Oh Those Holiday Temptations

Yesterday was Memorial Day. I didn't blog, but oh did I eat.

I stepped on the scale in the morning weighing in at 201 pounds. Just before noon I stepped on the scale again at 199.6-pounds. This was the weight I weighed even after having eaten breakfast. So I am flirting with the 200-pound limit still.

About a week ago I blogged that I would now rocket down to 190-pounds. I couldn't have been more wrong. This is tougher than I thought that it was going to be.

This morning I stepped on the scale weighing in at 201 pounds.

Now, I suspect that this is yesterday's dinner waiting to make it's exit. We shall see.

Yesterday's menu was a disaster for my weight loss program. I went to a friend's house and they were barbecuing. I ate more than I really needed to. Oh it was all very good food. It's just what would I look like if I ate like that everyday? I would be back up at 240 pounds in no time at all.

This is the menu for yesterday:

In the morning:

• Fish-two breaded (290 calories)

At noon:

• Cottage Cheese (110 calories)
• Eggs-two boiled (140 calories)

Around 3 O'clock:

• Steak-7 ounce (440 calories)
• Bratwurst-2 ounce (256 calories)
• Chicken Breast-Whole breast (472 calories)
• Macaroni Salad-about one cup (200 calories)
• Brownie-1 1/2 pieces (180 calories)
• Chocolate Cake-two small slices (500 calories)
• Fruit Salad (150 calories)
• Tea with honey-tablespoon (60 calories)

Total intake for this holiday 2,788 calories.

The difference to my 1,500 calorie goal was 1,288 calories. That's almost one day's worth of food there for me.

Well, I certainly think this delays me getting under 200 pounds and then staying there. But, the food was good.

As I wrote before, how long do I think that I can eat like this and not regain all the weight that I have fought so hard to get off? It would all come back on with a vengeance. I would regain everything and then some more.

The Holidays Are Hard For Weight Watching
I'm not saying oh I want sympathy. But, I can certainly understand why we struggle to keep the weight off.

Everyone I know thinks the holidays are a time for celebration. These are the day's we can indulge and act irresponsibly. I know, this is what someone was telling me yesterday.

Here is the problem with this kind of thinking. We already overindulge ourselves everyday of the year. This is why we are becoming a nation of fat people.

The Holidays become a day of extra overindulgence. We just double our efforts that's all. We double our over consumption.

The Friends And Their Temptations
My friend was sneaking brownies off of a plate on a kitchen counter and he offered me one. I said I will take a small chunk. Well, I took the small chunk and ate it.

It was a delicious little morsel of food. That little chunk turned out to be 50 calories. Before the day was done I ate one whole brownie myself. That wasn't so bad until I had the chocolate cake to go with it. Then together I estimate I consumed 680 calories. Maybe I had more than that. I had no way to measure what I ate. I just guessed at how many calories I actually consumed.

This is where we all run into trouble. We aren't aware of what it is that we are eating. Then we all wonder why we blow up like balloons.

There was a woman at this back yard barbecue. She saw me writing down what I ate. She said some doctor said that we shouldn't deprive ourselves on holidays. She told me to stop counting the calories. She also told me to throw away the piece of paper that I wrote what I ate on.

Now, it's people like this we need to ignore. I want to lose weight, and not killing myself to do it. I need to know what it was that I ate.

I can't afford to listen to people who think that they know better than me what I should do. You can't either.

Now this woman that I was sitting in front of admitted to me she was 40 pounds more than she should be. ........... What?............ She's giving me weight loss advice?

Be nice to people like this. Be polite, but don't listen to a thing they have to say when it pertains to your goals to lose weight. Let people's helpful suggestions roll off you like water off a duck's back.

Here is why, their suggestions are just foolish nonsense. Some people think they are actually being wise, but they have absolutely no idea how you or I got fat in the first place.

They weren't there at the last holiday when we thought we could get away with two ice cream bars, half the pizza, and twenty pieces of hard candy.

They weren't there when the last helpful friend was suggesting stop counting calories.

Did I write fat? Yes I did. I get tired of these people. You should too. With friends like this who needs an enemy?

Understand Why You Are Preponderant
There is only one way that you and I can figure out why we are so preponderant. This is why we write down everything that we consume. We need to diagnose our food consumption.

If I listened to this woman and threw out the paper that I wrote on I would be missing a key component of my diagnostic tool for weight loss.

I would be blind as to how I could change what I need to change. This is why I tell people to write down what it is they are eating.

I say get into the habit of writing down everything that we eat. This includes counting those little packets of sugar that we toss into our morning coffee. After all sugar is 30 calories a teaspoon full. The calories add up.

If I were to ignore what I am eating and tried to guess what I am eating meal to meal, eventually I would mess up and regain all the weight again.

I can't remember anymore what I ate. I don't ever try. This is why I write down every thing that I eat.

I am reminding myself if I ate when I am getting hungry. I am diagnosing my food consumption. I am pre-planning my food strategy.

I am not just shooting into the dark with my food consumption and then hoping I hit my target or that my metabolism will be high enough to burn off the extra fat.

If by chance someone is reading this blog and you want to lose weight, you have to start writing down what you are eating.

You have to have a written record of what it is that you ate. I do. It's helping me.

Bye for now...