Weekly Challenge: Log and Report

If your weight is not budging one bit  OR you are slowly gaining weight

but you feel like you are doing all. you. can. 

(constantly exercising, reducing your calories, and eating healthy), 

then it is probably time to take a good, long, hard look at your weekly caloric intake.

This happened to me recently and what I found was surprising.

I wanted to skim some fat off my outer layer, my summer pants are a bit tight and I can tell I still have fat to lose since having a baby.

I love the LOSEIT app, but haven't been very consistent with logging on the weekend.  I discovered that this was where I was sabotaging myself.  I finally logged E-VER-Y-THING I ate for an entire week.  Come to find out, even though I was eating very healthy 80% of the time and burning between 2000-2500 calories with exercise, my calories were not "under budget" for the week.  

Last week I was only "under budget" 38 calories.  Which explains why I've struggled to lose even one pound for a long time.  Remember this important factor:

In order to lose 1 pound of fat, we need to be 3000 calories "under budget."

3000 calories=1 pound body fat

It confirmed to me of how easy it can be to gain weight.  Just a few calories here or there can really add up over time.  This can still happen if you are eating healthy and abstaining from sugar, simple carbohydrates, and fattening foods.  

It also made me realize that there is always a REASON why we are not losing the fat, that it really does come down to calories in and calories out for weight loss.  There's nothing magic about weight loss, there isn't a certain food that will help you to lose weight or any other type of method.  

The solution is simple (if we are honest with ourselves).    

And that leads into this week's challenge:

1)  Log your exercise and food for 7 days.  Be VERY specific.

2)  Report to me your percentage of nutrients, percentage of Protein, Carbohydrate, and Fat. (Click on "My Day")

3)  Report "This Week's Calories." It will tell you if you are under or over budget for the week.

4) Log and Report even if you do not want to lose fat, but are interested in maintaining or even gaining.  It will let you know if you are on track.  This is excellent for pregnant and nursing mothers as well. 

I want us all to be honest about what we are consuming.  If you need to log "1 cup Dreyers Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Icecream" (like I did), then so be it!  

Just. Be. Honest.  There is no shame in honesty.

My favorite LOSEIT app features:

It tells you how many calories you specifically need.

It will tell you if you are consuming the correct amount of nutrients (goal should be 20% Protein, 50% Carbohydrate, and less than 30% Fat)

You can scan just about every food you are eating other than fruits and vegetables.

It does all the math for you, gone are the days of logging with a paper and pencil.