SBF Fitness Challenge. . .August 13th

Going to try the Bodyattack class at Goodlife tonight. It's intense... so I'm a bit nervous.
I spoke to my trainer last night about my eating habits. So today I am starting to record all my food and eating 6 small meals.

It's going to be a good day! :flowerforyou:

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you V. Didn't like the look of the ultrasound? I don't think they are very artistic either, but I wouldn't want to hear that.

One of the interesting things I read in my latest book (What to Eat), was that if you eat more meals, you will eat more. Whether or not it's true for everyone, I don't know, but it's true for me. I was very happy to read that because the latest trend seems to be to eat every few hours to keep your blood sugar in check. That wasn't working for me. My blood sugar is normal. It was reassuring to have someone say, you can eat 3 meals a day. I do 3 and one snack. I'm not saying your PT is wrong alolsen; it might be the best thing for you, but your post just reminded me of it and I wanted to share.

So anyway, I did the elliptical, an uphill walk, and an outside after dinner walk. It's only going to be in the high 90s the next week, yeah! Today is weights, yoga, and walking.

I am up 3lbs this morning- It has been a week since last weigh in and I have been recording everything and exercising- so it is a bit of a bummer to say to least.

But I am not giving up. I just wonder if I should really be eating all the exercise calories or not....

You could take off a portion of your exercise calories if you are not wearing a HRM. For many people the burn is more in the charts and on the machines. It won't account for the 3 lbs - that's more likely something else going on.

alolsen97- I am interested to know what advice your trainer gave about meals. Did they say protein plus complex carbs, smaller meals, 5-6 times a day? Or was it even more specific?? Congrats on your progress. I can use any advice you have right now!

Thanks.

We only did a quick session on my food... we are going to do a more extensive one in the future. But these are the points she gave me for now...

She said breakfast is a must.

2litres of water a day.

Include protein at each meal
She said for the weaker forms of protein (ex. beans), eat a complex carb with it. I'm still not sure exactly what that does, I'm going to have her go over it again with me next week.

She said stay away from the low fat stuff. Fat is good for you in moderation (hence the smaller portions). The chemicals in the low fat foods can be more damaging than the fat in the full fat foods.
This is going to be tough for me, as I've always turned to the low fat option. But since It's really never changed my weight in the past, it may be what has been so damaging to my body.

She also said to stay away from processed foods. I tend to bring lean cuisines to work cause they are quick and easy.

Plan your meals. She said to have 6 meals a day. Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Snack.
Make your breakfast, lunch and dinner a little smaller than you would normally have and your snacks a little bigger. This will help keep your metabolism working steadily throughout the day.

I'll post more as Iearn more.

Hope this helps a little

She said for the weaker forms of protein (ex. beans), eat a complex carb with it. I'm still not sure exactly what that does, I'm going to have her go over it again with me next week.

That might be the notion of combining foods for "complete protein". Most plant foods contain only a subset of the amino acids that we require, while animal sources tend to contain all of them. So beans and legumes combined with grains (like bread, corn, rice) make "complete protein". It used to be believed that this combination had to occur at the same meal to be effective, so vegetarians like myself were always lectured about getting beans AND rice, etc, at the same meal, or we wouldn't be getting enough protein.

More recent research has shown that this isn't really necessary. Eating a variety of foods over the course of the day is adequate, and most Americans get a lot more protein than is really required anyway. If you are very athletic or trying to build muscle, you need more, and some people feel like they function better with more. But it's not that hard to get "enough" for normal activities.