Why Does it Have to be About Food?
Food, Food, Food.
I grew up with the genetics of high metabolism ingrained into my DNA. I was considered the skinny child throughout my lower education. I was even made fun of during high school that I should just "eat a steak" and it was not possible to weigh the amount I weighed with my body size. Thankfully I had a kind teacher for physical education, and he told the bully off saying "she is skinny but because of her height she weighs in at normal". I am thankful for my physical education teacher and how he stood up for me. Trust me, I ate a plate full of food each night and there was no such thing as a calorie counter in my book.
Rewinding to present day. My metabolism is not as quick as it was before. I have slowly watched the influx of weight I put on. Calories were just a number and I believed I could eat what ever I wanted. Boy was I wrong.
I still look pretty slim, but overall I was not happy with my eating style. The mentality of eating as much as I can and not caring just no longer worked. I think I finally hit "rock bottom" when I realized a pair of jeans my boyfriend bought me no longer fit. Let me say that these pair of jeans were big enough for me to wear a pair of denim shorts underneath. I realized my age is slowly catching up and I should not splurge on a crazy level when it came to food.
I decided I wanted to lose around 12-13 pounds. I wanted to feel my best and be my best. I no longer wanted a bloated looking stomach, nor pants I wear feeling a little too snug. My boyfriend suggested I calorie count and devised a slow way for me to lose weight. I did not want to drastically drop weight, but I wanted to see progress.
I am not going to lie, calorie counting SUCKS! It slowly made me realized I was eating more calories for my age, weight, and height. Cutting back and weighing everything out is the hardest thing I have to do. It makes me want to bring a scale everywhere I eat. However, I am not that crazy to walk around with a small scale in my purse. I do my best to estimate to as close as possible in what I eat and record it on my app.
My Fitness Pal
Yeah, more like pain in the ass! This app is like good and bad of food counting. I input what I eat and how much exercise I put in for the day. I only workout three times a week, but the good meals my parents prepare makes me want to work out for seven days straight. So far I have been doing well. This is my first week of calorie counting. I managed to lose 5 pounds when I watched what I eat and not calorie count. However, the two week span that I was not counting calories I was walking A LOT. The four days that I was constantly on my toes really became the exercise.
This app in general:
- Easy to to use
- Lets you scan bar codes of food items so you do not have to manually input all the ingredients or search
- Has a lot of choices in foods you can list
- Has an estimated exercise counter to see how many calories you burned, and how much you can eat still
- Some food choices you might have only one option in measurements, and some foods you have plenty.
- Trying to eat a few calories less puts you "under calories for the day" and it makes you feel like you are not eating enough. In reality you are eating enough
- Does not have all food choices, so you have to make an executive decision in which one you log. I always go for the higher calorie choice because the food my parents cook can be a little more on calories. Plus I do not know all the ingredients they add and I do not wish to slowly input a recipe.
Overall
The journey is slow. This twelve week process will test everything. It is a not a easy journey, but I feel happier with myself. I even see a reduction of stomach region. It is no longer protruding out as much as before. I seriously looked like a skinny girl who was possibly one month pregnant (Girl say what?!!). Also, one of my shorts no longer feel snug around my waist! I am not advocating calorie counting is needed, but simple clean eating and portioning everything really provides for a healthy exercise! I hope my small progress shows that everyone reaches a all time low in health. But there is a solution somewhere, you just got to make the effort.
Love & Peace,
N
