Hey Peeps! Just wandering over from the Body Board.
I just returned from a trip to the sports nutritionist and wrote it up on our thread, and I thought some of you might find this information interesting. Basically, my story is that I have been on a plateau for about 8 weeks (I have about 15-ish pounds left to lose). I have tried everything...shaking up my calories, changing my exercise, everything. I lost 2.4 pounds one week and that has been it. For exercise, I run 5x/week 3-6 miles per time (so I am running more than 20 miles per week), plus I strength train 3x per week. I thought that maybe I wasn't eating enough since I am exercising so much. So I upped my calories one week...and gained weight! That was fun.
So as a last resort, I signed up for this nutrition consult at my gym. This guy is very qualified and specializes in nutrition for the athlete. Here is the story...
So the results are in. Turns out my metabolism is smack-dab in the middle of the normal range, so that is a good thing. If you remember a while back I was worried that there might be a thyroid issue, but there isn't. Although he did not do a blood test, he said that the results of this test would have been a clear indicator that I need to see an endocrinologist, but it all came out ok.
The next number that we talked about was my VO2--this notes how well your body uses the oxygen from breathing and supplies that oxygen to your blood stream and muscles. He said that this number definitely showed that I am a distance runner! He said that my body is "very efficient." Um, ok, great...then why am I tub?
Basically, he could tell that I do a lot of cardio.
Calories...to maintain my current weight, I would need to consume 2,000 calories/day. So he has me on a 1400-1500/day calorie regimen. This is about what I have been doing.
As for the meal plan...a HUGE disappointment. He really screwed up and I am going to have to have him re-do it. This is going to be uncomfortable b/c we are "friends," but he just didn't do a good job. I told him that I was allergic to bananas and that I am a vegetarian but I do eat dairy and fish and eggs.
Well, he gave me a vegan meal plan (NO dairy, NO fish...but he did have the eggs in there) and a banana each day. WTH??? He also had that I am allergic to nuts, which I am not. He kept saying, "yeah, if you could have nuts, then you could eat XYZ...." At first I thought it was because nuts are so high in fat that he didn't include them. Finally, after the third or fourth time he said it, I chimed in with, "If nuts are so great, why didn't you include them?" "You said you were allergic." Ummm...no. So, I am going to have to scrap most of what he gave me.
The most interesting thing I learned was about milk and eggs. He said that skim milk is terrible...just equates to sugar water. He was adamant that you cannot separate protein from fat. In order for the protein to "count" and be used as protein by your body, there HAS to be fat in it. Otherwise, it just converts to sugar. Now, he did NOT say to have whole milk, but he did say that 1% was best....having just a little bit of fat with the protein gives you all of the benefits of the protein. Same goes for eggs....eating just egg whites is useless....the body just coverts it to sugar (and excess sugar gets stored as fat). Also, hard boiled eggs are useless...when you put eggs in boiling water, basically that amount of cooking destroys all of the protein.
In general, I have not been eating enough fat. Since I have not been giving my body enough fat, it has been holding on to what I do have.
[note for chicken eaters] - he is not a fan of eating chicken and poultry because you have to cook if so well in order for it to be safe to eat (salmonella and e-coli) that again, most of the protein gets "cooked out" so to speak. The example he gave was that if a 4oz chicken breast had 30g of protein in it, the amount of protein it would have after being cooked was only 7g. Now, he is not saying that you should eat stuff under cooked, but he just was making a point about how we are not getting all of the protein we think we are.
Everything else was stuff I already knew...no refined sugar (duh!), try to eliminate all white flour (in favor of whole grains), and try to eat as much natural food (least processed) as possible. Again, no big revelations here. He said to avoid anything with high fructose corn syrup (again, I long ago eliminated this from my life).
Basically, what he gave me is very similar to Phase 2 of South Beach Diet. Complete proteins, healthy carbs (from fruit and whole grains), and don't skimp on fat. And keep it to 1300-1550 cals per day. One thing I have been doing is having too many of the 100-calorie pack types of snacks. So I will eliminate those in favor of better snacks. I was already moving in this direction anyway.
Honestly, I think most folks would be better off using a site like SparkPeople or FitDay, which is what I will have to start doing. I am pretty disappointed overall. I really thought that I would get super helpful information and a great meal plan today...turns out, I am basically on my own with one of the above websites.
Opinions please...Dawn, I know you like FitDay and Kat loves Spark...what are the differences? Which one should I do?
Lewis County to be exact.
The boys were at church with their cousin and when they made it home we had to tell them. Both of them cried for nearly an hour. What made it really difficult was that they wanted to know how he died and we couldn't tell them because we had no idea. He looked peaceful, no blood, no cuts, no nothing to indicate how he had died. He would have been 2 years old next week and he had always appeared healthy. Any way, remember my boys. They are really upset and have been making references to Sam all day.
That way the trip next year will be a surprise but at the same time they can have a date to look forward to.
it was pretty funny. she got up and left and didn't come back. and believe me, he wasn't being obnoxious. i don't have kids so i KNOW when a kid is being obnoxious. there was no reason for her to get frustrated.
I applied for unemployment today and have sent my resume with DH to apply at the bank where he works. We'll see what happens.
..i have a lean cuisine panini for lunch today 
I went ahead and ate the fajitas. I tried to be good though, mostly lettuce and tomatoes, a little meat, beans, and rice, and just a smidge of cheeze sauce - my fav!
We won't tell Dizzy! 
