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| Counting Calories WORKS! |
Counting Calories WORKS!How do I know that counting calories works? Easy. My husband, who does not cook, had to fend for himself during the 18 months I was in Alabama. He lived on frozen food, which he actually chose with the idea of eating at about 2,000 calories a day. Gradually, he raised the amount of calories he took in every day. When he was at the weight he wanted to be at, his calorie intake was 2,800 calories. Since he has to lift 50 packages at work, he also gets a lot of exercise in during the day. He went from weighting 187 pounds to weight 165 pounds. At six feet tall, he felt that he’d lost enough. And I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve been sabotaging his weight loss ever since I got back. He put his foot down after he’d gained back 7 pounds. The Cook Rules the RoostWe are a nation of uninhibited eaters. I can pretty much guarantee you, that if someone puts it in front of you on a plate, it’s going to go into your mouth. And if the plate is overloaded, you will eat too much. And this is what I did. Since I have no concept of portions, every plate I served up had way too much food on it. And, modesty aside, I am a really good cook. We rarely have fried food in our house, because my husband had Epstein Barr more than 20 years ago, when they barely had discovered the disease. Since there wasn’t a lot on how to treat it, we had to figure out what would and would not start a flare-up. One of the things we found was that fried foods made it worse for him. So, almost everything we serve is baked, broiled or grilled. And after I’d come back, I found he no longer ate beef or pork. There are only so many ways to prepare baked chicken. Trust me on this. I actually wrote a book call 101 Chicken Recipes, which I’ll eventually edit it so that it’s diet friendly. So, he’d get too many chicken pieces on his plate. As far as the side dishes are concerned: It’s those side dishes that’ll kill you. Corn is not a healthy vegetable. Did he eat what I gave him? Of course, complaining about every meal, but eating everything he was given. Eventually I got the message. No sauces on his pasta, he has cut down drastically on rice. And, no starchy vegetables although I do serve a lot beans, hey, legumes are good for you! Of course we have fresh salads with every meal. He eats a no-cal dressing, I eat blue cheese dressing, but will switch over to no-cal when this bottle is gone. Sigh! Since I want to loose weight, he’s set a good diet example for me to follow. |