I suppose this will elicit a big "duh" from most of you, but it finally occured to me why there's value in counting calories. I typically have shied away from diets that required keeping track of calories, preferring either "prepackaged" foods, counting points, looking at fat content, etc. So these last two weeks have been an education for me as I've had to be conscious about how many calories I'm ingesting. First of all, as I mentioned before, there's virtually nothing on any restaurant menu that is less than 300 calories. So I've learned that I'm just going to have to go prepared to work to have lunches and even breakfast in the office and keeping low calorie snacks on hand.
But the one thing I discovered after reading some blog materials that shared the number of calories in various food items and also researching restaurant websites on my own - the thought of ingesting more than 300 calories at a time is no longer appealing to me. When watching commericals on television related to food, and seeing all the tantalizing dishes being waved in front of your face, now instead of doing the "ooh and aah -I want that!" mantra, I find myself saying "Jeez, can you imagine how many calories are in that?" I actually am finding that I'm turned off by the food products I see in front of me that are likely laden with both fat and calories. I find that instead, I enjoy rising to the challenge of finding something for 300 calories that I can eat and feel somewhat satisfied.
So now, I've got some kind of "trigger" that helps prevent me from eating a lot of calories, just because of that new level of awareness I have. I suppose this is something I should've "gotten" years ago, and likely I wouldn't be in the state I'm in now if I had understood this fairly simple principle sooner, but - it's better late than never! I think this will make my current goals a little easier to attain. We'll see.
This week was a good week in that I was in some challenging situations that I managed to handle quite nicely. We ordered pizza one night and I was able to eat only one slice and be happy with that. Had some salad along with it. Had an unexpected lunch invitation with friends on Wednesday, and they wanted to go to a Thai restaurant. Yeesh - I love me some chicken or tofu pad thai, but know how much oil they cook it in and know I can't go anywhere near it. Fortunately they had a nice tossed salad with curried chicken strips and a typical Thai peanut sauce. I kept the sauce on the side and just occasionally dipped the chicken strips in it, just enough for a taste. I felt very virtuous that day.
Challenges
My only real challenge right now I think is the exercise part. I did take my grandson for a walk in the park the other day, and at least once this week I've done the Wii Fit and Wii Boxing. But I'm having a lot of aches and pains and it's getting very hard to do the exercise. It was all I could do to walk a 1/2 mile, maybe a mile loop with the grandson, and yesterday I tried lifting 5 lb. weights and could barely get my arms up - couldn't even get my extended arm up to shoulder level with the weights. My right hip and leg have been aching like crazy as well. I don't know if these aches and pains and difficulty lifting are symptoms of being so out of shape, symptoms of age, if there's something "wrong" with me health wise, or if it's because I have been doing a little more activity than I've been used to. But it's a little concerning and I'll be keeping track of all of that to see if I need to see my doctor.
Speaking of Wii Fit, though, I forgot to mention in my first blog about Wii Fit about the "fitness age" feature. After the system takes your weight, determines your BMI and puts you through a few balance exercises, it gives you your "fit" age - as in how old your body really is. I shouldn't admit it here, but honest to God it told me that I have the body of a 75 year old! Twenty years older than I really am! Maybe that's why I have all the aches and pains! The Veema better be kicking in soon!
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