eastb1's Journal, 14 September 2013

Hi! I got a message from you, which I will respond to shortly, and I decided to check out your profile, which is when I saw this journal entry and I thought I would respond with some suggestions. I reviewed your diet calendar and it looks like you're getting enough exercise/activity. And you're eating the right amount of fat and carbs. But I noticed that you eat some processed carbs, like bars, cereal, and pasta. They may seem healthy, but because they're processed, rather than whole and fresh, they affect the body differently, especially when the companies who manufacture the foods add chemicals to them, like preservatives, artificial colors, trans fats, and sugar. So they're really *not* healthy. My other suggestion is to eat more protein. A good guideline is to eat half your body weight (lbs) in grams of protein. Your profile says you weigh 166 lbs, so you should aim for 83 grams of protein a day. I noticed that you cycle and go to the gym. That's great! I'm not sure what you do at the gym, but cycling is a good total body workout. If you're not already, I suggest also lifting weights and doing body-weight exercises to add muscle to your body. The amount of muscle you have partly determines your metabolic rate, so the more muscle you have on your body, the faster your metabolism. Weightlifting is good for your bones too. And as we age, we slowly lose our muscle mass if we don't lift weights, which is one of the reasons adults gain weight as they age. So those are my main suggestions to you. I'm sorry that you had cancer, but at least you don't have it now. Good luck to you with your weight loss and everything! 

Thanks for your suggestions...I know I suffer when it comes to protein i had thought 65 but you think 83...that will be tough. I have cut out lots of processed carbs but still need to do more. Up until last Saturday I was lifting weights 2-3 x's week and doing warmup on stairmaster or treadmill. Saturday I crashed on bike ride and fractured collarbone and will not be able to do more than a walk or spinning on trainer. So more muscle is to my advantage, I certainly need that. I kicked cancer's butt so I can kick this weight, I need to work on my food choices, more protein and avoid processed....maybe start making a menu plan for the week. Thanks so much