I began using this app on July 21st and man has it changed my life!
I know this is a running blog but I will share a little nutrition info as well. So this post is all about my struggles and successes with my own dieting.
I wrestled in high school so I am no stranger to rapid weight loss and the problems associated with it. As I graduated in '97, I weighed in at 125 pounds and by the time I was done with my sophomore year in college I was up to 150. Some was muscle and normal growth but there was also many trips to taco bell in there as well.
When I got married in 2002, I probably weighed right around 160 ish.... About 2 years ago, I was at my heaviest (which probably isn't heavy in most peoples eyes) around 170.
Two years ago I also made a choice to devote myself to running and not just "playing" around with it. I abruptly lost about 10 pounds and got down to 160 pretty easily without changing my diet. Now I was happy with this and ate/drank whatever I wanted. Once in awhile I would try something new in terms of my diet but nothing really stuck.
That is until I downloaded MyFitnessPal and actually started counting my calories. So as stated above, I was about 160-162 pounds on July 21st 2013 and at my most recent weigh-in, I am down to 144.9. Go me!
So ..... I changed only one thing (not running or exercise because I was already doing that) and it was my calories. This app has been so much help in terms of accountability. As I have shared in other posts, accountability is a great motivator and this app has been for me.
The nice thing about it is that it has a bar-code scanner on it that can be used. If you don't have a smart phone but only a tablet without bar-code capability, almost all foods are searchable.
I love that when I put my calories from cardio that I do, the app adds it to my "daily" calories. So its like a little extra "room" since I am exercising and then my goal simply becomes to not go over my limit for the day. That is a real cool feature.
Another cool thing is that the app lets you program and save your own foods. So if I make something at home using a recipe with nutritional information down at the bottom, I can program that in and use it. A real nice feature! More and more recipes have nutritional info at the bottom... Love the internet!
Bad things about the app are small and you can definitely work around them. Two things come to mind: you don't really know who is programming the foods some times and the serving sizes are at times confusing. I am not saying this happens frequently but on some occasions it does.
It is simple... I am on no special diet .... I have results ..... I never withhold any food. I can eat pizza, cake, drink adult beverages. Albeit, in smaller quantities than I once did. Personally, it has been a great app and I can think of no other way to diet. I know other people have success with other diets and I won't refute their success mainly because I have no data. But I know what has worked for me.
Plus my wife is a dietician :-)
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Trail Running
Recently, the wife and I got into trail running as a way to change things up in our training and running experience. The first run we did was in Indiana called Tryon Trail Run
http://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=19390
Tryon was a great experience as a 10K trail run. We did not adequately prepare, I would say because we were naive. The race itself was awesome but it definitely pushed me to my limit due to the lack of trail experience and training I had. Still was a great experience. Even ran over a house!
Due to not all that many races close to my home, I didn't do another trail run for almost 16 months later. Recently I connected with a group called Kennekuk Road Runners out of the Danville, IL area. They run an entire series of trail runs in Kickapoo State Park. They are awesome!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/57463279498/
http://www.kennekuk.com/
The wife and I did the Wild Wild Wilderness Trail run through Kennekuk recently and it was just under 7.5 miles. We were much better prepared having done one before and even found some trails locally to train on (Thanks to our local running club. http://www.kankakeeriverrunningclub.com/ )
Both the Wild Wild Wilderness and the Tryon Farm run included a t-shirt and they fed us afterward which is always a great time.
We are signed up for one next weekend called Allerton Park Trail Run in Monticello, IL.
http://secondwindrunningclub.org/races/allerton
I'll let you know how that goes.
SHOES!
There are distinct trail running shoes. Being a newbie a couple of years ago, I had no idea. So recently I made the purchase of some Saucony's in the same type I use for my road shoes. That has been an excellent purchase and I strongly suggest it if you are going to get into trail running. They add a little bit of "grip" and stability that road shoes do not necessarily provide.
Here are my Saucony Guide 5 trail shoes
So there are all sorts of definitions and levels of trail running from just running on grassy prairie like fields to more rigorous terrain and single track trails. For me the miles fly by and even though I cannot achieve PR's due to the terrain and elevation changes, the time seems to go by real fast. It is truly a great experience. You should try one!
http://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=19390
Tryon was a great experience as a 10K trail run. We did not adequately prepare, I would say because we were naive. The race itself was awesome but it definitely pushed me to my limit due to the lack of trail experience and training I had. Still was a great experience. Even ran over a house!
Due to not all that many races close to my home, I didn't do another trail run for almost 16 months later. Recently I connected with a group called Kennekuk Road Runners out of the Danville, IL area. They run an entire series of trail runs in Kickapoo State Park. They are awesome!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/57463279498/
http://www.kennekuk.com/
The wife and I did the Wild Wild Wilderness Trail run through Kennekuk recently and it was just under 7.5 miles. We were much better prepared having done one before and even found some trails locally to train on (Thanks to our local running club. http://www.kankakeeriverrunningclub.com/ )
Both the Wild Wild Wilderness and the Tryon Farm run included a t-shirt and they fed us afterward which is always a great time.
We are signed up for one next weekend called Allerton Park Trail Run in Monticello, IL.
http://secondwindrunningclub.org/races/allerton
I'll let you know how that goes.
SHOES!
There are distinct trail running shoes. Being a newbie a couple of years ago, I had no idea. So recently I made the purchase of some Saucony's in the same type I use for my road shoes. That has been an excellent purchase and I strongly suggest it if you are going to get into trail running. They add a little bit of "grip" and stability that road shoes do not necessarily provide.
So there are all sorts of definitions and levels of trail running from just running on grassy prairie like fields to more rigorous terrain and single track trails. For me the miles fly by and even though I cannot achieve PR's due to the terrain and elevation changes, the time seems to go by real fast. It is truly a great experience. You should try one!
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