Is this a decent diet?

[kingflab]

Hello chaps and chapettes!

I was just wondering if anybody can give me some advice on the following diet. I'm age 20, I weigh 210lbs, and I'm 6:1".

After eating only one large meal a day for about 7 weeks now, and after having lost a stone, I'm starting to wonder if my matobolism has been put into a bad cycle. For this reason, I want to begin to change my diet.

Heres what I've decided...

Breakfast - 2 slices of toasted brown bread

Lunch - tuna sandwiches (3 slices of brown bread, half a can of tuna)

Dinner - 100g Spaghetti, 60g of sweetcorn, and half a can of tuna.

Supper - Two pieces of fruit.

I'm also hoping to begin a 3 day a week dumbbell workout to tone up and increase my metabolism, though I'm still looking into that (such as what weight dumbbells I'd need to buy)

I realise its not a calorie intense diet, but I do almost entirely avoid sweets and sugary foods - except wine.


Does that seem like a suitable diet? I should note that, being a student, I have an absolutely miniscule budget for food, about £15-20 maximum, so I can't afford to go on a 5 meal a day healthfood spree.

(I copied and pasted this from a thread I made on another forum)

 

[munkypooh]

It doesn't seem very varied to be healthy.....

On such a limited budget, you could be getting more variety, I used to live on £1 a day for food by going to netto for my staple foods such as rice, pasta, bread etc, and then going to Asda on an evening when the day's big reductions were made (last hour of opening). I could get all sorts, meat, veg, even ready meals, for a matter of pence as their dates were out that day, they'd be ok for the next few days if kept properly (refrigerated etc)

You shouldn't really have too few calories each day or you could lose muscle and make yourself ill. Try using a free online resource like food-focus, they can tell you how many calories you should be consuming each day to lose weight safely. You enter in what you are eating and it keeps track of your nutritional info and weight loss progress.

You have posted this on the VLCD diet forum which is for very low calorie diets such as Lipotrim and Cambridge Diet, you might get more advice if you post it in general weight loss.

Best wishes with your weight-loss

 

[GaynorEm]

That's around 1100 cals per day, so you should lose weight on it...however any chance you can take a multivitamin tablet also?
It will help make up for the short fall as your diet would be lacking in essential vitamins and minerals from lack of vegetables.

Also can you add a tin of chopped tomatos to one of your pasta/tuna meals? Great for vitamins and quite cheap depending on what brand you buy.

Good luck, you can do it.

Gaynor x

 

[Starlight]

It doesnt sound as if youd be eating enough. Im assuming by your height and user name youre male. Not eating enough and working out can have the opposite effect to what you expect and you may end up gaining weight. If thats 1100 cals Id imagine thats not enough for you.

 

[kingflab]

Thanks for the response folks.

I realise I'm not eating enough, however baring in mind this will include about a bottle of wine or two a week, I suppose I could try to add some form of yogart into it!

The problem I have is that due to the fact I may have lowered my metabolism, increasing my calorie count further may make me start to gain weight (baring in mind I was on about 500 calories with the one meal a day diet!)

 

[KD]

Baked beans are healthy (and cheap). Can't stand them myself though

Jacket potatoes, also a great cheap meal. If you are going to top with cheese, make it as strong a cheese as possible. More flavour, for the similar calories.

If you are trying to up your calories, just add one or two things for a week, then another couple the next week.

Best of luck

 

[kingflab]

Ah see, I have the problem of being a fussy eater, I hate anything with cheese, beans or sauce! (which is great, as I never eat Pizza)

I'm not really trying to up my calories, I'm trying to improve my metabolism so I don't hit a standstill in my weight loss mission. ( I still have 21lbs to lose yet!)

 

[Canadatogo]

It seems like a lot of bread to me. I know it seems like a good idea with the tuna, but could you try to squeeze some more veggies in there?

(I tend to be a carb addict, so Im always looking to avoid them if I can)

 

[MillyMolly]

My initial thought was that you need some kind of green leaf vegetable for minerals and vitamins. I find it easy to fine chop a bunch of parsley and add a handful to something like baked beans (or in my case my Optifast soup!). A decent bunch may last you all week and I think parsley is great value for the mnerals you get...it's just a bit fiddly to fine chop - you'll need a nice sharp knife. Also a serving of some cruciferous vege like cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower added somewhere would help you with balance. None of these things will add greatly to your calorie value but they will provide extra bulk and important minerals (for your metabolism and every other enzyme system.) You don't need any additional red/orange veges but you do ideally need some green in there...
Best to you!