I think I may have told you 3 or 4 months ago that I believed I had won my life long battle of the bulge. For many reasons, not the least of which was my inability to eat potato chips, I believed I was now in the drivers seat when it came to managing my diet, and thereby my waistline.
Wrong!
Okay, maybe I won a battle or two but I certainly have not yet won the war. I am afraid that for those that are genetically predisposed, the war goes on forever. The night before last I ate 4 ice cream bars in rapid succession and barely managed to stop then! Last night I managed to keep it to two, but then I discovered the left over ice cream cake that was in the freezer!!!
So I'm back to counting calories for the next week. I have challenged Roo to do the same and she jumped on the bandwagon. I encourage you to join us as well.
The point of the exercise is not necessarily to change what we are doing immediately, but rather one of awareness. Until you honestly measure what you are putting into your body you can not develop a plan to improve. For example. I often buy cookies from Costco to enjoy with my evening coffee. Of course I knew they were high in calories as well as fat, but since they make them fresh they are not forced to put the nutritional information on the package. When I researched them today I was shocked to discover 210 calories, and 11 grams of fat per cookie. That's about 50% higher than I anticipated.
I will only do the counting for one week because I believe that ongoing counting can become very burdensome, and even counterproductive. Kind of like getting on the bathroom scale every day. At least for me it is important that I develop sound "norms" but with some flexibility. I suggest that if you count calories on an ongoing basis you may be tempted to fix today's "whoops" by tomorrow's "starvation", which would definitely be counterproductive.
I have bought completely into the theory of 'food as fuel' particularly from the perspective of training, but perhaps even more importantly from the perspective of stoking your metabolism. While the simple philosophy of comparing total calories consumed to total calories expended is fundamentally sound, it is so drastically effected by your metabolism as to make it dangerous. A day of starvation leads only to a slower metabolism, which in turn leads to a slower resting calorie burn.
By the end of the week I will have a good understanding of my current diet and will be able to make educated changes accordingly. Of course there is some work involved but I think it will be worth it. Miguette put us onto a cool little phone application called "My Fitness Pal" which among other things allows you to scan bar codes of foods that don't have the nutrition listed on the package....it worked for the Costco cookies. Again, my caution is that you use these kind of devices as tools to help educate yourself, rather than letting them become your personal daily policeman.
My goal is to structure my diet such that I am never hungry, and still stay lean and fit. I believe it is possible....for anyone!!
So that's it for today. Please think about counting with us just for one week. Don't try to change anything, just keep an honest count of total calories, as well as fat in grams. It may just have an impact on you.
Roo and I have spent some time talking about and researching the other side of the equation, calories expended, and tomorrow I will share some of our thoughts on that.
On the fitness front, I am finally starting to feel myself again, 2 weeks after the race. I am surprised how long it has taken. I suppose I can use it as confirmation that I really left everything I had in Penticton.
(run 10.4 kms)
"A waist is a terrible thing to mind."---Tom Wilson
Love
Peter
Wrong!
Okay, maybe I won a battle or two but I certainly have not yet won the war. I am afraid that for those that are genetically predisposed, the war goes on forever. The night before last I ate 4 ice cream bars in rapid succession and barely managed to stop then! Last night I managed to keep it to two, but then I discovered the left over ice cream cake that was in the freezer!!!
So I'm back to counting calories for the next week. I have challenged Roo to do the same and she jumped on the bandwagon. I encourage you to join us as well.
The point of the exercise is not necessarily to change what we are doing immediately, but rather one of awareness. Until you honestly measure what you are putting into your body you can not develop a plan to improve. For example. I often buy cookies from Costco to enjoy with my evening coffee. Of course I knew they were high in calories as well as fat, but since they make them fresh they are not forced to put the nutritional information on the package. When I researched them today I was shocked to discover 210 calories, and 11 grams of fat per cookie. That's about 50% higher than I anticipated.
I will only do the counting for one week because I believe that ongoing counting can become very burdensome, and even counterproductive. Kind of like getting on the bathroom scale every day. At least for me it is important that I develop sound "norms" but with some flexibility. I suggest that if you count calories on an ongoing basis you may be tempted to fix today's "whoops" by tomorrow's "starvation", which would definitely be counterproductive.
I have bought completely into the theory of 'food as fuel' particularly from the perspective of training, but perhaps even more importantly from the perspective of stoking your metabolism. While the simple philosophy of comparing total calories consumed to total calories expended is fundamentally sound, it is so drastically effected by your metabolism as to make it dangerous. A day of starvation leads only to a slower metabolism, which in turn leads to a slower resting calorie burn.
By the end of the week I will have a good understanding of my current diet and will be able to make educated changes accordingly. Of course there is some work involved but I think it will be worth it. Miguette put us onto a cool little phone application called "My Fitness Pal" which among other things allows you to scan bar codes of foods that don't have the nutrition listed on the package....it worked for the Costco cookies. Again, my caution is that you use these kind of devices as tools to help educate yourself, rather than letting them become your personal daily policeman.
My goal is to structure my diet such that I am never hungry, and still stay lean and fit. I believe it is possible....for anyone!!
So that's it for today. Please think about counting with us just for one week. Don't try to change anything, just keep an honest count of total calories, as well as fat in grams. It may just have an impact on you.
Roo and I have spent some time talking about and researching the other side of the equation, calories expended, and tomorrow I will share some of our thoughts on that.
On the fitness front, I am finally starting to feel myself again, 2 weeks after the race. I am surprised how long it has taken. I suppose I can use it as confirmation that I really left everything I had in Penticton.
(run 10.4 kms)
"A waist is a terrible thing to mind."---Tom Wilson
Love
Peter
I am not disciplined enough to only have just one of any deserts or munches, especially at one in the morning , therefor I leave al those goodies at the store. There have been several occasions where the damn junk foods jumped into the grocery cart and sobbed when I returned them to their respectful resting spots on the shelf. Kudos to you for being disciplined to have it in the house and say no. I hope to be there some day.
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