ANOTHER GOOD REASON TO EAT 6 SMALL MEALS A DAY

Many years ago a coworker had a gastric (stomach) stappling because of obesity. I believe they use 'bands' now. She could only eat about 1/2 cup of food at a time and felt very full. Remarkably, she soon boasted she could eat a whole burger- guess she worked hard at stretching it again .......but I digress.

One good reason to eat six small meals a day is that your stomach will shrink and it will reduce the amount of food you will be comfortable eating. And of course...it keeps insulin levels and other hormones more balanced.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Take it easy on the candy.

I have been away from the blog for a LONG period..I have never been so busy in my life. But the blog keeps me fitness focused...so I have quite a few articles in progress and hope to post not too long from now.

I have been travelling to really interesting places..working full time, commuting, running a business and going to school. Like I have said before - getting fit gives me a lot of energy. I have to let some things go though. I came home to 595 emails. I did not want to delete them because I love learning and I often learn new things from the mail sites I have signed up for. Sadly I had to delete them but have made a commitment to keep up to date both in my blog and my email.

It is Halloween. Usually by now we have had many dozens of kids but so far only a few. It isn't raining either. I am hoping parents have educated their kids to eat clean :) but it is probably another reason they are not coming. People in our neighbourhood tend to live here for years - so maybe the kids are grown up.

The bad part is my husband insists on full size chocolate bars. The driveway is long and I guess he figures to walk all that way, the kids should get more than a tiny bar.

Left over chocolate is bad bad bad - I love chocolate but I can 'eat a square a day' and be satisfied. Unfortunately he can eat a box a day and then eat more. I am glad he is getting back to working out with his best friend tomorrow.

Long as he knows that to burn off ONE Caramilk or Peanut Butter Cup pack or pack of Smarties he would have to:

cycle at 8 mph for 1 hour
walk at 3 mph for 1 hour
run at 5 mph for 1/2 hour or 2 1/2 miles
bowl for 1 1/2 hours
hike uphill for 3/4 hour
jump rope for 2 hours
weight train medium intensity 1 1/4 hours

FOR EACH BAR or package!!!

CALORIE COUNTING? IS IT NECESSARY FOR FAT LOSS?

YES

WHY? Because we grossly underestimate the quantity AND caloric values of what we eat.

Try a test. Write down every single thing you eat. (Better still - if you can remember - write down what you ate yesterday-everything including condiments and particularly beverages). Guess at how many calories you ate. Then look it up and being honest with the amounts/volumes you ate list the ACTUAL number of calories.

I'll bet you ate double the calories you estimated.

Measuring calories when we first try to get fit gives us the knowledge about the fat, carb, protein and caloric content of the foods we eat as well as the huge amount of 'empty' calories most of us consume. It helps us to make much healthier choices.

Is it exact? Certainly not. You would have to weigh and micromeasure to be certain. The most important thing is you get a good 'ballpark' idea of what you are eating. Most of all you will acknowlege THAT you are eating. How many times have you said 'I hardly eat a thing and I still gained weight" ? Until we write things down or follow a food plan we often eat without even thinking and have no idea what we have consumed.

Once you have things under control and you are maintaining a healthy weight, unless you are doing serious competition training, you should be able to more accurately estimate your intake without micromanaging it.

EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT CHEATING I LEARNED FROM MY GRANDMAS

I was realizing the other day that many of the habits of body builders and fitness trainers which I now practice, I learned as a child.


I grew up in England in the care of my maternal grandmother for parts of my childhood. I remember that we had frequent smaller meals throughout the day. We had our bigger meal (carbohydrates) at noon.


We had planned 'cheat days'. But to us it was simply called Sunday. That is, each week on a Sunday, my grandma would bake a cake (usually coconut) and that is the only day we had that type of food. It was not made into a big deal - it was just part of our routine. On Sundays, we always visited her mother, my great grandmother.


Great grandma was in her 90s, blind and frail but..she knew my footsteps the second I arrived. Grandma would go visit with her sister in the kitchen. I would sit in the rocking chair by the fire with great grandma (there was no central heat). She would bring out our weekly treat. A Cadbury's chocolate bar. She would break off a square for herself and one for me and put the rest away for the next week. We would let it slowly melt in our mouths enjoying each other's company and the warm fire.


