Controlling my body’s weight is the goal. Right now, I am losing weight, because I am spending a lot of time and effort to control and record how much I eat. However, I don’t actually know what weight I am trying to achieve. I assumed when I started doing this that I would want to weigh 205 pounds. Why? Well, that’s a number from the US Army acceptance criteria for new recruits of my height. They can’t weight more than that, and be accepted as new recruits. Notice even the Army doesn’t say what the correct weight should be. For someone my height (74 inches) you can’t weight more than 205 (the number varies with age) or less than 148 pounds. That’s a range of over 50 pounds! Where do I fit in there?
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – Jimmy Dean egg sausage and cheese croissantwich (400)
- 400 calories
Lunch – canned ravioli (200); 2x baked breaded panko chicken breast pieces (200)
- 600 calories
Dinner – Canned ravioli (260); ham (150) and cheese (70) sandwich on bread (200) with mustard and pickles and horseradish mayo (10); Perdue chicken pieces (100)
- 790 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); pretzels and cheese (300); chocolate almonds (200)
- 580 calories
Total for the day: 2370 calories (limit 1800)
Needs
First, notice that I had nearly 600 calories more today than I should have. I didn’t exercise, either. It was a strange day for my appetite, too. I had breakfast and lunch on time, but was hungry by 2.30 and had a snack, then had dinner before 4.30. After dinner I was still very interested in eating so I had even more food.
Normally, I allow this kind of thing twice a week. Sometimes I call it a cheat day but usually I justify it by saying I am hungry because I exercised. Not today, I didn’t! I don’t know why I got so hungry, or at least was so interested in eating more. I feel very full now, and that doesn’t feel good. I have really gotten away from the feeling that the goal of eating is to be full!
Amazingly, this still fits into my diet regime. I normally have those cheat days, and I am still close to my average calorie count for the week. As I said before for me this week is about getting back into my weight control lifestyle, and I don’t expect to have lost any weight this week, after all the travel. I have already made some mistakes – not recording everything I ate, underestimating calories in what I did eat, and eating after dinner. For example, I had some grapes this week. Somehow that didn’t make it into my journal. And I had some chicken pieces, recorded yesterday, but looking at the package now it seems clear I ate more than I thought. Well, this is all getting back into my rhythm. I won’t make those mistakes again.
Back to the issue of my final weight. I don’t know what it will be, because I have never tried being thin and staying thin before. Once my weight is under control and below 205, I plan to stop and see if I like how I look and feel. I may stay there for several weeks or months! After that, I may decide that weighing 190 or 180 pounds suits me better. Assuming I follow through with that I will have lost 135 or 145 pounds from my highest weight – amazing. At that point things may get expensive – I will have to buy new clothes forth, and I will have to spend the time needed to keep my body’s weight under control and my lifestyle healthy. The two are linked, and the better I like my lifestyle, the easier it will be to willingly follow it.
Don’t see it as a burden, but as a price you are willing to pay.
-The Doctor