Calorie Counting in Wisconsin

Today is day #100 of my “Average Advantage” diet. Reaching this day is monumental. I have been tempted too often to indulge my hunger in gluttonous ways. A few times a week I still awake midway through the night with hunger pangs. I’m guessing all of us who diet experience that. I still resort to eating my 4-minute crackers, and somehow Betsie always knows I’m doing so and she joins me for her share. I suppose that means I'm actually eating 7 calories fewer than I'm counting.

My most recent weigh-in of May 6 showed a weight loss of 22 pounds, but that was 11 days ago. Going by my average weight loss of one pound every four days, it is likely that I now have lost close to 25 pounds. My average calorie count as of yesterday is 1555 per day. It jumped up after a Mother's Day buffet, but it is slowly going down again. 

Yesterday I went to a meeting of one of my art groups, and people who had not seen me for a while noted that I lost weight. My shirts and pants are looking a bit baggy. That makes me feel good. I gave my art buddies my blog address. I’m also taking my older, smaller clothing out of storage because I’ll be able to wear it again soon! (I’m not a fashion maven.) To show you the power of positive thinking, I’ve been holding on to smaller clothing that I have not worn for decades, thinking that some day I would lose the weight I packed on. Now I can look retro right out of my storage boxes.

One might feel that it’s useless to count calories since various sources report different calorie counts on the same foods. However, you need to make a decision on which you will follow and then stick to it rather than change the count according to your feelings. An example is skim milk. That’s the only kind I’ve drunk for several decades and at this point, even 1% milk is too rich for my taste.

• On most of my boxes of dry cereal, ½ cup of skim milk is valued at 40 calories, making it 80 calories a cup.   
• The skim milk I buy from a Wisconsin-based gas station, Kwik Trip, is valued at 90 calories a cup.
• Another milk distributor values it at 100 calories a cup.
• The Nutrition Facts reference book values skim milk at 86 calories a cup.
• Caloriecounter.com values skim milk at 83 calories a cup, and so does newcaloriecounter.com.
• Various other web sources value skim milk at 85.75 calories, 90 calories, 91 calories, etc., per cup.

So, should you count the calories according to whichever you feel like counting for the day? That would increase insecurities about the inaccuracy of your daily totals. I simply always count skim milk as having 100 calories a cup, no matter which brand I drink. Although that is a relatively small overestimation, I would much rather overestimate than underestimate my calories. I think that makes it seem like I’m losing too much weight—I’m probably eating fewer calories than I am accounting for.

Another thing you’ll notice is when a calorie counter gives you three different counts for the same food, as when you see that pears are graded as small, medium, or large, with mildly differing counts. You may feel confused by the size of the pear, so it may be good to just go for the medium count in any case. It will even out in the end. That’s the “Average Advantage” again. However, if you feel that overestimating is the way to go, always use the largest calorie count. There is a definite advantage to that as well. 

According to the calendar, spring has been here for nearly two months. Even my bulbs are saying it's here; nevertheless, the last two nights have seen frost, and I've had to take many potted plants back into the house for frost-free nights.

The Four-Minute Cracker

Last night I awoke with tummy growlings. I needed something to stifle them. I had consumed only 1390 calories during the day. On the headboard/bookcase I keep a package of crackers that I open when I get these growlings. I don't want to eat the crackers suddenly. Frankly, I could put a cracker in my mouth and give it a couple of gnashes, destroying it in seconds and swallowing it. I would barely taste it AND it would not give me much satisfaction. I would probably dig a handful out of the package and might eat 15-20 crackers that way before I'd no longer feel the hunger pangs. 

I awake hungry during the night about three times a week. Rather than wolf down the crackers, I eat one tiny bit at a time. I practice "mindful eating" (after the book by the same name, authored by Jan Chozen Bays, MD) while I eat the cracker. With each bite, 

• I control my impulse to quickly swallow it; 
• I feel the crunch;
• I roll the cracker between my tongue and my upper palate while thinking of the texture;
• I taste the saltiness;
• I feel the crunchy texture slowly moistening and softening;
• I think about the reason I am eating the cracker;
• I feel the hunger slowly subsiding with each bit of cracker;
• I think about the process of making a cracker (and about the recipe for crackers that I found on a website--maybe I'll begin making  my own herbed crackers when I finish my current box of crackers);
• I think about the people who made the cracker;
• I think about the little bit of nutrition I get with each bite;
• I wonder about the fat and sugar that may be in the cracker, and I remind myself to check the box next day;
• I think about why I am eating in bed at 3 AM; and
• I wonder how many tiny bites I'll take before the cracker is finished.

During this process, little Betsey, my son's 7-pound adult Manx cat, is posted at my right shoulder, staring at my eyes quietly. She's asking for a piece of cracker. She's a silly little thing. I'll give her the next tiny bit and she'll eat it much more quickly than I ate mine. She does not practice mindful eating.

By the time we finish just one cracker, four minutes have elapsed. I wait a moment, then begin my next four-minute cracker. I may challenge myself, trying for a five-minute cracker, but I fail. By the time I am finished, I've eaten 2 1/2 crackers and Betsey has eaten 1/2 cracker. I remind myself to count the calories in 2 1/2 crackers in my next calorie total. I hope that the cat-lovers of the world will not berate me for giving a cat crackers.

I practice mindful eating during my meals too, but not to this extent. If I did so, meals would all go cold after the first half-hour of such mindfulness. By the time I would finish one meal, it would be time for the next.