Computer virus strikes, food tracking, caloric math and a new recipe

SO I WAS going to post Disney photos but I've discovered that our desktop computer has a very nasty virus.  I don't even want to deal with it. (JUST the way to kick off 2011).

I'm going to let J work on it tonight and then maybe I can post those later in the week. 

BUT other than that, I do have some fun news to share: I'm back on it with the food tracking and it feels great. I use SparkPeople and log-in all of my food over the course of the day, then I get a daily report to see how I look. 

To get me on the right path, I've taken some advice from Shari, a female body builder that I know. She's awesome. Just love her. (Shar also blogs. Her site is www.shariduncan.com)

Shari recommends that those who want to get lean/er do a diet of 35 to 40 percent protein, 35 to 40 percent carbs and 25 percent fats (yes, total science). That's what you should shoot for every day. Over time, you can decrease your carb intake to get leaner. Of course, unless you track your food with a device like SparkPeople (or FitDay), how would you know? Check out my report from Monday to see how it works.

As far as calories go, Shari says that you should take 16 multiplied by your current body weight. This is the amount of calories you'd need daily to maintain your body weight.

Who wants to do that? Not many.

 

If you want to lose weight ... subtract 200-300 from that. Right now, I weight 130 (Blah! ALTHOUGH I know that some of it is muscle) so that would be a total of 2,080 to maintain my weight. Not what I want to do. SO that minus 300 would total 1,780. That seems like a lot of daily calories. But Shari swears that you need to keep the deficit slight otherwise you will kick your body into "famine" mode. That's not to say that you're REALLY starving but your body isn't getting the calories it needs and decides to store what it has. (NOT COOL, BODY! Thanks for keeping an eye out for me though ... I'd really hate to starve.) 

If you're VERY active you might even need to eat more to lose weight (how twisted is that?)

But that is where I feel that a lot of people get into trouble. If they don't know (really know) how many calories they're burning at the gym - they just assume that they're very active and should be able to eat whatever. 

Noper.  

I mean I only consider myself "very active" when I'm training for a distance run (as in running like between seven and 11 miles three days a week), which I'm clearly not doing now. 

AND ... you can't just take in 1,780 calories of cake, bread, wine, etc. and expect to get lean. That would be too easy/too much fun. That's where you have to get back to the 35/35/25 ratios. 

Geez. I'm exhausted just from thinking about it. But apparently, that's the deal. 

OK so enough of that. Let me take you back to Sunday which was pretty much just getting back in the groove. We returned from Disney, making peace with the pups and taking down Christmas decor. 

Then there was Monday - back to work/real life/BS. I had some catching up to do so the day went by fast. At lunch, I did three elliptical miles and went back after work for strength training and to test out the running. I did a mile virtually pain free. But, as per my resolution, I'm not going to push it - so I stopped and did biceps and back. I went home, did dinner (homemade chicken noodle soup, spinach salad with three slices of turkey) and hit the hay. 

On Tuesday, it was more of the same. More food tracking (here are the results and you have to remember that the chart next to my values are the "recommended amount" not what I'm shooting for -- the 35-40/35-40/25) and working out. I did two elliptical miles then got on the treadmill for walking whilst doing tricep extensions and kick backs. I found this to be a great way to knock out a mile as well as three sets of strength work. After work, I cooked-up a really healthy dish that was on Shari's blog (which seems to be where I'm getting a lot of info. lately). It was delish though and oh-so-healthy. It's a spinach and chicken saute. Yums. 

This is what it looks like (not my actual dish) and here's a link to her page for the details.

I also tried a new recipe for Josh, Ground Beef Noodle Casserole. And, he loved it. I was so shocked. I omitted the onions but kept it the same otherwise. Here it is if you're interested in the recipe. *I found it under the "just for kids section." 

: )

After dinner, we chilled and went to bed early. Josh has a cold and I think I might be getting it too. Eeeeekkkkk.