Portion control is my nemesis! I'm here to tell you right now, I'm bad at portion control. It's what got me into trouble over time.
When I really committed to getting fit and losing weight, I began to weigh and measure all of my food. I know, I know, what a hassle, right? Who has time to do that? Who WANTS to do that?
You do.
Seriously. If you are as lame as I am about eyeballing your portion size, you need to weigh and measure your food to "get your eyes right."
After many years of eyeballing my food, I'm BETTER, but I'm definitely not perfect. Case in point: 10 minutes ago I was having a morning snack. I had 3 dried figs (not hard to eyeball), and then was adding some walnuts. I looked at the bag and thought, "That looks like two tablespoons." I started to pop a few in my mouth and then decided to measure the bag first. FOUR TABLESPOONS. I was totally off. Had I logged the two tablespoons, I would have been as much as 110 calories off.
So what's the big deal? And what is my point? My point is that we can't always trust our eyes. And the big deal is that if you're in weightloss mode, those 100 calories (and the 100 calories you missed at another meal or snack) could, especially over the course of a week, truly make a difference. You hop on the scale at the end of the week expecting to see a one pound loss. But it's not there. You might be close, maybe you just needed another 100 calories per day gone out of your diet this week. Where was it? For me, it would have been in that bag of walnuts.
This happened to me over and over again before I really knuckled down and consistently tracked my food (and ramped up my workouts). Those hundred calories here and there can make a difference if you're trying to lose.
Is it as big a deal if you're maintaining? No, but weighing, measuring, and tracking my food is what keeps me in check and keeps me from mindlessly tossing things into my mouth when I'm cooking or packing lunches. It all adds up!
So don't be eyeballing it! Do some measuring and find out how accurate you are. Make it a game. It's really not that bad -- in fact, it may just grow on you!
Monday, November 26, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
Finding the Time and Inspiration
I'm busy. You're busy. We're all busy. But we've all got the same 24 hours in the day. How we decide to use them is up to us.
Last winter/spring/summer and into the early fall, I was so dedicated, getting up at 4:45am to get my workouts finished before anyone else was awake. That still needs to happen -- if I start work, I KNOW I won't stop to workout -- but I've definitely been pushing the limits, staying in bed just a little bit longer, running just a little bit later, having to fast forward through some parts of my workout. I hate that. When I commit to something and put a workout on my schedule, I like to follow through. Plus, when I don't get up and get moving, the whole day feels rushed and running a little behind.
I've talked about how I'm training for a triathlon, and now I realize it's time to recommit to my goals. Over the past few weeks, sports channels have been running recaps of the Ironman that took place in Kona, Hawaii. The Ironman is a triathlon on a HUGE scale. I always enjoy watching it, but this year I've watched with greater interest because next summer, I will swim, bike, run, but on a much smaller scale.
The professional Ironman athletes are amazing, but it's the everyday citizens who are INSPIRATIONAL. Twice I've sat through the show that follows some of the "normal" people who choose to compete in the Ironman. There are cancer patients (yes, patients!), cancer survivors, a fire fighter who ran the marathon portion in full gear in honor of comrades killed on 9-11, people my age (which makes me think I need to ramp it up!), and even people in their 60s and 70s! Each time a competitor crosses the line, the announcer welcomes them saying, "You are an Ironman!" How cool is that? From the first person to the last.
If you're a P90X aficianado, you know who Tony Horton is (P90X creator). But what you may not know is that his sister, Kit, is a Beachbody coach. In a recent blog post, she wrote about all of the excuses about exercise she'd had in her head over the years. How familiar do these sounds? So familiar to me!
-I work long hours, I can’t get the workout in
-My travel schedule makes it difficult to eat healthy on the road
-My family won’t eat what I make and I’m tired of making two separate meals
-P90X workouts are an hour long, most days, I just don’t have an hour to workout (or 90 minutes for Yoga !!!)
-The holidays are coming and it’s challenging to eat well this time of year with all the temptations around
-It’s just not normal to eat healthy all the time, you should be able to indulge once in a while
-Before I know it, the day gets away from me and I haven’t got my workout in
-Cooking healthy meals takes too long and it’s so expensive
-Or how about the infamous, "I'll start on Monday."
