Counting Calories is the Worst!

     "Counting calories leads to failure 95.4% of the time—and often leaves people fatter." - Jonathan Bailor, "The Calorie Myth"

     Getting off your ass to get to the gym, soldiering through that workout video, putting on your shoes for a run you really don't want to do, or saying no to junk food, especially chocolate, is hard enough without including counting calories into the mix.
     So I refuse.
    Granted, I did find success doing this back in 2010, but as you've seen in previous posts, that didn't work long term. Counting calories is just not something I can stick with forever. So I need a different solution.
     Right now I go with the general rule that if it doesn't fit on a small plate, it's too much.
     Maybe I should even invest in one of those portion control plates. That actually really isn't a bad idea.

     But that rule isn't enough. I can fit an entire bag of Pizza Rolls on a small plate if I try hard enough, and that certainly won't help me. I have to be cautious about what I'm eating as well.

     I was reading this article by Jessica Girdwain on Prevention.com about myths regarding calories. One thing she talks about is the myth regarding types of calories. Not all calories are created equal. I can eat 100 calories worth of Pizza Rolls (that's approx. 2-3/4 rolls. You show me one person who can stop at 2-3/4 rolls and I'll show you a dirty rotten liar.) With those 2.75 rolls, you'll get about .10g of protein, .05% Vitamin A, .05% Vitamin C, and .10% Iron, and .0125g of Fiber. I created a modest meal on MyFitnessPal to compare. 1/2 Chicken breast and this cucumber salad I love (Click here for the recipe. I add tomato to mine.). This meal comes out to 107 calories. With it I get 78g of Protein, 87% Vitamin A, 77% Vitamin C, 96% Iron, and 23g Fiber. Plus, it's going to fill me up a lot better then 2.75 Pizza Rolls.

     In Girdwain's article, she takes a clever metaphor from Jonathan Bailor's book "The Calorie Myth" to explain why cutting calories won't solve your problems. 

"What if your plumber came in and said the cure for the clog was to stop using your sink?" It fixed the symptom (the sink’s not going to overflow) but not the cause (what’s causing the clog?). The cause of that clog is—you guessed it—eating poor quality foods that throw your fat-burning, appetite-taming hormones out of whack.

     So, to avoid needing to count calories I need to make sure I'm not eating too much, and make sure my foods are healthy and rich in nutrients. "Quality over Quantity," as Girdwain put it.

     

     Right now that's where my struggle is. I'm on such a strict budget that I can't afford quality food. It's sad how junk food is more affordable than healthy, nutritious food. And people wonder why American is fat.

     Just kidding. No one wonders that.

   On Wednesday I wen't over to Nutrishop to participate in their 6-Week Jump Start Weight Loss Challenge. They have this pretty neat body composition scale that not only measures your weight, but how much weight is on each side of your body, your water weight, fat weight, and muscle weight. They ignore BMI, stating it's outdated and useless, and instead focuses on Percent Body Fat (PBF).

They went over my analysis with me and told me where I need to focus. Right now I'm at 102.1 lbs of body fat. I need to lose 62lbs of body fat. Which would bring me to 174 lbs. Obviously this isn't going to happen in the 6 weeks this contest takes place, but at least I know where to aim. As you can see from my analysis to the right, I have a LOT of work to do.

     So far about 600+ people signed up for this competition, and since I can't get my gym membership until I get my Kootenai Health Badge (in about 2 weeks), I'm going to have to start getting clever at home. If it weren't for the miles deep of snow outside (I swear I'm only exaggerating a little), I'd start running. But I can pretty much guarantee I'd slip and fall on my bony ass.
     Today I went for a walk along Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive. It's absolutely gorgeous there. If you live in the Kootenai area and you haven't run/walked/ridden/driven along Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive, you need to.

     It's even better in the summer. All along the Centennial Trail, there are fitness stops. Bars for pull-ups, monkey bars, balancing bars, benches for stretching, and benches for sitting down and catching your breath. The trail goes on for about 4.8 miles (this is just the Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive portion. The entire Centennial Trail stretches about 61 miles between Spokane, WA and Coeur d'Alene, ID). 

 

     

     If you're having some trouble getting started, like I am, read that article by Jessica Girdwain, if you've got the time, maybe even Jonathan Bailor's book "The Calorie Myth." I know I'd like to check it out. And even if you can't workout for whatever reason, as long as you're moving, it's a good start. You don't want to rush into it anyway. Ease in. Take it slow. That's how you get relationships to last, right?