Week Three has been an interesting one because it's the first full week I've been in training for my triathlon.
The increased workouts have been majorly increasing my appetite, and the BodyMedia Fit armband has been really helpful in figuring out how many extra calories I should be eating each day to replenish what I burn.
Typically when training starts and my appetite increases, I overestimate how much I've burned and I eat too much in an attempt to keep my hunger in check. Since the armband tells me exactly how many calories I burn throughout the day, I can make more informed choices about my extra snacks.
Here's hoping this is the first training cycle where I don't pack on a couple of extra training pounds.
Now onto the stats!
What I learned this week:
Indulgent meals are OK:
Friday night I enjoyed dinner at Season's 52, one of my favorite restaurants, and I decided to not stress about what I was eating. I wanted to enjoy the food and the wine and especially the dessert. I still recorded everything I ate, but I didn't have a panic attack when the online dashboard showed I had a calorie surplus for the day. I had a long run scheduled for the next day and knew everything would balance out by the end of the weekend.
Cleaning the house burns a lot of calories:
I spent a large portion of my day off yesterday cleaning the house. I vacuumed, dusted, swept floors, and did many, many loads of laundry. I would say in total I cleaned for about three hours. When I plugged my armband into my computer afterward I was stunned to see how many calories I had burned just doing basic house cleaning.
I'm sort of confused by the food charts:
Looking at just the number of grams, I ate about the same amount of fat and protein, but if you look at the pie chart or the bar chart, that's not the picture they paint. Maybe this is a dumb question, but shouldn't the protein and fat sections be the same size? When I did the math I got very different numbers: 54+155+53=262 total grams of macronutrients. 155/262=59. So 59% carbs, and 20% fat and protein. Right about where I want to be, but not what the charts show. Did I do something really wrong with my math?
How I'm Doing on My Goals So Far:
Average seven to eight hours of sleep each night: Better than last week. This week my average is right around seven!
Track my food: I'm still doing well here, but sometimes I find it hard to guesstimate my portion sizes. In those cases I tend to overestimate so I'm not undercounting my calories.
Lose five pounds: So far so good. I'm down .2 pounds this week, which brings me to 1.2 total for the challenge.
If you're interested in learning more about the BodyMedia FITness challenge, check out the details on EmpowHER.
About the BodyMedia Fit Band:
BodyMedia FIT automatically tracks the calories burned during your daily activities — from pumping iron to using an iron — and monitors the quality of your sleep, an important factor in weight loss. Add in the easy-to-use food log and you have the information you need to improve your weight loss. The 3 part system includes:
1. An Armband that automatically captures data
2. An optional Display device or free downloadable mobile apps that give you up-to-the-minute readings throughout the day
3. An online Activity Manager* that analyzes raw data, allows you to log food and presents info in an easy-to-understand way (*subscription required)
Standard Legal Disclaimer:
Device and accompanying online Activity Manager subscription was provided by BodyMedia via EmpowHER. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of BodyMedia or EmpowHER.