The dirty little word...DIET!

     I am generally a very health consciences eater. With that being said, I don't shy away from a good dessert or treat. I noticed the past few months digging into my desserts much more frequently. I started to notice that it was brought on by emotional eating, and I wasn't even savoring these foods. I was waking up feeling like crap, My workouts were suffering. I really needed to find a way to get back on track. Not for the sake of a silly number on the scale, but so I could FEEL better.

     The second I started thinking about cleaning up my eating, it sent me into panic mode. I headed straight for Costco to get 3 giant bags of Chicago popcorn (YUMMMMM!) It seems just the thought of  "dieting" makes me want to eat whatever I want so I won't have to be restricted. I mean I deserve that junk food right?!

     Here is what is currently working for me. In fact, I am LOVING it. My Fitness Pal app. I have used it before. Most of you probably have. I finally updated the app and decided to give it another try. The new updates are amazing. I can scan my foods' barcodes and it instantly pulls up ingredients. I put my frequent foods in the recipe portion so I can slot it in quickly. These are reasons why it is working so well for me:

• I am not stressing over exact measurements. If a food isn't in the data bank, I just pick something similar.
• I don't weigh everything. Yes, that would be more accurate. But let's be honest. I would last 2 days doing this.
• It's on my phone so it is super convenient to plug in the food I eat.
• I minimize my grazing when I am not hungry because I am too lazy to enter in all the food. So it is easier to not eat that bite of graham cracker from my kids then to have to enter it to my daily log.
• It allows you to put in your workouts in, and gives you more calories back based on how many burned during that workout. I did find that it overestimates calorie burn. If you want to be super accurate, a heart rate monitor is best. But again, for me I am not using this to loose weight. It's more so I can be more conscious of what I am putting in my mouth.
• I still eat my treats. Yesterday, we hunted down the Waffle truck for their 600calories of waffle heaven. I was over my daily calories. I didn't care one bit because I savored it. It was worth every bite. And better yet, it wasn't like I ate 600 calories of nasty food around the house because I was bored and didn't realize what I was even eating.

 

Love this feature for the quick scan

 

Even though I am not the most accurate, its nice to see my daily log. And there is a feature to check out the Macro nutrient breakdown (% of carbohydrates, % protein, % fat)

 

I have stuck with it 5 days in a row. I already feel better about being more aware of what I am eating. I know it will help decrease recovery time. Food is fuel!

 

This is me!

I keep thinking once I come up with something "cool" enough I will start telling people I started a blog. Well, nothing mind blowing has happened these past few weeks so lets just get started anyways! I love to run 4 so many different reasons. One of them is to connect with other runners. I love to get new ideas, and share things with others. Starting a blog would be a great way for me to do that. Here is a lil intro about myself:

Michelle Sager

• Mom of two darling boys (3 & 4 years old)
• 30
• Played soccer my whole life. Played all 4 years in college for a Division 1 program (2001-2005)
• Thought I would lose my mind when I graduated college if I didn't find a competitive outlet
• Started running marathons in 2005. Haven't stopped since
• Married a runner. He is my rock
• We love to train together and involve our kids in workouts
• I teach group fitness classes at LA Fitness & Desert Fitness. Love it. Lots
• I love living an active lifestyle

Please feel free to comment or email me anytime with questions or if you wish to connect!