Sometimes I count calories. Not for days or weeks at a time. Just every once in a while for a single day, but not all day. At one particular moment in the day I'll think through all of the food I've eaten and tally up the calories in my mind. It isn't particularly accurate (looking up calorie counts for food online is also not very accurate unless you eat a lot of processed, packaged foods, which I don't) and so I pad the calorie count for each item, just to make sure.
There's one significant difference between when I count calories and when other people count calories.
It is common in our society to count calories for the purpose of food restriction.
I count calories so I know how many I've got coming.
For example:
It's been a long day, I've been frazzled and stressed and haven't managed to accomplish anything at work despite being so focused that I don't get in much eating. Let's say on this day I also happen to have dinner plans with a friend. The work day ends. I close my computer and run upstairs to change. (Since I work from home, anytime I step out of the house I need to dress up a little; snowflake pj pants aren't appropriate for dinner outings). As I'm changing I tally up my calories for the day. Half a yogurt, a small apple, some carrot sticks, a piece of bread, a peanut butter spoon, a small salad, a chocolate chip cookie dough ball: 45, 80, 50, 100, 100, 100, 100 = 575 calories for the day. If we're assuming I eat a diet of 1600–1800 calories a day, I've got over a thousand to consume before the day's over. And then I get really excited about dinner.
Don't worry. I've got this.
No comments:
Post a Comment