The Average Advantage

If I ever write a book based on this blogspot and this diet, I will name it The Average Advantage. It is just so. Averaging my caloric intake day by day keeps me feeling positive about the diet, and I think we all know how important it is to continue feeling positive about what dieting does to us emotionally.

If I did not figure out the average every day, I would focus on the daily calorie totals. I might even be thinking of a caloric maximum goal for myself, such a 1500 calories. Then, on days when I would go over that total, (knowing myself) I would say such things as:  I failed; I really messed up this time; this diet isn’t going to work; I’m so weak; it’s no use; I’m giving up; I may as well eat all I want, because I’ll never stick to any diet; it’s better to enjoy all the food I love, since I’m going to die fat and sick anyway. However, when I go through my daily morning routine, I see that the average has not moved very much. In fact, as the total number of days of my diet increase, the average tends to stay within a few points. This is a “growing” fact; now that I’ve concluded day 79, I must have either 80 calories more or 80 calories less than the previous average in order for it to move up or down by just one calorie! And you can’t feel discouraged by that tiny amount.

To illustrate, on day 60 my average was 1548 calories (although the total calories on that day was 1477). On the next day, I went to a restaurant buffet and pigged out, bringing my daily total to 2101 calories. Ordinarily that would worry and discourage me. However, when I figured out my 61-day average, it was only 1557. That’s nothing to worry or discourage me! Furthermore, on day 62 I ate only 1456 calories, bringing my average down again, to 1555. That’s how the averaging works. On day 79, my average was 1544. I worked it down by having fewer than 1544 calories several times between days 61 and 79. It’s not difficult at all!

Another “average” thing is infrequency of weigh-ins. I’ve been averaging about 22 days between weigh-ins. In the past I’ve been discouraged when weighing myself almost daily. You know how diets are. Sometimes you’ll lose two pounds between frequent weigh-ins, and other times you lose not an ounce. Once in a while you’ll even gain weight. That can make you feel pretty bad. However, if you weigh in about every 22 days, you’ll find you’ve lost an amount that makes you feel pretty good. Then you can run an average on that weight loss, figuring it from the beginning of your diet. I’m still averaging about a one-pound weight loss every four days. This diet is very good for me emotionally as well as physically.

Next time I write an entry, I will give you another recipe. It’s all vegetables, filling, and very low in calories. In fact, it’s a vegan recipe I invented while my vegetarian son visited over the holiday weekend. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Tonight I ate two Girl Scout cookies and I don't feel bad about that. My calorie count for the day is still under my average! 

The Magnificent Cold Potato

Potatoes have long been my favorite food. I enjoy them most mashed, then baked, as French fries, hash browns, pancakes, scalloped, kugelis (with bacon and sour cream--oh my!), in casseroles, potato salads, and just about any other way. But all these methods add more calories. I don't need that. That leaves me with another way I've always enjoyed potatoes. It's a way that adds not a single calorie to the potato. From the title of this entry, no doubt you have guessed this way.

Boil the potato in its skin. Cool it off; they are okay refrigerated but most flavorful at room temperature. Keep the skin on; it's loaded with fiber. Cut the potato into small slices and eat it slowly in order to prolong the pleasure. Salt lightly if you wish, and savor the saltiness combined with a sort of sweetness that you would not expect in a lowly cold potato. It's a treat you will want often, especially when you need a small snack. And think of this: it has only a few more calories than an ordinary cookie. Yet, think of the nutrition you are absorbing; think of how it will satisfy your hunger much more than a cookie would. It is truly a magnificent food. 

Oh, and by the way, it's a very CHEAP treat/food too. You can't argue with that!

The lowly potato is a worthy diet food. Its history goes back 7,000 to 10,000 years. See its story at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato.

Today I saw my cancer doctor. He gave me a very good report and said I don't have to see him again for a year. I'm due to see my cancer surgeon soon, though, and get a mammogram on both sides.

I weighed in at the doctor. I've lost 18 pounds, so I'm still losing at a rate of one pound every four days. I finished a painting of the aurora borealis a couple of days ago. I'm painting five signs for my garden club's plant sale in May. Also began a new painting of the Mississippi River and surrounding bluffs last night. I'm so glad art is in my life again. I missed it. I need it.

The 2,236 Calorie Buffet

On Sunday, March 20, 2011, while celebrating the Vernal Equinox, my youngest son and I went to a restaurant that was, for us, new. It's in a small town about 12 miles north of the smallish town we live in. I had purchased a $30 coupon for the restaurant for only $9 and, well, I HAD to use it or lose it! We went to the Sunday brunch buffet. Do I sense an "Oh, oh"? My fear was not great because I felt confident in my method of averaging.

I expected to give myself a food treat on occasion, and realized that it would throw off my average. But here's the fact: It wasn't thrown off much at all. Because I ate 1 french toast; 3 breakfast links; 1 slice of bacon; a large serving of cooked vegetables; a small serving of mashed potatoes with a bit of gravy; mixed fruits; 2 pieces of chicken; a slice of ham; 1/2 a cinnamon roll; a serving of carrots; an average slice of lasagna; vinegar-dressed cole slaw; a small cheese sweet roll, and 2 servings of scrambled eggs; my calorie total for one meal came to 2,236. That added with the 361 calories I had already eaten came to a grand total of 2,647 calories. That sounds very bad, and it gives you an idea of what I actually used to eat before I started my diet.

A look at my calendar entry for the day reveals that my brunch buffet excess has not irreparably ruined my diet; in fact, it was easy to bounce back today.

+ 2697= [I add to this my previous 41 days' total calories]

65,803 / 42 =

1567 [the average daily caloric intake over the 42 days of my dieting]

(81,606 ) [the calories I would have eaten for maintenance in 42 days of not dieting)

So, today I ate less than 1550 calories, and that will begin to bring down my average again. 

