Nutrition Tracking
Decided to try to keep track of my nutrition for one day, to ensure that I'm getting about what I need to be in terms of proteins and fats, and not exceeding my carb allowance.
For reference, if you're curious, I should be eating (ideally) 80g or less of carbs per day in order to ensure steady weight loss. This can go as high as 100g, but any more than that and I stop dropping weight; go above 150g, and you start gaining weight. Dropping under 50g per day puts me in ketosis (the goal of the Atkins diet), but it's not recommended for more than a day or two at a time, unless you're on some kind of supervised medical plan. It's also not very easy to maintain without engaging in intermittent fasting, which I have no real desire to do right now. (Luckily, 80-100g of carbs is actually a LOT of food when you don't eat grains or legumes. Like, a couple of pounds of carrots.)
In terms of protein, it's a little more complicated because it depends on how much of your body is composed of lean muscle. Since I don't have much of that right now, my ideal daily protein intake is somewhere around 70g. As my body changes, I may need to add more protein to the menu to aid in muscle building and repair. Protein should come primarily from lean meats and eggs, with plant sources and yogurt (if you're doing dairy, which I am) to supplement. Fatty meats are mostly to be avoided or minimized, although organ meat is okay. I eat eggs, bacon, pork sausage, chicken, pork, and beef as my main protein.
Fats are basically unlimited, providing you're eating the right kind of fat. Saturated fats and omega-3s, mostly; omega-6 is somewhat important, but you really don't have to put in any effort to get that in your diet, it's in practically everything we eat because it's more shelf-stable than most other fats. (Too much of it is bad for you, though.) Fats should come from nuts, approved oils (avocado, coconut, macadamia and olive), coconut products, avocados, eggs, butter or ghee, and the occasional bit of full-fat dairy. (Ideally, dairy should be raw, unpasteurized, organic, and from grass-fed animals. Organic and raw are all I can usually afford, though.) In general, I eat cheese and cream as my dairy indulgences, and avoid milk (since even fatty milk triggers an insulin surge).
Refined sugars and excess salt should be avoided as much as possible. Okay sources for sugar are evaporated cane juice ("raw" sugar), genuine maple syrup, coconut sugar, and honey. Some paleos/primals also use Stevia, but I don't like it, and I'm not convinced that coming from a plant makes it any better for you than Splenda or Equal, so I avoid it. I use maple syrup or a tiny bit of cane sugar in my coffee, syrup or honey when baking, honey in my tea sometimes, and fruit or small amounts of very dark chocolate to satisfy my sweet tooth.
So, anyway, here's what I ate today (updated throughout the day).
Breakfast
Beige Smoothie -
about 1/3 cup kale (frozen for ease of blending)
around 7.2 oz drinkable full-fat organic yogurt
1/2 cup frozen mango chunks
1/2 Tbsp honey (because kale and drinkable yogurt are both very bitter)
Carbs: 34.1g
Protein: 9.15g
Fats: 9g
The taste is kind of hard to describe. It definitely tasted like kale, which mostly tastes the way that fresh-cut grass smells, but the bitterness of the leaf was mitigated by the mango. I added the raspberries to further mask the kale, and also because I wanted to eat them before they get mushy; they made the drink a bit more fruit-tangy, and were the first thing you tasted in a sip. The yogurt I used, which was Maple Hill Creamery ("made from grass-fed cows") from the organic section at Wegmans, was very sour because it's basically just milk and cultures. I like it though, because it's a little thinner and more liquidy than conventional yogurt, and also has a good amount of protein and fat. I probably could have stopped there, or maybe added some coconut oil or nut butter for more fat, but I decided to put in some honey just to smooth our the flavor a bit more. I'm glad I did, too, since it made a huge difference; the whole concoction went from "drinkable" to "mm!"
Nescafe instant coffee with half and half (about a Tbsp) and vanilla extract (1/4 tsp)
Carbs: 1.75g
Protein: none to speak of
Fats: 1.75
It was Taster's Choice House Blend, because I can't find the decaf.
Lunch
I skipped lunch today. Wasn't hungry until rather late in the day, because I had breakfast so late.
Dinner
Boneless pork chops, seasoned with garlic and pepper, pan-fried with no oil.
Carbs: none to speak of
Protein: 36g (roughly; maybe less, I didn't weigh the serving)
Fat: 14g
Carrots, chopped and boiled, no salt
Carbs: 16g (roughly--I made four carrots)
Protein: none
Fat: none
I also tossed like four leftover broccoli florets in with the carrots, but I'm not gonna calculate the info for them.
Three Kitchen Table Bakers garlic-parmesan crisps (they're made out of baked cheese) that I shoved in my face while cooking
Carbs: 2g
Protein: 6g
Fats: 6g
Totals
Carbs: 53.9g
Protein: 51.15
Fat: 30.75
So far, I'm staying under my carb target, but I definitely need more fats, and more protein wouldn't hurt. I might snack later on, so I'll have to be sure and get some good fats in, at least. More cheese, possibly, or nut butter.
Edit: Yeah, I NEED to eat more. I just went back and figured my calories for the day, and I've only eaten about 670. So I need to get at least another 600 tonight. No wonder I'm not losing weight over the last week or so--my body is probably in lockdown.
