Total accountability

Chris,

The only way you are going to truly see what you are eating is by tracking your food, through whatever method. If you need to use a small book, a program like fitday or just read every bit of nutritional information on everything you eat, it's really the only way you are going to know what you are consuming, whether it be too much or too little.

Your breakfast (i understand it was a treat for the weekend) totaled 346 calories and was devoid of any nutritional value whatsoever. You could have had two hard boiled eggs and a package of oatmeal for 320 calories. It would have been much more dense and would have satisfied for far longer. I don't mean to preach or sound harsh but even if you aren't consuming the right amount of calories, as in too little, your body really wouldn't go immediately into starvation mode without first dropping a good amount and THEN going into a bit of a shock.

It IS a lot of work at first to track calories, but it is such an eye opener. I would have to say that I consumed about 5000 calories a day before I began my journey. That scares me to say that but it was true. When I started my lifestyle change I went down to below 1000 calories a day. At that rate i should have dropped tons of weight in no time. I lost quickly but there were stalls and I wondered why not quicker? When I started exercising the weight loss slowed down to nothing!!! I could have stopped working out but then I would have denied myself all the benefits of a heart healthy program. So I kept on and lost more slowly but made huge changes in the way my body looked. I understand that you ate tons more before, and making strides to eat less is a huge accomplishment. But this has to be approached almost methodically, understanding nutrition and the way our bodies respond to decreased amounts, more exercise, etc.

I have listed a day from my food tracker. This was a Sunday so a bit odd with eating. I went to a buffet for brunch so breakfast and lunch are combined. You will see I hit 1300 calories in pretty much no time at all with not a whole lot of food. On a typical day for a few months before nowI would have consumed a couple packages of 90 calories granola bites, a 90 calorie granola bar or 3, a few tablespoons of peanut butter at 90 calories a spoon and perhaps a spoon or two of dinner that might be leftover in the pan while cleaning up. Is that a WHOLE lot less than when I was over 350 pounds? Heck yeah! But what I just listed adds up to about an additional 1000 calories, none of it truly bad, none of it truly good. But how can I justify an additional 1000 calories? See how they hide.

I think coming here for support is amazingly important. I hope that you find that path that will work for you. I know there is nothing more frustrating than trying something that just isn't working. So make us neurotic women all happy and track that food!!!!!!!!!


Meal Time Food Portion Calories Carbs Fat Protein
Breakfast 10:00 AM Eggs, cooked - Fried, 1 large egg, no fat, serving 2 160 0 11 15
Breakfast 10:00 AM Pork and beef sausage, fresh, cooked, link (raw - 4" long x 7/8" dia 2 102 1 9 4
Breakfast 10:00 AM Breakfast Items - Bacon, 2 strips, serving, 2 strips 2 180 0 14 10
Breakfast 10:00 AM Mushrooms, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 1 cup pieces 1/2 22 4 0 2
Breakfast 10:00 AM Quiche - Egg & Bacon, home-made, baked, slice, 5.3 oz 1/4 145 7 11 5
Breakfast 10:00 AM Melons, honeydew, raw, 1 cup, balls 1/2 32 8 0 0
Afternoon Snack 3:00 PM Apples, raw, with skin, 1 small (2-1/2" dia) (approx 4 per lb) 1 55 15 0 0
Afternoon Snack 3:00 PM Lindt Truffles , 3 1/3 69 5 6 1
Dinner 6:00 PM Pork, fresh, sirloin (roasts), boneless, lean only, roasted, serving, 3 oz 1 168 0 7 25
Dinner 6:00 PM Potatoes, Russet, flesh and skin, baked, 1 potato large (3" to 4-1/4" dia) 1/2 145 32 0 4
Dinner 6:00 PM Broccoli, boiled, drained, cup, chopped 1 44 8 1 5
Evening Snack 8:00 PM sugar free fudge pop , 1 2 80 0 1 2
Evening Snack 8:00 PM Whipped Cream Topping - Lite, tablespoon 3 30 3 2 2
Totals: 1232 83gm 62gm 75gm

Yo Chris! I think - stay with the notion that you are eating WAY less than before.  The proof will be in the pudding - if there's a loss at the end of a time line - 2 months, whatever, then keep widdat. If not, then you know what you need to do. I am guessing that you will drop weight for a while - the point where you will have to tighten it up will come. Donna's comments on low-nutritive values really are valid - Cap'n Crunch will not satisfy like Optimum 7, no how. High fiber whole foods are gonna deliver for you and will help you stay satisfied longer! 

