My Fitness Pal ~ Count the Cost

For any of you who tend to be obsessive (I mean detail-oriented) like me... My Fitness Pal ~ might help you better coordinate your food intake and exercise. (Several of you are already using it and for you this is just me being accountable.) Before I started using My Fitness Pal...I basically lied to myself about how much food I was consuming (I eat lots of really healthy stuff). I conveniently forgot that I ate samples at the grocery store and that a friend offered me cheese/guacamole/hummus and whole grain crackers, and I thought if 2 TBSP of natural peanut butter is good then more is better, and let's not even discuss NUTS, etc...

My Fitness Pal is helping me plan my meals AND snacks AND stay within the calorie limit my body requires to function well. One day I ate THREE servings of crunchy Cheetos (my favorite) and punished myself by eating only fruits and veggies for dinner to stay within my calorie limit. I thought I did all right until a friend (Thank you, Cammie!) asked me if I met my protein requirement for the day... The site calculates that information and I discovered that only ate half of the protein needed because I chose (CHOSE) to eat one of my favorite snacks to excess. It is all about choices and what I am willing to pay. Not necessarily in the cost of the food, but in the cost of my fitness levels, energy, and pain management. My health care providers told me that I need to stay on the lower side of my weight range because my back pain intensifies with weight gain. I must count the cost and decide whether I can "afford" that delicacy or not...some days if I exercise a lot I may be able to, but others probably not.

12 “Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”—but God will destroy them both. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:12-13a (NIV 1984)

I know about health and nutrition. This site isn't teaching me anything I didn't already know, but it is helping me to see in black and white what I am putting into my body and causing me to think about it more. I'm making better decisions and choosing food that will fuel my body for the day and not just make my taste buds happy for a few moments. It is definitely a challenge. I'm not strong at this point and could easily run (not walk) back to the Cheetos, but one day at a time I'm learning to make positive choices for health and wellness. If you see me looking at a bag of Cheetos, do something drastic...like hand me an apple :)

Care to join me?

Sensible Diet Tip

Reduce fast food and pre-packaged meals.

Sensible Diet Tip

Eat regular meals or mini-meals. Control your portion size- don't binge or overeat. Eat slowly.

Eat Slowly

"Enjoy meals for twenty-nine minutes. Eating slowly can reduce your intake by 70 calories per meal, which translates into a savings of more than 200 calories per day."

~ p. 25 quoted from the Flexitarian Diet by Dawn Jackson Blatner