Faisal:
Tell me what I should change in this daily diet:
Morning-1 Diet Coke and Weight Control Oatmeal (1pk. instant)
Mid-Morning: Light Yogurt (DanActive)
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Salad with Balsamic Vinegrette
Afternoon Snack: Light reduced calorie pop-corn
Dinner: 3 Grilled chicken tenders and a cup of veggies
And consuming 96ounces of water throughout the day.......what am I doing wrong. This is my typical day.
Morning: Cut out the diet coke. Soft drinks are all same regardless if they are diet or not. There is a study that was on the news last year where doctors found that both diet and non-diet carbohydrate soft drinks expands the stomach. Besides they are all stacked with sugar. You don't have to go for any special oatmeal. All oat meal are great. However I suggest getting the original flavor where it is plain. Its better to buy that that doesn't have any taste and mix it in with brown sugar than to buy the flavored ones.
Mid-morning snack: The yogurt is fine. Just check the nutritional guide on the back. If there is no sat. or trans fat. and the sugar is anywhere between 5-10 grams than you are fine.
Lunch: Your lunch seems pretty good. Always pick grilled chicken over any other types of chicken like fried, or baked. I would suggest going with a low-fat balsamic dressing, if it isn't already.
After-noon snack: I wouldn't eat any junk food, regardless if they are low on anything. Junk food are loaded with sodium. Sodium increases excess water into your body which can make you bloat. Plus it's bad for the blood. Sodium intake is something you should watch out for. I buy something called "salt subtitutes" form grocery stores. You can find them anywhere. They taste like salt on food but has 0 grams of sodium. It's amazing.
Dinner: The grilled chicken are good. I suggest adding in a small cup of brown rice along with the vegies as well.
*Tip*- I've noticed from my clients that most of the time beginners have a very hard time to keep up their diet. Mostly due to lack of or dieing motivation. In order to avoid this, make sure to reward yourself from time to time. For instance I always told my clients to give themselves a chocklate chip cookie to eat after a week of successfull dieting, and to always raise the time each time before they reward themselves (like after the first week they would start to reward themselves, they would raise the time before they rewarded themselves again every 2 weeks, then every once a month and so forth) This will not only keep you motivated, but once you loose the weight and see significant results the diet will become natural to you and all the bad foods you used to consume before will seem disgusting. I even sometimes reward myself from time to time. After 3 years staying on a hard routine, I still find myself eating leisurely when I'm on vacation. I'm on vacation now where my parents live in TN and I've eaten everything my mom has offered me. However when I go back to CA 4 days from now, I'll go back to my notebook.
*Tip 2*- Always, Always, Always drink 1 gallon of water each day. I can not stress that enough. Its hard to do that in the beginning but work your way up to it. You body is 75% water and your blood cells are bathing in it. The more water you drink the faster you will loose your weight. Also water breaks down any sodium you may have taken through out the day. I'm known as the "gallon jug" guy around my University because I always carry around a gallon of water on me in those huge water bottles.
*Tip 3*- Make sure to eat 6 times a day. Eat those meals every 2-3 hours. Doing so will raise your metabolism incredibly and have it running faster and faster as you progress with your training.
