Remember how my weight had gone up about 4 lbs and it was bugging me? Well, it went away. Yup, I’m back down to my happy weight. And to be honest, the answer to the issue was pretty surprising…
I am eating more calories.
Yup, that’s right.
Some time ago, I wrote about MyFitnessPal’s awesome “net calories” feature. It helps me to get a better understanding of how many calories I burn with exercise, and how many I take in during the day. When I started using MyFitnessPal, there were some days that I netted a negative amount of calories (meaning I burned more calories through exercise than I took in during the day!) and many days that my net calories were a measly 400 or something like that.
Well, after a few months of trying to restrict snacking, etc. and not seeing those pesky four pounds go away, I decided to take some advice that I’d heard 380 times. I guess it took 382 times, because when Jillian told someone on her podcast that you have to fuel your body if you’re an endurance athlete, and then that same week I had a conversation at Kosama about how to build muscle you have to give your body fuel to recover from tough workouts… something sank in. And I began eating those calories back.
As you can see, in the last 30 days I have consumed closer to my goal of about 1,200 net calories a day. No, not every day is perfect. Many times, during the work week, it’s harder to get that number up there. But believe me, this graph looks much better than my old one did…
Here’s the other thing, though. Since about Jan. 1st (ish), B and I have been eating many more whole foods. I wrote more about the changes I made here, but mostly I’ve been concentrating on more proteins, more healthy fats, more whole grains. So, it’s not like I’m replacing all of those calories with junk food. (Except for last night when I had three glasses of wine and peanut M&Ms…. oops.). Those extra calories are coming (mostly!) from almond butter, Greek yogurt, fruit, complete-protein sprouted-grain bread, preservative-free and organic foods.
So, I don’t know which facet has the bigger impact–the number of calories I’m eating or the type of food I’m eating–but I’m willing to bet they go hand in hand. I’m not sure I’ve found “the answer” either, but I do feel like I’ve made some significant steps in the right direction. And I know I feel a whole lot healthier, too.
Do you eat enough calories in a day?
Do you notice a difference in your body when you fuel it with the right foods?
That’s so interesting that you weren’t eating enough calories to help promote your weight loss. I wonder if you ate more at your meal times since you weren’t snacking before. Either way, glad you figured this out! Have a great weekend
Reblogged this on David Vale and commented:
Interesting real life example of how eating more resulted in weight loss. Sometimes when folks (me included) have success with weight loss and plateau they are scared to add more food into their diets. Understandable. But sometimes the “Coal Furnace” needs a boost!