RMR Testing

[Zen]

... But I did find it interesting that the nutritionist thinks I'm eating too much fruit. She said I was just trading one sugar for another. Granted fruit does have a lot of nutrients and is much better for you, but it still has a lot of natural sugars.

I think "just trading one sugar for another" is a bit simplistic. Different sugars have different structures. Carbohydrates are sugars but they're the body's main fuel.
I think it also depends on when you eat those sugars.

What's wrong with the Lean cuisine? Most diet entrees are exploding with sodium but the Lean Cuisine Spa entrees look OK to me.

[rabidgirl]

This is all quite interesting. I never had to fight off the weight until recently. Then, it became seriously difficult to lose anything, and sometimes I would even gain more weight when dieting. No matter how long or hard I trained (I was up to running 15 miles regularly and still not losing weight) the weight never changed. I am no expert, but here's what I have learned after much research and experimentation:

Over the past year, I have done a good bit of reading and changed my whole nutrition plan. That change has been incredible simple and successful. I went from 165# and 30% body fat to 125# and 16% body fat in 6 months, without horrendous workouts. The key was eating clean, unprocessed food, and monitoring when I ate certain foods. What was different? I switched to managing my insulin.

Here's the thing: insulin promotes the release of human growth hormone (useful for tissue repair & recovery). It also helps turns carbs in glycogen (energy stored in the muscle, but not fat) & fat. So, you eat simple sugars (fruit or junk candy or high fructose corn syrup), your body releases huge amounts of insulin in response to the sugar influx, and the sugars then become builders, glycogen, or fat... all depending on what's needed at the time. If you've been lfting or biking and immediately have some simple sugars, they will become glycogen & aid in recovery and stimulate relase of HGH. Eat too much sugar, and it turns into fat. Continue the overdosing and you get insulin resistance, diabetes, & obesity. That's why your nutritionist poo-poo'ed the fruit as similar to high fructose corn syrup; the sugar in fruit is fructose and is treated similarly by the body. By eating whole, unprocessed complex carbs, the sugar is released slowly into the bloodstream and insulin is only released in small amounts over a much longer timeframe. Less of the carbs are converted into fat.


The second issue is processed food... it is highly concentrated forms of food items that were at some point fine to eat when they were whole. However, the processing has removed to fiber, moisture, minerals, vitamins, etc that made the food "healthy". Also, who knows what junk has been purposefully (or mistakenly) pumped into processed food. Ever hear of the story where a manufacturer lied on their nutrition label? I believe it was an ice cream company who horribly falsified the sugar & fat content. That's why prepared frozen meals aren't the best choice.

Notice that I never mentioned fat. Sure, I eat lean cuts of meat (to include chicken, tuna, steak, and turkey), but I don't even count the amount of fat that I eat. I cook in olive oil, have oil & vinegar on my salad, and I even eat peanut butter (lots of it) to get extra fat in my diet. Fat is not a concern, so long as it is ingested in reasonable amounts.

I also never mentioned eating less. I eat enough to sustain my energy demands (right now it's 6 meals a day, with about 4oz of lean protein and 20g of complex carbs). RMR testing is incredibly beneficial here. However, I have found some reasonable estimators online (there's even one on the Friel training website), and then I add in the calories consumed during my workouts. If you cut your calories consumed, you slow your metabolism. Slowing the metabolism means that your body becomes greedy, and converts a larger portion of the food you eat into fat. Over eat just a few times with a damaged metabolism and the fat just piles on. You ABSOLUTELY must eat enough food to support your needs. Cutting calories more than 15% in an effort to lose weight poses a great risk for slowing the metabolism.

Of course, all of this goes along with the disclaimer that this may not work for all people... I have figured out that I am what is termed "carb sensitive". This protocol has worked exceptionally well for me.

Sorry this is so long, I just wish we were all taught this in school.

[equus123]

I 150% agree with you on the school thing. The garbage we learn has nothing to do with the real world or life!!!


