A Word About Lowering Calories

It's tempting sometimes to set an unrealistic limit on our calories. It was only 20+ years ago that popular fashion magazines touted a 1000 calorie a day diet as a good rule. Some women and teens got a bit too enthusiastic and cut that number in half, to just 500 calories! All in an effort to get the weight off faster.

As I said here in the entry titled, Determine Your Daily Calories, use a calorie calculator like the ones available at www.caloriecontrol.org to figure the amount you should be taking in on a daily basis in order to lose weight. But what ever that number ends up being, conventional wisdom now says that women should not go below 1200 calories a day and men shouldn't go below 1500-1600. The reason for this is twofold. It's next to impossible to get the kind of nutrition we need: the vitamins, the minerals, the energy, in a daily diet of less than 1200 calories. Health professionals have also discovered that our bodies go into a starvation/survival mode if we diet too severely. To put it quite simply, the body doesn't know when it's going to get another meal so it slows the metabolism for survival. You'll actually stop losing weight for awhile which will end up frustrating and discouraging you.

Do yourself a favor and be satisfied with slow and steady weight loss. That's how you gained the weight. If it comes off slowly, it's more likely to stay off longer. And isn't that the real goal?

Mind Games

Dieting is not about losing weight. It's about losing the idea that you don't deserve to look and feel good. That's where the fight begins. Somehow somewhere in our heads, we got the idea that we are not worthy of giving ourselves enough time or effort or love to improve. Respect yourself! If you don't, no one else will.

This is about you and what you want in life. You can't do this for anyone but you. Don't do this for your husband, your boyfriend, your mother, not anyone but you. You have to want this. I mean REALLY want this enough to bring forth the willpower you know you have within you. You are stronger than you think. This is a battle with the voices in our heads. Tell them off!

You do other things in life you really want to do, don't you? Why not this? Take your power back! When our minds refuse to rest, whispering in our heads that we have to sneak that piece of chocolate cake in the middle of the night, resist with the same intensity. Get angry about it if you have to. Don't let the negatives beat you. And be encouraged knowing you are doing a great thing for yourself. I guarantee you when you wake up the next morning knowing that you beat back those destructive desires the day or night before, you'll feel incredible about yourself. The empowerment that feeling gives you will help you continue doing this. And encouraging results on the scale, because they will happen, help it get easier.

Weekend Desserts

I have friends staying with us for the weekend. For me, house guests equal cooking and baking. And baking for me usually means trying some new recipe that I've been intrigued by for some time. Extra mouths in the house, give me an excuse. Yes, I do try out new recipes on guests because it's just my husband and myself so I don't typically bake very much for just the two of us.

Anyway, this weekend I tried out a recipe for banana chocolate chip squares. I did what the recipe said which was to make them in a 10x15 jellyroll pan. The recipe also said it yielded 48 squares. It's tempting, when cutting portions that small, to go a bit larger, but no, I wanted to do it 'right' so I could then be certain of my calories. In this case, four dozen squares ends up being 110 calories each. They are small. Two bites worth. And they are incredibly moist and delicious. My guests fell all over themselves eating them.

I could 'afford' two last night for dessert. That was great. But this afternoon, with my friends and husband out of the house, I ate 4!! One right after the other. They were so yummy, I didn't want to stop and so I didn't. I also had them right after lunch, which is sooner than I would have a usual afternoon snack to get me through to dinner. This means I'm probably going to get hungry around 3p or 4p and I won't have the afternoon calories to "spend." Now, I have two choices.

I can either decide I've blown the day and eat four MORE of those little devilish squares, followed by a handful of nuts (to offset all that sweet), followed by a piece of cheese, etc., not stopping until I'm sick and feeling horrible about myself. You get the drill. Or, I can write down the 440 calories those 4 squares "cost" me, adding the number to my daily count and just keep things light this evening for dinner. The latter is what I've done and will do. It's all I really can do if I want to continue to sensibly manage my diet and weight.

By not writing down those extra calories, I would be hiding it from no one but myself. And there really is no hiding because it's going to come out on the bathroom scale and in the clothes I wear. It's important to remember that we all have weaknesses and moments of weakness. That doesn't make us bad people. It simply means we might have to work a little harder at controlling our behavior. But we can get a handle on this. We can control it. We do have a choice. Oh and one more thing to be certain, I'll be giving my guests a care package of squares to take home. That is also a good way to help control further temptation.

No Deprivation, Moderation

The wonderful thing about calorie counting is that you can basically eat anything you want. Nothing is off limits. Of course that's what also brings out its critics. They're afraid you're not smart enough to eat a balanced meal. But it's not that difficult to do. And you'll discover in doing this, that the more healthy variety you have, i.e. vegetables, chicken, pork, the more of it you'll be able to eat and the better you'll feel.

