Food = Math + Science

Over the past few posts, you’ve heard me touch upon my current weight predicament. It’s been a very frustrating couple of months, so I’ve decided to take the time and space here to hash it out a little bit more.

I would like to throw out a disclaimer right now that, yes, I know that weight is just a number. I’d go even further as to say it can be a fairly arbitrary number when comparing it to the other arbitrary numbers of your friends, family, celebrities, etc.  This number fluctuates, it does not take into account your fitness abilities (like how fast or far you can run or how many ninjas you can take out with one punch), how you feel in your own skin, and it certainly does not define your worth as a person. What that number on the scale can be, however, is a reference point. A measure of where you are at relative to yourself only. I’m a person who likes to weigh myself every day. Not because I’m masochistic, but because you then collect a lot of data that can help inform a story over the course of time. It can show you trends, patterns, and progress…and also makes one hell of a line graph. And who doesn’t love line graphs?!

So, no, my weight does not define me—and most of the time, I feel a fairly positive relationship with the scale because I know that I’m doing my best to take care of my body, and doing so takes into account far more than three numbers on a screen. But I’d be lying if I said that I don’t struggle from time to time when I don’t see the numbers I’m expecting (or hoping) to see.

Which is precisely what has been going on since the start of 2014.

Over the holidays, I threw caution to the wind and gobbled up every cookie, dip, pizza, and pasta dish in sight. Of course, I knew this would tell a tale on the scale, but after quite literally weighing my options, I decided that a fun, relaxed holiday was way worth some extra lbs. I also, historically, had the ability to take weight off rather quickly once I returned to a clean-ish diet and exercise habits. So, holidays came and went, and an eight pound gain remained. I launched into the new year ready to get back to my routine, and expecting to see those eight pounds slowly, but surely, slip away as I returned to my average weight.

Well, it didn’t go down quite as I had hoped. Returned home? Check. Stopped eating ALL OF THE COOKIES? Check. Back to the gym for regular tushie whooping? Check. Starting a friendly competition as motivation to shave off some extra lbs? Check. Actually shaving off those extra lbs? Not check. Not check, at all.

I think we’ve all figured out that, most of the time, a successful equation for weight loss is proper nutrition and exercise. Mainly because if your calories out is greater than your calories in, you have to use some of your…eh...rainy day stored energy...to help power that lovely body of yours.

Obviously, something in my equation is off. And it’s very frustrating. Especially when I know I am busting my butt at the gym five days per week, and feel like I am making responsible decisions around my eating for the majority of my meals.

Let’s break that down even further. Here’s what a typical week looks like in terms of exercise and eating.

Exercise (energy out):

·        Tuesday-Thursday: One T25 video per day followed by 35 minutes of intense cardio (running, stairs, spinning, etc.)

·        Friday: One T25 video followed by one hour Zumba class (where I go all bananas and flail around real hard. That is to say, it’s definitely cardio intensive)

·        Saturday: Two back-to-back T25 videos

·        Sunday-Monday: Rest days

Nutrition (energy in):

·        Sunday-Thursday: essentially clean Paleo/Primal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Maybe, maybe two open meals during this timeframe, due to my work schedule or getting stuck in a pinch.

·        Friday: Paleo/Primal breakfast and lunch, open meal dinner

·        Saturday: Paleo/Primal breakfast and/or lunch (depending on when I actually get motivated to eat), open meal dinner

That seems relatively reasonable to me. So where is the problem? Well, let’s return back to that weight loss principal: weight loss occurs when energy out is greater than energy in. Okay. That said, I very rarely flake out on the gym. We’re besties. In combination with the energy it takes just to exist every day (basal metabolic rate), plus my general activity level at work, plus my ninja gym routines, I would think that my energy output is pretty on point.

As it stands to reason, then my nutrition is likely the culprit. No, I am not a Paleo, green machine all of the time, but I assumed I was working out hard enough to overpower some of my less healthy meal selections. Clearly, this is not the case. So even though I think I’m doing a pretty okay job making healthy and helpful choices concerning my food, I am clearly missing something. Now I just have to find it.

When I started this blog, I mentioned that I was going to be tracking my calories as a tool to help me lower my overall percentage of body fat. I did that rather consistently from January until September of 2013 and then gave it up around the holidays. Mainly because I was having a hard time logging all of the homemade cookie and cheesy dip recipes. In hindsight, that should have been my first hint to cool it, huh?

Anyway, I decided to return to food logging for a while to see what I’m overlooking. I started tracking my nutrition about two weeks ago, and intentionally did not modify the foods I would regularly eat, as I wanted to get a clear picture of the possible dietary factors that could be contributing to my weight loss plateau. If I know what’s throwing me off, I can make an informed decision about what needs to change in order to see results.

I’ve looked over the past 10 days of noms, and it’s definitely been enlightening. In case you’re interested, here’s the average nutritional breakdown per day:

·        Carbohydrates: Under maximum recommended amount. I don’t typically consume grains during the week, so these amounts likely come from fruits, veggies, added sugar in coffee, etc.

·        Protein: Almost always 2x the recommended amount. Not surprised by this at all, as high protein is essentially a commandment of a Paleo diet.

·        Fat: 1.5-2x greater than recommended amount. I’m guessing this is also related to my protein intake, since meats, nuts, and eggs also tend to have higher fat content.

·        Cholesterol: Overall, within normal range per day. Exceptions were on days when I ate eggs.

·        Sodium: 1.5x-2x greater than the recommended amount. Hey, hey, water weight.

·        Sugar: Again, over by at least 1.5x per day.

·        Fiber: Typically, a few grams under the recommended amount per day.

·        Calcium/Vitamin A: Not nearly enough, as it barely registered as visible on the graphs. Oops.

·        Water consumption: Typically met recommended amount on days when I went to the gym only. Which probably shouldn’t count, since I was sweating it all out, anyway.

Ahah! Despite feeling like I was doing an okay job with my nutrition, it looks like there are some definite areas for improvement! Next step: battle strategy.

1.      Focus on lowering sodium and sugar intake to see if that gets the scale moving. This will be really interesting, seeing as both salt and sugar hides in EVERYTHING.

2.     Emphasize hydration. I’m basically not going to count water consumed while at the gym—since I sweat it all out anyway. This means I’ll really have to pay attention throughout the day and keep that water handy. Flush out, body!

3.     I am also realizing that, for a diet that focuses on high protein AND lots of plants, I’m really only acing the protein part. Time to add in more veggies, and ease up a little on the fruit. That will likely round out my fiber intake, give me a vitamin/mineral boost, and help cut some of the sugar.

I’m planning on giving these goals a trial by fire over the next week, and observing any effect—both on the scale and on my energy level/mood/general feeling in my own skin. Am I a little disappointed that I’m not as much of a clean-eating machine as I thought? Yup. But I sure am glad to be aware of it now! It certainly beats feeling disempowered and frustrated, and I’m very optimistic that forward progress is on the horizon!

Now, time to start this week out right. Pass me the chips and cookies!!!

…Or some broccoli. That’ll work, too, I suppose.

Happy Weekend, and LOOK AT THIS CAT!

Seems like a reasonable pillow.