Burlesque Babe

Well, I was right on track with my eating till my mom took me to Red Lobster for an early birthday dinner. That of course blew my eating plan out of the water. Gonna eat under my calories tomorrow though. I would have had no issues today if we hadn't gone out.
 
Would love not to write this but I had 2 big spoonfuls of peanut butter this evening. Hopefully if I keep myself accountable I will get back on track!
 
I have decided to change my calorie goals from 1500 a day to 1800 a day. This is still below my TDEE, but is a bit higher above my BMR. It will give me a bit more wiggle room to add some bigger high calorie meals yet still feel I can snack to keep myself satisfied. It will hopefully help me get better on track by giving me a bit more freedom. Anyways, gotta get up and going to the gym!
 
Not a bad plan. You can always mix up your workouts a bit if you feel you're in a rut there too.

Anyway, happy early birthday.
 
I haven't been doing enough exercise lately to get in a rut, haha. THough I am mixing it up a bit, changing my cardio from 30 mins all at once, to 15 mins before weights, 15 mins after.
Had a good workout today, 15 mins elliptical (300 calories, according to the machine ;) ), lower body weights, then 15 mins bike (6 resistance, 6 min intervals, 4.5 miles, 120 calories). It was easier today than yesterday to do the 15 mins cardio after weights. Had my pulled chicken sandwich from my slow cooker now that it fits in easier in my calories!
 
Todays dinner!


Kinda Chicken Permesana. Nearly 600 calories, but it's amazing how much more I can seem to fit into my diet with an extra 300 calories!
 
With the calorie issue of weighing meat before/after... Usually I will weigh already cooked meat and go off that. Depending on where I buy meat from it can lose a lot more fluid than others. I use Fitday and they have nutrition info for both raw and cooked meat (the only meats I count their raw weight on is chicken breasts and steak, I usually find they lose next to no fluid). Unless you're buying a marinated roast or something which has calorie counts including the marinade, I'm pretty sure they usually go by raw weight (or they do in Aus anyway). Really just do whatever is easier for you!
 
Oh, I don't mind counting the chicken calories, I am more confused about how I could the liquid left in the slow cooker that isn't used. Some of it gets absorbed in the meat so SHOULD be counted, but some of it does not so shouldn't be counted. Though it also seems a lot of that liquid is from the chicken itself, so should I minus some of the chicken calories or is that just water? Arg! So confusing!
 
Yeah I think you're more than capable of losing significant weight at 1800 calories. With both your active day job and the work you do at the stables, you likely have done pretty well adding muscle mass as well as burning more calories through being active. Maybe it will also provide you with a little more energy.

And as you said, if you were constantly busting your 1500 calorie threshold anyway, you may actually not consume very many more at all simply by setting threshold higher and sticking to it.

Chicken looks pretty good. I think 600 calories isn't at all too large for a dinner, particular for someone who doesn't like to make big breakfasts (which I do like to do when I have time). You probably could fit even more if you wanted.
 
Thanks. My usual evening "meals" have been 200 calories. I pretty much snack(which include meats, and fruits, and carbs) all evening rather than having meals, so 600 at once is a lot! Haha.
 
Forgot to say what I did today food wise. I was under my calories!!!! Yay!! I did eat 1755, so I wasn't much under, but I didn't do anything today other than the gym, so I sat at home and nibbled and such all day. I think during a normal work/riding day I will find it difficult to make it to 1800 which is fine with me. I think I will add 100 calories to lunch, and maybe an extra 100 calories to my snacks that I eat going to and from the barn after work. Will see how this goes. I feel a little over full right now haha.
 
Urg, just did something that REALLY made me realizing how important weighing your food is.
My bag of apples says that per one apple (100 grams) is 50 calories. I just weighed all 3 of the apples I had left and they weighed around 150 grams! Half as much more than they are supposed to weigh!! That's only about 25 calories more, but still! I often have 4-6 apples a day!! That adds up! And my chicken is more than I originally thought it was when I started using my scale.
When I looked up calories for the kind of chicken I had it says 160 calories for 150 grams chicken breast, well that's all fine and good but the chicken weighed 225 grams!! Maybe it's better that I keep my calories lower if I am gonna make accidents like that!!!
For those that have a food scale, do you weight EVERYTHING? Like pita wraps, if it says 80 cals for 2 mini pitas, do you weigh those to see if they are actually weigh what it says? Grr.
 
I weigh all my veg, fruit, meat, and when I bake I weigh all ingredients separately as well as measuring them so I can get accurate calorie counts. However I don't do it with bread or anything like that, and when I bake I know that I don't divide things perfectly evenly either. It just means some days end up lighter or heavier than I planned, I don't think a few less or extra makes a big difference though. But yea, definitely weigh other things!! Specially starchy foods, instead of going off '1 cup of mashed pumpkin or potato' like it lists on Fitday, I always switch it to grams and weigh everything separately. Much more accurate! With your apples too, don't forget you leave a bit behind with the core. Maybe slice one up and leave behind as much as you would when you normally eat one and see how much that weighs, rather than weighing the whole apple.
 
Thanks guys. I eat a LOT of my apples, probably only leave behind maybe a gram or 2, but I could definitely weigh the stuff I eat the next time just to see. Urg, it just annoys me so much when you THINK you are doing well, then find out oops, you were WAY under calculating.
 
Also when you look up calories on line, make sure they list it the same way you weigh it. IE if you weigh it raw, and the calories they list is cooked, it won't match up because obviously cooked food tends to be lighter than raw. Like a 4 oz raw burger becomes on average a 3 oz cooked burger. If you weigh it 4 oz raw, and look up the calories for 4 oz cooked, it will list a third more calories than it actually is.

There's always going to be some level of guess work though. Sometimes listening to your stomach works as well as anything, and sometimes eyeballing what seems like a reasonable serving of something will do the trick too.

This just happens to be one area where men have it a little easier: the larger calorie diets can be a little more forgiving to mis-estimating your calories I guess.
 
Yes, very true. It's so hard to be accurate cause you have to be so diligent and over aware of things.

Man, what a hard work out today was. I thought I was gonna die on the treadmill even though I only did the 15 mins I was supposed to but man!! I also upped nearly all my weights. I only didn't up the bicep curls (which I should have), I upped my tricep pull downs but had to bump back down for my 2nd and 3rd set. The rest I could do nearly all my reps with.
Having Swiss Chalet for supper but that actually fits in really easy with my calories, and I can even easily fit in a slice of ice cream cake!! Yay! With everything I have and will be eating today I am actually under 1600 calories! Though I won't eat anymore cause restaurant food is always a little lowballing on their counts.
 
Hey Mystic - great work on keeping todays' eating-out calories and choices within your range - Swiss Chalet does have some healthy eats & nice to see U allowed yourself a treat(ice cream cake)- need treats to help keep us motivated, happy, ...plus- gotta enjoy life a little eh?...
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& don't frett too much on being 100% accurate on weights/servings - as long as you are chosing healthy foods - some will be over, some servings will be under, but over-all , as long as your weight is moving the direction you want - your average daily calories are ok - so no need to be too stressed on how "perfect" each serving is...

& Great work on your workout today & increasing the weights - U are gonna be Sooo strong - challenging yourself/mixing it up - should help burn more cals & build some muscle....
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cheers gal,
maryann
 
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Didn't know what a Swiss Chalet was (well I knew it was a house in Switzerland but didn't know you could eat one of those). So I looked it up. Hmmm. I was familiar with Tim Hortons, but I didn't know you guys had other chain restaurants you were keeping to yourself.

Looks like there used to be a few in the US, but they apparently are all gone now.
 
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