Calorie Trackin' & Runnin'

Happy day after Halloween folks!

My Halloween was fairly uneventful and pretty ho-hum...no parties to speak of and not many kids at our door last night. Of course, that means we have a big, fat, honkin' bowl of CANDY which will be lingering in our house for days. And its not that crap candy, its the good stuff (my man knows how to buy candy). Ugh! Here's to self restraint and moderation for us all.

Struggling for consistency!

And speaking of moderation - that nifty little MyFitnessPal app is REALLY rockin' my nutrition world. As I often share, I'm the world's worst when it comes to insuring I am feeding this bod exactly what it needs to fuel itself. Well, it was a week ago yesterday that I decided to give the app a go. And I am so glad I did! In one week's time I have been able to get a very clear picture of what I'm eating, what I'm not eating, where my carbs are coming in at and how my protein levels are always ALWAYS low. Strangely enough...my fat percentages are on the low end too most days. By committing to use MyFitnessPal - the following changes have happened as a direct result of the tracking app:

1) I can SEE, literally, what I'm consuming at any given moment. This includes being able to see at what times of the day I snack most. These times are always during work hours and often by day's end up at more calorie consumption than at any given breakfast,lunch or dinner entry. Astonishing...did not think I snacked that much!

2) I feel empowered now...or well, at least closer to empowered. On Wednesday I could see that by dinner time, I had taken in just about the bulk of my calories thanks to snacking AND also noted that my protein was lacking big time. Instead of getting my usual salad I got a burger with mushrooms, peppers and onions along with sweet potato fries (no bun on the burger - of course...LOL). Not sure how it happened, but by the time I closed out my entries for the day - I had for the first time actually hit all my percentage goals and felt really good when I went to bed. I literally felt balanced. Maybe its psychosomatic, but all I know is it is working and helping.

11:22 pace BUT 6.11 miles :)

3) Lastly, I think part of why I haven't seen the progress I wanted to see up to this point is because, quite frankly, I wasn't tracking anything I was putting in my face. No really. I am eating WAY healthier but even eating healthy you can overeat. Using this app forces me to think about what i'm consuming and what I would rather have. One organic kid's size clif bar OR a bowl full of strawberries and grapes? Both options are not "bad for you" per say - but it helps you understand the idea of balance.

I guess as someone that never, ever tracked calories...it is all eye opening. This is not about losing weight for me, it is about really understanding the whole process of caloric intake, nutrition, etc. All things that I no doubt will incorporate into my learnings prior to starting as a personal trainer/health coach. I am my own best, first client (closely followed by my friend Shannon who is my test client :)

Get back up there!

10:59! Yay! Under 11:00 - Finally!

11:13 - sigh...

In addition to the calorie tracking, I got 3 runs in this week - some of them were better than others, but mostly, it just feels good to be out there again. Aiming to get back to running 3 times a week from this point forward. Also noticed my pace is SLOWLY inching back up to a quicker pace. I try SO hard not to care, but somehow I do. Earlier this year I was running 9:30-9:45min per mile pace...not i'm working to get back under 11min. But, it is all about listening to my body, and that old groin injury lets me know it hasn't fully healed anytime I push pace. The risk of not running is far more upsetting than the thought of running slow. Therefore...slow and steady wins MY race - and I'm constantly reminding myself of that!

stay strong,
Rachel