left.right.repeat group -closed - Full of a bunch of winners...YEAH! (Page 176)

Morning everyone.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about my diet and how to improve it. I've been pretty good at keeping my total calories at a level I think it should be but I am still not seeing the results I would like. So last night I decided to declare war on fat. I did some checking and according to the US nutritional guidlines, based on a 2,000 cal diet, a person should consume about 65 grams of fat a day. I think that is way high. I think I could set a goal of 10 or 15 grams a day. What do you think? What would be a good realistic goal for me to set as an average amount of fat consumed over the course of the next month?

Agreeed. The body does need a certain amoutn of fat everyday. But what if you already have the fat stored? If you eat food containing fat will your body used that or will used the fat stored on your person instead. I've been pretty good with my diet I have maintained a calorie intake of between 1500-2000 a day since x-mas. It really hasen't been that hard. But just looking at my food from yesterday

early morning: Banana .39g fat

Breakfast: Egg Beaters 3 egg veggie omelet w/ 1/2 slice american cheese and salsa .5g fat

mid morning snack: banana .39g fat

lunch: subway turkey breast & ham, apple 5.25g fat

afternoon snack: apple .25 fat

diner: baked fish, veggie meddely, ore Ida tator tots 14g fat

evening snack: danon yogurt 0 fat

every drink I had was either a no calorie or ultra-low calories drink IE: Crystal light

Total fat for the day 21 grams

I admit it is a little low on calories but fat wise I was at 21 grams for the day. And if i had had a baked potato instead of the tator tots for dinner I would have been under 15 for the day. Without really even trying. Is that really that bad?

1. Track everything, I mean everything you eat.  My preference online is MyFitnessPal.com  It's free and has a HUGE database.  If you have a smartphone, get an app.  MyFitnessPal has one.  If you have an Iphone, clients have had good success with "Lose it" as well.
2. Figure out your daily caloric expenditure goal and divide it by 6.  Eat 6 equal meals a day with the meal before your workout being higher in carbs.  (this will rev up your metabolism and will burn fat more effeciently).  Quick analogy:  you get a fire started with lots of little sticks that then create coals.  You keep it burning by putting high quality logs on the fire.  That will produce a long-steady burn.  Go too long without adding wood, the fire burns down, then when you add a huge log on a smoldering fire, it takes a long time for it get burning, if it even does.  Same with your metabolism, you keep the flame stoked by eating high quality fuel evenly spread out throughout the day.  Skip breakfast, but fire burns down, skip mid-morning snack, it burns down more.  Add a huge lunch, your metabolism smolders and flickers a bit, and your body will only process 1/2 to 2/3 of it anyway, converting the balance to 'stored fuel'.  Then skip afternoon snack and have a large dinner and the process repeats itself.  The body's never given a chance to efficiently burn the fuel you're providing it.
3. Eat whole foods.  Nothing from a box or processed, if you can help it.  Carbs from veggies and fruit instead of pastas and rice, but when you do choose to eat them, do whole wheat pasta and brown rice.  Heck, if you want to go all the way, grind your own wheat, make your own bread, make your own yogurt and while you're at it grow your own garden, produce your own eggs, chicken, beef, etc.

OK Bill. So you'd recommend a goal of roughly 35 grams fat a day. That seeems reasonable. Thanks.

You know Gary I have put some thought to getting the help of a nutritionalist. It hasen't gone from just thinking about it yet. Is the BT one a gold member thing or a separate cost? I don't think I want to have one on a continuing basis. I would rather have someone I can sit down with and go over how to build a good plan on my own.

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I should quantify the meal plan I show'd in saying that it is just a "during-the-week" plan. I find getting my eating right during the week is much easier than on the weekends. Because I am up at 4AM to train, then straight to work,  then straight to the gym/track/bike to train again. I get home at about 8:30PM. I have just enough time to eat, maybe make breakfast for the next day and go to bed. Even if I wanted to cheat, there's no time to do it.

It's on the weekends that I let myself go a bit. I like to go out for a steak, which probably has a billion fat grams in it. One beer just isn't enough for me, its generally 4 or 5 (or 6). But I contain that for one day a week. I have heard that allowing yourself to enjoy yourself once a week is a healthy thing to do.

