I've been trying really hard to eat a very healthy balanced diet lately. I hate saying that because it makes it sound like I was eating tons of junk before...and that is only partially true. I would eat very healthy and organic and then wash it down with a sleeve of Thin M!nts. I could easily justify the cookies with the fact that I had eaten a very healthy meal.

I finally hit the point where I realized that if I really want to be healthy and live a long and productive life, I need to get serious about life style changes. So, I started by logging on to MyFoodDiary.com and began logging in everything I ate. This is a very scary thing to do and NOT for the faint of heart! Wow! Even things I though were healthy are full of calories, fat, and sugar. My favorite breakfast, grape nuts mixed with yogurt, has 420 calories and 32g of sugar! And lets not even talk about portions sizes. I quickly found out that I was eating 2 or 3 times the recommended serving sizes of lots of foods. Even healthy food can be unhealthy in great quantities.

So, since I've started MFD I've been eating between 1200 and 1300 calories a day. When I exercise I am careful to eat back the calories I spent to maintain the minimum 1200 threshold. This helps encourage me to exercise more so I can eat more. I watch what I eat and even when I cheat I log it in. Valentines day for example was wicked... I ate about 1200 calories in that one meal!

I've found that this system works great for me because I'm a control freak. I like being about to tailor my diet to be sure I'm getting all correct percentages for my body and health goals. I aim for 20% fat, less than 9% sat fat, 50-60% Carbs, and 20% protien... all tracked in the program. I am also careful to stay below the recommended 2400mg of sodium and try to eat at least 25g of fiber a day. This is not an easy balance to maintain and I often fall short but I'm getting much better at it!

I'm striving to loose a healthy 1 to 1.2 pounds a week and I had a total of 49 pounds to loose when I started mid January. My weight loss goals are secondary though to my health goals. I want to lower my cholesterol into the healthy range and stabilize my blood glucose levels which are currently pre-diabetic. I plan to exercise a minimum of 5 days a weeks and include cardio, weights, and stretching in my workouts.

If I don't ever reach my weight goal, I'll be ok with that, as long as I reach my health and fitness goals. I want to be here to see my children grow up. I want to be a fun and playful parent instead of the one with low energy, unable to keep up. I want to feel good in my skin. I want to be healthy and strong!

So, I've been doing this plan for 36 days now. So far, I've lost 7.5 pounds and 1.5 inches from my waist. Only 41.5 more pounds to go. I'll keep you posted.

posted at 11:36 AM  
Labels: It's ALL about ME