June 27: Daily Recap

I have to admit, it was super strange to wake up and stumble through my sleepy morning bathroom routine without getting on that scale. Also? My bathroom seems so empty without the scale in the corner. Everything about that room now feels...off.

In other scale news, I've decided to track calories for today just to see what I've been eating. I'm not going to let the fact that I'm counting calories change what I would eat for the day, I just want to know if I'm eating too much or too little or if, hopefully, I'm right on the money.

Breakfast: Smoothie made of unsweetened almond milk, spinach, vega protein powder, banana, and frozen blueberries, topped with Cheerios and Barbara's puffed rice cereal. Calories: 318.

I headed to the grocery store this morning to pick up some necessities like milk, bread, bananas, greens, plums, cheese, and baby food, as well as ingredients to make a giant pot of chili. Here's the haul:

Exercise: Another killer 5x5x5 circuit. I'm not sure I've ever sweated so much in a single workout. Here's what it looked like.

• 5 min. spin
• 10 bent over rows (w/ 10 lb plates)
• 10 bent over flys (started with 8 lb dumbbells, moved to 5 lb when that got too tough)
• 10 one-armed "kettle bell" swings, each side (used 10 lb plate)
• 10 stiff-legged deadlifts (50 lbs)
• 10 push ups (on knees)

• Repeat circuit five times. The workout clocked in at just over 48 minutes. Calories burned: 460.

Post-Workout Shake (not pictured): Almond and soy milk (ran out of almond milk) with a scoop of Vega protein powder. Calories: 152

Lunch: Salad with spring mix, broccoli, cucumber, red bell pepper, hard-cooked egg, pomegranate seeds, smoked tofu, Amish butter cheese, and walnuts topped with Dijon mustard and honey. Calories: 489.

I broke from work on the early side today to start cooking a double batch of the Chili Sin Carne Al Mole from Vegan With a Vengeance (recipe can be found here). For some reason, on sunny and humid afternoons like the one we had today, I find myself craving a cold bottle of beer. I'm not even a huge beer drinker, but for whatever reason, on days like today, I want beer.

That said, I think alcohol is a waste of precious calories. If I'm going to consume empty calories while trying to lose weight, I want those calories to come from something really damn delicious, like cookies or cake. Beer? Who cares about beer?! Give me the sugar.

Dinner: A layer of mashed sweet potato topped with chili, steamed broccoli with a smidge of salted butter. Calories: 396. [I was so hungry that I dug into the broccoli before remembering to snap a quick photo. Please excuse the hideous place mat.]

There is a certain kind of full only gotten from bread, pasta, cake, and white potatoes. I was full after this dinner, but not bread full. In fact, I may have buried my nose so deep into a piece of B's uneaten Breadsmith multigrain toast that I probably ingested calories through my nose.

Interestingly, were I counting calories on a daily basis, I'd have eaten that slice of multigrain bread with a wedge of cow cheese with my dinner, since I really wanted it and I had the calories to spare. However, my focus right now is eating clean, and eating when I'm hungry as opposed to eating something that I'm craving, eating for comfort, or eating for entertainment. I wanted bread because I wanted it, not because I was hungry. And I need to learn to eat for fuel, not for fun.

That said, I caved about an hour later and ate...

Snack: 55 goldfish crackers. Calories: 140.

So, after tracking a *normal* day, I see that I consumed 1495 calories and burned 460 calories, for a net intake of 1035 calories. This is fantastic. Is it too low to stick with on a daily basis? Absolutely! But my plan is and has always been to be *perfect* Monday through Friday (with the exception of my Monday morning croissant), and to live a little on the weekends. With five days like today, I know that a *cheat* meal on Saturday or Sunday (or both) won't undo my hard work Monday through Friday.

I don't plan to make a habit out of calorie counting. I've counted calories off and on for years, and I now know my portion sizes, know balance, and feel like I know what I need to be eating. I just need a frame of reference every once in a while, just to make sure I'm on track. I'm really trying, these days, to stop obsessing over the numbers. It gets exhausting after a while and, I now believe, may be one of the reasons that I end up giving up after 6-8 weeks. It just becomes too much.

I have a freezer full of chili, overnight oats for an overnight oat smoothie are prepped in the fridge, I've got a long ride planned for the weekend, and I'm feeling good about my progress.