100 Healthy Days

Whether they want to or not, consumers will soon know how many calories they are eating when ordering off the menu at chain restaurants, picking up prepared foods at supermarkets and even eating a tub of popcorn at the movie theater.

I have to say, as an advocate for nutritional information being readily available to the consumer, this is a dangerous path we are about to head down. This may come as a surprise from Mr. Healthy over here but let me explain why.

Food companies make money by selling food. So in the past all they had to rely on is making something crazy delicious so you will want to head back and get it ALL THE TIME. What I do not like about the calories being on the menu is now food companies have two goals: To make the food crazy delicious AND low in calories. The few ways to do this are by adding a thousands of grams of salt and artificial sweeteners. NEITHER of which are making the food healthier. Insert any item from Panera. For years they have had calories on their menu, but if you look at the nutritional facts, you will get more sodium in one Pick Two than what you should consume in an entire day's worth.

The next fact is this "Calorie Scared" generation we are creating. Until recently, I was definitely calorie scared. I figured, being healthy was about being full by consuming the least amount of calories. WRONG. It wasn't until I really started counting my macros, looking at the nutrients that I need to exist and be strong and healthy. A macro is short for macro-nutrient. These are the nutrients that calories actual come from, Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats (Alcohol is the forth but there are no nutrients from alcohol) These macros are not going to be required to be on the menu which doesn't benefit me but they are supposed to be "available" upon request.

Day 64 - Icy Roads and Decks of Cards

Today I attempted to go out for a run. Boy was that a mistake. While already being dusk and dangerous out, the road turned into black ice so I had to run with half steps to make sure I didn't fall. I quickly turned around and headed back home.

Now, I don't have a treadmill, free weights or any workout equipment for that matter at my house. I was still determined to get a workout in so in winter, I turn to my trusty Deck of Cards Workout. This is the best thing if you have no equipment and a limited amount of time. This is great for when you are traveling as well and the possibilities are endless.

How it works:

Pick a workout for each suit. Yesterday I chose, Hearts - Pushups, Spades - Squats, Clubs - Lunges, Diamonds - Sit-ups. Shuffle up the cards and begin. Turn over one card at a time and do the amount of the card of the appropriate exercise. Novice, I recommend doing what is on the card and any face card doing 10 of that workout. Intermediate, you can do what is on the card and the face cards hold their value, Jacks - 11, Queens, 12, Kings - 13, Aces (I do 20) Expert, you can double everything. On 2's I switch up depending if I can run. I will either do hill sprints or a 1/2 mile 'sprint'

Day 59 - Portion Control

The more I get into IIFYM I discover it is all about portion control. It is not the fries, the burger, the chicken nuggets or the fountain drink that makes you fat, it is the quantity that we consume. The old adage everything in moderation might be true when we are reading or watching TV (for some) but when it comes to food, we binge on as much as we want and then blame the fat, carbs, sugar or salt that was in the food for making us fat.

Above is a graph of the largest fountain cup size available at McDonald's. The very first size that was offered was 7 oz in 1955. Could you imagine if you got a 7 oz fountain drink today? People would riot. They need everything to be super sized! I am sure you could get a pretty similar graph using the french fries at any restaurant as well. A graph of portion size, fountain cup size and waist size since 1955 would be a very interesting inforgraphic to really display how the portion control in the US has gotten our of control.

Ok, so I have been bad about posting updates, but here is what I got.

IIFYM - I mentioned this a few posts ago and I love it. I have learned so much more about where calories come from. I have discovered I need so much more protein than I ever thought I did and I have realized that I eat way too many carbs. Having the knowledge in my head about how many grams of Fat, Carbs and Protein I can have in one day really assists me in making healthy decisions throughout the day.

Day 50!

Half way through and I am rolling. I would definitely say I wish I would have dropped more weight but I am okay with it. The next 50 days I am going to count my macros and really see how that can assist with my fit goals. I have been working out hard but not seeing the results I want so let's see what a little more determination can do.

