I just talked with a client who was recently married. She mentioned that when she was growing up they had three things on the dinner plate – protein, starch, and a vegetable. Her husband grew up with a lot of things on his dinner plate – 5 to 6 different things. She is feeling the pressure to put a bunch of different items on their dinner plates at night.  They’ve both gained weight since their wedding in January.

Research has shown that the more flavors that are available, the more calories we will eat. How many times have you finished dinner and felt “stuffed” only to be hungry again when the dessert tray shows up? It is the new and different flavors that you want to try that makes you “hungry” again.

I talked with my client about going back to the way she ate growing up. This means less flavors on the plate, and, hopefully, some weight loss. Portion size and paying attention to hunger cues also play roles, but not having all the different flavors should help reduce how much they are eating.

Next time you are eating at home and eating out, think about how many different flavors are going on on your plate and around the table. Ask if all those different flavors make you want to eat more. If so, focus on eating a couple of them, then putting the rest away or in a “to go” bag for later when you really are hungry.

I have a client who is on a weight loss journey. She realizes that it is just that – a journey. When I met with her this week, she said something I found profound – “I’ve tried everything to lose weight except time.” WOW! That is so true. How many times have you tried to lose weight, and it hasn’t worked. The more I work with people who are trying to lose weight, the more I find that they want it to happen NOW! Unfortunately, “now” isn’t an option.

Some people can get weight loss “now” but “now” isn’t realistic for most people. The “reality” shows like Biggest Loser make it even harder for people to gauge realistic weight loss. What you don’t see in the 60 to 90 minutes of the show is that the contestants (yes, they are contestants) are working out 6+ hours per day in addition to watching their food. I don’t know anyone who has a full time job who can work out 6 hours per day.

For those that weight loss isn’t a “now” option, patience has to be developed to be successful. For some people, it can take two to three weeks of consistent eating and exercise for the scale to start to move. For these people, if they try a “diet” for two weeks and give up they can say “it didn’t work!” instead of realizing that it takes time.

Abraham Lincoln said, “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” If you have a weight loss goal in mind and a different body in your future, you can reach that goal by taking it one day at a time, one meal at a time, one workout at a time. Wow! There’s a lot of time in that last sentence.

As Mick Jagger said, “Time is on my side, yes it is.” Time is on your side, too, if you’re trying to change your body. Give yourself and your body some time – time to be successful.

Ironman Texas was this past weekend (Saturday, May 18, 2013). It looked to be a beautiful, if warm day in the days leading up to the race. We’ve had a very cool spring for Southeast Texas. We’ve had bouts of low’s in the 40′s and highs in the 50′s, 60′s, and 70′s depending on the week. Mother Nature decided to pull a fast one and send us a hot, humid day for race day.  Because of the cool spring, local athletes hadn’t been able to acclimate to the heat and humidity. As the race started, it was warm and humid. I knew the day to come would present a lot of challenges. Hey, it’s an Ironman. It isn’t supposed to be easy. However, there’s a fine line between difficult and dangerous in these kinds of races.  When it is hot and humid, and you aren’t acclimated, you’ve got to be ready to adjust your race plan and your race nutrition.

After the race, several people (including my husband who raced and finished) asked what to do when your gut shuts down. How do you adjust to the heat? I thought about it and bounced some ideas off my friend Ellen Coleman, who is one of the best sports dietitians I know. Here’s what we came up with:

1) Slow down! This may mean walking. Or, walking slower. The issue is that your body is sending blood to the working muscles and not to your gut to absorb the food, water, sports drink, etc. you’ve put into it. By slowing down, your body can re-direct some of that blood back to the GI tract to process what you’ve put in to it. Check your heart rate? Is it too high? Slow down!

2) Slow down on how many calories you’re taking in. Yes, this may mean you take in fewer than planned, but if you can’t absorb them and they’re just sitting in your stomach your body isn’t going to use them anyway. This is related to #1 above. Slow down, back off, get your stomach cleared then try again.

3) Be sure you aren’t over drinking water. If you’re trying to cool down, one of the things you may do is start going for water. If you’re absorbing it, your electrolytes may get out of balance and you end up with hyponatremia (low blood sodium) which is a potentially life threatening situation.

4) Review your salt intake. Are you taking in too much? Enough? If you have a sloshy stomach, taking in a little salt may help clear it.

