Discussion»Questions»Diet and Fitness» A college post-grad who is studying nutrition and diet is assigned to document and analyze your everyday eating habits for ten months.
I actually just had to do this for my nutrition class- analyze my own diet. It totally blew my mind. I don't count calories, but I try to eat "mindfully." I wrote down everything I ate for a week. I held off on uploading it to the tracking software until the week was up because I didn't want to change my habits during. I wanted the real full picture of what I was doing without being influenced by the results.
At the end of the week, I discovered I was taking in roughly 1,100 calories per day. No joke. The fat chick is consuming about half what other people do. I had no idea. So, why am I still chunky? I should be dropping weight like crazy eating like I do. I'm not. I'm dropping small amounts, but nothing substantial. Maybe 2-4 pounds per month. So, what gives?
My body is in starvation mode. That means it's doing everything it can to conserve energy. That means it's storing every bit of fat I take in. My metabolism has slowed too. My body is also essentially cannibalizing itself. See, on a 1,100-calorie diet, I'm not getting anywhere near the nutrients my body needs in order to run. I only took in about half the protein I need and roughly the same in carbohydrates. I only got about a quarter each of any vitamin or mineral I needed. Based on the super low intakes, the only way my body can fuel me is to break down my existing muscle. That's obviously bad for a bunch of reasons, but the kicker to this is that with my reduced muscle mass, my body burns fewer calories at rest too. Yeah. I basically sabotaged my health. Entirely. And I had no idea. None.
I had symptoms... for example, my nails suck. That's low protein. If I miss out on sleep, I instantly get sick. That's low protein and vitamins as well. I've felt somewhat foggy, which I've attributed to working too much. That could be malnutrition too. But, I never realized any of these symptoms were symptoms of malnutrition until I ran my numbers and realized I was low in stuff, and then looked into symptoms associated with each nutrient.
My normal habit is to start with coffee and drink coffee all day, sometimes stopping for a late morning snack, and then eating dinner with my kids. I never felt hungry. I never intentionally starved myself. This was a huge eye-opener. I've just barely wrapped up the lab portion of my nutrition class and I'm trying to do better. I've got sunflower seeds next to me right now. Gooooo snacks!
But, yeah, let that be a lesson to ya'll who think all chunky people over-indulge. Nutrition is complex, and you can still be chunky if you under-eat. I genuinely have to increase my calories in order to lose weight and get the nutrients I need to be healthy. Crazy stuff.
See, I have been trying to warn you about coffee beginning almost a decade ago, but did you listen, have you ever listened? Nooooooooo! "Coffe is delicious, coffee is wonderful, coffee is divine, coffee is my life's elixir, coffee is my reason for living, coffee gives life, coffee is my only true friend, coffee is my blood type . . . coffee, coffee, coffee!"
(((((Just kidding! Your post is great, Asker's Pick!)))) ~
Why doesn't your body cannibalize your fat instead of muscle. If you exercise, you should gain muscle and increase your metabolism, burning more calories, right? Going by all your commitments, I'd guess you don't have time. I went from 230 to 200, my ideal weight, in a year once with diet (staying under 2000 calories per day) and exercise. Even my adolescent kids said I looked good. Maybe one day I'll do that again. Sigh.
Our bodies don't work that way. Your brain needs huge amounts of sugar (glucose) in order to function. If you aren't getting enough in your diet, it has to break down your muscles to get glycogen. It's either that or your brain starves. People say sugar is the enemy. It's not. Your body genuinely needs it. My lack of carbs and sugar meant my brain would have starved if it wasn't breaking down the muscles.
Given my low nutrient intakes, it was also literally impossible for my body to build muscle. If I had been hitting the gym or lifting weights or whatever, all I would have been was tired at the end.
If you think of it this way, your body needs specific nutrients to carry out specific actions. If I want to build muscle, I need the building blocks of muscle in my system. Protein is a big one. I was already showing outward symptoms of protein deficiency- my nails were one. They were brittle and broken. I just didn't realize that was a symptom at the time. When I ran my numbers, I was only getting about half the protein my body needed. Obviously, if I'm lacking in protein and I've got outward symptoms of protein deficiency, I'm going to have inward symptoms too. Meaning, there's no chance on earth I could have built and maintained muscle. Not while I wasn't getting nutrients.
