There’s no doubt I love my food. And just because I’ve decided to lose some weight, it doesn’t mean I’m going to give up on tasty meals. My diet simply consists of fewer calories in than out…a slow but steady process that takes patience and willpower. But it’s safe, and it works. When you realize you didn’t gain weight by more than 2 pounds per week, you understand you can’t lose it any faster, either.
I’m limiting my calorie intake to about 1500 calories a day, based on my height, weight, and age. That requires that I weigh and measure everything I eat, and read every food label. A small kitchen scale is an absolute necessity.
Here’s an example of a delicious dinner I had and how it all broke down…
Raw tuna: 168 calories.
Avocado : 200 calories.
Jasmine rice: 105 calories.
Peanuts: 25 calories.
Sesame seeds: 20 calories.
Asian marinade, which consisted of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and Chinese chili garlic sauce: 110 calories.
Total: 628 calories.
I weighed and measured every bit of that meal to get those numbers. (By the way, I gave zero calories for the green onion I scattered on top.)
So, if I know I want to have that meal for dinner, I have to make sure that I don’t have too much food for breakfast or lunch…especially if I also want to have a cocktail in the evening!
The reason why so many people fail at diets is because they require discipline, and that is tougher than it sounds. If you don’t weigh and write down everything you eat every day, I guarantee you are underestimating how many calories you’ve consumed.
I used to write everything down on paper. Now I use an app called The Fitness Chef, that lets me plug in the numbers of everything I eat and have it right on my phone for reference. It’s great when I’m on the road or at a restaurant, because it also features a scanner that does a pretty darn good job of determining how many calories your plate has, simply by taking a photograph of it.