5) Get off the solids and go to liquids. Your body absorbs liquids easier than solids.

Often, athletes end up throwing up if their GI tract just isn’t working. This often serves to “reset” the system, and they can start taking down fluids and liquid nutrition again. If this happens, start S-L-O-W-L-Y to see how your body is going to react.

Although you may be exhausted, take a few minutes and think about what you’ve been eating and drinking the past hour or two. See how that aligns with the points above and adjust.

And, if you’re not sure what’s going on, don’t hesitate to stop at a med tent and get assessed. They can take your blood pressure and ask you some questions to help you decide if it is safe for you to continue. Yes, I get that you don’t want to stop after training for so long for the race. But, it’s better to stop early and get fixed fairly easily than end up in the ICU (yes, I know of at least one person this happened to this past weekend).

There is lots of racing left in the year. These points should help you adjust if you hit a hot race or training session and help you finish.

I just read a study that evaluated the calorie content in foods in small and local restaurants that are exempt from listing calories on their menus under the new laws. I wasn’t surprised to find that, just like in large restaurant chains, there are a lot of calories in these restaurant foods.

The researchers took the most frequently ordered foods from 9 most common restaurant categories (including Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Thai, and American).  Although we know that restaurant meals contain more calories than what we cook at home, I was surprised by how many calories they contained – an average or 1327 calories! YIKES! That is almost an entire day of calories for me in ONE average restaurant meal!

Remember, these were considered “the most ordered meals” which means the most popular ones. If these are the meals most people are ordering, it’s no surprise that Americans keep expanding. Examples include: beef tacos, chicken fajitas, cheeseburger, 1/2 rack ribs, Kung pao chicken, Lasagna, and Chicken pad Thai. This didn’t include “healthier” options because they aren’t ordered as often.

Once again, it looks like the food industry is making us fat and unhealthy. What can you do to fight this trend? Here are some ideas:

• Become an informed consumer. Research calorie information before you go to a restaurant. You can use online tools like MyFitnessPal.com or SparkPeople.com  to find estimates of calorie information. An estimate is just that – a good guess. You don’t have to be perfect, but you can estimate – and always take the higher end of the estimate.
• Talk to the waiter about how the food is prepared and the size of the portion. Often, they can make suggestions on healthier options and things that may not even be on the menu.
• Split a meal. Restaurant portions are normally anywhere from 2 to 5 or more portions of what you should be eating. Splitting a meal with one or two people can help bring the portions down to size.
• Take extra home. Plan on having leftovers and taking at least half or 2/3 of the meal home to eat later.
• Order an appetizer and a salad as your meal. Appetizers can be the right size for a meal. An appetizer and a side salad or vegetable can make for a satisfying meal.

I got quite a few comments on my last post about athletes cutting calories and weight loss. When I re-posted the blog post, I included the one on calculating calories for weight maintenance. Below is the prior blog post that talks about how to calculate calories for weight loss. Enjoy!

Putting It All Together for Weight Loss (with slight revisions)

In order to lose weight, you should eat fewer calories than you burn – you need to create a calorie deficit. In order to lose a pound, you need to have a total deficit of 3,500 calories or about 500 calories per day for a pound per week loss. This deficit can be achieved by eating less, exercising more, or a combination of the two.

To calculate the calorie deficit, the first thing you need to know is how many calories you need a day to maintain your weight. This post has all the information to determine your maintenance calories on rest days. To get the calorie deficit, you can subtract 500 from your maintenance calories. We will call this your weight loss calorie goal. Now, you need to determine the best number of calories to use for your body.

• If your weight loss calorie goal is less than 1200 calories, your minimum should be 1200 calories. Research has shown that you cannot get all the vitamins and minerals your body needs by eating less than 1200 calories per day.
• If your weight loss calorie goal is below your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), you should use your RMR. If you eat less than your RMR over a period of time, your RMR will decrease making it harder to lose weight.
• If your weight loss calorie goal is greater than 1200 and greater than your RMR, use that number.

As an example, lets go back to Sandy, our marathon runner from the prior set of posts. Sandy’s maintenance calories on rest days are 1805. If we subtract 500 calories, this means Sandy would need to eat 1305 calories per day to lose 1 pound per week. However, Sandy’s RMR is 1377 calories. If Sandy was my client, and based on the guidance above, I would set her minimum calorie intake to 1377 calories (her RMR).

