As part of my insurance's weight management program that I'm now participating in, I get consultations with a registered dietitian every 3 months. Last night was my first one and she confirmed what I've been thinking - I'm not eating enough!
Weight Watchers gives me 29 points, which is roughly 1450 calories (give or take due to the calculation of points). Then I also earn extra points for exercise. As I've mentioned before, I've been working on eating back at least my exercise points and maybe even a little more.
The dietitian recommends that I eat between 1800 and 2000, but definitely no less than 1800 a day. She doesn't think I should adjust my intake based on my activity - this is just what I shoot for every day. I know that she knows what she's talking about, but I'm still having a hard time wrapping my brain around it because I've been so successful with weight watchers as it's laid out and I can be really stubborn about change once I'm in a groove and it's working.
She also gave me goals to shoot for in each food category. I do well in fruits and grains. I'm okay in veggies, but could always add more. I'm really lacking in my the meat/protein department and need to work on increasing my protein intake. I have kind of known that, but haven't really had the push to change it.
I'm still pretty attached to my points, so I'm most likely going to continue logging things based on points. I will try to focus on meeting my goals in each food category each day also and I'm going to add back in more points and try to keep it stable throughout the week. To get 1800-2000 calories, I'll have to go back up to about 36-40 points/day - When I first started this whole thing, I had 40 points/day and I was over 300lbs! I'll try it this way for a couple weeks and see how it goes, then adjust to what works best for me.
I can't believe you get only 29 points! I get a whopping 42! Granted, I weigh 30 lbs more than you but still, that's crazy!
ReplyDeleteI also need to focus on the food groups, especially fiber. Right now I'm shooting for at least 25 grams of fiber a day. It's a lot harder than it sounds!
I'm doing the old plan, which has less points - I think. I was both too cheap and too stubborn to switch to the new program (I've been doing it on my own). I get lots of fiber - probably not the best means, but I eat a bowl of fiber cereal (fiber one 80 cal and Kelloggs Fiber Plus Cinnamon Cheerio looking things are my favs) and then I have a Kellogg's fiber plus bar for part of my afternoon snack. I know that it's not necessarily "natural" fiber, but it gets the requirements in.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big meat eater, so I don't always get the protein that I need. I will have to work on that :)
When I was losing weight after college, my trainer was always on me for "not eating enough calories" after she saw my food journal, but it was never a problem, really (I was generally eating a LOT less than you, too). Sometimes you can defeat your workouts by not getting enough calories in your diet, so if you seem to plateau a lot or aren't losing weight anymore, then your diet may be the answer. BUT, if you're feeling healthy, you're still losing weight in a healthy fashion, and you're happy with the way things have been going, I wouldn't necessarily be ready to change a good thing simply because someone (who doesn't really know you very well) told you to. I mean, at almost 1500 calories, it's not like you're starving yourself. Also, there is always a possibility that some of your food calculations could be wrong and you could actually be eating more than that. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, girl.
ReplyDeleteAs for the protein, a great way to get it in is a protein shake or bar no more than an hour after your workout(cardio or resistance training... ANY workout). A lot of protein shakes are PACKED with protein and should give you sufficient fuel to give your body what it needs to rebuild you after you beat yourself to a pulp. :P
You've done a great job, and you'll continue to do a great job. Stay strong!