For reference, if you're curious, I should be eating (ideally) 80g or less of carbs per day in order to ensure steady weight loss. This can go as high as 100g, but any more than that and I stop dropping weight; go above 150g, and you start gaining weight. Dropping under 50g per day puts me in ketosis (the goal of the Atkins diet), but it's not recommended for more than a day or two at a time, unless you're on some kind of supervised medical plan. It's also not very easy to maintain without engaging in intermittent fasting, which I have no real desire to do right now. (Luckily, 80-100g of carbs is actually a LOT of food when you don't eat grains or legumes. Like, a couple of pounds of carrots.)
In terms of protein, it's a little more complicated because it depends on how much of your body is composed of lean muscle. Since I don't have much of that right now, my ideal daily protein intake is somewhere around 70g. As my body changes, I may need to add more protein to the menu to aid in muscle building and repair. Protein should come primarily from lean meats and eggs, with plant sources and yogurt (if you're doing dairy, which I am) to supplement. Fatty meats are mostly to be avoided or minimized, although organ meat is okay. I eat eggs, bacon, pork sausage, chicken, pork, and beef as my main protein.
Fats are basically unlimited, providing you're eating the right kind of fat. Saturated fats and omega-3s, mostly; omega-6 is somewhat important, but you really don't have to put in any effort to get that in your diet, it's in practically everything we eat because it's more shelf-stable than most other fats. (Too much of it is bad for you, though.) Fats should come from nuts, approved oils (avocado, coconut, macadamia and olive), coconut products, avocados, eggs, butter or ghee, and the occasional bit of full-fat dairy. (Ideally, dairy should be raw, unpasteurized, organic, and from grass-fed animals. Organic and raw are all I can usually afford, though.) In general, I eat cheese and cream as my dairy indulgences, and avoid milk (since even fatty milk triggers an insulin surge).
Refined sugars and excess salt should be avoided as much as possible. Okay sources for sugar are evaporated cane juice ("raw" sugar), genuine maple syrup, coconut sugar, and honey. Some paleos/primals also use Stevia, but I don't like it, and I'm not convinced that coming from a plant makes it any better for you than Splenda or Equal, so I avoid it. I use maple syrup or a tiny bit of cane sugar in my coffee, syrup or honey when baking, honey in my tea sometimes, and fruit or small amounts of very dark chocolate to satisfy my sweet tooth.
So, anyway, here's what I ate today (updated throughout the day).
Breakfast
Beige Smoothie -
about 1/3 cup kale (frozen for ease of blending)
around 7.2 oz drinkable full-fat organic yogurt
1/2 cup frozen mango chunks
1/2 Tbsp honey (because kale and drinkable yogurt are both very bitter)
Carbs: 34.1g
Protein: 9.15g
Fats: 9g
The taste is kind of hard to describe. It definitely tasted like kale, which mostly tastes the way that fresh-cut grass smells, but the bitterness of the leaf was mitigated by the mango. I added the raspberries to further mask the kale, and also because I wanted to eat them before they get mushy; they made the drink a bit more fruit-tangy, and were the first thing you tasted in a sip. The yogurt I used, which was Maple Hill Creamery ("made from grass-fed cows") from the organic section at Wegmans, was very sour because it's basically just milk and cultures. I like it though, because it's a little thinner and more liquidy than conventional yogurt, and also has a good amount of protein and fat. I probably could have stopped there, or maybe added some coconut oil or nut butter for more fat, but I decided to put in some honey just to smooth our the flavor a bit more. I'm glad I did, too, since it made a huge difference; the whole concoction went from "drinkable" to "mm!"
Nescafe instant coffee with half and half (about a Tbsp) and vanilla extract (1/4 tsp)
Carbs: 1.75g
Protein: none to speak of
Fats: 1.75
It was Taster's Choice House Blend, because I can't find the decaf.
Lunch
I skipped lunch today. Wasn't hungry until rather late in the day, because I had breakfast so late.
Dinner
Boneless pork chops, seasoned with garlic and pepper, pan-fried with no oil.
Carbs: none to speak of
Protein: 36g (roughly; maybe less, I didn't weigh the serving)
Fat: 14g
Carrots, chopped and boiled, no salt
Carbs: 16g (roughly--I made four carrots)
Protein: none
Fat: none
I also tossed like four leftover broccoli florets in with the carrots, but I'm not gonna calculate the info for them.
Three Kitchen Table Bakers garlic-parmesan crisps (they're made out of baked cheese) that I shoved in my face while cooking
Carbs: 2g
Protein: 6g
Fats: 6g
Totals
Carbs: 53.9g
Protein: 51.15
Fat: 30.75
So far, I'm staying under my carb target, but I definitely need more fats, and more protein wouldn't hurt. I might snack later on, so I'll have to be sure and get some good fats in, at least. More cheese, possibly, or nut butter.
Edit: Yeah, I NEED to eat more. I just went back and figured my calories for the day, and I've only eaten about 670. So I need to get at least another 600 tonight. No wonder I'm not losing weight over the last week or so--my body is probably in lockdown.