Yes, there is some measuring and counting. But that's really to help you get your portions under control. We have forgotten how much of anything we should eat because over the last 30 years our plates and our portions have grown to ridiculous size.

Looking at your calories for the day as a sort of bank account that you get to write 'food checks' on makes it easy. This diet doesn't say, "no carbs" or "no sugar" or "no fat," although admittedly, cutting down on such foods because they are high in calories, will help. This diet says if you can afford it with the calories you have available, you can eat it! In fact, it's important to eat a reasonable amount of carbs, fats, and sugar, else you will crave what you can't have, setting yourself up for an eventual day (or night) of binging. The body will have what it wants, whether that's bread or chocolate.

Remember, all diets work. They do. Even that awful cabbage soup diet so popular years ago and that all-rice-all-the-time diet I did in my teens. That's because any drastic changes to the body's system for 10-days or 2-weeks will make you drop a few pounds. The problem with fad deprivation diets is that you're not meant to stay on them. And once you're done and have lost the weight you wanted, you go right back to the old habits becuase you didn't learn to make better choices. That's fine if you want to continue doing that awful weight loss and gain see-saw with your body for the rest of your life. I personally don't.

The idea is balance. Moderation in all things serves us best, I believe, and that includes the types and the amounts of food we eat. The good news is that healthy equals more food in the long run.

No Guilt!

We have enough to feel guilty about these days, don't we? Not spending enough time with our families. Not getting enough rest. Not sending out Christmas cards. Egad. Don't let the fact you put an extra helping of potatoes on your plate, do you in.

Don't ever beat yourself up for the food choices you made yesterday or even earlier in the day. It's very easy to decide that because you had a huge slice of

cherry pie at lunch with a girlfriend, you might as well go ahead and blow the rest of the day. Don't fall prey to the tapes in your head that say you're never going to accomplish this. You WILL. You simply have to want it enough to stick with it. And that means every day. It's a battle we are waging. Some days we fail, some days we win. Tomorrow you'll start fresh. Every day you get to say that. A chance to do it better, make it right. How often do we get to do THAT in our lives?

And speaking of pie, if you really, really want it, go ahead and have a small piece. Better that, than eating everything else in the kitchen in an effort to find an alternative. Because you know what happens. There just is no substitute for PIE! You won't be satisfied with anything else you have and then you'll go ahead and eat the pie anyway! So, figure the calorie content of the pie, as best you can, (that's where the calorie counter book comes in,) and write it down on your food list, adding the amount into your daily calorie intake.

What ever you do... if you've had an especially difficult time of it that day, over-indulging in something or everything, allow yourself 5 minutes for a pity party. You failed, yes, you're a horrible, awful, terrible human being, yeah, OK. And then take a deep breath, pick yourself up, and know that you will begin again and do better tomorrow. Guilt, and eating to fill that cavern inside us created by that guilt, is what makes us feel, what?, more guilt! Don't fall into that self-defeating cycle. You really can do this.

Another Word of Encouragement

It was one of those times today when I found myself having to eat out, because I couldn't get by with a nutrition bar, and not wanting to blow my calories for the day. A friend I had agreed to have lunch with wanted to stop at Luby's Cafeteria because they have a good variety of items and no matter your preference, something you like is usually available.


The problem of course, is that Luby's, like most chain eateries, isn't known for their low calorie items. At least they haven't been in the past. I'm pleased to say they now have a small grouping of items listed as The Lighter Side. These items are collected in a nice glossy brochure right there as you get your tray and silverware. Along with listing entrees, sides, salads, etc. they also give some tips on healthy eating.


For my lunch I selected the blackened tilapia for 270 calories, green beans at 92 calories, a roll at 130 and pineapple slices for 48 calories. It all tasted good and I was very satisfied when finished. In fact, I opted for a much lighter dinner this evening because lunch had filled me up!


It's just another sign that more restaurants are beginning to realize people want to know this information. Even if a popular item on the menu contains an obscene amount of calories, like Chili's "Awesome Blossom," (which I hear they're taking off their menu), customers want to know so we can decide for ourselves how much of something we might eat. Perhaps we'll order it anyway? Perhaps we'll make sure to share with 3 other people!


It's all about choice, but we have to have good information to go on. Hang in there.

Next entry: Having no guilt.

Word Of Encouragement

Another difficult thing about weekends is that it's the time of the week we're more likely to eat out, whether it's dinner with our significant others or lunch with friends. But getting distracted and being out all day shouldn't be a reason to let yourself go. Don't forget to write down everything you eat. Even if you don't know how much that Kung Pao Chicken was from your favorite Chinese restaurant, write it down anyway just for your own information. If you're struggling Sunday morning because the scale reports a couple of extra pounds, you'll have a record of the possible reason and maybe next time you have a smaller portion, or perhaps you pick a steak restaurant where you might have some healthier choices.
Remember, you are worth doing this right!