Friday, December 10, 2010

BREAKING NEWS & a conundrum

BREAKING NEWS: I pulled a pair of size 18 dress slacks out of my closet tonight and wore them to dinner!  Just updated my pant size in the right margin of this blog from 22 to 18!!!!!

So yesterday was a great day until "Temptation" came home from work and I looked at the clock and realized it was 4:00pm and I'd consumed only 22 calories in the form of coffee and creamer.  He brought me a salad with low-fat dressing and I ate a roll with it to boot but at 4:00 pm to have only a little over 300 calories in is a big problem.

Why?  You ask.  Well malnutrition isn't just about starvation.  Everyone on CalorieCount.com insists that eating less than 1,400 to 1,600 calories per day can lead to serious health issues including organ damage, hair loss, dry skin, brittle nails, poor eyesight, and can even contribute to osteoperosis later in life, even if it's only temporary for "dieting purposes".  In fact, people that I know personally who have had gastric surgery have told me that their doctor's told them to force themselves to eat no less than 1,400 calories per day even if they had to eat little things all day long or consume fattier foods to compensate for their smaller appetites.

So just eat 1,000 calories for dinner right?  Well for the first few days of this diet that is exactly what I was doing and a very wise person mentioned that this is really a form a daily binge eating and can be just as bad.  Ideally I like to try to eat around 400-500 calories before my lunch break, another 400-500 for lunch, and then around the same for dinner.  So for it to be 4 pm and I'm sitting on less than 400 for the entire day is bad, bad.  The only way to eat 1,000 calories in a single meal is to eat a Texas Double Whopper (or worse) and I'm trying to eat healthier than that.

So I had dinner, despite not being hungry, and was at just over 900 calories.  CUMMON!  So then I ate the avocado which brought me to 1,200 and, by now it's almost 9:00 pm.  I hate eating late at night because I know it just sits on my thighs all night while I'm sleeping but, at the same time, I've had extremely low calorie intakes for the last week-ish and that has led to extremely low energy levels so ... I downed two bite-sized chocolate snacks.  I didn't even want them but they were the most calories in the smallest package that wouldn't add a bunch more weight (food weight) to my stomach so I did it.  Twenty minutes later my stomach rebelled, I lost the fight, and about 40% of my calories "left the building" so to speak before I could really even retain any nutrients from them.

Now here I am again today, same problem.  Nothing before lunch but coffee, then I tried to work out a little while my soup was warming and it made me feel really bad.  Like, can barely stand up and walk to the microwave bad.  I find it necessary to mention that I didn't deliberately not eat all morning and most of the afternoon.  I literally forgot to eat ... sounds totally weird coming from a fat chick, I know, but it's the truth.  For the first few days it was hard to stay under 1,600, then it got easy, now it's hard to eat over 1,000.  Does anyone have any theories on why?!  Why can't my body just accept 1,400 to 1,600 without being obnoxious about it?!


Food:
5 glasses of water
1 cup of coffee with creamer
1 can of Progresso light beef soup
2 slices of white bread
2 slices of white cheddar cheese
2.5 cups dry popcorn
1 grilled chicken breast w/rice, pico, black beans (Chili's light)
1/2 cup salsa and chips
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Daily Caloric Intake:1362



Exercise:
150 crunches
50 leg lifts (side) each leg
50 leg lifts (front) each leg
40 minutes walking/shopping at the mall (in heels)
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Daily Caloric Burn: 331

11 comments:

  1. I just wrote a book and want to die because it got deleted ) :
    I have a banana in the morning. It gets my day started off right.
    I love caloriecount but have not been to the forums. I will have to do that!
    Think of calories this way. If you go all day without eating your system is sitting on idol and you are not digesting foood which burns calories.So try to eat during the day! ( :

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  2. OH MY GOSH ------------ Lyns, that is SO KEWL!! Been awhile - SWEET!!!!!!!!!!! Might I suggest that after you've gone down 2, and let us reiterate that ----------TWO pant sizes, you should MAYBE have at least given yourself something you ENJOY, (like a couple small tacos or one slice of pizza), to get those other calories ------at least there's more nutritional to them and YOU LOVE pizza??? Way to go, that's EXCITING!!!!!!!!!

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  3. I was doing a lot of bananas and fruit there for awhile but I need to go grocery shopping. I think you will all notice, eventually, that my diet seems to suffer during the last day or two before pay day when I'm stretching what's left in my kitchen to make it to pay day. I got paid yesterday so I'll be shopping this weekend to stock up on more fruits, and low calorie snack food items that I can nibble on during the day to keep my intakes balanced.

    I love you both for responding so quickly to this post because I was so stoked about reporting the lower pant size that I could barely sleep last night so it was nice to find comments to read first thing this morning. :)

    Mom: Pizza = almost 300 calories a slice in most cases but the chicken rice and beans at Chili's was mui delicious! I could eat that every day if it didn't cost $10 a plate. Today's post is going to be about foods I miss eating the most and I'm really interested in getting everyone's opinions on it.

