Weighty Matters

I have been watching the scale creep steadily upward over the past few months. I’m not sure how it happened. I don’t feel like my eating habits have changed much in the past year. I have a small bowl of oatmeal every morning for breakfast, bring lunch to work in the form of a small sandwich or salad, dinner is put together out of chicken and veggies. Why is the weight still coming? Granted, I do have a sweet tooth but I don’t see how that alone is causing so much weight gain.

I started running almost two months ago and then had to stop one month ago due to biopsy and surgery. I’m finally getting my energy back and want to start walking in the evenings. Eventually I’ll work up to running again. Right now I’m in pain after just four hours of work and need to recline for at least an equal amount of time for the pain to stop. I’m limited in the amount of weight I am approved to lift – no more than 20 pounds until six weeks post-op.

Blah.

With being so limited in my activities right now, the only thing I can do is moderate my eating. I’m on a strict 1200 calories a day diet, with the plan to drop by 100-calorie increments until the weight starts coming off. My mom shared with me that she has to eat 1000 calories a day or less to lose weight along with light exercise like walking. I’m hoping that the additional 3 inches I have on her will give me those extra 200 calories. We’ll see.

I’m a creature of habit, at least when I’m preparing meals for work. It helps me to know exactly how many calories I eat during the day so I can budget appropriately for dinner. Here’s what my work days look like this week:

Breakfast: 150 Calories

·         1/3 C (uncooked measure) Quick Oats, made water:  100 cal

·         1 TBSP Brown Sugar: 50 cal

Lunch: 290 Calories

·         1 Slice Pepperidge Farms Whole Grain Oatmeal Bread: 100 cal

·         1 TBSP Palmetto Cheese: 70 cal

·         3oz Boar’s Head London Port Roast Beef: 120 cal

·         (or 3oz Boar’s Head Ever Roast Chicken: 75 cal)

·         1 Stalk Celery: N/A

Snacks: 50 to 100 each

·         Daily, Fresh Fruit: est. 50 cal

·         Optional, 4oz Bolthouse Farms Protein+ Iced Coffee: 95 cal

·         Optional, 4oz Bolthouse Farms POG Juice: 85 cal

Even if I pick one of my optional snacks, I still have 600 calories to spend on dinner and dessert. Boo-yah!

We eat dinner early most nights, usually sitting down at the table by 6pm. I’ve been trying to cut off my eating and switch to only water by 8pm.

Monday’s Dinner: 426 Calories

·         3oz Steak: 174 cal

·         1/2C Kale sautéed with red pepper flakes: 25 cal

·         4oz Sweet Potato medallions, grilled: 98 cal

·         1oz Fresh Corn, roasted: 24 cal

·         1 TBSP EVOO ingested: 30 cal

·         2oz Broccoli Slaw with 1.5 tsp Fuji Apple Dressing: 50 cal

Tuesday’s Dinner: 450 Calories

·         Cauliflower Kale Soup with Brie: 250 Calories

·         Bush Biscuit: 200 Calories (I would like to note that I had NO IDEA how many calories were in that biscuit until after I ate it. GAH!)

Wednesday’s Dinner: 400 Calories

·         Hot Italian Turkey Sausage: 150 Calories

·         Onions, Peppers, Garlic, and Tomatoes, Roasted: 100 Calories

·         1T White Wine, 2T Broth: 20 Calories

·         1/2C Enriched Whole Wheat Penne Pasta: 100 Calories

·         1 TBSP EVOO ingested: 30 cal

All in all, it’s not bad. If I keep dinner at or below 500 calories then I can have at least 100 calories for dessert.  Hott.

So, there you go. I’m going to sit at 1200 calories for two weeks and see how it goes. If the scale doesn’t go down, we’ll move to 1100 and then 1000. I can’t guarantee what exercise will make it in, only that I will try to move my body every day (besides my work hours).

This has got to stop.