I walked around the zoo for 2 1/2 hours today. Not sure how much of that was aerobic though ;)
I forgot to blog about the new protein thing that I learned about! My brother is a nurse and into nutrition, so he helped me figure out how much protein I needed. I was only getting half of the protein I needed to just SUSTAIN muscle, let alone BUILD muscle. I was only getting like 30 grams of protein a day, and for my weight and working out about 5 hours a week, I needed at least 65 grams of protein a day (and a max of 130). Since I started drinking a protein shake every day (30 grams of protein when made with milk) I've lost 2 lbs in three weeks! I usually only lose about 1 lb a month, so this was great. Plus, with the protein shake I was getting like 1400 calories, so I was not even dieting as hard core as usual (1200 calories a day). And, I've noticed more muscle definition and my abs feel harder even though I'm only doing about 1/2 as many ab workouts a week as I was doing.
Yay for protein!
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6 comments:
hm. that is very interesting. i wonder how you can get more protein without the shakes? or, what kind of shake do you have, and where did you get it? 1400 in one shake? i don't know if can wrap my head around that or not. maybe when i'm working out more...
1400 calories total for the WHOLE day Liz. The protein shakes are about 200 calories. I had the first can that I was going to use for a diet, but never did, so it was just lying around. I got the others from e-bay. They are about $20-30 per can, so not cheap at all.
Can you imagine a shake that would have 1400 calories?
yikes!! that's alot of money, so i'm gonna pass on this one. and my doc, back when i couldn't gain weight to save my life, had me on 1500-2000 calorie protein shakes, hoping to pack some meat on me. it failed. oh, those were the days!! anyway, that's why 1400 for one didn't faze me too much, just i don't think i'd be able to pull it off nowadays, lol!
Hmm, interesting. I probably, well, no probably about it, I should eat more protein. AND I should start lifting weights too. I'm hitting that age where we all put on weight because we are losing muscle, hence our metabolism goes downhill. Argh, another thing to do.
The only thing I worry about is that a diet (not that I'm some sort of expert. Far from it, I eat terrible stuff, and I know it.) that includes so much protein sounds a bit like an Adkins type diet. Is it? I honestly want to know. The whole Adkins thing is just to totally opposite of what the Word of Wisdom tells us we should eat, plus ANY nutritional anything would tell you that the whole no carb, much fat Adkins thing is bad. I could be WAY off base, I don't know. Clue me in, if you don't mind.
I'm not excluding other healthy stuff, I'm just doubling my protein intake.
The reason why the Atkins diet was so bad was because you got NO bread, and only 3 servings of vegetables (no fruit). It also limited your dairy too.
I'm not limiting fruits & vegetables (in fact I try to get 5-6 of those a day) plus I actually added a milk serving (up to three servings) because milk has so much protein. I also limit myself to 2-3 breads a day, but I think they are recommending that for everyone now.
Yeah, the Atkins Diet is not healthy, against the word of wisdom because you are severely limiting your variety and definitely not "eating meat sparingly" and you feel like poo the whole time you are on it. I tried it for like a week a few years ago. Yuck!
I read up on protein, how much you need, and where you get from a bit. So, to answer my own question: The amount of protein you need varies widely based on how big you are and how active you are. The protein calculator thing that I used said that I need around 80 grams per day. However, amino acids are the parts of the proteins that our bodies use to make proteins. There are different ones. Apparently animal based proteins (including dairy products) are where you get complete proteins -ones with all of the essential amino acids. There are also incomplete proteins -ones with some of the essential amino acids in these foods:
Grains: Barley, Corn Meal, Oats, Rice, Pasta, Whole Grain Breads
Legumes: Beans, Lentils, Peas, Peanuts, Soy Products
Seeds & Nuts: Sesame Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Walnuts, Cashews, Other Nuts
Vegetables: Leafy Greens, Broccoli
When you eat a combination of the above foods, your body can put them together to make complete proteins. So, just as the W.O.W., and other nutritional sources state, it's important to eat a variety of healthy foods to get all of the stuff you need.
I'm going to keep track of what I eat today and see if I can get my 80+ grams of proteins without going crazy. The thing to remember is, which ones are you eating that are complete, and to eat a variety of those that aren't. As with anything else, if you eat more protein than your body needs, it turns the extra into fat.
So far today (just after breakfast) I've had 24.5 grams of protein, 14 of which are complete. Here's what I ate for breakfast:
1 hard boiled egg: 6 grams complete protein
1 3/4 cups Oatmeal Squares Cereal: 10.5 grams incomplete protein
1 cup skim milk: 8 grams complete protein
I've been looking at labels all around the house, and I think you might be surprised all the places that you find proteins. But, to make them count you have to eat many different kinds. I think they will add up. We'll see. I'll let you know at the end of the day how I did. Oh, and cereals have differing amounts. I checked the kinds I have in my house. Oatmeal Squares has 6 grams per cup (but who do you know that only eats one cup of cereal at a time?). Frosted Mini Wheats have 5 grams per cup. I thought Raisin Bran would be a good one, but it only has 3 grams. Also my kids' junk sugar cereal has 3 grams per serving. A peice of whole wheat bread has 2 grams. Anyway, I'm babling. I'm just curious to see how many I eat without changing my diet drastically. And for the record: Atkins diet is still BAD.
I think I'm going to copy this and just make the darn thing a regular post.
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