Nutrition 101

To lose the baby-weight I've been following The Zone. I've never tried other "diet methods" like South Beach, Weight Watchers, Atkins or the Paleo diet. But I prefer the The Zone because it's balanced: you aren't required to eliminate entire food groups (carbohydrates in the Atkins and South Beach, dairy in the Paleo) and the block system is based on the three basic building blocks of all foods (easier to track than a point system, as in the case of Weight Watchers).

The building blocks of all foods can be simplified into three categories: carbohydrates, protein and fats. Take an Nutrition 101 class and this is what they will teach you. Each of these building blocks affects your body in a different way. Granted that all excess calories, no matter what form (carb, protein or fat) are converted to fat and stored in the body, however calories in the form of a carbohydrate affect your blood sugar and body differently than calories in the form of a protein or a fat. Which is why eating a balance of all three is so important.

The goal for each meal (optimally 5-6 smaller meals eaten every 2 1/2 to 3 hours--which is easy to track since Sophie eats every 3 hours too) is to balance the building blocks in a way that keeps your blood sugar level, your metabolism revved up and you feeling satiated.

According to the "block" system of The Zone one block of carbohydrates is equivalent 9 grams, one block of protein is equivalent to 7 grams and one block of fat is 3 grams. I am a "three-block-gal" so each of my five or six meals meals contains three blocks each of carbohydrate, protein and fat: so 27 grams of carbohydrate, 21 grams of protein and 9 grams of fat. Right now I'm using this as a guideline and loosely tracking each by reading nutrition labels and occasionally weighing and measuring servings. At first it seems like a bit of work, but after about a week it gets easy to "eyeball" portions.

Rather than following it strictly, I'm using The Zone as a guideline to help me become more aware--to get away from the mindset that I had during pregnancy: "I can eat what I want, I'm eating for two!" and closer to the mindset that I've had in the past when I've trained for races: "I'm an athlete, I need to fuel my body for optimal performance." So far it has been working for me: I'm conscious but not obsessed; feeling more energized and faster on my runs and fitting into pre-prego clothes again! Woohoo.

Run: Spring Street (to the end and back)

Time:43:22

Distance: 4ish miles