Caloric Intake

Okay, so... since coming home from Chicago, I have been eating up a storm (and gaining weight, to boot. At least 5 pounds). It doesn't help that I have almost any type of food I could ever want right in the kitchen. Nor does it help that my mother is an amazing (if kooky) cook, enjoys cooking, and makes enough leftovers to feed a small army (which is sometimes exactly how I feel when I'm hungry).

Actually, I eat like a guy - or so I've been told. It's awful. This past week I went camping with my friend and her family, and they kept trying to feed me. Offering me second helpings or just plopping food on my plate. I laugh and complain and put on a show (but secretly, I'm still hungry and am glad they're forcing an extra scoop of eggs on me). At dinner one night - granted it was after a long day of kayaking/swimming/biking/etc - we have burgers with beans, kielbasa, and watermelon. Before dinner I have at least 4 slices of watermelon. I eat a burger topped with onions, a tomato, and a glob of ketchup. I have a whole half of kielbasa mixed in a serving (or two) of beans. Then finish up with more watermelon and am still hungry, opting for trail mix on the ride home (a mere 40 minutes later)!

I'm literally starving when I start dinner and just keep on eating. And I even jokingly apologize for having eaten a quarter of the melon! But they don't mind at all, saying, "Don't worry about it. You make up for T's brother... he eats a ton."

Now, I know that wasn't a jibe at me. I'm sure they meant he'd be sitting there eating more than me, but even so, it shouldn't have come to that. I HAVE to start watching what I eat. Mid-June, I finally reached my lowest weight ever since reaching adolescence. I can NOT gain it back. And I refuse to let these last 5 pounds slip by unnoticed.

THEREFORE:

I am going to get anal... again!

As I'm sure I've stated in previous posts, it takes 21 days to form a habit. I now floss daily because of this interesting rule, and literally revolt at the thought being unable to. I now run daily and severely regret not raising my heart-rate for at least 20 minutes a day on days I feel too tired/ill/full to run. It has become this itch I need to scratch. Some nights I'll sit on the couch dreading my run, but inevitably I get up and do it. I have to, it's a bad habit!

Now! In an effort to fix my eating habits, I will be keeping a food journal for the next 21 days since these have been proven to augment weight-loss. It will hold me accountable just as keeping my jogging calendar has. I will track all food, water throughout the day, hunger and satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10, and total calories imbibed.

I have also calculated that at my age, height, and weight with a sedentary activity level my resting metabolic rate requires 1801 calories per day. In order to maintain my current weight (EW!), I need to eat 2251... I'm not sure why that is, I assume that the extra 450 calories are used when walking to the fridge to eat more food.

In order to lose weight at a safe but decent rate, you have to eat 500 calories less than your estimated daily caloric needs. In other words, enough to sustain your resting metabolism but less than what you need to perform vigorous exercise. Your body then burns fat stores (YAY!) while preventing your metabolism from slowing down. Now, all this changes if you perform vigorous activity on a daily basis to start. A construction worker for instance may use more calories in a day and therefore would have a higher threshold. Subtracting 500 calories from his daily intake would still result in a higher calorie diet... whereas, my diet results in 1751 calories per day.

This is doable. I need to plan out how and when to get these calories. The trick is not to eat less than that amount or my metabolism will slow and I'll plateau again. Likewise, I'll need to eat every 4 or 5 hours to fuel that furnace, and I'll have to try REALLY hard not to eat more than my allotted caloric intake.

Come August 26th, this will be a no brainer (or so I hope)! Let the games begin!