Tuesday Tip - Get Your Vitamin D

This last week I went in for a routine checkup and found out that I was Vitamin D deficient.  In fact, according to my provider, Vitamin D deficiency is quite common.

Who knew?

I sure didn't!  In fact, I knew very little about Vitamin D at all, so I decided to go look up a few things.

First off, what is Vitamin D good for anyway?
 

Benefits of Vitamin D (CDC):

• Promotes calcium absorption
• Needed for growth and remodeling
• Assists in neuromuscular and immune function and reduction of inflammation

That sounds like important stuff, right?  I wondered if I could find a way to just add it to my diet more rather than supplementing it.  So I looked up what foods had Vitamin D. 


Foods high in Vitamin D: (The Daily Green)

• Wild Salmon
• Tuna
• Sole or Flounder
• Fortified Milk
• Fortified Cereal
• Pork
• Eggs
• Mushrooms

Bwahahaha!  Well, gee, now it's no real surprise to me that I'm deficient. I hate seafood and mushrooms. That cancels out, like, half of those foods.

Luckily for me, there's another way to get more because the body is designed to produce Vitamin D in response to sunlight exposure.

Hey!  That's sounds pretty good.  I happen to live in a place that gets tons of sunlight.

Of course, it is still winter and I just don't spend as much time in the sun as I should, so for now I will be supplementing...and maybe drinking a little more milk.

P.S. I wouldn't have known about this if I didn't go to regular checkups, so make sure you visit your doctor's office regularly.

For more information, check out the Vitamin D Council website. 

Friday Fact

Yesterday I did it.

I overindulged.

I didn't think it was THAT much, but when I stepped on the scale this morning I found that I had gained almost a whole pound back.

You can try to say that it's just normal weight fluctuation.

But I just don't think that is the case.

My scale so-far has been quite reliable. It hasn't fluctuated at all day-to-day (except to go down on occasion).

And so all of my work earlier this week was counteracted by one simple day of over-indulgence.

And that's when it hit me.

I can't just be losing weight.

I have to be changing.

My whole lifestyle.

My way of thinking about food. About exercise.

The way I relate to food. To exercise.

It can't be temporary.

It must be permanent.

Otherwise, I'll just gain it all back when I'm done.

What a waste that would be!

And sure, I know this is not new information. I've heard it all before.

But I think I'm finally starting to get it.

Really get it.

Good thing today is a new day.

And I will start over.

Again.

And again.

As many times as it takes.

Friday Fact

I'm horrible at math. Completely horrible. So let's see if I can do this right.

3500 calories = 1 pound.

Thus to lose 1 pound in a week, one needs to eat 500 calories less per day than whatever it takes to sustain his/her current weight. (7 days x 500 calories = 3500 calories)

Interesting.

Good to know.

But like I said, I'm not counting calories.

It's boring.

It's depressing.

I find myself focusing too much on eating and on how hungry I feel.

But more importantly, I just don't want to do it.

Nope. Not gonna.

So instead, I'm working on portion size.

Perfect!

Except, wait, what is the right portion size?

I was just going for "smaller" than what I had.

But thanks to this refresher from the Chubby Girls Diary I realized that my smaller still wasn't quite small enough.

What the scallop? When did I start eating such huge masses of food? Smaller isn't even small enough? Sheesh!

So I followed Brenda's (I believe that's who posted it) lead and printed the portion size visuals out. (Thanks for the tip!) They are on the front of my fridge in plain sight, along with my "before" pictures. Every time I go to the fridge and think of getting something out I remember where I'm at and how I can get better.

And it's helping! (At least with helping me choose right amounts)

So there's the math if you're an analytical person and want to count calories.

And if you're more like me, use the visual - it'll be more your style.

Of course, then there's exercise. But that's a whole other ball of wax.