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Archive for the category “Nutrition”

26 Sep 2012

Calculating your Metabolic Rate for Weight Loss

I wanted to take a moment to post a metabolic caclulator I was working on for those participating in my FREE half marathon training plan and coaching.

If you’re trying to lose weight, it’s a huge help to know how many calories you can consume and need to consume to have energy to run.

The American Dietetic Association (ADA) published a comparison of the methods of calculating metabolic rates. They found the most accurate method of calculating base metabolic rate is the Mifflin – St Jeor Formula. This formula is awesome and is a great starting place when looking to lose weight. My problem is that is requires a bit ofmath to get it working properly and needs both kilograms and centimeters…

Men 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) + 5

Women 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) – 161.

To make it easier, I made an excel spreadsheet to do the calculation for you Let me know if you have any problems getting it to work in the page and I can give you access to the full spreadsheet online (If you don’t have Excel, don’t worry, you can use Excel online for free as part of Microsoft’s Office online/skydrive service). To use it, just fill in the three white boxes below:

The weight loss number is the base number of calories your body uses each day (to maintain current weight) minus 500 calories. Most runners can lose 1 to 2 pounds a week and still have the energy to do their training runs at this level with 1 trick! Simply add approximately 100 calories per mile ran that day to your weight loss number. So, if your weight loss number is 1600 and you ran 3 miles that day… you actually get 1900 calories that day AND you’ll still lose weight!

Hope this helps and let me know if you have any questions!

Coach Mike

Posted by The Running Mike in Advice, Nutrition, Training and tagged Basal metabolic rate, Calorie, Health, weight loss | Leave a Comment

11 Jun 2012

Restaurants and Eating Out

Texas Roadhouse isn't my favorite place, but with a little planning, I can still choose a pretty healthy meal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I guess I am on a bit of a food kick lately and wanted to talk about one of the hardest aspects of eating well: the dreaded restaurant.

OK, I know I’m being a bit dramatic. We have good intentions, but then have half a loaf of bread, an appetizer, and by that point may as well have a big dessert. I used to work in an office where we had business lunches and dinners constantly…bringing my own food wasn’t an option. Luckily, a little planning ahead will go a long way to avoid a 3000 calorie meal and avoid packing on pounds when meals out pile onto each other.

Even if you just like to go out, make a list of restaurants where you can eat healthy. Look at the menu online and know exactly what you’ll order when you go. The more choices you have, the better, but have at least 5 restaurant choices. Some of mine:

Chipotle – Naked Burrito, no rice, extra lettuce
Pappoulle’s Greek – Greek Salad with Chicken
Theresa’s Mosaic – Carne Verde and side salad
Texas Roadhouse (Steakhouse) – 6 oz sirloin, steamed veggies, and house salad no croutons w/ dressing on side
Chick-fil-a- Chargrilled and Fruit Salad
Harvest – Seared Ahi Tuna Salad
Lupitas – Scambled Eggs and Carne Seca, no tortillas
Chuy’s Mesquite Grill – Tri-tip and salad, dressing on side

No need to look at the menu, in fact, it’s better if you don’t. Don’t dangle the temptation of something else if you’re trying to eat well.

Are these meals exactly balances the way I would eat them at home? Probably not for most of them! But, they will fill me up, taste good, and I don’t have to feel bad about it.

Hope this helps save a few calories! Have a good week and let me know if there are some yummy healthy eats out I should be include Smile

Oh, I’ll just have a salad….(half-the-girl.com)
My Tips for Eating Out at a Restaurant When Trying to Stick to Your Diet!(veggieeuphoria.com)
Healthy Dining Restaurant of the Month: Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes(healthnews.ediets.com)

Posted by The Running Mike in newbie, Nutrition and tagged eating, food, restaurants | Leave a Comment

04 Jun 2012

1 Comment

The Ultimate Weight Loss Secret

If you don't have watermelon in your fridge, go buy one now, chop it up and enjoy the awesomeness all week! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Like most people, my weight has always been something I’ve struggled with. Almost 10 years ago, I made a major change in the way I looked at my health and dealt with eating. I’ve tried many different types of ‘diets’ and I keep coming back to the same truth.

