Fitness Goals Support Group
This community is dedicated to group support around achieving fitness goals, whatever they may be, through personal training, athletic activites, or other strenuous activity. Whether you are trying to get fit to treat a health problem, boost your mood, relieve stress, or tone your body, this group is a great place to meet other like-minded people who have similar goals.
Hi,
I've been an emotionally driven eater in the past - and now that I've dealt with the majority of that I'm finding it difficult to know what NORMAL eating is supposed to be, in light of instense exercise! My only bad food habits is eating too much in one sitting, eating late.. and as of which are too many carbs and chocolate galore'!
I'm basically changing up my gym class styles four days a week 9.30am and then walking for an hour x3 a week... My fitness goal is to lose the weight I massed on when I was binge eating to cope with a family member going through cancer, his death - and then all the grief left over. Now he's passed I feel much stronger to do this...
but what is the best eating plan?
I've heard that reversing your meals is successful.. if anyone is like me and feels they could eat 3 meals a day, one at 11am, one at 3pm and another at midnight.. then please help! I'm a later eater as you might see...
Then I've heard all the protein buzz of course.. and the shake successes. But I get so inundated with what to do.. I don't want to count points etc because that just sounds religious but I DO WANT RESULTS soon and to feel healthy while I'm doing all the exercise! My biggest frustration in all of this is that I've exercised while I've been binge eating and seen zero results, or even the opposite.
I do not exercise from guilt but to be motivated and healthy - I just need advice for the other part... clean eating!!!
Any advice or tips very welcome! feel free to email.
-Spirit
I've been an emotionally driven eater in the past - and now that I've dealt with the majority of that I'm finding it difficult to know what NORMAL eating is supposed to be, in light of instense exercise! My only bad food habits is eating too much in one sitting, eating late.. and as of which are too many carbs and chocolate galore'!
I'm basically changing up my gym class styles four days a week 9.30am and then walking for an hour x3 a week... My fitness goal is to lose the weight I massed on when I was binge eating to cope with a family member going through cancer, his death - and then all the grief left over. Now he's passed I feel much stronger to do this...
but what is the best eating plan?
I've heard that reversing your meals is successful.. if anyone is like me and feels they could eat 3 meals a day, one at 11am, one at 3pm and another at midnight.. then please help! I'm a later eater as you might see...
Then I've heard all the protein buzz of course.. and the shake successes. But I get so inundated with what to do.. I don't want to count points etc because that just sounds religious but I DO WANT RESULTS soon and to feel healthy while I'm doing all the exercise! My biggest frustration in all of this is that I've exercised while I've been binge eating and seen zero results, or even the opposite.
I do not exercise from guilt but to be motivated and healthy - I just need advice for the other part... clean eating!!!
Any advice or tips very welcome! feel free to email.
-Spirit
Each meal needs to have a balance of low-fat protein, low-glycemic carbohydrate and essential fatty acids.
You might check out the Zone Diet. When I first started exercising I used Barry Sears' advice to clean up my eating habits. I don't eat Zone-balanced meals any more, but it's close to what I do now and IMO a fairly easy system to learn how to manage. It has the advantage of being flexible, so you can still go to restaurants with friends and family and eat what is right for you. Instead of "points" you learn to manage "blocks" of protein, carb and fat. His website has tons of recipes as well.
An additional benefit to eating several meals a day is that it helps quiet the appetite, so you might be less likely to binge. Yes, it's MUCH more difficult during times of stress - I had to drive my family and an uncle to the funeral of one of my aunts when I was dieting down for a body-building competition. It wasn't easy but I managed to stay within my meal requirements...
...and the only way I was able to do it successfully was to pre-package ALL of my meals every day and ONLY eat those. I tended to cook in bulk on the weekend so that during the week all I had to do was 5 minutes of assembly at meal time (including the two - three minutes I'd heat it up in the microwave). Which my relatives thought was weird. One of them said to me "you look like you could use a sammich." lol
You mention that you change up the gym classes you take. Are they mostly aerobic/cardio types? Consider adding resistance-training to your exercise arsenal. More muscle burns more calories - which translates to burning more fat, providing you aren't overeating calories for your physical requirements.
Since you belong to a gym you might also inquire as to whether there is a nutritionist on staff. S/he can help you evaluate your current eating patterns, help you establish exactly what your caloric intake should be and give you menu-planning guidelines.
It can get really technical really fast - but cheer up, there's nothing mysterious about it once you get the hang of it. It's do-able, and you can do it.
For the best explanation I know about you might also check out
http://www.thedietdoc.com/
He works with bodybuilders as well as the general population. The concepts work for everybody.
Good luck!