Philosophy

So, now what? I've decided to write down everything I'm putting into my mouth (except coffee...) for two weeks. For this time period, I won't set any calorie goals. I know I should be eating around 1800 calories a day for weight loss (while fully nursing), and I'm sure I'm eating way more than that... so I want to see it visually. From a reputable company online, I figured that for my height and frame, I should be consuming about 1600 calories a day (I'm adding 200 for nursing), 340 of which should be fat calories = approximately 40 grams of fat a day. I remember from reading Atkins that the low-carb diet maintenance should be 60 carbs or fewer a day. I thought I'd track both of those in addition to calories.

In addition to that, I'm aiming to steer away from artificial sweetners, especially since whatever goes in my body will be going to Price. Plus, all that diet food costs more for fewer calories...doesn't seem like very good stewardship to me! Why should I pay $1 more to buy bread that is 40 cal a slice rather than 80, and then consume two pieces of it instead of one? Why consume 8 oz of artifically sweetened yogurt, when I could eat 4 oz of regular for the same amount of calories? I know, I know, its image! It looks like more so that I don't feel like I'm depriving myself. BUT, I don't want to keep kidding myself... I want to learn how to listen to my stomach and have that stomach communicate with my brain, and develop self-control. It's much more than just losing weight, its learning to know myself.

What are my weak points? Diet soda... Chocolate... stopping myself from eating if it's in the house! If I don't buy it, I can't eat it, right? Well, if there isn't chocolate in my house... I'll make toast, or eat a banana, or make a milkshake, or whatever. Sounds ok, except that I'm usually not hungry when I eat it. And because I'm not good at portion control, I never know when I should stop. I eat until something's gone or I feel sick. I need to remember to eat slowly... it took me 25 minutes to feel full at lunch today, and that was when I ate my last of 4 ounces of strawberries! That worked out well.

Fruits are my strong point. I love fruit! I need to maximize fresh fruit for calories, but it is so expensive!

I'm not sure if I should treat myself to a piece of dark chocolate a day or not.... I love it, but I think I'd end up eating the whole bar (like I've done in the past) if I have it in my house!