In about two weeks I'll be eating out again, but will not have a buffet! It is much easier to count calories when I make the food at home than when I go to a restaurant and do not know how much grease and sugar are added to the food. Because of this, I overestimate rather than underestimate calories. I also don't like to consume much salt, and was pleased that the food I ate at yesterday's buffet definitely tasted unsalted. I drank only water. By the way, as my stomach and guts are now used to much less food than that, I experienced, shall I say, a sudden weight loss about 90 minutes after consuming that meal.

I will have a weigh-in at my hospital this week and will report on my weight loss.

I'd like to note that an elderly lady played the piano at the restaurant. She is a widow who brought herself up from depression after losing her husband by delving into her music. She played the pop of her day: Ramblin' Rose, Tie a Yellow Ribbon to the Old Oak Tree, I Love You Most of All Because You're You, etc. I told her that my dad  used to play those tunes on his harmonica and that his favorite was Red Sails in the Sunset. She played it for me. What a charming lady she was.

My 2X Tops Are Getting Looser

For the past couple of days I've noticed that my tops are not as tight as they were getting. The holidays saw a 10-pound weight gain that affected how my tops fit. I am looking forward to when they are loose. It's been a long time since I've worn 1X but that day will come. Sorry to say, one of my 2X slacks is still too tight to wear. I'm working on that!

Yesterday I ate so much that I was quite full, yet the calorie count was just 1526, below the previous average of 1550. Here's my intake:

Monday, March 7, 2011

29th day of diet

oatmeal                       160

coffee creamer             100           260

onion soup                   100           360

chili lime tortilla chips      70           430

1 orange                        64            494

cake                             150          644

steak, well done            270          914

green beans                     60         974

onions                             42         1016

red pepper                      20         1036

1/2 T butter unsalted       25         1061

mushroom soup              120        1181

Eng. muffin                     120        1301

1 cucumber                      30        1331

3 C salad                         45        1376

salad cream                    100       1476

salad fixings                      50        1526 [total for the day]

The calendar entry:

+1526=

44,929 / 29 =

1549

(56,347) [total I would have eaten in 29 days to maintain a healthy weight]

My breakfasts are most often high fiber cold cereal or oatmeal. I eat plenty of vegetables and fruits. These foods have been on my diet for my lifetime. The weight gain was not prevented by eating these healthy foods, but by eating excesses of foods that have fat and/or sugar in them--two things that make my mouth water!

A Treat Is Not a Permanent Failure

Yesterday, which was day 27 of my weight-loss diet, my youngest son and I went to a subway shop. Afterward I went online to look up the calorie count, and found that it was not too bad; however, the sub was small and not satisfying. I was still hungry after eating it. That's two lesson for me: avoid eating too much bread, and eat more vegetables instead. [Not a deliberate rhyme.] The final calorie count for the day was 1721, way above my previous average. Yet, when I averaged that with my previous 26-day totals, it came to 1553 calories. Thus, I was not discouraged. I did not feel like I blew my diet, nor did I get that "give it up" feeling at all, as I have done in past diets. I just forged on ahead and am ending today with a low calorie count.

I depend on a reliable book to help me figure out the calories. Its 947 pages give me counts on home-made foods (I most often cook my family's meals) and on prepared foods(I keep these to a minimum) and on restaurant foods (ditto). I sometimes enjoy just looking through it and seeing other nutritional information as well, such as cholesterol and fiber counts. I do eat a lot of fiber. There is no one food I totally deny myself, but I do manage to stop myself from eating great quantities of cookies and cakes by keeping them out of sight. I love that stuff. When I do eat sweets, as when I made a pumpkin custard two weeks ago, I limit the amount I eat and I count every calorie.

I keep my little note papers with lists of eaten food and their calories on my kitchen table, along with the Nutrition Facts book and my dieting calendar. Here are a few days' worth of my food lists:

Monday, Feb. 14, 2011

9th day of diet

oatmeal                           130

coffee creamer                100            230

1 lg orange                       75            305

bean + cheese burrito      280            585

salsa                                30            615

crackers + spread            100            715

bean soup w/veg             410           1125

bread                               75           1200

crackers + cheese            300           1500 (total for the day)

I was still going to bed hungry after dieting only nine days.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

19th day of diet

coffee creamer                   100

pineapple                           157             257

cottage cheese, fat free       90             347

small apple                          63             410

Fiber One tart                    189              590

pasta + shrimp                   570            1160

small orange                        64             1224

milk                                    90             1314

doughnut, tiny                     83             1397

crackers                              70             1467 (total for the day)

I keep saltine crackers at my bedside so that when I am super hungry at night and unable to sleep because of it, I very slowly eat one to three of them. My son's little cat (she's seven years old but weighs only six pounds--she was the runt) loves crackers, so she joins me. I give her a few crumbs and then she cuddles. Where else can you get such love for a few crumbs but from a pet?

Friday, March 4, 2011

26th day of diet

oatmeal                                130

coffee creamer                     100              230

fat-free sandwich meat           60              290

apple cider                           120              410

English muffin                      120              530

ICBINB Meditteranean            70              600

carrots, parsnips, sprouts     130              730

chicken skinless                   165              895

potatoes                              190            1085

1 sl whole wheat bread           75             1160

milk                                     100            1260

honey mustard sauce              30            1290

tiny scone                            100            1390  (total for the day)

My calendar entry for the day was this:

+1390=

40,218 [total calories since starting diet]/26=

1547 [average over 26 days]

(50,518) [number of calories I would have eaten if maintaining a healthy weight]

It's getting late. I have an urge to work on a painting tonight. I am visualizing what I will do with it; I probably need four more sessions to complete it. I'm a slow painter.