Friday, May 30, 2008

Carbs, Fats, Protien and Exercise...

Good grief, is it Friday already? Where has the week gone? You know the older you get the faster time goes by.

I started (last Sunday) logging my food consumption into SparkPeople as well as WW. One of the interesting things I found is the ratios of carbs, fats and proteins I eat. WW doesn't give you a breakdown of that and that is a bad thing. I like the charts they give you at SP and it has opened my eyes to the fact that I have not really been doing so good. Even though I've lost weight on WW's points system I have found out this week that sometimes when I stay under points I am way up on calories and sometimes way up on the fat calories to be exact. So since I don't go to meetings (non in my area close) and just use the home scales to log my weight into their website weekly, I'm considering quitting them and just sticking with SP. I'm not going to make any rash decisions and do it right now but it is in my thoughts. Think I will keep the double journaling up for another week or so and see what happens. Right now I'm trying to keep my ratios of fat, carbs and protiens within the ranges SP has set. Then after a couple of weeks if the pounds start coming off better I will make my decision. What are your thoughts on the matter?

This will be a lonely weekend without any company. But hopefully the weather will be nice to me and I can get outside and walk. Nope, haven't started up again yet. "Come on, Debbie, you've got to get back in the groove. But I don't want too, it takes too much effort." This is the battle that has been going on in my mind for 2 weeks now. And it's not working. I know what the problem is though. I had someone to walk with and get exercise with there for a while and now it's just me (what a let down). And I don't think I like my own company that much. I'm just too boring to walk with. Come on guys and gals, I need some encouragement here. You are the ones that got me started in the first place. Reading all your blogs about your exercise routines and it finally struck home. I needed that too. But here lately I just read them and say, Whew, that sounds like too much work. Thanks for all the encouragement you've given me so far though. Without all of you I probably would have quit this weight loss journey a couple of months ago.

Hope your weekend is grand!!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This has always been my complaint with WW. They are great for getting you thinking healthy and watching what you're eating and tracking it so you can see the healthy and unhealthy things you eat, but there's very little instruction as to what exactly "healthy food" is.

Sure they have pamphlets and the leader talks about things, but in my opinion, the leaders are only their for motivation and a sounding board. They are not experts in nutrition or fitness. Sure they know alot about it and they've been through it, but they're limited to their own experiences or what other people have told them.

I struggled with this about 6-8 months into the program. That's when I decided I was going to do some research on my own and find out what a healthy food actually is. I learned what carbs are and how they effect your body and the different types there are. I learned about sugar and what types of sugars are better for you and what sugars are necessary in your diet. Stuff like that. Stuff that WW just doesn't go into. I learned so much! My main motivation for learning all of this was so that when I got to my goal, and was released from the accountability of WW, I wouldn't go right back up to where I was (275 pounds!). Because honestly, I think I would have gone right back if I was still eating the same foods that I was when I first started WW. It's easy to cheat and eat the wrong foods and still lose weight, am I right?

So great job with learning all this and finally finding a place that can teach you to eat healthy!

About the exercise, I've been in that same boat for the last month or so. Totally unmotivated! A friend at work told me to search in the back of my mind and find the reason for my apathy. I did. There's nothing there. I'm lazy! I hate exercise. I love sleep! So what I had to do to get myself motivated again was to look back to what motivated me before and I found that it was the people around me and online that kept me going. I wasn't just exercising for me, I was exercising for them. I know this might not be the healthiest thing, but my co-dependancy is what I need to keep exercising and dieting.

Proof in point, I went running this morning after I made this realization last night. I'm motivated again. I'm going to do this. If not for me, for all those who have encouraged me along the way. Maybe this will work for you too?

There, I commented!

I think this long comment should make up for the last two months of not comments, you think?

Cara
http://www.CarasWeightLossJournal.com

MaryFran said...

Hey there! You do and follow whatever works for YOUR body! I do follow weight watchers, but mentally keep track of carbs, fats, proteins...and all that. I figured out early on that I could still eat within my weight watchers points but not lose, if I were not eating HEALTHY. Personally, I stay with weight watchers right now simply for the meetings...oh well and I'm so close to goal that I'll be lifetime and won't have to pay!

Sparkpeople is good.....and fitday.com is also a neat weight related site to check out. Fitday has an AWESOME weight section that helps me when I'm looking to set goals! (it calculates how much weight you'd have to lose each week to make a certain weight by a specific date).

Deborah said...

OK, You all can stop now on the exercise motivation. I guess just blogging about it and askiing for your help motivated me. I just spent a half hour outside walking fast. Gonna post my walking stats on my blog page as soon as I finish this. That way I'll have another way of being accountable for all to see.

Thanks.

Heather said...

This is why I love reading blogs. Cara made some really good points about WWs. Good for you for walking hard for half an hour. With your HRM you are going to be able to see yourself becoming more fitter in a quantifiable way!

FluffyDonna said...

Ooh, I should check out this spark people program. I don't do WW anymore so it would be nice to have something break down the carbs, fat and protein. Then again, I don't know how committed I can really be to logging everything.

As for the exercise, i think it's fun to walk with people, but it's also fun to walk with yourself. It's nice that you've had the opportunity to vary it up, but you should always appreciate your own company! ;)