I have never really paid attention to what I eat. I've started tracking calories of everything I eat lately. It's been an interesting experience. I'm not particularly concerned with being overweight, but I am interested in losing some weight to try and take pressure off of my knee. I had my ACL replaced about 6 months ago and have been paying more attention to what impacts my knee since then.
My brother got a weighted vest for Christmas. He runs a lot and being able to add 18 pounds (the max weight for the vest) will help him train in a different way than just running for a longer time. I tried it on around Christmas and realized how much of a difference such a relatively small change in weight makes to your knees and legs.
My right leg is a lot weaker than it was before my ACL tore. It is drastically weaker. I've been talking to a guy about working on some exercises to strengthen it, but trying on that vest made me realize that one of the best things I could do would be to drop any excess weight I have. Now, I use the word excess very carefully. I'm not obese. I'm not really overweight. However I am above my body's expected weight (by about 15 pounds).
One interesting thing I've learned from my knee experience is how much I'm willing to do to keep the ability to run. It is something I've taken for granted for 30+ years, but it is something I'm willing to go to great lengths to preserve. So, I'm counting my calories now.
When I got married the first large scale dietary shift in my life happened. I started eating a lot more healthily, largely because my wife cooked the meals and she was used to (and liked having) a healthier diet than I was used to. I ended up losing about 15 pounds (most of it was probably fast food). However I hadn't at the time taken any kind of intentional steps about what I was eating. It just so happens that my wife started feeding me healthier food for dinner every day of the week and as a natural result I lost weight.
Last year the only resolution I kept was my resolution to not eat french fries. I did it for a specific reason and I enjoyed the results of my year long fry fast. This year I binged pretty hard (much harder than I had planned) on fries. I probably ate fries two or three times a week for the first two months of the year. Once I started tracking my calories I eventually ended up eating a medium sized order of fries when grabbing fast food on my way home one Friday night. I guesstimated they were 200-300 calories. They were in fact 500. That's as much as the sandwich I ate.
I think seeing the cold hard numbers of what I eat has been pretty enlightening. The first thing I ended up stopping was eating candy at work. Well I didn't completely stop, but I went from 3-5 pieces a day to 1. Those Reese's end up adding some calories to your diet if you eat 3-4 a day. I also cut down to 1 calorie drink a day. The rest of time it is 0 calorie hot tea or water. Those two things cut a surprising chunk of calories out of my day. Next was potato chips (replaced with pretzels).
So I haven't really given up any meal or the number of snacks I eat a day. But I've been working on substituting my high calorie items with slightly lower calorie items. It's been interesting to do the math every day and see where my largest sources of calories come from. I'm very blessed that my parents convinced me to love fruit as a kid because they provide a great lower calorie snack.
I still laugh a little in my head. I'm not a diet person. I'm not a calorie counter. I've always been a little confused by (and derisive of, if I'm being honest) people who were. But taking the time to really analyze what I'm eating and where my calories come from has made me more sympathetic to them. It's also showed me that I spent my entire life eating without thought. If it tasted good and I was hungry I ate it, with no thought to whether or not it was good for me or necessary.
I like seeing another part of my life fall under the sway of intentionality. After I drop the weight I want to drop I don't see myself continuing to track every calorie, but I do think I'll be more intentional with weighing what I'm eating with what I'm doing. It's easy to slowly gain weight over the course of years and then feel helpless to get rid of it.
And hey, if I ever run into a pub trivia where they want to know how many calories are in a peppermint I'll know. It's 20 calories.
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