Once your body is in starvation mode, it throws everything off. I have been in dance for more than a year now, so it's not like I'm totally sedentary, but even a full exercise program wouldn't have helped- not when I wasn't fueling my body right. I just would have been more fatigued. That's another common misconception- that heavy people don't exercise. The dance was one thing, but I walk a lot and hike.
Based on my age, I'm actually supposed to be around 1,800 calories per day. With my weight, my calorie consumption should actually be considerably more than that... not because I need calories, but because my body is larger and requires more nutrients in order to work, and in order to get more nutrients, you need more calories.
The class I took broke nutrition down to a molecular level. Suffice it to say, each nutrient, be it protein, carbohydrates, Calcium, Iron, A, C, E, etc... they're all used for different functions. If you're deficient in any one of them, you'll have side effects from that. Your body won't be able to complete specific processes. For example, my wounds won't heal well if I'm low in protein, carbohydrates, C, A, or zinc. I'm a bigger person, so if I want to be able to heal well, I need the right amount of those nutrients for someone my size. Ergo, hacking my calories super low would likely mean I'm not getting those nutrients and I won't heal well. And, this is just one system we're talking about. Your whole body is impacted when you're deficient in nutrients.
If it was merely about cutting calories, I'd obviously be like a size zero now. It's not. And, cutting calories to the point where your body is missing out on nutrients makes you unhealthy in a million different ways.
So, in order for me to lose weight, I genuinely have to eat more. But, I do make those calories count. I don't just eat a cookie and call it good. (I actually don't even like sweets.) In my case, because I don't like meat, I try to seek out protein-rich snacks. Ergo, I'm grabbing seeds or nuts. Sometimes Greek yogurt or cottage cheese too.
With the increased nutrients (which subsequently increased my calories), my body is no longer in starvation mode, so I'm not losing muscle. I may already be building it back again. I know my nails are happier. And, chances are, without making other changes, I'm dropping weight again. I don't make a habit of weighing myself. I don't really see a point to it. But, I do know my pants are much looser, so it seems I'm in a better place. Yes, with no other changes beyond increasing my intake, I'm actually healthier and losing weight.
When I am finished with him, he will either head for the hills or change what all the lying b.s. schools are teaching him.
Here is what I eat.
Sprouts that I sprout myself from organic seeds.
I only put things in my mouth that are living. I do not eat anything from any grocery store ever again. No packaged, no processed anything.
I only eat foods that are fresh and growing out of soil that is not manufactured and loaded with chemicals. I want earthworms in my soil. Not soil that is so filled with toxic chemicals that when I put my hands in it, they start to burn and blister. I'm not joking. Every time I put my hands in packaged potting soil, my hands start to blister.
That is what our seeds are being planted in that grow the cereal grains and fruits and vegetables and that is what goes into our body. We feed cows and pigs this too. That also goes into our body along with the dead flesh we cannot really digest.
So, no adulterated, irradiated, fake garbage food with zero vitamins. Nothing animal ever.
No dead food. No flour. No sugar. Nothing.
Trade Slaughterhouses for greenhouses.
Are you taking notes? You should your life and your kids lives depend on it.
Really they needn't bother because I can tell them what I eat and what our habits are. They would find that my husband and I follow a macrobiotic diet which is emphasis on s whole grains with side dishes containing seasonal vegetables, sea vegetables and beans and some naturally fermented foods. I eat miso soup six days a week and sometimes other naturally mad soybean products. I don't eat sugar or sweets or and industrial or junk food though on occasion we do go to a restaurant and binge on fish or fried seafood! Nor do I take any drugs of any kind. I do snack a little on organic whole wheat or corn chips and sometimes potato chips. My beverages consist of, besides water, only a little wine or sometimes beer. Though I jog and exercise five days a week at my age I am not burning the calories I used to perhaps because I am past the age of childbearing so I tend to put on weight if I am not careful and I often only eat two meals a day and only one really complete one.
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inky 