aha moments: eating

This past week I worked out for the first time, in a long while, with my start on February 4th for the 12 week Vox Fitness Challenge. (I also worked out for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th time, too!)

As I posted to the Fitness Challenge Group, I am taking baby steps forward due to my bad back....so this first week, on the Challenge, was nothing major but just getting back walking on the treadmill.  Just being careful with myself is my plan for the first week or 2...because its not worth straining my back and then getting sidelined.

And I remember as I worked out on my first day (Tuesday), I was thinking that the extra activity would earn me some extra calories in the eating department. Wrong.

As those in the Fitness Challenge Group are aware, I am using the My Food Diary website to track my eating habits and my activity so I can track my consumed calories vs burned calories.  I have used this site before and its great to be able to plug in all the food I ate (and how much) and what activities I did (and for how long)....and have the site do all the calculations automatically.  I can track calories consumed, calories burned, have my food broken down by fats, carbs, proteins, sugars, nutrients, and also keep track of my body's progress. It also keeps a running tally each day and lets me know how many calories I have left, that day, if I want to keep on track for losing 1 pound a week (which is healthy).  All this for $9 a month!  I found it helpful, when I used this a few years aog, to be able to get a better feel for making sure I am not consuming more calories than I am burning....and that I am keeping certain things to a minimim like saturated fats and sodium.

The basic concept of weight loss is to burn more calories than we consume.  If we burn around the same as we consume, or we just stick with the basic caloric needs of our body (there is a basic caloric requirement) we maintain our weight.  If we consume more calories than we burn...then over time, we will gain weight. Each person's caloric needs are different and what that is, for you, depends on your basal metablic rate (metabolism)...which is dependent on your age, gender, size, genes, muscle mass, and activity level.  We all need to intake a minimum amount of calories just to survive as different parts, of our bodies, like our brain, need to be fed a minimum caloric intake so that our body runs efficiently. (that's why we get light headed when we are really hungry) 

Sidenote: If our bodies do not receive enough calories then our body "rations" the calories received to different parts of our body based on priority sequencing, just like the Starship Enterprise when it gets blasted too hard and eventually goes down to just enough power to maintain life support but no other functions.  Without enough calories, our bodies cannot run at peak efficiency and that it why our body, in this state, will also start stockpiling up some things if it can - things it would normally burn or flush out.  When there are not enough calories to go around, the last thing your body is doing is fat burning as its in survival mode.  That is why starving yourself is not the way to lose weight.  Not getting enough calories, including, yes, enough fat, over a long period of time will actually start causing damage to your vital organs.  Just as taking in way too many calories and fat is bad for your health, so is not taking in enough.  This is also another reason why the 6 mini-meals a day way of eating is so good for your body to work at peak efficiency.  Anyhoo...I think I am digressing from what I started this post to be about...LOL....

As I am teaching myself, with My Food Diary, to eat more within my caloric needs, I am starting to look at this all a totally different way.  I have also been enlightened to things I had made myself blind to.

Remember that first thought I had on my first day of working out?  The one that I thought I would be getting to eat more because I was working out and burning more calories than usual?    

aha moment #1

Eating healthy does not always equal eating for weight loss.

No, I am not suggesting that unhealthy eating supports weight loss better....but simply eating healthy things does not guarantee weight loss.   Take me, for example:

I do not eat crap and prefer real food over processed foods. 

I avoid wheat and eat whole grains.

I eat a maximum of 2 slices of bread per day. (either Coarse Rye or Ezekiel) 

I don't consume much dairy (I avoid cow dairy but I do eat some goat dairy items.) 

I eat a lot of "organic". 

I love eating fish.

I love eating meat.

I sometimes eat tofu.

I don't use much fat/oil in my cooking...and if I do, I use a little olive oil or butter.

I rarely ever eat greasy, fried food.  

I avoid refined sugar and rarely drink soda pop.

I eat fruit and vegetables every day.

I occasionally eat starchy carbs. (rarely potatoes...usually rice) 

I rarely eat fast food or junk food. 

I don't smoke.

I don't drink much alcohol.

I rarely drink coffee.

I drink 2.5 - 4 litres of water every day. 

BUT when I started charting my eating habits on My Food Diary, I discovered that I was eating WAY, WAY over my limit for calories....and I was still hungry some days (without even working out)!!!  My jaw dropped when I realized what I had been doing. I had fooled myself into thinking that simply eating healthy is enough.

Luckily all I had to do was get creative with some tweaking and strategizing.

aha moment #2 

Eating within your caloric range is just like a math challenge or a jigsaw puzzle.  You have to put together the pieces so they fit and/or add up correctly.

Tracking calories consumed vs calories burned ends up making my eating decisions more like a math challenge....which I have to admit can be a pain but also kind of fun. I like getting creative in the kitchen and with having developed dairy/wheat allergies, I am already used to reworking recipes. My Food Dairy takes all my guess work out so I can see what works and what doesn't work.  Its like a math problem or even a jigsaw puzzle.  I am always on the prowl: How can I put together healthy, tasty meals that fill me up and are also within my caloric allowance so I can lose weight?  Sometimes its easy......and sometimes I need to get creative depending on if I am bored with the usual or want something new and/or different.

I know that counting calories gets a bad rap....and can be considered anal for a lot of people.  But if you are habitually eating too many calories that don't provide you with enough substance which can sometimes leave you feeling hungry.....then you have to relearn how to feed yourself so that you are getting filled up with the right amount of calories.  The math of it sucks and it can be easy, with a bad attitude, to think counting calories takes the enjoyment out of eating....but I think that if we are looking to lose weight, we have already acknowledged that the "party" has gone awry!!  

Counting calories is not sacrifice...nor is it being exiled to the land of celery sticks and tasteless meals. 

