But, I'm starting to get it! I really am!
I thought I ate well, in fact, I do... I choose whole grains over white bread. I eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, salmon, chicken. I've been watching my portion sizes, trying to lose weight, bring the body fat % down, but a few years of running just hasn't been doing it. I haven't quite reached my goals yet.
Late December, I started P90X, but didn't follow the nutrition plan. I've tried a few times to count calories... but typically after a few days, I gave up. Regardless, by the end of 90 days (plus about a week), I managed to lose 10 pounds!
Then I purchased Insanity, and got curious... I really took at the nutrition guide that came with the program, resigning to the idea that nutrition really must be the key to reaching their promise, and my goals.
One thing that's always kinda deterred me from following any meal plan is thinking I wouldn't be able to eat enough to sustain my workouts... the weights from P90X, swimming, biking, running and all the other cardio I'm getting from Insanity. But, I figured I'd check it out. Let's just see. I followed the calorie calculation in the book to determine my caloric needs based on height, weight, sex, age and activity level. Interesting.
I then googled to find other 'calorie needed' calculators, because I like having a few points of reference, instead of just taking the word of the first thing I find. I came across this site, plugged in my information, and although the results varied a little bit (lower than the first calculation)... I soon realized that what I had feared all along is exactly what I'd been doing to my body all this time!
Remember how I said that I had tracked my food intake here and there? Those days calculated somewhere around 1350-1500 calories/day. My resting metabolic rate is 1455, so in essence, I was barely getting enough calories in to function daily! Add in my workouts, sometimes twice a day, and surely I wasn't getting enough... Calculator recommends somewhere from 1900-2150 for weight loss, and ~2400 to maintain my weight!!!! Let's just say that it was pretty eye opening!
So, have I been kinda sabotaging myself? Working against my goals? I wasn't getting enough calories. Period. So slowing down my metabolism? Was my body hoarding the body fat and calories because of the deficit? I've often heard that you need to eat to lose weight, is this what they're talking about??I'm nowhere near an expert on the specifics of metabolism, muscle, fat loss, etc. If it was easy, I suspect that we'd all be masters, and obesity wouldn't be as much an epidemic as it is, and reaching all our goals wouldn't be such a challenge...
I'm now a week into the Insanity/P90X hybrid I'm following, having increased my calories to roughly 2000/day, eating 5 meals of 300-500 calories each, with meals recommended from the guide. Here are my thoughts so far.
- Obviously I wasn't getting enough calories, but I also think I underestimated the amount of protein I should be eating! These small meals of 300 calories are much more "filling" than other meals with a higher number of calories, with not as much nutritional value.
- I no longer feel the spikes and crashes. When I'm hungry, and go through one of those crashes, I get pretty irritable (I admit it!!), and NEED.FOOD.NOW.
- I have more energy! I just feel better!
- I've lost another pound! So I'm relieved to not see the scale jump up even though I'm taking in more calories.
I think it's starting to sink in that it's about properly fuelling my body. Proper proportions of carbs, protein and fat. It's not as easy as calories in vs. calories out. How many calories are you eating/day?
For those of you that know a lot more about this than I do, am I on the right track here? Is there anything that I'm missing? Anything you can add? I appreciate all your thoughts and insight :)
I'm severely behind in all things blogging these days, and will likely be hit and miss in the next little while. I'm, uh, going through 'stuff' these days, and something has to give, unfortunately it's this right now. Please bear with me!!
24 comments:
Well I'm by no means an expert but what you said jives with what I've read. If you don't eat enough for your level of activity then your body goes into starvation mode and hold on to calories.
I would love to lose 5 pounds. I think my problem is I don't eat enough.
Thanks for the reminder. I need to get my Nancy Clark Sports Nutrition book out and finish reading it.
Congrats on ALL that you've accomplished. You rock!
We are all a work-in-progress, but it sure sounds like you are moving in a great direction. Keep up the great work!
It's true that you are what you eat. Your needs will differ if you are doing strength training versus endurance where you'd need more carbs than protein.
