track, review, and move forward!

Ok, so my weight loss was not what I expected as I had visions in my head that the scale would show a huge weight loss already. So needless to say I was a little disappointed. I did however take my own advice from my last blog and remembered my “determination”. I decided that instead of fretting on the one pound loss, I should take a look at what I did and try to change at least one thing for the better.  I did go back and look at my eating and where things stacked up as far as protein, water intake, etc. This is the nice thing with using MyFitnessPal it breaks all of this down for you.

After reviewing my week I noticed my protein intake was not as high as it should have been and my sodium intake was well over the limit. The sodium intake seemed a little strange because I do not use salt at the table, however after analyzing some of my food choices I realized they were packed with sodium. This tells me I need to revamp what my food choices are and try to eat a lot less packaged foods. I also need to attempt to get more fresh vegetables and “Live” foods in my diet.
One of the products I was introduced to was Ezekiel bread.

What is Ezekiel bread you ask?  Ezekiel bread is different for several reasons. It is a complete protein which means it contains all of the nine essentials amino acids. These nine essentials amino acids are not made by the body so they MUST come from our food and supplements.
Most types of bread contain added sugar, Ezekiel bread contains none. It is also made from organic, sprouted whole grains. The sprouting process changes the nutrient composition of the grains significantly.  In contrast to most commercial breads, which consist primarily of refined wheat or pulverized whole wheat, Ezekiel bread contains several different types of grains and legumes.  Some studies show that sprouting grains increases their content of the amino acids.

Along with trying this new bread I have tried to increase my protein intake during the day. Experts will say it is best to eat a good breakfast to get your metabolism revved up for the day.  Not being a huge fan of eating first thing in the morning I have opted to drink a protein shake. I personally use Shaklee Life Shakes. The shakes I use contain leucine which is an amino acid that the body cannot produce. Leucine helps preserve lean muscle mass making it easier to lose the fat, something which is very important when attempting to get healthy and lose weight.

If anyone is wondering how you determine the amount of protein you need, here is a quick tool. Take your weight x .63 = your needed grams of daily protein.  So, for example if you weigh 100 pounds x .63 you would need 63 grams of protein a day.  According to a Tuft's University study they found that out of 21,500 people, not ONE met their protein needed for daily optimal health.  With this information in hand I guess it means I have to plan some different meals. 

I also looked at the amount of water I was drinking and found that I needed to increase that too. The funny thing is to determine how much water I need is really easy. You just take your body weight and divide it in half. That gives you the number of ounces of water you should drink to stay hydrated. If you want to figure out how many glasses of water this is. Simply divide that number by 8. For example a 100 pound person would need 50 ounces.    50 divided by 8 = 6.25 glasses of water. 

Just a little informational fact for anyone who drinks pop, did you know it takes 32 ounces of water to neutralize the acidic effect  of one 12 ounce can of pop.  Wow, that equals 2 GALLONS of water. I think I will skip the pop since I have enough water to drink just with my weight. 

Well this sure was a lot of information for one week, so here’s to next week and another ‘LOSS’ on the scale. Oh, I almost forgot this week I lost 2 pounds!!!
Good luck everyone and remember Drink Your Water!

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