Tuesday's Diet Diary

Hi,

It's late but I did keep a diary of my food yesterday. I just couldn't get on the computer to post it!

Yesterday I did my usual run that I showed a few weeks back. It rained so I wonder if that was why I did the second half slower than the first ... maybe my clothes weighed twice as much!

A friend I haven't seen for a few weeks asked me if I had lost weight yesterday which was nice because she didn't know that I was dieting. It's a definite boost to the esteem when people start to comment.

The reason I decided to keep a diet diary and track the calories was to a) be accountable and b) check that I am keeping to a sensible number of calories. The thing is that when I started this diet I didn't want to get bogged down with calorie counting which I know always makes me obsessive. However, all sensible diets work but creating a deficit between the energy we consume as food and drink and the energy we expend in living, breathing, metabolism, brain activity, moving, exercise etc.. If you eat less calories than you burn you will lose weight.

Many modern types of diet, such as Rosemary Conley and Weight Watchers, are based on giving a plan where the user chooses from a variety of meals or counts points. They might have rules such as maximum percentages of fat or following points but they are basically a calorie controlled diet. The calories have been calculated so that it is simpler to follow and to supply a sensible calorie deficit.

The problem with these kinds of diets is primarily sticking to them because they can be restrictive and/or become boring and followers often hit a plateau.

However, since I have for the most part just stuck to healthy choices and avoided junk I wanted to ensure that my one pound weight loss last week was not due to me eating too many (albeit healthy) calories. What I have done therefore is to write down what I have eaten and then calculated the calories at the end of the day.

Basically, so far this week I have stuck to between 1200 and 1400 calories which is perhaps a little low for my weight. So long as I am not hungry though I guess that my body is okay with it.

If this week my weight loss is still a little meagre then I might push it up a bit, however, it may just be that I'm subconsciously avoiding eating.

I have also been reading about cheating your body into not noticing the calorie deficit to avoid weight loss plateau's. When I've read a bit more about it I'll let you know.

Tuesday's Diary

Breakfast: Branflakes and banana (250kcals)
Lunch: Tomato soup (250kcals)
Dinner: Smoked salmon with salad, avocado and cous cous and oil and vinegar(570 kcals)
Snacks: Nectarine (50kcals) Brioche(135kcals)
Drinks: 5x coffee (50) and 1 1/2 litres of water (better!)

Total: 1305 kcals