UNDERSTANDING WHAT COUNTS AS A CALORIE!!

Good afternoon my friends!!  I hope you are all having a fantastic day so far.  So today I want to talk about CALORIES.  Calories can be a tricky thing for some of you out there especially when it comes to trying to "count" your caloric intake for the day and if you're logging your food into a system such as Apex, Fitness Pal or many of the other tons of food logging systems out there.  Here's my question to you...are you REALLY eating as CLEAN and PERFECT as you think you are???  No offense, but I bet my professional answer would be NO.  It's interesting when I over hear people or even clients say "I eat soooo perfect, why aren't I losing any weight?!"  It must be my THYROID or I must have a SLOW METABOLISM...  Well, let me help all of you out today by asking you this:  Do you drink coffee?  If so, do you log your sugar packet(s) that you may add to it, your creamer, soy milk, non-fat milk...whip cream if you're getting something from Starbucks, right?  Do you drink Sugarfree Redbull?  I do!  Hey!  We can all have at least one vice, right?  Anyway, it still contains 10 calories...so log it!  Do you chew gum?  If so, is it sugarless?  If it is or isn't sugarless, did you LOG it down as food intake for the day?  If not, it's time to start!  Something as simple as looking at the label on that piece of gum your chewing will show you that you just consumed 5 CALORIES...even if you don't swallow it, you're still taking in CALORIES.  Did you take a peppermint candy after your lunch today or dinner last night?  LOG IT!  It counts as a CALORIE.  If you are eating a nice, healthy sub are you just inputting that you had a turkey sub on wheat but forgot to include the 3 slices of tomatoes which is 5 calories?  Or the slice of American cheese that's 40 calories?  Everything that you put in your mouth counts as a calorie!  I know you've heard this before, but if you get a salad...get the dressing on the side and dip your fork in.  This helps YOU control the amount of calories you're putting onto your salad.  Be aware of fat free dressings...they still have calories...21grams of a red wine vinaigrette still contains 30 calories.  Did you grab a handful of nuts out of a dish?  LOG IT!  Did you take a bite out of one of your child's chicken nuggets (yuck!  but let's face it, most kids seem to love chicken nuggets)...LOG IT!  So focus on getting your calories from 3 to 4 servings of fruit and vegetables a day....personally, I prefer 5 to 6 servings and my 4 year old son seems to love himself some brocolli, carrot sticks, corn (great starch!), bananas, apples, oranges, and I could go on and on!  Remember MOMS, our body is a TEMPLE...therefore, we need to make sure we are incorporating healthy eating habits into our children at a young age so they enjoy fruits and veggies and don't see having to eat them as "punishment."

Lastly, for those of you desperately trying to lose weight and the scale just doesn't seem to want to budge for you and is frankly being darn right DEFIANT.  Remember one FACT, 3500 calories equals ONE pound.  So put yourself at a 500 calorie DEFICIT per day, MOVE throughout the day (take @least 10,000 steps a day) so you are BURNING THOSE CALORIES and by the end of the week (day 7) you should be down ONE POUND.  But starting TODAY, please be honest with yourself about what and how much you are truly eating, chewing and drinking each day.  Remember, every calorie counts!  I hope this helps you have a better understanding of what a truly honest food log consists of...now get to logging and good luck!  Don't hesitate to send me questions if you have any.  I have a high success rate with WEIGHT LOSS with the clients I train and the ones who have had the greatest success...understand that EVERYTHING they put in their mouth counts as a calorie, are honest with themselves and their trainer (ME!) and that movement throughout the day all counts in getting to their fitness goal.

So now that I've hopefully educated you alittle bit more regarding calories, it's time to let you know what today's Fitness Video is all about...MOM'S ARE YOU LISTENING?   Okay, today's video shows some more ideas of incorporating fitness into both you and your child(ren)'s life.  If you only have 5 minutes to spare today to do something healthy, please check out the video.  It shows 3 main exercises that can be done with a broom or mop in the house and with your kid(s) play ball in the house.  So sit back, relax and I hope you enjoy the video!  Please post comments and questions...I would love to hear feedback!  ENJOY!

Thanks for taking the time to read and watch today's fitness video blog!  Once again, feel free to comment or ask questions...
As Always...Stay Fit and Happy!
Famisha :-)