Is this a decent diet?

[kingflab]

I'm concerned- so as long as you're losing weight you think you'll be okay? So your body is slowly disintegrating, and your organs are being deprived of nutrients- but its okay because the scales are showing a lower number?! You're a student, so I'm assuming a bit of intelligence is there- do a bit of research, work out how much your body NEEDS each day, then worry about the food sources.
I agree with everyone else about variety, if you don't vary your foods a bit you'll soon get bored. The stew was a great idea, as is huge pots of Veg soup (v. cheap & easy to make). Add some rice or pasta to 'bulk' it out if you like.

You know, its only ever a good idea to patronize somebody before they've actually learned from their mistakes...

There is a reason why I've suddenly switched to 4 meals a day, I made a mistake, I realised that, and now I'm fixing it.

To be perfectly frank, it was an experience I don't regret having taken, I cut out a hell of a lot of snacks and alcohol for it and I've almost completely broken my addiction to junk food, so it wasn't a terrible waste of time. Yes, it was a bad thing to do to my body, but I was also a borderline alcoholic and I ate far too much junk; thats all changed.


And as I've already mentioned I'm starting to add some variety.

Bluet - Thanks for the advice!

Patchninja - Thats sounds fantastic and I will most definitely give it a go. I'm going to try replace toast in the morning with fruit/yogurt to push up the 5 a day.

Isis. Thanks for asking! Unfortunately I don't have any scales here at uni, so I'll find out in two weeks when I go home. Fingers crossed.

 

[IrishMum]

I wasn't being patronizing- you eat a small breakfast, a regular lunch, a small dinner and a SNACK as your fourth 'meal'. Okay, this is an improvement on eating one meal a day, but really- you need more nutrition- thats all I was stating.
I'm really glad that your drastic diet has helped you to break some destructive food/drink habits- maybe thats what you needed- but don't say I was patronising because I was alarmed that you feel this 'diet' is still okay? You asked for advice, and were given it- what you do with it is up to you?

 

[kingflab]

I wasn't being patronizing- you eat a small breakfast, a regular lunch, a small dinner and a SNACK as your fourth 'meal'. Okay, this is an improvement on eating one meal a day, but really- you need more nutrition- thats all I was stating.
I'm really glad that your drastic diet has helped you to break some destructive food/drink habits- maybe thats what you needed- but don't say I was patronising because I was alarmed that you feel this 'diet' is still okay? You asked for advice, and were given it- what you do with it is up to you?

Fair enough, and in that case I apologise.

I'm starting small simply because I know -after eating so few calories for so many weeks- that if I increase the calories too fast I'm going to start gaining a lot of weight.

With this in mind, I'm going to start small and work my way up, it really is the best thing I can afford to do right now. My food budget is tiny so buying lots and lots of nutritious food is almost impossible to do, I'll just slowly increase the calories over the next few months.

I understand that this must seem like a horribly bad diet to many people, but just bear in mind that most students live off absolutely terrible diets at university anyway (I know a lot more people eating a lot worse than me), university living is somewhat of an odd experience and I think I'm approaching it quite well with this.

I'll also note that I am however buying everything I can afford to get (I just did my weeks shop, I have extra fruit and I bought some extra eggs/milk). So yeah, it is lacking, it isn't the most healthy food in the world, but with a £1400 overdraft, no income, and a tiny budget, I'm quite pleased I'm actually managing to diet in the first place.

To answer your question, no, I don't feel this diet is okay. But for now its the best I have to work with, from one meal to four meals is a big jump anyway, from 1000 calories to 2000 calories is an even bigger jump and I'd prefer to walk before I can run. (Well thats a lie, I'd prefer to run before I can walk... )

 

[Silence]

The key to dieting on a student budget is planning. Trust me, I've done it. In my first and second year at uni I lived off my student loan. My food budget was £15 a week (granted that was 4 years ago and prices have gone up a tad) but I still managed to diet.

Uni life is not very conducive to dieting, the high alcohol consumption, the big nights out, the junk food culture... and for some people at least (not making any insinuations here) the sedentary lifestyle of intensive studying.
Good luck!!!

~Silence~

 

[kingflab]

The key to dieting on a student budget is planning. Trust me, I've done it. In my first and second year at uni I lived off my student loan. My food budget was £15 a week (granted that was 4 years ago and prices have gone up a tad) but I still managed to diet.

Uni life is not very conducive to dieting, the high alcohol consumption, the big nights out, the junk food culture... and for some people at least (not making any insinuations here) the sedentary lifestyle of intensive studying.
Good luck!!!

~Silence~

Heh, the sedentary lifestyle has certainly been a hindrance! Fortunately my uni is situated at the top of a blooming big hill, so I at least get a decent walk a couple of times a week (down... bus up ¬_¬).

Food isn't too expensive really, its just I'm an incredibly fussy eater (I hate almost everything edible in the world) so it doesn't leave a lot of room for a variet of cheap products.

