Day 1 ... Success!

I’ve read several web sites and blogs that insist that eating breakfast helps in losing weight. Today though, I was just so excited/nervous about starting my diet that I fought my hunger pains all morning and skipped breakfast. I am going to try to find a good breakfast to eat in the morning so I can lots of energy and help relieve these food cravings!
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Instead of indulging into the leftover Halloween candy (successfully haven’t touched!), I decided to do a little exercise. I was getting ready to head to the gym when I remembered my friend Lauren’s car was behind me with a flat tire. So instead, I decided to walk Heinz around the neighborhood. I planned to walk for 30 minutes, but the route I took only lasted 20 minutes. I’ll have to try a different way tomorrow. Heinz enjoyed it, and I burned 101 calories. How did I figure that out? I used The Most Accurate Calories Burned Calculator. I’m not sure how accurate this is, but I’ve decided I am only using this calculator when determining burned calories so I can be consistent with it. Anyway, this site is so cool! You enter in your weight and the time in minutes you “exercised” to discover your calories burned. I put exercise in quotes because there are some random activities for burning calories, anything from sleeping to cooking to brushing your teeth! Try it out when you get a chance – it’s kinda fun!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For lunch I decided to eat two eggs – scrambled around 11. I didn’t add any cheese or milk, just a little EVOO and two eggs. They were quite tasty, probably because my stomach was growling louder than Heinz was at the trick-or-treaters last night. Jason came home from lunch, and he ate my leftover chicken fingers and roll from Logan’s Roadhouse. We ate there last night as my pre-diet feast, and the leftovers smelled delicious! At least it isn’t in the fridge still… staring back at me. Jason fixed Lauren’s tire and moved it out of the way. Cameron (a military friend) came over with his Subway, and it looked good, too. I eventually went to get a box of Froot Loops that I had taken from the hotel’s breakfast buffet in New Orleans yesterday.

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After lunch I met Laura at Planet Fitness for an afternoon workout. Our usual choice for calorie burning is the elliptical. After 20 minutes (exactly 2 miles) on the elliptical, I burned 175 calories. Not bad considering all I had eaten today up to this point equaled 260 calories.

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For dinner I attempt my first low-calorie meal. I made garlic chicken and baked french fries. Chicken was really good, while the fries weren’t too great. I’m very proud of myself because I only ate the one portion. No piling a ton of food on my plate or going back for seconds. Overall, a successful meal… and Jason said he wants the garlic chicken again!

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Breakfast

·        Nothing - Not the best idea.

Lunch

·        2 Scrambled Eggs (80 calories each / 160 total)

·        1 Individual Box of Froot Loops (100 calories)

Dinner

·      

Garlic Chicken (278 calories)

Ingredients

2 teaspoons crushed garlic

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Warm the garlic and olive oil to blend the flavors. In a separate dish, combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Dip the chicken breasts in the olive oil and garlic mixture, then into the bread crumb mixture. Place in a shallow baking dish.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes until no longer pink.

Baked French Fries (151 calories)

Ingredients

3 Russet potatoes, cut into ¼ inch strips

Cooking spray

1 teaspoon dried basil

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease baking sheet.

Arrange potato strips in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet, skin sides down. Spray lightly with cooking spray, and sprinkle with basil, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

 (both dinner recipes are from my favorite food recipe website AllRecipes.com)

Exercise

·        Walked Heinz for 20 minutes (101 calories burned)

·        20 minutes on the elliptical (175 calories burned)

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So, I was only supposed to eat 719 calories, plus the amount of calories I burned from exercise...

Day 1 Summary

Calorie Calculator Total Calories: 719 calories

Total Burned: 275 calories

Amount I Could Have Eaten: 994 calories

Food Eaten: 689 calories

Calories Saved: 305 calories

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FYI: Sorry for the formatting issues. I typed this up in Word and added to it throughout the day, and for some reason it messed it all up. Better luck tomorrow!