Can you critique my diet?

I've been trying to eat properly for ages but I feel as though I didn't do a very good job until I started to write everything down. For the last 3 days I've kept track. I'd like to lose about 10 pounds. I'm 5'8 and 148 pounds. I've been working out and eating a BIT better for about a year, and I only lost about 5 pounds and my BF% went down quite a bit, but I'm still not seeing results because I have a hard time with my diet. My BMR is about 1450, and I usually can't go a day without eating SOME kind of junk. What do you think of this? I know I slipped up, especially with the ice cream on the first day, but it's not that bad, is it?

I drink more than enough water, sometimes with a green tea bag in it. Otherwise, drinks are listed.

Aug 13 - Total 2015 Calories, Burned off 600 calories
10:30 AM - Apple 80 Calories
11:00 AM - Cheese tea buscuit 325 Calories
2:30PM - 3/4 Sm Wendy's Chocolate Frosty 225 Calories
2:45PM - Orange 70 Calories
3:00PM - 1/4 Cup Strawberry Ice Cream 60 Calories
3:00PM - 1 1/2 Cups mixed veggies w. 100 cals of salad dressing 125 Calories
6:30PM - 1 piece 12 Grain toast with strawberry jam 160 Calories
6:30PM - 1 Plum 30 Calories
10:00PM - 10OZ Chicken Noodle Soup 120 Calories
10:00PM - Onion Bagel w. Butter & 2 slices of Swiss 400 Calories
12:00PM - 2 cups kettle corn ~200 Calories
3:00AM - 3/4 Cup Strawberry Ice Cream 180 Calories
3:00AM - Vanilla Yogurt 40 Calories
14 OZ Iced Coffee

Aug 14 - Total 1490 Calories, burned off 100 with cardio + weights
12:00 Noon - Apple 80 Calories
1:00 1 Cup Orange Juice w. Lemon/Lime/Green Tea 120 Calories
6:00 Small Grape Arctic Rush 220 Calories
7:00 Sushi Combo A
California Roll - 3PC 200 Calories
Salmon Roll - 3 PC 100 Calories
Salmon Sushi - 2 PC 30 Calories
Red Snapper Sushi - 2 PC 100 Calories
Salmon Hand Roll - 1 PC 100 Calories
9:00 1/2 Chocolate Popsicle 40 Calories
9:00 1/3 Cup Orange Juice 40 Calories
10:30PM - Snack Pack Oreos 230 Calories
11:00PM - 8 Jolly Ranchers 190 Calories
11:30PM - Mixed Veggies (Just Under 1 cup) 40 Calories

Aug 15 - 1208 Calories, no exercise
11:30AM - Berry Yogurt 40 Calories
Noon - Chicken Breast 150 Calories
Noon - 2 Slices Bacon 230 Calories
Noon - Mixed Veggies 75 Calories
1:00PM - 2 Jolly Ranchers 50 Calories
4:00PM - 1Tbsp Icing 130 Calories
5:00PM - 2 Cupcakes 170 Calories
-1 Tbsp Icing 130 Calories
6:40PM - 1 OZ Sourpuss 103 Calories
9:45PM - 1 Bowl Beef Noodle Soup 130 Calories

2010-08-15T20:23:16Z

That actually IS as soon as I wake up. I get enough sleep, but I usually get up late and go to bed late as well. The whole thing is just off by a few hours to everyone else ;)

2010-08-15T20:40:22Z

Lisa - I actually make my own soup, and if I'm restricting to EXACTLY things like no white rice, I'm not going to be able to eat anything. I know I asked for criticism but there is reasonable and there is obsessive.

2010-08-15T20:43:33Z

You're basically saying anything but fruits and vegetables are bad, even 12 grain bread is bad (and yes, it's whole grain.. again, that would be obsessive). You do realize we DO have to have some sugars, up to 1/2 carbs a day can be processed/refined, and we need fat? Plus a bit of sodium in bacon still puts me well under sodium I had for the day.

Sorry, I'm just looking for an overall view, rather than nitpicky things like "bacon has sodium" and "water only". I appreciate your work but you do have to realize I"m not a raw vegan or something here.

Anonymous2010-08-15T20:36:43Z

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Oy,...it really is that bad. Too much sugar and too much junk.

Aug 13: the only good things you ate were the apple, orange, and the veggies. The yogurt was okay. And the 12 grain toast may have been good, check the ingredients to make sure its whole grains. 12 grain just means it has 12 different grains, doesn't mean it's whole grain. Everything else was sugar, refined carbs, saturated fats, and high glycemic calories. High glycemic food cause an insulin spike which signals your body to store fat. You also get hungry faster after eating them.

Aug 14: Apples, green tea (unsweetened), and veggies were the only good things. Sushi is made with white rice, a refined carb. It's high glycemic, high calorie, and no good for you. Oreos, popsicles, candy, cut those out. Once again, high glycemic.

Aug 15: Bacon...it has saturated fat and a lot of salt, no good. Jolly Ranchers, icing, and cupcakes...more sugar, beef noodle soup...be careful, packaged foods tend to be high in sodium, saturated fats and trans fats (look for partially hydrogenated oils on the label).

Summarizing, you are eating way to much sugar and refined carbs, these things will hinder your weight loss efforts. Focus on eating whole grains and cutting out sugar. I know you say you can't go a day without having some kind of junk but seriously you're having LOTS of junk. You gotta cut back, maybe treat yourself one or two days a week, it'll make a huge difference. If you really need something sweet, eat a fruit, but even those should be eaten in moderation. Try just not keeping the junk in the house, seriously just don't buy it.

Stop eating so many packaged foods like the chicken noodle soup and the beef noodle soup. They are high in sodium and may be high in saturated fats.

Eat more vegetables, you really didn't eat that many the last 3 days. Try to get 5 servings of fruits or vegetables a day, better to get more from vegetables than fruits.

And the orange juice, stop drinking your calories. Your better off just eating the orange. Fruits and fruit juices can be high in sugar, but fruits have fiber in them which lessens the insulin response because the fruit is more slowly digested.

**EDIT**: I think you missed some of the points, you have refined carbs and complex carbs...complex carbs such as brown rice, whole wheat and whole grain breads and pastas, oats, quinoa, millet, basmati rice...these are good things...seriously how is replacing white rice with brown rice obsessive?

And no we don't "NEED" any sugar and it certainly shouldn't make up half of your carb intake. We need carbs for fuel but sugar does not fuel you for very long. But i realize you crave it thats why I suggested cutting back. Seriously if you just did that without cutting anything else, you'd lose weight.

And I did forget to compliment the chicken breast, lean proteins like that are good, proteins high in saturated fats like bacon are not.

Which brings me to another point, yes we NEED fat in our diet, but all saturated fat does is raise cholesterol levels and clog your arteries. Look for unsaturated fats from olive oil, nuts, avocados, etc.... Unsaturated fats lower cholesterol levels and are necessary for nervous system function and cellular repair.

And most people eat too much sodium, that leads to high blood pressure.

Seriously I'm just trying to help, if there's anything people should be obsessive about, its their health!! Even slim people can be unhealthy. I'm sorry if you took it the wrong way.