I made some interesting revelations last night that are definitely concerning me. As you know, I've been on the Weight Watchers flex plan, so I've been tracking points rather than calories. So last night I went back through my food diary and jotted down all of the associated calories, fat, carbs, fiber and protein (yeah, it took a lot of looking up). I had been concerned that the point system was possibly allowing me to eat too many calories, especially since I'd been using my weekly points, so my daily was more like 26 rather than 22. Well, I had a real shock. Even on my heaviest point day, I BARELY made 1200 calories. What the heck?!
So basically if I'm eating less than 1200 calories per day, that means I'm starving my body. Yes, I'm eating healthy and lots of veggies, but low calorie is low calorie and my body might be adjusting to simply subsist on that value. I'm going to monitor this for another couple of weeks to see how it goes, keeping track of both calories and points.
Another key factor could be my fat intake. In order to maintain your current weight, you should have no more than 30% of your caloric intake be from fat. Maintaining your weight as an active woman, you should eat 12 times your body weight in calories. Since there are 9 calories per gram of fat, that means that I can't have more than 65.2 gram of fat per day to maintain my current weight. That's a lot. 10% of which can be saturated fat, so 6.5g. That's to maintain my weight too, not lose weight.
Here is says: "To lose one pound, a person must burn 3,500 calories more than are consumed (500 calories per day over the course of a week). For example, reducing calories by 300 per day and increasing daily activity to burn off an additional 200 calories should result in a weight loss of one pound per week."
Therefore, my calorie intake should be up around 1600, and I burn at least 200 calories per day via exercise - usually around 3-400 actually. So if I'm only eating 1200, and I'm burning off 300 minimum, then I'm only taking in 900 to live off from. That's sounds incredibly unhealthy.
Exciting New Equipment
I bought one of those under-the-door sit-up bars that will hold my feet in place while I do sit-ups, so I don't need a partner! I'm really excited to get using that, since crunches are just not enough. It was only $15 at Sports Authority.
My actual diet recently
As I said above, I've been eating a relatively low amount of calories and fat, while consuming plenty of protein. The fact is, I'm not that pleased with my diet. I've been feeling kind of sluggish this way after eating. I had crescent rolls wrapping a veggie sausage for dinner (a ton of points) the other night, and I just felt like crap afterwards. It was "reduced fat", but in the end, I consumed 12g of fat in one sitting and I just felt gross. We also ate lunch out on Wed or Thurs, and I snacked on spinach and artichoke dip with tortilla chips. Luckily I caught myself in time to order a small salad for lunch itself, which balanced it out kinda. I should have just gotten some whole grain bread or something instead to eat with it. It would have been more satisifying than the dip and chips.
Next week I'm going to try to make veggie lunches or sandwiches. I did good about bringing in lunch 3 times last week, and my breakfasts and snacks are homemade too. This is helping not just control my consumption, but also saving my money. Kind of. I suspect it might balance out with the amount of groceries I've been buying. Veggies are expensive when you buy them at Whole Foods. Their produce is SO good though. Today I'm gonna go to the cheap supermarket howveer, to stock up on veg at home. I'm also going to look up some delicious steamed veggie recipes!
Fishy Scales
My at-home scale, and my roommate's scale both put me at 156lbs rather than the 162 at the gym (which hasn't changed btw). I'm going by the gym scale, but its annoying since I can't weight myself at home on weekends.
0 comments:
Post a Comment