Today was my visit with the nutritionist.  It went very well!!!  I was expecting a weigh-in and a discussino of what my weight could cost me and how to do better at losing it, but instead found a very helpful and conversational woman who gave me some great ideas for how to get closer to my goals.  She listened to what I do and prioritize for a long time and had some great feedback for me to work on.  

The main points for me were to work on eating more meals throughout the day and focusing on including protein and carbs in each meal.  I know its hard for me to get all the protein that is recommended, especially on a vegetarian and soy-free diet, but its possible and I need to focus more on it.  She did say I am doing great at my exercise and congratulated me on the weightloss I am already getting, but theres always room for improvement, and I dont just mean losing more weight faster.

She crunched some numbers and my resting metabolic rate should be about 1,850 cal/day.  I will tell you for a fact, it is much lower than that.  When I eat that many calories, even with a little exercise, I gain weight,  If I exercise moderately, I may maintain, but still not lose.  She agreed that my metabolic rate may be damaged or lowerd due to my thyroid cancer in high school.  Im not sure how much lower its supposed to be, and I could schedule a resting metabolic test to find out, which I think I will do.  Has anyone else out there done it?

Right now im focusing trying to stay at about 1,300 cal/day, and its definitely working, im losing weight.  This advise was given to me by my doctor at the beginning of the new year when I was sort of dieting and exercising but not seeing any results.  I am definitely working out more than I did then the nutritionist thinks I should probably bump this up a bit, starting with up to 1,400 cal/day and spacing them out.  

As far as keeping my metabolism going, she wants me to focus on eating 5 meals a day, the first one within 2 hours of waking up and one of them within 1 hour of exercising.  She also wants me to really try to make each meal a pair of carbs and protein to make sure im getting what my body needs.  This is a little hard for me as I'm used to skipping meals after forgetting breakfast or running out of calories and just dealing with being hungry.  

Aside from this visit, the rest of my day was pretty shot.  I was super busy at work and only got to eat about 400 calories of salad and fruit for lunch.  I returned from the visit to find my employees at near melt-down level and spent the next two hours fixing things and people and trying to return to order.  After work I had time to sit down with my wonderful boyfriend for a bit, debrief, and eat a tortilla with hummus and cheese.  Then we did a little grocery shopping to get ready for all my new goals tomorrow.  I have barely reached 9,000 steps, missed lunch walk, didnt go to the gym, and ended the day at 580 calories today.  Please leave me any tips, tricks, or ideas you have for other vegetarian snack ideas, ways to sneak in more steps, or whatever else you might have in mind.  Love you all and happy hump day!!!

 

My plan for Thursday:

6: wake up, take thyroid meds, sneak in quick workout, most likely abs from NeilaRey.com, get ready for work

7:grab a half cup of oatmeal I prepped tonight with blueberries and drive to work

9: graze on breakfast salad, one of my favorites!  lettuce with hard boiled egg, carmelized onions, avocado, tomato, and onion dressing, delicious!  (also good with a slice of bacon crumbled for you carnivors)

12: lunch walk followed by whatever they bring for lunch, stick to 600 calories or less

5: fruit and cheese or PB snack before...

7: gym, Thursday is BodyPump!!

9: night snack: most likely protien shake with yogurt