FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some questions I see regularly on my blog. If you have any other questions please feel free to e-mail me at graduatemeghann@gmail.com.

Do you count calories?

No, I do not count calories. When I first started to lose weight a friend of mine told me to try counting calories after I had already lost 10 or so pounds. I counted for about a week and absolutely hated it. I ended up scrutinizing all the food I ate and I would end up feeling bad when I did not come in way below my calorie goal. While I counted calories I pretty much starved my body and did not lose any weight. When I realized the calorie counting did not make a difference I went back to what I was doing before and the weight melted off. There are plenty of people who had success counting calories and losing weight, I was just not one of them.

How did you lose the weight and what are you doing differently now?

I am not doing one thing different now, then when I was trying to lose weight. I simply stopped eating fast food, I stopped cooking with heavy sauces, started exercising and started to learn about this whole other realm of good for you food out there. The changes I made to my lifestyle were enjoyable ones and I felt no reason to change any of them just because I had reached my goal. I decided to keep up with my habits and see when my weight naturally landed. When I hit around 124 the needle stopped moving and I decided this is the weight I should be at.

You never use milk in your cereal combinations, are you lactose intolerant?

I am not lactose intolerant; I am just not a fan of milk. I do not even chocolate milk. Every time I picture myself drinking it I picture it curdling in my stomach… not very appetizing. L I try to get dairy into my life in other forms, but its spread out few and far between, which is why I try to take a daily calcium supplement to make up for it.

How do you measure your running distances and do you use a heart rate monitor?

I recently received the Garmin Forerunner 305 for Christmas and am in love! It is a GPS enabled Heart Rate Monitor which measures my heart rate, distance and pace.

Hey Meghann…did you ever write a post about what you did to start running? I was just curious if you used any specific method to start running. Thanks!

Last January I just decided I was going to start running, so I laced up my beat up tennis shoes and went out the door. When I started running I did not even know running plans existed, I was just running as a way to lose weight. I started out running about a mile at a time and then gradually built on from there. I ran my first 5k at the end of February, with a not so great time, but I was very proud. I decided to run a Half marathon in July and really started to pick up my running game from there. I still had no set plan, I just gradually added to my weekly mileage leading up to the race. I am a big believer in approaching running at a slow and steady climb. It took me almost a year to be able to run 13.1 miles at a time, but I got there and could not be happier.

You rarely document what you drink, how do you stay hydrated during the day?

Trust me I stay very hydrated throughout the day, I only tend to document any drink that has calories in it. I usually survive off of daily fixes of water, hot herbal tea, unsweetened iced tea (which I buy Publix’s brand by the gallon!), sparkling water, and flavored seltzer water. I have eased myself away from adding any sweetener or milk to my tea and now prefer it black. I am a recovering soda addict and miss the bubbles so I have either one sparkling water or seltzer a day. Right now I am in love with Raspberry La Croix Sparkling Waters, which you may have seen popping up in a few pictures in my blog. Just remember when buying flavored water to make sure nothing artificial is added. The La Croix has 0 calories and 0 artificial sweeteners.