Rapid Weight Gain Week 4, Hidden Calories

The weight-loss efforts continue with minimal results. This week I lost .2 pounds (yes, there is a decimal point before that number), and about 2 inches total in all measurements. That’s like a half inch here and a half inch there.

Men, cover your eyes for this next sentence, lest you become traumatized by too much estrogen-infused talk: However, it is that time for me–evidenced by the headache I sense coming on even as we speak–and I normally wouldn’t even torture my psyche to step on the scale, were it not for the masses who want to know if my bootie has grown or shrunk. Fitness Friday Girl is all about self-sacrifice, you know.

So I’m still hopeful that we are moving in the right direction. Next week’s weigh-in should tell the real story. Stay tuned.

Since starting this little series four weeks ago, I have been diligently tracking and cutting calories while working out longer and with more intensity than I had before. I have not had one day in the last two weeks where my daily calories exceeded 1800. I’m so ready for a free day–which I’m enjoying tomorrow–happily and without even a hint of guilt. I’m thinking some peanut butter chip ice cream and veggie pizza my be on the menu. And maybe some pancakes. And dark chocolate…

If you are just starting out on the journey to fitness and health, you will soon discover that small changes over time add up to big results. My sweet friend recently substituted water for soda. For her, that one change created a daily calorie drop of 800 to 1000. And a weight loss of 9 pounds in 3 weeks. Yay, friend!!!!!

But if you are like me and have been eating healthy and exercising for 100 years, cutting things out of your diet becomes tricky. I don’t have any one “bad” thing to cut out. I indulge in treats on occasion (peanut butter chip ice cream, veggie pizza, pancakes and dark chocolate, for example), but I learned years ago, I can’t indulge daily. Sometimes I don’t even indulge weekly. I understand “good carbs/bad carbs.” I don’t eat fast food or fried food. I don’t keep pans of brownies or packages of cookies lying around my kitchen. I eat at least 5 servings of fruit and veggies daily…usually more.

Short of hooking up to a saline IV and giving up food altogether, I’m not always sure where to cut. And therein lies the dilemma of my weight gain for the past several months. And where my dreaded calorie counting has become so helpful.

Emphasis on “dreaded,” because I hate it so.

I’ve had to just block the sheer redundancy of measuring and writing down EVERY SINGLE THING out of my mind and remember all the reasons I started counting in the first place…namely 12 to 18 “reasons” strategically placed on my tummy, hips and thighs.

I’ve been whining about this so long, I’m starting to get on my own nerves. Sorry. I’ll stop.

The great thing about assigning a number value to every food is seeing what is “worthy” of my daily calorie allotment and what is not. And I’m finding it easier to locate places to cut. Since my overall diet is very healthy, I have to look for hidden calories. Take a look at what I found lurking in my diet.

Butter: I love butter. I don’t eat it very often, but when I do, I eat more than I should. Butter is 100% fat and 100 calories per serving. A serving is one tablespoon. Try spreading one tablespoon of butter on a baked potato or over two pieces of toast, and you quickly realize you are packing on calories with something that will not fill you up. Rather than skimp on the taste of butter on my toast and potatoes, I’ve switched to only one slice of toast and smaller potatoes.

Salad dressing: We’ve heard this for years, “order your dressing on the side.” I always do that, and then dump the whole thing on my salad when the food arrives. Smart, Sandy. Like butter, dressing is that thing that adds lots of flavor to a big, nutritious salad, so it’s easy to over-do it. Measure out 2 tablespoons of dressing and see if you can be happy with your salad that way. If not, try a low fat dressing or add some flavor with something like Natures Seasons. (Read the ingredients of lo fat/lo cal dressings and make sure they haven’t added a bunch of chemicals to make it taste good.) I also really like fresh lemon juice with salt and pepper. You’ll be surprised how much the flavor of your veggies pop with no added calories!

Peanut butter/nut butters: Peanut butter is my all time favorite food. Ever. If I was on Survivor and they told me I could only bring one item to the island, it would be peanut butter. I eat it every single day, without fail. And before calorie counting, I ate it without restriction. One giant spoonful spread on my banana and another giant spoonful straight into my mouth. One giant spoonful for apple dipping and another giant spoonful for licking. One spoonful on my whole wheat bread…and then another spoonful for the heck of it. Peanut butter has 190 calories in two tablespoons. By carefully rationing out my peanut butter, I’ve been able to cut several hundred calories a day.

