Nuts and Granola

pa33 · 01-09-2009, 04:48 PM

Hi I have a beginners question on these two foods (I did read the FAQ). Nuts in general seem to have a lot of fat in them if you look at the nutrition label (walnuts, cashews, almonds, etc). But I see a lot of people recommending nuts as a healthy snack to lose weight. Am I missing something?

I am also curious if granola is considered to be healthy and useful for weight loss, since it also has a lot of fat in it?

B3rserk3R · 01-09-2009, 04:53 PM

Fats do not make you fat they are good for you. (Maybe re-read the FAQ) because fats are pretty critical. Granola is largely grains so you'll get different answers from different people. More informaton about you would help

pa33 · 01-09-2009, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B3rserk3R

Fats do not make you fat they are good for you. (Maybe re-read the FAQ) because fats are pretty critical. Granola is largely grains so you'll get different answers from different people. More informaton about you would help

Well, some more info about me: I'm 190lb, 6'2'' and I have been trying to lose weight (I'm a bit pudgy in my stomach and my first goal is just to get it totally flat).

My diet is:

Breakfast 9am: oatmeal + 1 spoonful brown sugar

Lunch 12pm: salad

Snack 2:30pm: handful of salted cashews

Dinner 5-6pm: Ground turkey + black beans + steamed veggies (brocc, carrots, green peppers) + hot sauce

Snack 8:30pm: 2 slices whole wheat bread + peanut butter

I've been eating pretty much this same diet for months with no good results, so I'm trying to learn more about what could be wrong. The most recent change I've made is to eat less portions of everything (especially the dinner)

Rowan11088 · 01-09-2009, 05:28 PM

More protein, by FAR. Some more fat too, but not a ton, and you have to drop the carbs if you expect to lose weight. Oatmeal is fantastic if you're doing a lot of training, but if your goal is just weight loss, I'd stick to eggs+veggies. Low GI or not, oatmeal is still carbohydrate.

Your lunch especially has to have some meat in it, or something. Keep the vegetables in the salad (and they should be REAL vegetables, spinach, cauli, kale, broccoli, lima beans, etc.) but add some chicken or something.

Your dinner looks OK, actually it's making me hungry...but do make sure to have some variety, you can't eat the same thing every day and expect to be healthy. Same macros, but different foods.

I hope you eat natural peanut butter. If you don't, start, and drop the wheat bread. A PB sandwich is great if you're trying to bulk up, but obviously for the opposite it's less than ideal. Some low fat cottage cheese before bed is a good idea.

pa33 · 01-09-2009, 05:33 PM

Thanks for the tips.

For lunch, suppose I alternate days between a hardboiled egg and tuna with the salad? Would that be a good lunch?

I haven't been eating the natural peanut butter so I'll stop doing that and just switch to the cottage cheese I think. Thanks!

**romistrub** · 01-09-2009, 05:59 PM

Unless I'm crazy, doesn't that add up to about 1000-1200 calories???

Breakfast 9am: oatmeal + 1 spoonful brown sugar
~ 160 calories

Lunch 12pm: salad
~ 40-70 calories

Snack 2:30pm: handful of salted cashews
~ 100-200 calories, depending on how big his hand is

Dinner 5-6pm: Ground turkey + black beans + steamed veggies (brocc, carrots, green peppers) + hot sauce
~ 200-400 calories (depends a lot on volume)

Snack 8:30pm: 2 slices whole wheat bread + peanut butter
~ 350 calories

That's 1180 calories on the high end. I think step 1 is to eat way more.

pa33 · 01-09-2009, 06:07 PM

Hmm, I don't know how to count calories, but if my goal is weight loss, less calories is good right? The remaining calories my body needs will hopefully be gotten by burning fat?

Stormbringer · 01-09-2009, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pa33

Hmm, I don't know how to count calories, but if my goal is weight loss, less calories is good right? The remaining calories my body needs will hopefully be gotten by burning fat?

You're sincere, and pretty much in my boat a year or so ago. But there's gonna be people who aren't so nice and just say "READ THE FAQ!!!!!" here, because your food choices could be both much better for your goals, plus more fulfilling to your stomach. But seriously, the FAQ is very informative.

Very basically, whether you want to or not (the thought of it a couple years ago would have me laughing and shaking my head), you will have to pay attention to amounts of protein, fat and carbs you're getting, as well as an idea of how many calories you're getting. I'm not saying you have to start doing this incessantly for the rest of your life, but yeah, to get a 'plan' going, you need a baseline, and to get a baseline, you have to have the general number of grams of protein, fats and carbs (the 'macronutrients'). It sounds crazy to you probably, trust me I know, but it's what you've got to do.

The biggest downfall in your diet is your lack of protein. Very general recommendation is to get around 1g / pound. Also, I'd search 'healthy fats' here and read the threads about those. Another good place to start is this: Losing Fat for Athletes: Part 1 | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald It's 'fat loss for athletes', but there's TONS of good info you can gleam from that to get you familiar with just a general mindset that goes into healthy fat loss. It's not at all just about counting calories and restricting them.

Anyway, I'd read the FAQs, read general threads around here, read the article I posted and see where you stand after that. Good luck and feel free to keep asking questions.