HOWEVER, it doesn't mean that there are things that generally apply to all of us.
Even before I go to Lesson #1, let me state a fact, DIET is not an evil four letter word. Its just a four letter word. You don't go on a diet, you already are on a diet. It maybe a good one or a bad one but you're already on one. Simply put, your diet is what you eat. So take away the negative things associate with the word diet. Because if you think its a bad thing, you're never going to want to stick with it.
Now that we got that out of the way...
Lesson #1- EAT!!!!
A lot of people, me included, didn't get this part for a while. But if you're exercising/working out to loose weight and cut back on your intake, sounds logical that you'll drop weight, and you will. But pretty soon, you're going to plateau. Why? Because your body is only interested in one thing, TO SURVIVE. Once your body learns your routine, its going to adapt to it. Your body doesn't care how much you weigh, its just interested in surviving. So if you don't get enough, enough being at least your BMR [basal metabolic rate] which is typically is 1200 for women & 1800 for men- its actually a lot higher than that, in real life, your body will fight to survive.
How will it fight? By storing fat.
This is how it might go down between you and your body:
you: I'm going to start running and lifting weights! I want to drop some pounds!
body: What is going on? I feel the burn! I feel the burn! This hurts, but it feels good!
you: Oh man! I want to drop pounds faster! I'll cut back on my eating.
body: This physical activity is good for me! Wohoo! But wait a minute? I need some fuel. Whats going on here? Fuel? Where you at?
you: I think I'll skip breakfast. Maybe have an orange for dinner too.
body: OH NO YOU DIDN'T! Wheres my fuel? I'm not sure when I'll get a full tank next so I'll save whatever I can!
How does the body save fuel or energy?
In the form of fat. Which is what you're trying to get rid off right?
So EAT!!! Like I said before, and my friends will vouch for this, I was probably the worst eater in the world. I called myself a lazy eater. And I was. Part of it stemmed from the fact that I didn't want to get any bigger, and my mentality was "I got this way because I ate so much." Part of it was because I was just pure lazy. But now, I'm constantly eating. Every 2 hours, 3 hours max, you'll find me eating. Its crazy, but I wouldn't be doing it if didn't work. By eating smaller more frequent meals, you're also always revving your metabolism. For me, I learned to manipulate my metabolism so that it will do some of the work for me. By always having it on high, I'm always burning. If you treat it right [eat right, build muscles. get proper rest, etc.] you can manipulate your body into doing a lot of the work for you (-; I've noticed a big shift in my metabolism, and a lot of it really comes from how and what I eat.
STOP HERE! I forgot to mention something as well! DRINK WATER!!! DRINK WATER!!! If you're peeing every 20 minutes or so, you're doing it right. Okay maybe not 20 minutes, but if you find yourself peeing a lot, you're doing it right. Stay hydrated. For zero calories, water cleanses your system, keeps your body running, & keeps your metabolism going! Drink green tea too! Coffee as well! I learned to drink the tea and coffee without sweeteners to keep them at zero calories and just because I like bitter things. But yeah! This is something I had to learn too, drink a lot of water!!!
How much should I be eating?
Now that you're willing to eat, you gotta know how much you should be eating. To find that out, you have to know your BMR. Basal metabolic rate, which in simple terms is how much calories your body will use up just to survive. If you were to lie in bed all day, and stay alive, that is how much your body will use. 1200 calories a day for women and 1800 calories a day for men is a good baseline to go with, but those aren't magic numbers. For a more precise number, go use this calculator at my favorite website to read, bodybuilding.com
Anyway, here is mine:
What do those numbers mean?. If you want an almost exact number, go get a heart rate monitor and wear it and do nothing. Anyway, this means that I should be consuming at least 2087 calories per day. To me personally that number is super high, I'm used to 1500 calories a day. But guess what keeps on happening to me? I'm always not always but often plateauing- I'm on one right now or I'm tired.
Anyway, lets say I do eat that much a day. Lets take my 2087 calories per day and break that down.
Like I said, I'll eat every 2-3 hours, that translates to roughly 5-6 small meals a day. For the sake of ease, lets do 2000 calories a day at 5 meals at 400 calories each. That is a pretty high "allowance" for food per meal! 400 calories is A-LOT if you change your mindset. Most people hear "meal" and think "#1 meal!" That #1 is probably 1500 calories with a truckload of sodium.
Since I don't follow that meal plan, yet [I'm re-evaluating my meals at the moment] I'll describe to you my typical intake. I don't like counting calories that much, nor am I strict with it. I just eat clean and eat enough. I still have my cheat meals and I don't deprive myself of those! But for the most part, you're going to find that I'm a creature of habit. If it works, I'll stick with it till it stops working or I get tired of it.
