Track Your Calories for Success!

Wow guys- I had a HUGE wakeup call this week with my caloric intake!!!! If you are not tracking your calories on a program like myfitnesspal.com I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it!!! You can do it online and/or on your phone.


I have been tracking what I eat and making sure that what I consume is clean....but I was WAYYYYYY off base with how many calories I was consuming. Normally, I know people underestimate how many calories they are eating, but I have been over estimating. My body has essentially been in starvation mode because I have been averaging around 1000-1100 calories a day! Doing a fitness program like P90X...I should be closer to the 1700 mark because I am burning a minimum of 400 calories during my workouts. 


You can customize your settings online and set your goals, calories, and proportions. For the first phase I am doing 50% protein 30% carbs 20% fats.  When I feel like I need an energy boost, I am going to adjust to 40% protein 40% carbs 20% fats.


By tracking your intake, you really see the deficiencies in your diet and it becomes clear that taking a good multi-vitamin and varying your diet is key.
If you are going to put all of that hard work into your sweat sessions, might as well make it count and maximize your results by fueling your body properly!


After my first couple days of eating the correct amount of calories, I noticed that not only did my energy go up, but I feel better and have been sleeping more soundly. 
Everybody is different, so you have to adjust according to your activity level...but by tracking it you are able to see where you need to make those adjustments. 


I hope my huge learning experience can help you guys out because I think that you will be shocked! Another great resource is the Beachbody Club membership- they have an awesome tool that you can use to determine how many calories you need and it will generate a meal plan for you with recipes based on your stats/preferences! It even adds my daily Shakeology in there :) I'm a HUGE fan of anything that simplifies my life lol 


Here is a sample day:

Breakfast

Shakeology®

Snack #1

Roast Beef and Cheddar on Crackers

Lunch

Egg Salad Sandwich

Snack #2

BLT

Dinner

Stuffed Green Pepper

And if I need the specific recipe, I can just click and print! Effortless! I am DEF using the Dining out guide for this weekend...you can still go out to eat and socialize, but you don't have to blow your whole week :) 


Soooo how many calories should you be consuming??? Here is a calculator to get an estimate: Calorie Calculator