trying harder

217.4

So I am now going to try to do three things, only one of which is a new thing.

1. Basically, my fiancee M has convinced me to go join a support group for lapbanded folk. It meets once a month and is led by Emory Bariatrics staff: dieticians, psychologists, etc. At $265 per year, its not exactly cheap but my fiancee wants me to do it so badly that he is fronting the cost. I am hoping that I will get some insight into some of my continuing food-related issues as well as some hope for making use out of my already-full-but-not-too-restricting band. He says if I do it for a few months and it doesn't seem to be helping, we will go back to the OCC for a followup appointment. An appointment at which I expect them to tell me to eat only depressingly small amounts of depressing diet foods, which is exactly what I can't do and was hoping the band would help me with.

2. I am writing down what I eat every day. God help y'all. I hope I don't slip up too badly and have to tell you guys I ate half a box of cereal or a ginormous milkshake.

3. Counting calories and computing caloric deficits. This is a system which has helped me in the past with varying degrees of success. Its worth a shot, anyway.

This morning I ran four miles-- four quality miles. I love days when I get up and bust out what I call quality miles. Those are runs in which I go faster than I normally do, walk less than I normally do, power up hills that normally defeat me, and generally end the workout feeling like I performed better than normal.

Here's today's projected calories (may be edited after supper):

breakfast:
1 Starbucks Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte (normally I have coffee at work with sugar-free creamer for 30 cals) - 130
1 Quaker strawberry cereal bar - 130

lunch:
1 Lean Cuisine butternut squash ravioli (with 2 veggie servings) - 350
1 small clementine - 35

snack:
1 banana - 105
1/4 cup almond, pecan, cranberry trail mix - 200

dinner:
1 10" flour tortilla - 110
2 oz. lowfat 2% milk Mexican shredded cheese - 162
1/4 black beans - 50
1/2 cup shredded chicken breast, with jerk seasoning - 115
2 tbsp lowfat sour cream - 40

total food calories: 1,427
total exercise burned calories: 638
basal metabolic rate: 1,744
caloric deficit for the day: 955

That's a decent caloric deficit, considering it takes about 3,500 calories to lose a pound. If I do that four days in a row, that's a pound gone. I can do that. Surely I can.