Once you have committed to being healthy and that the way you eat needs to be part of a lifestyle (not a temporary diet), then the big secret is:

Convenience

If you are doing paleo, vegetarian/vegan, weight watchers, or anything else (including your own thing) – you must have access to foods that are easy and convenient (and extra bonus points if it tastes good!).

I think all of us would love a personal chef (looking at you Wilson) Smile But it’s not in the cards for everyone (including me). I know how I want to eat, so it’s my responsibility to surround myself with foods that I can eat when I want to. So once a week, I prep food for the week so that it will be extremely convenient to eat well.

If your pantry is stocked with chips, cookies, and granola bars: odds are that you’ll be eating that sooner or later. When you need something quick, you’ll grab for those. So filling your house with healthy choices and making it easy and convenient to grab foods will truly make it a lifestyle and help you lose/maintain weight.

Fruit

It’s not enough for me (convenient enough for me) to just have fresh fruit in my kitchen. I chop (or my lovely wife chops) a large bowl of berries and fruit for the week. It’s great with greek yogurt, as a side dish for a meal, with a few walnuts, or even by itself. Easy to make and easy to have nearby the whole week.

Veggies

I try to make vegetables more than half of each meal. When visually looking at a plate (even when I’m eating out), I make it a point to have more veggies than anything else. I burn out on eating salads, so I prep vegetable sides that will be easy for me to eat when I want. I have some killer butternut squash and parsnip hash browns pre-made, thaw in a minute, and taste great with any meal. Mashed cauliflower is another good choice; mega healthy and reheats well.

Snacks

Prepare or have multiple snacks on hand. Paleo/Lara bars, kale chips, hummus (awesome with veggies) are all quick and easy. If they are ready and available, when you go to the fridge, there is something to eat.

The Bottom Line

Just make it easy for yourself. The way to make it a life style and stick with it is to make it easy and convenient.

Posted by The Running Mike in Fun Running Foods, Nutrition and tagged advice, eating, food

30 Apr 2012

1 Comment

Vitamins, Coaching, and where the heck have I been?

I realized almost a full month has gone by since my last post! Very crazy time, but glad to be getting back to a regular schedule.

I’ve been working on a blog about carbohydrates that I keep writing and re-writing. After a month Smile I think it’s almost done and will try to get it posted later this week.

I’ve traded some emails with a few regular Seven Runners customers – and the feedback has been very good Smile and I wanted to get some additional insight as to what their thoughts on the product. The number one reason they use the product is recovery after a long run. The “day after” a long run (in this case 20 miles as part of marathon training) as an entirely different experience – no soreness, muscle pain, ready to run some more! I’m glad that others have had this experience. A close second is the endurance aspect with feeling better overall late in long runs. Not much comment on performance, but had improved their 5k times over last year.

They seem to work best when taken with a meal or with a snack/dinner after a run.

The only criticism was that they wished the pills were capsules instead of formed pills. I also wish we could do something with capsules, but this would require taking EIGHT capsules instead of the current two formed pills. The formed pills can just hold more of the goodness and I think the complaint would become “eight pills is just too many!”

Still working on getting the word out there. If you’re reading this and interested in trying Elite Runner’s Formula use the coupon code “IFoundMike” for an extra discount.

On a personal level, I’m finally back to putting in some good weekly miles and am back to a building schedule again. I’ve been running without an watch, music, or even my heart rate monitor (I know, shocking!). Right now, I’m just running for the love of it and getting used to how hot it gets here. I have a couple events coming up and can’t wait to just go out an enjoy them.

I wanted to give a shout out to Wilson, someone I’m coaching for his first triathlon. He’s a weightlifter and is cranking up his cardio. I know running can be hard when you first get going, but it will get easier! I know the workouts feel difficult, but you’re at a level that you can do them and we’ll get you ready for the big event!

Posted by The Running Mike in Nutrition, Sports Supplements, Status Updates and tagged coaching, seven runners, updates

The Running Mike

Paleo / Primal Coach, Runner, and Triathlete

Archive for the category “Nutrition”

Calculating your Metabolic Rate for Weight Loss

Restaurants and Eating Out

The Ultimate Weight Loss Secret