Woohoo! I've been doing some reading on this, too. RunnerDude has a good formula for how many calories you need, etc. Sounds about the same as what you found. :) Great job!
gosh i never seem to have this problem... i think if you threw some m&m's in the mix you would have NO TROUBLES meeting (erm, exceeding) your caloric needs :)
hope your "stuff" is going well... i think we are all in that boat from time to time!
I agree with Lindsay, this is a problem I never seem to have! :) Good job with all the workouts and now the nutrition- you are superwoman!
I'm no expert myself, but this all sounds reasonable to me. I'm still experimenting myself, trying to figure out how much is too much VS too little. It's so difficult to find the balance, but you seem to be on the right track. BIG congrats on those 10 lbs (make that 11). You look (and must feel) fantastic. So proud of you!!!
Nutrition is such a tricky thing, what works for one, doesnt work for 98% of the population. Its all trial and error for everyone, constantly tweaking. Its good to hear its coming around for you
I think this is MUCH harder for woman to do. Eat more to lose weight.... just seems hard to wrap your mind around BUT when we eat the RIGHT foods it works!!!
i get so confused by all of that stuff, it's so hard to figure out. i've been the same, thinking i eat healthy, but the thought of counting calories terrifies me. my main worry is what you're talking about, is that i'm not getting ENOUGH fuel. it's all so confusing and hard. sorry i have no info to offerr... just agreeing with you here. oh and thinking you are amazing, congrats on the 10 pounds and counting!!
everyone is so different with needs, etc. it's hard to know exactly how much you burn and consume! do you track your calories in/out ? how do you do this? i think paying attention to types of food, and the times that you eat (pre-w/o, post-w/o for fuel + recovery) is important. but if your goal is weight loss and it's not happening, play around with food amounts. but congrats on down a pound! that's what you want, right?! :) i am way too impatient to track my calories, but i wish i would do it. i just find that the foods i eat need to be looked up/added to all the online food diaries and it's a pain the butt.
Nice work!! I find that protein helps a lot as well. Keep it up!!
i've been, and still am, right there with you. at one point it got so bad that i went to a nutritionist. she upped my calories and i lost weight. unfortunately, i only listened for so long and i'm back to eating around 1200 a day. it's so bad to do this to ourselves...i just can't get out of it.
it definitely took me a long time to realize that i was not eating enough and now I'm a little unsure if I'm eating too much or just enough :)
Protein is where I'm really trying to work on getting more and figure out how to do that sans much meat
Hmmm, interesting site for calculating caloric intake - looks like I'm low on my intake also which may help explain my frustration in the last 5-10lbs I'm working on having recently stepped up the training also... guess I'm off to the kitchen then! :-D
thanks for the info! you're so informative and may be just what i needed to look! i'm struggling w/my weight as well! aren't we all!
This was a great post and very informative. Sometimes I think I dont get enough to eat in a day but I do try to eat more protein. I like the idea of snacks during the day and I usually do that in the morning but in the afternoon I have been slacking so I bring a banana and an orange now. In fact that reminds me its time to go and eat those because I am getting a little hungry!!
Feed the machine and it will work better. Gas for the fuel tank. Glad you are EATINg and seeing results.
I am BEHIND On blogging too Mel.. UGH!!
I find trying to figure out just the right amount to eat very difficult. Glad you seem to be figuring things out.
I'm right there with you on being behind. I hope to get my act together again next week.
It's tough trying to figure it out and lately I haven't had the best luck :) Glad to hear you found it to work for you!
One thing I can add from my own experience: A coach told me once to always (!) eat something before a workout. I used to just get up, down a coffee and jump on my bike for a 2 h ride. If the body runs on empty it is more likely to go in panic mode and will store fat for next time you starve it. Made sense to me! The second thing he told me was to get at least 30g of protein into me within 45 minutes of finishing a workout. Now, 30g of protein is a lot of protein at 7 in the morning but I stuck with it (mainly whey protein and eggs as my main source)... and lost weight. Without trying and making otherwise no changes to my diet. I swear it works.
It's all so complicated. But it seems like you've figured out what you need to be doing at this point. Just do it!
A little late congrats for the great race, but on that moment I was flying.... Funny joke.
Have a good Easter.
Congrats on ALL that you've accomplished. You rock!
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