36: Counting Calories
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Speaker 1
Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Tinas arena. This week we are talking about calorie counting. Something that I have been extremely against for the past ten plus years. Maybe the first time I started calorie counting it sat me down the worst path possible. I developed an eating disorder, I developed depression, I was mentally ill, very sick, took me years and years and years to get out of that sickness.
00:00:30:09 - 00:00:31:21
Speaker 1
And now I'm healthy again
00:00:31:21 - 00:00:39:15
Speaker 1
and I have been working out really hard actually, for the past three or so months, so regularly with a personal trainer.
00:00:39:15 - 00:00:43:05
Speaker 1
I'm getting stronger every time I workout. That is a fact.
00:00:43:11 - 00:00:45:11
Speaker 1
However, my weight hasn't moved
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Speaker 1
I have been plateaued in my weight for over a year at this point, but I have not really done any sort of restriction or calorie counting whatsoever.
00:00:59:00 - 00:01:22:17
Speaker 1
I'm okay with the weight that I'm at. However, like I said, there is just a little bit that I want to lose, but if I were to stay this weight for the rest of my life, I'm not mad about it. So I didn't think that the stress of calorie counting would be worth it for me to try to lose weight, because the last time I tried the calorie count, it did not go well for me at all.
00:01:22:19 - 00:01:56:04
Speaker 1
And so I was just too scared to go back down that path of calorie counting. But I feel like I am in a really good mental state right now. I feel strong, I've got my habits down pretty well. I have time and capacity to meal prep if I need to. I'm just doing pretty well overall. I have the mental energy and space to potentially give calorie counting a go, and so that's what I started doing.
00:01:56:10 - 00:02:15:22
Speaker 1
So when I signed up for personal training a few months ago, my trainer asked if I could track my protein grams. Just so that I knew I was getting the amount of protein that I was supposed to be getting, and I was like, no problem. I don't need to count that. I've been calorie counting for a very long time.
00:02:16:02 - 00:02:20:00
Speaker 1
I'm kind of familiar with what I'm eating, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting enough protein
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Speaker 1
Now, I didn't actually ever do the math to calculate how much protein I was eating. I was just eating a lot of protein, so I just assumed that it was enough. And I was even drinking two protein shakes a day.
00:02:31:04 - 00:02:37:07
Speaker 1
Now they're only 25g of protein each. So I was getting 50g of protein per day through protein shakes.
00:02:37:07 - 00:02:52:05
Speaker 1
But like I said, for the past couple of months I've been working out really hard at the gym, but my weight still hasn't budged. So I'm like, okay, well, I must be eating a lot, so let's just see how much I'm eating.
00:02:52:07 - 00:03:03:01
Speaker 1
I started with only counting my protein macros because I didn't want to overwhelm myself too quickly, and I didn't want to fall down any dark rabbit holes.
00:03:03:01 - 00:03:09:19
Speaker 1
and if I started counting only my protein macros, then I would never know my total caloric intake, right?
00:03:09:19 - 00:03:24:05
Speaker 1
So that couldn't lead me down a poor path because I only cooked. Because I only tracked my protein. So I wanted to get protein as high as possible. So it didn't really matter how many calories I was eating, I was just counting protein.
00:03:24:05 - 00:03:26:21
Speaker 1
That was the only goal that I had when I started tracking my macros.
00:03:26:21 - 00:03:32:18
Speaker 1
I only wanted to know how much protein was in it. So if it wasn't a high protein food, then I just didn't track it.
00:03:32:18 - 00:03:53:05
Speaker 1
And that was an moment for me, because I realized that I wasn't eating as much protein as I thought I was. I thought I was for sure getting over 150g of protein every single day, but it was more like I was getting about 100g of protein per day.
00:03:53:07 - 00:03:57:11
Speaker 1
Even less than that on a bad day, and maybe 150 on a good day.
00:03:57:11 - 00:04:05:00
Speaker 1
my goal is to get at least 150g of protein per day. So that was significantly off of my goal.
