A little diet advice.

I'm not extremely worried about this but I thought I'd post just to make sure, so here's my story:

I weigh somewhere between 130 and 135 lbs, yesterday I ate so poorly that I finally just stopped eating (at 1,300 calories). I had around 300% of my sugar, and few nutrients. Today is a new day! Yesterday I planned my diet down to a tee, when I would eat, where, what, and how much, and this is where I need someones help. I going to get down to 120, and I'm going to try and do it healthily. So here's what I'm going to eat:

B: 2 cups oatmeal prepared 2 tbsp splenda, 1 tbsp cinnamon: 350 calories.

L: Sauteed bananas with whole grain noodles and 1 tbsp cinnamon: 350 calories.

D: Whole grain noodles and many cups steamed broccoli: 600 calories.

S: Smoothie with soy-milk, peanut-butter, and bananas: 500

There are too main problems, to little fat (15%) and too much sugar (132%). Any tips for reducing these? Also, I'm only getting 700mg of sodium, I usually don't get much more, and I always drink 15+ cups of water a day. Are these amounts harmful? (I'm very careful with sodium because my family, including my mother, have very high blood pressure.)

Thanks for readin this long post, and in adavance for any tips, thanks again!

no one is going to help you out here because 120 is a very low, unhealthy weight for someone that is 5'5" and you shouldn't be trying to lose weight.

I'm responding because I'm interested in the sauteed bananas with whole grain noodles.... I've never heard of that... what does it taste like? Sweet or salty?  How do you make it?

since you're attempting to do this the healthy way i'd start by having more olive oil, avocados, fatty fish like salmon and mackerel. also, eat more nuts and olives, peanut butter, oil based salad dressing, and even full fat dairy is necessary. eat at least 1 whole egg each day, keeping the yolk.

to reduce sugar you would want to cut out sweetened beverages for starters. if your sugar is from fruit then it's fine and unnecessary to reduce it since fruit sugars are a bit different than those from processed foods. 

By the way, 130 pounds is totally healthy and thin for someone 5'5. maybe you should focus on strength training and building muscle to transform the way your body looks and not so much the scale.

i hope this helps!!

Wow... Sauteed bananas with noodles???

• Bananas and broccoli should not be the only fruit and vegetables you eat all day, even if you eat a lot of them. You should aim for much more variety to get in a wider range of nutrients
• You need more protein, calcium and iron
• 15% is a little low on the fat. A lot of people aim for between 20-30% of their calories to come from fats.

If I were to tweak your diet plan it would probably be to something like this...

Breakfast: oatmeal with a sliced banana and an omelette (I usually use 1 whole egg and 3 whites. Omelettes are great because you can boost the nutrition with fillings: ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese and herbs are all great!)

Snack: yoghurt and some nuts

Lunch: whole-grain noodles with mixed veges and some protein (meat, fish, tofu, beans etc) sauteed in a little butter or oil

Dinner: same as lunch but different vege/protein combinations

Snack: soy smoothie

Whatever you choose to eat, aim to get some protein, carbs and fat at each meal. Also aim for 7+ servings of fruit and vegetables a day - all different kinds.

Regarding the sodium, I would definitely not suggest you go any lower. If you exercise, you'll need more than what you're currently getting because you lose sodium when you sweat. Very low sodium levels can lead to headaches and dizziness/light-headedness, so watch out for those warning signs.

If you want to lose weight I think it's perfectly sane to go from 130 to 120. 120 is not a unhealthy weight for your 5'5".

The best thing for you to do is to eat a wide variety of foods and healthy ones, but in small portions. Try eating other fruits (like apples, peaches, nectarines, pears).

Protein ideas: Light Yoghurt and skimmed or semi-skimmed milk (protein, calcium and some also have added vitamins, low cal, you only have to watch for the sugar... you don't really need the fat in dairy products), fatty fish like mackerel, salmon, grouper (also have lots of healthy fats), beans (they don't have a lot of calories, are so healthy and they go along with so many things as side dish! protein, low in sugar, complex carbs and fiber), lean meat, eggs (I wouldn't eat one each day but one each week - eggs are not that common for breakfast around my country!). Proteins are very important while we are growing up.

Fat ideas: fat is also important, but keep under control saturated and trans fat (specially if you have high blood pressure!) use olive oil while cooking, the fatty fish are good choices, nuts are also good...

Carb ideas: while I was losing weight, my main source of calories were carbs. They always have been, in fact, and still are. Don't eat the same carbs all day: potatoes, rice, beans, peas, chickpeas are also healthy foods! I think you should also eat more veggies (and variety), because they have so many vitamins and are so low cal you don't have to bother.

While losing, I would eat something like (limiting fruit to 3/4 servings a day!):

Breakfast: one cup skimmed milk, 1/2 - 3/4 cup breakfast cereal (I like Special K), and sometimes a piece of fruit - around 250 cal

Snack: a pack of "Maria" cookies (portugal only, sorry), but any other quality carb idea (like wholebread maybe) will do, sometimes yoghurt, sometimes a piece of fruit - around 100 cal

Lunch: one serving or sometimes two of carbs (1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cup pasta, one not very big potato; 3/4 cup beans or peas or chickpeas); some lean meat or fish or an egg; lots of salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, pepper, carrot, etc, etc.) or boiled vegetables (green beans, cabbage, spinach, broccolli, carrot...). A piece of fruit for dessert. - you can make it 600-500-400 cal by adapting portions.

