My first Badge on "Lose it!

Today I learned what else is available on this app "Lose It!" This is my first badge congratulating me on having made it to my third day. I like the fact that the app encourages me to continue on. Apps like this on my smart phone are really helpful. I've been telling everyone I meet about how much I enjoy this app.
 
      Looking over my protein intake yesterday, it indicates that I am not eating enough protein. I was talking to a friend of mine last night about this lack of protein intake and she says she has the same problem in that she doesn't like to eat a lot of protein either. I really need to find out the amount of protein I need to take in every day. I think it is good for everyone to know what their protein intake every day is, so I have found a formula to determine how much protein a person needs to take in every day based on their own personal needs. Here's the formula:


How to Calculate Your Protein Needs:
1. Weight in pounds divided by 2.2 = weight in kg
2. Weight in kg x 0.8-1.8 gm/kg = protein gm.
Use a lower number if you are in good health and are sedentary (i.e., 0.8). Use a higher number (between 1 and 1.8) if you are under stress, are pregnant, are recovering from an illness, or if you are involved in consistent and intense weight or endurance training.

To use me as an example, I currently weigh 197 pounds.
197 lbs/2.2 = 89.5 kg
 89.5x0.08 = 71.6 gm protein/day
89.5x1.8=  161.8
According my calculations from Lose It!, I took in 82.1 grams of protein. Because I am not overly fit, and am fairly sedentary, I realize that I am eating enough protein, but I really need to make sure than in my attempts to lose weight, I don't cut my protein intake because it will cause me to burn muscle instead of fat because my protein intake will not sustain my current muscle mass.

      In Made to Crave today, I am to find ways of replacing my cravings. What can I do instead of opening the refrigerator when I feel the cravings for food coming on? First I must recognize that my cravings were put there from God to Crave him, therefore, I need to focus my cravings on my relationship with God. How do I make that happen? When I think of worshiping and loving God I think about music and dancing before him. I love the fact that most of my adult life has been spent in charismatic churches where active worship of God has been encouraged. Therefore, I will make actively participating in the music I am listening to and using to enhance my worship. Second I can meditate on scripture. I need to write out a number of scriptures and discover which ones will help me in developing my relationship with God. Third, I can pray to God and write down that prayer in a journal. I can write out how I feel. I can work through my desires and my cravings and place them in God's hands and do as it says in I Peter 5:7 "casting all my cares upon him because he cares for me."
     I look forward to knowing about your experience using Lose it! or Made to Crave. Tell me how you are doing on your weight loss journey!
     If you are not currently using Lose it, follow this link and join now. If you are interested in using Made to Crave to help with changing your want to, follow this link

    

One more pound down and 47 to go!

     This morning I woke up to sore muscles, mainly in my left shoulder, left calf and in the middle of my back. I felt better however and saw that a pound had fallen off overnight. I know that I can't credit the new program I started "lose it!" for the progress that I am already making, but it's good to see the results.

       After I checked my emails this morning, I ate a breakfast of Scooters, skim milk and strawberries and did half an hour of aerobic exercise. I have recorded the information into "lose it!" I then checked out another feature of the "lose it!" program that I hadn't really looked at before. It showed me the nutrient content of the food I ate, what I'm most concerned about right now is the balance between fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
     
      According to the nutritionist who taught me in my nutrition college class, we should have 1/3 of our calories in each of these categories. I found that I ate 66% of my calories yesterday in carbohydrates, 9% in proteins, and 25% of my calories in fats. I'm going to work on increasing my protein intake. The reason I need to increase my protein intake is because protein is what makes muscle. If I'm not getting enough protein, I won't have enough protein in my diet to maintain my muscles. I have to wonder if part of the reason we burn muscle instead of fat when we diet is because we are decreasing our protein intake without realizing it.

      Last night I started attending a group for food addicts at my local church called "Made to Crave". The program will last for 6 weeks. We were talking about how God actually created us with a place in us where we are supposed to crave him, but because of sin in our lives, we choose to try to fill that place in our lives with something else. That something else could be nicotine, alcohol, drugs, money or in my case food. During the session I met a number of women who were dealing with the same issues with lack of control over food in their lives.
      I am excited about both of these programs that I have begun this week. I can definitely see how both can be incorporated in with my WRAPS program.