Taking the Plunge

Sorry about the long gap in between posts this last week.  It's just been kind of a blah week and my husband took the lap top to work with him almost every day.  This past week I've been keeping up with my workout schedule but my eating has been way off the chart.  I just need to get my head on straight, buckle up and start living right.  I feel like I did pretty well today.  I didn't track my food because right now just thinking of tracking calories makes me cringe, but I ate healthy and I tried to eat more veggies and fruit today.  I got in a ton of activity today and I hope I don't feel like I'm starving tomorrow which can often happen after a very active day.  I did have one victory today that made me feel awesome, my sister has successfully lost the weight that she was wanting to lose, and she has stopped tracking and has maintained her habits and stayed focused on eating healthier without bashing or insulting herself or resorting to extreme measures or dieting.  I am glad that I was able to coach her through this difficult time in her life, all the while my parents are flabbergasted at how she has managed to lose weight eating as much as she does.  She is an incredibly active teenager!  She needs food!  She just needed to cut out all the extra junk food and sweets she had picked up from the holiday season and focus on eating all her meals instead of snacking all the way through school and coming home starving to eat the first thing in sight.  I am so psyched that I was actually able to help her through this critical time in her life.  Too often this whole issue attacks teenagers and sends them into a terrible cycle of yoyo dieting and hating their bodies.  It turns from wanting to loose a few pounds into something mentally and emotionally exhausting and damaging.  But I'm probably preaching to the choir, so I'll move on.

Today I took the plunge and signed up for my first triathlon!

I'm actually going to do it!  I printed three of these confirmations out and I'm putting one on the pantry, and one on the fridge, and then probably one over by the cookie jar ;-)  I need to stop snacking on junk and stop eating so many sweets and eat real food and eat healthy too.  I just started researching nutrition while training for a triathlon and I came across one article that had a few interesting points.  It's from a website called triathlon.competitor.com and the article is called 9 nutrition rules for beginner triathletes.  A few of the interesting rules they posted were #2. Eat Carbs, every day with most meals and always before and after workouts.  I bring this one up because so many diets tell you to cut carbs and eat low carbs, but when you are training for performance and exercise carbs are a must.  #3. Eat 2-3 fruits and 4-6 veggies.  Not really a surprise but I was surprised at the veggie recommendation.  Six servings of veggies!!!  I'm having a hard enough time with two.  Lets see... If I get a serving in with every meal and every snack that will be five.... I'm going to have to start getting more creative with my vegetables.  #5. Recover right.  Consume half a gram of carbs per pound of body weight and 15-20 grams protein within 30-60 minutes after training or races.  Interesting fact, especially because many weight loss plans tell you to wait 1-2 hours after working out before you eat to maximize calorie burn.  #6. Follow the 10 percent rule.  No matter what your nutrition and health goals are, 10% of your daily calories can come from splurges or treats.  This keeps your treat guilt free but also within your nutrition budget.
Ahhh, if it were only that easy!  Keeping my sweets within 10% of my calories is like 170 calories.  That's not even two cookies.  And that's the problem, I can't stop eating sweets!!!!  I don't know what to do with them.  I can't ignore them, I can't have them occasionally or I will binge on them.  Maybe I need to move to having a little bit every day.  See how that works out.

Well, you know what Dori Says.  "Just keep swimming"