3/28... Flip the Script - REVISED

                                                                                     Total Daily Calories: 1928

     Day 75 …                                                               Days till Weigh-In:   13

One of the first issues I encountered with tracking calories was handling the transition from weekday to weekend eating. You see, by nature I’m a routine oriented person, but weekends are a little more relaxed and random which presents opportunities to eat badly. Now I’m not an inflexible person mind you; I didn’t inherit that crazy gene. But this transition was still challenging. Thankfully I have learned the secret to living a managed life in-spite of changes. The secret: Don’t fight it – work with it. That’s it, that’s the secret. Change is inevitable. It’s coming whether we like it or not. It comes frequently and in many forms both invited and uninvited. What I have found to be true is that fighting it, mentally, verbally or physically, doesn’t prevent it, and usually makes it worse. 

Working with it isn’t always easy. I still have to work at it sometimes. But at least I know what I have to do and that’s half the battle. So when faced with the inevitable flip from weekday to weekend, I sat down and gave it some serious thought, I made my list (of course), identifying the challenges and potential solutions. It looked something like this:

Challenge                                          Resolution

Snacking too much                            Pre-plan weekend snacks
Sleeping late, breakfast late               Pre-plan menu with adjusted meal times
Daily routine off balance                   Write-up weekend activity outline to instill control 
Eating out too much                           Set new weekend policy: One Meal Out
Entertainment w/snacks                     Bring snacks to whatever venue or plan purchase idea beforehand
Idle time                                             Read, play a game, go for a walk, do a chore etc. stay busy
                                              

That's all well and good. But to get the flip under control, the resolution list required some work, some pre-planning. So after evaluating the list, I started to re-design my weekends accordingly, first on paper then by trial and error. As a result, I was able to provide some 'routine' to a seemingly random weekend without imposing too many restrictions. I slowly but surely got the eating and snacking under control and now I don’t spend much time thinking about it at all. It just is...

 Tracker:                                                                                                    

Daily Tracker
[42]	Date:	Friday  3/28/14
Time	Qty	Food	Calories	Sub
7:15a	Breakfast
	1.5c	Crunchy Raisin Bran	285
	3/4c	Skim Plus	83
	1	Bowl Leafy Greens	0
	30oz	Purified Water	0
		Breakfast Calories:	368
	Snack
	1	Organic Coffee w/ND	50
	1	Pringle Pack	100
		Snack Calories	150	518
12:30p	Lunch
	1	Unsweetened Iced Tea w/lemon	0
	1	Sour Pickle	0
	1/2	Cuban Panini (no oil/butter), Slow roasted	>>>>
		pork, grilled onions, baby spinich, roasted	>>>>
		peppers, sun dried tomatoes and Swiss	550
	30oz	Purified Water	0
		Lunch Calories:	550	1068
	Snack
	4	Med Strawberries sliced	40
		Snack Calories	40	1108
5:00p	Dinner
	1/2	Cuban Panini	550
	1	Lg. Bowl Mixed Greens	0
	30oz	Purified Water	0
		Dinner Calories	550	1658
	Snack
	1	Hazelnut Crème Decaf	50
	2oz	Mixed unsalted nuts (almonds, cashews, filberts etc)	340
		Snack Calories	220	1878
		Total Calories Burned	<120>
		Total:	1928	X
		***Daily Caloric Goal:	1900
Water (1 cup per circle)
O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O   O  O  O			12 cups
1 cup = 8 fluid oz = 0.24 liters
Time	Activity		Burned
30 min	Walking		<120>
15 min	Stretching (w/deep breathing)
	Total Calories Burned:		<120>
*Calorie/Activity calculation:  20 or 30 Calories for every 5 minutes (depending on exertion)

 

 

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