Now, before I get into this, let me cover some things that I think are very important... I want to reiterate that weight loss is not the focus of this blog. I want people to be active. I hope that my love of running becomes contagious... no matter what your weight. To me, you can't judge fitness by weight. In fact, many of the most fit individuals I know are not your ideal magazine size 2. Next, I believe that fueling a run is way more important than losing weight. If you try to lose weight while training, you do risk underfueling. Be careful out there folks!
OK, now onto the details... I have heard it over and over about calorie counting. You know, simple math... calories in - calories out. Simple, right? The thought of taking something I enjoy so much (food) and putting into obsessive equations just never sounded good to me, despite the fact that I was an Applied Math major. The problem is, I think, I had the wrong perspective on calorie counting.
I finally joined sparkpeople.com just to track calories and workout burns. I think there are other sites that provide similar services, but I knew TMB used sparkpeople, and that was enough endorsement for me. I want to be clear that there are lots of details that go into calculating how many calories you should be eating. You shouldn't just pick a random number (back to that previous note about underfueling).
I'll go through a quick approximation of myself...
Maintenance calories = BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) + Daily Activity + Training
A quick and easy approximation...
BMR = approximately 10 x Body Weight = 10 x 156 = 1560 calories
Average daily activity = approximately 500 calories
Training = approximately 35 miles a week = 3500/7 = 500 daily calories
So we're at 1560 + 500 + 500 = 2560
Now, if I want to lose 1 lb a week which I think is a nice slow loss appropriate for someone who is training hard and needs to be very careful not to underfuel then I need to cut 3500 calories a week or 500 calories a day. So 2560-500 = 2060 calories per day. That's almost exactly what Sparkpeople estimates as well... and I have been pretty consistently keeping the calories in the 1700-2000 calorie range each day. 1700 is my low-end number that I try to never be below. Eating too little can slow your metabolism... and I promise, my metabolism needs no help going slower.
OK, now the perspective. At the start, it was simply eat and track, eat and track, and if I hit my calories, I stopped eating. Unfortunately that left me feeling a little hungry some nights. It was a slow evolution, but now it's a game. I mean I love math... why wouldn't I love a good numbers game?
Let's take a look at a favorite of mine - The Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich with a medium fry. Assuming I got a Diet Coke, we're talking 790 calories (I'm not going into sodium and fat here because this could be a never-ending discussion, and I'm clearly not a dietician). Now, let's just be clear... this favorite of mine has not left my diet. Nope, it hasn't. I love Chick-fil-a... but I have had maybe 1 every 3 weeks instead of once or twice per week. BUT I am a numbers girl... and I admit, I'm a hungry girl... and 9 times out of 10, I'll pick quantity. So it didn't take me long to really do the math and figure out that for the same 800 calories as the Chick-fil-a meal, I could instead have an entire 10 oz bag of baby spinach plus 2 large sweet potatoes plus a cup of chopped bell pepper plus 2 apples plus 4 cups of zucchini plus 2 cups of snap peas plus 3 carrots. That's a lot of food.
Basically all this to say that I am getting really good at making trade-offs. I know that if I'm pretty hungry and I only have 200 calories left for the day, I better make a huge salad or snack on some carrots and snap peas. But I want to be clear that this is not what I eat all the time. I still eat chocolate... tonight I ate Chipotle... but I count it all... every calorie. Even on the couple of days where I gave myself a "pass" for a special event, I came home and approximated the calories of every single thing I ate. I didn't do that so I could beat up on myself for eating 2500 calories instead of 2000 calories that day. I did it because this is a learning process... and the realization of how many calories are in certain things allows me to make wise and informed decisions.
For instance, on one of my nights where I allowed myself a little freedom, I had two Guiness beers. I rarely drink, but I did have two beers that night... and when I came home to log it in, I realized I had wasted 400 calories on beer. Really? I'm one of those that would rather have 400 calories of cookies and cake than drink it.
I'm getting wordy... but the conclusion here is that once I got in the right mindset about calorie counting, it was a resounding success. Calorie counting is not about beating myself up for everything I eat. Calorie counting is about learning the value of each bite you take. It's about being educated about what we eat. It's about knowing it's ok to splurge if you take a cut somewhere else and as long as it's on occassion. It's about knowing the trade-offs (like tonight, I could've skipped the tortilla and instead gotten cheese and guacamole and been a much happier person, but I didn't realize that until I got home and logged that big tortilla at a whopping 290 calories).
