Posted by hungryliz

Date Posted February 18, 2008

OK so I have been putting off writing another blog entry because I did not do what I had promised to do before my next blog entry.... Until yesterday...

I am going to be honest with all of you (if you know me this is not news): I am a procrastinator.

I am not going to give you all the reasons and excuses of how I was so busy (doing all the other things I left to the last minute) - I am resolving to stop using excuses. I will just report the results of my research and remember this when I think about giving myself another assignment!

Pop-Pop's Clam Sauce
Pasta: 210 calories per serving
Sauce: 140 calories per serving (!!) I was shocked by this- I totally figured it would be much higher
OK so for 350 calories that is totally within my range of 400 cal/meal (*I have not been told yet what my calorie consumption is going to be- but I am guessing that 400/meal and the rest (2-400?) on snacks is reasonable.

So when I figured this out, I will admit I was confused. I was expecting 700 cal at least- I always figured if it tastes that good it must be bad for me. Where did I go wrong? How could I have misunderstood my caloric intake that much? I thought about the occasions when I make this meal and realized how my presumed calories came into play.

I usually make this meal for friends while entertaining- so here is a list of the rest of the calories that I would consume when I have made this meal in the past:

Wine, red: immeasurable quantities, glass kept full
Snacks: cheese and crackers and/or chips and guacamole or salsa- constant snacking while cooking and catching up, again immeasurable
Shredded Parmesan Cheese: on pasta, 2Tbsp?
Garlic Bread: sometimes with, sometimes without cheese but always a few slices

So after freaking out a bit ("I can't do this- I love wine and cheese and garlic bread!!"), and calming myself down ("instead of pasta I can have the sauce on broccoli or asparagus- saving those calories for wine!"), freaking out ("but two years of this!") and calming back down again ("I want to diet, live longer and better, and I volunteered to do this...") I realized two more reasons why I am grateful that the scientists give me 3 weeks before beginning my diet:

1 - I need 3 weeks to really let the gravity of my decision (and how it will change a lot of my lifestyle) sink in, and

2 - There are things that I may not eat for the duration of this study because they are not worth the calories-- but I will eat them now as a last hurrah. So it is a sad goodbye to my favorite sweet muffins, peeps, most sugar candies (thankfully Easter candy is already out in stores), goodbye to full sugar soda (birch beer) and finally goodbye pasta- I'll miss you most of all.