Controlling your body’s weight is not a 5 minute job (nor a one-and-done!). It takes serious dedication, like it is a hobby, or even an obsession. I spend an hour a day maintaining my food journal, planning out meals, shopping, not to mention writing these posts. That kind of commitment has paid off so far, with 71 pounds lost from my highest weight, back in January. Back when I was gaining weight, one of the main differences from now was that I was not paying a lot of attention to how much I ate, and not spending any time thinking about it, writing about it, worrying about it. That’s a sacrifice I have chosen to make: time for weight control. I do the same thing with my personal finances. I pay attention to them and try to keep things under control.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – corned beef (250); cabbage, carrot, and potato (100); 1000 Island dressing (30); wrap (90); also a piece of baklava (100)
- 570 calories
Lunch – 6x pizza slices (100)
- 600 calories
Dinner – 8oz New Orleans red beans (250); 5oz cooked rice (160); baguette piece (100); tea cookie (50)
- 560 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80)
- 80 calories
Total for the day: 1810 calories (limit 1800)
Careening on the edge?
It’s better than falling off the edge into diet hell. But I mean that last night, I stayed up late for no good reason (past 1AM), woke up a bit late, had to hustle all day feeling a bit tired, and my food schedule was thrown a off. That isn’t good. You should be well rested and ready to tackle your food control lifestyle. It can’t be something you get to when you aren’t too tired. It has to be the priority. There’s a danger, as I have discovered from my own experience, from getting tired while trying to eat less.
Breakfast was ok, but I wasn’t hungry for lunch on time and didn’t eat until an hour or so later than usual (12.30). By contrast, I couldn’t stop thinking about dinner after about 3.30PM – my concentration was affected. I gave in and ate dinner just before 5PM, but then found myself snacking on baguette and a cookie well after dinner (8PM). You know what I mean. Sometimes the body has a mind of its own when you are tired and distracted. I did manage to pay attention, though – the baguette piece and cookie didn’t feel rewarding, since I wasn’t really hungry when I ate them. Even though the total calories worked out, I see today as a partial failure, since I was out of control and ate after dinner when I wasn’t hungry.
Tomorrow is a new day to do it right. I will be going to bed on time tonight! I plan to be good at my hobby, and successful.
Interestingly, my usual swimming pool is closed for its annual maintenance cycle. I have to venture elsewhere tomorrow and for the next 2 weeks, so that will be an adventure.
Be well rested! Weight control needs your best self.
-The Doctor