Having Diet issues

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Carriesund
Carriesund Posts: 37 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay I have two issues the first one is counting calories does not work well for me! I become an obsessive *****. I have to keep myself from looking and friends and family members plates and trying to tally up their calories. So I try to just kind of loosely know what calories I am eating.

Second I have really been working out quite a bit the last month and I think I need to find a better formula to eat. I am doing about 5.5 hours of Pole dance fitness a week and 3 hours of aerial fitness (silks and lyra) a week. Most of it is strength intensive with a little cardio here and there. I also take a Latin dance class once a week. I am thinking of adding another hour of each (except latin) but for some reason I feel like I am starving all the freaking time.

I think I am eating the wrong things even when I am eating healthy. I am building plenty of muscle but my belly fat is not going away. I am by no means heavy and I get that I have gained muscle and I can really see it in my arms and shoulders and legs but my midsection is still full of fat and I hate it. One of the problems is I feel hungry all the time! Especially when I come home from two back to back classes. I have a protein bar between or some nuts and I still come home feeling like I could eat everything in the house. Which by the way leads to me eating a healthy snack and not feeling satisfied then eating something else and something else. I am feeling like if I came home and ate something tailored to my work out needs maybe I would not feel the need to eat ten times.

I am just not sure that I am doing a very good job figuring out what I need. I think I need more protein and not from some protein bar or shake. I want food I don't feel full after any protein supplement. I know how to eat for general exercise but I have been working my fanny off getting stronger so I can do some really cool stuff on the pole and in the fabrics and I think that must be a lot different than just a regular loose weight workout routine. I am more or less training for a sport not just working to lose some weight. I am not a body builder but I am starting to think I need to look into that type of diet rather than your basic counting calories diet. I know how to eat healthy and I know how to count calories but I am pretty sure something has to change I need to learn how to eat for energy in my chosen sport.

All ideas are welcome and by the way I hate my belly fat but I am not as concerned about that as I am about feeling good and not eating 900 calories when I get home trying to find the right foods to eat.

Tonight I am going to try coming home and having an omelet made with organic eggs and veggies I will have 2 classes tonight for 2 hours and 15 minutes I will spend a great deal of that time lifting my body weight. I am all about the hardcore strength moves and I don't want to give that up.

Replies

  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
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    Hi there, your regime sounds great - the belly fat will go, though, if you use up more calories than you take in... Perhaps try fibre-rich natural foods that will keep you fuller longer, or lean meats? Protein is quite filling. Good luck!
  • howardheilweil
    howardheilweil Posts: 604 Member
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    Not to be harsh, but you can exercise 12 hours a day, but if you don't know how many calories you are consuming and how many your are burning, you can't be successful at this. You need to determine your daily calorie number and start accurately logging your food intake. All of the exercise is great, but you should probably be using a heart rate monitor to determine your calories, particularly for the dancing. Good luck!
  • Carriesund
    Carriesund Posts: 37 Member
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    I know counting calories is a good thing but I have done it plenty of times before and have a pretty good idea of calories but I am not going back to carrying a measuring cup with me or never going out to eat. What I can do is keep a food journal again maybe it will make me think twice about eating 10 things when I get home. For me a food journal does more good than counting exact calories. Like I said I am not as concerned about the belly fat as I am about eating to fuel my workouts and to feel full and energized.
  • Gkfrkv
    Gkfrkv Posts: 120
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    If counting calories becomes a negative thing in your life then you should stop doing it. I assume you are doing it to get healthy, but if it becomes an obsession you are not doing yourself any favors.

    Are shaping up in general? If so that just mean that like many women (yours truly included) your belly is where your body naturally stores fat first and it will be the last to go.

    I'm new to this so right now I log everything in order to get a better understanding of portion sizes, but I know myself enough that I'm not going to continue logging everything for long. I'm planning on doing this on a week basis and not being obsessive about tracking everything.

    Because my goal here is to eat healthy and lose a little weight, not moving back to eating disorder land. Because trust me, it's not a nice place to visit, let alone stay.
  • Gkfrkv
    Gkfrkv Posts: 120
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    You should talk to someone. Carrying a measuring cup and freaking out if you everything doesn't go after plan is behaviors my therapist worked hard for me to let go of.

    There is an app that might be a better fit for you,it focuses on eating without counting calories, and to address behavior. I'm going to warn you now that it was developed for eating disorders, I tried it and there was aspects I liked but ultimately it wasn't a good fit for me.

