nihilistic_kid can skip this one

[avram]

I found this essay about weight loss through a post in a journal I found through a reply to nihilistic_kid’s rant about what people can stop writing about.

The bit that struck me hardest:

Don't eat crap. There are many short phrases to which my diet plan could be reduced, and this is probably one of the most succinctly comprehensive. I attribute my weight gain mostly to the idle consumption of food that I didn't even particularly enjoy, most of it under the heading of "snacks". Do not eat cookies extruded by factory spigots. Do not eat anything made by applying lard and artificial flavors to reconstituted potatoes. Think at least three times before eating anything that is advertised on television, or that comes in a package that has had more design energy put into it than you would put into leaving a note for the UPS person. If you are doing something so unengrossing that you have to eat while doing it to stave off boredom, go do something else instead.

...especially that last sentence. I get tremendous urges to snack while I’m reading or watching TV or browsing the net. I’ve managed to channel this into relatively healthy snacking recently, but I should still work on controlling this impulse.

Anyway, to help me get a grip on what I’m eating nowadays, here’s a list of what I’ve eaten (and planning to eat) today (with calorie counts):

(Update: I took a closer look at the containers of cottage cheese and yogurt, and it turns out I’d misfigured the amounts, so I’ve edited this.)

Breakfast

lowfat cottage cheese, 5 oz (230)
lowfat yogurt, 5 oz (400)
honey, 1 tbsp (60)
banana, 1 (70)
iced tea, homemade, 16 oz (15)
total calories: 775

Snack

salted pistachio nuts in shells, 4 oz [= 2 oz unshelled] (320)

Lunch

pasta, 3.3 oz (330)
canned pink salmon, 7 oz (315)
peas, 1.5 oz (35)
total calories: 680

Snack

green grapes, 1 cup (114)

Dinner

cucumber, half (20)
cherry tomatoes, 3 (40)
baby portabella mushrooms, 2 (10)
red onion, 1 slice (?)
lettuce, 4 oz (13)
blue cheese crumbles, 1 oz (100)
total calories: 200

Snack

frozen sorbet, 4 oz (130)
total calories for snacks: 564

Total calories for day

2219

OK, 2200 calories isn’t too bad for a man my size. I was worried about the pistachio nuts, but I think I’m OK. I think I’m supposed to try to keep my daily caloric intake to around 2400. According to this page, I’d burn over 3000 calories a day literally just sitting in a chair, and more likely burn over 4000. Hm, no, there’s gotta be something wrong there.

Sometime this week I’ll try cutting lunch down to 2 ounces of pasta and a 4 oz salmon fillet.

Comments

[papersky.livejournal.com]

This is exactly the kind of diet I can't do, it drives me mad and makes me think about food all the time and I keep it up for a little while and then binge on awful things. Just reading that list makes me want fried chicken and chocolate.

But it certainly seems to be working for you.

[avram]

Actually I find myself doing that too. As long as I keep the binges under control it works in the long run. I think. I've been hovering in the low 270s for an awful long time.

But really -- that salmon and pasta thing? It's damn tasty if you get good salmon. I find myself craving it.

And the snacks help a lot. I sometimes toss in an ounce or two of cheese with the grapes. A gourmet food store chain in Manhattan (Garden of Eden) sells containers of random cheese ends, bits left over from their various orders of the day; wonderful. And the sorbet is high-end stuff, not bargain-basement. Making sure your snacks are good snacks goes a long way towards countering feelings of deprivation.