I mentioned a few days ago I would be keeping track of my calories as an exercise for a few days just to see what I find.

It’s always seemed like too much hassle in the past but I thought it might prove interesting as I count portions but not really calories so I can see what I’m *really* putting into my body and how closely it mirrors my body’s requirements.

It’s actually surprisingly hard and annoying so I don’t intend doing this too long - I’m getting sick of remembering to record everything I eat but have found using the “memo” function on my cell phone is the easiest way as I almost always have it with me whether at home or not.

At the end of the day I can transfer this information to a more suitable location.

I eat pretty healthily - better than 95% of people I come across - but my experiment has already revealed a few surprises. I have managed to highlight a few “weak” areas of my diet where I need to tighten my grip for maximum results.

So what did I find?

Here’s a breakdown of the first full day of the experiment (notice my weakness for sugary high-caffeine drinks!):

Meal 1:  Energy drink - 45 kcals
   Ham sandwich - 500 kcals

Meal 2: Chicken + Pasta - 635 kcals
  Orange Juice - 43 kcals

Meal 3: Meal replacement drink - 200 kcals 

Meal 4: Ham sandwich - 370 kcals
  Energy drink - 43 kcals

Meal 5: Pasta - 200 kcals
  Mackerel - 200 kcals
  Green Beans - 75 kcals
  Energy drink - 43 kcals

I also drank water consistently throughout the day. Note that differences are present - one ham sandwich was bought from the store and recordings were taken from the label, the other was made at home with recordings worked out from labels and nutritional tables so this is not a mistake.

This means my total nutritional intake over a day amounted to 2,243 calories.

Interestingly, I discovered that the pasta sauce I often use clocked in at almost 1,000 calories per jar! Now, OK this usually lasts me for two meals but that’s 500 calories ontop of the pasta and meat (and vegetables) that make up the main part of the meal. It would have more than doubled the calorie count in that one meal by just adding a small amount of pasta sauce. Not good!

Even without this sauce my food intake whilst reasonably healthy and low in fat was toward the top end of my recommended calorie intake for a day so it just goes to show even with a careful diet and portion management things could get pretty funky pretty quickly.

Notice how this was also over 5 meals rather than 6 so had I forced myself to have another I would almost certainly have gone over the maintainance level. And for fat loss a level some 20% below this resting maintenance calorie requirement is suggested, meaning I will have to cut calories where ever possible.

The top level I calulated was 2,310 calories per day, which is 462 calories per meal if having 5 a day, or 385 per meal if eating six a day. This will prove a useful “ballpark” figure to base meal decisions when I’m out (such as at work). Low fat, with a combination of carbs and protein. Now added to the mix is nothing excessively over 385 calories per portion - with 350 calories being a perfect figure (or just eat a smaller portion I suppose).

So far this has been a fascinating exercise that has been well worth doing and has drawn to my attention 3 necessary changes so far:

1) Cut the energy drinks! They are really my only weakness but add unnecessary calories to my diet, so I shall limit myself to just one a day at the most.

2) Pasta sauce is evil! I must find suitable alternatives. I sometimes use soy sauce for flavoring but like variety so I shall be out at the supermarket looking closely at the labels on a variety of pasta sauces next time I go to the store to find the “safest” options.

3) Hunt for healthy food when out! Even a ham or egg sandwich on brown bread contains quite a few calories (500 calories for a ham sandwich?!) so I must hunt for lower calorie options to keep within my general figure of 350 calories per portion.

I shall make these changes to my diet then re-assess the situation in the next few weeks to decide if I need to cut calories down in order to lose weight but I hope my cardio should put me into enough of a deficit to easily and painlessly lose body fat.

We’ll certainly see in the near future…

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