Sometimes it is easy to keep the two commandments. Sometimes it is harder.
- Thou shalt regulate thy food intake
- Thou shalt monitor thy weight
Today was a little harder to keep #1. When you are at a social gathering it can be difficult and indiscreet to try to weigh things, or ask about calories. Tonight I had to resort to eyeballing my food and saying “yup, that’s probably X calories”. Lunch time was easier. I was doing the cooking and I knew exactly what I was serving.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – 2 x carnitas wraps with sour cream on flour tortilla (220)
- 440 calories
Lunch – Prime rib burger (390); Kaiser roll (210); grilled corn on the cob with butter (150)
- 750 calories
Dinner – spanikopita (200); kielbasa (100); pizza (100); bread and hummus, bread and tapenade (100)
- 500 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80)
- 80 calories
Total for the day: 1770 calories (limit 1800 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)
A rare indulgence, and extra swimming
Today I went swimming for exercise. Later, I swam again for recreation. For several hours, with small children. I am well exercised today. On top of that, due to circumstances I ate my lunch rather late – 1.30 instead of 11.30. It was a good lunch, though – 100% grilled.
I tried brining the corn on the cob. I put the corn in a gallon of water with a half cup each of salt and sugar, for about 40 minutes before grilling on a fairly hot grill. It’s pretty easy – just keep turning the corn every 2 minutes, and keep the lid closed otherwise. Every couple of turns you take the ear on the right and transfer it to the far left. Then turn them all again. It took about 10 or 12 minutes, but it was very well grilled by the end. (I think a half cup of sugar was a bit high, though.) The corn had a lovely roasted flavor you don’t get from boiled corn on the cob.
The burger also came out very nice – 3 minutes per side on a medium grill. It was made from prime rib but labeled 20% fat, and the manufacturer helpfully included the calories per patty.
The rare indulgence was actually the bun (toasted on the grill). I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a hamburger on a bun. (I can tell you exactly when I last had a hamburger on a flatbread wrap, though.) When you are deficit calorie counting, bread is one of the things that I have sacrificed. Low calorie flatbread wraps are my staple for sandwiches of all kinds. That meal was worth waiting for.
Beautiful weather today, recreational swimming, a fabulous grilled lunch, and a family dinner party. Keeping my focus on calorie counting (at dinner) was tricky but possible. I am sure I didn’t overeat, but I will find out tomorrow when I weigh myself. This has been a good week for my new life, though. My tally for calories for the week is one of my lowest ever. And I was never deprived! I 100% recommend the approach of using self knowledge to find a food lifestyle you really like.
-The Doctor