    Piper (my work-out buddy) told me this morning that she wants to go for a walk now that the pavement is no longer hot enough to burn her little paws. She misses walking in the summer so I think we'll google dog parks and see if we can find one within walking distance, if not we'll walk anyway but I don't know where we'll go yet. Picture day is coming up and I am SO EXCITED!!!!!

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  4. When you say your stomach "rebelled", do you mean you threw up or you went #2? Sorry, not to be totally gross or anything, lol.

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  5. You asked >>"For the first few days it was hard to stay under 1,600, then it got easy, now it's hard to eat over 1,000. Does anyone have any theories on why?!"<<

    You are feeding your body differently than you did before; without realizing it, just be attempting to lower your calorie intake, you've probably also lowered your fat, sugar, and salt intake. You're feeding your body a little healthier than before (but still only a little) so it is using the nutrients and getting rid of the rest, not just storing all the fat and grease you used to eat.

    There is a huge misconception about eating less than 1,200 calories. That only applies to someone who is at their ideal weight, not us fat folks. Read the post I did about that (http://princesslaryssa.blogspot.com/2010/11/eating-healthy-at-1000-calories.html) with substantiating links.

    When I decided to lower my calories substantially (from 4,000/day to under 1,200/day) not only did I do a lot of research about the whole starvation myth, I also consulted with my doctor, who specializes in cardiac, diabetes and weight loss. Yes, the key is nutrition but most of the really healthy, nutritious good-for-you foods are actually low in calories.

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  6. Joy: the second one. :(

    Laryssa: ty I will look into it

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  7. I second what Laryssa has to say. It is an enormous myth that eating under such and such calories will put you into starvation mode. For 3 weeks I very comfortably ate between 1000-1200 calories and was satisfied and I lost a lot of weight (only to regain it when I decided to go off plan) You can EASILY get all the nutrients you need from a 1200 calorie diet and NONE of those nutrients (only empty calories) will come from candy bars. Also one day of eating only 300 calories (while not healthy if done several days in a row) will not harm you. There are people that fast for a week at a time and they lose phenomenal amounts of weight. The idea here is to eat enough nutrients and keep calories low. I disagree whole heartedly with the anonymous commenter. To 'just try to consume X amount of calories' you should not be picking pizza or a whopper. You should still be picking healthier foods. Now if you are going to have Pizza or a burger anyway obviously there are ways to fit that in with health in mind. Also, Coffee and creamer for breakfast is not enough. Hungry or not you should have some protein (ie: egg or eggwhite or egg subsitute or lean turkey bacon or something) While as 'overeaters' we must consciously choose NOT to put things in our mouth we must also change our habits and choose consciously (and not to forget) TO put healthy things in our mouth at the right times to keep our body functioning properly. I hope your research helps.

    XO Kristen

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  8. I have an award for you on my blog!

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  9. Thank you Trisha! I am new to blogging, and awards. I have posted the award to my blog but I was hoping you could give me a bit of background on them. I noticed on your blog that you received the award and selected five recipients to pass the blog on to. Is this a rule of receiving an award? I apologize for my ignorance and thank you again for the award!

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  10. I have been following your blog regularly although I do not have an account on here. I just wanted to mention something I have recently come across: http://www.hungry-girl.com/

    My aunt told me about it. She has 3 or 4 books, a facebook, and they are starting a show on the cooking channel soon. The books and webpage shows you substitute foods that are lower in calorie than our favorite foods. I have found some interesting recipes such as a pumpkin pie that sounds scrumptious as well as a chicken sandwich to replace Panera's Frontega Chicken Panini. Anyway, I sound like I am getting paid to promote this damn thing. Honestly I just thought it was interesting and maybe can help you come up with some ideas on new foods that would be good for you.

    Congrats on your success so far.

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  11. Thanks Misty,

    I have heard of hungrygirl.com from my fellow bloggers and some friends at CalorieCount.com. I haven't yet taken the time to check it out but I will, especially now that it is coming from you! :)

    I need to learn to re-appreciate cooking (and the cleaning that comes with it). Part of my aversion is the fact that my kitchen in this apartment sucks! My stove is broken so the biggest burner shoots sparks and makes buzzing sounds, the two back burners are crossed so if you turn the dial for left rear the right rear comes on, and it's electric. I'm told I'll get a new one in the spring but a dinky kitchen with no counter space makes wanting to cook soooo hard. One thing is for sure, when I finally get around to buying a house, having a good kitchen is going to be very, very high on the list of requirements.

    Of course I also realize that this is only part of the reason and that it comes very close to just being an excuse but really ... I should take a picture and let ya'll decide what you think. It's so small "Temptation" and I can't even be in it at the same time, if the fridge or dishwasher are open you can't get in or out of the kitchen and the counter space is about a 2x3 foot square to the right of the sink. It sucks.

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