Need To Change my Way of Thinking

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triscuitsmom08
triscuitsmom08 Posts: 47 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I realize today that for some reason I've seen food as "scary" lately. With all the working out I am doing (take a peek at how much I've exercised this last week) I manage to eat the 1490 calories FP tells me I should eat but sometimes I go over and I feel cruddy about it. BUUT on the downside the last two days I've been really dizzy, now my sugars haven't been any more sporadic then normal, but I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't up my calorie intake because I've been exercising EVERY SINGLE DAY

and it's really really HARD for me to be taking this day off (unless 8 hours on my feet with a 30 minute lunch break counts as a workout? *shh I counted it as one on my log*)

Replies

  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
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    Your food and exercise diaries are not public.

    If you exercised a lot, then you need to eat some of the calories that you burned exercising. Your sugar level may be low, that is why you may feel dizzy. Since your diary is not public I can not offer another solution.

    Maybe your MFP friends can see the diaries and help you more. I hope that you do and feel better next week, just don't get too frustated.
  • tawny7
    tawny7 Posts: 276 Member
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    I always eat back some of the calories I've burned exercising. You might not be eating enough.
  • momto3hmn
    momto3hmn Posts: 67
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    Make sure you're drinking enough water, the average adult weighing 150 pounds needs to be drinking 18 cups of water a day, so if you're exercising on top of that... drink more water :)
  • triscuitsmom08
    triscuitsmom08 Posts: 47 Member
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    These are suggestions I'm going to try! I def need more water that's for sure, right now I'm drinking about 48 ozs a day working on more right now. I made my diary public now I didn't realize it wasn't. My sugar's aren't low, for instance right now I am at 145 (type 1 so this is a good reading for me) and I'm so dizzy I wouldn't trust myself to stand up and run around the room
  • millerll
    millerll Posts: 873 Member
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    From looking at your diary, I'd recommend you add sodium to your tracking. You're eating a lot of processed foods and they're high in salt. Also, I don't see a lot of fresh fruits or vegetables. You might want to add those to improve your nutrition. It's not just about the calories. You want to make sure those calories are nutrient-rich, especially if you're exercising a lot. Your body needs those nutrients to repair and maintain itself. I think you may, in spite of the calories, be slightly malnourished. Good luck!
  • triscuitsmom08
    triscuitsmom08 Posts: 47 Member
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    I want to cut back on processed foods but when I only have $8-15 after I pay bills on payday it's hard to supply us food. We get food stamps to supplement but because I'm working I don't get that many. We always buy Mera's food and stuff first (we use about $30 a week on her food and stuff :) lol), she's priority. It's tight lately with me going to college and having a job (boyfriend is trying but where we live there just isn't anything open right now :( ) plus our bills its a little overwhelming. I was, two weeks ago, drinking green smoothies, eating raw fruits and veggies and only that but then my hours got cut, drastically. (I drive 38 miles for a minimum wage 12 hour a week job). So now it's whatever we can afford (believe it or not we won the McDonalds food on $1 drinks lmao).

    And the 7-11 is a guess-ta-mate since I homemake my pita sandwiches (and just yesterday figured out how to add "your foods" grr call me blonde)

    I'm trying to find healthier things to eat/cook on our budget but if you guys have any suggestions we'd gladly take them! No it's been an all day dizziness thing that happened the moment I opened my eyes this morning and has been persistent. I'm almost wondering if it isn't related to the sickness that is going around my workplace. Usually getting up and moving gets rid of my dizziness ( I had it really bad after my son was born too and my doctors dont know why I had all sorts of tests and scans done grr). I had my blood checked recently by my dr (yes I got her permission to exercise like I have been, in fact she encouraged it and I'm supposed to see my nutritionist in Nov). and it all came back great.

    I'm just at a loss here, its not so much about the dizziness its about finding the cheapest way possible to get good foods (on a very small budget) and to get over my fear of food.
  • SouthernBell86
    SouthernBell86 Posts: 275 Member
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    Okay, so from looking at your food diary, I have a few observations, but first I'd like to ask you a few questions.

    What is your activity level set to? What is your rate of weight loss set to? If your work involves you being on your feet for 8 hours a day, I hope you have your activity level set to account for that, because if not that could be a reason for your dizziness right there. If you are currently set to more than a pound lost per week, you may want to scale back to a pound and see if that helps.

