My diet plan for tomorrow...HELP!

I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I need ya'll's help. :-)

Okay, since I've made some VERY unwise decisions in regards to my food today, I've decided (finally) to take the advice of ya'll on here and plan my meals for the next day. I have carefully added everything up and have come up with a meal plan that I think will work.

To take accountability for my eating tomorrow, I'm posting the meal plan on here so ya'll can ask me about it tomorrow. It will help me conciously decide on my food choices.

Another reason I ate so much today is because I wasn't productive. I didn't do anything. I've got a lot of free time on my hands while I'm looking for work and haven't filled them. Tomorrow, I'm going to cut out the quilt squares that I need to get done, and clean my room. That ought to make things work, now shouldn't it????

Okay, here's the meal plan. Tell me what ya'll think and if it needs revisions. This will help me own up to my food for tomorrow!

BREAKFAST

9:00 am

½ cup grape nuts cereal with ¾ cup milk, 3 packets Splenda. (208, 75)

2 Hard boiled eggs w/ ½ tsp salt (78 each)

1 banana (121)

Tea           1qt water

Total: 560 Calories

SNACK: (If needed) 12:00

3 cups air popped popcorn (90)

1 medium apple (72)

1qt water

LUNCH

2:30

1 baked potato 2tsp butter, salt (161, 68)

1 cup Spinach cooked, w/salt and 1tsp butter (41, 34)

1 Chimichanga (350)

1 qt water

Total: 654 Calories

SNACK:

(If needed) 4:30

14 Baby carrots (30)

Dinner

6:30pm

1 Chicken breast (286)

1 ½  cups brown rice  w/cream of mushroom soup (327, 52)

1 ½ cups steamed broccoli w/salt (66)

1qt water

Total: 731 Calories

GRAND TOTAL: 1945 w/o snack

Grand Total w/snacks 2137 

looks good to me, with a few revisions, you should be fine!  If i were you, i would eliminate either the banana or the hardboiled eggs from my breakfast, and for my mid morning snack, i would have one or the other, popcorn or apple, or even the banana or eggs you eliminated from breakfast, just not both! and for lunch, the chimichanga is really packing in the calories, you could add one of your healthier eliminated foods from earlier instead, or eliminate the baked potato if you have to have meat with your meal.  Your afternoon snack is excellant, along with your dinner.  I think with a few small tweaks, you'll be on your way!

Thanks!!! I really think that I need to leave well enough alone. At this point it's a struggle to only eat the 2000 calories. (or 2137 whatever it is).

I'm glad I'm not going crazy and seeing this as healthy when it's actually not! THANKS!!!!!!!!

Hey,

Looks great. I went alittle nuts at a tea party today (but i haven't been to a tea party since I was four, so hey! - they had clotted cream?!), so I'm planning to do a little better tomorrow too.

What might help is spreading everything out so you are eating all day. I usually don't eat any of my snacks when I'm able to take my time with my food. But everyone is different, I'm not a great structured day person.

Keep busy too, chores are good, but doing something you love is better - reading, talking on the phone, going for a stroll, etc. (have some fun for me stuck in finals he!!!)


Good luck tomorrow! I know you can do it!

Thanks! That's what I needed to hear! I will definitely try! 

You could probably find something better to eat than a chimichanga, but having one once in a while won't kill your diet in the long run.

Yeah, it looks like a good start.  I would recommend maybe replacing one meal with a salad though.  Either lunch or dinner, have yourself a salad.  If the idea of "just a salad" isnt enough for you, have one before dinner (minus dressing!  or with just fat free dressing, dont go overboard) and then eat a smaller dinner, since the salad with fill you up some.  When I first started this, I used to eat a salad before dinner to lower my appetite and then would eat less dinner, so I would eat healthier and save calories.  Now a salad is all I'll have for dinner sometimes (of course I'll put a fish fillet or some ham on it to add some cals and protein).

