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Last week there were 2 evenings that I went over my limit by about 500 calories or so.  It happened 2 nights in a row and after the second time I began to realize that I was not going to be losing weight anymore if I continued to do this.

It was late, and I was tired.  So, on my  to do list for the next day, I wrote down “spend some time thinking about these last two evenings”.  I wrote it down, I would not forget.  This is a really good practice to follow.   And it helped me sleep better that night.

The next day I set aside a good amount of time to just think the whole thing over.  I have come to understand that there is an analytical element to calorie counting.  So I began; Why was I doing this?  Was I bored, no.  Was I anxious or angry, no.  Was I stressed, not really. Was I hungry, yes.  Why was I hungry? Because I was staying up really late, both nights, and I had simply run out of fuel. So how can I prevent this from happening again?  Go to bed earlier. Or save some calories for late in the night.  Either would work!

It’s really good to think things through.  Be the boss over your unruly child. Take charge of your calorie counting situation, with confidence and determination. That little exercise pretty much nipped the whole problem in the bud.  And to my delight, this morning for my weekly weigh-in, I had lost 1 – 1/4#.  This is the stuff that makes calorie counting doable for a lifetime.

I have chosen calorie counting, as my way of controlling how much I eat.  If I’m not eating with some kind of control, then I am eating out of control.  And I really don’t want to do that anymore.

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On almost any diet I have ever done, I found it pretty hard to have a nice big steak. So many calories, I thought.  Since calorie counting is my lifetime plan, I approach things like steaks, quite differently now. After all, I want to have steak in my life.  So I better learn how to make it work with calorie counting.

Tonight, we grilled some mouth-watering rib eyes!  They were quite large, we got them from Sam’s Club.  About an inch thick. At first I thought, I would just have steak and nothing else.  Then I thought, we won’t do this too often. So I just won’t bother with calorie counting tonight.  Finally I realized that I have a great little electronic digital scale.  And I could weigh out my meal in nothing flat.

I had saved up my calories almost all day in anticipation of our meal. I decided that I would eat my whole steak, not just half.  And I would have all the trimmings.  So my plan was to weigh my meal and enjoy it.  I would look up my totals afterward. I was not sure exactly what I was getting myself into, and I decided that if I went over, I would deal with it.

So I got the potatoes ready and Glenn brought in the steaks.  Here is how I weighed out my meal:

1. I got out a clean plate, set it on my scale and turned it on.  The scale set to 0, and I set it to measure in grams.
2. I cut the end off of my steak, to give to Valentine, my dog.
3. I lay my portion on the clean plate and with pen and paper handy, I quickly jotted down the number on the scale.  Then I tared the scale, which set it back to 0.
4. I left my steak on the plate and added my potato, wrote down the number, and tared the scale again.
5. I dipped up an enjoyable amount of butter, wrote down the number, and tared the scale.
6. I added a nice dollop of sour cream, wrote down the number.
7. Then I put my dog’s piece on my plate.

It probably took a total of about 1 minute to do all that.  And now I had the valuable information I needed to see what it all came up to.

I sat the numbers aside and enjoyed my nice, warm meal.  It was delicious, and so satisfying!  I cut my dog a portion into very small pieces, so that I would not get it mixed up with mine.  And I just dropped her a little piece on the floor every so often.  We all ate together 🙂 Afterwards, I did my calculations.

I went to Google and typed in “beef”.  They have fabulous nutrition information, right there on the search page.  They had a way to count rib eye and I was able to get a very close idea of the calories in my steak.  I followed by typing “potato”, “butter”, and “sour cream” into Google.  I had numbers listed by grams for everything I ate and I was able to know exactly how many calories I had consumed.

It turned out to be about 840.  Not bad at all!  I actually have calories left over tonight. I’ll eat some veges and fruit, as to get my requirement of fiber.  I’ll have to take a small calcium pill, in order to get enough for the day. Of course, I have plenty of protein.  I will still have almost 400 calories left, and I think I will have a Snickers and Dr. Pepper.

I love calorie counting!  It is a wonderful way to undo that old diet mentality, and learn how to eat again!  If you are in the market for an electronic, digital food scale, I can get you one of premium quality, at a fair price.  Just comment on this story and let me know.

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Last night I had a hard time sleeping and stayed up very late.  After awhile I got physically hungry, but I had no calories left, and I found myself craving all kinds of rich foods.  

I did ok by just ignoring the cravings for awhile.  And to help with the hunger, I ate a can of sliced beets. I really like beets.  The pickled variety contains a lot of sugar, but these were just plain sliced beets. They are a relatively low calorie vegetable, loaded with good nutrition.  For that reason, I did not worry about the few calories that they do contain.  Eating them helped my hunger pangs.  But I was working on technical stuff, and some things were not going my way. That added a little stress to the equation, so the cravings returned with a vengeance.

I started zeroing in on all the good things we have to eat in the house and my focus settled on the Fritoes Scoops and a small amount of Hot Bean Dip that was left in the fridge.  Again, I had no calories left for that at all and after the beets, I can’t say that I was really, physically hungry anymore.  Still, they were calling my name.  I almost got them out and ate them, but mentally, I was trying to talk myself out of it.

Finally, I like to think I took the leadership role with my inner child. First I said, “Ok, just go stretch out on the couch and think about this for a few minutes”.  That was a really helpful tactic.  Because while I was lying there, I thought of things like, what all I had eaten that day, and how I have already lost 11 – 1/4#, and how I wanted to see a loss on the scale tomorrow morning,…  So it refreshed me a little and kind of balanced my mood.  Then I said, “Ok, you can have the fritoes and bean dip in the morning.  Right now, have a glass of tea, and in the morning, have the fritoes and bean dip for breakfast”.

Interestingly, this few minutes of rest allowed me some time to settle down, so pretty soon after that, I just got up and quickly cleaned the kitchen.  Then I went to bed.

The adult in me did prevail.  And the scale showed a 1/4# loss this morning, which I am very happy about!  For breakfast, I enjoyed Fritoes Scoops and Hot Bean Dip 🙂  I suppose I could have bribed my inner child if I had needed to.  “Put this off until morning and you can order a book from Amazon”. Something like that. Whatever works!!

Calorie counting requires a little bit of self-discipline from time to time. Sometimes you just have to gently put your foot down and be your own good parent.  I’m beginning to realize, it is important to love and care for yourself as you would, your own child.

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