What is needed are different ways of looking at this.

1. Changing eating habits is about a lifestyle change vs a limited time diet. 

The focus should be on discovering ways to eat better....but with variety and taste so you can change the way you live your life from this point forward and not just have this be something you endure for a period of time. A lifestyle change will only stick long term if you can find ways to make it enjoyable.  And a lifestyle change is what is needed to maintain your body after you finally find youself at the body size/shape/weight you desire. Yo-yo-ing is what happens when eating habits are changed just long enough to lose the weight.....but then regular eating habits resume after the weight is lost.  Its the old eating habits that got you into trouble in the first place....so going back to those eating habits will only get you back in trouble!

Doing what you have always done....will always give you what you always have gotten! 

2. If nothing changes, nothing changes.

Remember....the defintion of insanity is doing the same things over and over again but expecting different results.

3. Everything in moderation

Too often we feel that, to lose weight, we have to cut certain things out, wave bye-bye, and never to eat them again. Such things are not necessarily true.  

In the book, French Women Don't Get Fat, Mireille Guiliano talks about how North Americans haven't learned the art of balance.  Mireille goes on to say that you can eat the things you love but you must learn not to make the exceptions the rule.  Treats are ok....but not for everyday.....because then its not a treat.  A treat should be special.......and should be enjoyed not snarfled down quickly.  I learned a lot, in this book, about adopting the right attitude.

Mireille also talks about having variety on our plates and for our meals.  She cannot understand the North American way of eating with just one or 2 items for a meal because that is one of the easiest ways to overeat.  If you eat one or 2 items, you will, no doubt, in order to fill up, eat a lot of one or both of those items.  A good example of this is pasta.  How often, as North Americans, do we eat a big dish of pasta for our meal?  I think I finally have a better grasp of why so many French meals involve many courses of small food servings......it's for taste and variety.  Our mouths get bored with just one taste....which is why after a big bowl of pasta we may be full...but our mouths crave something more. 

Pasta gets a bad rap, in North America, because its high calorie, high glucemic, and high in carbs.....all bad for weight loss!  Pasta is only bad if you laden it with heavy sauces and/or eat huge bowls of it!  The key is moderation. Pasta is great and ok to eat....but as a small side-dish so you get the taste but not a massive amount of calories.  I did this the other day with fresh gnocchi which I tossed with pesto and served along-side some lemon-garlic broiled cod and a whole bunch of veggies. That was a 468 (believe it or not!) calorie meal (for my portion....hubby's was more because he is bigger!) that left me feeling quite satisfied and like I had eaten decadently (due to the pesto sauced gnocchi).

The key is learning to portion properly and to eat a variety of things to fill you up. 

Ok...

Now while I said pasta is not bad and that we don't necessarily have to give up certain foods in own diet, I know for me, there is still one thing that I love.....that I am not able to eat right now because its just too high in calories.....and that is my favourite macaroni & cheese! (and this is already a rework of a classic....but still high calorically....and so nummilicious!!)

But I don't have to mourn it forever.

aha moment #3

If you want to eat higher caloric food/meals.....then earn it by burning more calories daily.

This is like realizing you are short on cash and going to get some more money....but this is easier because its easier to burn more calories daily than it is to sometimes come up with the cash.

I have to admit that I was surprised, when I logged my first workout to My Food Diary, on Tuesday to discover that I had not burned a whole lot of calories in my 55 minutes briskly walking on the treadmill. I had only burned 212 calories.  And it was a sad moment, indeed, when I realized that with my regular eating habits I was eating way too many calories......even if I calculated in the 212 I burned!!!  Zoiks!!

On Wednesday, I logged in my second workout and discovered that even though I had worked a little harder, I still hadn't burned many more calories, much to my disappointment.  I realized that this was going to take some time to build up to as I build up my fitness level and my muscle mass. (Slasher usually burns at least 700-800 calories just on the elliptical....but then again, he is going mach 12! LOL!)  Later on Wednesday, I went out on a little walking trek to the public market and a couple of other places to get a bunch of groceries and things we needed.  Altogether it probably took me around about an hour.  When I got home, I logged my trek on My Food Dairy (its great because it has stuff like this as options because walking and hauling groceries burns calories!).  I factored in the time it took to walk to different places, the steepness of the terrain (some up and down parts around here) and also the load I was hauling back from the stores (resistance training!)......and was pleased to discover that I had burned, on my trek, about the same amount of calories that I had burned on the treadmill that morning!  By going out and doing something normal, I had doubled my calories burned that day!  In total, I burned almost 500 calories that day! Yay for me!

On Thursday, I took a page from Wednesday and I went for another walking trek which earned me more calories...and for a second day, I burned close to 500 calories in one day!

And on Sunday, I did not work out in the gym. I had worked out for 5 days straight and my legs were feeling a bit tired so I decided to take a day off from the going down to the gym.  As it was a nice day and as we needed some groceries (especially more fruit and veggies)...and that hubby wanted to break in his new runners AND test out his new Nike +, we decided to walk over the bridge to the public market, do our shopping, then walk back and go to the grocery store for the few items that we can't get at the market.  We were gone 2 hours and according to his Nike + we walked 6 km (not including walking around the market and the grocery store  as he turned off the Nike + while we were shopping).  I figured I burned over 600 calories......for going to the market!  (LOL...I burned more on my "day off" than I did the days I officially went to the gym!) And that certainly helped me burn off that yummy donair I ate at the market..LOL! :)  After the market trek, we had a yummy dinner and I still had calories to spare!

You might be surprised if you open your eyes and see little ways each day that you can burn more calories.  Taking the stairs is always the common one.  Finding ways to burn more calories, through regular activities, is not hard and is a great option, to remember, if you are feeling forlorn about your food choices! :)

aha moment #4

I can so make this work!