"People cut calories by 10% when they simply write down what they eat; 30% to 50% of those who keep a food diary, change their eating habits."
Boring and extra work for me, but apparently it works. I kept a food diary in my first pregnancy and low and behold, I only had 12 pounds extra by about two weeks post-partum so I think there is some truth to this assertion. No more excuses. For example: I was only 33 yrs old at the time versus my age now... Easier said than done when the going gets tough but I am ready to deal with it. So there is an emotional component to this food thing?
"There is less risk in activity than continuous inactivity."
Time to stop and evaluate what I am doing and start to improve upon it so I can lose that extra weight gain which could eventually cause a chronic illness..the list is scary enough to motivate me. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes and others I cannot remember. But mostly, I just want to wear the pants my mind thinks I can still wear. But I don't want this to be about vanity in the midst of our lean/skinny celebrity culture either. I just want to be physically stronger. I just want my core to be stronger and my back challenges to be over. I have had intermittent chiropractic care since Win was born so that has been several years. I believe the weight loss and exercise will do wonders. Sounds simple, right? Why is this so hard?? In comes this book. I like the title. The Calorie Counter. Straight forward and to the point. My sister and I always say, as you get older you have to eat less and we know that but making it happen is going to take some work. Who knew? I don't think that this is the best book on the subject necessarily but it was available and I got the 4th edition here as a starting point. I prefer a book to something like Nutri Mirror as you see here. My midwife Toni has had great success using this online tool.
Back to The Calorie Counter. The book talks about what a calorie is and why it is important. It demystifies things like did you know..the French are getting fat? And, your metabolism does not slow down if you yo-yo diet. Okay..I can buy that. Seems to me the formula is simple. Less calories + more activity = weight loss and even muscle gain. Muscle burns more calories than fat even at rest. I like this idea. So first, I will evaluate my activities because I seem to think I am not active enough...huh? don't I have three small children??
Here is a list of activity and limited sedentary inactivity to qualify me as a moderately active woman:
- Grocery shopping
- Gardening: I sweep, pull weeds, trim hedges
- Tae Kwon Do 2 Xs per week
- 5 hours t.v. per week (too much t.v. generally = inactivity that could be activity..duh)
- House work
- Three small children = chasing, diapering (chasing to diaper) I am not sure how to break this section down into calorie burning units but I know there are some there.
The book illustrates how many calories per minute burned in an activity and encourages you to keep a goal of calories to burn each week and keep track of it. I just want to know how many calories my activities burn because my goal is to burn calories already. The list above is not an extensive one and I have other activities planned that don't always happen so I know that I can increase my calorie burn if I do them. Callenetics, Zumba and yes friends, I bought a Shake Weight! Hmn....maybe this is the problem? I need to do them? You are to aim to burn 500 to 1,000 calories per week and then double that as you become more fit. Okay. Tae Kwon Do. Let's analyze. The book gives you a table of activities. There is a top row of pounds listed. It says to take the activity you have done and the pounds/weight closest to your current weight, then multiply the calories burned per minute by how many minutes you were active....phew!, okay then if I practiced Tae Kwon Do for 45 minutes, then by my closest weight of 125 lbs. X 10.6 calories per minute = 477 calories burned and twice per week = 954 calories burned per week roughly. By the book, I am doing pretty well and that is just one activity! Whoo-hoo!!! What I like is that I can look up an activity that maybe I don't normally do and find a caloric burn for it to add to my total for the week. Done.
Now the food part. Ick. This is where I think I am having the problem. Too much food for the activity level to equal weight loss. Man! I love to eat! This would seemingly be easier to manage..eating less, rather than adding more activity to my day. I already mentioned my three very young children right? I will begin this today to log the calories I take in each day for one week..maybe two, to see what I am getting. I will not try to make it better by not eating something simple because I am logging but rather eat like I usually do and log it. I will add up calories at the end of the day, every few days or even at the end of the week to keep it honest. By my calculations, I should be getting about 1400 - 1500 calories per day. I do not count breastfeeding anymore since the nursling is now getting better than half her calories from table food by my count. Breastfeeding requires about 300-500 extra calories per day but I think shaving off about this much per day on my intake could just set the right trend for me without compromising her. If breastfeeding, there are other online ways to decrease calories while making sure your baby is well nourished and I would go there for that type of calorie counting when a baby is under one year old. The book list gobs of food with portions and corresponding calories. I cook often so don't know how I can qualify that part. I will have to see how this will work.
Here we go! Wish me well!
These are boys size 3 cross trainers. Yes, I am small around the edges as you know. About five weeks ago, I joined a gym for women with childcare. I cannot put into words how wonderful this is for me as a stress reliever, confidence and physical strength builder. I am terribly sore most of the time with weight training and doing squats..oh my goodness but I am really enjoying this one and the children are doing well with it too...even little T1. I have done water aerobics, Zumba, Cardio Strength and Les Mills Body Pump with a bar and plate weights as well as cycling and the treadmill. My folks and M take the children on two days a week so I don't always have to leave them in childcare. I am blessed that this gym is literally a three minute drive from my house if I hit the traffic lights well and the weather is good. I can really focus and get out of there and back to my life and that is exactly what I needed. What a blessing!!
While driving one day this week, G5 asked me how to spell his brother's name so I dictated it from the driver's seat, not seeing why I was asked to do this. He then held up his box ( an Estee Lauder makeup box given to him by Mimi to hold toys, etc.) and there it was..he knows his letters by dictation! Wow!
When I said now you need to do your name...he said...'I already did!' and showed me the other side. Self portrait included. Amazing and as I thought it would be sooner or later. I did tell him to use paper next time though.
And finally, a fascination with the fright part of Halloween. A scary boy witch dinosaur??? and his buddy.