Ask an Expert: Trying to eat healthier to lose 25lbs

Diet and Nutrition

Trying to eat healthier to lose 25lbs
11/20/2009

Question:

i am a 29yr old female,with some medical conditions(graves disease,thyroid)as well as diabetes& some type of cancer in my family,i also have a very strong risk of getting type 2since i had gestational type,i am at a current weight of 150 i am trying to lose 25 to 30 lbs at least,any help with nutrition sites or topics you may have?also i have two questions,my first is,i was drinking diet pepsi daily 12oz cans twice or more a day,instead of regular pops,this was in place of most other beverages since i couldnt stand to drink plain water,and im really not a milk drinker,i recently read of a study that was done over a ten year period of women that drank diet pop 2 or more a day,in the end they lost 30%of there kidney function,is this due to the sugar free sweetner?or could it be something else?anyhow,it made me kind of nervous to drink diet anything anymore,and i started to drink regular soda,(but that cant be good for me either since im at risk for diabetes is it?)am i better off drinking just a can of diet a day,or a can of regular a day?i have started drinking more milk,and water,my second question is, what if any site could you think of that i can look up to find healthy eating recipes for people who want to eat more healthy but need to incorporate it in a family meal style that everyone can eat?

Answer:

To figure out how many calories you should be eating go to MyPyramid.gov and plug in your age, gender, height, weight, and activity level. The number of calories will be given to you to maintain your weight. Since you want to lose weight you need to reduce your calorie intake by 3500 calories to lose a pound. If you reduce your intake 500 calories per day over what is recommended you will lose about 1 pound per week. The MyPyramid.gov site will also break down the calories into food groups and amounts from those food groups that you should eat.

Here's what I came up with when I plugged in the your age, gender, weight, and activity level (I used less than 30 minutes per day beyond normal daily activities). I didn't have your height, so the web site assumed you are of average height (5 ft 4 in).

For current weight maintenance you need to eat 2000 calories per day. For weight loss you need to eat 1600-1800 calories per day. Definitely don't cut calories drastically. The 1600-1800 calories should be distributed as follows: Grains: 5-6 ounces ( half should be whole grains) Vegetables: 2-2.5 cups Fruits: 1.5-2 cups Milk: Equal to 3 cups Meat and Beans: 5-5.5 ounces Oils and Discretionary calories: 5-6 teaspoons oil + 130 - 265 calories to use as you would like (extra fats, sugars to add flavor to breads, vegetables, milk, or more meat etc).

The web site will give you tips for foods in each of the food groups. Grains are low fat. Use your discretionary calories to flavor them. Vegetables should come from all color groups over the course of a week. Your MyPyramid.gov Plan will give some advice on amounts per week. Fruits do not have added sugar. Milk is fat free and other dairy products are fat free, or use your discretionary calories to put fat in your milk products. If you are not a milk drinker try using your milk in soups, sugar free puddings, or use fat free yogurt. Meat is lean.

Don't go longer (except when sleeping) than 4-5 hours between food intake. If you do your body will shift into starvation mode and slow your metabolism down, which makes it harder to lose weight. This is also what happens if you cut calories drastically. Add physical activity also. By adding physical activity (60-90 minutes each day) you are more likely to keep your metabolism up, and combat your body's tendency to slow down when fewer calories are coming in.

How about using a non-carbonated soft drink without sugar. I got the impression that the women who lost kidney function in the study you are referring to (the ongoing Nurses' Health Study) were mainly using carbonated diet drinks. It may be the carbonation is the culprit. I say this because another study of women published in the journal Public Library of Science, showed that women drinking two or more cans of regular soda per day were twice as likely to suffer from early signs of kidney disease as non-soda drinkers. The researchers suspect the high fructose corn syrup. I suspect that it could be the carbonation.

There are several food magazines that have web sites that might give you some healthy recipes. Try eatingwell.com or cookinglight.com or www.tasteofhome.com/Healthy-Cooking-Magazine

Since fruits and vegetables are often the hardest to get enough of, try going to the Fruits and Veggies: More Matters website www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/

All recipes at these sites are something that should fit into all family members meals.

Good luck to you.

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Response by:

Sharron Coplin, MS, RD, LD
Lecturer, Food & Nutrition
Department of Human Nutrition
College of Education and Human Ecology
The Ohio State University