Now that we have your weight loss calorie goal, you need to determine how many calories you will burn working out and what you are going to do with those calories. You have three choices:

• Eat enough to makeup the difference between your workouts and weight loss calorie goal
• Put those calories towards your weight loss effort
• Eat some of them and put the rest towards your weight loss efforts

Part of your decision will be based on your overall goals. However, the most I recommend for a daily calorie deficit is 1000 calories. This would be a two pound per week weight loss.

Back to Sandy. If Sandy ran five days a week for a total of 18 miles, she would burn approximately 1800 additional calories over the course of a week (the general estimate is 100 calories per mile of running or walking). When I help people lose weight, I look at their calories over a week compared to a single day when the goal is weight loss. Our bodies do not have a reset button that gets pressed at midnight and weight gained or lost based on that total. Your body uses more of a 7 day average of calories in vs. calories out. Based on her weight loss calorie goal, Sandy’s daily deficit would be 428 calories (1805 – 1377)  which would be 2996 calories per week (428 * 7). Add to this number 1800 calories for her runs and her total weekly deficit would be 4796 calories. This would equal a loss of about 1.4 pounds per week (4796/3500). Based on this information, Sandy could eat an extra 185 calories per day ((4796 – 3500))/7) or base her intake on her daily workouts and eat more on her longer run days and less on her rest and short run days.

The next thing is to determine her protein, fat, and carbohydrate needs. To determine this information, I would suggest you read through the last post that explained how to do this in detail. I’ll go over a summary here. Based on the recommendations for protein, I’d recommend Sandy’s eating be based on 1.2 g/kg from protein, 0.8 g/kg from fat, and 2.4 g/kg from carbohydrates. The percentages below are based on her eating 1377 calories per day. On the days that she chooses to eat more, those calories should come from carbohydrates. Based on these recommendations, Sandy’s eating would be based on the following guidelines:

As you calculate your own eating guidelines, you will realize that it takes some tinkering to get the numbers right. I could play with Sandy’s more to reduce the calories from fat, but I know she likes nuts. In general, I do not go under 1.2 g/kg for protein, 25% total calories for fat, and 2 g/kg for carbohydrates.

I hope this helps you determine your own eating plan to lose weight. If you have questions, please let me know.

I had a client the other day who does her best to eat “perfectly” and get her husband to eat the same way. This is OK when she is at home, but can be hard when traveling. She has an upcoming trip to Singapore and she asked me, “How do I eat while I’m over there?” I told her, “Do the best you can.”

Really, that’s what our eating choices come down to – doing the best we can each time we eat. Are you going to have the cheeseburger with bacon and fries, or the grilled chicken sandwich with a salad or fruit on the side? Or, if you really want the fries, why not have the chicken sandwich rather than the cheeseburger? In my book, that’s a better choice than both the cheeseburger AND the fries.

A lot of people seem to think that everyone else is eating great and they are the only ones who can’t figure out how to eat “right” all the time. Honestly, most people struggle with eating right even just part of the time. Don’t beat yourself up about having a less than perfect eating pattern. Most people are in the same boat with you. Rather than focusing on eating right all the time, I’d suggest you focus on making the best choice each time you eat.  Because, just like any other goal, the small steps are the way you get there. If you want to lose weight, gain or maintain, the choices you make each time you eat are the small steps that will get you to your goal. You don’t have to eat “perfect” all the time – just do the best you can each time you eat.

This post is a reprint with some changes of a prior post.  I’m re-posting this with some changes because there is an epidemic going on. The epidemic is athletes thinking they need to eat 1200 calories/day to lose weight. Athletes are different from Sam and Sally Couch-Sitters. Sam and Sally Couch-Sitters may need only 1200 or 1500 calories/day to lose weight. Athletes need more. Often WAY more. How much more?

You start by determining you estimated Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). Your RMR is the base number of calories your body needs to live if you stayed in bed all day. Your RMR is your zero point for the number of calories your body needs to live. If your RMR is 1500 calories that means you don’t eat less than 1500 calories. If you eat less than 1500 calories for a period of time (2 – 4 weeks lets say), your RMR will get slower. A slower RMR means it is easier to gain weight. Not what most people want. (The details of calculating your RMR are further down.)

