My checklist

...or Confessions of a list addicted dork.

I have a confession to make. Its Thursday. And I’m going to hold this post till Friday. Shhh – don’t tell on me okay?

I appreciate all your thoughts and comments yesterday…erm…Wednesday in regards to my weight loss problems. Several of you had some good ideas, and so I’m going to try them out and see how they work.

Not very scientific, since I’m going to try several things at once, but here we go.

1. Upping my calorie intake.

Back in the day I lost 8 pounds (down to 126) on 1500 calories. This included no exercise. So why, weighing more than I did then, am I exercising 3-5 times a week and eating 1200 and seeing no results? Maybe I am being too hard on my body.

As recently as November I was eating fast food every day. Then I switch to sack lunches and exercising for 5 and have only lost 3 pounds? Maybe it was too much of a shock and now I’m stockpiling fat. (Although its good to know I’m set if I ever really do experience a famine.)

2. The Wendie plan.

I don’t do WW points, but I count my calories on LiveStrong – Daily Plate. You enter your body weight, activity level, and how much you want to lose, and it tells you how many calories you can consume. To lose 2 pounds a week my number is 1250.

Since I really don’t have a range (as described with WW points) I’m just gonna have to wing this a little. I think that 1250 should be my very low day and somewhere around 1600 should be my high.

I knew that you weren’t suppose to do the same work out all the time or else your body would get use to it – I’m sure diet is no different.

3. Only having one cheat day.

Like Christy said, if I add more calories spread throughout the week, I should be able to do this no problem. No need to wait till Saturday to have the ice cream sandwich, I’ll just save a couple hundred calories for it tonight. That way come Saturday I’m not pigging out on everything.

I’m leaving Sunday as my cheat day, not only because this coming one is a holiday, but mostly because that’s the day that eating is a social occasion. Either lunch at the Cracker Barrell with my grandparents, or at my parents house, eating one of my mom’s grilled cheese sandwiches – the best ever made.

(Seriously, they are. Just ask Mr. Right. Only don’t tell his mom, because that would hurt her feelings.) Not to mention the popcorn and never ending supply of Pepsi in my dad’s “office fridge” (the one in the garage – kept at such a low temperature the Pepsi gets ice chunks in it.)

Some Saturdays, especially if I stay at home, I only have 800-900 calories. I try my best to sleep through breakfast and just snack for lunch.

4. Drinking water

I think I’m pretty good at this, but I need to track it to be sure. Except for the days I'm lazy and don't feel like going to the bathroom as much as proper hydration required. More on my bathroom laziness in the fiber section.

5. Measuring portions

For most dishes that isn’t a problem. My Del Monte fruit cup tells me that there are two servings in the container, so when I eat the whole container I know that I’ve had 140 calories. I measure my bran flakes this morning and found that I’ve been eating a serving and a half. Its only 55 extra calories, but adding 50 here and there will start to add up!

And Lastly…

6. Fiber

Honestly, this one scares me. If I’m not trying, my body gets around 10 grams of fiber a day. I wish I were kidding. The bran flakes will change that somewhat, but I need to be more conscious about how much I get. Today I’ve got 495 calories left and have already consumed 34 grams of fiber!

I’m a little nervous about what kind of effect that might have on me…but eventually my body will get use to it. Right?