nutrition counselling, first day

in my quest for the Holy Grail of vain men - the six-pack abs - i have tried fit for life, south beach diets. both actually worked for me. SBD was able to trim me down quite substantially from where i was before.

now, im trying something new, hoping to 'excite' my system into a new level of calorie-burning. i consulted with my ff trainor and he referred me to their nutrition counselor. 'what the heck', i thought to myself, i might as well try to hear what she has to say.

the initial consultation was quite fine. she asked me to recall what i ate the past 24 hours. then as i listed that, she asked me what my goals were, what diets i have tried. and of course, as i mentioned SBD, i could see her mildly shaking her head. i was about to be defensive and just dismiss this consultation. but i reminded myself i really have nothing to lose (save for a few thousand bucks) if i actually went along with it.

to her credit, she explained in very layman terms how the body needs the different food groups and her strategies for losing fat. though i wasnt as convinced, i might as well put my mind where my money is and just follow her to the letter.

she eventually gave me goals to pursue for the next 18 weeks. and gave me a preliminary computation of the calories of my previous 24 hour food intake. my total caloric intake was ideal at 1,500+ for that period. she wanted me to maintain that to achieve my goals. but she told me that the food group composition was all wrong (because i was still so SBD, meaning no carbs at all)

i signed up and scheduled our first meeting the other friday. henceforth, i will be consulting with her every friday.

on our first meeting, she weighed me as my "before" status. she noted my body fat, my BMI, etc. etc. then she gave me her recomm diet plan for the day. nothing really new. frequent meals at the desired caloric levels. distributing the food groups quite evenly for the different meals. emphasizing the need to bring carb back but under much control.

her goal is to get me to internalize the proper food servings per meal, the right portion sizes without having to compute for calories. that would be her job. so essential to this is the food journal. everything i eat i must write down. everything. i decided to use the 'notes' app of the iphone/ipad instead. and by the end of the week (thursday), i will be emailing her the journal entries.

i started religiously taking note of my intake. even taking pictures of my meals if i wasnt sure id remember them. and i became really conscious of portion sizes, especially for protein. i realized how i've been overeating protein sources, contributing to my current state of fatness.

so it seems like im off to a good start. im taking all of this seriously. only way i could really know if it works.

ill update you on what happens next...