To count the calories...

As I've mentioned in the "About Me" section of this blog, I love exercise. And I love food. And I struggle to maintain a balance between the two. I am self-diagnosed with some condition in which I find all food hyper-palatable. Once I start eating, I don't want to stop, and I just want more of the flavour. Which results in me eating whole slabs of chocolate and whole packets of biscuits, and massive packets of chips. Even the "healthy" snacks: I eat them all! Because, hey, if I eat it now, it won't be there to tempt me! When it is gone, it's gone. I wish I could convince myself of this while I am eating it though...

In my attempt to never let the effects of "first-year-spread" afflict me again, I Googled, of course. I feel I have to work hard to stay at a certain weight (and then lose some perhaps as well). Thus, I came across "thinspo". An evil word in many cultures, this form of blogging/media sharing is a way for girls (and sometimes guys) to get inspiration for being thin (makes sense, right?). What it ultimately results in, is you sitting on tumblr, scrolling through endless posts and reposts of girls who just make you feel crap about yourself because they are so gorgeous (ahem, so professionally airbrushed).

While that last comment is true for a lot of the pictures, there are actually some really motivational before and after pictures that girls share of themselves (so brave!). There are also innumerable posts with advice on what the right foods are to eat, healthy alternatives, and even, as you move towards the Fitspo side of tumblr, exercises routines and advice for targeting particular areas (most commonly, that booty of course. And enter: the squat!).

Eventually I learnt that in order to lose weight, it was not just about eating less overall, it was about eating fewer calories. If you ate veggies to fill up your Cals, you could eat forever and still not reach your "calorie goal". If you ate pizza, however, one slice was the equivalent of a whole meal in some cases (basically a whole pizza could be the same as a single day's allowance...). So I began to count the calories.

The good news: it works! Basically. So now, in order to maintain a below-first-year-spread-maximum, I count how much energy each thing that passes my lips will give me. If I overeat, I want to burn those calories (or, if I burn the calories, I get to eat more, yay!!!). This might be borderline some kind of purging bulimia thing, but that is probably best reserved for another post. Because, as passionate as I am about exercise and my body, I know what I'm doing.

I thought I'd share this with you as a precursor for what is likely to follow in future blog posts...