'Tis the season for setting goals and making resolutions. Most New Year's resolutions focus on health- eating better, getting more exercise, etc.
I am seeing a lot of posts lately about cleanses, juice fasts, detoxes, etc. I think they are stupid. If you want to eat better, some sort of cleanse or detox isn't going to teach you how to do that.
Nutrition plays a KEY part in losing weight and/or changing body composition. I would say it's even more important than exercise. Face it, it takes 10 minutes to burn 100 calories and 3 seconds to eat 100 calories. You can exercise all you want but if your nutrition is abysmal, it's not going to make any difference.
This is where I am right now with my nutrition.
I'm not on a "diet".
A diet is not something that can be maintained in the long term. It's a lifestyle for me. It's something I can stick with and works for me.
I don't have rules.
I don't have strict regulations about what goes into my mouth. More like "guidelines". But there is nothing that's off the table. There are circumstances under which I would eat practically anything, even if it is HORRIBLE for me.
I like to eat well most of the time.
It is not always easy, but if I didn't eat well most of the time, I would not be able to meet my performance and aesthetic goals. (Yes, I do care about what I look like, too. I would be lying if I said I didn't!)
Sometimes I want party cake ice cream and I have it.
Food is fuel but it is also one of life's simple pleasures! I will never give up ice cream, wine, or chocolate.
I'm not vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, paleo, Atkins, "clean", low-carb, or anything with a name.
I don't have any personal or medical reasons to adapt one of these diets. I eat protein, carbs, and fat. I eat meat as well as veggies and fruits. I eat "clean" foods (I hate that word!) and... I guess the other foods would be "dirty"!?
I will not cleanse, detox, juice, or fast.
Those are great ways to mess up your metabolism and don't accomplish anything.
I don't set myself up for failure. I am conscious of what I eat but I do not hold myself up to a standard that cannot be maintained in the long term.
My personal nutritional "guidelines".
1. I log my calories daily. I have a range that I like them to fall into.
(1600-2400... yeah I know that is a huge range. It depends on my workout!)
2. I aim for an approximate macro nutrient breakdown of carbs-protein-fat.
(I try for 45-30-25, unless I do a lot of cardio that day, in which I eat a lot more carbs.)
3. Eat the correct foods at the correct times so I can properly fuel a workout
and properly recover from a workout and rebuild muscle.
4. Eat as little fake sugar as possible.
These are guidelines I can live with and they are helping me meet my current goals. It is possible that if my goals change, so will the way I eat. Or, as I become more informed with what works best for me, it could change as well.
I don't write about nutrition a lot, but here are some posts I think relate:
I don't write about nutrition a lot, but here are some posts I think relate:
Do you have any personal nutritional guidelines you follow?
Have you ever done a cleanse/detox/juice fast?
Do you follow a diet with a name? (Aka, vegetarian, Atkins, low-carb, etc...)
I've been eating terribly over the holidays but in general I do what you do and keep track to make sure I'm in a healthy range for my workouts and try to use whole ingredients and limit the artificial. I do eat whatever I want if I feel I need one of those days which usually coincides with higher mileage weeks or an especially long run ;) all this applies to everything except the last 3 weeks which were food madness in my house!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya, I ate a lot more treats over the holidays too! And it's good you allow yourself those days to eat whatever you want. I bet you rarely feel deprived because you know if you really want/crave something, you are "allowed" to have it.
DeleteAh, love this!!!! I'm so on the same page as you. Detoxes and cleanses don't make sense to me. In the end, aren't you just so hungry you eat like a pig afterward and ruin any "progress" you made?
ReplyDeleteI've heard that your body is built in the kitchen, and I think that's true. I need to be smarter about what kinds of food (fuel) I choose to ingest in order to power my body for exercise, but I totally agree that nothing is off the table (unless I'm allergic to it haha). I'll try anything once, and I see nothing wrong in indulging sometimes!
Yes!! I went through and 8 month period where I severely restricted my calories... it was a diet that consisted of fat free grilled cheese sandwiches on lite bread, popcorn, and LOTS of spray butter. Once I started eating normally again, I totally pigged out and gorged on donuts, ice cream, and honey buns. And whaddaya know, I gained 15lbs!!
DeleteThat diet sounds exactly like how I ate for about a year. So. Much. Popcorn. And so much fake food.
DeleteSounds like a great plan to make healthy choices without letting it run your life!
ReplyDeleteYeah, there has to be some sort of balance or else I'd be eating every meal out of a tupperware container. :)
DeleteI am on board with where you are at except I don't log my calories and I live the No Seafood Ever lifestyle... not because of any crazy diet thing or anything, just because I have a super weird fish phobia (long story) and can barely even look at a fish let alone ever try to eat it. I know, I know, just call me crazy now :)
ReplyDeleteLogging calories is the anal part of me that I hope to some day let go of! I think there are a lot of people that don't eat seafood. But it is sad because sushi is sooooooooooooo good!!!! ;)
DeleteThis is fantastic! Your diet sounds a lot like my diet (except I don't do gluten due to medical reasons and I don't miss it at all). Your body is absolutely built in the kitchen. I know I could see the results I want if I focus more on how much exactly I put into my mouth. It took me a long time to realize that food is fuel and that I need to eat it. But now, my portions are probably a little too big. I really need to start tracking my food daily, just so that I have an idea of where I am at. The goals I have for myself this year have everything to do with diet (and working out, but mostly diet).
ReplyDeleteI do not believe in cleanses. I think they are ridiculous and a waste of money. Your body naturally cleanses itself. We were built to keep ourselves healthy and happy. I could not even imagine simply drinking juice for a week.
I don't know why people think they need to cleanse their bodies themselves. Actually, I do know why. They read stuff that is NOT true and they believe it! Tracking calories is a really good idea to keep yourself in check. When I have to stare in the face the number of calories I eat from ice cream, it reminds me not to overdo it!
DeleteI too, do not restrict myself from any particular food (except cranberries, I'm allergic to them!), and I've never done a cleanse. And if you're someone who exercises a lot, that's really dangerous! A lot of cleanses are diuretics and are counter-active; if you're exercising a lot, you need to be ingesting lots of water, not losing it!
ReplyDeleteI also haven't been eating too healthy over the holidays (this actually starts around Halloween for me, and ends right around the New Year, lol)...but I follow Weight Watchers. Counting calories is too restrictive for me (I've become too excessive and restrictive with this in the past); with WW, I know exactly how much food I need to eat every day, and can add in points that count for exercising. I always make sure I use the amount of points allocated per day; if anyone has suffered from disordered eating, WW can actually help you get the fuel you need without becoming obsessive about it.
I'm glad you have something that works for you! I like knowing how much I'm supposed to eat in a day, too.
DeleteWe have very similar philosophies. The only thing I don't do very often is track calories. I just find myself getting a little too obsessed with food when I do. But other than that I feel like I'm more of an intuitive eater. And I must be doing something right since I've weighed no more than 3 pounds either way from about 125 my entire adult like. I once got to 118, but that was because I had the stomach flu. lol!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could eat intuitively! That is a long term goal of mine. :)
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