    Now, the big things I noticed about your food diary are the following: You eat very few things a day that are all relatively high in calories. I'm not sure how you spread those out, but it could be that you need to try and eat smaller amounts more consistently throughout the day. My Grandfather was diabetic, and he managed to lose the weight he needed to and got off all his meds and insulin, but he was religious about eating little snacks at specific intervals, and eating his meals at specific times.

    Also, if you try to work in some complex carbs into your diet you may notice that you have more long lasting energy. Most of your carbs seem to be simple carbs (sugar, most breakfast cereals, white bread, white noodles, potatoes, white rice, etc.), and your body processes those and turns them into glucose really fast, which leads to a spike in blood sugar. Complex carbs (like oatmeal, whole wheat bread, cereals and pasta, brown rice,etc.) actually take your body a lot longer to break down and digest, and thus the glucose is made more slowly and your blood sugar remains more stable.

    Complex carbs are a good idea for everyone, especially dieters, but I think that especially in your case that trying to get rid of the simple carbs and replacing them with complex carbs and veggies will make a huge difference in the way you feel overall.

    EDIT: When I posted this, I noticed your newest post. Eating on a tiny budget is TOUGH! One place I shop in my hometown is a warehouse that gets grocery store cast offs (fixing to go bad, not bad yet kind of stuff) and sells it really cheap. I don't know if you have one in your area, but even if it is just along your route from work to home, try and find out if there is one. Sometimes they even have organic stuff, and anyway they definitely have good things. Secondly, if things really are hard for you right now, and especially having your baby in mind, why don't you consider asking your church or another church in the area if they might be able to help you somehow, with diapers, baby food, veggies or something. I am looking for a job too right now and I know how difficult times are, but there are still generous people out there =)


    Good luck with this weight loss journey! You seem to have had a lot of success already, keep up the good work :)
  • millerll
    millerll Posts: 873 Member
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    Ah, yes, medical costs and feeding a family on a budget are a challenge. There have been several informative posts on the forum lately about this very topic - buying healthy food on a budget. You might want to search through those for some tips. Meanwhile, check the Sunday paper for grocery store ads for good sales on produce. Frozen veggies can often be had at a reasonable price. Bulk bags of beans are super cheap and very high in nutrition. They take a little longer to cook, but it can save you lots over canned, and save all the sodium. You'd be amazed at what you can do with beans! Also look for bulk brown rice. Again, check the recipe section here for lots of good ideas for ways to work them into your meals. A lot of people recommend places like Costco for good deals on large packages of chicken breasts. Stretch your meat budget by adding lots of beans and rice and you can make filling, nutritious meals pretty cheaply. Best of luck!
  • triscuitsmom08
    triscuitsmom08 Posts: 47 Member
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    Like I said back even two weeks ago when I was hauling in a $160 a week paycheck verses my $68 a week check now we ate a LOT of fresh fruits and veggies (thus why I lost so much weight it was by changing my diet so drastically and I felt so much better). I went through a lb of spinage in less then a week and was having at least two-four bananas/apples/pears a day, and I thrived on that. Now we've been going around trying to price out things in the store that we can afford that will still support that diet. At my store we changed the price of spinage (I'm spelling that wrong btw) so I might grab me another 1lb box of it on Thurs (my payday) and get some frozen fruit (I hate the taste of canned fruits and veggies to me they taste like metal) so I can continue my smoothies. (yeah I was doing green smoothies and they worked, my digestive system was amazing and now its back to being crampy and crappy).

    I really need help figuring out how to budget good healthy food. I'm tired of feeling guilty here every time I stick something in my mouth. So far this last week we've lived off what my mom got us. (shes NOT good at selecting good food either bleh)

    and the 8 hours a day are VERY rare. Today we had someone call in sick so I got 8 hours, normally I only get 4 or 6 so I either work 3 days a week or 2. Almost pointless let me tell you. Last night I only got 4 hours of sleep as well which might contribute to it.

    ETA

    Yeah lol my mom runs a food pantry at her church and they help out what they can but they don't get too much fresh veggies in, thats where that cheesy potato soup came in I homemade it out of a bag of potatoes they gave us. (the nutrition value is a little off because I didn't add salt, I didn't add the kind of cheese they used I used low fat cheese and fat free milk and only a quarter of the butter :D ) It is hard! I will def search the posts and start making a new food list. Thanks so much guys I do appreciate the feedback. :D And good luck on the job hunt!!

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