breakfast

[fish]

OK, Pam, you are the nutrition expert, here is what I have for breakfast 90 % of the mornings. I guess I must like it.

Tell me what is good and bad about it.


Breakfast

One cup oatmeal
with
quarter cup wheat germ
and
tablesp**ns molasses (approx)

Two pieces toast
with
two tablesp**ns peanut butter (approx)

One Banana

One pint skim milk

One multivitamin w minerals
One tablesp**ns cod liver oil
One 81 mg. aspirin

Two much coffee.

fish

p.s. Put the oos in tablesp**n and it becomes tablesthingy with your automatic keep it clean setup. What I want to know is why sthingy, I mean sp**n, is a dirty word ?

[Pam]

Well I'm not an expert but I'm going to give this a stab. First I have a few questions for you.

What are you eating patterns? Do you eat 3 big meals a day, snacks, skip lunch, etc. How many hours do you go between breakfast and your next meal?

What are your ratios, how much carbs/protein/fat do you intake a day on average? And what is your total caloric intake?

I am assuming you are still trying to lose some weight? Or are you trying to maintain?

As to the PS....I took care of it. For the life of me I couldnt figue out why it was doing that and had to scan the list they have a couple of times before I found it. It isnt Spoon that is the dirty word its spoon without the "S". I havent heard that term since my high school days when I would listen to Ted Nugent...how that must have drove my parents nuts.

[Pam]

Couple more questions I forgot to add. What kind of peanut butter do you use, is it natural? Also what kind of toast..whole wheat or white or something else?

[fish]

OK let's see if I can answer any of your questions.

I eat two regular meals a day, morning breakfast and evening dinner. Occasional lunch. Usual 6 oz can of tuna after weights.

Put on the sudden 5 pounds when I began to eat the cottage cheese and fruit after exercise and before bed.

My ratios are consistent with my breakfast. i.e. pretty balanced.

I use the food processor to make my peanut butter. I use peanuts only. About 50 % of the bread is homemade. The other 50 % is high quality.

I have absolutely no idea what my caloric intake is. I can say that I usually do about 750 per day in beer alone.

I am trying to loose weight. I intend to stop the cottage cheese and fruit, and cut out the beer until I loose 10 lbs.

I have to get to a pool to be able to tell how much of the new weight is fat. My legs sink, and my body stabilizes in a vertical position. When I was a kid that is until about 30, I was completely below water. In later years it has been just the top of my head breaking the surface of the water. Now I'm afraid that it might reach my eyebrows.

On the other hand, today I got 340 in the HBDL so I am getting stronger. Of course, people weighing much less than 180 lbs are lifting much more than 340 lbs. So I can get much stronger while losing a few pounds.


Oink Oink.

pigfish

[Pam]

Well fish I'm not an expert but I'll tell what jumps out at me right away...cut back on carbs, more frequent meals, increase protein, cut back on fat and cut out the beer.

I plugged your breakfast into my Balancelog and came up with this (I round these numbers):

Total calories 1050
Total Fat 37 grams
Total Carbs 130
Total Protein 43 grams

Which makes your ratios approx. 58/15/27(carbs/protein/fat)

My advice would be to work on your ratios....I'd lower your carb intake to around 50% and up your protein to at least 30% and lower your fat intake to around 20%. Your saturated fat was 8 grams which isnt bad as long as that doesnt shoot way up at dinner.

I would also try to get in 5 smaller meals rather than just 2 big ones. If you eat breakfast and then dont eat again until dinner you're body is feeding off your muscle and your metabolism is really slowing down. You need to fuel your body more than that.

I really dont think your weight gain was due to the cottage cheese, but as I said I'm not an expert.

Basically if I were you'd I'd scale back on breakfast, eat more frequent smaller meals throughout the day, cut out the beer like you said, cut back on carbs, especially breads, flours and sugars, lower your fat intake and increase your protein.

I dont think your body is using the entire 1050 calories you're eating at breakfast and you know what happens to excess calories.

I'd also highly suggest recording your intake for a week so you can see where your calories are coming from. I've never used it before but there is an online program you can use free at fitday.com.

I'll tell you what I discovered looking at this. I plugged your info in calculator and came up with a total caloric intake of around 2800 to maintain your weight. I changed male to female, leaving all the other info the same and it came back with a total of 2400 or 2300 calories. Sometimes being a woman can really stink.

I'm not a nutritionist but I do play one online.

[fish]

Pam,

Rats, that's what I thought you would say.

And the breakfast is designed. Lots of carbs to be sure, but this is to break the fast. I want quick burning stuff early. There is fat in the peanut butter and the wheat germ. Protein in the peanut butter and milk. Iron in the molasses. Potassium in the banana, and so on and so forth.

The bad news is that dinner is usually carb heavy too. Complementary vegetable proteins. Beans and rice, or pasta. Once a week or so I do eat about two pounds of meat. Snarl.

I know the general principles. But my habits are lifelong and I have never had to try to lose weight.

This will be difficult.

Especially the beer.

Keep the faith,

fatfish

[Pam]

Calling ourselves names serves no practical purpose. Fish with the stats you've given I have a hard time believeing your even close to fat.

And yes, change is hard but let me give you some advice. Take baby steps. Change one thing at a time. You dont have to cut the beer out entirely. Start by eliminating one or two a week or day and go from there.

I understand breaking the fast but your breakfast may serve you better if you broke it into two meals rather than one. Again I'm not an expert just been at this for a very very long time.

Dont forget you are getting quite a bit of fat from the cod liver oil...which by the way sounds just awful. I take fish oil in the form of capsules and still get that aftertaste that I just cant stand. I do realize that both are good fats but I still believe in watching that.

One sure fire way to fail at this is to try to do too much at once. Another is to look at it as a "diet", make it a lifestyle..just like your workouts.

You can do it fish...and we will be here to support you all the way.

Little changes fish...one step at a time.

And dont forget the water!

[jack]

The beer is hard to give up......it's been almost 2 years since I've tasted "Colorado Cool-Aid". If I can do it,can the beer,anyone can. Remember there's 7 calories per alcohol gram and no nutritional value. If you're like I was...it was impossible to have a cold one and not snack on something,something salty,something loaded with carbs or grease. Maybe we can start our own little AA group here . Look at the bright side....giving up beer means no more worries about DUI's or that morning after feeling when you've had one to many. Trade those 12 ounce curls for the DB's .

[fish]

"They jest at scars who never felt a wound"

Second time I have had occasion to use that quote from the Bard on this board.

You are right, Pam. I am constantly after F&F to stop self disparagement.

As for you, Jack, it sounds like you understand the beer thing. Very, very good for you.

As for me, I am not objectively fat. I am subjectively fat.

I admit that it is insensitive for me to joke about it . And I am not a PC kind of guy.

On the other hand, I carry more body fat than I want. So I joke about it as a device to get myself motivated.

Oh well, eat less, move more. Or is that gross simplification just as bad ?

Darn it, is nothing innocent ?

fish