00:04:05:00 - 00:04:20:22
Speaker 1
so that was a very good thing for me to do to track my protein macros, so that I knew where I was standing in terms of getting closer to my goals, because I believe that I need to be eating at least 150g of protein every single day to get closer and closer to the goals.
00:04:20:22 - 00:04:25:14
Speaker 1
for the past week, I've started counting all of my calories again.
00:04:25:20 - 00:04:29:00
Speaker 1
I'm counting fat, carbs, and protein.
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Speaker 1
I have macro goals.
00:04:30:11 - 00:04:34:15
Speaker 1
It's been about a week since I've started counting my calories and it's been fine.
00:04:34:15 - 00:04:39:09
Speaker 1
I've definitely over eaten some days, but I just try not to worry about it.
00:04:39:11 - 00:04:46:19
Speaker 1
I mean, it's not exactly what you're supposed to do, but my calorie goal is at 2200 calories and
00:04:46:19 - 00:05:01:12
Speaker 1
I don't go over that too often. But the last time I went over, I was tracking. I hit 2500 calories and just mentally, I was already over. So I was just like, you know what? I'm just not going to count the rest of the snacks that I'm eating.
00:05:01:13 - 00:05:05:22
Speaker 1
I'm just going to be okay with it. It's just going to be what it is, and I'm going to move on after this.
00:05:05:22 - 00:05:21:04
Speaker 1
I was eating parmesan crisps. They're so good. The little dried crisps. But I was eating those and they're high calorie because it's just cheese. So I definitely went over my calories on that day, but I just decided I'm just not going to track for the rest of the day.
00:05:21:08 - 00:05:47:18
Speaker 1
It didn't lead to a binge. I was just eating the parmesan crisps. But, I just didn't want to know. So I let that day be and continued tracking the next day. So that's not exactly how you're supposed to do it. But for the sake of my mental health, that's how I'm going to do it. And I'm just going to know that if I am not seeing progress, it's because I've not been super strict with my counting.
00:05:47:21 - 00:06:26:19
Speaker 1
And if this style of tracking is not going to be working for me in the next 4 to 6 weeks, if there's still no progress, then maybe I will track every single bite that I eat. But like I said, that's not really a lifestyle that I want, so I think I'm just going to make it work and start making foods that are higher in protein and more volume so that I can be full and feel full, because I really like to feel full.
00:06:26:21 - 00:06:47:13
Speaker 1
And then as far as calorie counting goes for me, I really only try to hit a certain protein macro goal, which like I said, is 150g of protein. And as long as I'm getting 150g of protein, I don't really care what percentage of carbs and fat I eat. I'm not restrictive on carbs or fat.
00:06:47:13 - 00:07:11:02
Speaker 1
as long as I'm getting 150g of protein, I'm not really concerned about what percentage of the rest comes from fat or carbs. I'm not restricting either of them, so I am definitely eating a lot of carbs, and I'm definitely eating a lot of fat. My protein macro split is probably pretty close to 40% protein, 30g I mean 30% carbs and 30% fat.
00:07:11:02 - 00:07:38:21
Speaker 1
It really just depends what is happening in my life at that time, what I'm working on, what my training goals are, and that's how I'm going to take it day by day. So I hope for sharing. This has helped you a little bit. I am really excited for this next chapter of my life. To count my macros. I am intrigued to see how it will go and to see if I can stick to it, because I don't.
00:07:38:22 - 00:07:56:05
Speaker 1
I don't want to stick to it 100% like I said, because that's how I got my eating disorder last time. So I'm just kind of like one foot and one foot out, and we're just going to see how that goes. It might not go well, it might go great. I'll just share that with you as you guys go.
00:07:56:07 - 00:08:09:08
Speaker 1
I'll just share that with you. I guess as time goes on, there's only one thing to do, but do it and see how it goes. So that's all for this week. We'll see you next week. Bye.
