desperado

Well, today I consumed a lot of chips. But surprisingly stayed within caloric reason. What can I say? I’m a total sucker for Pita Chips, Pop Chips, and the Fat-Free Lays (all of which I consumed today). On the bright side, I discovered that the school store sells Cinnamon Pita Chips in single-serving bags, which is GREAT for me because I ADORE those chips and if I buy the big bags (which they sell in my dining hall) I end up eating the whole 850 calorie catastrophe in one sitting.

Lunch: 1 Boca Burger (130), Red Beans (70), Asian-Style veggies (100), 1 small salad with fat-free Thousand Island (100), Pita Chips (200)

Snack: BBQ Pop Chips (130), Lays Fat-free Chips (75), Gum

Dinner: 1 medium salad with fat-free Thousand Island, tuna, and kidney beans (150), 1 waffle (250)

I am so thankful that I am in college. Today, as I was walking to my class on Mass Violence, I felt as though I were in a dream….a fantasyland of sorts. “Pinch me!” I thought, “I can’t believe that I am really here, at college, on my own, taking the classes I want to, and having a great time.” I also had breakfast for the first time in ages, since today I woke up at 10am and figured that there was no way I could hold out until 12 without eating something (or worse, overeating during lunch).

Daily Diet:

Breakfast: 1 Kashi TLC Trail Mix Bar (140)

Lunch: 1 Boca Burger (130), Green Beans (70), a few Asian-Style Veggies (100), 1 small salad with fat-free Thousand Island (100)

Snack: 1 bag of Popchips “Original” (120), Gum, 1 Kashi TLC Trail Mix Bar (140)

Dinner: 1 Boca Burger (130), 1/2 Apple (60), 1 small salad with fat-free Thousand Island (100), 1 Vanilla Cake Cone Fro-yo (200), 1 “Elevate Me” Powerbar (240), 1 Kashi TLC Trail Mix Bar (140)

Exercise: Elliptical for 30 minutes (-200), weights, abs

Estimated Caloric Intake: 1,550

Room For Improvement: Branching out my foods! The dining hall food is not exactly appetizing, so I end up eating the same thing everyday: salads and Boca burgers and Kashi bars, oh my! : ) But I don’t really mind, since the stuff I eat is probably some of the healthiest foods offered in the dining hall. The only problem is that sooner or later I am going to run out of my Kashi bars and I haven’t yet found the time to go to Safeway to restock!

Today was another good day. I woke up at around 11am, which seemed earlier than it actually was due to the fact that I wasn’t able to fall asleep until 3am last night! I spent the day buying a few textbooks and trying to change my schedule so that I am able to take a class on religious tolerance. The schedule change worked, and even better is that I have no classes on Fridays! That means Friday is the new laundry day…oh dear.

I weighed myself at the gym (after the workout) and was 153 exactly. Of course, this is with my running shoes and shirt and shorts included, but I also have to keep in mind all the water-weight I lost while working out. So 153 it is (at least, it is what I am recording on this site as my current weight). The scale at the gym is the only scale I have access to, so my weight will never be 100% accurate. This doesn’t bother me, though, since it’s better to ultimately reach 135 on the gym scale and go home to discover that, minus the running shoes and clothes, I actually weigh less.

Daily Diet:

Breakfast/Lunch: 1 large salad with onions and fat-free Thousand Island (200), 1 Boca Burger (130), 1 “Elevate Me” Power Bar (240)

Snack: Gum (and lots of it! But at least it’s sugar-free), 1 Kashi TLC Trail Mix Bar (140)

Dinner: 1 small salad with fat-free Thousand Island (100), Chicken pieces (200), “Fire Roasted” Vegetables (200), 1 Vanilla Fro-yo cone (200)

Exercise: Running on Treadmil (-350 cals). Time = 30 mins, Distance = 3.6 miles, Hills Setting = Level 5, Speed = 7.0mph for first 25 mins, 7.4-7.7 mph for remaining 5 minutes,

Estimated Total Caloric Intake: 1,100

Room For Improvement: Add weights and abs training into my exercise routine every other day.

Room for Improvement: Instead of eating such a large lunch (600 cals) I should spread out my calories over the course of the day. Classes start tomorrow and I am really busy on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I will try to grab mini-meals between classes as opposed to one large lunch. It is also important for me not to go under 1,200 calories since if I consistently do so my body will go into starvation mode (meaning my metabolism drastically slows down and my body, which thinks it is starving, will hold on to any remaining fat for all its worth!)

Well, today was another good day. I didn’t watch any T.V. considering that I spent the whole day helping my mom and sister take down the Christmas decorations and I even managed to squeeze in a workout. Now that I’m back in my dorm room (as of 8:30pm today) I feel a lot more confident and less stressed. I am also not the only one of my friends who gained weight over winter break so I don’t feel quite as bad about my junk food splurges. I bought a diet book yesterday and am excited to start following its advice. The book is less about losing weight quickly (which I know I could do, but at the risk of gaining it back) and instead focuses on changing my lifestyle so that I am less tempted to over-eat when I am stressed or not even hungry. I have already read the whole thing once and I am sure that I will read it many, many times. I will try to post tips from the book so that others may benefit from it as well.

And now, for the “what I ate today” section:

Breakfast/Lunch: 1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean Cruch (100), 1 “Harvest Whole Grain Apple Cinnamon” Power Bar (240), and 1 Yoplait “Light” Fat-Free “Apricot Mango” Yogurt (100)

Dinner: Went out to dinner with my dad and sister. I had a large salad with cucumbers, onions, scallions, and chilled shrimp (400) with lemon vinaigrette dressing on the side (200) and for desert a sugar-free root beer float (500).

Snack: Gum

Exercise: Ellipse for 34 minutes (-200).
Total Caloric Intake: 1,340

Room For Improvement: Next time, eat half, not the WHOLE desert.

DIET TIP: I wasn’t aware of this before but most ellipticals overestimate the amount of calories you burn by 31%. So I worked out until “400″ calories were burned (after I entered my weight) and then decided to go on the safe side and say that I really burned only 200 calories. Better to underestimate than overestimate in this case!

In order to help myself stay “on track” and not binge, I figured that it would be helpful if I recorded my daily diet. Today was a decent day. My motivation was strong, but it’s easy to be motivated when I’m only on day one!

Breakfast/Lunch: 1 cup Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal (200), 2 “Weight Watchers” Ice cream bars (300)

Snack: 1 tbsp Low Fat Peanut Butter (100)

Dinner: Dined with my dad at a local Japanese restaurant. I ordered grilled vegetables (200), edamame (100), and a green salad with the dressing on the side (100). For desert I had “Carbo-lite” low cal ice cream (200).

After Dinner: Gum

Exercise: None! : (

Estimated Caloric Intake: 1,200

Improvements for Tomorrow: Exercise at least 30 minutes, No peanut butter!