Although generally not one given to making new year's resolutions, this year I decided to set a goal for myself. The goal is to lose 10 pounds, but rather than just throw a number out there, I decided to make a more concrete plan.
1. I would keep track of everything I eat along with portion size, calories, fat, carbohydrates, protein, and fiber.
2. I would try to bring a lunch to campus most days each week.
3. I would exercise at least 3 times per week.
So now that we're a month into the new year, how am I doing?
Well, I started off smashingly with part one. I bought a journal; found several health calculators online to calculate my daily calorie, fat, carb, protein, and fiber intake; purchased a handy, dandy food scale; and began cooking more so that I could be successful at part two. I did really well on this for the first couple weeks, and then I went to Boston for a conference. I knew that it would be extremely difficult to account for my food intake accurately when every meal would be eaten in a restaurant, so I gave myself a reprieve for the duration of the conference.
Big mistake.
I've had a terrible time getting back into the habit of recording what I'm eating each day. It really isn't hard. I just need to take a few minutes after each meal to jot down what I've eaten and calculate the nutritional value. In the meantime I haven't gone overboard on what I'm eating, but I know I haven't been following the intake guidelines perfectly.
As for part three, I haven't really even started that. Between craziness at work and research deadlines that require my attention after work, I've haven't done a good job carving out regular exercise time. I know that when I go I enjoy the workout and I feel better physically. I just need to find the time and make it a habit.
That all said, I'm not giving up on the goal, but I have learned a few things in the process:
1. Visualizing (numerically) what I'm eating is a tremendous help. It may not be motivating for everyone, but I find it extremely useful to see 1) whether I'm eating the right amount daily and 2) whether I'm eating a balanced diet. One thing I may add in is calcium intake because I suspect I may not be getting enough of that.
2. There are some great, free tools on the Internet like Calorie King, which provides nutritional data for just about every food under the sun, and the University of Maryland Medical System Health Calculators. Both WebMD (great portion size guidelines) and the Mayo Clinic (has a great calorie calculator) sites also contain useful tools for understanding what and how much your body needs each day and how to balance diet and exercise.
3. My diet is easier to control when I do the cooking. Even eating other people's home cooking makes it more difficult to calculate. It is so important to know exactly what goes into each meal and how it was prepared. Restaurant nutritional information is frequently available (possibly not entirely accurate) if you look for it, but the portions are so out of whack in most restaurants that it's too easy to overeat.
4. I need to develop some sort of consistent exercise plan. I'm open to suggestions here. I've considered hiring a student trainer from URec because it would be way more affordable than a professional trainer and it might help me get started.
5. I need some sort of accountability. I'm considering posting a weekly update, which may give me the boost I need to keep going.
7 comments:
Kudos and good luck! I joined Weight Watchers online and have found the tracking part helpful...I don't have the patience to carry a notebook around with me as a food diary, but you can download a tracker (not necessarily from WW) for your cell phone too - which you are more likely to have with you (and I think it's less obvious - people always assume I'm texting!:)
As you know, I had similar goals starting this year, although I'm only tracking calories, not all the other stuff. I've done this before and fallen off the wagon and have found that usually a vacation destroys all good work and that getting started and sticking with it usually takes a few tries.
I don't know if any of this will help or apply for you, but here is what I have been doing.
1. I count all calories no matter what, even if I know it's going to be bad. I downloaded an app to my iPod that tracks all this for me and has quite a few foods in its database. What I can't find there I find on calorieking.com or somewhere else. If you don't have an iPod Touch or iPhone, try sparkpeople.com. It's free and it works the same way. You can also save favorites so once you've eaten something, you just have to click on it the next time. Super easy.
2. Fitness. I've been doing two things, the boot camp and then a couch to 5K running program. The boot camp is two days a week and couch to 5K is three. That gives me two days off, which I try to split up. It seems like two days off in a row kills my motivation. The couch to 5K program is on my iPod, but my friend Angie has done it before and you get find the workouts online a ton of places. It's usually about 30 minutes three days a week.
I completely agree that eating anything other than food I have prepared is really difficult. We have to buy enormous amounts of snack food and do all of our cooking at home. I usually cook enough to have four to six servings of everything. Then we take leftovers to work and eat those for dinner. If we don't, we end up going out and get derailed. On the rare occasion that we eat out, we try to only go places with nutrition information available online.