Snack: light yoghurt or a cup of skimmed milk and one slice of bread or 1/2 cup breakfast cereal and sometimes a piece of fruit, you can add nuts or peanut butter or someting to the bread if you want - you can make it 150-250 cal

Dinner: pretty like lunch, but I would eat soup and a lighter meal sometimes, or smaller portions.

Snack: a cup of skimmed milk or a light yoghurt and someting like fruit, bread, "Maria" cookies, breakfast cereal, dark chocolate, whatever I'ld feel like but in an adequate portion - you can make it 100 or 200 cal

This way you can eat between 1400 to 1800 (whichever you find that best suits you for losing). I wasn't counting the way I should, but I believe I was on 1600 losing at a moderate rate.

Hope it helps!

Maybe 130 is your natural set point, where your body wants to be.  It's a perfectly healthy weight, and if you had to fight that hard to get to 120, your body probably doesn't want to be there.  Maybe you would do better with focusing on eating healthily and exercising.  You'll most likely lose a bit of weight, but you won't have to resort to starving yourself and constantly yo-yo-ing between numbers.  Here's a meal plan that might help:

Breakfast:  1 cup oatmeal made with water & cinnamon, 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese, 1 cup strawberries (290 calories) [cottage cheese adds protein to help keep you full, fruit adds nutrients]

Lunch:  Salad (greens, spinach, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, misc raw veggies, 3 oz chicken, 1 oz nuts or cheese, 1-2 TB light salad dressing) [370 calories]

Snack:  high fiber granola bar, ie fiber one bar (140 calories)

Dinner:  whole wheat pita (~150 calories) with 3-4 TB hummus (80) and veggies (~20);  1 peach (50) = 300 calories

Snack:  1/2 whole wheat english muffin (60) with 1 TB peanut butter (90) and 1/2 banana (50) = 200 calories

Total:  1300 calories

Keep up the swimming all year round to help keep up your strength.  Try weight training.  Do crunches/push-ups daily. Try running.  Experiment until you find exercise you like, and stick to it!

First guys check her height again.  She grew about 1 and 1/2 inches, so she is 5'6.5" or 5'7".     At 5'6.5" and 120lbs your BMI would be 19.1, and at 5'7" at 120lbs  your BMI would be 18.8.    Theese are at the very lowest end of healthy.

Rather then trying to lose wieght you might consider weight training.  Lose fat and gain muscle.   Honestly you should try eating at or near maitainance and go talk to the folks on the Fitness forum.  They will have great advice on how to replace fat with muscle, for a slimmer look without an extremely low weight.

I can definatly under stand your goal of wanting to look slimmer... but perhaps in this case "dieting"  isn't the ideal plan of action.  Get a slimmer look with weight training and eating well sounds much better, much healthier, and much more enjoyable.  Good luck.

Thank for all the advice! I'm definitely not trying to 'diet' per say but reduce my calories just a little bit at a time. Also, I'm not 5'6".5 but point .25, and that may be stretching it :p, but never the less I like to add it in for... pride reasons. I'd like to eat around 1,800, which is what I burn sedentary, and then only burn what I do with exercise, (which I really need to do more off...) I'll definitely try for more variety and some weight training. Also a few of the suggestions are a bit hard for me to use, as I'm a vegan, but I'll definitely try more protein, if you think I need it, and lots more fat.

On the note of sauteed bananas, not my best invention. It honestly was quite bad and I ended up just having a second shake, an apple, and a pb & J sandwich, while feeding the bananas to my dog XD

And one more thing, I really think my weight is better at 120, this summer, as I've been gain and losing, I've always felt better at a bit lighter weight. Currently I feel sluggish and plump. This is the heaviest I've ever been and I'd just like to get some where more comfortable. Since I'm still a young adult, I thought being at the lighter end of the weight scale was OK? (And believe me even at 120 I am not a rail, but look about what I look in my picture, where I was just that.)

Anyways thanks again for all the advice, I'm definitely work on this.

Original Post by meranda:

On the note of sauteed bananas, not my best invention. It honestly was quite bad and I ended up just having a second shake, an apple, and a pb & J sandwich, while feeding the bananas to my dog XD

haha, I thought it was like some kind of dish from another country that was delicious & exotic. 

Definitely just try to get all your nutrients & calories in and look at weight training for muscle tone.  Don't get hung up on a #.  I weigh 110 now & look way better than when I weighed 105 in h.s. (about 12 years ago) because I was just thin & flabby back then. Now I'm thin & toned.  I can guarantee that if I polled 10 people & showed them picture now vs. when I weighed less they would all say I have a better body now.  They'd probably think I weighed less now too since its all toned & looks thinner. Muscle weighs more than fat so even though my weight is higher I'm actually thinner to look at.