Meeting the nutritionist

Punnets of blackberries, blueberries and raspberries

I didn’t exercise yesterday as I hurt my knee at RunCamp, instead, I worked from home and tried not to move about too much. However, this morning I made myself cycle to work and tried not to eat too many bad snacks before seeing the nutritionist at 4:30pm.

Results from the nutritionist were quite surprising. It turns out that my diet isn’t too bad after all, which is good to hear, but I was hoping that there would be a life-changing revelation! I take in far more than the reference nutrient intake of Vitamin C, Vitamin B6 and Calcium, which is good, but also 126% of RNI of Sodium, so I need to watch out for salt in the food that I eat. My protein intake is what it should be. My fat intake (saturated and trans) is far lower than recommended. Apparently, it may do me good to eat more fat as it helps to make people feel full.

Recommendations

There were four recommendations from the nutritionist, that I will try to follow:

  • Increase energy intake (by adding seeds to my salads). I’m wondering whether adding tofu to my salad would have the same effect.
  • Reduce sodium. I will try to make more of my own sauces instead of relying on jars. This will require me to be more organised. Whilst I am off work over Easter, I will try to make some food and freeze it.
  • Keep mineral intake as it is. I’m happy eating fruit and veg, so that’s fine 🙂
  • Consider timing of food as well as type. It was suggested that I could have a banana and yoghurt or chocolate milk after training – I will try to remember this.

My personal stats

Unbelievably, my waist to hip ratio is good at 0.78 🙂 I was told that my BMI of 25 is healthy, however, most charts suggest that I fall into the ‘overweight’ category. Unfortunately, it was not possible to get a body fat analysis as the equipment was not working. This was frustrating as it would be nice to have some indication so that I can work on reducing it. I suspect that I’ll be in the average category, although the size of my thighs might make me in the obese category 🙁

My blood pressure was surprisingly high: 104/60. I’m not suggesting that this is high BP, but for someone who is used to 90/50, it is quite high. It still falls in the low-healthy range, which is good.

I have an average fluid intake of over 3 litres per day, but it was suggested that I may want to drink more when exercising. When I drive to training, I should probably take water in the car with me.  I guess the biggest decision I have to make is whether to continue paying for Weight Watchers. If I feel accountable and track what I eat then I know that I behave better, but I have been very slack at tracking recently and have also struggled to find the time to plan. This is something that I must tackle.

Swimming

After the assessment, I met Stuart and went for a swim. The water felt surprisingly cold, which meant that I found it hard to get started. Also, the pool was busier than I am used to. I did a few lengths of front crawl, breathing on every fifth stroke, which went quite well. Stu was surprised by how breathless I was at the end of each length as he swims effortlessly. He only has to breathe two or three times in a length!!! We raced a few lengths, but even with a 10-15 second head start, Stuart still won. My only victory was when he was impeded by other swimmers.

I should have gone to Weight Watchers, but because of spending too long at the pool, I didn’t make it… and then I ruined the day by feasting on Lynda’s home-made cookies at a committee meeting. I wish people wouldn’t tempt me!!!

4 Responses

  1. wow 2-3 breaths per length!! I am with you Tamsyn on the breathlessness and have to stop after every length to breathe – it’s strange as I consider myself fit in terms of running and exercise classes – just a different thing I suppose? Hopefully with more practice we can both improve 🙂

    • Stu has now confirmed that if he were properly racing then he wouldn’t breathe at all until he’d finished the length!!! If I didn’t breathe I wouldn’t finish the length.

  2. Important points in this article as to why you should meet a nutritionist. It would surely be a huge help for you to keep yourself on track for a healthy lifestyle. Thanks for sharing this great article.

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