"I Cannot Believe My Results!"
The issue I was having with my nutrition is that I didn't know what I didn't know.
I have been a longtime user of My Fitness Pal food tracking app (off and on as I'm sure many are) but solely focused on calories. I've been a big runner my whole adult life, but after having four kids, I became comfortable with 5-10 extra pounds here and there but they would come and go depending on how much training/racing I was doing and if I was keeping up with my DSC workouts.
However, sometime over this winter, those 5-10 crept up to 10-17 and I COULD NOT SHAKE IT!
I was running, doing my DSC workouts, skiing every weekend, but nothing was working -- I could not lose a pound!
I started to chalk it up to turning 50 next year and that my metabolism was probably slowing.
However, in June I decided I had had enough and I signed up for the DSC Nutrition Program. I realized I had been going about this in the wrong way.
My goal was to take off the extra 10-15lbs because nothing I was doing was working.
When I met with DSC's Nutrition Coaches, they asked me what calories I had my goal set at in MFP, and when I told her she said right away, "you're not eating enough".
Impossible, I thought, but they were right.
It turns out my body was burning almost as many calories as I was taking in just by getting out of bed in the morning. My coaches upped my calories intake to over 200 more than I was currently focused on, and then she gave me what turned out to be the key to my whole issue.
Not only was I not eating enough calories, I had never been paying attention to what those calories were made up of.
I am not a snacker. I don't eat processed foods (other than my nemesis the potato chip) but it still turned out that I had a terrible mix of carb/fat/proteins in the foods that I was taking in, even though they were all very healthy.
So in addition to increasing my calories, she gave me a recommended amount of each of those macros (carbs, proteins, and fat) to pay attention to each day.
I CANNOT believe my results!
Who knew that I needed to eat more to lose weight?!
I literally started shedding pounds right away.
I measured my food (continue to do so since I'm at home anyway), kept track of my macros, and checked in with my coach each week.
For two weeks I was up in Maine at my Mom's eating at the beach (which is what you are supposed to do at the beach, right?) and started back tracking and gained a few lbs. I thought I was being okay, but it was harder for me to measure and keep track of things when away. I panicked and emailed my coach who just told me to take a deep breath and get back on track, so I did, and sure enough I started to drop lbs. again.
In the eight week program I dropped 10lbs and 5% body-fat!
I lost no muscle weight, and am feeling very strong and I'm having no problems maintaining this weight.
My key takeaways:
1| Measuring and tracking food in these beginning stages was key. I can ballpark a lot now, but still measure when I can.
2| DSC's coaches have a good way of telling you from the get go that you need to know that this nutrition plan is for every day, and that the weekends aren't for cheating. That resonated with me.
3| I have not given up eating ANYTHING. I am just smarter about when/how much of it that I should eat to get my desired macros for the day.
My advice: Don't contemplate doing this program, just do it! It is not a diet. This program is not for the masses that some diet book was written for.
It is going to teach you exactly what steps to take to eat better and reach your goals!
- Martha