Several folks have emailed me asking me to post every single ounce or morsel of food that I consume during my diet, probably to act as a guide for their own attempts. I didn’t want this to become an all-consuming chronicle of weight loss, but for the benefit of those who asked, here is what I consumed for three entire days, trying to keep my intake to less than 2,000 calories, but ideally less than 1800 calories. I am over the worst part of the effort, the START and the few days that followed where my stomach and innards kept chanting “FEED ME, FEED ME, FEED ME”… You may skip this post if you are underweight and disinterested. :)
Day 2
Breakfast
1 Low fat milk, fresh strawberries, whey and wheat germ shake, 225 calories
1 piece of toasted whole wheat bread, 100 calories
1 thin slice of smoked salmon 80 calories
Snack
1 small granny smith (green) apple, 80 calories
1 piece of Baby Belle cheese, 70 calories
Lunch
Large green salad with grilled prawns and lemon olive oil dressing, roughly 450 calories
1 fresh grape shake, 70 calories
Snack
1 large navel orange, cut into slices, 100 calories
Dinner
2 small grilled skinless chicken breasts, 350 calories
1/2 cup of red rice, roughly 100 calories
Lots of grilled veggies, with a touch of olive oil, roughly 100 calories
1/2 pear for dessert, say 50 calories
TOTAL CALORIES: 1,845
4 kilometer brisk walk, 1.5 hour weights workout
Day 3
Breakfast
1 Low fat milk, fresh strawberries, whey and wheat germ shake, 225 calories
1/2 whole wheat bagel, 70 calories
1 boiled egg 90 calories
Snack
None, crazed
Lunch
Grilled Tanguigue Steak with lemon, 350 calories
Stir fried bok choy, 150-200 calories
Red rice, 100 calories
Snack
1 small plain frozen yoghurt from Lulu Belle, 100 calories
Dinner
2 small grilled skinless chicken breasts, 350 calories
Steamed vegetables, 100 calories
1/2 cup of red rice, roughly 100 calories
1 apple, 80 calories
1 fresh grape shake, 70 calories
TOTAL CALORIES: 1,835
4 kilometer brisk walk
Day 4
Breakfast
1 Low fat yoghurt, 75 calories
10 small fresh baguio strawberries, 30 calories (YES!)
1 fresh grape shake, 70 calories
Snack
None, self-flagellation mode
Lunch
Lots of pinakbet, chicharon bits moved aside, 250 calories
1 grilled fish, 350 calories
Red Rice, 100 calories
Snack
Some pomelo, 100 calories
Dinner
Out to dinner with friends, intentional blow-out…
3 pieces of gyoza, 150 calories or more
1 large bowl of shoyu ramen, some 650 calories
1/4 small cantaloupe 100 calories
TOTAL CALORIES: 1,875
No exercise, hay fever attacks. Lazy.
Day 5
Breakfast
1 Low fat yoghurt, 75 calories
10 small fresh baguio strawberries, 30 calories (YES!)
1/2 whole wheat bagel, 70 calories
Snack
Cantaloupe, 100 calories
Lunch
Pako salad with vinaigrette, 100 calories
Steamed Cream Dory, small portion, 250 calories
Red Rice, 100 calories
Cantaloupe, 100 calories
Snack
1 blueberry milk shake, 225 calories
Dinner
A large green salad, 300 calories
1 Slice of quiche, purchased, 350 calories
Pomelo, 100 calories
TOTAL CALORIES: 1,800
4 kilometer brisk walk
36 Responses
Thanks for this post, i’ve been on diet myself for a few days now. I buy goolai salad from my neighborhood rustan’s supermart. I eat it for dinner. I had inihaw na tilapia with broiled eggplant in vinegar & garlic plus red rice the other day. I have yet to hit the treadmill. Lazy lazy me
thanks for sharing and congrats for moving the chicharon bits on the side. im also on a diet mode due to high uric acid and low good cholesterol. Im now on a salad diet most of the time and no rice at all. breakfast is pandesal and milk and it im going to eat rice, ulam should be fish. Less meat or no meat at all.
hi MM, I AM UNDERWEIGHT! but still interested to see how you’re doing :D and i just admire the discipline that people like you put into such a “program” to keep fit. Your menu still looks really yummy though :)
wow, that is a SERIOUS weight-loss regimen, MM! but you’re not all that overweight at all. but if you’re trying for that Men’s Health cover…… :-)
He, He, I know AT is trying to bet that you won’t succeed.
