talkhealth Blog

For this blog, I decided to feature a snapshot of my own diet. I will share today’s dietary intake with you, along with an analysis of my calorie, protein, fat and key micronutrient intakes. I am trying to lose the last 5lbs of my post-baby weight, and have lost 2lbs in the last week. My current weight is 62kg, and my body mass index (BMI) is 24.7 – the top end of the ‘healthy’ range. My target weight is 60kg.

Generally to lose weight, you need to eat at least 400kcal less than your energy requirements. You will see from the dietary analysis section below that I ate less than my requirements today.

A day in the life of Annemarie Aburrow:

Dietary Analysis: Comparison of intake vs nutritional requirements for key nutrients:

Computerised dietary analysis was performed on my diet. The table below shows how my diet compares with my personalised requirements for key nutrients. Dietary analysis revealed the following:

• Energy intake (kcal) are around 450kcal lower than my requirements, meaning that I will continue to lose weight – phew!
• Good protein intake, suggesting that I will lose fat rather than muscle when losing weight
• Sugar intake is within recommended levels. If you’re worried about your sugar intake, consider a lower sugar breakfast cereal (it’s best to avoid cereals with added sugar (dried fruits in cereals is fine as this contains natural sugar; it’s the added sugar that should be avoided)), avoid added sugar, sugary snacks and fruit juices
• My salt intake was 5g today – lower than the UK maximum recommended intake of 6g a day. This was because I eat home-cooked foods and don’t add salt in cooking or at the table
• Just over 4 portions of fruits and vegetables were consumed today – I will do better tomorrow!
• Good calcium intake, mainly obtained from milk, cheese and cups of tea
• Iron intake was only 10.3mg. Iron intakes are often low when trying to lose weight, so I’m taking a multi-vitamin and mineral tablet to cover my micronutrient intake

Nutrient	Requirement (RNI)	Expert Dietitian’s intake
Energy (kcal)	1679 kcal (personalised requirement based on weight)	1213 kcal
Protein	62g (personalised requirement based on weight)	82g
Total fat	37 – 65g	39g
Sugar	Less than 49g	49g
Salt	Maximum 6g	5g
Iron	15 mg	10.3mg
Calcium	700 mg	834 mg
Vitamin C	40 mg	69 mg

The post What does a Dietitian eat? A snapshot into my weight loss diet appeared first on Expert Dietitian.

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Annemarie Aburrow

Annemarie graduated from the University of Southampton in 2003 with a first class honours in Physiology with Nutrition. She went on to study a Postgraduate Diploma in Dietetics at Cardiff Metropolitan University, leading to registration as a Dietitian. Between 2005 and 2013, Annemarie worked for the NHS in a wide variety of clinical and community roles. More recently, she has specialised in health promotion and prescribing support. She has particular experience in obesity management (both adults and children), diabetes, nutrition for the under 5s and nutritional supplement prescribing. In 2013, Annemarie left the NHS to set up her private practice 'Expert Dietitian'. She now works as a freelance Dietitian, offering private consultations in Hampshire, telephone and Skype appointments, corporate nutrition consultancy and bespoke training. She has a growing portfolio of project work, including working with her local council to provide nutrition training and expertise to Early Years settings, article writing, work with schools and running training/workshops. Annemarie is a member of the British Dietetic Association (BDA) and is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).