Hump day TACOS!

Tacos are one of my favorite foods and I love hosting a good Taco Night ... but these aren't always the best for your waist line .. so I've made some substitutes. Today for lunch I had my faux steak tacos at only 86 cals a taco. I call them faux because I made a few substitutes:

• Romain lettuce saves on the carbs tortillas have
• Greek yogurt instead of sour cream saves on the fat and adds extra protein
• Lean steak instead of ground beef cuts down on fat (plus you know what part of the cow it came from)
•  TJ's greek yogurt guac, but normal guac is still just fine :)
•  Chili lime hot sauce instead of taco seasoning saves on sodium

Just because you are watching what you eat doesn't mean your diet consists of chicken and steamed broccoli. It's important to be creative with your  food and still enjoy it! The nutritional value and recipe can be found on my Flavor page :)

Tacos make hump day better!

Making Happy Hour Healthy

Okay so let's be honest ... drinking is not the healthiest thing you can do, but after a long week sometimes you just need a drink. Luckily, there are ways to socialize and still stay relatively healthy. As you hit happy hour tonight and the bars later this weekend here are a few things to keep in mind... like alternative water between drinks, ordering lower calorie drinks, and ordering smart food choices.

Ordering Drinks

Reevaluate your favorite drinks. One of mine are margaritas! I always make sure to ask the bartender if they can just make it with lime juice and a splash of OJ instead of sour mix. Although it's not as sweet as the usual rita's you may be used to, you save a ton of calories. This version is only about 100 cals. Other low calorie drinks are vodka soda and light beer. Try a flavored vodka and add some fruit to make it not as plain.

Don't be afraid to ask. Not sure what's in the drink you are ordering? Ask the bartender. They are more than  happy to let you know and sub out ingredients to  make is skinny.

 

Ordering Food

Order munchies you can share.  My favorite go to appetizer at the bar is a hummus plate because it's filling, lower in calories, and chickpeas are a complex carb. What more could you want! Also ask if the bar will add some simple veggies to the platter like cucumber, tomatoes, and peppers. Another smart option is seafood items that are not fried... think shrimp cocktail, oysters, or fish tacos. But make sure to get any sauces on the side. This will save you more calories than you think. If you are craving something like a burger, consider sliders since they are portioned better. But if you much order that burger, opt for a side salad instead of french fries. 

How many calories should I eat?

Thanks for the tremendous support thus far everyone. Please be sure to follow me! Some of the questions I got yesterday revolved around how I figured out the number of calories to eat. As we know caloric intake depends on many things: our gender, height, current weight, and physical activity. There are tons of ways of calculating your caloric intake but what I used was the Harris-Benedict equation, which happens to be the most popular. This involved a three step process.

What this means to you!

Before you dive into calculating your calories, let me just remind you that the Harris-Benedict equation or any equation that estimates your calorie needs is just that, an estimate. These are based on averages and will give you a good starting point, but you need to see how your body reacts and adjust accordingly. To loose 1-2 pound per week, it's usually recommended to subtract 500-1000 calories from your total caloric needs. You need to have a 3500-calorie weekly deficit to loose 1 pound of fat. But for some this may be too aggressive at first and cause you too loose sight of your long term goals. If you are currently weight training, doing HIIT cardio and eat a healthy diet, you may just want to start with a 250 calorie cut. Remember that this is a marathon not a sprint :)

Calculating your calories

Step 1: Calculate your lean body mass

To calculate your lean body mass, all you need to do is take your current weight minus your body fat. If you don't know your current body fat percentage, you can use this calculator. This will give you an approximate number. Also if you belong to a gym, the majority of them will measure you for free!
Lean Body Mass = weight - (BF%*weight)

Step 2: Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Just plug in your weight, height, and age below. The output will be the estimated caloric intake you need in order to maintain body weight. If you don't feel like working out this formula, you can get a pretty decent calculator here for women and a great one here for men.
For women:
English 
BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
Metric
BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kilos) + (1.8 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age in years)
For men:
English
BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in year)
Metric
BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kilos) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age in years)

Step 3: Applying the Harris-Benedict Principle

This estimates how many calories you burn during your daily activities. To determine your daily caloric needs, multiply you BMR by your activity factor.

• Sedentary: Minimal movement, little to no excessive. Activity Factor = 1.2
• Light activity: Office work, plus light exercise 1-3 days/week. Activity Factor = 1.375
• Moderate activity: Light physical/manual labor during the day, plus moderate exercise 3-5 days/week. Activity Factor = 1.55
• Very Active: Light physical/manual labor during the day, plus hard exercise 5-6 days/week. Activity Factor = 1.725
• Extra Active: Active military, full time athlete, hard physical/manual labor job. Activity Factor = 1.9

Caloric Intake = BMR*Activity Factor

EXAMPLE

I'm sure all those equations have your head spinning ... so here is a quick example example where I just give you the output of the formulas. Let's take a 30 year old, 5'5" woman, who weighs 155 lbs, has 30% BF, and works in an office.

Lean body mass = 108.5lb
BMR =  1493.75
Activity Factor = 1.375
Caloric Needs =  2053.9

To loose weight you would subtract 500-1000 calories from this number, depending on the amount of weight you need to loose etc. So this woman would start my diet basics with 1500 calories.