Calories creeping up

Yikes! I haven't logged my food in several weeks....and mistakenly assumed that I "knew" what I was eating.

So today...a pretty good day food wise by the way...I put everything into Sparkpeople and came up with 1100 calories!

I feel terrible - like this is SO far out of the ballpark for 8 months out. My weight loss has been slow but there HAS been some weight loss...

Protein was strong at 100 gm. today.

Fluids were also great at about 120 oz. (I worked with my trainer which always helps).

Carbs? WAY high at 130 gm. The culprit is a protein bar even though it was a "carb control' balance bar. Some carbs came from 1/2 a banana cut up in my Greek yogurt, and from the yogurt itself, as well as the beans in a Wendy's chili for lunch.

OK - planning for tomorrow begins NOW!

OK so your calories are a bit high - is this every day or a one time thing? The carbs, yea that's high but it sounds like most of them came from good sources.

I read your post and thought 1100 seemed low. Guess that goes to show what I know about calorie counting.

I haven't counted calories since surgery, I don't even look at those numbers. I only count proteins and carbs and ignore the rest.

Good luck, and now I am curious how many calories I actually take in a day. I honestly never even look. I guarantee it's more than that.

Jojo, my fear is just that I can rationalize consuming more food than I need....that I have this idea that it's "allowed" if it has good protein numbers....

And eating too much is a battle I have fought my entire life. I certainly ate my share of junk food, but even "good" foods were dangerous for me, simply because of my problems with portion control.

Portion size is the hardest. I measure or "divy" out the allowed amount and do not let myself take one more bite. I don't care how hungry I think I am because I have learned it's head hunger, not REAL hunger.

It's so difficult, but possible to do.

Goes to show you, a watched pot never boils.  As long as your watching you won't go over, turn your back and wham, there are those calories and carbs.

For sure! They're out there lurking!

And KNOWING we will log our intake automatically makes us consider it a bit more carefully!

When I was about 8-9 mos. out, Dr. P had upped my calories from 1100/1200 to 1300/1400 per day based on my exercise patterns.  She said if calories are too low, you won't lose, and you need to be supplying the needed energy to support your exercise.  

So your calories may well be just fine. 

As to your carbs, they should be pretty much balanced with your protein, but you might want to look at NET carbs (carbs minus fiber).  For most of us, that seems to be the better and more realistic calculation, given than something like beans (high carbs, but high fiber = low carb, high protein ratio) is going to be a much healthier "boost" to our nutritional plan.  Make sense?

Karen

Karen, this is comforting! I see Dr. P. in April and will ask her about the total balance of exercise and calories. I do exercise quite a bit - aim for 6 hrs/week at the gym, but have swapped out some of that for walking as I train for the 3 day walk.

Let me consider the net carbs calculation as well. I do know that I "don't eat junk" - but I also know that I had gotten lazy about tracking too. I use Sparkpeople also and am going to track religiously and figure this out!

Thanks!

Lynn,

It's a discussion definitely worth having, and taking your food logs in will help.  The conversation will likely be both with the nutritionist and with Dr. P. 

I found it really scary to be told to up my calories by 200 or so a day, and still struggle with 'guilt' over eating 'that much.'  To put it in a broader perspective, when I was in the hospital last week, they authorized me for a "NORMAL 1800 calorie per day" diet (no, i didn't eat that - was just authorized to order that from food services - haha).  So "normal" is apparently 1800/day.  Hmmm.

Karen