The Evils of the PB&J

Near the end of February, I was faced with a devastating fact: I weighed more than I did in high school. No, it didn’t really come as any surprise, but all those years of staying off the scale because “weight doesn’t matter” hadn’t paid off. I was really unsatisfied with the way I looked and felt most days, and decided enough is more than enough.

That’s when Todd saved the day (as he is prone to do) by showing me MyFitnessPal.com and introducing me to the concept of the calorie. This is pretty basic, folks, but the light hadn’t flipped on for me before this point. The secret to losing weight is to eat fewer calories than your body burns! Tada! Easy peasy lemon squeezy. :)

Well...not exactly.

While this was a “clicking” moment for me, and while it did spark a two and a half month serious diet, it was extremely difficult. The first few days were literally painful. I felt tired, had terrible headaches, and no energy. My stomach was shrinking though, and within a week or two, the pain was pretty much gone. But oh...it was rough.

God obviously gave me the self-control needed to make it through the first couple of weeks...feeling hungry all the time is agony. But...the converse? The part where you watch the scale tell you how much weight you’ve lost?? A new wardrobe was a given. And oh, when you can buy jeans off a smaller rack, that’s a good feeling. :) 

Calorie counting is an aggravating art...to loose weight, I couldn’t eat more than a whopping 1200 a day. Lest you think that’s not a big deal, let me put it in perspective: a serving of peanut butter, or two tablespoons, is 190 calories. Have you ever tried to put just two tablespoons of peanut butter on a sandwich? It’s like trying to roll up a snowman with the flurries native to the greater Tri-City area; it turns out brown, undersized and held together with grass. No, I’m thinking the normal person puts more like four or five tablespoons of peanut butter on a sandwich, and then there’s the bread (ranging anywhere from 60 to 100 calories a slice, depending on the kind) and possibly jelly (approximately 50 calories a tablespoon). One average PB &J could easily eat (no pun intended) nearly half of my daily calorie allotment! 

The calorie counting made the biggest difference in my weight, but it also made me conscious of how helpful a good workout could be. If I did a workout that burned 200 calories, that’s 200 more calories I could eat in a day. Handy. :) I already exercised most days, but while I was dieting (and now, as I continue to be careful) I make an effort to be active for a portion of just about every day. 

So to sum up, my weight loss journey started as a realization that I was overeating every meal of every day, and was not getting nearly enough exercise. The change happened when I began eating smaller portions, and cutting out empty calories. I started my tracking process on MyFitnessPal.com, but only used it initially...I then just kept a rough track of what I ate in my head. 

I’m pleased to say that I’m happy with my weight and have maintained it for almost two months now! Praise the Lord! Goodness knows, I wouldn’t have had the willpower to succeed unless he had granted it. :)

This is one of my favorite summertime lunches; salad with blueberries, raspberries and pecans, with a side of tuna. :)