It does seem like a bit of food, but if it's just a start, it's fine.  Eventually you should try cutting it down a LITTLE bit, so your stomach gets used to smaller portions.  Remember, the purpose of eating isn't to feel FULL, but to no longer be hungry.  That's something I struggled with when I started.  I always had to feel full after a meal, and that's what led to my weight gain.  By eating enough that you're not hungry anymore, but not full (a middle ground satisfaction) then you've won half the battle of over-eating!

utahangel, i'd just add that if you are having 2 boiled eggs, throw out one of the yolks.  that will improve your protein without adding so much fat.  and you'll get the same taste.  eventually, you might even be able to throw out both of the yolks.  the good protein is in the egg white.

with that, plus all of the other ideas!!  you'll keep cutting the totals, without being hungry all the time.

kudos on planning your meals out ahead of time, that's been half the battle for me.  If anything is "on the table" so to speak, I'll rationalize eating just about anything.  It looks like you're doing pretty well counting calories, but your sodium and starch levels are a bit high.  I've been counting calories all my life, but only in the last few years have I learned how incredibly important it is to get the right kind of calories. Try to get your fats from nuts or veggies like avocado, instead of butter.  Instead of salt, I use Morton's light salt, it has a lot less sodium, so the excellent job you're doing of getting your water in won't be stored in water weight, instead you'll be properly hydrated and more energized. Sorry for the long reply! Good job!

with regards to salt, the more fresh produce you eat the better :)  canned stuff has so much salt! at grocery stores today you can find easy peasy veggies in bags that can be microwaved, just poke a few holes and stick in the nuker for 3 or 4 mins and you're done. Instead of seasoning w/ salt or butter, try seasoning with fresh basil or oregano, or try other various fresh or dried herbs.  Just think, a cup of fresh steamed green beans with some fresh basil is SO filling and runs about 40 or 50 calories w/ no fat and lots of good vitamins and minerals :)   Heck you can eat it with your hands, how fun is that! Brocolli, the same, except it makes me toot like I'm a rocket ship lmao.  Good luck and keep on keepin' on

Thanks for the advice you guys. When you say I need to cut the calories, you need to realize that this  IS my calories cut back! I've been eating 3500-4000 calories a day, and so to cut it back to 2000 is a jump for me. I'm rarely not hungry doing it this way, I'm never full! But that's what it takes to lose weight, and I'm commited.

Thanks for the help, and feedback.

Eventually, you might want to stop eating the yolks from your hardboiled eggs.  You still get the protein, but you eliminate almost all the fat and cals, meaning you can eat more egg whites and be fuller than if you ate whole eggs.  Way to go in planning your day, though!  That takes a lot of effort!  If you keep up this effort, you're going to be shedding pounds like nobody's business!

Good luck!  :)

Ok, Amber, now this is the part where you promise you won't beat yourself up too much if you slip, and you're going to reward yuorself with a big hug (cause I can't do it for you) when you do just fine.  You were made strong enough to deal with the challenges in your life- you just have to keep trying, cause it's all about the journey.  The process makes you a stronger, better person than you were.  If you did everything perfectly the first time, what would be the point of putting hurdles in your path?

Oh yeah, I definitely recognize that you ARE cutting calories, and it's great that you're doing it more slowly than cutting too much too quickly.  It's just that since I started eating better, I eat like a bird.  I eat very little and have to FORCE myself to eat more.  If you make a few changes and a few sacrifices, you'll see that a lowcal diet is so easy to do.  Hell, I struggle to get to 1500 some days (been under 1300 3 out of the last 4 days, actually).  Hang in there, this reduced diet will seem like a feast in NO TIME.

I for one applaud you for planning ahead! *applauds* Thats absolutely the right track your on there.

Secondly, I know your worried about "feeling" full. But maybe you dont realize that you can eat much more food with better nutritional value! Potatos are really not good veggies, they are full of starch which turns to sugar. And I would suggest having three harboiled eggs without the yolk to up your protien. The chimichanga... is it already made? Well, if it is maybe next time you can make it yourself. Much much less salt which we all knows loves to retain water.

