Food is for Fuel

How many times have I heard this statement or some variation of it? 

How many times have my ears transmitted this information to my brain, where my cognitive processes broke down the meaning, only to have the application department of my mental faculty file it under, "Huh?"

Let's see... the answer is: LOTS.

So imagine my surprise when, at the encouragement of my friend KP, I joined an amazing little website called MyFitnessPal www.myfitnesspal.com, and after entering in all my information I suddenly realized that FOOD IS FUEL!!! (Cue Hallelujah chorus!) Now I don't want to give credit where it's not due. I really enjoy the simplicity and user friendliness of MFP, it's definitely been the avenue through which this "EUREKA" moment happened, but I'm going to venture a guess that the real enlightenment came because of God's perfect timing and my (finally) readiness to mentally and emotionally digest, as well as apply, this bit of information about how the human body - MY human body - works. 

God is good! (Can I get an, "All the time!"?)

Now, I don't know if I'm going to be able to fully capture the "A-ha" moment exactly as it happened. God really does, after all, work in mysterious ways. What I can tell, you, however, is that I have really connected with the concept of my body being like a car that needs fuel to run. I'm no mechanic, so some of my analogy may not be totally transferable between humans and motor vehicles, but again, this was my realization and as long as it works for me I'm gonna roll with it.

My body requires a certain amount of fuel each day to do the basics. My body's physical systems and minimal activity require approximately 2900 calories per day to maintain my CURRENT level of performance, as well as my current weight. This number is reached (the website did it for me but I think I could do the math if I had to) by considering my current weight, age, and level of activity. So if I'm a vehicle - we'll say I'm a Ford dually pick up truck - then I know that it takes 29 gallons of gas to get me around town and do the things I need to do on a daily basis. (Remember, this may not make auto sense, lol.) BUT! As luck (yeah, not) would have it, I happen to have some fat stores on my person!!! For the truck we'll say I have "reserve tanks", ha ha ha, and the fuel in the reserve tanks is old and causing a lot of damage to the truck. After all, lots of fuel can be heavy and carrying all that extra fuel around is hard on the engine and so forth, which means I really should use up that reserve fuel first before I fill up on new fuel. Plan of action? Rather than put 29 gallons in my main tank tomorrow, I'm only going to put 19 gallons! Coincidentally (not really), I'm only taking in 1900 calories each day right now! Once that 1900 calories is gone (by way of normal physical systems) my body is going to automatically start using my fat reserves as fuel. Subsequently, as my fat reserves are depleted (and the Ford's reserve tanks have less fuel in them) fuel efficiency becomes better (my body does what it has to do while taking less effort and causing less damage) and I lose weight!

MyFitnessPal is set up so it calculates for an average loss of two pounds per week. I am in LOVE with this. I have been on SO many diets, and more than a few of them have focused on drastic calorie reduction. I understand that there is a place for this: people who are (as I commented to a friend the other day) deathly obese - in other words they're so fat that they are going to die pretty soon from it - need to lose weight as quickly as possible. Despite some aches and pains from being overweight, however, I'm halfway healthy-ish for my size, and as I mentioned in my last blog, my blessing of having always been fairly strong and having a decent muscle base under all this excess fat, has kept me fairly mobile for the most part. Losing weight fast isn't something I have to do, and many healthcare experts agree. I look to the Mayo Clinic website for a lot of my information and I've included a link to one article that has info regarding slow but steady weight loss. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/HQ01625


Okay! Now for some thoughts that came about after I made the connection I explained a paragraph back. I know the explanation may not be that great, but maybe, Lord willing, one of these thoughts will be YOUR "a-ha" moment and all of this will be more than just words on a blog. 

• What happens when an engine gets too much fuel? It floods and the car won't start. The same thing happens to me when I eat too much... I mean, I can still move around and stuff but what's crazy is that I don't WANT to. Overeating, for me, causes a mental and emotional flooding of sorts. I can tell the difference in how I physically feel, too. When I go WAY over the limit - when I binge - my body doesn't feel right, and I believe that is how God made me - how He made US. 
• The opposite is true, too. When I eat way too few calories, or no calories at all (barring illness or something like that), it doesn't feel right. I get light headed  and jittery, and I get GRUMPY! OH MY do I get grumpy. If you try to start a car with no gas in the tank it might run for a bit - because there may be residual fuel in the engine - but I guarantee it's not going to run for long. Heaven forbid you end up on the side of the proverbial road somewhere unable to function. Worse yet, what if the car stops running, you lose control, and you crash - metaphorically speaking of course. Ever heard the term "running on fumes?" It's not good for the car and it's not good for us, either.
• Some days I DO choose to go over or under the 1900 mark, and it's okay because I'm not basing my success on one day's calorie intake. But DECIDING to go over or under1900 calories one day is totally different than going crazy with calories on a binge or starving yourself because you feel like you messed up on your diet. What makes sense to me is how Weight Watchers www.weightwatchers.com has daily calories and weekly calories. (WW is a good program that works for many, but I personally refuse to put another penny into any more "programs." That being said, do what works for you!!) A lot of healthy weight/sized celebrities do this, too. I think I even read an article on Heidi Klum where she said she adjusts her calories based on what she has going on in her day to day life. SO! If I choose to go over my 1900 calories one day - let's say I'm going to a birthday party and want to have cake but would rather plan for the calorie overage tomorrow - then I do just that. I reduce tomorrow's calories so that between the two days I've still only taken in 3800 calories. For me it's about ALL of the race, not just that one lap or that one turn...

I didn't really get into types of food on this post, but I will on the next one. I kind of feel like it deserves it's own day, and I've got a lot to say about food choices. So I'll end this one by saying what I have always said, "It took me 42 years to get here, it's not going to be over in a day."

Choosing PHAT over FAT,

Stephanie