And just so you all know that I am not starving myself... this was my dinner the other night (note that this is a huge dinner plate, not my small lunch plates)...
4 oz chicken breast rubbed with a little grapeseed oil (yes, I count and measure the oil) and rosemary and then rolled in some Italian bread crumbs; baked sweet potato with brown sugar and cinnamon and a pat of butter, and an entire zucchini cooked in a little garlic grapeseed oil. A huge plate for 560 calories. YUM!!!
12 comments:
I agree with everything, and it's all perfectly worded. It really is all about knowledge, and making an informed decision, not becoming a prisoner in your numbers.
One of the things I did recently when I started to use spark people was I cut out almost any drink with calories. Like you, I'd rather eat a cupcake than drink a giant coke most of the time. Not to say I wouldn't grab a frap of I *really* wanted to commit 400 calories to it, but chances are I'd go with a misto instead ;).
Nicely put. :)
Great post Lesley! Thanks for passing on the spark site. It sounds like you are completely grasping the numbers and excelling with this program. I love how you gave us visual for the trade offs.
How do you feel making the trade offs? DO you notice a diff in your energy, etc?
Congrats to you. It is not about punishing yourself but about understanding what it is you put in your mouth.
I thought I saw a mushroom in that zucchini but it was not. Get on the mushroom band wagon would ya!!!!!
you and i must be long lost sisters!!!! chick fil a is one of my major weaknesses too and i refuse to give it up. thank you for posting this and helping push me to clean up my nasty diet!
my family (not J and the kids - everyone else) thinks I am crazy for the way I eat. All the measuring and calorie counting. My mom and sisters have even suggested that I don't eat. Obviously if they looked at my food log, they'd see that that isn't the case. I think what I need to change is the bites here and there. I finish the kids sandwiches and don't count it in my calorie count since it's "only one bite". I need to be honest with the fact that they do count. It would probably make all the difference. What is your sparkpeople name? So I can stalk you, I mean friend you ...
Great work. I have never been much of a calorie counter, but more of a healthy diet eater. Still, even with healthy foods, you can over-do it (almonds tend to be my calorie-laden downfall!). You just gave me some inspiration to be better at tracking!
Great post. Will have to check out sparkepeople . Thanks for the info
@Jess - Yes, I have felt a lot better recently... and frankly didn't think about it until you asked, but I used to almost collapse into a coma post-workout and now I'm fine going about my day.
@Jason - You're going to have to cook me a mushroom and convince me... It's a texture thing, not necessarily a flavor thing... I actually use cream of mushroom soup in dishes sometimes. OK, so not so much anymore since I tend to avoid "cream", but you get the point.
@LB - ;-) I will never give up chick-fil-a! They know me and my kids... sad.
@TMB - I've dealt with the same thing (thinking I'm on some strict diet)... And yes, the bites are funny things... I was packing the kid's lunches and ate ONE cookie (a tiny chocolate chip cookie)... 80 calories... really? ugh, what a waste... it only took me one bite to eat it. I'm on sparkpeople as racingitoff, I think...
Lesley, this is such a great post. I've loathed calorie counting too but when it comes down to it, I just eat way too much food----I started using an app. called my fitness pal that I love but have slacked...you have motivated to get me back on it. Congrats on your weight loss...the healthy way!!
I hate, hate, hate calorie counting. It's such a pain & well, I don't like math. :p
Hi;-)
First sweet potatoes rock;-) And I go through ebbs and flows for calorie counting. I mainly do it during the 3 months of my 'official' training for an A race, and the rest of the year, I stay mindful of my intakes but don't really count calories.
and yah alcohol packs in those calories eh??;-)
Okay - this is helpful. I decided today to count calories, then got really depressed when I saw how many I had just from half of an English muffin with a tad bit of peanut butter - and then a banana later. But then, as seen on FB, I gorged at lunch - so let's ignore calories today and start fresh tomorrow.
I "only" want to lose 10 to 20 pounds. Is that too much to ask??? Ugh.
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