Ok - so the late discussion at the end of class tonight with Heather was caloric intake and expenditure and a little lesson on our primal human roles "back in the day."

Hopefully I'm recapping this correctly, but the short of the long was - back in the early days, humans were designed to be on the look out for the proverbial "buffalo herd" ie DINNER Humans were primarily hunter/gatherers. When the hunting was poor [so lack of calories going in to support activity] the body shut metabolism down in a last ditch effort to sustain life in difficult times. If then, the human found some forage or berries, or game.... whatever... energy for body function was available and wa-la, things came out of starvation/hibernation mode and again, the hunt for food [exercise] could continue.

Fast forwarding to today, buffalo and hunting have been replaced by cars and grocery stores or restaurants. Needless to say we live in a land of plenty with not so much of the hunting and gather part going on in our busy office work days. Hence why we are all here.

One of our members gave the example of her day's activities, which consisted of quite a bit of exercise in different programs broken up throughout the day and also her caloric intake, which was not sufficient for that level of activity. Now - through "My Fitness Pal" we are given a caloric goal to meet (and can add "calories to the bank" when we exercise.) If we are not EATING ENOUGH to meet that calorie goal then, if I understand correctly, we are going into "starvation/hibernation" mode were the body gets all screwed up trying to conserve energy to keep us going vs burning/using fat for energy. We may misunderstand and think that we are doing great staying WAY under... but in reality we're screwing ourselves into "shutdown" mode? Correct?

SO.... in theory.. we need to get use to being better "browsers" throughout the day versus trying to eat just a few big number meals? What are good snacks or meal choices to get us between activities / work / meal time ect?

Heather / Joey / Anyone - can you share some meal suggestions on how to get some quality calories into our day without filling them with crap or empty things? Are any protein bars or other things something to grab if in a pinch on time and good choices?

For example - what's your favorite mid morning treat at coffee break? or what do you munch on in the afternoon as you rummage through the house after a long work day during the stretch before dinner? What are some good breakfast choices for those of us who are on the go and maybe don't always indulge sitting down for that meal?

I'm probably jumping the gun on a future class but I doubt I'm the only one thinking about this!

THANKS EVERYONE!! and great job tonight :-)

-Nat