Saturday

I have discovered.....

...that I like to run in the dark. Not pitch black dark, but the dusk dark around 8:45 - 9:00pm. And while wearing something brightly florescent. Don't you love how all these bright greens and pinks and yellows and oranges that we wore in 80's are coming back???? Not that I am a fan of the 80's or anything, I just remember really REALLY liking fluorescent colors. I had a bright green and black sort of windbreaker type hoodie thingy that I practically lived in.

Anyway, running at this hour, wearing fluorescent green, like I did tonight, makes it seem like I am glowing. I suppose it gets a big plus on the side of safety as well. All I know is I think I need more fluorescent shirts.

Looking at MyPlate on Livestrong.com, I have really been on track this week. It is helping IMMENSLY that I can track what I'm eating on this program. It's so easy and it tells me everything I need to know. The interface is very user friendly and I think that is a big winner in my book. So anyway, they've got me at 1266 calories per day to lose 1 pound a week and in the last 6 days, I've been under that amount every day except one. The one day I went over I was at 1500-something calories and that was the day Emma and Andreas left for Sweden. I was feeling anxious and sad and fed those feelings with pizza and a giant cinnamon roll. My mouth watered just typing that sentence.

Anyway, if it is correct, I should have a pound gone by Monday. I've simplified things a bit and so far it has been working VERY well. In the past, I have tried too hard to be too meticulous about things and then get frustrated when life gets in the way and I can't adhere to the strictness of my plan 100% of the time. Now, I'm simply using the law of physics. Calories in versus calories out. Simple as that. I mean, why get over complicated with macro nutrients, eat carbs, don't eat carbs, when to eat carbs, protein at every single meal, this many servings of this and that per day, eat a particular food with another food at a specific time and blah blah blah. TOO MUCH! No wonder I can't ever stick to it, it's like a full time job figuring all that crap out all the time. It was consuming me.

So now, I am just trying not to go over my calorie limit each day of 1266. And I'm not being super picky about what I eat. For instance, I had pizza last night. But I still had 900 or so calories that I could consume by dinner time and so I looked up nutrition facts for the type of pizza I was ordering and knew that I could have 3 slices and be within range. Simple. And I'm not depriving myself so I don't find myself wanting to graze, even though I'm on a lower calorie menu than usual. Like I said, it's really working out well.

Here is a GREAT article on the physics of "calories in vs. calories out".