Empty calories

Since I've started counting calories, I've been noticing what 'empty calories' are. These are calories that do absolutely nothing to fill me up. You'd think I'd've known that but somehow I missed what it actually meant.

So today I had my salad wrap and it was around 250 calories. I would have been totally satisfied but had a donut anyway. That donut was 260 calories. I wasn't overfull from eating it, I didn't feel stuffed or uncomfortable. But I was mostly full from my salad wrap and would have been fine if I'd stopped eating right there. Juice is another culprit of empty calories. I had a glass and it tasted very good, but it was 100 calories. It felt somehow that I'd wasted my calories on something that was tasty but not really usable by my body.

After keeping track of my calories for about three weeks, I discovered I eat an average of 2600 calories a day. No problem. So I thought "I wonder if I can keep my calories to under 2000 for a while"...so I started that four days ago and I've actually been successful! I am honestly surprised at the idea that I can eat less and not be hungry. Well, ok, maybe a little hungry but it's at the times I eat anyway. So before, was I eating even though I wasn't hungry? Probably.

The other side effect to keeping track of calories is that I don't want to put any unwanted calories in my stomach. Three times at work one girl gave me candies. The first one went in my mouth out of habit, but I spit it out less than halfway through. The other two times I tossed them without eating them. Why take them then? Because I don't want to deal with the usual feigned shock people give when I refuse candy/sweets. I work in a bakery and we make some excellent dough. One type is chocolate with chocolate chips in it and it tastes like cookie dough. I always used to filch a bit of dough and eat it, but this time when we made it I stayed away from it. One coworker made fun of me and kept asking if I felt ok. Like something must be horribly wrong for me to refuse the dough. And yes, I've done the same thing to other people so I'm not complaining about it, just noticing that it does happen to me as well.

Anyway the other thing I've turned away is whipped ganache. The people at work know I love, love, love the stuff so they give me the whip to carry to the washing area. It's like getting to lick the beaters when making cake, times about 100 because the whip is huge :) So the last couple of times, I've carried the whip to the sink but not eaten any of the ganache. I just set the whip down to be washed and then went and washed my hands. People still think I lick the whip, but I don't. Well, I haven't lately.

Now I'm starting to see food as calories and check in with myself as to whether or not I'll eat something. I don't know if this will work long term or not, but it's working for now. Right now I give myself treats like cookies or a bit of candy, but I pay attention to how much I eat and never, ever beat myself up if I eat a bit of extra something. And I still have been keeping my calories to below 2000/day. The other thing I consider is whether or not this food will fill me for the number of calories it has. I could eat eight cookies totaling 680 calories and not feel full. Or I could eat my fruit parfait with 150 calories and be satisfied.

Hey, that's another thing I'd forgotten about: the difference between full and satisfied. For some reason I'd been thinking that I was done eating when my stomach had that full feeling. You know, a little heavy but not super stuffed. I don't know exactly where I got that idea from, but that's how I figured I was done eating. Now I'm done eating when my portion is done, or after I feel satisfied but before the full feeling. I've been learning how big my fruit parfait needs to be (1 cup of fruit, 1/8 cup yogurt and a little less than 1/4 cup of nuts/granola) and how big my salad pita/wrap should be (1 cup salad, 1tbsp hummus and 1 wrap/pita) and these sizes actually satisfy me! Now don't get me wrong, I could eat two wraps or 4 cups of fruit, but that would be over eating. For me, anyway.

Now that I'm not filling myself to Just Below Bursting, I find I can actually feel hunger. And it's normal hunger, not urgent eat-my-own-arm hunger. Interesting that I'm learning not to panic when I have less food, and not to panic when the portion is done, and to listen to what my body really wants to eat.