Next, you multiply your RMR by an activity factor. I use an activity factor based on your daily, non-workout activity. If you sit at a desk all day and don’t walk around much, I’ll use 1.3 or 1.35. If you’re walking around a lot, I’ll use 1.4 or 1.5 depending on how much time you spend sitting down. (Again, more details are below.)

Then, you add calories for workouts. Most of us wear gadgets that give us an estimate of how many calories we’ve burned. You can plug in that number to the number of your RMR x activity factor. This is the number of calories you need to maintain your weight. Next, you subtract 500 to 1000 calories for weight loss. However, if this number is less than your RMR, your base number of calories is your RMR (remember, we don’t want that to slow down – right?).  I don’t like athletes to have greater than a 1000 calorie deficit per day. To me that’s just too many calories to not have for your body’s fuel. You’ll be hungry, sluggish, and won’t have good workouts.

Remember, if you’re an athlete, you need to fuel your body with food. I have clients who have an RMR of 1500 calories, and need 1800 calories without workouts, then need  another 1200 for workouts. This means they need 3000 calories a day. Then, they eat 1200 calories a day and don’t lose weight. Their bodies are mad and are holding on to everything they are eating because it is trying to have enough calories to live, much less do the workouts. When they start eating more, they start losing weight, putting on muscle, and getting happy with how they look in the mirror.

If this sounds familiar (or even if you just want to know), take a few minutes and follow the steps below to determine your calorie needs. Please, help me stop the epidemic! If you’re an athlete, feed your body to perform (and make the body composition changes you want to happen).

How to Determine Your Calorie Needs

Determining how many calories you need can be tricky. If you google “how many calories do I need” you get hundreds of results with all sorts of different calculators. How do you know which is right for you? The thing to remember is that the calculations are a best guess. If you really want to nail down your calorie needs, then you can have your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) measured. However, if you can not have it measured, the formulas are a good place to start.

When I’m calculating calorie needs, I prefer the Mifflin-St. Jeor equation. This equation has been found to be most accurate in a variety of people.  The formula is below. The weight is in kg and height in cm. To convert your weight to kg, divide your weight in pounds by 2.2. To convert your height to cm, multiply your height in inches by 2.54. Here is the Mifflin-St. Jeor formula:

Men: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) + 5
Women: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) – 161

This gives you an estimate of your RMR – which is, basically, how many calories you would need if you hung out on the couch all day. Since that is not the case for most of us, I multiply the RMR by an activity factor. The way I do it for my clients is to choose an activity factor for their day that does not include their workouts. Here are the activity factors:

• Sedentary (little or no exercise) = 1.2
• Llightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) = 1.375
• Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) = 1.550
• Very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) = 1.725
• Extra active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job) = 1.900

Finally, I add in the calories for workouts. Most athletes have a Garmin or heart rate monitor that gives them calories expended in a workout.

Here’s an example. Sandy is a marathoner who has a desk job. When she is home and not working out, she is playing with her two small children and doing house work, washing clothes, etc. She doesn’t sit much when she is at home. She is 32 years old, 5’5″ tall and weighs 140 pounds. She does not want to change her weight or body composition.

• 65 inches  2.54 = 163.15 inches
• 140/2.2 = 63.6 kg

The Mifflin-St. Jeor equeation for women is: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) – 161

Sandy’s RMR would be (10 x 63.6) + (6.25 x 163.15) – (5 x 32) – 161 = 1337 calories per day. Given her work and at home (non-workout activities) I wouldmultiply her RMR by 1.35 (1337 x 1.35 = 1805 calories per day). Her workouts range from short runs when she burns 400 calories to long runs when she burns 1200 calories. This means that:

• On Sandy’s off day, she should eat about 1800 calories.
• On her short workout days, she should eat about 2200 calories.
• On her long workout days, she should eat about 3000 calories.

For most people, this gets a little overwhelming. To make it easier, we look at a seven day average. It is OK to move some calories (200 – 500) from your long workout day to the day before or after to pre-fuel and get you over being extrahungry on your day off.

I hope this helps you determine how many calories you need. If you have questions, let me know.

Recently, several clients have asked about how to tell if a food is high sugar. They always seem to ask about fruit – “isn’t fruit high in sugar?”