Eating the whole thing never occurred to us. One piece of sweet was plenty. Still..to this day, I buy a chocolate bar and have one square once in awhile. It is enough.


But I did lose my way during the days of my obesity.


It seems we have become nations of super sizing, pig fests and all you can eat bonazas destroying our bodies and our health.


It is a good habit to develop.....having treat foods as something rare and precious to savour and eat slowly, enjoy in small amounts and put away until the next time. And to treat food in general as a valuable fuel to be taken in as required and not as desired.

TRAINING AND DIET ON THE GO

I was just on the road for four days.

The first hotel I stayed at - I arrived at 9.30 pm and after a long drive looked forward to a hard work out in the gym. Not. The gym was under renovations. It was too dark and an unfamiliar neighbourhood to go for a run. I could have figured out something but preferred to wait until I could do my full workout the next day. We went out for the most delicious Thai meal instead. I just concentrated on dishes with lots of veggies and protein and no rice or noodles.

The next few days were great - I had the Vancouver sea wall to walk/run as well as a great gym at the next hotel by the time I was due to do my weight training.

The gym was packed and all the participants very lean - a number of Gwyneth Paltrow type physiques from way too much cardio and no toning along with a few awesome female physiques - lean and toned with great muscle definition - that inspired me.

And what a great venue - on the treadmill watching all the activity of hundreds of people walking, jogging, cycling, roller blading outside along the ocean. I briefly found it hard to believe there was an obesity problem in Canada.

The biggest problem was diet. Generally I pack a cooler but the trip was too long for that and I was short on time.

Oh boy. Upscale restaurants just do not want to do plain unadorned food and a lean plate. One morning at breakfast the closest thing I could find to healthy without a ton of carbs and fat was an egg white veggie omelete with low fat goat cheese. Hold the tropical fruit, hold the potatoes and hold the toast. They want to load you up with starches. I rarely eat starches so I am sure that diet habit is one of the secrets of my successful weight loss. It basically is a filler. Think about that. Do your body and GI system a favour and fill up with fruits complex carbs and fibrous carbs - veggies

The waiter just could not leave it alone. He wanted to bring me stuff. He felt the plate was bare - I should have had him bring a smaller plate ;) Finally I let him add some broiled tomatoes 'pesto.' I didn't have the heart to tell him I eat about every 2 to 2 1/2 hours and eat six smaller meals and I don't need a huge 3 meal a day diet.

Everyone else had the buffet a total waste of money for me. If you have a buffet it is because you intend to get your money's worth - not a great idea for your body. It will simply store your 'money's worth' as fat.

I tell my husband "don't worry about me" I can usually adapt something off the menu but dinner on Friday night was a real challenge. At the chosen restaurant there was nothing unadorned - everything was dripping in rich sauces. I could not even find a simple salad.

Finally for an appe I had the iceberg lettuce wedge NOTHING ON IT. The waiter looked at me increduously his eyes saying "you have to be kidding" People especially staff at restaurants don't seem to believe I actually prefer to eat plain and simply. I love the way I feel. Anytime I eat rich foods I feel awful after and I don't enjoy feeling that way.

Anyhow, I had the plain lettuce brought. He was very relieved when I agreed to accept olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I did not say I would not put anything on it. I just wanted to make the choice.

Ooohkay so next came the entre. I wanted Ahi tuna rare nothing else - no rice - no potatoes. They had to throw something on the plate so I asked for seasonal veggies and a few tomato slices. It was great. I eat carbs but I am very carb sensitive and I eat mostly fibrous carbs and eat complex carbs earlier in the day or I would be asleep in my plate. We were also going to be attending a formal dinner where I would have no control over what was being served and I would have to eat clean until then so that I would not end up ill.

After my meal instead of having to undo my pants and feel drowsy and sick and have stomach cramps and bloating, I felt great.

My dessert was coffee. My friend and I asked for a side of milk instead of cream. Hey maybe I am demanding but isn't it interesting that I like things very plain but I am the demanding one? Huh?

So at the formal I did have all the things that usually make me sleepy, bloated and ill no choice - if I didn't I would have been starving. It just isn't cool to pack a cooler to a formal military dinner.

I felt dreadful within hours and the next day. I guess I will have to eat ahead of time next time and forego the pre-picked meal.