I really beleive if i had made the changes you speak of at your age, I would not have gotten this fat and aftter.  I am also LMAO about your nephew snarfing your good snacks - had the same problem - watched my DH's son Ryan smack down like 3 bocas at one sitting. I had to ask him to stay outa my food - he would pig down all of that.  Nobody could afford to keep most 20 year old males in healthy foods, no WAY!

i woudl invest in a food scale. this website shows a range from ones that cost $4.50 and go up to like $99.  http://www.nextag.com/food-scale/search-html I prefer the digital and think they are more accurate. little more expensive but they last forever. http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU =13542210 i personally don't find the food guesstimates that helpful. who eats a "deck of cards" serving of chicken? i usually cook what i want and then weigh it to see what it is, then put it in the log. chicken breasts can range anywhere from 4 oz to 8 oz. what exactly does "palm-sized" mean? i'm sure your palms are much bigger than my palms. perhaps this is showing my analness, but a good set of measuing cups and a food scale are the most important things you can get to help you in regulating your eating. rice is definitely difficult for me also. make sure when you are measuring that its not a "packed" cup! how the item is made is also super important - mac and cheese from cracker barrel is WAY worse than any mac and cheese i would ever make at my house. dinner is genearlly the hardest meal for most people. i also don't think that everything needs to be wonderful nutritionally. sometimes you need the captain crunch. fiber one just doesn't have the same appeal....i would however think about changing your milk up - if you can do skim, its i think 90 cals for 8 oz. 1% is still better than 2%.  you shoudl definitely be applauded for opening your eyes up and becoming more aware of what you are eating. even if you were eating the same amount - that awareness is so important. you can't changes lots of things at once and expect them to stick. small changes over time is far better (like evolution)

Palm sizes - would be relative - Chris's palm area is bound to weigh more than yours, for sure.  But he is a big guy and does get to eat more food!  I think the visual guesstimates are important to at least use as a fallback - restaurants won't have a handy dandy scale. Certain people here eat out a lot more than others!

ACTUALLY.................. a woman i met at duke who lost about 130 lbs about 15 years ago (still goes back twice a year every year) would do that. she would take her scale and measuring cups to restaurants with her. she tended to go to the same restaurants and they got very used to her. they actually would often offer to take her tools back to the kitchen and wash them out for her. yes, she is much ballsy-er than i but hey, again, its whatever works for you.  as part of the DFC program, you go on a "restaurant experience" with a group of people and a nutritionist w/ her scale and all that. it is ASTOUNDING at how crazy the portions are. especially the steaks and potatoes. one place's potatoes weighed in at like 16 ounces. given that one serving is 3 ounces.... a few years ago i got take out from Big Bowl (asian place) and noticed when i was waiting for my food that they were measuring out the chicken in the kitchen - it was one of those see through kitchen places. so i just asked how much chicken they put in and they said 6 ounces. so when i took it home, i measured out 3 ounces and half the rest of the stir fry and ate that. saved the rest for the next night. many places actually are pretty standardized, so if you get your favorite dish and bring it home and take it apart, it can help you next time you go out to eat at that particular place.  if you couldn't tell, i like routine and go to the same restaurants and get the same dishes all the time....

yeah, see i don't want to be thin that badly. mental picture!!!!!  LOL

You gals are great.  Thank you for all the information and definitely thank you for understanding me. I'm a difficult person!   I honestly think that my eye-size for portion control is relatively accurate and I promise I will weigh it out just to make sure. I am definitely aware of what I eat now. Much different than before. I just gotta figure out how to stop myself from binging or overeating.  I do great for a few days and then screw up a meal.  It's getting better but it's still not where I want it to be. Only time will fix it I suppose.  Baby steps and little bit by little bit I'll make it to where you champions are! Still ain't doing that food tracker thang, nuhh uhhh! Ain't gonna do it! You can't make me, nanner nanner!