Welcome! Every day, I keep a log of everything I eat. This task is a trade-off. I want to control my weight and become thin and stay that way. The price is paying attention. If I keep track of what I eat, I will gain knowledge about how I gain and lose weight. I can use that knowledge to keep in control of my weight. Thin people (those who stay thin) all do this in different ways.
Before January of this year, I weighed 325 pounds and the number was not getting any smaller by itself. So, I remade myself into a person who cared a lot about being thin and staying thin. Part of the system I developed was to reward myself for losing weight. What kind of rewards? This kind!
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – Costco pizza half slice (350)
- 350 calories
Lunch – Chicken fajita wrap with peppers and onions in cream sauce (170); 2 x fritatta wraps with Parmesan and bacon (650)
- 820 calories
Dinner – 3 slices of Red Baron pizza (190)
- 570 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); Nestle Li’l Drums vanilla cone (110)
- 190 calories
Total for the day: 1930 calories (limit 1800 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)
Reach and Reward
I have a few achievements coming up. Tomorrow, I expect I will be under 270 pounds. In a short time, I expect to be under 265 pounds, which means I will be half way through my weight loss phase. It’s been an intense half year! I have never paid so much attention to what I am eating and how I feel about it. You may be thinking that rewarding myself using food is a bad idea. I have read on weight loss forums that it is unhealthy to see food as a reward. But to me, that makes as much sense as horse elbows. I have already changed my whole relationship to food and eating. Under my new food regime, food is a reward all the time. Every meal is something to look forward to. The reward of the next meal is what keeps me from over eating!
Anyway, I have made a reward blueberry pie, using mostly my mother’s recipe. How much does my reward cost?
- crust 120 calories x 16 servings per package = 1920 calories
- blueberries 6 cups = 510 calories
- sugar 1 cup = 773 calories
The total is 3203 calories. Let’s call it 3200. 1/8 pie is 400 calories. 1/12 pie is 266 calories. If I have 1/8 of the pie (after I get weighed tomorrow!), that is a perfectly reasonable breakfast of 400 calories. I am going to grill tomorrow, so I have to stop with one piece so I can enjoy my freshly grilled lunch. My reward fits into my weight loss regime and is still a reward I get to eat. It will encourage me to get to the next milestone. What will that reward be? My rewards have all been food up till now. I am thinking a restaurant may be involved this time.
Rewards pull you forward, especially if you have transformed your eating goal. Lead with your mind and your body will follow. I am the proof.
-The Doctor