The Funny Thing About Calorie Tracking…
I’ve been reading this book called Intuitive Eating, which, if you’ve read other “healthy living” blogs, you’ve probably heard of. It’s a great book about why dieting doesn’t work, and has tips and encouragement on listening to your body. It’s about allowing yourself to eat anything you want when you want it, and not restricting your diet.
And that’s such a cool concept… except when it doesn’t work.
I was surprised with all the comments on Wednesday’s post, to hear how many other people track their calories/food. Honestly, it made me feel a little less crazy for being so into this calorie tracking thing. It’s something I’ve done on and off. I’ve tried the whole “intuitive eating” thing… and I love the concept. I think it can work for a lot of people. But some of us just love food a little too much, healthy food or not.
So now that I’m back on the calorie tracking, I can already identify where some not-so-great-habits slipped in. Those multiple glasses of wine while watching tv, the endless handfuls of granola as I walked into the kitchen, the extra snacks I eat at my desk, because they’re there, not because I’m hungry… it all starts to add up.
Maybe one day I’ll fall into that intuitive eating thing. I honestly do think it’s a great idea, and I think it’s fantastic that there are so many people that can actually be trusted around a giant bag of granola, I just have to accept that I’m not one of them. And that’s ok.
As part of the Get Well Challenge, we had a “Goal Setting” session last night, and I outlined a few goals.
Get Well Challenge Goals
- Get back to my “fighting weight” 😉 (I’d rather not talk numbers on here!)
- Take at least one group fitness class each week (I push myself way more in those classes!)
- Track my calories/protein/etc. every day and learn what foods give me the most energy
We have weekly weigh-ins at the Advanced Wellness Center, so that should help keep me motivated! I plan on using the Livestrong/Daily Plate App to track my calories. I’ve played around with SparkPeople and MyFitnessPal (which I know a lot of you love!) but for some reason, I always end up going back to The Daily Plate!
Phew. Now enough of that heavy stuff. What are some of the calories I’ve been counting loving?
These pickles that I picked up at the Carytown Farmer’s Market on Sunday. Not only were the guys selling them super nice, these pickles are freaking amazing. Maybe as good as the ones I had from the Magna Carta Food Truck. Maybe.
Oh yeah and this pizza was amazing. Be proud that I stopped myself after one slice.
Flames 231 deserves a whole restaurant review. But I’ll save that for another time…
First thing first: I need those pickles.
Secondly, I use MyFitnessPal and even though a lot of times the multiple spoonfuls of peanut butter I eat every night don’t make it into the tracker, it keeps me on course throughout the day, with calcium and protein and water consumption.
Intuitive eating is a great concept, and for the most part I eat what my body craves…but I also have a crazy mental calorie counter in my brain (I think most girls do, sad to say) so I tend to know how much I am consuming.
I was just at the gym the other day when one of the trainers and I got to talking…she told me that she noticed I’d lost some weight and asked what I’d been doing…at first, I felt silly saying that I had started to count calories, but she immediately responded with “I know, I should do the same!” Like you, I love the “idea” of intuitive eating, but it just doesn’t really work for me. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely do my best to listen to my body’s hunger cues and cravings (especially after my chocolate chip fiasco), but by tracking my calories AND my portions, I’m able to trust myself around snacky things like chips, granola, and chocolate chips! 😉
My main goal right now is to build muscle. I’ve lost the weight I wanted, but now I just want to tone up…and get biceps like (Sprint 2 the Table) Laura’s! Lol
I do not know how you were able to stop at just one slice. That alone deserves an award 🙂