Part of my plan to turn myself into a person who can successfully control his weight is a daily log of my food intake. It’s the price I am paying to lose weight and keep it off. However, I am getting a lot for my investment. For one thing, I am accumulating a lot of self knowledge. I am paying a lot of attention to how my body works, how my mind works, and how they are not always working together. And there’s more – I can eat whatever foods I like, so long as I limit and keep track of the calories. I’ve used that, as you have seen, to make sure I am happy to be losing weight. Sometimes what my body is craving is conventional (like strawberry shortcake roll), and sometimes more particular to myself. Idiosyncratic, that’s the word.
My daily food intake and calorie count are:
Breakfast – Paska bread and butter (450)
- 450 calories
Lunch – 4 x pyrohi (75) with sour cream, butter, and caramelized onions (150); half a carnitas burrito (120)
- 570 calories
Dinner – Jambalaya and rice (350).
- 350 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); 2 x ham, roasted sprout and horseradish wraps (150); candy (200); chocolate (150)
- 730 calories
Total for the day: 2100 calories (limit 1800 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)
Today was a swimming day. My body is still not back to normal following my intestinal bug of the last week and a half, but I am getting better little by little. My appetite is back all the way. Notice that my calorie counts Sunday and Monday were low and I had little appetite for more. It was a strange illness where I felt unpleasantly full and hungry at the same time. I don’t recommend it.
It still feels like my mind and body are not totally working together. This might be due to illness. But today I made an effort to eat meals on time, listen to my body, and eat when I was hungry. I was a bit less successful than I hoped. For example, I wanted to wait and have a slice of strawberry shortcake roll for dessert, but I ate candy I had lying around instead, around 3PM. You see, I cheated myself out of what I wanted! It’s a great example of my head and my body not working together. And it’s a chance to learn. Why was I so interested in candy that I didn’t really want?
When I opened the candy box, I thought I just wanted a few pieces, but I ate the whole thing – 200 calories. The right thing to do would have been to have strawberry shortcake roll at 3PM instead of candy. Instead, my mind (or conscious will) insisted I should wait and eat the cake for dessert (after dinner). And then I rebelled against myself. My mind wasn’t listening to my body and what I really needed. Instead, I was trying to force myself to do something I didn’t want – to wait. OK, I can see I need to listen more and get the parts of myself working together. That’s when this weight control system works the best. I am grateful that I have decided to learn from this and not punish myself for a failure.
-The Doctor