5 things for me to remember when ‘dieting’

Getting ready for Ironman Florida, now 4 months out, and adding in a focus on ‘body composition’…okay…losing some fat that I don’t want to drag around for 12-13 hours on race day…I’m reminded of the areas that ‘challenge’ me in keeping the calories in check.

I’ve written about these in the past, so here some of my favorites to get them into one place…clicking on the post title will take you to more information:

Balancing calories without exercise
When exercise volume is down, I really need to not only watch what I eat, but also track everything that I eat, every day.

Emotional Eating: How Hungry Should You Be?
During the day, I often eat by ‘habit’.  When watching calories, I need to eat only when physically hungry and, when eating, to eat only until comfortably satisfied, never stuffed.

Alcohol and Diet
A total diet killer, with no nutritional value…but tastes soooo good with great food…sigh…
Beer (12oz):                150 calories          (16oz pint):         200 calories
Wine (5oz):                 100 calories          (8oz glass):         160 calories    
Vodka (1.5oz)             100 calories          (3oz ‘martini’):     200 calories

Watch that eating out
When eating out, my target is to have 1500 calories left in my ‘calorie budget’ for the day by the time that I walk out the door for dinner…since I start feeling ‘over-full’ between 750-1,000 calories at any particular meal, this helps me come in for the day ‘under budget’.  This generally means, at a bare minimum, 500-1,000 exercise calories for the day to have a chance of being able to do that.

…other things that I need to do/keep in mind:

• check out the menu in advance, and have an idea of what I’m going to eat before sitting down…nothing fried…particularly no french fries…I can do that
• no alcohol…okay…never happens when I’m eating out…target 2 ‘short’ drinks max…lots of water
• no olive oil or butter with bread…that I can do…best is no bread
• no dessert…I can usually do this…okay, _maybe_ just a bite ‘shared’ the odd time

Losing fat not muscle
Keep up the protein close to 20% of calories each day.  Since I generally start the day carbohydrate centric to fuel morning workouts, I need to focus on protein later in the day…particularly dinner…to ensure that I get enough protein to help keep my appetite in check, and many say, help maintain muscle mass when reducing calories.

Everyone has their own special ‘challenges’…those 5 are mine

…so there it is…a demonstration that I know ‘what’ to do…now to ‘Just Do It’ 🙂