Friday, February 29, 2008

Food Fits

I am so frustrated with food.



I desperately want to lose a good 7-8 lbs. Why won't the scale budge?? Sometimes, it even goes up!



I get up before dawn, put in a hard hour or so and then do it again in the afternoon. I'm sure I'm burning a good 800 calories/day. Easy.



I eat almost all healthy foods. I eat oatmeal, raisins and almonds for breakfast. I have spinach salads with black beans and lots of colorful veggies. I have oranges or a couple fig newtons for a snack. Dinner is usually some type of lean meat with a whole grain carb and lots of veggies. I have skim milk. I make low cal (270) protein smoothies as recovery drinks when I've had a long workout. I am so careful about what I put in my mouth. Sure, I cheat. But not much. Is a nightly 150 calorie Skinny Cow ice cream bar so bad?

Is that really enough to sabotage a day of near perfect (in my mind) eating?



I spent two days painstakingly counting my calories. I wanted to see what I was Really doing. Of course, the simple act of that caused me to behave a bit more. I just cut out some mindless snacking. Now, my mindless snacking is usually on something as benign as pretzels dipped in salsa or a rice cake with a little peanut butter (even organic!) on it. So, I am just not sure what I'm doing wrong.



My calorie intake those days was around 2100 or so. I find it hard to compute exactly what dinner is since I don't have the boneless skinless chicken breasts weighed or the veggies measured either. I usually cut up a bunch of asparagus/ red or yellow bell peppers/ zucchini/onion and saute them in a bit of olive oil and garlic. That seems like a reasonable amount of calories for someone my height (5'5") and with my activity level.



I had awesome help from Marni last summer. I have a good handle on how to eat pre/post workout and for racing. But I want to lose more weight. I want to get that "free speed." I feel fitter and stronger and I even Feel slimmer lately but darnit, that scale won't budge! Maybe it's the scale. Yup, I think it's just wrong.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blaming the scale works for me!

Sounds like you're doing everything right :)

GetBackJoJo said...

I hear ya!
I bet it will all slide off at once. :)
I only get on the scale once a week--and I try to do it at the same time of day, before a workout each time. There are so many variables with weight: water retention, hormonal fluctuations, dehydration etc. The scale can and does lie! It helps to only get on once a week because it helps curb the irritation with "lack of progress".
You are so strong and so fast.
You don't want to hurt your training or recovery by eating any less than you are right now!

Marni Sumbal, MS, RD said...

Angela you are doing a lot of the right things. Email me your daily diet and I will tweak it so that you are using the right fuels at the right time to keep up those great workouts and burn a little more fat. You are doing great with everything!!! congrats on the new bike purchase.

ace said...

Sounds like your diet is fine as far as the types of foods you generally eat. And you are right, it often isn't really about the "cheating" now and then when it comes to what we see on the scale. But weight is a function of more than the food we eat. Things like when we eat (the timing of meals), how much rest we get, or how much water we drink -- just to name a few things can also affect what we weigh. In some situations the culprit can actually be too few calories for the training load put on your body.

Another thing few people consider is just looking more at their body composition and trying to adjust that versus how much food they are eating. As triathletes, we often forget to address and work on developing lean body mass by building functional strength. We tend to focus more specifically on endurance which can actually adversely affect muscle mass over time.

Finally, if all other things are being addressed properly, more subtle things can be hindering the loss of the last few pounds like food allergies or food sensitivity, acid levels in the body and digestive efficiency. Unfortunately none of us was born with an owner's manual which can make figuring out what to give our bodies to get the results we want a time consuming and frustrating process. You may consider keeping a food log and noting more how you feel after eating certain foods emotionally or physically. Try replacing any food that makes you feel sluggish or down with something else providing similar nutritional value. Sometimes getting rid of one food that your body doesn't process well can do wonders. Good luck.