Maybe you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!!

i just learned something!!! I have a salad with me for lunch.  Very carb friendly and I thought calorie friendly!!! I mean how bad can romaine lettuce,  a little cheese and some dressing be???   Okay so now I know.   I think I will be alright if I go and pick up some different dressing.  I have Newman's original olive oil dressing. I like a lot of dressing and if I go with what I have - dinner will be really slim!!!!

You know years ago this was the Weight Watchers way and now they have the point system.  That point system really meant to me that I could skip things like salad and go straight for the ice cream!!!! This is so much better. 

I just didn't know I have so much to learn!!!  Now if I exercise at the gym will that give me more calories???

We all have out Oh ****!! moments.  Mine was when I decided to have a Burger King sausage biscuit for breakfast.  They are small, can't have too many calories, right...  Try 1100!!!  I had eaten most of what I was allowed for the day for breakfast!  Now I look fast food up before I order.

Exercise at the gym (or anywhere else) will give you more calories, but don't depend too much on it.  You will be very discouraged when you find out how hard it is to burn of even one meal.

Thanks for the heads up on the exercising!!  That makes sense. I could eat away the profit of exercising!!!  I hope that biscuit was good.  I confess it made me hungry!!!! LOL

I found the best way to make sure I didn't end up in a calorie whole is the plan the next day's food intake the night before. You're right - I am an A personality. But I hate those moments when I realize I SHOULDN"T have eaten the whole thing! :-)

Ellie

Hey Ellie, thanks for the advice.  Planning has never been a strong suit, but you are right a little preparation before hand does make a difference.  It is something I am trying to do.  It started with making my lunch the night before and is growing to breakfast and dinner is next.  I think it helps with avoiding mistakes.  Then again, I have a long way to go here and I might be in the naive stage!!! LOL I hope you have a great day!

Lauri

Sounds to me like tuff_n_nuff and Ellie are on the right track regarding planning - at least that's the key for me.  I love CC for that very reason - if I plan I can avoid the denial that makes me think I'm eating less than I am.  For example, the honey in my tea:  64 cals per tbsp.  Peanut butter :  190 cal for 2 tbsps.  These are the kinds of things I thought of as little and not really counting but they add up!  So I have honey, and I have peanut butter sometimes, but if I plan and use CC then I know exactly how much room I have for them.

I don't plan on counting cals for the rest of my (hopefully long) life, but I'm using CC to teach me how to eat healthily and in the correct portions.

Thanks for being out there - it helps to know that others are struggling and learning and growing (smaller) with me!

At first it was frustrating, because it took forever! But I keep a paper journal during the day and the more I do it the faster it becomes because I have a growing database to choose from. I also have a column for comments so I can make a note of a meal that didn't stay long, or one that worked well.

Ellie

Good Morning Mad 4 moon., I know what you are saying.  I am really surprised about a few things since coming here.  I love Paul Newman's original dressing and I used to smoother my salad with it.  My salad used to be just lettuce a ton of sunflower seeds and sharp cheddar cheese.  Okay that salad would end up being around 785 calories!!! Yikes I could of had a McDonald's heart attack!!! I love this site and I love knowing that I can have control over my weight and my life!!! It has been a real eye opener so far!!!

Keep up the great job and I hope you have a great day!!! Lauri

A 700 calorie salad - I know the shock of that one.  I got tired of the Weight Watchers menu at Applebees so I had a spinach/shrimp salad, and checked out the calories when I got home - almost half my daily allowance - YIKES!  Don't even talk about the orange-chicken bowl at Applebees, that little baby is more than I'm allowed to eat all day!

So instead, who has favorite low-cal/healthy/yummy foods when you're eating out, outside of the Applebees Weight Watchers deal?   Aside from calories, I'm also counting protein and fiber, so those numbers matter most to me.

I LOVE Ruby Tuesdays!  It has such a fresh and great salad bar.  So, I can control what I eat there.  Then order some grilled fish or chicken and add veggie side instead of potato.  Love it!!!!

I had forgotten about Ruby Tuesdays, and there's one near my work - thanks!

  In our age group (sorry for reminding everybody) one of the things WE should be watching along with our calories is our sodium intake. When I first stared using CC it took me two weeks to whittle my calories down to the level they said I should be at. But what I noticed was the sodium levels were still at 3000-4000 MG a day!!! The reason I joined was to lower my weight AND my BP thinking the lost weight would do it. I had NO idea that the salt had as big a roll and bigger than the actual weight. Now, four and a half months later I'm down 30 lbs and my BP is  115/65 and holding. The doctor took me completely off my medication a while back. Keep an eye on our sodium in your foods and us old farts will be around to play with our grand kids!

Yeah.  It's easy to turn a nice simple salad into a huge calorie-fest.  Some dressings are like putting straight mayonnaise on it.

Add cheese, nuts, bread, etc...and you end up with a 700 calorie salad.

I have been enjoying the Walden Farms zero calorie dressings.  The are'nt near as good as Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, but then I save 296 calories!

Oops...didn't read the date.

Uh oh.  Probably why I've got the puffy feet today.