Monday, November 29, 2010

Food...

OK, I have to admit it, I am definitely addicted to food. No I don’t mean that to be funny, I mean I am really addicted. Sure I need food to survive just like everyone else, but I just have to have more and more of it. I can’t help myself sometimes when there is a food I really like, I can’t stop eating it until its gone. This does not bode well for someone who has a sluggish metabolism and has gained a lot of weight which they are trying to lose.

This is where the Weight Watcher’s approach to eating fails me. It allows me to eat anything, literally, but I have to stay within a certain point total for the day. When it comes to those foods I truly love, this becomes problematic as my idea of a portion and theirs definitely do not agree. Their idea is usually somewhere around a cup to cup and a half of any particular food. My idea on the otherhand tends to be 2 or 3 times that for foods I like.

Let’s take cereal as an example. A perfectly reasonable amount for a serving is a cup of cereal and a half cup of milk. For most “healthy” cereals this tends to be between 130 and 180 calories and usually about 3 or 4 points for weight Watchers. Now, when I pour a bowl of cereal, I tend to p0ur between 3 and 4 cups and add 2 cups of milk. The simple math puts this way over 500 calories and likely 12 or 15 points. Obviously not a healthy amount to be eating at any given time.

Now, I normally try to stay sane with what I eat and have a decent amount of success staying within my daily allotment of points, but then there are days that I just go overboard and eat way more than I should, eat - food full of empty calories and just blow my plan out of the water. I find this happens more often on WW than it did when I was eating low carb. I also lost more weight on a low carb diet than I have even come close to on WW. So I’ve decided I need to go back to what works best for me and that is low carb.

My reasoning for moving away from low carb was that I thought I needed the carbs to be able to sustain exercise and compete in the triathlon. At least that is what I told myself and used as a justification. I have been doing some research on the subject and found that its just not true. A proper low carb diet can easily sustain me on long work outs and while competing in an event. So its back to low-carb for me.

Now I will be following the new Atkins low carb plan which stresses 10 to 15 net carbs of foundation vegetables a day. This is a bit different from the traditional low carb plan that everyone usually thinks of which is focused primarily on protein and meat with very few vegetables. I know this will work for me. I have to get in shape. The RAGE triathlon is coming on April 16 so I have 6 months to prepare. This time I will run during the run and break 20 minutes on the swim – just wait and see!

3 comments:

  1. I've never been one to count calories, but when I was a YMCA member I sure did count calories "burned." Now that Thanksgiving is over and I witnessed 17,000 runners at the Turkey Trot in downtown Detroit, I've decided it's time I get back into shape. I don't know about you, but I can think more clearer after a workout. Keep at it. You're doing all the right things. Just don't get injured; that's what happened to me.

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  2. Dan, first of all Congratulations on your Triathlon! Way to go! I found your blog address from Fatcyclist - signing in for his losing 10 lbs! I want to wish you good luck and send some good vibes to you! I have been on Weight Watchers maintenance at goal for a year now, having lost 62 lbs! I want to cheer you on, because my husband is a large man, over 500 lbs - I try to been an inspiration to him, but I can't lose the weight for him! Good luck!

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  3. JR - Glad to hear you're making a change! I'm certianly not planning on an injury and am taking it slow in the running arena to avoid one.

    Amy - Thank you! I hope your husband finds his inspiration. It took many years of my thinking I needed to do something before I finally made the decision and actually started doing something. Good job on your weight loss too!

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