In leiu of the caloric price paid for yesterday's coffee and muffin, today I decided to stop at the gas station on my way to work and pick up a pair of bananas and a liter of water. I got to work, ate the two bananas, then went looking for nutrition facts. Turns out bananas have 172 calories apiece. 172! So today I'm at 344 so far. Miles ahead of the 940 or whatever yesterday's breakfast was, but still.
If you do any sort of research into how to eat better, you'll no doubt see that many experts recommend eating 6 smaller meals per day instead of the traditional American 3. Taking the average recommended caloric intake (is this coming from the government? I need to look into this number a bit more) of 2000 calories a day, you'll see that a meal should be 333 calories (2000/6). So I'm over. Of course, I won't be getting a second small meal before lunch (I should though, I'm quite hungry at the moment), so I guess I'm at 666 to spend at lunch, but jeez, monitoring this is going to be harder than I thought.
I think that the first thing to go will be soda. At 170 calories for a 12 ounce can of Mountain Dew, they quickly erode my allotted calories per meal. Swapping water for the pop should reduce my daily calories by 340~510. Did you know that 20 cans of soda is 1 pound? Not to mention the effects on your teeth or any potential diabetes risks with that much sugar. 20 cans is a pound. I easeily have 12~15 cans during my work week, plus several on the weekend. That's a pound a week right there.
If you've read my old blog (which I foolishly discarded), you're aware of my issues with soda addiction. Or perhaps caffeine addiction. I'm sure that it will be a future post as I continue to press forward.
They're my favorite fruit.
Where I've Been and Where I'm Going
1 comment:
Caffeine is a tough habit to drop. I used to drink a 2L bottle a day of diet pop. I wasn't getting all the extra calories, but the caffeine definitely was an addiction.
I used to get headaches and felt like crap if I didn't drink any for a long period of time. I can't even begin to imagine what an alcohol addiction would be like.
Once you've managed to significantly lower your consumption quitting becomes much easier. About the only time I ever have pop now is if I'm at a restaurant. Occasionally I'll buy a bottle of caffeine free diet pepsi as a treat....but it last a lot longer than it used to, and the addiction is gone.
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