Exercise, who needs it! Start counting your calories/carbs!

Okay I am a bit scatter brained today....maybe it was a full week crammed in a car for hours at a time with our three boys! It's not like the boys were fighting the whole time and everyone was tired of each other at the end of the trip.....wait that's exactly what happened! Still a great trip but boy am I glad school is back in session:)

I suppose I should get back to the topic at hand: Exercise and Countin Calories/Carbs-
 
Hey I'm not saying you should throw out exercising all together, but with all the reading I've been doing lately....I think it's time to reevaluate and reorder diet and exercise.
Sure each and everyone of us will benefit from consistent exercise. The whole cardio vascular and increase of red blood cells, toning of muscles and of course the "yay me" endorphin high!

Tangent alert!! bc I have two cents about running.

I run just about everyday, on a treadmill for a short 40 minutes at 5.0 mph. That kicks my butt, especially running on the front part of my feet (TOES) rather than heel to toe! Which btw I've found is the most effective way to run. The whole running heel to toe I feel is a made up gimmick by Nike and other large athletic companies!!! Take a look at the type of running shoes track runners use.....minimal practically barefoot type shoes. And take a look at the "new" phenomenon of the five finger toe shoes and minimalist shoes!! Weird don't ya think?!?

Just bc we have heels, that does not mean we weren't meant to run on our toes. Think spring loaded and conserving energy! Me being that typical "I have an old sports injured knee and it hurts to run" have retrained myself to run in the manner of the Tarahumara Tribe. The unbelievable amazing long distance BEER drinking barefoot runners!! Watch this!! It's super neat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnwIKZhrdt4

Okay back to the original thread.....so while I exercise daily how many calories am I burning? Well I'm burning a whopping 220!!! Seriously?!? That's like drinking a 6-8oz cup of 2% milk or a sandwich with no cheese or meat on it, just bread and condiments!!! Why am I beating myself up with running when I should really be just watching what I eat?

Apparently simply watching what you eat, counting calories and or carbs, is 90% the battle. Take it from my in laws..... My MIL found out three years ago she was borderline diabetic, age 50, 5'10" size 10. She started counting her carbs, little to no exercise! She is down to a size four looks fabulous and is managing her diabetes with diet. Now FIL, age 63, 5'11" weight 210, he uses this nifty little downloadable app called Lose It.

He watches everything he eats and initially told the program what he wanted his goal weight to be. It gives you a set amount of calories you can eat each day to ultimately reach your goal or maintain your weight. He is down to 175 and maintaining. Yes he does exercise just enough so he can drink his margaritas and have desserts! The program gives you credit calories for exercise. The main thing this program does is keeps you accountable for what you are eating! If you really want that eclair, but then see that it is 350 calories, or by eating a super size McDonald's meal equates to running a MARATHON to burn the calories...you just might rethink that splurge. AND don't get me started on "Diet" sodas and artificial sweeteners!!!

Here's a little article on this very subject...very interesting!!! Take note of the "Diet" drinks making you fat....lol.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/diet-soda-health_b_2698494.html

Okay I hope I was at least a little bit informational and persuasively opinionated as always!

Vikki