I need help adjusting my diet some more. I still can't seem to eat all of my calories in a day and am still going over on carbs and under on protein. So far I've lost about a pound in 2 weeks.

Here's a typical meal day: (Calories-Carbs-Fat-Protein)

7:30 - Tea with Sweetener (6-0-2-0)
Pacakge of Quaker Oatmeal (170-2-35-4)
2 Egg whites (scrambled) (33-0-1-7)
1 whole egg (scrambled) (84-6-1-6)

10:00 - Apple (81-0-21-0)
- 2 tbsp Nat. Peanut Butter (180-16-6-8)


12:00 - Tuna (1/2 can) (70-1-0-16)
- Whole wheat bread (238-5-43-7)


3:00 - Pear (98, 1, 25, 1)
- Yogurt (1 cup) (40-0-6-3)
- Grapes (1 cup) (114-1-28-1)

5:30 - Whatever wife makes for supper….usually fish or chicken with a vegetable and sometime noodles. Yesterdays was…
- Crunchy Chicken breast (170, 3, 14, 21)
- Cauliflower (1 cup) (25, 0, 5, 2)
- Garlic alfredo Sidekick noodles (130, 2, 25, 4)

8:30 - Whole wheat bread (119, 3, 22, 4)
- 1 tsp. Peanut butter (27, 2, 2, 1)
- 1 tsp. Honey (32, 0, 9, 0)


Fat: 42 g (24%)
Carbs: 244 g (55%)
Protein: 85g (21%)

Total calories: 1615
Cal. From Fat: 374

Cal. From Carbs: 870
Cal from Protein: 340

Those numbers are from Fitday. When I plug them into the excel spreadsheet that I copied from "Burn the Fat, Feed the muscle", I get ..

Fat: 42 g
Carbs: 245 g
Protein: 85g

Total calories: 1617

Not sure where the difference in carbs and calories came from but it's marginal….let's move on.

Also, from a cholesterol point of view, it seems I'm off the mark. I was told that your P's (Polyunsaturates) should be higher that your S's (Saturated fats) and mine is 7:8. This could be due to the fact that many labels don't list these as well as they should.

I'm obviously still learning, but I'm going to keep posting on here, reading, learning and adjusting until I get it right! I know it's still early into my changed diet but it's something I want to figure out sooner rather than later. I MUST meet my goal by the end of the year!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I need to:

1) Get to my proper calorie level (~2300)
2) Get my ratios in line (Protein: 40, Carbs: 40, Fat: 20)
3) Gather a list of alternatives for each meal/snack so I can make 3-4 meal plans that all fit the numbers
4) Pre-make meals for the week so it's easier to make sure the right things are being eaten at each meal/snack.

Just to recap my stats/goals:
I'm 33, 5'-10", 174 lbs and no idea what % body fat but it's got to be over 20%
Gym 3x per week (Chest/biceps, Back/triceps, Legs/shoulders), 25-30 minutes cardio (elliptical machine) after each workout. Weights are done 3 sets of 10 and the weight is rasied 5 lbs each time I can do 10 easily.

Goal: To lose extra fat in typical spots (midsection and face). Goal weight ~165lbs

I hope someone can help me get this sorted out so it feels more like progress and less like counting numbers and babysitting Fitday etc.
To do so, I would like to have as many food suggestions for each meal/snack as I can……please share!


Thanks,
Mike

You also need to up your green vegetables. I try to get some at every meal, at least every other meal. In addition to the fiber and nutrients, it helps balance your body acid/base.

As for protein, try to add some to every meal. 20 g+. And you can easily up protein in some of your meals such as your noon meal...just eat the whole can of tuna :D Add some cottage cheese and remove the bread (and probably honey) in the 8:30 meal would be another good thing to do.

Also, ditch the oatmeal packet and just eat oatmeal. Most of those packets are full of sugar. Get some rolled oats, add some cinnamon/ginger/splenda/etc. IMO, it's actually better than the mushy packaged quick oats anyway.

How can we help you to eat more other than telling you you need to eat more? :) Need more protein? Easy -- add more eggs/whites, eat the whole can of tuna (1/2 a can, what's that about?), eat a bigger chicken breast, get a protein source in that last meal. Eat more vegetables, eat a little more fat.

It's one thing to look into your macro ratios, and it's another to become so obsessive at this point in your transformation that you're obsessing over every bite you put in your mouth. If constantly questioning things is resulting in you eating too little because you're so worried about the numbers, you're not doing yourself or your results any favors.

Nah man, I'm not asking you to tell me to eat more.....what I'd like is for someone to double check my caloies. Is 2300 accurate for cutting based what I've got down here?

There must be better food choices for me to get the calories into me while keeping the prot/carb/fat in the proper ratios.

I don't think I'm obessing over numbers just yet, I just know that eating the 1600 or so cals I am leaves me never hungry, I don't feel I can get more food into me right now so it must be some of the food choices.

More digging and reading I guess.....

I'm not sure you need to eat more at all, not if you're trying to cut. One pound every two weeks is not really fast loss. It's probably a good rate, but it's definitely not dangerously fast or anything. If you're losing a half pound every week, I would think that adding another 700 calories would probably put you into maintenance level, or possibly even into a slow gain. Right now, you're not hungry, and your weight loss is a very reasonable rate. I say to keep eating the same amount for now. If it's working, go with it.

Good point dpark. I guess I was just being impatient and hoped I'd drop weight a bit quicker at first and then see it taper off but it's slow and not steady at all. The not steady part is fine, but being that I'm probably the most impatient person ever, I would rather be losing a pound a week without fail.

I'll just leave things as they are for a couple more weeks and modify if nothing changes.

Thanks
Mike

I definitely agree with giving it some time. Two weeks isn't very long. You'll be in a better position to evaluate in another couple of weeks. I totally understand being impatient, though. I've been on a diet for about 6 weeks, and it's feels like the results are very slow coming.

I'd recommend taking some pictures, for yourself, even if you don't post them. It's really difficult to see day-to-day changes, but the pictures are a great record. I wish I'd done them. I'm actually planning on starting tomorrow.

As far as the weight jumping. It really is frustrating. I've seen the scale change by 3 pounds in a single day (in both directions, of course). Just remember that you're looking for long-term trends. Cutting fat is like investing in stocks. Getting caught up in the day-to-day will drive you crazy.