Calories: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I broke down and finally called my friend, C. today. I've been avoiding her b/c she is Ms. Super Diet Woman. Over the past 6 years, she has seriously worked on dieting and exercise and has lost about 100 lbs. She looks fabulous. Once way heavier than me, the tables are turned and it's hard to see her without feeling badly about myself. Plus, she is soooo obsessed with food.

I tease her that she's discovered the "count everything" diet b/c she does count everything, calories, sodium, fat, etc. etc. When we go out to eat, she always has to change a few million items on the menu: "I'll have the chef salad with no cheese, crutons, or meat. And instead of tomatos, give me cucumbers and dressing on the side plus a tall glass of water with 2 slices on lemon, on the side." It's like Sally in When Harry Met Sally times 10,000.

Last time I saw her, she made a comment that I knew she didn't mean to sting, but sting it did: "Is this the heaviest you've ever been?" She asked me.

Today, I confessed to her about my calorie counting and of course she was very supportive and to top it off she kind of, in a way, gave me some good news. It took her a while to convince me it was true, but after thinking over my past weight loss and then weight gaining experiences, I have to believe she's right.

She told me that 1200 calories is way to low to start off with and that I should start with 1700 b/c eventually my body will adjust and to lose any more weight I'd have to either cut back below 1200 (god forbid!...I mean is that even possible?) or do something crazy like run a triatholon.

She said the weight will come off more slowly, maybe a lb a week, but then when I hit a plateau, I can cut back to 1600 or 1500 and will continue to lose. If I start at 1200, I'll lose it more quickly, but then I won't have much else to cut after my body adjusts.

Of course, this is kind of good news b/c this means more food, especially considering that my DH told me he bought a bunch of specialty cheeses today for us to do a wine and cheese munchie on Saturday night (iyyy!!). He's the low-carb king, so fine for him, but cheese is one of my all time favs. I could pretty much live off of cheese, wine, bread, and chocolate. I mean, really, what else do you need?

This news has sort of thrown me off my plan a little. I was actually doing okay, maybe sure, I was a tad over 1200, but I'm talking maybe one max day of 1350 and every other day an extra 25 or so, but to think I can add 500 more calories?

My head is spinning!