Calories Vs. Nutrients

The perfect weight and body is a continuously unsatisfied objective. America will constantly be discussing how to be healthier, skinnier, more toned, and gorgeous as ever. Even if we were to accomplish this unreachable goal, we would still be unhappy and looking for ways to improve. Unless you want to drive yourself crazy by being an eternal failure, you have one option: Do what you can to make your body feel good, be healthy, and fit in your clothes without looking like a stuffed sausage, and come to accept the rest.

I can't control the fact that I have a little kid butt with very little junk in the trunk, that my skin doesn't tan, or that my forehead will never be the right shape to provide a great location for swoopy bangs. These are the things I have come to embrace and accept as part of my wonderful gift of a healthy body. I can control the types of food and how much I put into by hungry mungry tummy. I feel I do pretty well as far eating the right kinds of foods, but alas, portion control is not my forte.

I've come to a very distressing and appalling realization: no matter how healthy you eat, you can consume too much and still gain weight.... DUN DUN DUN! And on the flip side you can be a garbage head, devouring only sweets and processed food, but by staying under a certain number of calories you can be as skinny as Olive Oil. I wish it weren't true, but after standing on the scale reading the increasing numbers several days in a row, I have no choice but to accept this awful reality. I. eat. too. much.

I am turning into someone I swore I would never be: a calorie counter. I have a serious tendency to graze throughout the day, and then eat till I'm stuffed at all five three meals. I recently discovered a calorie counting app and it's actually kind of fun. It helps me realize if I'm eating because I'm hungry, or brainlessly putting food in my mouth as I stare at my work computer.  Now I can watch what I eat and how much. After putting in my goals, it gave me 1200 calories a day. If I earn more calories by working out then 1200 is perfect. If I don't work out and truly only eat 1200 calories, I go to bed hungry and wanting to rip someone's head off. After trying this on day 1 I decided that being hungry is not something I'm willing to do. I love my food too much man.

I'm not going to count calories forever, but for now I am learning to listen to my body, not to snack like a mindless carb monster, and realizing that I actually will survive if I don't have a treat every night after dinner. Who knew?