The Game of Calorie Counting

Calorie counting is a mixed bag for me. In the beginning, I don't mind it. Its like a game. After a while it gets frustrating. If you eat something from a package, the number of calories is right there. Easy to tally up. But the idea is that most of the stuff you eat shouldn't come from a package. For example, the pasta salad my wife made. It has light mayo, onions, peppers, cashews , past, and I think thats it. But when I have my bowl of it, are we talking 300 calories? 600 calories? 800? See, it becomes a guessing game. I need firm numbers.

So to maintain my current weight, with no activity like I was doing prior to this journey I would need to have my caloric intake between 2350 and 2500 calories. To lose weight, I should be consuming less calories, but not too few, because your body will fight to retain those calories... fun stuff.

So for today:

• Sausage Egg and Cheese english muffin. 530cals (based on calorie-count.com) This will be good to cut out, but I still need a bunch of calories in the morning.
• Big bowl of cantaloupe. 180 cals (2 cups)
• Snack - baby carrots 50 cals
• Lunch - Pasta salad 500 cals? Not sure.
• Two 24 fl oz pepsi. I will go cold turkey this week at some point when I run out, and be done with that part of the problem.

Hmm, I should have brought something else to snack on like pretzels to get from lunch to going home. Not sure what dinner will be. But when I get home I'll have only had 1250 calories. I don't think I should be having 50% of my calories after 5pm for the day. Let the calorie counting game begin!

Edit: 220 calories for a small bag or pretzels!! Geez.