6.25.2008

23% body fat?

So, I have a lot of free time since it is summer. Every summer I end up losing a few pounds because I spend more time at the gym than I normally do. It turns out that I start taking pilates classes, a bunch a week, and last summer I was close to a nice six pack and in great shape. Well, in the past 3 months, I've put on these 5-6 lbs that won't go away. I really don't like them and we're not friends! And the problem is, I don't know how to attack it. I feel like I'm a superb eater (except when I bake!) and I work out at the very least 6 day a week for an hour. Usually it is more than that though. I have been running 30-40 miles a week since January, so the fact that these pounds joined me is unfair!

When I was in college, and I wanted to lose weight, I didn't really know what I was doing. I read books about nutrition and started counting calories. I was eating veggie burgers, vegetables, cereal, milk - this is when I really started to learn about nutrition and I became really good at it in the years following. But at the time, to lose weight, I started eating 1100 calories a day and I was on the crew team. In 6 months, I lost 25 pounds. My personality changed, I stopped going out, stopped drinking, and overall, stopped having fun. And part of that personality stuck with me and I don't like her at all. As a result, I try not to be overly concerned about my weight, but when I feel like I'm not comfortable in my skin, I take action.

I went to the gym and they have personal trainers. I decided I'd try it so they gave me a consult, which was today. First of all, the PT was approximately 22 years old. Everything he was telling me, I already knew. My main desire was to know how many calories should I be eating for my activity level. When I put my goal weight and activity into fitness websites (i.e. REAL AGE ) it always tells me 1800+ calories( for sedentary), or more on the side of 2000+ (for medium active) which sounds like a whole lot. I was trying for about a month to do 1500 calories. Nothing happened. I don't want to eat more unless I feel like I have to, and surely, I don't think less would be good. This guy had no numbers for me. Instead, he has a list of 5 carbs and 5 proteins, and pretty much the diet was to have 1 protein + 1 carb every meal and snack for 5 meals a day off that list. There was one vegetarian item on the protein list, egg whites. So I'm picturing :
breakfast: egg whites + oatmeal.
Snack: egg whites and bread,
lunch: egg whites...you get the point.

You could have as many veggies as you wanted. It was a horrible plan coming from a gym! Horrendous! It wasn't something that you would continue to do forever (a lifestyle change) but a stupid let's deprive ourselves until we lose weight diet then start dying for other foods and have a binge and gain all the weight back. Seriously!! I could have taught this kid something! The whole diet was based off of no sodium. I was frustrated. He did my stats though, which was helpful. My body fat was 23%. That sounds high for someone that eats very well and works out 24/7! Also my waist to hip ratio was high (according to Mr. 22 year old). I might go to a real nutritionist because I feel like it's important that I know how much I should be eating for optimal fitness, but for now I'm just going to wing it and try to eat more, maybe 1800 calories a day? Am I medium active? very active? Sedentary if I workout an hour a day and teach or sit for the rest? Maybe I'm not eating enough? Constant battle.

4 comments:

  1. 23% is within the norm range for a woman (especially for someone in the "fitness" category). There is nothing wrong with it :-)

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  2. I don’t think the gym guys have a clue. I went with my gf and I think it was that guy’s worse nightmare. I debated him on just about every aspect of his nutrition guide… I thought I should apply for a job there if it was that easy. Try adding yogurt to your diet, like three times a day. A study showed people who added three servings a day lost 61 percent more body fat and 81 percent more stomach fat over 12 weeks. Give that a shot.

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  3. I would see a registered nutritionist or dietician if you really want to low down and some good advice.

    Way to keep the mileage between 30-40 miles!

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  4. Oooohhh no, it's not really a goal of mine LOL. It's one of those things where if one of these days I qualify GREAT, but it's not something I'm really going to work for HAHAHAA (I'm a tad too lazy to put in the work hehe)

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