For people that want to record what they are eating (to help be strict!)

[zanacal]

Well done Mochagirl! You guys are all so slim to begin with How did you eat before the girl diet?

Today I've had:

Skimmed milk for coffees
Lunch: Wrap with extra light cheese spread and cucumber, Viennese Whirl!
Dinner: GF Pasta with extra light cheese spread (this was so boring I couldn't even finish it!). Apple and blackberry pie with squirty cream
Snack: Strawberries with WW vanilla yogurt

1280 cals, 34g protein, 680mg sodium, 25g fat

I was worried about too much fat (I forgot to check before I had the Viennese Whirl and the pie and cream!!) but I found a calculator for how much fat you should consume - you take the calories x 0.35 / 9. So for 1200 calories this would be 47g and 25g is definitely much less than that!! Any idea whether we should be watching saturated fat or just fat overall?

[Mochagirl]

I've started to worry that 20g of fat isn't enough to stay healthy. I did some googling, and found lots of articles that said 30g is a good guideline if you really need to lose weight, but that 20g isn't enough. I don't know about saturated fat, but I imagine we want as little as possible. I don't want to reduce my fat so much I don't ovulate! I already noticed my period was waaaaay lighter than usual this cycle, which worries me. Atomic - if you're still checking in on this thread, can you advise us on a good target for fat intake?

My diet before this was lots of treats - pizza, pasta with fatty sauces, salty snacks, and lots of chocolate, but I've never eaten steadily all day. I might have one HUGE meal a day (that probably had a full day's calories, fat, etc. in one meal), but would have smaller meals and fruity snacks throughout the day. My weight has always hovered around 130 lbs when not pregnant, but I've also been nursing steadily for 4 years between my twins and ds3, so that's probably helped control my weight. I gained 75 lbs in my twin pregnancy and about 40-45 lbs with ds3. I've never dieted and never really exercised, other than lots of walking for fun.

[swish]

Oh mocha, I've also really started to worry about not ovulating after a post today, I don't know how to increase my calories without increasing protein, did you have any joy with that? Also if we can increase fat, what should we have? Cheese?
Zanacal, before ttc girl I ate whatever I liked and always stayed between 8 stone 4 to 8 stone 8. I did have a naturally healthy diet but just snacked whenever I liked and ate quite large meals - a complete mixture of pasta, potatoes, chicken, fish but not much red meat and lots of cheese!!!! Looking back I think it was quite a high protein diet. Oh, I can't wait to eat normally again..I've made dh arrabiatta fir dinner and it smells delicious!!!!!

[swish]

I have posted a separate thread in the main bit for atomic about fat as I think she's more likely to see it there!

[Mochagirl]

You beat me to the punch, swish - I was going to do the same thing. That same post scared me too! Atomic never responded to my post asking that question in the private members area, so maybe she'll see your post instead.

The more I think of it, my diet was probably high protein too. I have always eaten lots and lots of cheese - for almost every meal.

It's tricky to add calories without messing up the other parts of our diet. I've started eating a lot more real sugar - candy, sugared fat-free yogurt. I think I might try some low-fat low-sodium baking to see if I can come up with some recipes that will add calories but not protein or fat. I'll let you know if I come up with anything.

[zanacal]

All diet product treats seem to fit the bill - this is why I've been eating things like Weight Watchers cakes. They don't have much fat and barely any protein or salt.

[Mochagirl]

Zanacal - I need to check out those Weight Watchers foods - that sounds like a great idea!

[swish]

I'll do that too!
Today was pretty much same as always, I did have a larger bowl of pasta and more Parmesan but I don't know if that's a good idea!

[swish]

Ok, I've been to tescos and bought some weight watchers cakes, I also found Ben and Nereus frozen yogurt, it is not too high in protein and has some, although not a lot, of fat.

[purplepoet20]

I think the dairy theroy is mixed up.... the cows were not given milk they were given calcium supps, a big difference!

Depended on the milk you get and what the cow ate - you either get a boy friendly milk or in some cases a girl friendly milk. Also dairy products have added things in it like when Atomic said to find out what is in your milk. Certain fruits, veggies, and grasses have a high amount of different vitamins but also very high amounts of Vita D. If the cows are eating grass which I know they are it has tons of vitamin D (during warmer mths) they will have less if the cows were eating grass during the winter mths. Even if you got unfortified milk it will still have vita/supps from the food or fed that the cow ate.

I think the best thing is to get calcium from supps. A nursing mom needs a min of 1200mg a day the same that a women would need if she was TTC or already preg, I am taking 2,000mg a day.