A Note on Numbers

When I started off on this weight loss effort, I was obsessed with numbers - how much did I weigh, how much did I want to weigh, how many calories should I burn each day, how much should I eat, etc. etc. It was insane, but I loved it because I felt like there was an exact science to it -- Create a 3,500 calorie deficit and you'll lose 1/2 a pound that week.

Sounded great.

In reality, it wasn't so.

There was a lot of information out there, but they were all estimates and possibilities -- weight loss and getting healthy was not an exact science. It took some trial and error to figure out what would work for me -- I'm still going through the process.

I recently started wearing my heart rate monitor again during my morning workouts at the gym. I kinda wanted to see how many calories I was burning, not just during my cardio but also during my weight training.

I do love my Polar heart rate monitor, but I have to say that I take the numbers that register with a large grain of salt. I don't use the numbers as ones that factor in my daily allowance of calories. In fact, I've pretty much stopped counting calories (that's something that I stopped during the Whole Life Challenge. When you're eating clean and healthy, the numbers didn't seem to matter as much, though I still watch my portions.)

I sometimes read blog posts about people burning over 500 calories while vacuuming the house (are they doing burpees while they vacuum??), or 770 calories while doing 1 hour of Zumba. I know I work my butt off at the gym, but I rarely see numbers that high. Sometimes I see even more insane calorie burns - 1,500-2,000 calories burned in one day within 2 hours. It just seems a little unbelievable to me.

For example, during my morning workout, which involves a total of 35 minutes cardio (including HIIT) plus 45 minutes of weights & about 10 minutes of general conditioning of stretching, I'm burning about 450 calories. I was rather surprised and thought that given the intensity of the exercises, I would have been burning more. It doesn't seem like a lot, but I know that I'm putting in a lot of effort into my workout.

I'm actually not too bothered by the numbers. I was just curious. I never exercise in order to eat more. I really think that type of thinking is detrimental, especially since I doubt the numbers on these machines and monitors are that accurate.

It was just a little note since the number caught me off guard. However, I'm continuing my routine - both in terms of exercise and eating, and I hope that this month is as successful (if not more) than last month.

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I went through today feeling like I never really woke up. I was just tired. Actually, no. I wasn't tired. I was just sleepy. Does that make sense?

I got about 6 hours of sleep last night, which is really, really good for me.

I found myself yawning as I drove to the gym. I definitely did not want to go to work. All I kept thinking about was crawling into my warm bed and sleeping.

I did take a nap in the afternoon, but I ended up feeling sleepier. Getting to Sidekick Academy for Taekwondo and Jiujitsu class was a struggle, but I told myself: Just do it!! and I reminded myself of the adrenaline rush post-exercise.

Of course, I'm really glad I went. We learnt a really cool move in BJJ class and I can't wait to practice it some more! :)

I'm so glad that I'm going to get an extra hour of sleep tomorrow morning -- I need it!

Grading in my Gi: Earlier today - I got to Sidekick Academy a bit early so 

I made the most of it and got a bit of grading done before warming up

Today's Workouts
Cardio: (35 minutes including HIIT)
Weights: NROL Workout 5B
MMA training: Taekwondo & BJJ (1 1/2 hours)
Stretching: 20 minutes
Burpees: 70

Today's Food
Breakfast: Banana & 2 teaspoons of peanut butter
Lunch: Baked cod with mixed vegetables (same as last night's dinner)
Dinner: French bean and slow roasted tomato salad with baked salmon
Snacks: 3 dates, 1/4 cup raw nuts

Grazing in Un-calculated Territory

I had another relatively relaxing day today though I did spend some time doing a bit of work. I treated myself to a massage this afternoon (bliss) and then was out for a friend's birthday - which turned out to also include a surprise celebration for me passing my PhD as well. They bought me a lovely handbag plus a gorgeous pair of shoes (I'm a total shoe addict so I was thrilled!). All in all, a lovely night that included watching the England vs Sweden game with a bonus of Tweeting with Rebecca @ Weight Wars and Tim @ Fat.Boy.Thin :)

I've been tracking my calorie intake over the past few days and I've been amazed at how quickly the calories add up. I've been good at controlling what I'm eating at home ... but it's when I go out to social events that I have to really be careful. Even if I stick to healthy choices, it's not like I pull out my measuring cup at the restaurant and see whether I'm eating 1/4 cup of hummus or 1/3 ... it can get a bit frightening. It can also drive you to paranoia.