I also have been experimenting with my slow-cooker. I love my slow-cooker. I like being able to make a huge pot of something and eat off it all week. This past week I made a split pea & ham soup. Appanently it was pretty good because my room-mate and I ate the entire 12 quart pot in about 3 days. i also make a beef stew and a chili.

Ugh, don't get me started on my health plan. I have one, but its the wrong one. It covers nothing except if I have a brain hemerage or something like that. I went back to change it but some freaken idiot decided to change the health care system and I was told by my provider I can't make any changes until the new system is implimented. And of course some other idiots decided to take the first idiot to court. So it is literally going to be years until I can make the changes I need.

It's easier to just pay for what I need out of my own pocket. Which is what I generally do. I'll look around and see what I nutritionalist will cost and see if I can afford it.

Boy you can run up expensies fast in this sport/hobby, I have this, I want to take a LT blood test, I really would like to get my bike Pro fitted and there are some sweet cycling shoes I've have my eyes on. Sigh, how do I fit in more over-time...

Early morning swim today (2600)
WU 5x100 swim
D1: 6x75 (25 swim, 25 reach and glide, 25 swim) with paddles.
MS 3x {3x100@2:10, 50hard, 50Easy
          {1x300@6:30
No cool down ran out of time.  Lucky to finish the mainset

You can call me Fit.

Alt.Mark if you're making choices that deny yourself something it going to be hard to make it a life choice.  You body is going to give you cravings for foods that distract you from your goals.  You're going to have to find something better to substitute for those cravings.  Better yet, time the craving and short circuit that pattern before it happens.  For example:  If you getting a craving for fats and oils, give yourself a controlled portion before getting to the point where you go crazy and eat a pizza.   I like light laughing cow and find a single wedge spread on two slices of high fiber crisp bread or on sliced celery statisfies the craving for fats and oils.

One wedge of the light version of the Swiss flavor has 2 g of total fat and only 1 g of saturated fat. The American Heart Association explains that your body needs some fat for energy and to aid in the absorption of certain nutrients.  Removing all fats and oils from your diet will effect your short term memory and decision making.

Fit

This brings me back to my original question. I understand that the human body needs a certain amount of fat in order to function. But what if the body already has an over abundance of fat stored? What would be the pourpose of adding aditional fat to it?

I last weighed myself about 2 weeks ago. At that time I was at 209. According to the scale my body fat content was 23.5%. That works out to be 49.1 lbs of fat stored on my body already. Why can't my body used that fat instead of any additional fat that I would potentionally consume? Of course this is just a discussion on body mechanics, I am leaving out things like cravings and desires for the sake of aurgument.

Oh and Mark No. 2, i'm not the "alt" because I was here first. You're the imposter not me

Deleted double post.

Nice swim by the way!

My last masters set from Tuesday

w/u - 8 x 50 (got there late, was 20)

Set
10 x 200
1-2 on 3:00
3-4 on 2:55
5-6 on 2:50
7-8 on 2:45
9-10 on 2:40

w/d- 4 x 100 (swim/kick), 200 ez

To be honest, the lane leader kinda flaked, I was swimming consistent 2:38-39, and on the 2:50 and 2:45 he was still on the wall when I came in, he should have been gone, so those sets were on the 2:55 as I was getting :15 rest.  The 2:40s he did though, I made the first and unfortunately didn't make the second one by about 4 seconds. 

Followed by a 4 mile run that I flaked on in the morning.  The feeling of that run motivated me to get up and run this morning so I don't have to swim/run again tonight.

This morning got in a nice 5.25 mile run, starting to add hills back.  I am EXTREMELY happy that I am currently uninjured, that's not very common for me, especially leading up to a HIM.  I willnot be fast at it, but if things keep going well I will hit the starting line healthy.  Then I can assess the rest of this season.

ok so I am close to getting a bike... once I have said bike what do I want to do first?

probably get pedals/shoes?

what is the best method for learning gears?

what is the best training methods/schedules?

any other tip/tricks/snide remarks I should know?

Thanks in advance for your time!

-Jeff