Are we on track?

Getting ready for week one weigh in? Are we feeling on track? Any wins as far as avoiding temptation? Lets hear about it.

Calories Smallories

There is always a buzz about calories and how much and how little. Today we will talk about how little.
In the world of nutrition there is the buzz of "starvation mode" and getting in that mode will cause your metabolism to slow down and eventually stop losing weight. There are many myths around this topic but the true definition of starvation mode is to eat less than 50% of your daily caloric expenditure.
In general it is recommended that you do not eat less than 1000-1200 calories without the supervision of a doctor. Eating less than this will not put you in to starvation mode truly, but will prevent you from getting all the nutrients and minerals that you need for the day. Many people don't know the key signs of a mineral deficiency, and some deficiencies can have very serious side effects, the most serious of course, death.
Unless you are getting your blood work checked by a doctor try to keep you calories above the "magic" 1000-1200 per day.

Getting started

Ok,

Well we are all weighed in and some of us had a nice mini work out. It was super great of Adapt fitness to welcome us and give us all of that great material. The math of it really is more calories burned than more taken in. Not to sound like a broken record, but use either the sheets Steph printed out for us, www.sparkpeople.com or www.livestrong.com to track what you are eating and see where adjustments need to be made.
My personal philosophy is that it is hard to follow a reduced calorie diet forever so it might be helpful to cut back on some calories, but for a long term weight loss and management plan find out where a good baseline of calories is and just work out more. I would rather do some extra sit ups and stair climbs to get in 2000 calories and be happy than cut back 500 calories in food and be grumpy.
I will try to give tips every other day and info from the sites I am on. Please feel free to post your opinion and or give other advise on top of mine. :)

1st meeting

Hi all,

It is suddenly more official, the first weigh in is just over a week away! The date is September 16th. We will be meeting at 5:45-6pm at Adapt. The address is 9923 SW Artic Drive Beaverton OR 97005. Looks like we will be doing a weigh in with pictures and a work out. Sounds like it will be an evening of great information and a fun work out together.
Look forward to seeing you there.

Interesting to notice

How many of you have signed up for Spark People yet? And of those of you that signed up, how many have started using it? I noticed that just by tracking how much I eat, not purposely making changes, that I have dropped my overall daily calorie intake around 1000 calories a day! I had no idea I was eating that much. Now I am in a healthier level and will be ready to reduce the calories a little more come contest time. It's good to hold yourself accountable and see the trends.

Spark People user name

Hi all,

If you want to sign up for spark people, will you give me props as the referring person? My user name is Harpie19. Thanks.

Body Fat Testing

Hi all,

I know not everyone is checking out this blog but it is the best place to post info.
If we want to be super on top of getting this contest and numbers worked out we can get hydrostatic body fat testing done. It is done in a water tank and gives you a break down of your weight and then what % is fat and muscle etc. We don't have to be that specific, but I did call a local hospital and they will do a group discount if we are interested. The discount price is 40 dollars at the start of the contest and 35 at the end. I don't want to make this expensive, but those who are interested for their own knowledge, just respond to this post and I will start setting up some times for us or a way for them to know our group and what to charge. :)
You need to bring a bathing suit and a towel to the hospital for that.