Popcorn = kryptonite

Maintenance has been a little rough lately. I mentioned in my last post that the scale went up a bit. Well, it kept climbing. Slowly, but steadily. At first I attributed it to other things: strength training, my period, water retention, indulging a little too much at the different graduation dinners. And it was just the scale, right? Well, my clothes still fit fine, but I did my measurements the other day, like I do at the beginning of every month. My waist is up a little, along with my abdomen, chest, butt, and thighs. Not cool. I checked my body fat percentage and that's up a bit too. I was pretty down about it all day and then jumped into solution mode. I need to fix this NOW.

Steve told me I look the same, but you can't argue with every measurement going up. And he said 5 lbs isn't much. That's true. But it's a slippery slope. If I let it go, how soon will it turn into 10 lbs? Or 15 lbs? Or more? No, I'm out of my maintenance range and I need to fix it. So far I've increased the intensity of my workouts and slightly lowered my calories. Nada. I'm barely below 150.

I ordered a BodyMedia Fit. It's a BodyBugg - made by the same company with the same technology, just marketed a bit differently. Plus the monthly subscription is less expensive and it also tracks sleep efficiency. It should be here in a week or two.

But last night Steve wanted popcorn. With my tightened calories, I figured I should measure the popcorn and figure out how many calories that was (we pop it in oil in a dutch oven). I'd tried to figure it out before, but ended up trying to convert amount of popped kernels to amount of popped kernels and it was a confusing mess. So we've been estimating that a batch of popcorn was somewhere between 400 and 600 calories. And I've been allowing for that many calories in my range. So no problem, right? WRONG. According to my Calorie King book, 1 oz of oil-popped corn is 145 calories. Last night's batch weighed 7.3 oz, after removing the unpopped kernels. That's 1058 calories. Uh oh. Popcorn has been a regular evening snack around here. And if Steve isn't home or doesn't want any, I've been know to eat the entire batch. Yup. I've been eating 500 calories MORE than I thought I was.

Now, a math lesson. 1 lb equals 3500 calories. In order to lose about a lb a week, you eat 500 calories less per day. 500 x 7 (days) = 3500 or 1 lb lost per week. So if we reverse that and eat an EXTRA 500 calories a day, we GAIN a lb a week. Yeah, not good. In retrospect, my metabolism may be higher than I thought, if I've been overeating that much and haven't gained more.

Last night I ate a measured amount of popcorn. From now on, I think I'll stick to microwave popcorn. It's pre-measured and if I get the 94% fat free butter kind, the whole bag is only 300 calories. If I need fewer calories, I'll eat a 100 calorie bag. Good grief.

Moral of the story: MEASURE your food. Calculate the calories. Write 'em down. If possible, don't estimate your calories. It could save you a LOT of grief.

Btw, just by avoiding popcorn for a few days and measuring it last night, my weight is slightly lower. I'm at 148.2. Much better than the 150.8 I've seen lately. At least it's moving in the right direction again. :)