Passing Down the Information

Over the past 10 months, I have learned a few things about health and fitness. In this post today, I will share a little bit of what I have learned so that it might be able to help you out as well…

*Your body requires a certain amount of calories per day that allows it to function properly.

It makes sense, but I had really never thought about it until my new coach brought it to my attention. (The ‘not my coach’ guy is now my coach. I switched to his team!!) Anyway, he told me that the body is constantly burning calories whether it be in digesting food, filtering things from the bloodstream, and of course going about our daily business, among lots of other things. The natural functions in your body need fuel to work and food is that fuel. So, it is important that you have enough fuel to sustain those functions.

*A low calorie diet will allow you to lose weight, but in the long run, it won’t.

When I started out this journey, I allotted myself 1360 calories per day, which is very low calorie compared to what I had been eating prior to that (the Lord only knows what that number was!!) So, in the beginning, I was losing weight; seven pounds the first week and then about 2 weeks following until I hit my plateau in June. The body can only go so long on a low calorie diet before it understands that it is not getting the proper nourishment. In my case, my body thought I was starving myself and was thus, trying to hold onto to each little calorie it could, causing me to stay at the same weight for so long. Until recently, I didn’t realize that my body NEEDS at least 1618 calories a day if all I was to do was lay in bed. Since I exercise about 6 times a week, I obviously need more.

Low calorie diets, in the short term, are good for losing weight, but they aren’t necessarily healthy. The body gets used to getting calories and when it all of a sudden gets a lot less than expected, you lose weight. In the long term, the body gets used to it and stops losing and starts saving.

*Muscle pain goes away when you exercise.

This might only be in my case, but I have learned that even if my muscles are feeling horribly sore, when I decide to work out, the pain goes away. Last week, after doing Chest, Triceps, and Shoulders on Monday, then Plyometrics on Tuesday, by Wednesday EVERYTHING hurt!!! On Thursday, I was still is horrible pain but decided to walk on the treadmill anyway. I found that once I got going, I couldn’t feel the pain anymore. Besides, pain is no excuse to skip a workout. Pain is good, remember.

*What you eat accounts for 80% of weight loss, while exercising only accounts for 20%.

My new coach also brought this to my attention. He told me yesterday that during a rough time in his life, he was unable to workout for an entire month!! But, he maintained his healthy eating habits and didn’t gain a single pound during that time. He shared this with me to show me that diet is practically everything while exercise plays only a small part. (It’s still important, but not near as important as the food that you use to fuel your body.)

*Exercising doesn’t get harder, you just get better.

This is so true!! In my case, P90X has never changed and it won’t. The videos don’t change with every round that I do, I do. When I first started, most of the yoga moves were impossible for me. Now, I am able to actually finish the entire video and do most of the moves that I always skipped past anyway. The shoulder stance is the one that I particularly look to as an example that I have gotten better.

If you keep at it, your body will change and you will soon be able to go faster, longer and those things that were once hard will be easy!!

Update of Today:

Today was my first official day of 2000 calories. I still have 283 left and am about to eat an apple with 2 Tbs. of peanut butter (280 calories). I completed Chest, Triceps, and Shoulders Today along with Ab Ripper X and then walked a mile on the treadmill. (Only a mile today because I had to go to the bathroom SO bad and they don’t have a bathroom nearby. So, I stopped at a mile…even though I was holding it for about ½ a mile…)

Be blessed!! I hope some of this information helped you!!

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!