Not bad. Not bad at all.
Losing 4.8 pounds in a week isn’t that tough at the start of a diet. I could have lost more, of course. You can always lose more. But to stick with a diet, it can’t drive you stark raving mad.
Ice cream sandwiches for example. I need them. Sometimes I need two of them. And mint Aero bars. Kinder eggs have the cool toy in them and toys aren’t fattening. Then there was my cheat day.
I wasn’t going to have one, honest. But then it was the weekend. I decided to give myself the ‘option’ of breaking the diet Sunday – like there was ever any doubt.
A big bowl of Honey Shreddies has about 500 calories. A modest peanut butter and honey sandwich has 300 or so. Ruffled dill chips are good for about 10 each. Little bags of paw-shaped chocolate chip cookies have about 150. So, all told, I ate about 26,000 calories on Sunday, give or take a grand.
I’m content with 4.8 pounds.
Here’s rule number one with me: a calorie’s a calorie.
This has nothing to do with nutrition and everything to do with seeing a number drop on a weigh scale. I lose more weight eating the occasional 250 calorie chocolate bar than eating the occasional 500 calorie slice of whole grain pasta lasagna made with skim milk cheese and fresh garden vegetables. The lasagna is far more nutritious, of course, but the fewer calories I eat, the lower my weight becomes.
I don’t just fill up on candy, though. I need to balance. Too much junk, and I won’t feel filled up. Blood sugar skyrockets, then plummets. Good luck staying on a diet then.
Two thousand calories a day. Week two begins.
This is not an advice column. Please consult a medical expert or nutritionist for sound dietary advice. Eric Sparling is an Amherst Daily News reporter, and former senior editor at Oxygen, a women’s fitness magazine.
