Calorie Counting and BMR Patrol

Okay first thing’s first. I had a 1.4 pound gain this morning.

1. I am 85% sure that it has to do with my major upping of strength on the exercise front which is a good thing although the other 15% of me hates that I had a gain this week and is worried that’s not the case;
2. My massage therapist is with the 85% of my brain and says I look like I lost :-)
3. I’m keeping up with the strength training and not going to slack on that at ALL. Strength = muscles = metabolism = good;
4. I’m going to count my calories this week and I’m going to do it, not by POINTS, but by using My Fitness Pal which is really another version of Sparkpeople, only I find it incredibly easier to use;
5. Counting calories is harder than counting POINTS and it’s easier to get frustrated with and easier to give up on;
6. This is partly to do with my worry that I’ve been following a prolonged calorie deficit for such a long period of time, that I want to focus a little more on my calorie intake and my BMR (basal metabolic rate) and increase my daily calorie intake accordingly which is more than where WW puts my POINTS level in an effort to boost my metabolism a bit better with my increased strength training;
7. 6 of one, half a dozen of the other, maybe? maybe not.
8. I’ve chosen the “1 pound per week” target which sets my daily calorie at 1350 as a baseline and more depending on my activity.

So now that that’s out of the way, here’s what I ate today! For Breakfast I tried out the new Peanut Butter Puffins cereal with some unsweetened vanilla almond breeze and some vanilla liberte no fat probiotic svelte yogurt topped with some chocolate pb2 a smidgen of a sprinkle of blue menu granola and some sliced almonds and my coffee with scotsburn blend cream with sugar free starbucks syrup for a total of 314 cals:

I liked the cereal and it was just as good as the cinnamon flavour. I had ideas of shaking up some PB2 in with the almond breeze to make a “peanut butter milk” per se, but decided on using the chocolate pb2 on my yogurt in stead.

Lunch was soooo delish! I made a toss salad with some mesclin greens, carrots, fresh beets, red onion, Janes chicken breast strips, marble cheese, a feta stuffed jalapeno and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette (EVOO, aged balsamic, grainy dijon mustard, drizzle of honey, S&P) all for 288 cals:

Oh and I don’t think that I trust the NI on the side of the container of the feta stuffed jalapeno peppers. It says that they are only 25 calories, but they are packed in oil and I find that hard to believe because of that! I drain them really well and had it wrapped in a paper towel overnight and all day, but I dunno, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are 25 cals before being packed in oil because it is about a thumbs worth of feta cheese in each pepper. What do you guys think?

It was Yum-o time for my afternoon Snack and I had a deep chocolate vitatop topped with 1 tbsp pb2…….it tasted just as good as you would imagine! This takes the place of any reese pb cup or brownie or cake or anything that you would want and it’s a healthy quality 127 calories:

Supper was good too and consisted of things I’m never used to having. It was Schneiders Oh Naturel! Melts Meatless Chick’n Broccoli which btw if you think that this wouldn’t pass for the real thing, you are dead wrong. It is delicious! I’ve only tried them once I think since I bought them. YUM! I also roasted brussels sprouts in the oven with some EVOO, balsamic, S&P and tossed them when some toasted pine nuts at the end and sprinkled them with some fresh grated parm on top. I steamed up some fresh beets and the beet greens which were really good! I didn’t realize how much I actually like beets! They are better fresh and steamed than in their pickled form in my opinion. I also had two slices of rosemary focaccia loaf (one slice I had off camera ;-D): Supper was a total of 628 cals (a little on the high side really):

I can’t tell you how much it is worth it to buy a hunk of fresh parm reggiano. It’s a bit pricey, but it lasts forever and I used it all the time to grate on top of everything! It doesn’t really count for much if you’re just dusting the top of your food with it either.

Also not photographed was the handful of Cocoa Snaps that I snagged after I uploaded my pics for another 70 cals.

So in total I had 1427 calories which was actually over by 77. I would have earned those calories but tonight was my massage therapy appointment and I didn’t have the time to work it in. I don’t know if you’ll be able to see this link, but here is the breakdown of my day including carbs, protein, fibre and the works.

So tomorrow will most definitely be a good calorie burn after work and before supper!