Glamour on a budget - Mattie Roberts

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Thin Thighs and Inner Peace
Wednesday, May 1, 2006

After years of doing nutrition counseling, personal training and reporting on the subject of weight loss, the most common lament is for a quick fix for thin thighs and a flat tummy. Would that we could just signal the mother ship to come down and take the magic laser beam to our dimpled butt. Alas, there is no quick fix. (Well, there are Spanx and such but the jiggle is still there when you take ‘em off.)

The fix is simple, though not quick. Generally calories in must not exceed calories burned of you want to maintain your weight. And to lose weight you better create a caloric deficit through restricting your calories or by exercising, preferably both.

My favorite rule of thumb for weight loss, and the one I have used for years, is to add a zero to your desired weight and that’s your total calorie intake for the day without exercising. This is for women…men, just add a couple of hundred calories to the total.

So if your desired weight is 130 lbs, 1300 should be your net caloric intake for the day. By net I mean that if you run 3 miles, you’ll burn roughly 300 calories and then you can tack on an additional 300 calories to the day’s total. So on the day you go running you really get 1600 calories!

Don’t go below 1200 calories, though, unless you are quite petite. For most girls it will slow your metabolism so much that it’s just not worth it. And men should go no lower than about 1500.

And although a calorie is pretty much a calorie, that doesn’t mean that you can have your full allotment in Snickers and Jack Daniels. You need a little bit of protein and some fiber with each meal. A couple of eggs and a piece of whole grain toast will run you about 300 calories, but that’s a good breakfast – a small donut and a Dr. Pepper, also 300 calories, is not a good breakfast. Plus, the latter will make you cranky and cranky isn’t a good color on you.

Make every calorie count. Get the most bang for your nutritional buck. Fresh salads, veggies and lean protein along with whole grains should make up the bulk of your meals. If you want a little 'naughty', then something else has got to go. Pick and choose your naughties and make a trade off. If bread is truly the staff of life for you, then drink sparkling water instead of wine (100 calories per glass). As for myself, life without champagne is inconceivable so I almost never eat dessert.

Diet questions? Send them to me at: mattie@mattieroberts.com