MM, have you tried to carry a small packet of nuts/trail mix with you? If you can get those 100 calorie packets (I think Healthy Options used to have them), you can slowly nibble on them during snack times when you can’t get a piece of fruit. My diabetic aunts use to them to keep their blood sugar low. Or you can make your own granola, add more nuts to the mix for protein and you’d have a healthier and tastier snack. Add those extra fiber grams which we need in a day.
Thanks for the “diet guide”. I need to lose pounds as well after giving birth…It has been 6 weeks but I have not started dieting actively… I need to muster the restraint from eating…Or I may have to ask someone to sew my lips into a small “O”, where only a straw fits….hehehe….
This is not just diet… well, for me… this is suicide… lol…
Good luck on this MM…
Mila, having one of those blue diamond whole natural almond packs right now. And a natural grape shake, 170 calories for both. And yes, we make our own granola… :)
forgive my ignorance, but what is pako salad? what is pako?
i’ve been replacing meals with either yogurt, korean rice/bran drink with honey or boiled tea eggs and choosing to eat less meat or no meat at all when i do have a full meal. unlike you, i havent been exercising though which may explain why i dont feel any less slim. your diet menu seems healthier while not tasting boring or bland.
pinayinny, pako is fiddlehead or young tendrils of ferns. There are several posts on it in the archives. :)
MM, good for you! Your menu looks awesome…lucky that you can follow it. I’m trying hard…by the way, what’s the difference or the red from the brown rice? Are nutrients the same? Thanks
I am trying to put on weight! My problem is I cannot sit down to a big full meal & I eat very slowly and can barely finish my portion when we go out to eat. I generally forgo having a full entree & order 2-3 appetizers instead! I’m useless at buffets – I get “suya” just looking at all that food! That’s probably why I prefer eating at Japanese restos where they bring out the food a little at a time & the portions are manageable & very daintily presented.
At home I’m a grazer, I’m constantly nibbling. After I cook the family dinner, I feel sated from all the aroma & “seeing” the food being cooked!
I love food but in small portions only!
hi i would like to ask where do u get whole wheat bagel?
There you go Marketman – Vicky Go just said it – nibbling! I guess this is the secret of most people who are slim like her and I tried and tested this myself and it works. Believe me, your stomach won’t chant “feed me!” because you always feel like you just had a full meal. This is how I am able survive on eating just a banana, an apple, and salad for a day. I heard Dr. Oz mention in the Oprah Winfrey show that nuts have something (forgot what it was) that activates something (forgot again) in your body that send messages to your brain that you are not hungry. It’s true. I snack on a few almonds every hour or so and I realized that if you eat in small quantities many times during the day, you hardly even have appetite for lunch or dinner so I don’t even notice I’m on a diet. I remember how my Mom used to tell us not to take a snack close to meal time because we will destroy our appetite. Yes, it’s true. Btw, I take almonds with a glass of water only and not a fruit shake (water has 0 calories!). I think the key is to not let yourself go hungry. As soon as I feel even just a little hungry, I quickly munch on a few pieces of almonds and voila – hunger is gone!
i am not on a diet per se and don’t count caloroes,
but the key to dieting is eating in moderation and not indulging in food heavy
on carbohydrates and sugar. fresh salads drizzled with
just home made dressing (lemon juice,extra virgin olive oil,
a little salt and sugar), and herbs and paired with a
grilled salmon on the side can be a very satisfying meal.
i was surprised to see a bunch of arugula plants growing in
my backyard… .. they must have been the result of the
seeds that came from the old aurugula plants last summer!
i just harvested some aurugula leaves that i added to our
salad …. a little bit bigger than the baby arugula leaves
and much intense in flavor…
ooops, i mean calories, not caloroes…
hello! great blog and great blogger :)
hope we can exchange links
thank you!
Hello. You don’t really need to diet too much. I was able to lose 20 lbs over 3 months just by eating less beef and pork (once a week) and then less rice. Then swim for around 30 minutes every other day. In short, you don’t need to starve yourself! Dieting without exercise is really useless.