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.recoveryrecord&hl=en
  • Mouse_Potato
    Mouse_Potato Posts: 1,503 Member
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    I have learned, much to my dismay, that pole dance classes are not great calorie burners. They are a lot of hard work and excellent for bodyweight exercises, but they just don't burn fat. :sad:

    That said, I am usually ravenous after a two hour session. I bring a protein shake with me and drink it on my way home from class. No, it doesn't fill me up, but it does take the edge off my hunger long enough to allow me to make a healthy choice instead of hitting that Jack in the Box drive thru on the way home!

    My pre-pole fuel is usually an egg white (taste preference, not a fear of the yolk!) sandwich on Ezekiel bread with a slice of ham and pepper jack cheese and maybe some pureed avocado. It comes up to around 35 grams of protein and usually keeps me going through the workout. Aside from that, I just try to meet my macros and avoid too much processed food.
  • Carriesund
    Carriesund Posts: 37 Member
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    I have learned, much to my dismay, that pole dance classes are not great calorie burners. They are a lot of hard work and excellent for bodyweight exercises, but they just don't burn fat. :sad:

    That said, I am usually ravenous after a two hour session. I bring a protein shake with me and drink it on my way home from class. No, it doesn't fill me up, but it does take the edge off my hunger long enough to allow me to make a healthy choice instead of hitting that Jack in the Box drive thru on the way home!

    My pre-pole fuel is usually an egg white (taste preference, not a fear of the yolk!) sandwich on Ezekiel bread with a slice of ham and pepper jack cheese and maybe some pureed avocado. It comes up to around 35 grams of protein and usually keeps me going through the workout. Aside from that, I just try to meet my macros and avoid too much processed food.

    Yes the more I thought about it I think the belly fat will go away if I start adding some cardio into my daily activity. I am getting REALLY strong from classes but have really hit a fat loss plateau. I walk with my hubby but it just a moderate pace I think I will have to start getting on the treadmill and elliptical again and really getting my heart rate up.

    I like the protein shake on the way home idea too. I have a plain organic protein powder I can use and I think I might just have an egg before I hit the studio just to make sure I am fueled up for the exercise. I used to eat a lot more eggs but I got tired of them but I recall having a lot more energy.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Other than the latin dance classes the things you are doing are more strength related than being huge calorie burners. Belly fat is usually the last thing you lose but with you having no idea how much you eat or how much you burn it's quite possible that you're just eating at maintenance now.

    Counting calories doesn't mean carrying a measuring cup around or never going out. It certainly doesn't mean critiquing other people's plates. Those are mental issues that you need to overcome. You seem a bit obsessive about everything from the amount of time you are taking classes already unless you are planning on joining Cirque.
  • Carriesund
    Carriesund Posts: 37 Member
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    Other than the latin dance classes the things you are doing are more strength related than being huge calorie burners. Belly fat is usually the last thing you lose but with you having no idea how much you eat or how much you burn it's quite possible that you're just eating at maintenance now.

    Counting calories doesn't mean carrying a measuring cup around or never going out. It certainly doesn't mean critiquing other people's plates. Those are mental issues that you need to overcome. You seem a bit obsessive about everything from the amount of time you are taking classes already unless you are planning on joining Cirque.

    I am planning on teaching pole and maybe other aerial arts. I am working on a personal training certification but the nutrition program focuses on average people just trying to get healthy. I am literally training for my future job and one of these days I am hoping to find a few competitions around here.

    Thanks everyone for the advice I have spoken to someone about the calorie thing in the past. The more I think about it I remember them saying something like instead of counting every calorie just keep a journal of everything you eat and keep the portions small or measure them a few times to get an idea of portion size then try to eyeball it.

    So I guess I am going to go back to roughly counting my calories by keeping a food journal. I should get a pretty good idea that way. Calories burned during pole classes are about 200-250 not big calorie burners unless we run routines back to back. I used to wear my bodymedia device to pole class all the time that was a pretty good average of course I can do more advanced moves so I could charge it up and wear it again. Every now and then it is way higher but never much lower. I can't wear the device in aerial class it could damage the silks or be a safety hazard if it got stuck in the silks. The classes are a little shorter and almost no cardio but I am going to guess maybe 100 to 150 calories a class.

    Again thanks everyone for all the great ideas I am going to add a treadmill jog to my routine today and I am sure that will help with the last of the belly fat...it would be really nice to see all the core muscles I know for a fact that I have developed but I am most concerned about gaining strength for more advanced moves and getting the feeling of extreme hunger to go away before I pig out.

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