Cat's Day In Food
Breakfast- 400-600 calories. I know not all of us are breakfast people, I wasn't, but never skip breakfast. You just woke up your body needs fuel. Don't skip it. I personally devote a lot of my calories during breakfast for a couple of reasons. I usually do a fasted workout, I workout right when I get up [or really an hour after I wake up] on an empty stomach. So I devote a big part of my daily intake to breakfast because I want my body well fed after my workout.
- oatmeal [the normal ones or steel cut, not instant or quick oats]
- 5 egg white omelet with spinach & cheese
- greek yogurt [non fat 0%]
- rice cracker with all natural peanut butter or Nutella, or both, so good! don't over do it with the pb or nutella, less than a teaspoon of each is fine.
I'll usually eat one of the first two with one of the last three with my whey protein shake. If I'm still hungry, I'll eat one of the first two with two of the last three. It really depends. But I don't mind eating a lot for breakfast.
- Ezekiel toast with cheese [I love the laughing Cow wedges!]
Snack- 100-200 calories. I'll usually have a rice cracker with some peanut butter or a Balance Bar. I love those things.
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| Peanut Butter or Chocolate Almond or Smores! |
Lunch- 300-500 calories. Lunch is tricky for me. It really depends on what I'm doing that day, but here are some things I might have for lunch.
- 200 calorie salad from the grocery store. Its pre-portioned and its good.
- Tuna on Ezekiel toast or with carrot sticks. Tuna salad: tuna, greek yogurt, & curry powder. Its so good. Or instead of curry, Mrs. Dash seasoning. I like the Fiesta Lime, pick what you want.
- Spinach with Cat's Sauce Boss [its what I write on the tape on the tupperware!] I make a big batch of sauce in the beginning of the week. Its pretty much jarred organic spaghetti sauce [always watch the sodium on these] with lean ground turkey breast and Mrs. Dash Seasoning. It lasts me about a meal a day and is about 100 calories a serving.
- Orowheat Sandwich Thins toasted with cheese & Cat's Sauce Boss
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| "Sloppy Joe" with Spinach & Rice Cracker with all Natural PB |
- the ever present greek yogurt
Snack- 100-200 calories. I try not to have more than 1 Balance Bar a day. Another snack idea is greek yogurt [I love yogurt, can you tell] with cinnamon & Bear Naked Granola- the protein one.
- rice crackers
Dinner- See Lunch (;
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| Cat's Sauce Boss with Spaghetti Squash |
Like I said, I keep it really simple. I'm not a nutritionist and by no means do I claim that what I eat will work for you, but its what works for me. I have people who see that and really think its not enough, and I have people who say its okay. Like I said, I'm re-evaluating because I'm currently finding myself in a plateau, I can't break out of that 175 pounds. I know the scale isn't the end all be all to measuring health. My body composition is changing and I'm gaining muscle, but I know that I have fat to drop so I do expect the number on the scale to change. I'm still putting in the work working out so I know I need to dial in nutrition to see change. Ideally, I would love to be at 130, but supposedly (and I'm starting to see why) that isn't at all healthy for my height, I'm 5'6.5" and my body composition, the way I carry my weight. I'm already a size 10 at this weight, and my goal was a size 8, so I'm thinking if I'm at 130-120 [120 was my original goal, wtf was I thinking] I'm going to be not muscle skinny. I want my muscles I worked hard for them. As I go on this journey tho, the more I'm convinced its not about the pounds on the scale, but the pounds I can lift! Heck yes lets get stronger! Haha! The numbers will just be the numbers, my health, my strength, those things will be the determining factor (-;
Anyway, that is my typical day in food. I'm not starving and you guys don't have too.
With all that said, the whole point of Lesson #1 is this: You shouldn't starve yourself.
Go eat! Eating is a good thing, food is so yummy and the occasional burger or pizza [I'm craving The Habit real bad right now] is NOT a bad thing. The occasional "cheat" meal will also prevent your body from getting used to clean eating.
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| Pretty awesome cheat meal! |
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| I still manage to fit all of these into my life <3 <3 <3 |
Now that we've established the fact on why you need to eat, Lesson #2, which I'll save for another blog entry, will just go a little deeper than calories and into macros.
PS. That entry might take a while or I might ask someone else to write it because frankly, it still confuses me sometimes, but I'm not as clueless as I was when I started!
PPS. Yes, I take phone pictures of what I eat! If I can't think of anything to eat, I look through em and pick one!
