Tag Archives: nutritionist

May 21 2012
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My Fit Foods – Post 1 of quite a few

Today, I had my appointment with My Fit Foods.  As a quick background, if you’re new to this blog, I recently decided that I really have a decent handle on working out, and food is where I’m struggling the most.  After looking into Jenny Craig, NutriSystem and a few other weight loss programs, I decided to try out My Fit Foods.

While I can cook a healthy meal with the ease of following a recipe, I had found that working out and cooking a meal in the same evening was proving unlikely.  I’d leave work by 6, leave the gym by 7:30, and would be starving by the time I got home.  Without the patience to cook a meal at that point, I turned to higher calorie convenience food (popcorn for dinner, anyone?).

My Fit Foods has prepared meals you pick up in a store.  They provide everything from soup to nuts if you want it – breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, vitamins, supplements, juice, high pH water, lemons (for the liver cleanse – I’ll get to that), and so on and so on.

I have a pretty limited budget, so soup to nuts was not in the cards, as it comes in at about $625 for 3 weeks.  Instead, I decided to go with two meals per day (lunch and dinner).  I figure I can handle breakfast on my own (though it may not be EXACTLY what they would have wanted me to eat).  And, when it comes to vitamins and supplements, I have my head wrapped around that pretty well, so the only sup I bought was Milk Thistle (which I realized after I got home was only a 2-week supply.  wah wah.).

Now, the liver cleanse.  This is a “cocktail” you make every morning and chug down.  It includes: juice from half a lemon, 4 oz. unsweetened cranberry juice, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar.  An optional element is B-12 juice, but I passed on that this time around.  It tasted pretty rancid.  I might cut it with water in the morning to see if that improves the flavor.

So, with 13 meals (I decided to try 1 breakfast, one snack, and I received a free meal for trying out the plan), the Milk Thistle supplement, unsweetened cranberry juice, it came out to $89.  Not GREAT, but not ideal.  If you load up your account with money in advance (starting at $500), you get free money.  For instance, “buying” $500 gets you $525 in your account.  More if you pre-pay more.

Here is what I really enjoyed about the experience.  For starters, it was SO INFORMATIVE.  The girl walked me through this large packet of info that was NEW to me.  This really was the science I had hoped to get from the nutritionist.  There was information on caffiene, sleep, supplements, when to eat your carbs, etc. etc.  I truly learned several things today.  I also love that their meals have a 5 day shelf life – makes me believe them when they say they are low or no preservatives.  They are 90% gluten, soy and dairy free.  They focus on the Glycemic Index (great for someone who has diabetes in their DNA).

Overall, it was a great, great experience and I can’t wait to report how I do and how it works.  I also look forward to sharing some of the tidbits of information I uncovered!

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Mar 18 2012
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Consolations and Desolations

My consolation for the week: a hard fought (albeit lost) tennis match.  I was playing with Kathleen for the first time in the first line doubles (that means of our three doubles teams, we were deemed the best).  In our first set, we lost 1-6.  I think we were down 0-2, then we won to bring it to 1-2, and then they won the next four games (a set is first to 6 by two, for tennis newbies).  In the second set, it was looking a lot better.  Though we were down 3-1, we brought it to 4-4, then we tied up at 5-5, and eventually lost 5-7.  Matches are generally played best two out of three (our league is a wee bit different, in that you don’t play a 3rd set, but rather a tie-breaker, but that was not necessary as we lost the first two sets).

Still, the match felt GOOD.  Granted I wasn’t hitting the best, and my nerves got the best of me in the first set, we really gave these ladies a run for their money and made them work for that second set.  I feel if we could have just pulled out that 2nd set, we could have won in the tie breaker.

My desolation for the week: Hmmm.  I’ll have to go with not tracking my calories.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I have been eating healthier, but that tracking when I’m so incredibly busy is more difficult.  I go back to the nutritionist on Tuesday and won’t have much to show her for the past week in terms of nutrition.

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Feb 19 2012
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My New Favorite Cook Book

Ok.  I know I just said I found some pitfalls with meal planning alongside a cookbook.  The gist of that was I was over complicating the plan, so much so that I failed to recognize that between boot camp, tennis, work and church, I did not have time to cook three meals a week in the evenings.

However, I do love trying new recipes – keeps it interesting, and challenges my pallet.  I’ve resigned myself to the notion that I have to cook on Sundays though, and Wednesdays.  I will make and prep enough batches for the next few days.  The one thing that doesn’t work (for me, at least) are things like chicken breast, pot roast, etc.  I don’t like cuts of meat in general, let alone reheated.  #truth

I seem to be leading away from my point, instead of towards it.  So here’s a very abrupt change of topic: I’m in love with my new cookbook:

No, I have not come down with Diabetes.  However the Nutritionist did mention she had a few Diabetic cookbooks she recommends.  So, on my way to Barnes to pick up 300 under 300 – a book of 300 recipes under 300 calories – I changed it up when I came across this colorful, informative, picture-for-every-recipe book.  The principals of diabetic eating are basically the principals we should all follow.  The lesson for me: diabetics do not have a special diet, they just have to follow a healthy diet.  My grandma would be proud.

Aside from a ton of recipes I will find an appropriate time to work into my meal plan, there there are a ton of pseudo info graphics throughout the book like the following:

Calories would have been a little more helpful here, but the two are related.  Just a helpful visual.

As you may be able to see, there are little book markers throughout the book where I’ve taken note of things to try.

