The Food Project

Monday, July 21, 2008

Previous weight: 258
Current weight: 251

Alloted calories/week: 20,657
Target calories/week: 16,527
*Actual calories/week: 12,679
Alotted/Target difference: 7,978/3,848

I don't think the scale at my house is accurate. But whatever, it's still something to gauge any kind of progress, albeit false progress. Confidence breeds confidence, even if it's fake confidence.

The first few days were tough. Hell, it's still tough. I'm constantly thinking about food.....but I'm also constantly thinking about this project. The thought of this project stops me from eating so much. The fact that I take a picture of my food makes me slow down and enjoy whatever it is that I'm consuming. Before I didn't care and I would finish things all quick because I could always grab another if I still wanted more. Now I'm limiting myself and it's helping me make better decisions. They're still not the best decisions but I think I might be headed in the right direction.

The Goal

*****Written on 7/14/08*****
Welcome to my little Food Project. This started on July 14, 2008 and the idea is to keep track of everything I eat. I have a separate book where I write down (an estimate of) the number of calories each item contains. The number next to the day is (an estimate of) the total calories I consumed in that entire day. The pictures appear in the order that I ate them throughout the day.

I'm not doing this in order to lose a specific number of pounds. If I feel comfortable at a certain weight, it doesn't matter if the charts say I'm overweight. I mean, I do weigh myself once in a while but the reason I am doing this is because I have a lot of clothes that I have grown out of. And these clothes are still pretty brand new and I never really got a chance to wear them. So once I am able to squeeze into these shirts and jeans again, we'll see if this project continues....

Besides keeping track of what I eat, I have also started doing 45 minutes of cardio and some light weight lifting every day. I'm looking to engage in more physical activity once I get deeper into this project.

The whole idea for this project was inspired by a certain lady friend of mine. We would go out to lunch on a regular basis and she refused to eat certain things. Later she revealed to me that she was watching what she ate and was writing down everything and the number of calories it had. I decided to follow in her footsteps but to take it to another level. I'm taking pictures of everything as well as writing it down in a book. It's helping me see what I should be eating more of and what I should be cutting back on.

According to a daily calorie intake calculator, for me to maintain my current weight I would need to consume 2951 calories per day. In order for me to start losing fat, I would need to consume less than 2361 calories per day.

Before this project I probably ate 3-4 times more than what appears here. And most of it was junk food (chips, cookies, candy, etc.) and greasy, fried foods. I still have those on occasion but not as frequent as before.

Water is the only beverage I am currently consuming. If I drink something else, I will also take a pic of it. But I do have milk when I eat cereal.

*****As of Dec. 23 (Day 162), I stopped posting the number of calories next to the day.*****
*****As on Mar. 9, 2009 I have started running 2 miles four to five times a week *****

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Day 11: 2305

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Day 10: 1625

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Day 9: 1773

Monday, July 21, 2008

Day 8: 1975

Week 1 Analysis/Recap

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Day 7: 1573

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Day 6: 1951

Friday, July 18, 2008

Day 5: 1990

The Goal

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