3.31.2011

I suck at calorie counting

Here I am entering in what I can remember at the end of the day. I know I forgot things and I'm around 2200 calories (of things I remember) with 2700 burned (running 10 miles + basal metabolic rate).  I had a crappy morning run doing 6.5 brutal miles where I just felt like stopping after 2, but then had a nice mid morning run at the gym somewhat tempo getting in 3.5 in 28+ minutes. It felt GOOD.  I also did some abs. Trying the abs 2/3 times a week to see if I see a difference!

What I like best about entering everything in (FITDAY is the site that I use) is that it tells you your nutritional info.  I think it is so much easier when calorie counting to use pre-packaged things, especially power bars and they have tons of vitamins, but I have been staying away from those things. I think I'll buy a box!

I can't believe how much I am eating actually! I used to think 1800 calories was alot and to be over 2000 is kind of crazy, especially since I'm mostly eating when I'm hungry, not engorging myself. Have you ever counted up your daily intake? What did you learn?

I learned:

*I'm low in Vitamin D and Calcium. Calcium is a bad one to be deficient in. Both are in my vitamin, but Calcium is only 15%. 

* I need to eat more veggies. Lately my go to snacks have been nuts and protein powder, and lots of oatmeal based things - pancakes, plain old oatmeal, . I'm good on fruit and have my smoothie w/ spinach, banana, orange, pear.. but I need more variety in my veggies, just not enough throughout the day. Any tips?

*Whoa carbs in the high 300s. Aren't you supposed to aim for 200?  Oatmeal, dried cranberries, fruit, maple syrup - that's where they came from.

Now that most of my custom foods are added in, I think I can try harder on this and see how I do. I am going to go on the scale one time a week and see if there is any difference in weight.

Click these to make bigger. This site - for free - is pretty awesome actually!




Philadelphia Marathon registration opens tomorrow, April 1! I think I am going to sign up for the marathon, even though it's 3 weeks after Marine Corps. If anything, I'll run the half for fun. Here's my history with it - I kind of have to try for the marathon:

2007 - Marathon - not a bad day, 4:26
2008 - Half Marathon 28 weeks pregnant with Nick, walked the entire thing in 3:15
2009 - Marathon, my sister finished it with me and I wanted to die, was burnt out, pregnant with Kara and out of breath - 4:39
2010 - Half Marathon - ran and reported on it - 2:07

See the pattern? 2011 is a Marathon year. We'll make it a goal - maybe a fun run?

And... March food shopping was $542. I tried hard, really I did!  I think February was a low and short month so March had to be high.

8 comments:

  1. i need to count calories!

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  2. I eat way more than 2000 calories a day. Maybe that's part of why you're a lot faster than I am?

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  3. I use Fitday to log everything and am always shocked by how many calories I manage to eat. And even though I try to go out of my way not to eat sugar, I'm always shocked by how much sugar I manage to eat.

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  4. I'm not thinking about calories.....yet...lol....but only for a little bit longer!

    well, vita d and c are both things you really should take a supplement for and not just try to hit the rda amount for because their amounts are too low. vita d actually is linked to immune system and there are lots of studies out there about it. you should be getting 3k mcg a day on that.

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  5. I hope you won't be preggers for the Marathon as there is a pattern with that too! LOL!

    MUST MUST MUST up your Calcium with Vit D(Need latter to efficiently absorb Calcium) especially as you're still nursing - No crumbly bones in later life please! Also less known is that it helps with heart contracting so it's a pretty important one.

    Ideas for upping veg: lunch - have salad (proper good side salad) with a sandwich or veg + bean soup or simply a salad, but make it proper big with lots of protien or you'll see stars after about an hour!!!!! Dinner - no matter what I cook, even if it is a one pot with veg in it I usually do a side dish of diff veg to serve with it.

    A new veg I just started using a lot more is celeriac. I use it instead of mashed potatoes and it is really good and helps to add variety.

    Good luck with the veggy eating.

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  6. I find the paradox of calorie counting is that is easier to log prepackaged foods. There always comes a point where I rely more heavily on those for convenience and ease of logging my food. It's not good though.

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  7. Thanks for this post since it is a good heads up about calcium (especially since I am BF). I am sure I need a lot more than my current intake. That freaks me out since both of my grandmothers have broken hips.

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  8. I'm too lazy to do Philadelphia this year. I really like staying close to home, so I might think about Atlantic City.

    Might.

    ;)

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