Getting Functionally Fit

Coach, it sounds like you are doing really, really well! Congrats. And that's great you pushed yourself to do a little running on the treadmill, too. You're setting a great example for your trainees along with everything else.
 
I was curious as to why you're on such a low fat intake. I read somewhere that you should be at 40% to 50% and I know I'm way more satiated when I eat things with more fat (of course staying away from saturated fat is recommended). But you're doing great the way you're doing it, was just wondering.
 
Blancita said:
I was curious as to why you're on such a low fat intake. I read somewhere that you should be at 40% to 50% and I know I'm way more satiated when I eat things with more fat (of course staying away from saturated fat is recommended). But you're doing great the way you're doing it, was just wondering.
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Most of the stuff that I have read has suggested to keep fat somewhere between 20 and 30% of your daily calories. That includes the whatever gov't department was responsible for AI/DV/RDA etc, which suggested to keep fats under 30% of total daily calories.

Since i am going for a caloric deficit, i take away some of my calories from each macronutrient, but i prefer to take a larger portion from my fats since I am generally quite active (except for the last year or so, lol). Id rather not sacrifice protein and carbs because i definitely need those, but I feel ok keeping fats around 20%. Im not having issues with satiety, and I feel that it works well for me personally.

Generally speaking, my nutrition and my exercise is based around the principles of overall health and functionality. Essentially, my calorie deficit is the only thing that I concern myself with when it comes to fat loss. I eat so that i have energy and can recover from workouts and stresses in general. I workout so that I can be stronger, more efficient, perform better at my chosen sports, and have a generally stronger heart and cardiovascular system. I don't really concern myself with whether or not my weightlifting and cardio is optimized for fat loss, i want to optimize it for better health and performance. I've learned recently that the reason I have always been overweight is because my calories were always too high, no matter how much exercise I did. More importantly, that doing more exercise would never correct poor nutrition, at least not for me. For me at this point in my life, the caloric deficit is all that matters in terms of fat loss. everything else is just a function of good health and wellbeing, because in the end that is what really matters to me.
 
I'd have a very hard time keeping fat around 20%. For the past 6 months, fat has been 35% of my diet, although saturated fat has only been 8%, and trans fat has been 0%.

I think I like salmon too much (and meat in general) to get fat that low.

I'm not saying this as a recommendation, by the way -- just an observation.

Have a good day, coach.
 
Generally speaking, my nutrition and my exercise is based around the principles of overall health and functionality.... I eat so that i have energy and can recover from workouts and stresses in general. I workout so that I can be stronger, more efficient, perform better at my chosen sports, and have a generally stronger heart and cardiovascular system. I don't really concern myself with whether or not my weightlifting and cardio is optimized for fat loss, i want to optimize it for better health and performance..... More importantly, that doing more exercise would never correct poor nutrition.....everything else is just a function of good health and wellbeing, because in the end that is what really matters to me.
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Coach, that perfectly sums up my own feelings about food/nutrition/exercise. Beautifully said!

About the fat% thing...personally I perfer to look at specific gram intake of individual types of fats rather than percentages overall because the percentage alone can be really misleading...for instance I've had days where my eating has been truly awful, but looking strictly at the ratios, it appeared that everything was great...just because of the number of calories it was based on.
 
The percentages are basically just an quick reference guide for me to know if my next meal should be a little lighter/heavier on any of the various macros. I do pay close attention to what types of fats I am eating. For one thing, I dont eat foods that contain trans fats in abundance. and by abundance, i mean that there is enough to force a company to put a anything more than the number zero next to trans fats on a nutrition info label. granted, trans fats do occur naturally in trace amounts in some foods, but I avoid at all costs any foods made in such a manner that its trans fats are increased beyond this natural limitation. Saturated fats are kept very low, generally around 5% of my daily calories. I don't want to negate them entirely because they do play a role in the creation of testosterone, which is important for everyone, male or female (though obviously perhaps a bit more important for men, lol). I am even generally quite selective about my unsaturated fats, as there polyunsaturates have been shown to lower HDL cholesterol levels. So my main goal is to get the majority of my fats as monounsaturated, which is one reason why I choose almonds as my nut of choice, and things like that.

My percentages have essentially been figured out based on my goals for total grams per day. I figured an average of 2400 calories per day, and then made percentages based around the fact that I wanted to get in around 220 grams of protein each day (just short of 1g per pound of lean body weight). I also knew that I have very good energy levels throughout the day when I get in at least 250 grams of carbohydrates (mind you that i am as picky about my carbs as I am about my fats). So basically I have a range for my percentages, and fat is set around 25%. Ideally though, when I eat more calories than my estimated average (for instance on days that I workout), I try to get more calories through protein and carbs, which lowers my fat percentage a little.
 
