Diet and Fitday questions for the Educated Crowd

[munchkin928]

Hello everyone! I just wanted to get some good 'expert' advice about my new journey into actually watching what I eat. This board has so many people who seem to have had great successes and are incredibly helpful that I figured it was a great place to get practical answers. I posted this question over at the YaYa's site as well as here, if anyone reads both.

For my background, I'm 5'2", 135 lbs, wearing a 10/12. I work out to Cathe mostly, and am also working my way through the Couch-2-5K program. I'm a full-time graduate student, and in general a VERY stressed out person, so I'm not really wanting to do any sort of program in which I beat myself up much. However, I've basically gained 5 lbs every year since I graduated high school, and that is NOT a trend I want to continue. I would like to get back into a 6 (probably that will be around 120 lbs, maybe even 115), and most of all would just like to feel fit and healthy and proud of my body.

My 'plan' so far has been to simply exercise regularly (running and weights right now, but when it gets outrageously hot I'll probably do step for cardio), and count my calories (aiming for 1700 a day). I've never kept a food journal of any kind before, but am actually enjoying it right now. However, I've come across a few questions as I've been doing this (only for about a week, mind you):

1. I've been using Fitday, and so far it seems pretty accurate about foods (like comparing the labels to what Fitday provides for calorie and nutrition counts), but are there any inaccuracies I should look out for in using this program?

2. How long do you stick with a given calorie range before you know it's ineffective? I've been going a week, which I know is way too little, but don't want to panic early if I don't see results right away either. I've been aiming for 1700 calories a day right now, and have been within 150 every day (sometimes over, sometime lower), which I thought was okay. Should I give it a try for just a month and then evaluate the results or do you think it needs to be longer to really give it a fair shake? I'm not going to give up if it's 'not working', but I would have to decide on some adjustments to make.

3. Finally, it seems to fit my schedule best to eat most of my calories for the day for dinner - like at least 700 calories every night are for dinner... is this an okay practice, or should I work hard to learn to eat more calories earlier in the day?

Thanks for any input you have to give!

Amanda

 

[clareMc]

Hi Amanda:

I am a grad student parent, so I understand what being more stressed out than you can handle means. That's why I want to encourage you to make some changes, but try not to do it all at the same time. My point is that you are already stressed out enough, you don't need to introduce additional limitations to your already stretched thin life that will end up adding more stressors than ever before. Exercise, done seriusly as part of a fitness for life attitude, and "dieting" are both stressors. I would choose the former and drop the latter like a hot potato.

I own most of Cathe's workout library, my barbell to 60 pounds and a range of weights from 20 pounds downwards. I make it my religion, my duty to myself, my "me time" that I am entitled to, and also my "daily doctor's prescription medication" to workout seriously, to train as hard as I can, because it is the only thing that keeps me focussed on all that I have to do, that helps me cope with being overwhelmingly stressed at times, helps me keep organized and with enough energy to get everything done and not get interned in the funny farm. I suffer from depression, PMDD and panic disorder, so I know what I am talking about.

I simply could not live without my regular exercise program and it is and will be a major part of my life for ever.

I do not diet. I have so many restruictions to my life already, so many things that I "have to do", I cannot bear to hem myself in with any more limitations messages like "you must eat this" and "you musn't eat that."

I find that exercising hard, at the advanced level with Cathe, with the focus on gradually increasing cardiovascular capacity and gradually increasing the poundage I can heft with my weight training, means I do not have to worry about calories at all. When you work out hard with a real goal in mind, you have to fuel that body and the fat loss takes care of itself. If you work out with Cathe 5 or 6 days per week, fat loss will occur. A new, svelter you will emerge, with more muscle tissue, less fat and a higher metabolism.

Focus not so much on counting calories, really, don't you already have enough to think about?!!!!! How many papers do you have to have written by the end of the Summer, how long is your reading list, how many conference papers are you planning to get ready?!?!?!?!?!? Give yourself a break!!!!!!!!

Focus instead on eating healthily for life and fuelling your body so you can become a Cathe athlete like the rest of us aspire to be. Eat whole grains, as many fruits and vegetables as you can handle, eggs, fish, lean meat, plenty of water, and cut out processed food, junk and limit eating out.

Define your goals (run a 10K in 6 weeks time, get to 50 pound barbell for squats by the end of the Summer, swim a mile freestyle by the end of the Summer, whatever, you choose), eat healthily, covering all food groups, and most of all: FREE THE MIND AND KEEP IT SIMPLE.

You have enough stress already, don't add any more to it.

In grad student solidarity,

Edited to add: it is not good to save most of your calories for the evening meal. You need to actually aim to have two thirds of your daily calories eaten before then. Think about it: you need to feed your brain. A stressed brain starved of the calories and nutrition it requires will be stressed out even sooner and will not serve you well for the long term haul of your grad program. Spread your caolries throughout the day. Never go more than three hours without eating. Make sure every meal includes a serving of protein and 2/3 servings of fruits and vegetables. Keep several pieces of fruit with you whenever you go out to keep hunger at bay and junk food way over on the horizon. And remember, just because you are a student doesn't mean you have to eat like one. Bagels for lunch every day? Pizza and take out for dinner? C'mon! You can do better than that!

Clare

 

[munchkin928]

Clare,

Hi! I wanted to tell you thank you so much for your heartfelt reply to my post! I can tell that you really do understand the stresses of graduate school very well. I took the first line of your post to mean that you're in graduate school AND raising a child/children... if so I have a lot of admiration for your stamina!

Thanks for the reminder to keep everything simple - it's very easy for me to add extra unneccessary stress to my life just in general. In fact, for a long while, I sort of vacilated between 'giving up' on fitness and jumping into a rigorous program that I couldn't realistically maintain. I thought a lot yesterday about whether or not what I've chosen to do recently falls into that category yet again.

I have to say though, that for me, deciding to watch my calorie intake has been a freeing experience. If I decided to just eat healthy, I started to get a bit neurotic about things and questioned every choice I made. This problem was compounded by reading and exploring the differences between low carb and low fat diets - very confusing!! For example, if I'm cooking dinner for myself - is making a meatloaf okay? Is that healthy or unhealthy? I would worry about these things to the point that I wouldn't know what to cook and would just give up. Now I don't feel bad about melting some cheese on a burrito or enjoying a small ice cream sandwich because I know how much of it is there, and that I'm still within a healthy range of eating.

Also, I am trying very hard to cook more at home (for health AND financial reasons), but the reality of my life right now is that I do eat out more than the average person. Counting calories has helped me really consider things like nutritional content and serving size, and make a good choice without feeling overwhelmingly guilty about eating out. However, I am rapidly finding that it's a heck of a lot easier to eat healthily by cooking at home, which is good motivation to get into the kitchen and whip up somthing quick.

Even though I was posting about 'diet' issues, I do think that the exercise is the most important part of my health plan. Exercise helps me become strong and healthy, and more importantly is a mood and energy boost that I really need. Even if this whole 'diet' thing doesn't work out, you don't have to worry about me dropping the exercise!

I guess I just wanted to say thank you very much for input and for making me really think through what I've set ahead for myself. You really made me think through the reasons for what I'd chosen to do, and how it might impact my stress levels and daily life.

Thanks so much again,

Amanda

P.S. I also wanted to reassure you that I DO eat veggies and other healthy foods- I realized from everything I've written it might sound like I'm cutting my cheeseburgers in half so I'm eating a small meal or something. I would guess that if we actually sat down and compared diets, what I'm doing isn't very different from your suggestion of just choosing healthy foods each day.