Calorie Counting- I Done Good

My plan after seeing that counting calories really works for losing weight was to continue to count and also add in some exercises. It is funny how life throws you curve balls because I was sick all last week with the cold that would not go away. So needless to say I did not exercise one bit unless you count coughing up a lung as exercise.

I also didn't really count my calories. I basically just watched what I was eating and didn't eat any junk food- which it really helps that I have not been buying myself junk food. I do think that I will start using my favorite calorie counting site again because I really like how it tracks if I have been eating all of the right nutrients.

Since starting my calorie counting experiment I am down about five pounds which is a lot considering I was about 112 pounds to begin with (I am five feet tall so yes, 112 pounds is at the upper end of what I should be and is is past the upper end of the weight that I feel best at). My pre-pregnancy jeans (from when I loved eating fast food and drinking lots of wine) are getting baggy and I fit into a pair of my after pregnancy jeans (I weighed a lot less after I had my kids because I ate a lot better and was breastfeeding). I feel better and have learned that when I am not nursing or pregnant that I can't just shove tons of food into my mouth and expect to stay skinny.

As far as exercising goes- I will start doing it a few times a week now that I feel better. Summer will be here before I know it and I want to look good in my bathing suit. Plus, it has always been a goal of mine to have six pack abs (a goal that I most likely never accomplish but we all need dreams in life).

Calorie Counting is Fun- No, Really It Is!

So two weeks ago I decided that I would count calories to see if I was shoving too much junk food down my pie hole.

Guess what, I was. Well, not too much junk food but just too much food in general. The portions of my food were way off which was adding too many unnecessary calories ot my day.

For the past two weeks I have been limiting myself to between 1500 and 1600 calories a day and not doing any exercising. I have also been drinking much more water. The result ot me being concious of what I am eating is that I lost about 3 lbs in two weeks. Not earth shattering but pretty good for pretty much doing nothing.

I really pay attention to what a serving size is on everything I eat (even the delicious caramel d-lites Girl Scout Cookies I bought the other day- a serving is two stinking cookies). At the end of the day if I don't have any calories left then I don't get a night time snack. Calorie counting forces me to look at foods I want and try to decide if 150 calories for two cookies is worth it to me or if I should have a sandwich with two slices of bread or make it with one slice cut in half with the same amount of meat and cheese. I have to make good decisions on what I eat so I get all of my daily nutrients on 1500-1600 calories.  And to my surprise, I am not starving at all. I thought that by dinner time I would be ravenous for food but that hasn't been the case so far.

I really enjoy calorie counting and will continue to do so because it holds me accountable to myself for the type of food I am putting into my body. There is nothing like looking back on your meals for the day typed out on the computer screen to shame yourself into eating better.

For the next two weeks I am going to continue to calorie count but I am going to mix in a few days of exercise to see where that puts me (I'll use the 30 Day Shred on the beginners level).

Will Power, GRRRR.

Since I stopped nursing my daughter when she turned one my weight started to creep up. Granted, I lost tons of weight after I had her just from nursing and restricting dairy from my diet due to her dairy allergy so my weight now is what before kids. Sounds great but my weight before kids was when I was eating fast food all of the time and drinking wine here and there (when I say here and there I mean a lot). I wasn't overweight by any means but I also wasn't at a weight that fit my body type (my stomach was flatter though). I am only five feet tall and have a small frame so my current 113 pounds equals a pudgy belly and thighs that are a bit too big for my liking but if that is a good weigt for me then so be it.

I decided to see if my current weight is a good weight and I am thinking not so much. I signed up for Calorie Count at About.com so that I could keep track of what I was actually eating. I thought I wasn't eating a ton but today, with not even eating a lot, I was at about 1600 calories (I was trying to eat 1500 calories). My menu included Yoplait low fat yogurt, 3 brown 'n serve sausage links (could have done without this but yum!), vitamin, Healthy Choice Asian Potstickers meal, can of Mountain Dew (could have done without this), Smart Taste pasta with no salt added pasta sauce and 3 small homemade meatballs and one cup of brown rice with a tablespoon of Smartlife Buttery Spread (my after dinner snack). I also have drunken four glasses of water so far (I am working on drinking two more). On a normal day where I wasn't being super conscious of what I was eating my calorie count would have been way higher.

So I am going to do an experiment for the next two weeks. I am going to keep my calories under 1600 and not exercise at all (my only exception will be on Fridays because we get take out- I will be more conscious of what I chose to eat though). My only exercise will be just doing the every day stuff that a mom does. I am also going to continue taking a daily vitamin and will drink 64 ounces of water every day. If I lose weight by just eating less but more healthy foods then my current weight obviously is too high for my body type.

I really think this is a good thing for me because now when I want a soda I will have to think about how many calories it is and if it is worth using up some of my calorie allowance on it. It also means that I will actually have to have some will power which has been my arch nemesis.