I also agree that keeping track of what you eat forces you to eat better, which is really half the battle. If I know I'm allowing myself 1200 calories for today, I'm going to take fruit as a snack instead of something with more calories. I stay on my calorie count and get the fruits and vegetables in amounts I usually wouldn't eat. The key here, though, is having enough stuff around for snacks that you never get bored. We try to have a small breakfast, lunch, a snack around 3, dinner, a snack around 10 and then something before bed.
I have a weird schedule that makes exercise kind of tricky, so my advice there is don't think you have to do too much. I always back out if I think I don't have enough time, but even 15 minutes is enough time. It's better than nothing. I don't know what the trainer costs, but I've really liked having one via boot camp. What will happen when boot camp is over, who knows?
As for accountability, definitely post weekly updates, whatever you need to keep you in check. I'll post mine, too, if you want some added motivation?!
In Montana, we have a spring program called Shape Up Montana that lasts for three months leading up to the Big Sky State Games. You form exercise teams and either track weight loss or just activities. I'm doing it because we have to for our work insurance (we get money rewards). Is there something like that in Virginia?
Traveling is always tough, but I know you'll be able to get focused again and back on track. I'm sure Boston and then Rochelle's visit (and my caramel rolls!) didn't help too much.
One tip I have for exercising - pack your bag and take it with you to work. Then, do whatever you are going to do before going home after work. I always lost motivation to go out again if I came home before going to the gym. Give me a call if you are up here for the weekend and want to go for a walk!
Good for you! I did really well last year for 6 weeks(!) until I had toe surgery mid February. I think it's time for me to get serious once again. Having a wedding in August gives me a time frame.
Writing down EVERYTHING I eat is very helpful, as is keeping track of the number of servings of fruit, veggies, breads and cereals, protein, dairy. It helps to see what missing in each day's menu.
I did the same for exercising. Kept track of cardio, strength and core exercises.
Like I said, I did very well until toe surgery which had a lengthy recuperation time. And then THE WEDDING. And then Mother moving to Mitchell. And then Christmas. And now painting bedroom(s). In other words, LIFE. I'm not very good at multitasking......
BUT--I can be very stubborn about some things, so let's try being stubborn about health!
I have one secret that has worked really well for me:
Instead of focusing on losing weight, focus on getting healthy. Look at the big picture - while 10 pounds is nice, the long term goal eliminating sickness, longer living, healthier body 10 years down the track, fitness and weight loss are awesome bonuses!
When I focused on losing weight, I would get really down and disappointed if it wasn't happening fast enough. Every time I fell off the 'wagon', I would beat myself up. Making changes in lifestyle seemed like a more temporary thing, where really, it should be for the long haul. It helped me to stick with it and not feel like giving up if I lost track of it all for a weekend.
The idea about student trainer is great! I did it, too! They say that it takes 6 weeks to form a habit - stick with until it's a habit. Until you learn to enjoy it and look forward to it because you love the feeling that exercise gives to your body. Find what you love in exercise, then you will stick with it.
Finally, I found that many drastic changes at once are really difficult to keep. It's like you are living someone else's life but to me it comes with a very "this is just temporary" mindset. Making small changes that become normal and then introducing the next one, I found, was much easier and natural.
Actually, this will be finally. I was speaking to a friend and she said she attended a health seminar where they said that weight loss is 15% exercise, 35% food and ... 50% detox!!!!!!! Look into it and see if it's something you might find interesting :) :) :)
(Hey, by the way, I joined the gym too!!!) :)
How is the resolution coming? :) :) :)
A little belated here, but I thought I'd throw in my 2 pennies. I've found great success from doing Body For Life. It's not a diet plan, it's a lifestyle chanjge (yeah, they all say that, but bear with me...) Not only do you change the way you eat, but you change how much you do. It's a ton of working out, and many of the success stories find their way into body building (not my goal). I haven't lost much weight but I've lost a ton of body fat (which I measure with calipers). I did it before I was pregnant with Thea and have been doing it again since July (with a few months off due to h1n1 and holidays). I'm down at least one pants size and am much more toned.
The best part? No counting calories.
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