1. Consistency is everything. Try to eat the same amount of calories every single day. There is no such thing as balancing out at the end of the week. You can't eat 1000 calories on Monday and then 2000 on Friday and say it just all evens out in the wash. You are trying to retrain your metabolism and the ups and downs of calorie intake just jacks it up more. If you have to eat the same exact food every single day, then do it. I often do that and you will see as the days go by I don't vary too much. I still have the taste buds of an elementary school kid, someday I'll grow up... : )
2. Don't starve yourself. You have to eat, good foods, to keep your energy up for running, kids and life. Staying too low on calories does not do you any good nor those that have to live with you! Dietitians and nutritionists are not supposed to recommend eating lower than 1200 calories a day and I don't either. Doctors can recommend lower, they went to school for extra years for that privilege, so of course consult with them.
3. Variety is key. You want to try to get in as many nutrients as possible. Choose as many colors as you can when it comes to fruits and veggies. You can't overeat on any of these. Try to stay away from over processed foods - anything that comes in a bag. Those things are convenient and cheap but not necessarily nutritious.
4. Stick with it! It takes more than 2 weeks to see big changes. Give it at least 6 weeks before you judge what is working or not. Patience is hard, but key. Stay strong and don't be too hard on yourself if you slip up. Just make a better choice next time you walk in the kitchen! : )
So here is my yesterday (Wednesday):
10 a.m. Protein Shake with half a banana 250 calories
12:30 p.m. Ham sandwich on wheat 260 calories
apple 80 calories
blue tortilla chips 140 calories
4:15 p.m. Greek yogurt 130 calories
Granola 120 calories
5:30 p.m. Beef Jerky 80 calories
6:30 p.m. 2 C Romaine salad 40 calories
2 tbsp dressing 40 calories
1 serving chicken 130 calories
Total Calories 1270
So not the greatest, but better than the day before. All the tips from today are mostly for me to remember, the things I always to seem to fall short on. I'm going to keep my food intake posted everyday up in the 'Food Journal' tab so if you feel like checking up on me or calling me out on something you can check there to see how I'm doing! I'm going to keep it up at least through my marathon that is a week from Saturday. My calories will change up starting Wednesday of next week to get ready for the rac,e but I'm going to try to stay pretty consistent til then. I'm going to try to eat as clean as possible and see what kind of difference I feel! I'm going to miss my Dr. Pepper and my Wheat Thins... tears, tears, tears... but,
We can do this! Let me know how you're all doing too! It's no fun trying to be good all by myself! Any tips you want to share?
Maybe I missed it, but what do you use to track calories? I'm thinking of doing a food journal, but not sure what program/book to base the calories on.
ReplyDeleteIn the past, I've kept track of what I ate to see if I was getting enough protein or vitamins. It really cut down on my snacking - I was too lazy to do a lot of writing so I skipped the snacks!
ReplyDeleteI've always used the dailyplate.com
ReplyDeleteI don't like to take the time to enter online but I check all my serving sizes on there for how many calories. It's easy to look up and use. And then I just keep a notebook on my counter and handwrite everything... Just easier for me. But the dailyplate has an option to keep track online!
Have you tried Green Smoothies? I have a quart of that in the morning for breakfast. (Mmmmm.... Jimmy's favorite!) I also like Go-Lean Crunch beacause it has a lot of protein in it & really keeps me full until lunch.
ReplyDeleteGreen smoothies is on my list to try! I just got a recipe for one yesterday - don't have agave syrup tho... I love Go-Lean Crunch too! I'm on protein shake mode in the mornings right now though and cutting out cereal... :(
ReplyDeletejust curious...I'v had two different trainers tell me you want to keep calorie intake same same same and then spike it for a day or two.???
ReplyDeleteps If I have one more grilled chicken salad from Wendy's - minus the dressing I might shoot myself!!!
I think it's always helpful to read what other people are eating. I really need that kick in the pants to get into a good routine, so thanks for posting this!!
ReplyDeleteYou can get agave syrup at Costco... can't remember the price, but not too bad for 2 bottles.
ReplyDeleteIf you have an iphone a good free application is "LOSE IT".. It has many restaurants in it also so if you eat out you can look it up. The application keeps daily logs for you for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks and tell you how many calories you should intake for weight loss. You can also enter your daily exercise and it will subtract from your total calories of the day. This is a good way to have and overall look at your calorie intake even if you're not trying to lose weight good source to log it. Everything is pretty accurate as well..
ReplyDeleteSo, I have a question about your cal intake. If consistency on intake is everything, then how do you account for output? Obviously you train different amounts each day, so the amount of calories you are burning will change each day. At first glance (and I'm no pro athlete here) your intake seems slightly low for someone who trains as much as you do.
ReplyDeleteDo you know what your BMR is?
Do you know how many calories you burn for each mile you run? or for each hour you workout with your trainer?
Do you monitor your heart rate as you run, as this will affect my last question.
Just curious mostly. It seems that so many 'marathoners' look emaciated when they've been doing it for so long. I think their reasonable fat stores get depleted due to the training and the burning of more than the consume. I know a bunch about this stuff from the weight loss perspective, but not so much from the athlete training perspective. Anyway, just curious what your take is. Maybe we can discuss it the next time we see ya.
Man - that's quite the list of questions! I'll definitely have to address all those things in a post - good stuff!
ReplyDelete