, weight instead of overall wellbeing and good health has become the driver in society for what is perceived to be healthy and good. Being too thin can have extremely negative effects on your immunity, normal menstruation, performance and mood, amongst other things.
I would strongly suggest that from a health point of view, you should weigh no less than 57kg for your height and activity levels.
Try to practice moderation in all aspects of your life – food, drink, physical activity etc. Your ultimate aim at this stage in your life should be to live healthily and happily.
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