I absolutely love, LoVe, LOVE nonfat yogurt 6 0z, 80 calories, piled with fresh strawberries, pineapples, blueberries or whatever kind of fresh fruit I can find with a pack of splenda for just a lil sweet.

I also try to avoid my downfalls; pasta, bread, rice and cheese. Try I cant believe its not butter lite instead of butter.  If its hard to cut back on salt, do it slowly... once you taste the food, and I mean really taste the flavor of it, not the salt, you will wonder why you ever covered it up.

Your doing really really well. And this menu works for your caloric intake. I think little by little, little modifications will be a huge help for you. Keep up the good work. I cant believe how far you have come. First the exercise, now the menu planning... Your bound to succeed!

From someone who's been there, here's a few tricks that helped me lose 80 pounds and keep it off for 9 years....(I'm struggling now that I'm in my 40's....but, I'm high stress....3 kids, new marriage, full time student and ABA instructor....LOL)

Eat light....always!  Never eat while stressed or it feels like you are gulping your food.

Always take the smallest portion....and only eat 1/2 of it.  You should always still be a little hungry when you leave the table.  (gradually, those portions will decrease because your stomach will shrink..and it takes less to fill you up....Allow yourself to "splurge" only once a week.  Set a day...(mine was ALWAYS Saturday...a coke and a snickers bar :-)  My weight was always down the following day.

Once I got going on this, and my metabolism adjusted...I lost at least a pound a month for years..without trying....(actually had to consciously gain some weight because I went well below what I should have....!!)

SERIOUSLY...this DOES work..and, because it's a gradual change to what you normally eat, there is little pain involved.

Try it for a month.  You only have weight to lose!!

OH YES!  The idea of using veggies to feel full is a great one.  When I first started, I would cut down on whatever the main thing was (chicken, pork, meatloaf) and load up on veggies (eating almost a pound of em to fill me up, haha).  This really helped avoid the bad stuff, while at the same time I cut back slowly to shrinken my stomach.  Honestly, when you find all the little ways to save cals (lite food, fat free food, substitutions in recipes) you'll never believe how much you ate before!  You just have to remember that just because something is LITE, doesnt mean its calorie free.  And that doesn't mean you can eat a whole bag, haha.  Seriously, the hardest part of eating right is the first month...after that its a cakewalk.

It's weird. I never thought I'd say this, but I am thinking about skipping lunch because I'm full.

I ate breakfast, (only ate half the banana because by the time I got to it I was stuffed) and then had a snack while I did quilt squares. I have drank almost 2 quarts of water this morning, and I'm so full I can't move! (Methinks it's the water)

I still have about an hour-ish before lunch, and I'm thinking if I do eat it, it will be less than what I've planned out...

I will also be doing my 15 minutes today. I'm not up for any more than that, I usually try to up it by at least a minute a day, but after not feelnig well last night, I can't hardly think of doing 15...but I'm forcing myself to do that!

Thanks again guys, you're uber awesome!!!

Glad you posted, I was just gonna check in on you!  See?  You're tough, you can do anything you set your mind to!

Well turns out I ate everything on my menu. I started preparing it and
was really hungry...which is weird. But the good thing is that I didn't
vary from it. I ate exactly the portions I outlined on this, and am
full! hehe today is shaping up to be good. Now it's off the to the
treadmill for 15 minutes! 

I think it looks good and I'm gonna tell you why.  These are your choices of foods you prefer, and you are going to be able to SEE as you chart your choices from one day to the next, what might be your weak spots. 

For me, I am also having trouble keeping it under the 2000 calories, but with the charting and food log have improved and feel that it is not hopeless.  I love to see the results of my choices on the pie chart especially since it's hard to notice the 4 pound weight loss when I'm up over 265 pounds.   So for now, my best check of my progress is to see the blue fat section getting smaller when I make good choices. 

Also, on the salad thing,  I have to make sure that I don't add too much dressing in order to eat the salad. Although I'm eating several salad meals a week now, at first that was just so hard to do and feel satisfied.  By making sure I have protien in my salads, chicken, fish, turkey... I am feeling more satisfied and it makes a good meal.