IS that really what I eat?

So, a few things from last week. Now you know I am a regular person and don't always eat how/when/what I'm "supposed" to. We'll get more into the timing of meals (when) and the how later. For now lets keep looking at the what.

Now that we have a sample of what we eat for our regular life, it's time to dissect it a little bit. This week, take a day and look it up. Let's see how many calories we are eating each day (and each meal) and what makes up those calories. We'll only be looking at fat, protein and carbs for now so don't worry about vitamins, minerals, fiber etc...

First of all... a little nutrition lesson I wish I had when I started trying to loose weight...
Calories = fat+protein+carbs only they want you to do math to figure it out.
each gram of fat = 9 calories
each gram of protein = 4 calories
each gram of carbs = 4 calories

That's why the LOW FAT diets soared (and are still soaring).
For now, go to www.nutritiondata.com you can look up just about anything you eat. (if you have the wrappers or labels for any of the foods on your food log, just write that down, that will be most accurate). Just do I day or one meal at a time. You can even put in a recipe and tell it how many servings and it will figure it out for you. It does take some time but.... "IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU'VE ALWAYS DONE, YOU'LL ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU'VE ALWAYS GOTTEN."

Here's a nutrition label:

First... Notice the serving size. Many small items will actually have 2 serving sizes per package... Tricky! This means, if you eat the whole package, you must times your numbers by 2.

Next: Check the calories. Write that down as your calories, unless you ate more than one serving, then times it accordingly.

Next: Write down the TOTAL FAT number, the TOTAL CARBOHYDRATES number and the TOTAL PROTEIN number.

That's all. Write that down for everything you ate for that meal, or that day. I'll start with my last Monday....

WHAT DO I EAT?

Being a personal trainer for so many years, you know I've been asked just about every nutrition question in the book. I usually get something that sounds like one of these: "What diet should I be on?" "Is __________ diet good? I heard a lot of people talking about it." "How many calories should I be eating?" But basically they are all saying the same thing: "WHAT DO I EAT in order to reach my goals... and quickly if you don't mind?" :)

BUT... when I ask them if they even know how many calories they are eating right now... 99% don't know. So I say...
"You can't get where you are going if you don't know where you are."

Steps to Achieving Your Goals Nutritionally

Realize that what you eat accounts for at least 50% of you reaching your goals (and that's a low number, some figures are as high as 80%). So nutrition matters.... A LOT!!!

Before I start let me state something: When you desire a long-term goal greater than momentary gratification, that's when you are on your way to changing your life.

The steps aren't difficult at all but they do take some effort.

Here's the first step. It is simple and barely takes very much time.
Get a little notebook and write this down:

What am I eating (measuring is good)?
What am I drinking?
And What time is it?

Do this for 1 FULL WEEK! And don't wait for Monday or the morning. Just start right now. I am not asking you to watch what you eat. You want to get an honest reading of just exactly what it is you are doing RIGHT NOW!

You can't get where you are going if you don't know where you are. RIGHT? Exactly Right! That is why we want to see where we are to begin with.

I'll be posting mine this week... feel free to post yours as well. Accountability helps us reach our goals.

...Zumba Love... <3

Welcome to Sunshine Zumba

Welcome to Sunshine Zumba. We have a blast Zumba-ing it out in Mount Sterling, KY! I started this blog in order to address a lot of questions I get. I get a lot of fitness and nutrition questions and I LOVE to answer them but I think there are quite a few people who have the questions but yet just don't want to ask... That would be me if I were not the instructor, to be honest. So I hope you like the little tidbits I have to share with you. I'll also post announcements and such on here too for those of you who don't have Facebook. If you do have Facebook, you can reach my page here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=159708397275&ref=ts

WELCOME!!!

-Sunshine