Hey Coach, you are really making a study and putting some thought into this. Usually when people try and get healthier they try and use their body and their willpower, but people like Tom and you who think about it do much better in my experience.
 
Thanks cannon, i have found that I really need an underlying understanding of any endeavoer if I am going to take it seriously, and more importantly, if I am going to succeed at it. As I like to say, a certain amount of inner enlightenment is practically a requirement to succeed at changing anything about who we are.

also, i think my weight scale is broken... this morning it said 412.4...

WOOOO! lol
 
I had a sort of "let loose" meal on the first of July, and with it came a sort of revelation. Epiphany if you will, lol. Anyways, we were out of town, I hadn't really gotten to eat much because we were busy (actually just a 200 calorie bagel) and my family decided they wanted to go out to eat. I thought about it, and realized that sometimes I need to let myself loose focus in order to maintain some semblance of a normal life. Sure, I may be overweight and such, but that doesnt mean the rest of my family is, and that I should shun then everytime they want to go out and have a nice dinner together. So instead of being the big party pooper and saying i couldnt go, i decided to just take a short detour and enjoy myself for 1 meal. The weird thing is, while this sounds at first like just a lame justification to allow old bad habits to creep back up, I consciously picked up on a trigger, and then defeated it in the face of temptation and desire. We went to a Ponderosa (basically an american comfort food buffet style restaurant). I didn't really limit myself to what I could choose from, I just satisfied any urges I was feeling, and ate what I wanted to for those 20 mins or so (oddly enough, most of what I chose was still not that bad for me). As I sat there in front of my second plate of food, eating the ham and turkey I had gotten, I realized that I had satisfied my craving already. I was at that point only eating because I was in an environment that encouraged it, and practically felt responsible to get the most for my money. Not exactly the most healthy philosophy. So, realizing I certainly wasnt feeling hungry anymore, and that I had enjoyed all the tastes I wanted, I put down my fork and left my second plate mostly full. I tried small portions of what I wanted, but didnt resort to finishing it all just because it was there. I was basically going to allow myself a binge, and decided I didnt want to. pretty awesome stuff considereing where i was just 5 weeks ago. It occurred to me, and more importantly I put into practice, that I could splurge a little on the tastes and not ruin my journey by simply not eating more than I needed to enjoy that aspect. I went and got dessert as well, and ate just a few bites, to get a little of each taste. I probably saved myself another 1500 calories at that meal by realizing that, and probably still could have been at my goal deficit for the day if I had gone in there with the intention that I learned.

I always knew that it was ok to eat the occasional "unclean" food, and that energy balance over time is the real factor for weight loss. However, I never really trusted myself to cheat and not fail. I have always been too afraid that if I allowed myself to even approach old habits, that they would come back with a vengeance. But i found out that is not true, and that I can enjoy something every now and then without losing focus. I think this is also a good sign that I am on this train for the long haul. Also, i find it really awesome that I am not sitting here planning for the next cheat. I dont have any desire to go out and do it again anytime soon, because i like the changes I have made, and i like the way they make me feel. i think alot of this comes from looking at things from a overall health viewpoint instead of just a weightloss viewpoint. I know that while i could just have single meals a day, eat crappy and lose weight, I wouldnt be getting all the nutrients i need, i wouldnt be feeling this good overall, and I would generally not be in good health anyways, no matter what my weight was.
 
well done. I think its safe to say that you tend to notice what goes in the mouth and how you feel about it after watching everything very closely for some time.

Its not that i dont like KFC etc any more, i still eat it from time to time, but i really notice how greasy it is nowdays, and that takes away the satisfaction i used to get from it so i generally dont eat as much or as often .. same goes for all those kind of foods.
I still have my triggers, and i still eat too much from time to time. But now its generally much better foods.

Anyway this wasnt about me, twas about you. Good on you for clicking and seeing the light. You are on the winning side of the battle and i can see you definatly getting to your goal. Your mindset is in the right place.
 
Coach, I can't emphasize how important doing that is. This is a long battle we are fighting with many small victories and losses along the way. Sometimes you have to remember what you would have done in the same setting last year. You did great at the Ponderosa. Sometimes letting loose in moderation actually can help weight loss.
 
Good job at the buffet! I am definitely in agreement with your philosophy. We shouldn't have to go through life being completely deprived, yet we must strike a balance because we like to eat and our bodies like extra fat. As long as you achieve a surplus at week's end, you're cool :cool:. And considering you used to eat those kinds of foods all the time, having them in moderation can't be that detrimental to your health. And like you said, sometimes eating not the most healthy of meals is what fits into your lifestyle, sometimes no matter what. When we can minimize the damage from that we are ahead of the game.
 
