My Weight Loss Diet - Opinions?

Question

I eat:

• At least 2 chicken breasts a day.
• Usually a pack of noodles and a flour wrap.
• 2-4 Chocolate wheetabix.

Bear in mind that I used to eat over 3000 calories a day and do no exercise, whereas I exercise every day now.

I'm 16.

If I ever want a snack I'll eat some Snackajacks or something.

Answer 1

My gym put out a nice little newsletter talking about weightloss, and the focus of it was their reactions to the USDA recommended daily allowances. The bottom line is that they've followed some studies that prove that low carb diets provide the best results for weight loss. Their supporting articles are:

• Myth Busting Carbohydrates
• Comparing low fat and low carb
• Low carb beats low fat again

This echos my own experience losing weight. You need enough protein to protect your muscle mass (minimum of 1g protein per kg lean body weight or .5g protein per pound lean body weight). You need the vitamins and minerals your body needs to be healthy. Carbs actually prevent the body from converting your existing fat to blood sugar to feed your brain. However, I do encourage you to do your own research to find things that work. One thing you will find just about everyone agrees on:

• BMR (basal metabolic rate) is most affected by your lean muscle mass. That means anything you can do to increase your lean muscle mass will also increase your BMR.
• BMR is the amount of calories your body needs to perform all its involuntary fuctions.
• RMR (resting metabolic rate) is your BMR multiplied by a factor depending on your normal activity level (1.5 is a desk job while 2.0 would be working construction or similar physically demanding job)
• When you burn more calories naturally the fat comes off easier.

One thing you will find is that if you starve your protein, you will lose muscle mass, which in turn causes you to burn fewer calories--working against your ability to lose weight.

Answer 2

There are a number of nutritional strategies you could choose that will determine the specifics of your diet, but if this is all you're eating then I would be very concerned as it contains no healthy fats, no vegetables, and a lot of refined carbohydrates.

Other than the protein in the chicken, there are very few nutrients in the diet you listed. So with empty calories from the refined carbs and a lack of nutrients, your body will think it's starving and just hold onto fat!

Instead, focus on eating more natural whole foods. You can read around on this site (or your public library) for more specific strategies, but here are some mostly non-controversial changes I would suggest:

• Stop eating the noodles, flour wrap, and wheetabix. Theses are just full of empty calories.
• Add a source of healthy fats (e.g. olive oil, salmon, avocados, butter). Fat free diets have been mostly debunked by science, and are neither healthy nor effective.
• Eat lots of vegetables, especially leafy green ones.
• Add in whole carbohydrates - not too much, but a small helping at each meal. Examples are brown rice, sweet potatoes, and lentils.
• Fruit can be a good addition, in moderation.