Yesterday the BF and I went to Sam's, I wanted a giant bag of boneless skinless chicken breasts and thats usually the best place to find that at a reasonable price. It seemed a good idea to do some shopping, pick up a few supplies and maybe some snacky things.
At first it was amusing, even a bit fun to look at our favorite foods to see how many calories, how many servings, try and get an idea of how much we're going to have to cut back on what/how we eat to meet the goal of 2000/day. It didn't take long for the adventure to lose its glimmer, and very soon it became a chore. We continued, even looking at things we knew we had no intention of buying, and soon we moved into depression, edging toward discouragement.
As an example, one of my all time favorite comfort meals is mac n cheese. Preferably plain old Kraft from the box, occasionally velveeta shells n cheese. A single serving is over 400 calories, and I've been known to occasionally make up a box for myself.. just because. A quick check online tells me that a serving is 1/3 of the box, so thats a 1200 calorie snack right there.
Yeah..
To be perfectly honest, I'm pretty sure thats a fair representation of our eating habits. Make something tasty, eat until we're full, then maybe eat a bit more just because its so tasty its a shame to let any go to waste. Our average day has been fast food for breakfast and lunch, maybe 50% of the time dinner either fast food or a restraunt. Cooking at home isn't much healthier than greasy fried foods, I'm a sub-par cook... Until this relationship most of my "home cooked" meals have been microwaveable, hamburger helper, frozen pizza... Very few veggies or fruits and an active avoidance of anything that calls itself healthy.
Oh, and soda... I drink 'em like its the end of the world and I'm afraid I'll never taste sweet caffiene again. Several people have made the joke that I should bypass the consumption process and just have an iv line installed.
Luckily I do enjoy drinking water, and have been cutting myself down to one in the morning (but not today, so far!) and with lunch, though usually I undo the good of it by getting the biggest size possible, and a refill to take back to work with me.
Basically it got to the point where we were so upset by 1) the amount of calories we normally consume 2) the fact that so many foods say a single serving is basically a handfull of food and 3) having no idea how to go about doing this. Official Day One of diet and we came a breath away from saying it was too stressful, we'd rather just stay fat.
However, we made it through the moment by agreeing to continue trying the calorie thing, convincing ourselves we'll get used to the tiny portions and not feel like we're half starved all of the time. Do some research to figure out what is reasonable to set aside for each meal, etc. At least 2 weeks, likely a month just to give ourselves some extra time for adjustment.
So we got the chicken and a few other things, then went to our local grocery store to take advantage of a 2/$4 sale on lean pockets and other healthy type meals that we can take to work for breakfast and lunch. Trying to keep the first two meals under 300 each, which leaves a bit for a soda and a snack later, and plenty for dinner. Hopefully thats reasonable (He tells me that breakfast is supposed to be the big meal of the day, but I'm one of those lucky people who can't eat much first thing in the morning or it makes me nauseus).
My 290 calorie Lean Pocket breakfast tasted like cheese flavored cardboard, but I'm hopeful that my Smart Ones Chicken Parmesan will be more satisfying... trying to be hopeful, anyway.
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