Posted by Jona

Hello everyone! I’m excited to be a part of this forum…there is so much GREAT information here!!

I do have a few questions, however…kind of random but something I’ve always wondered about. Here are my stats, if they are needed:

I am 23 years old, 5′1″ and 165 pounds. My diet has been consisting of 1200 calories per day, with a focus on low fat intake. I have also been going to the gym and doing an hour on the elliptical. However, after reading the article about “Top 5 Ways To GAIN Fat”, I am going to up my caloric intake to 1500 calories a day, and do more interval training than solid cardio.

With that said, here are my three big questions…

1) Is it true that you should limit your fruit intake? I have heard that it can mess with your blood sugar levels and/or metabolism…is that true? If so, is that an important factor in a low cal/low fat diet, or only for Atkins-related diets? I’m not a huge veggie person, but I LOVE fruit and would eat several servings a day if it were okay!

2) When I do cardio on the elliptical, I wonder about my heart rate. My THR for cardio at 80% is 158, but I have found that I feel as if that is little to no exertion for me…I can easily sustain my heart rate at around 175-180. Is this bad? Is it unsafe to go beyond 90% of your THR? I am pretty out of shape, so I don’t understand why it’s so easy for me to maintain that high of a heart rate for an hour.

3) To give my water some flavor, I have been using those Crystal Light On-The-Go packets. They’re only 5 calories, so I have figured it’s okay. But I’m wondering if, after adding the Crystal Light, the drink still counts as water intake? I have noticed that the citric acid parches my lips pretty easily, so I’m just wondering if the citric acid can cancel out some of the water (like caffeine does in iced tea, etc)?

I know these are kind of random questions, but I figured this would be a great place to get some true answers! I’ve asked other people, and gotten lots of different responses for each question. Please help!

Thanks everyone!!

Amy