My job in these daily entries is to live out my commitment to weight control. When I started doing this, I decided the real goal wasn’t to lose weight or to reach a certain goal weight. That would just be the beginning. The real goal was to be in control of my body’s weight. My body will be changing all the time, so meeting it will be a life long challenge. Once I have lost all the excess weight (75 pounds so far) my goal will stay the same: keep whatever weight I choose.
To control my body’s weight, I decided I needed two things: (1) regulate my food intake (by keeping a food journal) and (2) weigh myself regularly. I also realized I couldn’t force myself to do these things. I don’t have that kind of willpower. So I had to transform myself into a different person with different life goals. But that doesn’t mean I have to suffer while losing weight. I can eat regulated amounts of whatever I choose.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – Lantz cheese crackers (200); Kirkland granola bar (100)
- 300 calories
Lunch – boxed lunch sandwich (250); chips (200)
- 450 calories
Dinner – 13.5 ounces vegetable curry (350); 5oz cooked jasmine rice (160)
- 510 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (100); oatmeal raisin cookie (100); Snickers ice cream bar (180); Hershey’s chocolate bar (220)
- 600 calories
Total for the day: 1860 calories (limit 1800)
Forwards! Backwards! Forwards again!
Mentally, I am prepared to have my second week in a row with no progress on my weight loss program. For complicated reasons and travel, last week was a wash calories wise. I didn’t even weigh myself last Saturday. I even missed three days of my food journal and had to reconstruct them afterwards, with guessing. I wasn’t in a position to measure!
I returned to the normal weight control style eating habit on Sunday, after four days of not measuring or properly recording my food intake. On average, I am guessing for those days I ate about 2200 calories per day. Based on past experience, it will take at least a week to get that bulk out of my system. I even felt full all the time, which was strange and unusual, as for most of the last 9 months I haven’t eaten enough to feel full.
It doesn’t seem like a lot…..400 extra calories per day for four days. I don’t expect to have lost any weight though, even though I was technically in calorie deficit most of the time. I have found for consistent weight loss, I have to be in deficit for the whole week. For the same reason, if I have extra calories on Friday, my weighing on Saturday gets thrown off. But I am thinking it will take this whole week just to get back to my previous recorded low of 249.2 pounds.
I am pleased with my progress. The next 45 or so pounds may be harder to lose, though. Other people have done it, so I can too. You can find out with me.
My other issue is sleep. I haven’t been prioritizing getting enough rest. That also saps my ability to control my food intake, write this blog, and live well, generally. So I will take my own advice and get ready for bed. I have a lot of work tomorrow.
How will you make your life better? What is your ambition?
-The Doctor