When you watch the Ironman, you realize it's time to throw all those excuses out the window. The Ironman competitors made a choice to take on the most difficult athletic challenge and many other daily choices to commit to their training and fuel their bodies in the best way to be able to compete. Plain and simple: this race became their priority.
Do we all need to start training for the Ironman? No, of course not. But it's time to start making our own choices -- nutritionally, physically, mentally.
What does making exercise and healthy eating a priority really mean? It means more than doing the workout when you really don’t feel like it and saying no to the birthday cake at the office. It means getting back on track the day after you’ve had a bad day. It means feeling good and feeling good about yourself and your accomplishments for the first time in a long time. It means saying no to crappy food not because you have to talk yourself into it, but because you truly don’t want it AND because you've learned how badly you'll feel afterwards and you're tired of digging back out of that hole! Making conscious, consistent good decisions about your nutrition and fitness will give you the strength, perseverance and determination to make the right choice every time you’re faced with one.
You'll be surprised how quickly it will be a good habit. You'll soon wonder how you ever lived any other way!
Last winter/spring/summer and into the early fall, I was so dedicated, getting up at 4:45am to get my workouts finished before anyone else was awake. That still needs to happen -- if I start work, I KNOW I won't stop to workout -- but I've definitely been pushing the limits, staying in bed just a little bit longer, running just a little bit later, having to fast forward through some parts of my workout. I hate that. When I commit to something and put a workout on my schedule, I like to follow through. Plus, when I don't get up and get moving, the whole day feels rushed and running a little behind.
I've talked about how I'm training for a triathlon, and now I realize it's time to recommit to my goals. Over the past few weeks, sports channels have been running recaps of the Ironman that took place in Kona, Hawaii. The Ironman is a triathlon on a HUGE scale. I always enjoy watching it, but this year I've watched with greater interest because next summer, I will swim, bike, run, but on a much smaller scale.
The professional Ironman athletes are amazing, but it's the everyday citizens who are INSPIRATIONAL. Twice I've sat through the show that follows some of the "normal" people who choose to compete in the Ironman. There are cancer patients (yes, patients!), cancer survivors, a fire fighter who ran the marathon portion in full gear in honor of comrades killed on 9-11, people my age (which makes me think I need to ramp it up!), and even people in their 60s and 70s! Each time a competitor crosses the line, the announcer welcomes them saying, "You are an Ironman!" How cool is that? From the first person to the last.
If you're a P90X aficianado, you know who Tony Horton is (P90X creator). But what you may not know is that his sister, Kit, is a Beachbody coach. In a recent blog post, she wrote about all of the excuses about exercise she'd had in her head over the years. How familiar do these sounds? So familiar to me!
-I work long hours, I can’t get the workout in
-My travel schedule makes it difficult to eat healthy on the road
-My family won’t eat what I make and I’m tired of making two separate meals
-P90X workouts are an hour long, most days, I just don’t have an hour to workout (or 90 minutes for Yoga !!!)
-The holidays are coming and it’s challenging to eat well this time of year with all the temptations around
-It’s just not normal to eat healthy all the time, you should be able to indulge once in a while
-Before I know it, the day gets away from me and I haven’t got my workout in
-Cooking healthy meals takes too long and it’s so expensive
-Or how about the infamous, "I'll start on Monday."
When you watch the Ironman, you realize it's time to throw all those excuses out the window. The Ironman competitors made a choice to take on the most difficult athletic challenge and many other daily choices to commit to their training and fuel their bodies in the best way to be able to compete. Plain and simple: this race became their priority.
Do we all need to start training for the Ironman? No, of course not. But it's time to start making our own choices -- nutritionally, physically, mentally.
What does making exercise and healthy eating a priority really mean? It means more than doing the workout when you really don’t feel like it and saying no to the birthday cake at the office. It means getting back on track the day after you’ve had a bad day. It means feeling good and feeling good about yourself and your accomplishments for the first time in a long time. It means saying no to crappy food not because you have to talk yourself into it, but because you truly don’t want it AND because you've learned how badly you'll feel afterwards and you're tired of digging back out of that hole! Making conscious, consistent good decisions about your nutrition and fitness will give you the strength, perseverance and determination to make the right choice every time you’re faced with one.
You'll be surprised how quickly it will be a good habit. You'll soon wonder how you ever lived any other way!
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