Nuts and trail mix: I don’t really snack on chips or pretzels. When I get the munchies, I grab some homemade trail mix. I have a big bowl on my counter filled with almonds, cashews, granola and dried fruit. Sometimes I add some dark chocolate chips or chocolate covered raisins, if I’ve been a good girl. I keep a bag of almonds in my car to eat during carpool. Like peanut butter, nuts and dried fruits are very nutritious but also very high in calories. One serving is only about a quarter cup or 28 pieces. Have you seen a quarter cup lately???? A quarter cup is TINY! I bet I ate 4 or 5 times that at each sitting. Again, a change of several hundred calories a day.

Cheese: My husband and I used to have a motto: “There’s no such thing as ‘too much’ cheese.” Clearly, that was when we were 25 years old and had the metabolism of a wild gazelle. I love cheese, but I’m learning to bypass the cheese on certain items to cut the calories. For instance, one slice of cheddar cheese is 90 calories. Do I really need that on my sandwich or my salad? I can barely taste it. Instead, I can pile my sandwich high with all kinds of bright, fresh veggies and still have it taste great. I’d rather save cheese for my pizza where I will thoroughly enjoy it. Know what I’m saying?

Eggs: Eggs are yummy. Eggs are versitile. Eggs are packed with protein. Two eggs have 140 calories, which is not a ton. But one egg and 3 egg whites only has 115! Scramble them all up and it tastes the same. In the end, I’ve been able to eat MORE food while having LESS calories.

Restaurant food: This is the biggest killer, I think. Remember my Q’doba Grilled Veggie Naked Burrito Revelation last week? And that’s at a healthy restaurant ordering the light option. Most entrees in family style restaurants start around 700 calories and go up from there. Add the bread or the basket of chips at the beginning, a drink or two, and you easily consume 1000 calories or more at one meal. You don’t always know how much oil or butter was used to prepare the meal, so even if you order something innocent, like spaghetti or stir fry, it can easily become evil if it’s swimming in ¼ cup of fat. Fat you can’t even enjoy. I mean if you’re going to have a cup of fat, at least make it something WORTHY of the calories.

What could be sabotaging YOUR weight-loss? How about these popular foods?

Coffee: Coffee in and of itself is calorie-free. It’s all the yummy stuff we add to it that makes it fattening. A Venti Mocha Cocoanut Frappuccino from Starbucks has 710 calories and 26 grams of fat. You can cut the calories and fat significantly by ordering a Tall instead of a Venti, skipping the whip cream and substituting skim milk. (Note: if you order it “skinny,” they will put sugar substitute in it—BAD!!!!)

Crispy Chicken Salads: It’s crispy because it’s fried in fat. Add dressing, and suddenly, your healthy salad has more calories than a Big Mac. I’m not kidding. Always choose grilled chicken on your salads. And while you’re at it, stay away from Mc Donalds.

Bagels and Muffins: Muffins are just an excuse to eat cupcakes for breakfast. Not that there’s anything wrong with that every once in a while. I’m generally pro-cupcake. But most people have no clue how many calories are in those babies. A Carrot Walnut Muffin from Panera Bread sounds oh, so very healthy. But it has 440 calories and 19 grams of fat. The Whole Grain Bagel with plain cream cheese sounds like the healthy choice, but has 550 calories and 22 grams of fat. YIKES! If you want to cut it down, just eat half of it and save the rest for tomorrow. Those things are huge anyway.

Sauces: Creamy sauces (and soups for that matter) usually contain heavy cream and cheese—that’s what makes them creamy. Ruby Tuesday Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta (white-meat chicken, broccoli, and penne pasta in a parmesan cream sauce topped with cheddar cheese and baked) doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Are you ready for this? 2,060 calories and 128 grams fat. Oh. My. Word. That’s more than I’m currently eating in an entire day.

Ethnic foods: PF Chang’s is my favorite Asian restaurant and a regular date nite destination for me and my main man. Their food is fresh and they have a ton of interesting options. Plus, I always feel hip and trendy when I’m there, which happens less and less as I age. I usually get the Chicken Lettuce Wraps (an appetizer) as my meal. 640 calories! Dude, it’s lettuce and a tiny bowl of chicken!!!! What in the WORLD? No surprise when the Sweet and Sour Chicken (my other favorite thing) came in at 1,100 calories. I’m learning to get on line BEFORE I venture to my favorite eateries and scope the nutritional info for their lo-cal choices.

Have you had a high calorie revelation lately? What do you do to substitute or cut back? Let’s discuss while I medicate my headache with some Tylenol and dark chocolate.