“Is Butter a Carb?”

Good Morning Everyone,

So these past two months as I talked about before I was going through some stuff, was SUPER stressed, and not being my normal self with my healthy diet. Because of this, my body went wackadoo. Now that I’m eating my 3 meals a day, and 2 healthy snacks, my body is still going wackadoo. I’ve been pretty strict in the gym and at home with food and what do I see? Weight put on… you can imagine the frustration.

This is what I’ve been eating at lunch though, and you can’t get more blah than this!

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Spaghetti squash, 3-4 ounces of plain chicken breast, 3-4 ounces of sweet potato with chives, and about a cup of cauliflower. Sometimes I put sriracha on top.

It seems that my body is having a hard time getting back to where it was because of my habits over the past few months and I’m still facing consequences. I know, it’s only been about 2 weeks since I’ve been back to normal, but it’s making a difference and up I keep going.

So what the heck do I do about this? I’ve heard the phrase “metabolic damage” used too many times to count and yes I believe in it. Your metabolism screws up when you get off track and then you end up suffering down the road even when you fix things. After a little research unfortunately I realize it might just take some time for my body to realize what’s really going on, but I also came across carb cycling which seems to work for some people. I believe I might have tried to do this once in the past, but let’s face it mama loves her carbs (fruit included) and I couldn’t do it.

But I am willing to give anything a try until I get this little situation under control, as long as I get to eat my normal caloric intake.

So what is carb cycling? Basically it’s where you alternate low and high carb days based on training. On days I do heavy lifting such as legs, I’m going to want to hit up more carbs. On rest days, low carbs.  Makes sense according to energy needs right?

It’s fairly simple to calculate your carbs. Since it’s mostly women that read this blog, I will concentrate on those numbers.

LOW CARB DAYS:

  1. Fat grams per day: multiply your weight x 0.5 (multiple by 9 to get calories)
  2. Protein grams per day: multiply weight x 1.2 (multiple by 4 to get calories)
  3. Carb grams per day: multiply weight x 0.6 (multiple by 4 to get calories)
  4. Add these numbers up for total caloric intake

HIGH CARB DAYS:

  1. Fat grams per day: multiply your weight x 0.3 (multiple by 9 to get calories)
  2. Protein grams per day: multiply weight x 1.4 (multiple by 4 to get calories)
  3. Carb grams per day: multiply weight x 1.4 (multiple by 4 to get calories)
  4. Add these numbers up for total caloric intake

After realizing something wasn’t right, I decided to calculate what I have been eating normally in a day, I know I was hitting the calories right, but something was off. Here is an average of my macros:

  • 1603 calories
  • 164 grams of carbs
  • 158 grams of protein
  • 42 grams of fat

So basically EVERY DAY I have been doing a high carb diet/low fat diet and not even realizing it. It’s just like on mean girls where Regina says “I cannot go to Taco Bell Karen, I am on an all carb diet!” “Is butter a carb?”

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My high carb days should be around 173 grams of carbs, and low carb 74.4. The idea is when you lower your carbs you raise your fat grams. It keeps the body guessing and you burn fat more efficiently. Since it’s a cycle and I won’t be cutting carbs completely, I feel like this is certainly manageable, at least for a while. We will see!

When I went to the gym after work I planned on hitting the treadmill for a run. I always feel like runs lean me out. My knee had other plans. One minute in and I felt excruciating pain in my left knee again. I am not winning lately. So I slowed down and walked for 5 minutes but even that was a no go. So I did some tricep work:

  • Overhead extensions, 25 lb plate, 10 reps x 4 sets
  • Cable pull downs, 60-70 lbs, 8-12 reps x 4 sets
  • Tricep kick backs, 15 lb weights, 12 reps x 4 sets
  • Tricep push backs, 20 lb weights, 10 reps x 3 sets
  • Tricep Dips (assisted weight), 10 reps x 3 sets

I then hit the spin bike for 35 minutes, stretched and headed home.

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Time to de-fluff!

Phoebe and I made dinner (rice wraps and ground turkey) and then watched TV while I iced my knee on and off. As I was making dinner, I saw a part of Miley Cyrus’ documentary on MTV. I had it on my DVR but thought “oh I will probably never watch it”. Well that clip I saw sold me. Let’s just say she had a little hissy fit in the car and I was super intrigued. I’m not into bashing celebrities on my blog, so I won’t. Just watch it and let me know what you think 😉 You might just say wow I’m an angel!

I also cozied up in my FitBloggin’ socks that I got during the blogger conference I went to in Portland. I never wore them! Phoebe approves.

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 I will probably start carb cycling Friday or Saturday. Let’s see how long I make it! 😉

Have a great THURSDAY! 

XOXO With a Cherry On Top,

-Minnie

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7 Comments

  1. Katie

    Have you ever rear Tara’s blog over at Sweat Like a Pig? She has some really great posts about metabolic damage – how it’s caused (too few calories + too much exercise), and how to recover from in (gradually increasing your TOTAL calories, as scary and counterintuitive as it may sound). I’m a big believer. I definitely used to eat waaay too little for the amount I was exercising; I’m still working on correcting my metabolism, but I can already eat way more without gaining weight. Obviously I can’t tell you what the right numbers are for you, but you work out pretty intensely and 1600 calories seems like a pretty tiny amount! The posts are definitely work checking out 🙂

    1. Katie

      I will have to check it out thanks! Theres a girl I follow on instagram that I love, Michelle Yeager and she has worked her way from about 1400 calories to 3000 A DAY! Holy Moly! So yes it does work with time! 🙂

  2. Chelsea @ A Fit LittleOne

    I’ve been in the same boat the last couple of weeks, let’s just say I’m an emotional eater, something I’m not proud of but it’s how I am. I’m de-fluffing too! Oh my gosh, I saw that, I could not believe she was throwing such a huge fit, and cussing at the lady. I was like wow, you do know word gets around and people will probably not want to work with you eventually because you’re being a huge beezy……I’ve never done carb cycing before. I knew what it was but had no idea how they figured out how much they need. I don’t think I’ll ever do something like this, just because I know my body and it doesn’t work well with carbs too much, I just end up really sick haha. Well, have a great day!!! Happy Friday 🙂

    1. Katie

      Yes Miley was a little brat! Wow

  3. Kim

    Are those the macro calculations to maintain current weight? If you want to cut how should you adjust?

    1. Katie

      this is more to lean out. There’s no way 1600 is for me to only maintain! I think it’s a 15% cut in calories calculated already 🙂

  4. Tiffany

    So you are saying that I take my weight, x it by 0.5 and then multiply that number by 9? I do that for all three categories and then add them together to get my daily calorie intake?

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