As much as I have been enjoying the heat resistance that comes with being a bit thinner, it is always nice when the hot summer weather breaks. Today was that day.
To control your body’s weight, weight control itself has to be one of your top priorities. You should be a bit obsessed! Whatever diet experts tell you about not obsessing is a bit wrong, I think. You aren’t going to lose a lot of weight and keep it off by tinkering around the edges of what you were doing before.
Gaining weight actually takes effort. But you don’t think about it. Let me explain, after dinner.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – Large pancake (120); syrup (60);
- 180 calories
Lunch – homemade pizza slice (300); 5oz chili (175 ); 1/2 oz tortilla chips (80);
- 555 calories
Dinner – 5oz Meatloaf (400); potatoes and carrot (100); brussels sprouts (40);
- 540 calories
Snacking – Fruit of the Forest pie for dessert (250)
- 250 calories
Total for the day: 1525 calories (limit 1700)
1700 is still new
Formerly I was limiting myself to 1850 calories per day and losing 2 pounds per week. Then I suddenly got less exercise (thanks Corona Virus) and I was losing less than a pound per week. I lowered my calorie intake a bit in response. Meeting that new stricter limit has not been too difficult so far. I have been concentrating so hard at work that my eating has gotten very connected to my physical hunger. That is a good thing. That is, I am only eating when I am really hungry!
But what did I mean when I was talking about how it takes work to gain weight? Well, it does. You have to convince yourself to eat more and that takes some effort. Physically, eating more than you really, really want to does also take some push. You have to learn to ignore phyiscal hunger and physical satiety – that feeling of having eaten just enough. It is there, somewhere. If you pay attention to the next time you eat you will find you aren’t nearly as hungry after the first few bites. Sometimes, you don’t really need any more after that.
Learn to pay attention to hunger. It can be your best friend in ways you didn’t know.
-The Doctor