Day Eleven

Day Eleven: July 28

Weight: 215.6 or 216.4, depending on what the scale wants to do.

I suppose I shouldn't beat myself up for not having lost more; after all, the whole idea of body love and body acceptance, and intuitive eating, is to eat when I'm hungry and not focus on the numbers. But I can't help but want to get down to below 200 by the time the semester starts...in three weeks.

At this point, that's an unreasonable goal. 5 pounds a week for the next 3 weeks is intense. The thing is, I know it's doable; if I were to follow the meal plan my aerobics instructor gave me (link in the header), I could lose a lot - I lost 8 pounds the first week I followed the plan, and 4 the second week - and that was only because I didn't follow the plan precisely in Week Two.

The way I eat now, I fluctuate; Mostly, I use the plan as a basis to go off of. I eat about 1200-1400 calories per day, exercise at least 4 times a week, and so far this month, I've lost about 3 pounds in ten days. If I keep it up - and maybe was a little more strict about watching my sugar and fat intake - I think I could lose ten pounds this month without having to put myself through too much discomfort.

The thing is, I don't want to think of this as a diet - I want this to be a way to lose weight, while still eating what I want. And that's the way I should be eating.

So what now? Well, number one, find healthy alternatives. I know that I get cravings. I know that sometimes I just feel like I need sugar. But I think as long as I try to find a healthy alternative to ice cream, and not something that just feels like Splenda-flavored frozen milk (like Weight Watchers and Skinny Cow, which really don't satisfy me), I could be on the right path. The slow-churned ice cream, for instance.

I've decided to start a Food Mood Journal, inspired by Christie over at Intuitive Eating: http://www.honormyhealth.com/2010/05/07/food-mood-journal/

Breakfast

• New York bagel: 360 calories, 2 fat
• 2 tbsp cream cheese: 100 calories, 10 fat, 1 sugar
• 1 nectarine: 70 calories, 0.5 fat
• 1 pack gummy fruit snacks: 80 calories, 0 fat, 10 sugar (I think)
• 1 medium coffee - that I drank about 4 oz of: 40 calories, 2 fat, 5 sugar

Lunch

• Smart Ones Pasta Primavera frozen meal (I got lazy with packing my lunch today): 250 calories, 4 fat, 4 sugar
• Cupcake from a bakery downtown: no idea. Probably a lot; there was a lot of really thick frosting.

Dinner

• 1/4 pound cheeseburger: 360 calories, 20 fat (not sure how accurate that is)
• Spinach salad with balsamic vinegar, feta cheese, and mandarin orange slices: 200 calories, 7 fat, 4 sugar (this is an estimate)
• Toblerone piece

Exercise: 650 calories burned on the elliptical, plus 1 hour of weight training