Wednesday, March 19, 2008

What Goes In Might Spread Out!: A Day of Food

Today was a strange day to track food intake, but it's the only day I lived in the past 22 hours, so it's what I've got to work with.

The food calculator had strange combinations and limited options so I got as close as I could with the selections. I started my day with a bagel with sun dried tomato and herb cream cheese. For lunch I had pot roast with mashed potatoes. I had some baby carrots and a few pita chips with hummus as a snack. For dinner I ate a hot dog with no bun and some carrots and cherry tomatoes (couldn't be found on the calorie calc.) That was and will be it, since it somehow got to be 10:21 PM. Here is the calculator's version of what I had:
On a 2000 calorie diet this states that I consumed 138% of my daily fat allowance. I don't think that was true, because the hot dog I ate, first of all, was an all turkey frank. Next, the serving of Pot Roast I had was not quite as large as the one above. Lastly, the pita and hummus in the menu is a plate (huge!) not at all what I ate for a snack. Even so, I'm sure I was pretty close to my total fat allowance.

This is not a terrible diet, but a strange one for me. I wouldn't normally eat pot roast for lunch and a single hot dog for dinner.

If I were to have eaten ideally today, It would have probably gone like this: granola and yogurt for breakfast. Orange for a snack. Turkey sandwich for lunch (whole wheat bread one slice Swiss cheese, NO MAYO because I don't like it, not for health. Plenty of plain mustard, tomato, spinach.) apple and baby carrots for a snack. And, not because I am disciplined but because the cook makes us buy healthy, something light with lots of greens and probably grilled chicken.
I do not always eat well. There are just those days when the chips overtake me, or I just gotta get a soft serve cone from DQ. I try not to let it happen often.

Nutritional tracking is very helpful and I would highly recommend it to people who know they need a serious change in their diets. I used to log everything religiously, especially when I was trying to gain 10 lbs of muscle and get down to 11% body fat. I got tired of it, though and now I am back to eating, mostly, what I have already charted as safe to maintain a good weight and have well-balanced nutrition. If DQ keeps calling, I may have to start again!

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