Tuesday, October 19, 2010

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...

8 comments:

Prince Henry said...

Dear CC,

This article reminded me so much about college and post grad where I took advance nutrition classes. Ha ha ha The 24-Hour food recall is very exciting at first. I also did that. but eventually grew tired of having to recall my food intake. Gradually (unknowingly), I replaced my 24-H food journal with a wine journal! But they say, as a manager, we should never grow tired of journals!

As for the diet, hmm.. (as a nutrition student), I agree to her that we should derive our nutrient intake from various food groups. The key is indeed striking the balance. But well, that can be contested. After all, we still choose what is the plan that can work for us. Life is short, we don't want to make it shorter!

I haven't mentioned this before, but your site really reminds me of John Barrowman!

Good luck with your new diet plan!

Cheers!

HRH Henry

Quentin X said...

I also used to avoid carbs completely. It got down to as low fat as possible but I was still not satisfied. Now I have started to reintroduced carbs as long as they are in the vegetable form. I still limit rice, bread, pasta to a minimum.

Sphinx said...

Hi Dude.Lets swap links. Mine is http://filipinom2m.blogspot.com

please check.hope you like it

take care,
estefan

Ming Meows said...

baka kulang lang sa ab workouts

chino said...

been working on with my abs hirap tsk tsk tsk

chino said...

hirap magka sikspak tsk tsk

closet case said...

@Prince Henry hmm a wine journal! i should do that, too. but my nutritionist tells me i should also drink wine in moderation. something about its alcoholic content almost equivalent to an amount of fat because it competes with the fat metabolism blah blah. haha

i googled John Barrowman. if i googled right, he played that role in last Desperate Housewives' season!

@quentin well, my nutritionist keeps on reminding me that i could still lose weight AND eat carbs!

@ming meows no amount of ab workout will make those abs come out IF there is a layer of fat/flab on top. :-(

@chinchan hopefully, we will both achieve our ab goals! sikspak here we come!

Prince Henry said...

CC: Oh you'll love him as Captain Jack Harkness in Torchwood (there's season 1-3 already; season 4 coming 2011)... try watching it... I used to chase him in Glasgow during his concerts. yeah he played one of the roles in desperate housewives. I havent watched it though... funny... anyway... the wine journal is fun... trust me... I have a one year wine journal. I have filled it with wine labels.. then there was a portion where you put the price of the wine. The mathematician in me always likes to compute. I did. Then found out that I could have bought a 2nd hand car had I saved the money instead. ha ha ha ha but the experience... oh well... priceless! ha ha ha... the wine, yes, competes, with fat metabolism... it will deposit the fat content to your extremities and in the belly... so difficult to burn... i ended up giving up gym... focused on eating... an then carboxy therapy... happy? yes... hehhe

---Prince Henry