Really?

Hey everyone! It's been a while! 

My husband and I took a trip on short notice last week, and it switched up my schedule a little. It's a bit difficult to blog from the road, so I threw my blogging to the back burner for a couple of days, but I'm back! 

I have been talking to some friends and family lately about health, and our conception of it, and that lead to what I want to talk about today.

You're probably not getting enough calories. If you are, then you're probably not getting enough nutrients.

Really? 

Yep. R.E.A.L.L.Y!

Let me go a little science nerd on you for a minute to explain:

1. You're wanting to drop a few pounds so you're going to lower your calorie intake to make that happen. (Applause) BUT, there is a FINE LINE there... lowering your calorie intake will encourage your body to resort to burning off stored fat, yes, but lower your intake too much, and whammy! It'll backfire on you. 

Now, I can't give you a number and tell you exactly how many calories you should be eating during the day because there are so many factors that vary that outcome, but I will suggest that if you are a woman, you should be trying to get at least 1200+ per day, and about 1500+ for men. This is even if you live a sedentary lifestyle. If you are working out and active, you'll want to increase your intake accordingly. There are calculators online what can give you a less generalized estimate if you're interested.

2. "I get enough calories, but I am not loosing any weight." Are you getting the right nutrients, and how are your portion sizes? There are a number of problems that could be happening here, but I'd like to focus on the two that I see most often:

First, you are eating huge portions infrequently throughout the day. Stop that! Do you realize that your stomach is really only about the size of your fist? When you eat, it expands, and the more you eat, the larger it gets. That means that the next time you eat, you will eat more to fill full because there is more space to fill. Ideally, you should be eating about 6 small meals/day. (Meals that are about the size of your fist). This will encourage your stomach to keep it's form while you still get your recommended calories.

Second, you are eating enough during the day, but what you are eating is not fueling your body. There are certain nutrients that the body must have to function properly, and there are myriads of foods out there that have zero nutritional value for you. So you eat them, and perhaps get some energy from them, but not much more. When you do this regularly, your body goes into starvation mode. It's like putting diesel in a gas engine... you can fill up the tank as much as you want, but it's not going to take your car anywhere. When your body goes into starvation mode, it will convert anything it can into a usable form, and generally that means fat. It will also try to store the fat for you to use on a day when you need it. The problem with this is, we don't live like our ancestors. We live in a society where food is readily available, in very poor form. We keep eating when we don't need to, so our bodies don't use that fat that has been placed into storage on our thunder-thighs, love-handles, and spare-tires... So the body grows, and becomes very unhealthy. 

There is so much more science and variety to that story, but that is basically how it works, and I didn't want to bore you anymore! Try to identify which category your fall into, and then tackle what you struggle with! I'd just like to add that while we do have the most unhealthy of choices available to us, we also have some of the most healthy options around us as well. Just remember to treat food like fuel. You wouldn't go to the gas pump and poor fuel out over the ground just because it smells good, or you're addicted to it... don't waste your food like that either. Don't waste food and let it gain control of your life, and most importantly, don't life for food, but do EAT TO LIVE!

Make your life awesome, and be healthy enough to enjoy it!