Counting My Calories

They say that as you age you put on extra pounds. In my case, it was a lot more pounds than my body could tolerate. I have always exercised. I am in the gym at least three times per week, but my eating habits did not change as I grew older. Twenty years ago I could eat whatever I wanted to, never having to worry about my gaining weight. The problem is I am no longer 20 years old so the pounds started to pile on and before I knew it, I was xxxlbs heavier. Honestly, sometimes I look in the mirror and I think, who is this person looking back at me and how did you let this happen? When did my hour glass figure turn into the shape of a balloon? Six months ago, at my yearly physical, I received the diagnosis of having high blood pressure. It was difficult to hear my doctor say those words, because I had always been healthy. I had never been on any type of medication so to hear, I am going to be prescribing blood pressure medicine for me was a shock. It took a while for me to even fill the prescription because I thought you know what, this must be a mistake, for I have never had high blood pressure. A month later, I went for an OB appointment and again I was told, your blood pressure is too high, you need to be on medication to bring it down, I going to write you a prescription. No need, I had one. So I filled the prescription, but nothing was really changing, I took a couple of pills, but in my mind I still hadn’t accepted it. It wasn’t until I almost past out at home, that I told my kids what the doctor had said and that he also told me that my excessive weight gain played a huge part in the fact that I now had high blood pressure. My daughter being a nurse, stayed with me monitored my pressure and when everything settled down, scolded me for not doing what I was told. Imagine, I had her when I was sixteen now she chastising me. Nice! Anyway it was then that I decided that I had to become serious about my health and my weight gain. Since I was already exercising that was good, but my diet had to change. My eating habits were horrendous. I did not eat breakfast, sometimes skipped lunch so by late afternoon, I was starving. I ate anything and everything I could get my hands on I had and then ate dinner and then nighttime snacks. That was my diet and before I knew it I was 75 pounds overweight. We decided then that I would go on a 1200 calorie a day diet and that I would have to start counting calories, which meant keeping track of everything I ate. We found a diet online and we found a calorie counting program on my iphone and I started. That was three months ago, I have since then lost 25 pounds. Sufficed to say when I returned for my follow-up appointment with my doctor he was pleased. Like I said before, I’ve always exercise but I would leave the gym and go eat anything I wanted, which somewhat defeated the purpose. You don’t realize how much you’re eating until you begin to take note of the amount of calories you’re taking in each day. One slice of pizza is good, approximately 140 calories, but two slices is too much when you’ve had breakfast and snacks and dinner. One glazed donut about 180 calories but many of us eat two maybe three. Now I eat breakfast, a slice of toast, a hard-boiled egg, a banana. This starts my day off the right way. I eat lunch and I am not starving by late afternoon so I am not eating everything I see. Because whatever I eat have to fit into my 1200 calorie per day. I have to admit it was difficult in the beginning. We had a family dinner and my daughter was there saying, no mom you can’t have that or that, and that in and of itself was hard. Now I find that I am full on small amounts of food and it doesn’t matter where I am, at home or at a banquet, I’m not craving more and more. One of my weaknesses was night time snacking while watching TV. I don’t have that as often anymore and when I do have a cup of tea without sugar, it settles my cravings without adding calories and I’m good. Counting calories has worked wonders for me, it helped me to change my eating habits, because I am determined to lose this weight because I need to healthy, I need to be here for my children and grandchildren, get off this medication and look good again, because when you look good you feel good about yourself.