7 Day Trial: 1500 Calories - Day One
On December 31, 2005, I attempted something no Hyatt employee had ever attempted before (to my knowledge). I set the goal to steal and consume an entire derby pie over the course of my New Year’s Eve shift. Over several hours, I discreetly downed three-fourths of a pie before my brain kicked back on and told me to stop.
Most sane people are now asking themselves, “Why the hell would you ever want to do that?” Fair question. The best answer I can come up with is some combination of hating my job, trying to exert control over my environment, and surrendering to my compulsive eating habits. In short, I eat to feel good, and I was feeling bad. Yesterday, the “I Hate My Job Food Challenge” struck again. My goal was to steal and consume one of each pastry (maple, apple, raspberry, and cinnamon roll) and one of each muffin (chocolate, blueberry, and cream cheese). This time, I was victorious!
Only not so much. I came home from work feeling ill, slept away my two free hours of the day, and woke up feeling like crap. Clearly, I needed a change.
In the now 15 minutes of free time I had, I checked my email and saw that Courtney had tagged some pictures of me on facebook. The pictures were from a show back in September, when I was in the best shape of my life (question: how do you go from the best shape of your life to almost the worst shape of your life in 6 measly months?). I remembered feeling good during that time, and now I could see that I looked much better, too.
At the Drum Center, John Johnson and I got to talking about weight loss. I complained that I can’t run right now because of my knees, therefore, I can’t lose weight right now. John pointed out even though I can’t run, I can still lose weight using the same formula as before:
Calories out > Calories in
Since I’m only burning my “normal” 2000 calories a day, all I need to do is consume less than 2000 calories. That’s where the idea of a 1500 calorie diet comes in.
For the next 7 days, I will plan meals so that I consume only 1500 calories per day. Yes, this means I’m counting calories to the point of measuring out my cereal and milk every morning. Will it be a pain in the ass? Definitely. Will it be so much of a pain in the ass as to not be worth it? I have the next 7 days to find that out.
So far today, I’ve had one serving of cereal and milk, a protein bar, and a peanut butter sandwich, for a grand total of 900ish calories. I have three “meals” left to go: a snack of a banana, a dinner of soup and an apple, and a final snack of rice cakes and carrots. Today’s grand total will be 1485 calories, 60 grams of protein, 34 grams of fiber, and 93% of my daily iron intake. I take a vitamin supplement, just like before, so I expect the rest of my vitamin levels to stay constant. I’m also drinking 64 ounces of water (34 so far).
Overall, I feel like I have more energy today than I did on average for the past week. I have felt hungry occasionally, but I think most of what I was experiencing was “hunger out of habit.” I’m hungry now, but it’s almost time for my next meal, so that’s understandable.
My long term goals for this project include creating a database of food and its nutritional value for easy planning. I probably need a column for calcium as well.
Two stumbling blocks looming on the horizon are eating out and being invited to dinner at someone’s house. Can I stick to my calorie limits with either of these two activities? I suspect eating out will have to be planned in advance (going online to look up nutrition facts, etc.) and dining at friends’ will just have to involve flexibility on my part. Six 1500 calories days and one 2000 calorie day a week still equals a net loss of 3000 calories, which is about a pound a week.
I also suspect my metabolism will slow to adapt to my new caloric intake. Clearly, this plan cannot work forever, or I’d starve to death within 3 years. I’m not sure where that breaking point is. With any luck, some doctor will fix my knees, and I then I can resume running and eating somewhat normally again. We’ll see. Until then, here’s to watching what I eat…
Fun fact: My typical lunch of PB&J, Sunchips, an apple, cookies, and an Ale8 weighs in around 1300-1400 calories. I guess I wasn’t even eating a 2000 calorie diet before…