I've already been down the paranoid path. It's really unpleasant and it often leads to bad choices one way or another - eating too little out of fear or eating too much out of frustration.

This time around I'm just trying to be more sensible. Yesterday I knew that I was going to eat out at night. I knew there would be healthy options but I that doesn't mean that I'd succeed at portion control. The same thing goes for this evening -- so the best I could do is try to control what I ate during the day.

I wrote down everything I ate and estimated the calories using different online calorie counters to get an estimate -- not a pretty site in the end.

My eating plan is going to take quite a bit of fine-tuning. I've seen in the past that watching what I eat and taking the time to track my calories does pay off. I know I'm not alone in saying that tracking is a pain, but I'm also not alone in recognizing the huge advantages to putting in this effort.

I think I'm going to need to take a bit more care when eating out and approaching those un-caluclatable territories!

Figuring things Out

I went to bed last night feeling very achy and old. I was relieved that most of the stiffness in my neck and soreness in my lower back was gone by the morning - thank goodness for Deep Heat! Still, I didn't want to take any chances so I skipped my workout this morning (I only had one hour of cardio planned) in order to rest my neck and back a bit more. It's still not feeling 100% better, but it is slowly improving.

Despite the aches, I went to the gym in the afternoon and managed to complete my 1 hour of

cardio plus Zumba class :) [Can you tell I'm loving the class?! I can't wait to get my new heart-rate monitor and see how many calories I'm burning ... with the amount that I sweat, I'm hoping it's at least 400 calories!]

So far this week has been great in terms of workouts.

This week I've also been keeping detailed notes about what I'm eating. As I wrote last week, getting back into the swing of things has taken a bit of time, but overall I'm doing quite well. I know that I've been eating properly, but I know there is room for improvement.

There are so many blogs out there about nutrition and diet ... people share their plans and their strategies (not always implementing them though) and others comment and ask for advice. I think the bottom line is that you need to figure out a diet and exercise routine that works for you. The other thing to remember is that change, particularly proper weight loss, takes time. You can't expect the ten pounds you drop in one week on a liquid diet to stay off forever unless you make changes to what you eat/how you exercise for the remaining weeks of the year (your life).

For me, even if I'm on a low-calorie diet, if I don't exercise, the weight won't come off. I'll lose a few pounds, but then I'll stop. I have to exercise. I absolutely have to exercise ... plus watch what I eat. I know some people who can literally eat whatever they want and not gain any weight. I am definitely not one of those people! I also know people who can just cut a 200-300 calories from their diet and start to drop pounds ... again, that's not me.

I have to exercise hard and watch what I eat.

It has taken me time and it has taken a lot of practice, and I still have not perfected my routine. I am, however, getting better.

This week I have been focusing a lot on what I'm eating to make sure I'm getting the right amount of nutrition. I really, really, really need to up my protein intake. I'm getting half the required amount -- the real struggle lies in trying to figure out how to add protein without adding the calories.

According to the NROL4W program that I'm following, I should be eating around 1,800 calories a day (on a regular day when I don't exercise) and about 2,100 on days that I do a hard workout.

Yes, you read those numbers right.

Even if I stuffed myself I don't think I'd be able to eat that many calories. In my mind, 1,200-1,500 calories sounds good to me. The number 1,800 sounds insane ... as does 2,100. In any case, I promised myself that I would trust this process and follow the routine and the nutritional advice as suggested ... but I am struggling. I would love to completely trust the process, but my mind just does not want to accept eating that many calories ... we'll see how it goes. The true test is in the scale I guess.

In the meantime, I'm just watching what I eat. I need to eat more protein and lower my carb and saturated fat count a bit more - they're slightly higher than I'd like.

I guess the weigh-in on Sunday will give me a clue as to how this is working.

Spicy Salmon

I've really been enjoying experimenting with different recipes high protein, low carb recipes.

I baked some salmon the other day and it turned out really good. It was unbelievably easy - definitely a recipe that I'm going to keep handy.

I served up the salmon with some steamed veggies ... and though I've been really good at watching my carbs lately, I decided to treat myself to some roast potatoes as well --- here's the recipe. It makes for a very, very filling meal.