I've tried some absolutely crazy diets in my first year of university, not because I wanted to lose weight, but because I didn't know how to cook. I spent a month living off noodles... and only noodles... (a week of that was just pot noodles, until I found out I could cook normal noodles in the microwave). Then I spent a month eating only huge salad/meat sandwiches. Hell, I spent like a whole two months eating nothing but tuna, bread, apples, sausage rolls, and pre-cooked chicken.

Good times.

So as you can probably tell, this is quite possibly the first thing I've actually had in the last 12 months to an actual healthy diet... Incidentally if I die anytime soon, I probably know why.

 

[kingflab]

ooh, I forgot to ask something too.

I realise its difficult for anybody to make a decent guess, but I don't suppose anybody could give me an estimate of how much I should be expecting to lose on a diet like this per week?

I'm really looking forward to going home in a few weeks to see how well this diet is working!

 

[Taz]

On a healthy diet you should aim to be losing 4-6lb in the first week then 1-2lb per week after that

 

[kingflab]

Right ho. Thanks.

 

[kingflab]

Just a quick update, I think this may be working...

I went out to buy some scales today, apparently in the last 14 days I've lost 11bs... although I did eat very little the week before I started this, so that could be why.

I've modified the whole thing.

I've bought one of those childrens 8 pack Kelloggs variety cereal things for breakfast, I don't have time to bother with milk so its a quick snack anyway (about 75 calories). I have 3 pieces of brown bread for lunch, with Tuna or boiled eggs, and for dinner I'm eating meals comprised of the following:wholegrain spaghetti, McCain low-fat chips, rice, chicken, tuna, pee's, and sweetcorn (rice, pees, and chicken is wonderfully tasty). And finally I'm eating at least four pieces of fruit a day.

Frigging loving this so far, I don't have to go hungry anymore, I get a nice mix of foods I enjoy, its simple as hell, and with any luck it'll carry on working.

Wooh for diets!

 

[Patchninja]

Well done you! That sounds so much healthier and I'm sure you'll feel better for.

 

[pete10141748]

Wooh! for diets indeed!
Glad you've found that it's working for you, and the few changes you've made sound like it's a million times better for you too.
Well done!

 

[Forever Starting Over]

yes - they do low fat big tubs of yoghurt in different flavours so that has to be better than all that bread and like you say, eat a 1/3 of the pot for brekkie. Sounds like a plan to me. good luck. I also agree with silence in terms of making a big stew type thing and freezing in tubs. And aldi have a lot of their fruit and veg for 39p at the moment so it can be done. and fruit and veg is the same wherever you buy it from.
x

 

[Prinzessin]

Something I read ages ago after researching this old saying. Maybe read it and consider the meaning behind it, applying it ,as I have done, has helped my weightloss no end

"Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, supper like a pauper"
Folk wisdom holds that, to promote good health, one should begin the day with a large breakfast and consume progressively smaller amounts with each successive meal. The results of the present study support that concept and suggest that such a pattern of eating might help prevent obesity. People who ate a larger proportion of their total daily caloric intake in the morning tended to eat fewer calories per day, whereas people who ate more at night tended to consume more total calories each day. Previous studies have suggested that the satiation value of food eaten earlier in the day is greater than that of food eaten later on. Some people have observed that an effective method of losing weight is to avoid eating after 8 pm.

 

[kingflab]

Well, I've always realised that big breakfasts are better for you, but If i'm going to set a challenging diet there's no point in me trying to set myself up with tasks I won't do.

I tend to find eating in the morning to be quite uncomfortable, so I like to grab a quick snack that takes second to preper - large breakfasts just really aren't going to happen for me, so I've done my best to work around it. Becides, if this continues to work I'm sticking to it, if it ain't broke don't fix it!

 

[Lynn8124]

Hi KF, just wanted to wish you well on your journey. What are you studying at uni?

Edited to ask: how did you manage to overcome your junk food cravings?

 

[kingflab]

Hi KF, just wanted to wish you well on your journey. What are you studying at uni?

Edited to ask: how did you manage to overcome your junk food cravings?

Cheers! I'm studying International Politics and Intelligence Studies.

The one meal a day diet really helped with the junk, I just found as time went on the cravings reduced significantly!

 

[Mixxi]

Well done so far I've read this thread and you seem to be much more health conscious now. Thought I might suggest you give soya milk a go. You can get Tesco's own for 99p. It has more calcium than regular milk, is fortified with vitamins, has no cholesterol, is low cal, fills you up and on top of that is delicious . Not saying give up regular milk but it might just be an idea to have this an additional part of your diet if you like it .

 

[kingflab]

Thanks for the suggestion! I just gave soya milk a quick wiki, and found this particularly interesting quote "A 2008 study found that men who consume an average of half a portion of soy products per day are more likely to have a lower concentration of sperm."

Lose weight, and gain natural protection! Hells yeah. I'll lookout for some of that when I do the next shop. I wonder if theres such a thing as soya milkshake.

 

[FatGirl2Slim]

Soya milkshakes are lush. I haven't had one in months but usually buy Provamel ones

 

[Taz]

Yes the Oy's are soya milkshakes