In my practice, I draw the line between two kinds of sugar – naturally occurring in the food, and added. I’m OK with naturally occurring sugar. If you eat a lot of fruit and log your food in an online program or app, it is going to look like your sugar intake is high. There are also naturally occurring sugars in some vegetables, dairy, and whole grains. However, since those sugars are naturally occurring in the food, I’m OK with it.

I get concerned is with sugar that is added to food – usually processed foods. When looking at a food label to tell if a food is “high sugar” there are two places to look. The first is the nutrition facts panel. Under “Carbohydrates” is a listing for “Sugars.” How do you know if the number of grams listed is “high”?  Divide the number of grams of sugar by 4 and that tells you how many teaspoons of sugar are in the product. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 teaspoons (24 grams) per day for women and 9 teaspoons for men (36 grams).

You also have to consider the food – is it a trail mix with dried fruit? If so, the sugar may be naturally occurring in the dried fruit. However, you also need to look at the ingredient list (I’m constantly surprised at how much sugar is added to food – even dried fruits!). If you see sugar, or one of the “hidden” names of sugar, in the first three ingredients it is considered a “high sugar food.” Not sure all the “hidden” names of sugar? Here’s a list from the Harvard School of Public Health with a some of them.

When trying to determine if a food is “high sugar,” we have to do some detective work. I’d encourage you to start reading those nutrition facts panels and ingredient lists. When I was shopping a couple of weeks ago, I found some tomato sauce (just tomato sauce, not pasta sauce) that was filled with sugar! Being an informed consumer makes you an empowered consumer!

When working with an athlete to plan his/her nutrition, one of the first things I look at are the products being used. In general, there is a limit to the number of carbohydrates our body can absorb and use. And, the type of carbohydrate relates to how much we can absorb and use. The main types of carbohydrates in sports foods are glucose and fructose. The longer chain, complex carbohydrates are, ultimately, broken down to glucose and/or fructose before they can be absorbed in the intestines and used as fuel by the muscles.

Absorption of glucose and fructose happens through transporters. Think of these transporters like doors. Glucose has two doors it can go through (GLUT-1

and GLUT-4) while fructose can use another two (GLUT-2 and GLUT-5). The more doors you use, the more fuel you can get into your body and your muscles. Imagine a crowd leaving a football game having to squeeze through two doors. Then, imagine opening up two more. The crowd is able to get out quicker through four doors than two. This has direct implications for choosing which products you are going to use when training and racing. Something similar as to the crowd going out the doors happens with your gut and muscles. The more doors you use, the more fuel that can  reach the working muscles and provide them with more energy to keep working.

Choosing products that have a mix of glucose and fructose allows your body to use four doors rather than two to absorb the fuel. Research has shown that a ratio of 2 grams of glucose for every gram of fructose is optimal for absorption. What does this mean for you?

When you are looking at sport nutrition products, look at the ingredient list, not just the number of carbohydrates. You may have to Google some of the ingredients to determine if they are glucose or fructose. It can be worth the time to find out. Then, start experimenting and see if you can increase the amount of fuel you can take in my mixing glucose and fructose sources.

Have fun training and racing!

Lately, many of my clients are asking about making better choices. When I talk with them I find that most of my clients are eating pretty well. There is always things that could be changed, but we can’t be perfect all the time. I focus on making the best choice you can 80 to 90% of the time. Focusing on the 80 to 90% rule gives us some wiggle room to have that chocolate cake, pie, or occasional trip to Chuy’s (my favorite local TexMex restaurant).

We also often find ourselves without great choices available. We are out running errands, at a ball game, etc. and get hungry. We didn’t pack snacks with us. Occasionally I end up asking myself, “What am I going to order from the snack bar at the ballpark?” Personally, I look through all the choices and consciously choose what I’ll have. Then, I have to own that decision. If I’m unhappy about being in that situation, I also think through what I’d do differently next time – maybe put a KIND bar or two in my purse or eat before I head to the ballpark. Then, next time I’m going to the ballpark, I think remember what happened last time and take action.

The key is that when you find yourself without “good” choices available, to make the best choice you can rather than just giving up. If you look around and take a couple of minutes to think, you usually can come up with something that is better than the rest of the things that are available.