Keeping track

My digital kitchen scale and I have been getting to know each other really well the last few week or so.

I have been working out 4-6 days a week since August and not noticing the changes I'd like to see. I decided it was time to look at other factors. I decided it was time to track what and how much I eat. While looking through the net for a site to use I came across SparkPeople.com. After poking around the site for a bit I decided it was worth giving it a try. At first, I set up my nutrition based on "Creating a healthy lifestyle". After doing this a few days I decided I need to try again with weight loss in mind. My guess was that the calorie count would be less in order to lose weight.

I had happened to step on the scale at the Y on Saturday when I was there with Richard and was not happy with the number. I am not a fan of scales to begin with, even when I was at my thinnest I weighted more than people thought. I've learned to use my pants as the best gauge of my weight... when they are loose I'm happy when they are tight I'm not! This frustration of the number was brought to laughter when I put my number along with my height into SparkPeople to determine calories needed to lose 10lb's or so. According to their numbers I'm obese, yeah no!

Ok back to why I started this post. The last few days I have been watching what I eat. Increasing the amount of fruits and veggies and decreasing the amount of sweets. Don't get me wrong I've not cut sweets and treats out entirely, I know that if I was to do that I'd crash and burn and have a major binge. I now am learning to incorporate those treats into my allotted calorie, fat, protein and carbohydrate count. I am now measure out most of what I eat and track it in my SparkPeople account.

SparkPeople also tracks calories burned through working out. I have decided that I will do 30 minutes of cardio 5 days a week and 3 days of strength training. This is pretty much what I have been doing, but SparkPeople gives suggested stretch activies to do. I try to do this on top of the weights I do at the Y. I've also gone back to doing free weights for upper body.

I can honestly say that I'm already feeling different. I feel stronger and more confident in what I eat. I feel that I'm starting to see minor results too. I love getting back on track and feeling that I'm being healthier again!