Well, this is certainly taking the feel of a daily thing... ugh. I guess I should embrace it. What I found after logging my food for two days and then not logging my food for two days was this - when I log my food, I don't go over my calories; and conversely, when I don't log my food, I tend to go over my calories.
I think.
I can't say for sure if I went over on Sunday but I think if I didn't go past the 1,800-calorie mark, then I was up against it. On Saturday, though, I can say with almost certainty that I went past my limit, maybe not 2000 calories over but I was over nevertheless. I'd probably say I was around 2,000 calories on Saturday, give or take.
And that's the problem. If you log your food and you are honest about it, you know exactly how much food you are putting in your body. You also become more accountable to yourself since if you have an extra portion or have a cookie or something else you shouldn't, you know you will have to account for it later.
When you keep enough food journals - and I probably journaled about nine months worth of food when I first started my weight loss program - it sort of becomes second nature. You know exactly how many calories things have because you've researched them time and again. You know an apple has around 70 calories depending on size (and 30 without the skin), a banana has about 100, a couple handfuls of baby carrots has around 40, a plum has about 30, a cup of milk has 120, three tablespoons of peanuts/cashews/mixed nuts/etc. has around 140 calories... and so on.
With that then, I've kept this journal for my food intake for Monday. Now, this is an incomplete list of course. I've just finished lunch so I will update this after my snack and/or dinner.
* Breakfast
> Fiber One cereal (180 cal, 13g fiber)
> 2 percent milk (50 cal, 5g protein)
* AM Snack
> apple (72 cal, 3.3g fiber)
* Lunch (Pepperoni Pizza Wrap)
> Wrap (210 cal, 3g fiber, 6g protein)
> Pepperonis (130 cal, 7g protein)
> Mozzarella Cheese (~150 cal, 14g protein)
> Spinach, Marinara sauce (~30 cal)
> 1/2 banana (53 cal, 1.5g fiber)
[I skipped snack, slept right through it]
* Dinner - Pasta, Pesto and Peas
> Farfalle pasta (200 cal, 3g fiber, 6g protein)
> Pesto/spinach sauce (~250 cal)
> Peas (150 cal, 4g fiber)
* After-Dinner coffee (50 cal)
Totals: ~1522 calories, 21g fiber, 32g protein
I'm planning on some sort of pasta for dinner as my wife requested some pesto for dinner tonight. I don't like pesto so I might... well, I'll probably... aw crap I don't know what the heck I'm going to do... but I'll do something.
UPDATE: I did not snack. I took a nap with my daughters and woke up after 3 and not hungry so no snack.
LAST UPDATE: I made this Pesto, Pasta and Peas recipe. I probably am way off on the calories but even still I have a couple-hundred calorie cushion to play with.
And my conclusion was right on. I logged my food and I was under my calorie totals. Of course, that's not necessarily good news as I may have to start logging my food now. Great.
5 comments:
Lol, I want some pesto too please :) I love homemade pesto! What do you think of the Fiber One cereal?
I'm getting ready to make the pesto and I feel like I'm going to mess it all up!
Anyway, the cereal has been very good. I got the cinnamon kind and it tastes a lot like cinnamon toast crunch. I'm almost out of it, have about one more serving left, and then I'm out. I'm going to buy it again though.
cool, I think I will pick some up- I need some good quick breakfast ideas. How did your pesto turn out?
Actually, the meal was way better than I thought. I made the pesto, and then I blended it with some spinach and mayonnaise, tossed it with some pasta, peas, parmesan, salt and pepper. It was tasty. My wife liked it and - here's the clincher - both my daughters liked it! It's getting added to the rotation for sure.
Way to go! If the kids give it a thumbs up you definitely know it's a keeper :)
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