How much should one eat?

There is no end to advice about the number of calories a normal person should eat. The most common is that for woman, it is 1800, for a man, 2200.

But what if one is overweight? Does one continue to eat 1800, and sometimes accidentally overshoot that limit? Someone has said that if you (a woman) want to lose weight, then, whatever you eat, make sure that it is 1000 calories, and you'd lose weight. And guess what? I've been trying that formula out on myself.

Roughly I've been eating way below 1800. Which is good. but the bad news is that, it has been almost impossible to stick to the 1000 level. Somehow, by the end of the day, when I add up the food values, it always is a few hundred calories above 1000.

I'm trying to remain optimistic, inspite of slipping from the goal occasionally. And I think, there has been a small amount of success. Like losing a few pounds. The dinner of rice, sambar and eggplant curry this evening, even though it was very little, on a quarter plate, was above 1000.

The point here is to be more determined, at least until reach my goal, which is 105 lb. For that to happen, I have to keep reminding myself. Several times during the day, I have to examine, and also revise my strategy.

Yes, it is about Food!

The last few weeks had been an intense probing into my diet, routine, exercise, my sleep pattern, bicycling, yoga. But first and foremost, about cutting down calories. I've been gaining weight, and the first thing I wanted to do was to get back to normal range, which would be 105 pounds.

That my current weight in 130 lb and BMI 24 has done little to elevate my mood about my situation. No one needs to point me out that I needed to do it in earnest. That it should be a war effort, that I really needed to motivate myself to eat less, and that if I wanted to avoid a pre-diabetic state, I must buck up to work hard.

And so here I am, maintaining a food diary diligently. For every piece of cake, breakfast cereal, every morsel of rice, every glass of juice, I have entered the calorie values against them on a page of my notebook.

I can hardly see any difference in me since I started this activity, and I am about to lose enthusiasm. Eating less has not lowered my weight fast and drastically, I way I want. It has been extremely slow. It has taken me weeks to lower 3 lbs. Is that good enough? When would I get to 105 lb? That goal seems very far away.

Recipe Books

Nowadays, my reading during a day has come to be circumscribed by what I cook. Most often.

Like if I am planning to cook pasta with soya sauce, I need to clarify what spices I need to add. If it would be ginger, garlic and onion, or something more too. Whether I need to be strictly making an Asian pasta/noodles, or move somewhat away from that path and add the Italian tomato sauce that contains oregano.

It is an extremely good idea to have cookbooks in the house. More if you like cooking, and on top of that, if you have someone in the house who is a finicky eater.

But there are disadvantages to having cookbooks too. You end up making too much good food, and then eating it too. The outcome? Maybe indigestion, obesity, high bp, or even diabetes. And then cholesterol fear always looms large.

The result is that you learn to cook healthy, and eat healthy eventually. Because you search for such recipes in cookbooks that spell out the exact calories and other components, like cholesterol and sodium, that it contains.