Food Journal and Avoiding Carbs. Mission Possible.

My Crossfit coach asked me to start keeping a food journal this week. I can see this being a very beneficial tool in helping me achieve my fitness goals. I am still tweaking my system but so far I am liking the MyPlate app from LiveStrong.com on my iPhone. I have used the desktop version before but would have to remember to enter what I eat. With the app I can enter things as soon as I eat them.
Yes, I am weighing my servings out on a kitchen scale. Why? BECAUSE ALMOST EVERYTHING HAS CARBS!!! Ugh! Carbs are the crack cocaine of foods. I have to really monitor how many carbs I am eating a day. My coach told me to stay below 50 grams of carbs daily and wants me to be really closer to 30 grams on most days. Did you know one serving of carrots has 7 grams of carbs and one serving of broccoli has 6?!? To stay within my target I have to be really careful. 

So what have I been eating? Well this is what I had on Tuesday.

Breakfast

I have the same thing for breakfast every day, an EAS AdvantEdge ready to drink protein shake. I love these because they are low carb, unlike many of the so called protein shakes out there, and they are something I can grab from the pantry and go straight to the car.
One shake has 100 cal, 2 g fat, 3 g carbs, and 17 g of protein. And they taste good too!

Lunch

 

I love my Planetbox lunch box. For this lunch I packed 1/2 of a cucumber, 5 ozs of cherub tomatoes, 70 ozs red seedless grapes, 2 boiled eggs, 28 grams of roasted almonds, and a lunch size can of tuna (I think it was a 3 oz can). This was plenty for lunch and my afternoon snack.

This meal had 541 cals, 27 g fat, 13 g carbs, and 43 g of protein. It seems like a lot of fat but that was healthy almond fat :)

Dinner

This was dinner last night. That is a 9.3 ounce top sirloin steak with 72 grams of steamed carrots and 91 grams of broccoli.
This dinner had 397 calories, 9.3 grams fat, 12.9 grams carbs and 62 grams of protein. I was happy with that!


My grand total for this day was 1038 calories, 38 grams of fat, 29 grams of carbs, and 122 grams of protein. In the future I may choose a leaner meat at night if I eat almonds during the day to reduce the fat intake just a bit but my carb intake was spot on! It can be done  :)

I cleaned the kitchen after dinner and avoided it for the rest of the night since that is my weak time. Any tips you all have to avoid eating at night?

Paleo Lunch Ideas

I have been trying really hard to eat Paleo for most of my meals. Something that really helps me is to make my lunch to take to school instead of eating in the dining hall or student union. By taking my lunch I have complete control over what I eat and I limit my portions to only what my Planetbox lunchbox will hold. I have shared a few pictures of my lunches on Instagram but decided to put them on my blog to help spark some ideas for others who need Paleo lunches.

Hopefully this will spark some ideas for you all on items to pack for a healthy lunch.

New holder for Nike Sensor and a calibration

I decided that my Nike+ sensor needed to be calibrated the other day. I started wearing New Balance shoes instead of Nike's. The Nike's had a pouch built into the inside sole of the shoe for the sensor. I had been duck taping the sensor to the outside of my New Balance shoes until my nifty sensor holder came in last week.





 You can order a Switch Easy by going here.
They are one of the best Nike+ holder I have seen and fit very secure on my laces. There is an easy access button to turn the sensor off as well so that the non-replaceable battery last longer. And it is easy to switch to a different pair of shoes. I recommend it :)



So with all of those changes, I knew that I needed to recalibrate the sensor so that it would read true.
I have an extensive background in calibration from my previous professional life. I even took this 4 hour exam through the American Society for Quality (ASQ) to become a Certified Quality Auditor. This training tells me that when you calibrate a variable readout instrument that you must verify that calibration so ensure the accuracy of any future measurements. Sounds easy enough, right?


Well I decided to do a little two mile walk at the track the other day. No problem, right? At the end of the walk I told my sensor to calibrate that walk as 2 miles. Then it hit me: Hey fluffy chick, you now have to drag your tired tail around the track for another mile to verify the calibration.  Grrrr.. Dang ISO standard brainwashed me.  But at least I know that my sensor is reading true now. And I got in a 3 mile walk on Saturday. :)

Small steps leading to big changes

So after the conversation with myself I have been trying to make positive changes in my health. One of those has been to get out and MOVE! The easiest and less expensive way to do so has been walking. I already had good walking shoes and a Nike sensor that connects wireless to my iPhone. I am able to track my walks this way. I am a data driven person so if I can see that I am making immediate progress it helps to spur me on. :)

One of the things I love about the Nike+ system is that I can upload my workouts right from my iPhone onto the Nike+ website. Once I do that a screen pops up that gives me details about the workout that I just completed and if I have hit a personal best it will give me a celebration banner.

 

 

I may start sharing these on a side bar on this blog as an accountability method. I haven't decided yet. I have drafted my two best friends who also happen to be my husband and sister to my accountability team. So if I don't send them one of these screen shots at least 4 times a week, I will hear about it.

 

The best part is that I am not really even ashamed that I am slow or that I could only do 2 miles today. I am proud that I went out and walked! And I am happy to share this tool that has helped me :)