I sit at my desk in t r i u m p h as I look at the empty bag that held just 2 servings of vegetables. A whole cup of carrots. It only took me 4 hours to polish off the bag. . .
Lifestyle changes are hard. I never realized just how much fat I put into my body until I really started looking at the food labels, and also reading my handy food exchange list. These lists are typically used for people with diabetes, but are also used for weight management/weight loss.
I also have a calorie tracking sheet that goes along with the booklet. It's all stuff I got from Y Be Fit.
I've been tracking my calories for about a week and a half now. And only one day (which was yesterday), did I get all my servings of fruits and vegetables. I kinda "cheated" . . . I had a V8 Fusion after lunch. Those things are kinda gross, but I felt good because my "fitness adviser" and I made a goal that I would eat all my servings of fruits and vegetables 3-4 days in this next week. One down!
The booklet and calorie tracking is meant to be an "exchange" list that keeps you within a certain amount of calories. If I wanted to, I could eat ice cream all day. But then my calorie limit would be up a lot quicker than if I stick to the recommended calorie intake from each category (vegetables, starch, protein, dairy, fruits, fats).
I'm really disappointed at the selection of healthy choices here at BYU. You'd think with the wellness center and the whole Y Be Fit program, there would be some better choices. But there's not. Also, it's also hard to buy a piece of fruit, when I can buy 2 donuts for less. I'm totally in favor of taxing fatty, unhealthy foods. 2 donuts sure look tempting over an over-ripe banana that's more expensive. I've heard people say that you can either pay more now for healthy food, or pay lots more in medical bills later.
But again, it's super hard to change eating habits. All I want is to sit and eat chocolate. . . Lots and LOTS of chocolate. I realize and acknowledge it isn't going to be an overnight change. You can't take 24 years of eating one way and think in a week you can become good at this. One day at a time.
I also have another accomplishment to be proud of. I did aerobic exercise for 45 minutes on Tuesday. I ran for 25 minutes, then got on an eliptical for another 20. I was quite impressed with myself.
Was does bad food have to taste so freaking delicious?
2 comments:
If this helps at all, I went off all artificial foods and therefore started eating A TON of fruit and vegetable servings. I lost 8 pounds on accident by eating 6-8 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. And V8 drinks are not always cheating. They're good to have around if you find a flavor you like to help you choose that over snacking on chips or something. Try green smoothies, too. Those make it hard NOT to get the suggested amounts a day. You just load in a bunch of fruit into the blender and then start adding spinach until it turns green. (You'll use over a bushel sometimes) Don't use any yogurt or other things. Just fruits and veggies and maybe throw in a tbsp of flax seed in there if you want to go super healthy. Its often 5-7 servings in one cup. :)
Nancy! I've started working out and watching what I eat, too! Good for us! My brother-in-law off-handedly suggested this site to help, and I LOVE it!!!
sparkpeople.com
It's AMAZING, and completely and totally free! When you first start you tell it your goals (if you want to lose weight or just be healthy), and then it tells you what your calorie range is and how much you should burn a week in order to reach your goals.
It has a nutrition center where it makes menus for you and counts calories, fat, carbs, etc for you. You can change the menu items to be whatever you want, and if you have a food you want to eat (or have eaten) it has a place where you just enter the name and copy the nutritional info and voila! It's in your "favorites" section, totally easy to find later!
It even lets you plan your meals ahead, and makes a grocery list that you can print off to take with you to the store!
And it also has a fitness center, where you tell it your fitness goals, and you can opt for it to design work outs for you. I did the strength one yesterday here at home while the baby was sleeping and wow am I sore! And it only took 15 minutes, tops!
In short, I LOVE this new site, and I lost 5 pounds in 5 days!
Also, lemme know if you want a running buddy, because I've just taken it up again. I'm really slow (I have to push pretty hard for a 10 minute mile), so don't be intimidated :)
Post a Comment