See Food for What It Is

Today I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to talk about. I went out and started answering questions like usual and low and behold my topic came flying out at me as it always does. Let me just say, you guys ask the best questions in the comments section of my blog and on the daily Weight Watcher thread I answer.

A regular reader has problems with eating enough calories compared to her activity level. Surprisingly, my clients and others I talk to run into this problem often. I deal with people who are ready to exercise their tushies off but they want to eat like they are prepping for a famine. The two just don't mix. The side effects to UNDEREATING are so simliar to OVEREATING:

• Your body stores fat in both instances.
• You feel like crap because your deprived of good nutrient rich food.
• You are putting your body into an unhealthy state.

The real key to burning fat when you are following an exercise plan like the ones at Phit-N-Phat or training for events like marathons, triathlons, or endurance biking events is to eat just below the amount you need to maintain. You don't want to see yourself burning up 600, 800, 1200 calories a day and eating 1400 cals a day. Most women need around 1400 just to lay in the bed all day and sleep. At a minimum, you need to eat half of what you burn on workout days.

But this post isn't about calculating your calories needed per day. There are a million of those free on the internet you can use. If you go to www.phit-n-phat.com and look under Active Nutrition, I have a link to one that I think is pretty good.

This post is about viewing food for what it is: FUEL.Food is not an emotional crutch when you are overeating JUST AS MUCH as it is not the enemy when we are dieting. Think about that. One of the hardest things we have to overcome when we are losing weight is our unhealthy view of the role food plays in our life.

The other day I was watching "Made" on MTV where they were following a girl and her family as they were working towards losing weight together. During the journey, the fitness coach cleaned out the house and the fridge of all the junk food. There was nothing left...nothing. The little girl actually cried at the site of her food missing. She commented that it was a wake up call that food had an emotional hold on her life.

Do you have the same problem? Does food emotionally control you? If so, think about why and how you are going to break that habit. I'd love to hear everyone's ideas on this. I think most of us suffer from this thinking of food as either friend or foe.

Begin today on your journey to seeing food for what it is...a necessary part of life to help you be active and live a long life. 

Workout Journal:
Today is probably a DOR or a 4 mile run. We'll see what the day brings. It's my scheduled DOR. 

Food Journal:
B - Fiber One and Skim Milk - I'm back to cereal because of fiber. It's the only thing that seems to keep me regular these days.
S - Protein Shake
L - SBD Pizza with Green Salad
S - Peanut Butter
D - Thai Tuna with cottage cheese and steamed veggies
S - Protein Shake or Fage (I ran out of Fage and need to get more. If I get to the store that's what I will have)

1700-1800 cals