A Day in My Pouch

I didn’t plan this in advance, but yesterday I took pictures as the day went on. I didn’t add everything up until today and didn’t really pay a lot of attention to what I ate (nor more or less than normal). I was kind of surprised by the numbers. I ended up with just under 1000 calories with 25g of fat, 71g of protein, and 110g of carbs – which is low for me.


Breakfast – High Protein Slim Fast with extra milk. It had 250 calories, 3.5g fat, 19g protein, and 31g carbs. Normally I use a shaker cup to avoid the clumping you see, but they all need to be washed.

Lunch - Baked Zuchini Chips and Crab salad with Peas (included a horseradish dipping sauce not shown). Lunch had 325 calories, 5g fat, 24g protein, and 38g carbs.

Afternoon snack (pre-workout). It had 185 calories, 6.5 fat, 27 carbs, and 8.5 protein.

Protein Drink for post work out. It had 50 calories, 10 g protein, 2 carbs, and .5 fat

Dinner – Hot Italian Turkey Sausage, Baked Polenta Chips, and Wilted Spinach. It had 225 calories, 10g fat, 19 g protein, and 14g of carbs.

This is both a typical day and non-typical day - if that makes sense. Typically I try to eat 1400 calories with at least 90-95g of protein and 150-160g of carbs and I had I been paying attention I would have added in at least 1 more snack yesterday. However, I often have days like this. Usually it is b/c I am in a rush and just deal with the hunger, but yesterday it was more about the fact that wasn't hungry and lost track of time. The not being hungry part is great!!! BUT and this is a big BUT, I normally stop losing weight if I go under 1050-1150. I am not sure if after losing the last few pounds that will still be true, but I haven’t lost any weight in the last 4 days. Looking back I think my calories have been lower than normal all week.

My NP pointed out to me one time that my “bad” days aren’t days where I splurge on “something", but when I don’t get enough calories.  That is different than most people, but still not good. I know she is right since I have only “splurged” twice in the last 6.5 months - both times on THREE fatty carby rolls (Bread with warm cinnamon butter… yummmm…I am starting to get hungry now!) What I don’t understand is why my “bad” days are normal days for their other patients. They want most patients to get 800-1200 calories, but after a couple days of doing that I crash and burn. I can’t be the only person exercising for goodness sake.

Just to be clear even though I don't "splurge", I don’t eat like an angel by any means. I eat fast food, ice cream, and other “bad” foods. However, anything from fast food or is a white carb is carefully added into my day. I am also very careful on where I get it and how much I get. For example, if I want a cookie I get ONE from Micky D’s instead of buying them at the store and bringing them home. If I want ice cream I pick up one single serving pre-packaged thing from the store (that has a reasonable calorie count). It helps so much more than even buying a box of low fat snacks. Because with me I will have just one, but one every day until they are gone!