Tag: fitness

Fashion

Running a Mile In My Shoes

littleshoeprincess

In perusing the DSW clearance rack, this pair of sneakers stopped me in my tracks.

It was seventh grade gym class. Our teacher took us all out to the track and informed us that we all had to run a full mile, and that we’d be timed. Excuse me? At the time I had no concept of how far a mile was, and I also was not a fan of running. I was – and am – more of an indoors kind of girl.

On this particular, horrible gym day, I remember panicking at the thought of running a mile. A mile was something you drove in a car! I didn’t even live a mile from the school! Plus, I was wearing my raspberry colored high top Converse sneakers; not exactly athletic footwear.

The class staggered and took off running on the teacher’s cue. Or – in my case – more like wogging, which was a clumsy cross between jogging (when the teacher was looking at me) and walking (which was every other minute on the track). My feet ached, my arches were screaming, and I wanted to cry.

After being lapped by most of the class (who didn’t stick around the cheer me on), I was, officially, the last person to finish. I think I clocked a 10+ minute mile, barely finishing in our allotted time for gym class.

That day is burned into my memory, and likely the reason why I never wanted to run. In my late thirties I ran my first 5K, mostly because I needed to do some type of exercise and a friend said she’d train with me. And there I was, back on that SAME track, doing the couch to 5K. Hating it just as much as I had 20 years earlier.

But back to the sneakers. How I LOVED those raspberry Converse! Fast forward a few decades and here was this pair sitting on the clearance rack, in almost the exact same color, except they were suede – a total upgrade. But I didn’t get them, because the minute I saw them, I was transported back to that horrible day of gym class, and how they were the worst shoes to have on that day. And I reminded myself that I’m too old to wear shoes with no arch support and that hurt my feet.

food

The password is: protein.

littleshoeprincess

2024’s word of the year better be protein.

My feed is filled with news about protein:

How much protein do you need to eat to lose weight?

What foods have the most protein?

Are you getting enough protein?

Eat more protein!

Protein for President!

(too soon on that last one?)

Over the last year, I have been working with nutritionists to help balance my food intake, manage my weight, and counteract the M word. In the last few months, I have been tasked with focusing on eating more protein, in order to meet a certain goal each day. I’ll tell you, some days, I don’t want to even look at more protein. But I have learned a few things.

My Personal 10 Thoughts About Protein

  1. Eggs do not have a lot of protein. So if that’s what you’re hoping to get all your protein from, you will be very disappointed. Or, you will be eating 20 eggs a day and likely have other issues.
  2. It takes advanced math skills to balance the amount of protein you need without going overboard on fat and carbohydrates. Be ready to spend half of the day doing calculations.
  3. If you are a vegetarian, good luck!
  4. I hope you like cottage cheese.
  5. Start drinking bone broth. Not chicken broth, but BONE broth. It’s the same, but more expensive, and like double the grams of protein in a cup.
  6. Buy Greek yogurt in bulk.
  7. Factor in nuts! Then see how how much fat are in nuts and cut your nut intake in half. Realize you are short your protein goal. Repeat.
  8. Eat meat. Then more meat, topped with meat and with a side of meat. Fish also works.
  9. Meal plan. Plan your whole day’s meals out ahead of time. This helps to eliminate you crying in front of the fridge when your dinner is ready and getting cold, and you realize that you still need 20 grams of protein in your meal.
  10. Eat beans. But make sure you won’t be in public, or that you work from home.

So am I getting the 120+ grams of protein I should be eating in a day? Sometimes.

Luckily, I eat meat and fish. And yogurt. And cottage cheese. And bone broth.

Do I make my protein goal every day? Nope. Can I easily go overboard on my carb and fat goals? Yep. Because carbs and fats are delicious.

That statement could not be more true:

Some days I find myself not meeting my macro nutrient goals, but I’m not hungry. And the number one rule is DO NOT eat if you’re not hungry. So on those days, I miss my goals. When I find a magic combination of breakfast/lunch/dinner, I do a little dance, and then I tend to try and replicate that.

Tips for Eating Enough Protein

I’m not an expert, but this is what I’m trying:

  • Find a protein-rich breakfast that works for you, and eat a variation of that.
  • Have something high in protein that you can snack on. Last week, I made a batch of turkey meatballs and when I needed a little boost or addition to a meal, I snacked on 2-3 of those. Or beef jerky.
  • Make one recipe each week that you can quickly and easily grab as a meal. For me, I make a soup each week that I have for lunch. Something with – you guessed it – meat and vegetables of some sort.
  • Try a new recipe each week. I bought the Macros Made Easy cookbook, and I’m trying 1-2 things from this each week. This week it’s the Sunday Quiche (makes an easy breakfast!) and the Blackened Chicken Caesar Cobb Salad, which packs a hefty 42 grams of protein in a serving!
  • Do your best. Make conscious choices (yogurt is better than potato chips, that sort of thing).

Now get out there and eat some protein!