Since my baby is allergic to dairy, soy and eggs, and I’m still nursing him… I find myself losing weight unintentionally. There’s so many things I can’t eat like pizza, most breads and desserts, chocolates, cheese, mayo, packaged snacks etc…. I call it the no-choice diet! At least I can still have your wonderful calamansi marmalade with rye bread or any dairy and egg-free bread, it certainly makes breakfast so much more bearable. :) thank you. I might be in Cebu soon, looking forward to Zubuchon!
Hello. I believe that our diet should be a lifestyle or a habit rather than something we do once in a while when we feel the need to do it :) I tend to follow principles rather than rigid plans. For example, the more natural the food is, the better it is for you (less canned or fast foods); eat less meat and more fruits and veggies (I usually have at most 1/3 of my meal made up of meat and the rest, fruits and veggies); eat a variety of food (e.g bread or corn instead of rice); look at food labels to be aware of how much saturated fat, cholesterol, salt, etc. there are (Did you know that one big bag of Chippy has 40 something grams of fat? Yikes! Not to mention the amount of sodium…); indulge once in a while but do not overdo it. Oh, and I enjoy playing sports and go to the gym, which help a lot!
Like the “Lazy” part. =)
hi! i would like to ask how can i determine the amount of calorie that a food has? thank you!
millet… for Men’s Health cover 2010? :)
Marketman, a tip from an avid fan. Try to get a workout, preferably your run/brisk walk early in the morning before you eat anything. First of all, since you havent eaten anything in 8 hours, there is no source of energy other than your fat (and muscle) but since you eat 5 times a day, you are definitely not in starvation mode and your body will most probably take the energy from fat. The amino acid “L-Glutamine” will also help in muscle retention and will make your sore muscles recover faster. Also, this raises your metabolism for the whole day and is therefore more beneficial than if you ran late at night a few hours before you sleep as you take advantage of the “afterburn” effect.
I was wondering where you got your whey and how much you got it for. I personally use Optimum Nutrition brand protein blend and L-Glutamine powder. If you look around online, there are a few distributors here in Manila offering them for cheap (~2500 for a 5 lb tub of whey protein).
Good luck and keep us updated!
yehey!!!!! thanks MM!!! will get to it after i eat a burger today!! :P
Hi MM. I saw a pic of you, and you looked buff/healthy. Not like the rest of us, pwede na contestants sa Asia’s Biggest Loser.
Bessie, I don’t think I am excessively overweight, but I do personally believe, and my cardiologist agrees, that I could lose 10-15 pounds to be healthier. :)
Hi Marketman,
I strongly urge you to read the posts of Stephan Guyenet regarding the “The Body Fat Setpoint”. His latest posts concern the causes of obesity and how to go about losing body fat. His latest post has something to say about utility or rather futility of telling people to go eat fewer calories. The latest is specifically about strategies for fat loss.
https://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/
He also has lot of very informative posts about nutrition. They are among the most informative and up-to-date posts you can find anywhere.
Roelm, thanks, will read the link soon.
I believe that I am not overweight, just underheight.
Great link Roelm. Thanks.
maganda site para sa pagpapayat, ginamit ko na rin itong site na ito at success naman po ako…
https://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_program/sports_body_training_diet_velocity/velocity_diet_30?vdietNavTop
post kopo sa blog na before at after ko.. baka ma inspire ko po kayo.. kung kayo kaya nyo rin….disiplina lng talaga
https://ilovestarosa.blogspot.com/2010/01/failure-is-not-option.html
Good day!
Just read this blog. Need to lose atleast 30 pounds in 3 months. Hope you can provide me some inputs on how to lose weight and able to have a successful result in three months time.
Hi Hazel,
The simplest way to lose weight rapidly is to drastically reduce consumption of carbohydrates (starchy and sugary foods) like rice, bread, pasta, cakes, crackers, candies, sweetened drinks and sweet kinds of fruits. In order to compensate, you may increase intake of other kinds of foods (mga ulam) including fatty ones so that you don’t feel deprived and lethargic.
To further speed up the process, avoid snacks as they tend to be starchy and sugary and tend to maintain high insulin levels. High insulin leads to fat deposition in your body.
The point here is not to reduce food intake but to change the kind of food you eat and how you eat it.
You may refer to this link for a summary discussion on how to lose weight:
https://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/01/body-fat-setpoint-part-iv-changing.html
Hope this helps.