Losing By Addition

This may sound contradictory, or maybe it sounds like everything you hope to hear when you embark on any type of weight loss or maintenance.  However many times, when you are trying to manage your weight, part of the problem is you are not eating enough.

It may seem like it makes sense; not eating a lot or sometimes going to the extreme of not eating at all and for sure you will lose weight.  The problem is part of losing weight is burning calories and if your body does not have any calories to burn, it is going to hold on the weight that it has out of survival, and not be in a “weight-loss” mode.  Even more frustrating, if you are going through a period where you are not eating sufficient calories and then you have that one weekend, day, or night where you eat everything in sight, you will see the repercussions very quickly on your body.

The body is very smart and it is made to adapt.  So if you have put it into a low calorie “survival” mode and then you feed it a ton of food, it is excited.  It also does not know if you will be “starving” again soon so it in an effort to survive and sustain, it holds onto these calories instead of using them for fuel.  It is also when you see pounds put on that you have no idea where they came from because you spent the majority of the past week or however long not feeding yourself enough.

Now I know that does not sound like a cycle you want to be caught in and as athletes it is that much more important to be feeding yourself properly so you have the energy to perform your best.  That is where “losing by addition” comes in.  By adding in small snacks between bigger meals and adding in more fruits and vegetables to your meals, you will see yourself getting more fit, even though you are actually eating more!  The other trick is not eating too much at once so while you are adding in small snacks, you want to make sure your portions are control at your meals so the body doesn’t hold on to calories it doesn’t need.  You’ll be losing by adding in no time!

For ideas on healthy snacks check out my blog Snack Attack!  

“Volumizing”—Not Just for Your Hair!

One of the first things that I’m sure you think of when it comes to being healthy is that you should probably cut down on the amount of foods you eat.  Depending on the types of food you are consuming, this does not need to be true!  By adding volume to your diet, you can actually increase the amount of food that you eat, while also adding more vitamins and nutrients to your diet.

The term that is the key to portion control and balancing consumption of certain foods is “energy density.”  Energy density refers to whether the calories in one serving of a food is very high or very low.  The more calories per serving the more energy dense something is.  You would figure this out by dividing the number of calories per serving by the number of grams one serving is.  If something’s energy density falls between 0-1.5, it is low in energy density, if it is 1.5-4.0 it is medium, and 4.0-9.0 is high in energy density.

In order to maximize the amount you eat, you want to choose more foods from the low energy density group because you can eat more of them for less calories or “energy.”  If you wanted to eat one serving of plain, vanilla ice cream that would be ½ cup and roughly 150 calories.  Yet if you wanted to eat more, you could eat 2 cups of berries with whip cream for the same amount of calories.  That’s 4x the amount of food for an equal amount of calories plus a lot more fiber and nutrients.

Here are some easy ways to add volume to your meals:

Breakfast: If you like oatmeal, cereal or yogurt to start your day, add fruit, nuts and seeds to fill you up and start your day great.  If you have a little more time in the morning, add vegetables to your omelets.

Lunch: If you prefer to have a sandwich, instead of loading it up with cold cuts, use spinach, slice veggies, use spreads such as hummus or avocado instead of mayonnaise and cheese.  If you are making a salad, use beans and nuts to make it more filling instead of fried proteins or other energy dense toppings.

Dinner: Still want pasta?  Go for it! But instead of piling it on your plate, shred zucchini with your vegetables peeler into spaghetti like strands, or better yet, hollow out spaghetti squash which looks exactly like the pasta.  Sautée it in garlic and oil and toss with your pasta dish.  If you like mashed potatoes, use roasted or boiled cauliflower in place of half the potatoes.  Blend or mash them together and you will lower the calories and up the nutrient content!

Eating healthy does not need mean eating less!  Use energy density to help you understand portion control and you’ll be full and feeling great!  Let us know about any meals you volumize this week!