SparkPeople

Hello, Monday.  I hope everyone had a great weekend! 

My first week into 2011 went well.  I managed to eat pretty healthy, and made it to the gym four times (3x spin; 1x Body Pump) for solid workouts.  I got some running and hiking in there, too.  Now I just have to keep this momentum going...

Speaking of, wanted to share something I've found really helpful lately.  Over the past few months, I started using Livestrong to track what I was eating on a daily basis.  I thought doing so would be a pain, but it's really helped me understand some of the bad eating habits I have, and how better choices can make a big impact.  I guess there really is something to this whole balanced diet concept!

I recently switched over to using Sparkpeople to track this info (thanks to BrieFit ).  I think Sparkspeople is a bit more user-friendly, and I love that they focus on different goals within a diet, versus just limited calories and fat.  They also have lots of common take-out food (Subway, etc.) in their menu, which is nice if you don't always have the nutrition information available.

Here's an example of what one of my good days looks like....

 I try to stick to around 1,500 calories per day.  Of course, there are some days when I go above that, and some days I'm slightly below it.  I try not to stress about the exact number, and just go based on what makes me feel the best.  1,500 seems to be a good number for me when I'm doing moderate excercise, so that's where I am right now. 

My favorite part about Sparkspeople is that you can run a "Daily Feedback" report at the end of the day that charts out where you calories are going to in terms of nutritional value.  Here's the feedback from the same day tracked above:

I'm high on carbs (shock!).  I'm working on adding more healthy fats into my diet (almonds, etc.) and cutting back on some of the carbs, to help my body adjust.  See, such helpful information to have!

Back to the grind.