Day 38 Thur Calorie Counting

Cammy and then TJ and others brought up an interesting question: do I count calories? Short answer: no. Long answer: lots of reasons why I don't. The biggest reason is that it puts me in the mind set that I'm on a (ssh) diet (ssh) that that'll just make me mentally sabotage my self. Notice that I call this my "getting healthy" blog, not a "diet" blog. I keep a general eye on calories, but for things like my goat cheese and goat whey and homemade yogurt ... it's hard to tell. Each goat puts out a different amount of fat in their milk, like the difference between nigerian dwarf goats and nubian goats is wide. When our nigerians start giving milk next Spring, it'll be higher in butterfat.

So I thought about this. Then decided to count calories for just yesterday. Had to guess on my homemade products but I'm sure I erred on the high side. I did a little spreadsheet (couldn't find what I wanted online) and OH MY GOODNESS!!! By the time I was done with my mid-day snack, I was over 700 calories! Since my goal is about 1200 calories, that's more than half my calories before lunch! NO!
No wonder I wasn't losing weight. So... I'll count calories for a little while until I get a better handle on how much I really can eat.
Thursday's Calcs:
Carbs: 129
Fat: 63.8
Calories: 1455
Calories burned (ONLY on exercycle): 177
= = = =
Pre-Milking Snack: 1 piece bacon

Breakfast: big spoonful of natural peanut butter, oats cooked in whey leftover from cheese-making, blueberries, 2 Tbsp of dark chocolate chips, vitamin supplements

Snack: 2 arthritis otc pain meds, 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds, protein whey smoothie

Lunch: tuna, mayo, 17 rice crackers

Dinner: string beans, cucumber, 2 wedges lite laughing cow swiss cheese

Drank peppermint tea until my body reminded me that it upsets my stomach. Switched to green tea. Some had lemon juice in them.

What I did: Up early because I was so sure I had lost weight. Did NOT and was ticked off. Ate 1 piece of bacon as my pre-milking snack so I'd have energy to milk the goat. Got the Kid up. Waited for him to finish his breakfast. Milked, strained, refrigerated. Took corn tortillas and old cheese to the chickens (gotta post a vid of that sometime ... it's a feeding frenzy!). Took old bread to the goats. Ate breakfast, then took 3 tums, dumped out the rest of the peppermint tea and made some green tea. Started pork chops (butchered by neighbor in back so no hormones or antibiotics) defrosting for Hubby's dinner. E-Mailed my new doc about how to get off blood pressure meds. Exercycle 10 minutes.

Worked on Kid's home ec schoolwork. Put pork chops in crockpot. Collected eggs (5 out of 6). Checked veggies to see if ready for harvest (nope, not yet). Then got sidetracked with the counting calories thing... couldn't find the spreadsheet I wanted so I built it in excel. Took out my jars and cans and bags of produce and recorded the info on my spreadsheet. Horrified at how much I was eating!

Once I finished the spreadsheet and entered my numbers as of the meal I'd just finished, AND recovered from my shock, it was late. Barely got any of my work done. Dinner, milking, fed goats/chickens, exercycle 10 minutes, dishes, shower, bed.

Argh.

4 comments:

Cammy@TippyToeDiet said...

You've got the right mindset. Calorie count checks are great tools, but not necessarily a great way to LIVE. It just helps to know where we stand and what might need some adjusting.

And is there anything better than a spoonful of natural peanut butter?

Cole Walter Mellon said...

I don't count calories either, but I do have a good idea of where I am any given day.

When I'm doing well, I could probably guesstimate within a couple hundred calories where I was any given day; when I'm not doing well, I really stray from keeping score.

Vee said...

Cammy: I find peanut butter a quick protein boost and easy to enjoy dirtying only a spoon!

Jack: sounds like you've been at it for a while so you've had practice. Guess it will take a while for me to understand my portions relative to calories.

Thanks! Vee

Scuttleboose said...

Even though it is important to count calories, I just wanted to say congrats for eating such healthy and natural foods! Yogurt, after all, is one of the best foods you can put in your body! Ditto with the proteins and healthy fats.

Have you tried almond butter? I have always wanted to try it - it's supposed to be a great alternative to peanut butter!

I love reading about your animals! :)