Hi All,

Today is day 45 and I have been thinking about going back to counting calories. Counting calories hasn't helped me too much in the past so I am wondering how many people have had success with, if it fits your macros, IIFYM? I have heard a lot of great things about this.

Yesterday I calculated my macros and I realized a few shocking things to take note. One, I need to eat more calories. Calculating this percentage, (I will attach the link at the end) takes in account more factors other than just how many pounds do you want to lose. This takes age, weight, activity level and what your goal is to figure out how many of each macro to take into account for your daily goal.

A macro is short for macro nutrient. These are your proteins, carbs and fats. All three of these make up your daily calories. I think my pitfall in the past is the fact I am a carb-aholic and get most of my calories from carbs each day. The second thing that I realized is that I need more protein, way more! Today I calculated all of my calories and macros for the day and I was 30 grams over in carbs and 89 grams of protein under my goal.

The main idea of IIFYM is that a calorie is not a calorie. Think about a person eating 1500 calories of bread and another eating 1500 calories of chicken. Very different and I think we all could agree you will feel very different eating the chicken than the bread. We get calories pushed into our heads ever day of our lives and it has never worked for me. I will probably start this next week while I continue my research on the topic. If anybody has any success stories or just tips for this, please send me a message and we can start a discussion.

Here is the link to the IIFYM website and it can explain this way better than I can. Also, the calculator is at the top of the page. The other great thing about IIFYM is that you can eat whatever you want as long as it fits in your goal for the day. You want to eat pizza? Great but you will still have to figure out how to hit your goals for protein for the day.

Day 43

Normally the day after a half marathon begins my "break" time where I become a little more lax in my workouts. Especially after such a great time yesterday, smashing my old PR by 6 minutes I feel like I earned a break. Not this time!

I still have a lot of work to do and I NEED to get bigger results (physically). I am a bit excited my training is over so I do not need to focus on long runs as much and I can get in more weight lifting. Such great results in a run is exciting and motivational, but I am still looking for the physical results I can see on a daily basis.

Plateaus! I hate them. Another week without weight lose is really getting to me. I am 2/5ths the way done and I really need to kick it into gear. I really do not want to start monitoring my calories but I think it is time. 

I used MyFitnessPal in the past and I have really liked it. We will see if this helps. Sometimes it helps to bite the bullet and just count.

Day 36

Today is day 33. I am officially 1/3 the way done. My weigh in this week was a disappointment since I stayed the exact same. I really felt like this was going to be a great week of weight loss and to see the scale be the exact same is really hard. I have to remind myself that 5lbs of fat and 5lbs of muscle weigh the same and the fact my clothes fit better and I feel better most likely means I gained some muscle this week.

Good news is that I am also 1/3 down in my weight loss goal so I am on track as well. Hopefully next week will be the drop in pounds that I am looking for but I still have 67 days left to work at it.

Day 31 - Don't be Fooled

One complete month done! Hard to believe it has been 31 days already but I really feel great! One pitfall that I NEED to share is the trickery that goes on in the grocery store. Too many people fall victim to these claims every day and I for one still do.

It is so hard to not give in when you see your favorite unhealthy treat with a new label that makes it seem better. Click on the image above and you will find the most common tricks of the food labeling world. (I know it is a Buzz Feed is not the most reliable source but these have checked out.)

Day 29 - Motivation Monday

It is that time of the week again to start off with some motivation. I love this for motivation Monday. I don't know about you but I feel like every time I decide to start working out and eating healthy, people come out of the woodwork to put you down. I think it is there personal dissatisfaction in their own lives and people do not like to see others do better than them but there definitely needs to come a point when you need to forget about that.

Day 28 - Long Run

Today was my longest run of the year in prep for the Buckeye Half Marathon on the 26th. I had a great pace and it felt great. Hopefully I can keep up the momentum for race day.