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I've been eating smoothies along with a breakfast sandwich now for about a year. On gym days I have:
4.5 oz homemade oat cereal with 4 oz soy milk
Then for lunch I have
Wheat bagel
Two eggs plus another egg white
Two slices turkey (good quality no preservatives)
Piece of cheese (I know, but it tastes yummy)
And for a smoothie I make
One peeled orange
One banana
4 oz frozen fruit (pineapple, mango, strawberry, peach)
1.5 oz fresh spinach
1 scoop now foods protein isolate (no filler or sweeteners)
12g chia seeds (one serving)
4 oz water
On running days I run in the morning and just eat the bagel and smoothie for breakfast.
I make similar smoothies and feel like they are awfully high in calories for what they are. And they don't fill me up. All that fruit in there just so I can gulp down 1 cup of spinach, don't know if it's worth it.
OP, are you trying to lose weight, eat healthy, or both?
I've been eating smoothies along with a breakfast sandwich now for about a year. On gym days I have:
4.5 oz homemade oat cereal with 4 oz soy milk
Then for lunch I have
Wheat bagel
Two eggs plus another egg white
Two slices turkey (good quality no preservatives)
Piece of cheese (I know, but it tastes yummy)
And for a smoothie I make
One peeled orange
One banana
4 oz frozen fruit (pineapple, mango, strawberry, peach)
1.5 oz fresh spinach
1 scoop now foods protein isolate (no filler or sweeteners)
12g chia seeds (one serving)
4 oz water
On running days I run in the morning and just eat the bagel and smoothie for breakfast.
You aren't eating enough protein for someone who is working out. You are eating a ton of sugar (orange, banana, frozen fruit) and very little protein. You should consider cutting out all that sugar and replacing it with protein foods. You should consume at least 20g of protein within 20 minutes of exercising.
If this is what you are eating for an entire day it doesn't seem like you are eating very many calories overall. That is very difficult to maintain and leads to failure as well as lack of nutrition.
Protein is really important if you want to lose weight. It takes your body longer to digest protein so it keeps you full. It also keeps your blood sugar more stable so you don't experience extreme blood sugar swings (which make you hungry). Additionally, your body burns fat more efficiently when you eat sufficient protein foods.
Well I used to eat the smoothie for breakfast along with the cereal before working out but just recently changed that. I think I'll go back to that routine as I feel a little light headed at the end of my morning gym sessions now from a lack of energy.
I'm losing weight, am 5'9" and weighed 193 lbs Jan 2014. Now at 152. So heading in the right direction.
I also eat an afternoon snack and dinner as well. It all kinda varies. Plus I'm only eating these 3-4 days a week because I travel on my work days.
I'm wondered about eating more protein but I'm not going to eat chicken breast day in and day out. By my calculation I'm getting about 70 grams a day between the smoothie and breakfast sandwich.
Congrats on the weight loss. Looks like you are doing fine. I, too, try cut down on sugar, simple carbs, and fructose. I think a fruity smoothie like yours in morning is fine as you have a whole day to burn off those calories. I limit the sugar in my morning smoothie to 2/3 of a medium frozen banana. This works for me because my green smoothie doesn't taste green and the sugar intake is well within my daily limit. For reference, I have lost about 40lbs since I started doing this about 3 months ago. Whatever works for you, keep at it.
I'm going to cut back to half an orange and banana. Also looking for some different veggies to put in there. Not looking to completely cut fruit out but I do think I'm overdoing it.
I used to use a berry mix vs. the pineapple mango strawberry peach mix but they tasted so bland. That was before zesting an orange and putting the fruit in there though. It's important for it to at least taste ok as I won't survive long trying to get down some nasty concoction. I used to use soymilk and have cut that out and switched to water, I'm slowly whittling it down as I wean myself off of sugar.
Congrats on the weight loss. Looks like you are doing fine. I, too, try cut down on sugar, simple carbs, and fructose. I think a fruity smoothie like yours in morning is fine as you have a whole day to burn off those calories. I limit the sugar in my morning smoothie to 2/3 of a medium frozen banana. This works for me because my green smoothie doesn't taste green and the sugar intake is well within my daily limit. For reference, I have lost about 40lbs since I started doing this about 3 months ago. Whatever works for you, keep at it.
Wow that's crazy. I have never been able to lose that much that fast. You must've completely overhauled your diet! I like food too much, it's hard to give up dessert!
Well I used to eat the smoothie for breakfast along with the cereal before working out but just recently changed that. I think I'll go back to that routine as I feel a little light headed at the end of my morning gym sessions now from a lack of energy.
I'm losing weight, am 5'9" and weighed 193 lbs Jan 2014. Now at 152. So heading in the right direction.
I also eat an afternoon snack and dinner as well. It all kinda varies. Plus I'm only eating these 3-4 days a week because I travel on my work days.
I'm wondered about eating more protein but I'm not going to eat chicken breast day in and day out. By my calculation I'm getting about 70 grams a day between the smoothie and breakfast sandwich.
You are heading in the right direction on the scale, but do you want to lose weight or fat? If you don't eat enough protein you will lose more muscle than fat. I think you need more than 70g a day of protein. I am not a doctor. That is my opinion based on what I know about macronutrients and fat loss.
There are many studies that have been done on protein and weight loss. Most of them show increased weight loss when calories are shifted from carbs to protein.
This is a good article about protein intake and fat loss. If you read the entire article it states that most people are eating protein in the 80-90g range, which is close to the sweet spot of 100g mentioned in the article. 70g of protein is really not enough if you want to lose the maximum amount of body fat.
You don't have to limit yourself to chicken breast. How about eggs, beef, pork, turkey, tuna, salmon?
Wow that's crazy. I have never been able to lose that much that fast. You must've completely overhauled your diet! I like food too much, it's hard to give up dessert!
I did a 180 by cutting calorie intake by half and trained like crazy. I replaced unhealthy foods with healthy ones and loaded up on micronutrients. I, too, used to live to eat. Now I eat to live.
You mentioned that you use NOW unflavored protein isolate. Yet, flavor your smoothie with all kind of high sugary food. Nonetheless, I like that you flavor it with natural foods instead buying the proteins often recommended on this forum that are loaded with artificial flavors and sweeteners.
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