…also known as Big Lunch Edition! Normally I have three meals relatively balanced in calories. I find that usually keeps me going. But today, I had a very late breakfast and small. Then I was really hungry for lunch. There’s nothing like getting really hungry. Not so hungry that you are suffering over it, but hungry enough that it is a physical need. When you are controlling your body’s weight using a portion control strategy, it’s very important to keep in mind why you are eating. Your own psychology of eating. It’s easy to fall into a trap where you are eating for reasons other than physical need. Then, your weight will go up. Especially if you are not paying attention.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – leftover beef and broccoli stir-fry with rice (200)
- 200 calories
Lunch – Bratwurst (260); 1/4 Lavash wrap (30); bagel (330); hummus (100);
- 720 calories
Dinner – 120g Tortellini (300) Italian sausage (240) Brussels sprouts (25);
- 565 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80);
- 80 calories
Total for the day: 1565 calories (limit 1700)
Running-around calories
I’m amazed how sedentary I have been for several weeks. It feels like I haven’t even driven anywhere. And I haven’t! It’s starting to feel more and more like I need to eat less and less to lose any weight. Well, I can take some time to walk tomorrow.
It all comes from paying attention. The Doctor is a routine-izer. For a long while, about a year, I developed and stuck to a routine where I was losing up to 2 pounds a week. Then, I had a long plateau of 6 months where I didn’t lose any weight, and also I didn’t try very hard to lose more. Suddenly in July, like throwing a switch, I decided to lose weight again. But amazingly, it came a lot harder than I remembered in 2019. Doing the same things didn’t result in much weight loss. I blame this partly on the lack of exercise (swimming) and general lack of running around outside. Since I was paying attention, I learned pretty quickly from the scale and my calorie count that my old routine wasn’t going to work as well. Either I would lose up to a pound a week, or I could try something else.
You can see how frustrating a diet can be. You think you are doing all the right things that worked before, and suddenly they stop working. No wonder people get frustrated and quit! Especially if they are forcing themselves to lose weight. Much better, don’t you think, to set up your life so that weight loss is a side effect of a life you like to be part of.
How could you set up your life that way?
-The Doctor