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Day Four!

A Caloric Ratio Diagram: Read on to find out what it's about!

    It's Day 4 and as usual I'd like to talk to you about what I'm struggling with and trying to work on myslelf, and today that's keeping myself accountable. And I think the first key is to write it down! What you eat, and when you exercise. I knew this was important before. I mean, I'd heard it said by doctors and read it in articles. But, experiencing the difference yourself that this fairly simple change in behaviour can make is psychologically powerful, and anyone who's ever struggled with weight loss, establishing an exercise routine or played any kind of sport knows how big a role psychology can play. Speaking for myself, I think taking the extra step of becoming a Beach Body coach has made a HUGE difference in helping me to stay accountable to myself.

    So, writing everything down is key. I did it for awhile, at points in the past, and then let it slip only to find that I undid all my own efforts. But not this time! And one of the tools I depend on in keeping track of my diet, you'll have noticed it if you ever clicked on one of the links in my meal tracking section, is Nutrition Data.com. This is a fantastic web site, that I really can't say enough about. I've been using it for years but there are still tools and resources on here that I have yet to explore. But what I really rely upon are the 'My Foods' and 'My Recipes' sections, which allow me to see a complete nutritional breakdown of individual foods, or a recipe I made, and then combine all of what I ate throughout a given morning, or a day, or a week to see how it all stacks up.You don't need to get all your potassium every day, but if you go a week without getting much at all that might be cause to reassess your diet. And especially if you're starting with a whole new diet without the assistance of a professional, being very aware of nutrition and educating yourself will be all the more important.

    One example of the ways in which they present all this information on Nutrition Data, and it is a lot of information, is in the diagram I included at the top of this posting. You were probably wondering what it was and may have been able to figure it out largely on your own. It visually presents how the food or recipe you're analyzing fairs, as far as its carbs to fat to protein ratio. Pretty neat eh?! There's so SO much more, but another great example is that they also have a diagram precisely like the Nutrition Facts diagram we're all used to seeing on the back of foods we purchase.

    The diagram shown is the analysis for the Tomato Soup recipe I made for lunch today. You can check out the whole nutritional breakdown by clicking on the link in the Meal Tracking section, and see a picture of it just below that.

    cont'd ...Which reminds me, in their exhaustive database of foods and the nutritional properties of those foods, there are also included lots of common packaged products and meals-- everything from Kellogg's cereals to McDonald's. The information they use for their food database comes from the USDA's National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference as well as individual food manufacturers, and restaurants. So, as online resources go, pretty credible.

    Other highlights include being able to search for foods by nutrients they are rich in. So, when I combine all the food I've eaten today into one recipe and I find that maybe I didn't get enough iron (which long term can lead to anemia), I can then search for foods or even more specifically if I like, say vegetables, that are chock full of iron. Some may not be suitable sources, like parsley-- the shear volume you'd have to eat to get a reasonable amount of iron from parsley would be.... not very palatable, or digestible, but you will find foods that are great sources. For instance, I just learned by doing exactly that search that in a 100 gram serving of baked potato (skin on), you'll get 7mg, about 39% of your daily needs for iron. That was really surprising to me! Now you have to be careful in how you interpret this information and of course, consulting with a professional nutritionist is always best. But also and always, just use your common sense. A balanced diet is always best, so don't get carried away. This site can be a powerful tool if you take the time to educate yourself and learn to use it properly. I love it! In fact, I'm addicted to it, and I hope you'll be able to find it useful as well.

    Explore their resources, make use of them, and empower yourself with new knowledge about what you choose to put in your body. You may be very surprised at what you find.

Lunch: Tomato Soup

• 1/2 hour running/jogging sprints
• Slim in Six - Start it Up!
  

     I feel like I'm getting much more into the swing of things day by day. Especially with nutrition and eating habits. I was already kind of in a good routine with exercise before starting this more comprehensive program because I'd been doing the Power Lifting 3 days a week for about a month. BUT I hadn't lost a pound... :-(P  And I was seeing some results but not the kind I really wanted to--namely in pants size! Having a varied routine of physical activity is so important but just as much, and there are many doctors who say that even more important is diet and proper nutrition. And that's always been my problem. I used to be in much better shape, I was very active, hiking and rock climbing every chance I could get, but I don't think the nutrition was really there, and it held me back. Not only do I want to get back into great physical shape, better than before, I want to learn about eating more healthfully and make these changes last a lifetime. And I'll be learning for a lifetime to, because the science of exercise and nutrition are still both relatively young ones.

    So, I am happy to say that today I am feeling pretty excited, pretty pumped, and ready to take on the rest of this challenge!! I hope you are too!

Progress: Just what it sounds like. And I'm only going to be doing this for your sadistic pleasure once a week or so. ...Oye veh.

Still about 200 pounds.