It is possible to have three really good meals in a day while eating to a calorie limit. By good, I mean impressive, satisfying, and filling/fulfilling. It’s my preferred method – making it easy to eat controlled amounts of food. Part of me doesn’t like being ordered to eat less and won’t do it. That’s a place of deprivation, and why would I want that? But that same part of me is just thrilled to eat what I really want, three times a day, plus dessert. Here’s what I had for lunch!
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – ham, cheese, and olive tapenade sandwich with toasted bread (100), tapenade (50), cheese (100); ham (100);
- 350 calories
Lunch – Big Greek Cafe Famous $5 Gyro Wednesdays!!!!! (600)
- 600 calories
Dinner – taco salad with beans (190); cheese (100); tortilla (100); sour cream (50); salsa and tomatoes
- 450 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); 95g ice cream (220); cone (80);
- 380 calories
Total for the day: 1780 calories (limit 1850)
All my troubles melt away
Melt away like ice cream! Yesterday and today, I had so few calories for meals that I had space left over for a serving of ice cream each time! Yes, welcome to my diet, where you get three wonderful meals and ice cream and will still lose weight. You do have to pay attention to how much you are portioning, but you have seen my pictures – I am not suffering.
I am very interested in this idea that you can re-learn the good habit of eating only when you are physically hungry. Part of it comes when you have something to occupy yourself, like a project at work. You are determined to get it done, so you only tear yourself away when you are physically called by hunger. It all comes down to asking yourself: Why am I eating this? Maybe you can answer: it’s mealtime, or I’m hungry (and are you really?), I’m tired, I need to relax, this food needs to be eaten before it goes bad, I need my favorite food right now….
Sticking to “I am physically hungry, and I can tell” is hard to do. I mostly do it by counting calories and being careful with portions. I have a whole spreadsheet of different foods I can make. For each of them I calculate the total weight and total calories. Then I know how much I can have for a meal, just by weighing. The good part is, I don’t have to do any guessing of how much I have eaten, or remembering (did I eat that today?). I write it all down as soon as I have eaten it. Maybe that’s a bit too much work for you. A lot of people have had success by creating a food routine – eating pretty much the same amounts of the same kinds of foods most of the time. It can be effective and it’s less work. But the good side of my method is it’s not dieting. It’s control. I will have this control even after I have found a weight range I like. And I will be happy to keep doing this for a long time.
Create a world you want to live in. Then live there!
-The Doctor