Steve, that was a good read, reinforced some of my own philosophies even. Wish more people would read that though, especially at the high school level before getting involved with younger people.

Thanks to everyone else as well for stopping by and leaving kind words and support. Been fairly busy lately, havent even gotten around to this weeks update. In fact, i think i may just pick up next week anyways on the updates.

Hopefully ill get more time this weekend to catch up around here.
 
Wow buddy, that ticker is really coming down. Countdown to 300's! Yay. Just keep up the good work and dont worry about the updates.
 
Man, I have been lazy lately, lol.

Not so much where it really matters right now, but in general that has been my overall feeling. Its kind of weird. Im technically jobless, though I still have job-related responsibilities. I am coaching for a local track club, which gives me the opportunity to work with a larger base of athletes, both in terms of location and age group. I am also working with the Varsity football team. I am not screwing up my nutrition either, as I have only gone over maintenance (estimating that I did anyways) on one day these past 6 or 7 weeks, and have only gone over my daily calorie goal twice (though still several hundred calories under maintenance). I also have been making it to most of my scheduled workouts, and when I have to miss one, I make sure to incorporate what I have missed into the rest of the weeks workouts. But outside of this bit, i just feel lazy. Maybe it is the summer heat and the fact that we have the A/C running which just makes me not want to leave the comfort of the home, lol. I dont really know, because its a hard feeling to describe. Ive got plenty of energy, and I feel somewhat restless at times, but I just dont feel motivated to go out and do anything besides those things I have committed to. Maybe I just have set my expectations too high right now. I have to say that for the most part I am enjoying life right now, I guess I should just accept the down time and be happy that I can lounge around and relax. It is better to have things that way than to be so overwhelmed with things to do that I cannot keep my head straight. When I look back at the past, my problems were never in a lack of ambition, it was always that I was too ambitious and tried to take on more than I could sanely handle. So maybe I should just take it a little slow, since what I am doing with my health now really is of utmost importance anyways. What good am I if I am dead at the age of 30 from a heart attack or something...

Not so much to report on with nutrition/exercise. Kind of the same old same old. Sometimes feel some old habits creeping back up, but I am able to squash them and stay strong. I am thinking that the whole "it takes 28 days to form a habit" means only with brand new habits, not having anything to do with behavior modification of old habits. Because its been a bit longer than that now, and it still requires a certain amount of forceable execution to maintain this new lifestyle. Though I am enjoying it for the most part, there are plenty of times when I have to practically kick myself in my own ass and keep myself heading in the right direction. I am thinking that that is not what a habit should be either, lol.

Ive said it before and Ill say it again, one of the most difficult parts of this journey is that while the past seems to have flown by, the future feels like it will never be here. Almost 7 full weeks now, and 28 pounds or so gone! but ill be damned if it doesnt feel like another 50 weeks and 120 pounds will never get here. and damn western society and culture for tricking us into believing that everything in life should come quick and easy. I hate the instant gratification aspect of westernization. /end rant
 
Ive said it before and Ill say it again, one of the most difficult parts of this journey is that while the past seems to have flown by, the future feels like it will never be here. Almost 7 full weeks now, and 28 pounds or so gone! but ill be damned if it doesnt feel like another 50 weeks and 120 pounds will never get here. and damn western society and culture for tricking us into believing that everything in life should come quick and easy. I hate the instant gratification aspect of westernization.
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those 50 weeks will go by pretty quickly... Just keep focused on what's in front of you right now and enjoy the changes you're going thru... those pounds do add up... or rather subtract down :D

it's kinda like being a little kid in August, when all the christmas toy crap advertising starts to come out and you think christmas will never come - but it does... :D
 
Good analogy Mal :rotflmao:.

Yup, its a long road ahead but its also not forever. And once you reach your goal you'll get to eat a lot more on maintenance and work out a bit less. I dont mean you can go back to prior bad habits by any stretch, but it'll be a lot easier on you and your body to maintain rather than your body going through the process of -- GORY ALERT -- canabalizing itself as its currently doing.

Sometimes keeping up a really restrictive weight loss plan gets taxing on your psyche and your body just gets tired of being a bit hungry. If you get really tired of things you can always maintain for a little while for a break, as long as you dont let yourself ever gain back any fat that's already come off. You hear about that too often around here.
 
Just reading your diary for the first time here. I'm the same age as you(and male) and while I'm not quite as heavy(280's) I can definately relate to your "list". Way to go so far.
 
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