6000 Calories!

Last year, as I noticed my weight creeping up-up-up, I decided to get back on track with watching what I eat. About 10 years ago I was able to lose approx. 20 pounds with Weight Watchers, and got myself down to an appropriate size/weight for someone who is 5 feet tall (and has a short waist...). But, like many other things, I started to slip back into old habits and gained, not all, but a bit back. Let's just say I was on a trajectory that was not making me very happy about my body image.

The key for me has always been journaling, portion control, and, of course, making smart food choices. People don't realize how much they actually eat until they start to write it down. So, not wanting to re-invest in Weight Watchers (at least for now), I decided to download a handy little "app" called MyFitnessPal. MyFitnessPal helps you determine your optimal daily calorie intake to meet your weight goal, and has a very robust database of foods - from general type foods and dishes to many restaurant calorie guides. It also accounts for exercise so you can build that into your daily calorie count. To get to my weight goal, my daily calorie count was 1,200, which, believe me, is very hard to achieve at an average of 400 calories a meal, not including snacks.

I'm happy to say that most days I can stay within 1,200 calories, and, as of "now," I've lost approx. six pounds using MyFitnessPal (although that usually fluctuates between 4-8 pounds lost when I sporadically weigh myself). When I go over, though, I don't beat myself up - tomorrow is another day! I bring this up because Wednesday we were having a discussion at work and one of the guys I work with said he needs to eat 6,000 calories a day. A DAY! He has intense daily two-hour workouts, and he does other fitness type stuff. He is also 6' 7" tall. 

But, WOW. 6,000 calories. Wouldn't that be wonderful?!!!