Baked Salmon with Steamed Veggies and Roast Potatoes

Salmon {serves 4}

Ingredients:

4 4 oz. salmon fillet

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 teaspoon brown sugar (Splenda blend)

1 clove minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

Directions:

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and coat the salmon fillets. It can be baked right away, but the longer you marinate it, the better the flavors will blend together. (I marinated it for 24 hours)

Bake in an oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Nutritional info:

Salmon (baked with the marinade):

245 calories

2 g. carbohydrates (0.1 g. fiber)

25.5 g. protein

14 g. fat (2.8 g saturated fat)

The extras ... steamed veggies & roast potatoes

Steamed veggies (1 cup broccoli and 1/2 cup carrots):

81 calories

17.6 g. carbohydrates (7.5 g. fiber)

4.4 g. protein

0.8 g. fat (<0.1 g. saturated fat)

Roast potatoes (1/2 cup diced + 1/2 tsp olive oil & 1 tsp Parmesan + 1 tablespoon mixed dry herbs):

85 calories

15 g. carbohydrates (1.5 g. fiber)

2.3 g. protein

1 g. fat (0.25 g. saturated fat)

Nuts over Nutrition

Food scale, calculator, measuring cups, Glad/Ziplock bags and containers … these are the things that have taken over my kitchen.

Since I’m now in the second half of this training challenge, I figured it was time to double-check my nutrition. I knew I was eating healthily. I even knew that my portions were fine. However, there were two big problem areas – first of all, I was not hitting my calorie target for the day. I would usually be running 300-600 calories under what I was supposed to be eating, even though I felt like I was eating enough and I wasn’t hungry. The other problem was my carbohydrates – I was clearly consuming too many carbohydrates – and falling short on my daily calorie, protein, and fat intake (is it just me, or does anybody else think it’s a bit weird to say I need to increase my fat intake to lose weight) … anyway, it’s all about balance, right? Getting the right amount of everything. Getting the nutrients from healthy food.

So … I’ve been measuring, calculating, noting, editing, modifying, packaging, freezing, etc. etc. etc. Whew! It’s exhausting – but definitely worth it. The one thing that I still have to get a handle on is how much time this all takes – it’s not easy. Finding out proper nutritional information and then doing all the calculations – making sure that they’re accurate and not just somebody’s personal guess … plus the time it takes to double (triple) check my calculations. Yes, it takes lots and lots of time.

At first I thought I could just spend a bit of time before each meal and prepare everything, but now I realize that I need to set aside a good chunk of time two days each week in order to figure out my meal plan, do the counts, and do as much prep as possible.

Now, I’ve got a list of my frequent foods for each type of meal and I’ve done the nutritional breakdown for those foods. My breakfasts are not that interesting, nor are my lunches. It’s my dinners that I’ve been trying to get a bit more creative with. I’ve got a whiteboard in my kitchen and it’s got nutritional info written. The good thing about the list is that I’ve also included various quick snacks that I can eat without having to worry about the nutrition factor. Plus, thank goodness for freezer bags/containers – I’ve got my fish fillets weighed and packed, my vegetarian chili measured out and stored in containers, and I’m gradually adding the calorie breakdown of different foods to add it to my collection. I hope that soon enough I’ll be able to choose my foods without going into so much detail, but for now, I think I’ll have to put in the time in order to get it right.

Here’s a picture of my board – calorie breakdown of my frequent foods + a reminder of how many calories & nutrients I should be consuming each day, and my list of quick snacks and healthy foods with their nutritional info. J

Back to Basics

After coming back from London I was so concerned with just getting into my workout routine that I didn’t really sit down and plan too much – which is very unlike me! So today, I took a bit of time and did the basic stuff I should have done before I actually started.

I weighed myself and took my measurements … I’ll try not to weigh myself everyday, but I know that it will be difficult. I just can’t seem to resist getting on that scale!

I also worked out my meal plan. I’m a bit skeptical about the calorie breakdown that NROL4W suggests – I mean, approximately 1700 to 2000 calories daily?! That’s a helluva lot of calories … still, I told myself that I was going to follow this routine properly, so I’m going to through with it … Now I’ve just got to get my groceries and I’m all set.

I still haven’t worked out the cardio angle to the whole exercise program. The book does include some suggestions of how to include interval training as well as some exercise classes into the program – once again, it’s just so little compared to what I was doing before … but then again, I’ve gone down the route where I exercised a lot and cut my calories drastically and that didn’t work …

The plan is all mapped out – now I’ve just got to stick to it! Let’s see how it goes.