I received a comment from a reader named ‘Oscar’ the other day. He commented on the validity of my point of questioning the slant that research studies may take when reporting their results. He then made a comment on how I could eat between 1100- 1400 calories per day on a regular basis.
There are guidelines that are recommended for calories per day, based on age, daily exercise and general health. Those recommendation are typically higher than what I eat, but I believe that unless you have an eating disorder or another issue that alters your ‘perception’ of your true body composition, that you need to take the guidelines and look at how your own body responds to calories based on weight gain, energy level and continued good health. This leads me to another question.
Is a calorie just a calorie? Double speak? No. A calorie spent on a bag of nacho flavored chips, and calories spent on a sweet potato or a piece of lean meat are not the same. Physically, you may have eaten the same number of calories, but nutritionally, and energy wise…not at all the same!
Now back to my calories per day and how I can live on 1100-1400 calories per day. When you are living a lifestyle of clean eating, you can eat quite a lot of food! Eating lean meats, tons of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and low fat dairy adds up to a lot of food. This is a great example. Today my children were off for yet another snow day. In the last 2 weeks they have gone to 3 days of school. We needed to get out. We went on an ‘adventure’ and ended up in a cold slate ice cream shop. I asked to see the nutritional sheet on the ice creams. They all ranged from 330- 900 calories (with NOTHING mixed in yet!) You know how much food I can eat for that? I took a pass. I just couldn’t do it.
So, the bottom line is, take a first step forward toward clean eating, and you can experience a boost in energy, a loss of flab and hopefully a sunny disposition.
2/16 Workout :
Treadmill- 2.25, 30 minutes
Strength Training- Back, Shoulders
plank row- 5lb
straight shoulder raise- 5 lb
standing rear flye- 1 band
back row- 2 tubes
lat pulldown- 2 tubes
superman (lie on the floor- lift both legs, and both arms/hands off the ground as high as is not pulling on your back. Hold for 30 seconds. Release. Repeat)
bent arm shoulder raise- 10 lb
single arm high cable row on stability ball- 1 tube
2/16 Food Diary: Breakfast-
Grapefruit (40 cal)
1 cup organic egg whites, 1/4 cup brocolli (110 cal)
A.M. Snack-
apple (67 cal)
Grapefruit (40 cal)
Lunch-
2 1/8oz. salmon (130 cal)
Salad- 2 cup mixed greens, 1/2 red sweet pepper,2 tbls adamame, 4 asparagus, 4 cherry tomatoes (95 cal.)
Dinner- restaurant- calories are an approximate
adamame in shell (salted)(190 cal)
tuna sushi(220 cal)
seaweed salad(80 cal)
2 Glasses Wine (200 cal)
Dessert-
1/2 cup Apple cinnamon cherrios, 1/2 cup non-fat vanilla yogurt, 1/8 cup bluberries (150 cal)
TOTAL CALORIES: 1342
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