Diet Challenge Research

Me eating a pear

First of all, the vegan thing is going pretty good. I am not sure, but, I am toying with the idea of maybe trying this for two weeks - I have a couple ideas I think I want to explore with the whole food thing. I'll let you all know on Monday.

The point of this post is to sort of outline what you should be doing and thinking about if you decide to change up your eating habits and diet.

When you are going to engage in some type of new diet, it’s important to get some of your facts straight.


What Is A Calorie?
I think most of us think calories are bad – unless you are trying to gain weight or you are in some type of training and know you need more fuel. Then calories are little bits of fear and evil, but, rather important building blocks of success.

In fact, that is what calories are – fuel. So much like fuel for your car, you want to make sure you have a nice, full tank but you don’t want to try to overfill it.

Calories aren't bad. You need them to live. The problem is getting enough or getting too many. This is over a long-term but can be managed short-term. After all, if I end up eating 2000 calories at an awesome party or in front of the TV, it’s not going to impact me that much. Doing it every night is.

Keep in mind, we only know the value of calories in food by setting the food on fire. In the case of very watery foods (like watermelon) scientist dehydrate the food then set it on fire. A calorie is then the approximate amount of energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 kelvin.

Goooo science!

Nutrition
Beyond calories, it’s important to get good foods in you. Good fuel, good calories – yum. I could easily eat all my calories in potato chips and ice cream, but, that’s not the best diet. It’s important to eat nutritional dense foods with vitamins and fiber and protein and carbs and all this good stuff your body needs for energy, tissue regeneration and, of course, pooping.

I also happen to take a good amount of vitamins because my body sucks those things up like a Dyson.

Calories, You and a Diet
Before you pick a diet you want to try or stick too, you want to make sure you know how many calories you need to function. You can find calculators online to help you – just make sure you know this is purely an estimate and nothing is set in stone. It’s a good place to start, not the end-all-be-all of your world. Things can change if you decide to workout more.

For example, at least 2 weeks a month I am in a classroom standing, pacing and doing some occasional soft shoe at work. The rest of the time, I am pretty much sitting at a desk. When I am biking in the warmer months (and going to pick it up again soon, now that the snow is off the trail) I’m going to be burning more calories.

I used this Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) Calculator to figure out how many calories I burn in a day just living.

So, as of right now, I am 5’6 about 140lbs. In the morning I weight about 135, by night I weigh about 137. It’s a normal flux, but, I call it 140.

Using the calculator, (and claiming I live a remarkable sedentary lifestyle right now) I estimate I need about 1710 calories a day to maintain my weight. In whatever diet I choose, I need to eat this 1710 calories in order to maintain my weight. I can break it up anyway I want, for example:

• Breakfast: 174.
• Lunch: 592
• Dinner: 542
• Snack: 402

Obviously, if i wanted to lose weight, I have to eat less than 1710 calories or I need to burn off calories through physical activity.

My Food Story
I have been fat and skinny – I actually weight the lest I ever did right now. I normally was in the 145-150 range but I have weighed as much as 185-195. Eating and food has posed extensive problems from me while sick.
Weight gain issues:

• My thyroid crashed a few times.
• Medications caused me to gain weight.

Weight loss issues:

• I puked. A lot.
• I developed OCD - I could not eat certain foods without anxiety, so, I avoided them.
• I lost the ability to feel hungry.

I learned the importance of food as fuel when I could not eat a lot. I found quinoa was easy on my digestive tract and packed full of good nutrition to keep me going and support my system.

In bike training, I ate more than I ever ate before. The idea that foods that people said were bad (pizza, Poptarts, etc) actually had a real and important place in my diet amazed me. I went from eating anything and everything to learning I could use this hunger to create better rides for myself. I discovered paella and my life changed.

Conclusions
Whatever you reason for trying out a new diet or taking on a challenge to learn something, be sure you are safe about it. Visit a registered dietitian or nutritionist to help you come up with a plan. Make sure you know what you need to keep you going, make sure you try new things when you can and find things that are delicious and good for you.

Be Part of the Adventure

Do you have a suggestion or want to see me attempt something? Drop me an email at AdventuringAmanda@gmail.com with your suggestion.