Summer Weight Gain

Blame it on poolside drinks. Blame it on the extra wine needed from having the kids home all summer. Blame it on the heat. Whatever I blame it on, I can't deny that these five (or seven) pounds that are following me around are real.

Like most women, my weight fluctuates within the same 5 pounds or so. Some weeks I'm up, but them I'm usually right back down with little or no changes. I guess I'm getting a little older now, and maybe that fluctuation is going to be harder to keep up with. I don't know. I just know that the number on the scale and the tightness of my clothes is not working for me, so now I actually have to do something about it.

I've got the exercise thing down, which is probably part of the problem. It's that mentality of thinking you got a really good workout in, so you can just chow down on whatever. We've all been there. I don't really overdo it on bad foods. It's not like I'm hitting the Krispy Kreme drive-thru on the way home from the gym. Okay, maybe once. The problem I've got is "healthy" snacking. And it's always in the afternoon. It's like, lunch comes, and I don't really like lunch, as meals go, so I'm not really satisfied, and the snacking begins. Three handfuls of Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered almonds can't be THAT bad, can they?

Kind of healthy.

Not fooling anyone.

So, today, I started counting calories. And I'm already kind of amazed at how many extra calories I have probably been ingesting.

I installed the My Fitness Pal app on my phone after hearing lots of good things about it. The thing I like most (so far) is that it seems to have a ton of foods already in its database. Everything I've searched for has been there, down to specifics like "Costco Rotisserie Chicken." The downside is that many things seem to be measured in ounces, and without a food scale, it's hard to figure out how much an ounce is. So I ordered an inexpensive digital food scale. Thanks, Amazon.

Here's a peek at the app:

The other cool thing is that in addition to your meals and snacks, you can input your exercise for the day. Based on your activities, My Fitness Pal adds your burned calories back into your daily caloric total. For instance, I input that I want to lose 1.5 lbs/per week. I also input my current weight, and I was given a daily calorie total of 1200. I about passed out from hunger just looking at that measley number. But then I put in my spin class this morning, which the app estimated burned about 500 calories, so my total cals for the day went up to 1700. Reasonable, but it does go fast.

I think it will help with making better choices. For instance, I was going to add some cheese to may lunch salad. But that was going to add about 110 calories. No, thanks. That 110 calories was saved for a glass of Chardonnay instead.

See? Making better choices already.