Counting Calories

I keep saying this; over and over and over again, I need to log what I eat! When I log it, I lose weight. Why? Because I'm eating too much if I'm not paying attention? NO!!!!

 

I still have a hard time believing that I need to eat MORE if I want to lose weight right. I found a website last night that helps to explain how metabolism works and what the minimum calories you should consume are http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

The absolute minimum calories I should eat on a daily basis is 1600. Today, I wrote everything down:

 

Hash brown =140

2 eggs = 150

Olive Oil = 120

Coffee (w/cream & sugar) = 30

Breakfast total = 440

 

4 oz. ground beef = 240

Sloppy Joe mix = 80

Hot dog bun = 110

Cheese = 60

Lunch total = 470

 

Apple = 80

Peanut Butter = 190

Snack total = 270

 

Normally I would have a salad in the evening and call it good. Maybe add in another 60 calories for coffee throughout the day. That would be a maximum of 200 more calories. This brings me to a grand total of 1380 calories for the day! And that's a big eating day. A normal day would have started with a bowl of oatmeal or cheerios, at a mere 120 calories, and a 100 calorie yogurt. However, we were all hungry when we got home from church tonight, so I cooked us all food.

 

Hamburger Patty = 150

Egg = 75

Hash brown = 140

Cheese = 30

Pineapple = 40

Dinner total = 435

This brought my daily total up and over the 1600 calorie minimum! I reached a whopping 1615 calories eating all that food! Tack on the coffee and I get to 1675. Granted, I did not eat right today. There is way too much protein on the list, and there were no dairy or vegetables. This is not a typical eating day for me. I normally would have consumed far more veggies and at least 2 servings of dairy. I don't normally eat nearly that much meat. A normal day's calorie count would have been much lower. It would have been around 250 for breakfast, 450 for dinner, 80 for a snack, and 150 for a salad, bringing me in at about 1000 calories. When, oh when will I learn?????