Nutritional Coaching: Finding Your Burn

One of the toughest things to do, no matter what your lifestyle is, is eating right. The hardest part about your dietary needs is to evaluate (honestly do this) your lifestyle. Are you a physically active person? If so, how active?

If you're reading this blog, then more than likely you are an active living individual. In fact you're probably on the more active side of things.

Let's start by analyzing the different activity level groups. Please keep in mind these are MACRO SECTIONS. I am well aware that everyone is created differently and these are wide brush strokes. Even within each section there are more focused categories and sections. A swimmer's diet is grossly different from a wrestler's or figure skater's. There are also circumstances that may restrict an individual into a specific section, and I am aware and sensitive to those individuals. Again these are a generalization of the activity levels; low, medium and high.

Couch Potato: (CP) This group is characterized by a lack of physical activity. Hence the vegetable reference. As a result the caloric burn of this group is vastly less than their caloric intake. In fact the group's aerobic threshold is dangerously low. Significant weight gain, poor health, a decrease in energy levels and other symptoms may result from prolonged exposure to this lifestyle.

Moderately Active Society: (MAS) This group is characterized by the folks who have seen a really amazing international sporting event, like the Olympics, and have decided that they are inspired to "get in shape". They make the effort to show up to the pool, or gym, and get their heart rate elevated for no more than the recommended 30 minutes. This may or may not include socializing, warming up and most often times forgotten, the warm down (more on this facet later). The caloric in-take is about equal to the caloric burn and it may be a little more or a little less from day to day, so the ratio evens out to about 1:1. This group of people usually works out about once a day.

Active Athletic Lifestyle: (AAL) The final group are your most active group. The low end of this group may work out once a day, but they keep their heart rate elevated slightly more-so for an extended period of time. This group may eat relatively more calories than that of the MAS or CP groups, but their caloric burn is much higher as well.

These groups are generalizations at large.

As such, it should be noted that I went from an AAL to CP lifestyle and am now working on returning to the AAL. So that being said, it's going to be a long arduous process getting back in shape.

There will be more to come what to eat, when to eat it, and more... Stay tuned.

Fast Swims and Good Eats

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