Lobster Mac and Cheese Casserole anyone?  Only 322 calories :)

 

 

 

 

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Feb 15 2012
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Planning and Puzzlement

Oh what a week it has been.   Last I wrote, I’d just been to the nutritionist and left rather confused.  What I don’t think I mentioned was that I had been to the dermatologist earlier that week, and was heading to south Texas for vacation later that week.

Well, the dermatologist was not really worth mentioning, or so I thought.  See, she put me on birth control to help regulate my hormones, in an effort to help my adult acne.  I have not been on that stuff in quite a while and man it messed me up.  For one thing, I spent a week being very crabby.  I caught myself crossing my arms a lot, was very irritable, did not want to see people, etc…. especially the past couple of days.  I bitched and moaned about going out with a friend for valentines day.  Ya’ll, I even drove all the way to tennis (about 5 miles) and felt like turning around and going home because I didn’t want to be around people while grouchy, and also didn’t want to put on a happy face.  I didn’t bail though.

Last Sunday was when another side effect of BC hit in a big and uncomfortable way home from  South Texas – constipation.  My God.  I thought (not for the first time in my life with this condition) that I would have to go to the hospital to have it taken care of.  I drove probably 150 miles with some major discomfort before the laxatives kicked in.  By the way, the other time this happened was also medicine-induced, but that was post-surgery Vicodin.

Anyway, I feel like I’m back to normal, but still confused as ever about my diet after my trip to the Nutritionist.  Before, when I did South Beach, it was very black and white on I what I could/should eat, and what I couldn’t/shouldn’t.  The nutritionist simply added carbs to my diet, and recommended 1600 to 1800 calories per day.  So, the list of food items out there was simply on a platter once again, and this overwhelmed me.

I have since reached out to her via email, but have not yet heard back.  I’ve spent the past few days  (well, past week if you count calories on vacation, which I should, but don’t), eating over 2,000 calories per day.  Hey, at least I’m tracking!  I’m just so lost, honestly.  The other issue is that Sunday I was all stopped up, Monday it was back to work, tennis Monday night, dinner with a friend Tuesday night.  Tonight is the first night since vacation that I wasn’t burdened with some other duty or task.  I can spend some time thinking more about my diet moving forward.

The way I think I’m going to approach this is think about things I WANT to incorporate into my diet.  For instance, I want more oatmeal in my diet – for the cholesterol benefits.  I want skim milk in my diet.  I’d like to keep nuts, fruits and vegetables in there, too.  I SUPPOSE by the time I put all the wants in the diet, plus the carbs my nutritionist wants to integrate, there will likely not b e a lot of room for much else.  Perhaps that’s my approach.

Truthfully ya’ll, if you have some advice here, I could really use it.  Why is a calorie restriction so confusing for me?  I started my diet this way, and now I’m back to it.  Puzzled.

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Feb 07 2012
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Nutritionist

Today, I saw a nutritionist.  This was a first time experience for me.  I’m not entirely sure what I expected going in – perhaps the secret weapon to fighting fat and losing weight.  Wrong.

The appointment started out with my nutritionist, Elizabeth, asking a lot of questions about family history regarding heart disease (one side of the family), cancer (both sides of the family) and diabetes (both sides).  “Oh boy,” she says.  We talked a lot about what I’m doing now – walking through what a typical day looks like for me in terms of food and working out.  As she saw it, I had three core areas to work on: (1) dinner, in general, (2) planning, and (3) eating more carbs (yes, more).

Dinner is an issue for me because evening tennis and/or boot camp often hit right when I need to be eating (which is every four hours, by the way).  Perhaps I go from work straight to tennis, getting home around 8:45.  This is hardly the time I want to cook – and is more about getting into the bedtime routine.  Knowing all this as I leave the office, I usually pick up fast food (yeah, I know).

Hence, I need to be better at planning around the clock.  I told her about how in November, I did not eat out at all – no meals.  This took an immense amount of planning, which I could stand to channel more – like having frozen meals at the office for those nights that run into tennis.

Regarding the carbs, I was surprised.  Carbs are apparently what the brain uses for fuel.  Know why people on Atkins are loopy?  No carbs.  I should be eating 2-3 “choices” of carbs per meal, and 1-2 choices per snack.  A choice, by the way, is 15g of carbs.  This could include veggies, milk, bread, fruit – so many options.

From there, we discussed a meal plan for one day that was customized for me.  For instance, I currently have eggs for breakfast, sometimes with Canadian bacon.  Now, I’ll be adding carbs to that – toast perhaps, or quinoa.

I asked her about a calorie goal and was surprised to hear about 1,600 – 1,800 calories a day.  I explained to her that MyFitnessPal (my online calorie tracker) has set forth 1,300 calories, but adds back any workout calories I earn.  So, if I do boot camp in the morning and burn 400 calories, then my new calorie goal for the day is 1,300 + 400, which equals 1,700.  Calories, however, do not carry into the next day.

So, it’s back to calorie counting for me very soon!  I am on vacation as of about 7PM tonight and I’m going to eat mindfully for the rest of the week and plan meals starting Monday.

I head back in 6 weeks – I suppose for a follow-up.  My guess – we’ll talk about how the diet is working out for me, review my “homework” (meal and calorie tracking).  I *really* hope insurance covered these upcoming appointments.  Today cost me a $60 copay, and would have been $170 for the initial consultation.  Ouch!

Still, I’m looking forward to having a professional talk me through the process and I hope to see more results as a result of the steps I’m taking with her.

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