Advice? - Diet & Nutrition Message Board

Black-Hole-Sun · 06-26-2004, 09:59 AM

I'm seventeen, male, my height's between 5'6-5'7, and within the past year or two, my weight's fluxuated from 180 (Ack), to below 130, and is now between 140-150 (Closer to 150). My eating habits are mainly yogurts, fruits, (I try to get more vegies), and whole-grain cereals. I also take a vitamin a day. My weight constantly fluxutates, and gives me alot of grief. What are good eating habits for someone my age, and height, with a goal weight of around 140?

Jess75 · 06-26-2004, 03:43 PM

Are you a vegetarian? If not, it sounds like you may need to include more meat into your diet, like turkey breast for lunch, lean sirloin steak for dinner, chicken, ham, and include a veggie and carb, for instance brown rice. Since your weight fluctualtes, do you notice that your eating habits are also fluctuating during these phases. Once you hit your target goal, maintain your weight by eating only the amount of calories your body NEEDS! Hope this helps!

p.s. everybody has different metabolic types, and your's may need more protein, others are carb types etc. you'll know your type based on your energy levels after eating more carbs or more protein or a mixture. I'm the mixed type ex. half carbs half protein in order to have sustained energy!

Black-Hole-Sun · 06-26-2004, 07:48 PM

Not a vegie, but I don't seem to get alot of meat...occasionally I have deli-like, packaged sliced meat stuff, on a sandwich, or spinnache wrap, but after I stopped eating fastfood, quite awhile back, I have been struggling a bit with having energy it seems, but that may be unrelated (Don't drink coffee, or caffienated beverages either).

I'll keep this in mind, thanks!

Laurie2 · 06-26-2004, 10:10 PM

First your present weight is fine for your height. I am 5'6" as well and just 20lbs heavier than you. But I used to weigh 245 a year and a half ago too. Changing my diet and working out three days a week has helped dropped the bodyfat and build muscle. So now I am 175 now but wear clothes sizes when I was a teen ( 33 years ago...I am 52) and about 160 then. So I gained some muscle along the way....and muscle is denser than bodyfat.

With fast foods and any sugar drinks, you are getting extra energy from the huge amounts of sugar and way too much fat. But this becomes defeating as your body gets used to the "empty" calories and "boost" for a little while and then the sugar dumps happen. Carbs are the best energy source as well as protein. But not overly processed carbs like pasta or white breads. Complex carbs, like whole wheat, oats and fiberous vegetables are best. Some fats are needed but not the polyunsaturated ones like corn oil.

Protein can be gotten from tuna, lean red meat, skinnless chicken, and the like. Lean Deli meats are ok....just expensive. Try for a gram of protein for each pound of lean body mass. Your weight flucuates from either eating too many calories or not enough....depending on your activity. If you do not eat enough, then your body goes into "starvation mode" and will hang on to any bodyfat you have. Drink plenty of water to help flush your system and keep hydrated.

Afterwhile, you will find a good medium between diet and exercise that will keep your body weight leveled out.

modert · 06-27-2004, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black-Hole-Sun

I'm seventeen, male, my height's between 5'6-5'7, and within the past year or two, my weight's fluxuated from 180 (Ack), to below 130, and is now between 140-150 (Closer to 150). My eating habits are mainly yogurts, fruits, (I try to get more vegies), and whole-grain cereals. I also take a vitamin a day. My weight constantly fluxutates, and gives me alot of grief. What are good eating habits for someone my age, and height, with a goal weight of around 140?

You need to eat about 1750 calories to maintain your weight if you are inactive. If you do 30 minutes of moderate activity per day, add 120 calories or 30 minutes of heavy activity add 240 calories. If you want to lose weight, reduce the total calories by 10-15% (you don't have much to lose). If you eat 1600 calories per day (inactive) or 1700 (active), you should reach your goal in about 6 weeks.

I do recommend that for at least 1 month you measure food and count calories. You need to learn how to eat correctly for your weight and your health. You do not need to do this forever... once you learn, you will know how to determine nutritional values of foods by site.

Eating a balance of protein, carbs, and fat is very important in a healthful diet... while its true that some people feel better with varying ratios, there are certain thresholds that you should not exceed. For example, you should eat at least 20% of your calories as protein but not more than 30%. And you should not exceed 30% of daily calories as fat - there are physiological reasons for this advice that I won't get into now. Most people do quite well with 50% carb, 25% protein, and 25% fat, although you may need to tweak that a bit based on how you feel, your activity level, etc.

From your post, it sounds like you are a bit heavy on the carbs, focusing on yogurt, grains, and fruit... While these are heathful foods, you need to increase your protein consumption with each meal (uncluding breakfast, where its often the hardest to do). Focus on lean proteins (lean meat, low-fat dairy, fish, and vegetable proteins like soy, legumes, and nuts [in moderation - they are high fat!])

Eating 5 meals per day will help you stabilize your metabolism or you can have 3 meals and 2 snacks... but don't let more than 3.5 hours pass before eating something.

Use the web to help you in the learning process - do a google search on "nutritional data" and find the sites where you can look up values of foods. Plan some meals and snacks out in advance that consist of foods you like that are the correct calories and balance of carb, protein, and fat. As a reference you will need to know that 1 gram of carbs = 4 calories, 1 gram of protein = 4 calories, and 1 gram of fat = 9 calories. Again, once you learn, you will know it in your head, you just have to go through the learning process.

Once you reach your goal weight, your maintenance calories will range from 1700-2000 calories, depending on your activity level.