Food = Fuel

Hello Friends,

Well I had a meeting with my Dietitian and Dr. today and covered off on some very interesting topics. One of which being....how to keep your calorie count down when your day is long.

The problem I was starting to see was that I was starting my day at 4:30am and eating at 5am with my first meal when most normal people don't eat their first meal till 7 or 8am. So, here is what my day was looking like.

Pre-Gym 5:00am = Cereal (200 calories)
Post-Gym 9:30am = Greek Yogurt (140 calories)
Lunch 12:30pm = Sandwich/Lean Cuisine (350-400 calories)
Snack 2:30pm = Popcorn or Carrots (200 calories)     Averaging about 940 calories before dinner
Dinner 8:00pm = Chicken or Fish

Now looking at that, it isn't all that bad....all things considered. I certainly haven't been snacking on chips and ice cream but even with a workout in there and eating smart meals I was still going over my calorie count.

So the Dr. decided to revisit my calorie allotment and we found that I was eating the majority of my calories over dinner but because I woke up so early some days by the time I got to dinner I was already at 850, 900, even 1,000 calories leaving only a meager 200-300 calories for dinner....which is VERY hard to do and stick to. In the end instead of sticking to my 1200-1400 calories I was easily at 1500 or 1600 calories and I'm sure other days more. Her thought was that even if you are only over by a hundred or two hundred calories you won't gain weight but you certainly won't loose weight which is where I've been having problems because lately I'm fluctuating up and down a little but not dropping like I'd hope too.

So after discussing my schedule and foods I like we redivided my calories and this is where we netted out trying to keep myself to only 500 calories before dinner.

Pre-Gym 5:00am = Hard-boiled Egg (70calories)
Post-Gym 7:00am = Apple w/Peanut Butter/Fiber One Bar/ Toast with Pre-Counted Cheese (150 calories)
Morning Snack (if needed) 9:30am = Greek Yogurt (140 calories)
Lunch 12:30pm = Soup or Salad (Max of 200 calories)
Afternoon Snack (if needed) 4:00pm = Carrots (30 calories)  Averaging about 560 calories before dinner
Dinner 8:00pm = Chicken or Fish after a Salad and Glass of Water to start (Up to 600 calories!)

I'm going to try this method out because I think if I can keep my morning and lunch in check I'll be able to eat dinner and not go over in my calorie count. We'll just have to see how it goes. It is a very difficult schedule, and even harder to make work while I have the metabolism of a slug. One of my biggest issues is my metabolism is ridiculously slow. Which means for me to loose weight I need to exercise EVERY DAY and only take in about 1200 calories.

I'm certainly determined and motivated but very frustrated. I don't know how many of you count calories but all I can say is that 1200....ain't much. Hell you can eat 1 of those Applebee's salads and be at 1,000 already! So you can understand the frustration.

I think the Dr. could tell I was frustrated because like I said it hasn't been like I'm eating crap all the time....except of course for last week with all the pizza......but she then told me her theory.

She said, Food = Fuel.

She said that I need to get out of the habit of thinking of set meals and planned meals and refer to food merely as refueling. She said clearly you need to refuel after a work-out and you want to enjoy your dinner but don't waste your calories on silly things like sandwiches....I've never really thought about it but she said you can easily waste 400 calories on a sandwich instead of having a cup of chicken broth soup for about a fourth of that. She said try to stay under 500 calories before you get to dinner and then you have 700 calories easy to play with for dinner all the while staying in your calorie limits.

I think she's right. So I'm going to try that approach and see how it goes. I'm going to start planning my meals more. I'm going to take salads for lunch, keep heard boiled eggs in the fridge, cut up apples to take to work, make sure I'm stocked with celery and carrots as well as spinach all of the time. I do like spinach salads I just tend not to eat them very often. Just called my mom for her spinach salad dressing recipe. It's fabulous and apparently ridiculously easy. So I'll have to try making some. It only calls for water, vinegar, sugar, and egg and she said that you can cut the sugar down to make it even better caloric wise.

Anyway that is the thought for the day and also I'm going to switch to bi-weekly weigh-ins......hint hint......the fancy scale spoke today and I'd prefer that I hadn't seen what number it decided so that's why the bi-weekly weigh-ins are starting.....next week.

Anyway I hope you all enjoy your Friday nights. No big plans tonight just dinner with the BF and maybe a movie. Then up early for gym tomorrow double sessions. Till tomorrow friends.