I just wanted to say - excellent post. Very informative and educational. Thank you

[Running Mommy]

You sound just like me!!
Please give me an example of what you eat on any given day.

What you said is in line with the nutritionist. And I know that in the past when I cut down on the sugars and eat just a lot of lean protein and veggies with a sprinkle of whole grain carbs thrown in I lose weight. And I'm not a fat- o- phobe either. I eat peanut butter on whole grain toast for breakfast, and I also cook with olive oil.

I am very interested in this! It sounds like you found success just by eating the right thing at the right time. So that just seals the deal for me. I have to break the sugar cycle!!

[Jones]

Runningmommy and rapid,
Thank you both for the great posts. I know I need to break the sugar cycle.
I would love to see a sample menu for a day or even a few days, and what about spices? Can we use any that we like so long as they are whole and unprocessed or maybe just dried?
I have been overweight since I quit smoking 5 years ago and this year decided I really wanted to take care of the weight issue. Total I wanted to lose 70lbs and the first 25 pounds just fell away but now I can't seem to shift even an ounce. I know I have cheated several times but the odd thing is when I allow my self to have a piece of cake at special events, I turn into a sugar craving monster. All sweets seem to become even harder to resist and then I binge on sugar and don't want any thing else. Does this ever happen to anyone else?
Jones

[rabidgirl]

I have included what I eat daily below. The disclaimer is this: I've being working on it for a year now. It is the minimal calories my body can handle without freaking out. I am 5'8", 125# and 16% body fat. This diet supports my body at my activity level. I lift very intensely 2 times a week and bike about 10-12 hours a week at varying intensities. I think I actually need to bump myself up in total intake, as I have been very hungry since increasing my activity level (started a more endurance based plan two weeks ago).

On rest days, I eat 36g of protein and 1 to 2 cups of fiberous veggies 6 times daily. My first meal includes 1/4 cup of old fashioned oatmeal.

On workout days I eat 30g of protein 6 times daily and 25g of carbs with the first four meals. I add in 1 to 2 cups of fiberous veggies anytime.

Fiberous veggies are lettuce, green beans, broccoli, yellow squash, zucchini, asparagus, peppers, onion, or tomatoes.

Carbs are sweet potato, whole long grain brown rice (not precooked in any way), apples, banana, pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

Proteins are egg whites, 99% lean ground turkey, 95% lean ground beef, chicken breast, tuna in water, sirloin steak (sometime a t-bone), and rarely an extra lean pork loin.

I do drink protein shakes to stay on track when in a time pinch. I use the Dymatize Elite Whey... 1 scoop with carbs or 1.5 scoops when I'm not eating carbs.

To fend off hunger, I will sometimes eat 10 plain almonds or have 1 - 2 TBS of natural peanut butter.

I eat first thing in the morning and immediately after workouts. That means I have to time my workouts such that it is about 45 min. after I eat.

Once every week or two I go out and splurge on one meal. I may have a few slices of pizza or spaghetti... whatever. But, it is just once that day, and then back in line. That single calorie push keeps my metabolism from slowing down. I limit my condiments to lite soy sauce, worstcheshire (unknown spelling), salsa (homemade), KC Masterpiece Low Calorie BBQ sauce (a real treat), tabasco sauce, and Ms. Dash products. Garlic and pepper are fine. Sodium is something I try not to over indulge in. But, as I tell my cohorts... better to put some salt on your food & drink extra water than cheat & ruin the whole diet.

Oh.... I do use the Gu packs on my rides of 2 hours or more. I have one every 45 minutes. I do not count them anywhere in my diet.

I drink AT LEAST a gallon of water (mixed with Crystal Light is ok) every day. No caffeine; nothing else. Just water.

I guess that's about it. Feel free to ask any additional questions...

[teigyr]

Running Mommy,

Since you've been tested and are doing a different type of diet, have you noticed a difference? I've been thinking a LOT about the testing and it makes sense. My guess is you are performing better due to having adequate nutrition but I wanted to ask