Call me old fashioned...

I recently made a decision to take an old fashioned approach to weight loss - I decided to take it back to good old fashioned calorie counting. I had previously used the livestrong daily plate online program before, but the livestrong daily plate application for android and apple phones makes keeping track of my daily calorie intake much, much easier. Although I realize that my weight loss quest is an ongoing effort that, if I continue on my two pound per week weight loss course, will continue until late into the summer, here are my preliminary reflections on calorie counting. First, it works if I stick with it (and even if I go over your calorie requirement a little). I think there has been one day in the last three weeks that I have come in under my 1150 calorie per day requirement. I usually manage to keep in the 1500 calorie range and I still have been able to lose about 2 pounds per week. Second, its helpful to know how many calories I should be eating, how much I should be eating and what both of those things mean in terms of meals and portion sizes. Third, it's really, really hard. It's hard to keep track of just how many ounces of wine I've had over the course of an evening with friends. It's also difficult to care when you've blown through your 1150 calorie per day requirement, you've been good all week and you're just hungry. What are you going to do not eat dinner? Probably not. It's more like, "note to self: in the future try to eat meals with fewer calories." Fourth, thank God for exercise! If I didn't exercise I seriously would probably have been starving to death. By exercising I am able to add an additional 300-700 calories to my diet each day. For all of those keeping track, that' means about one serving of chocolate (1/3 a bar of chocolove) and 5 ounces of white wine (about a 1/3 a glass of wine) for this lady at the end of a long day. Priceless. Sixth, some weeks you're winning the weight loss war and other weeks not so much. This week for instance, I am not winning in weight loss. But I figure, "hey, there's always next week." Be Happy, Be Healthy, Eat Well.