[The Little Bowl] The Bowl and the Burger

[Guest guest]

If I did not count calories, what would I eat and when would I know it is right for my body and it is just enough to satisfy me and yet keep me losing weight? Since I found my little sunshine bowl, I have been counting calories and watching how it looks in the bowl. The bowl only holds 1 cup. I made a very rich breakfast the last couple of mornings, and it came to just under 400 calories, but did not even fill the bowl: I marveled at this. It was so good and satisfying. When I first did the bowl experiment back in the 1990’s, I remember how worked up i would get about the size of the bowl, always thinking it was too small, it couldn’t possibly satisfy me. This time around, I am finding that even though every meal I eat from the bowl is not always so rich, that it is indeed enough to eat. I think my perceptions of what is enough to eat have changed slowly over time. Small amounts don’t cause a panic or fear of not getting enough that it use to. Yesterday went askew in a way that has only confirmed my desire to return to the bowl as my eating guide for my second year of my attempt to return to a normal weight. Breakfast and lunch were perfect. They tasted good, they felt right in the amount eaten, I liked what I ate. I forced myself not to count the calories but to add to the bowl the amounts and combinations I really wanted. What could be more simple than that? I like simple! I spent some time looking up 1 cup portions of foods to see what kind of calorie range most foods (that I would eat) would be. It all averaged around 300-400 calories. That’s good to know, 3-4 bowls of food a day should keep me in my calorie range without counting. What I liked about my two bowls of food yesterday, is that I found myself concentrating more on the taste and how I felt after eating than I usually do when just figuring out a combination because it would fit calorie-wise on my plan. It boils down to that whatever fits in my bowl is the right amount of food for my needs, both in calories and in volume. I really liked how I felt after both breakfast and lunch. Then by evening, I entered a drama I did not want to enter into and felt really trapped. My daughter and her husband wanted to go out to eat at Chili’s. I hate these types of restaurants, not only are the meals all calorie bombs, but they are noisy and packed with people and the whole dining experience is awful. Off to Chili’s we went and I knew there wasn’t a meal to be had under 1000 calories as I have been through this before and had looked up many of their meals previously. When the menu came, I was shocked at the prices! Here in Hawaii, all of the salads were $14! The burgers and fried were $13! I felt outrage at these prices. And I already knew that the salads were not the best option, they all top 800 calories. Imagine that, a salad at that kind of calorie count. But think about it, it’s not a normal portion of salad (it could feed 4 people) and all the toppings are high calorie. I knew the Quesadilla explosion salad was 850 calories. And there is just something that made me fume about paying $14 for a salad. I ordered the bacon burger thinking I would just eat the insides of the burger and a couple of fries and leave the bun. I thought I would visually gauge what would fit into my sunshine bowl and eat that amount. The waiter served chips and salsa, everyone ordered soda pop to start with, I did not eat any chips and drank water. I felt so many mixed emotions, not only was I a guest and being treated to a meal out that I knew was going to cost my daughter and husband a pretty penny (we were a party of 6). This whole thing was just not a good deal all around. While I did appreciate the chance to be all together and sharing a moment and that my daughter didn’t have to cook (she is very tired and worn from such a delayed pregnancy) I just wished that I didn’t have to deal with the eating part of the situation at all. When the meal arrived, I felt I couldn’t be fussy in front of the children with my food, or leave most of it as I had mentally planned. Already their mother was getting after them for the fussing they were doing. I felt I needed to set an example and not fuss over my food. I was positively stuffed and ill after eating a whole burger, and half the fries. I will never do this again. I cannot manage it. I do not care that burgers have been a favourite meal since I came to America, that just put me over into a painful experience I don’t want to go through again. It is now the next morning as I write this and I still have upset insides and feeling stuffed. And the calories? I looked them up on the internet. I knew they were going to be astronomical. They were. I shake my head now when I read articles about the rampant rise in obesity. The perception of what a normal meal is, is so messed up. It is so incredibly loaded with calories because the portions have gotten so huge! When I took a bite of that burger last night, I could not get my mouth around it. Is there a point to making such a huge burger? I wonder how many people sat in that restaurant last night, chowing down and not thinking twice about the amount of food that they had consumed, let alone add those calories to whatever else they had eaten for the day? I counted my total calories for the day: 2638 calories, 160g fat, 144g carbs, 10g fiber, 101g protein. Percentage of goals: 174% on calories, 144% on fat, 421% on carbs, 81% on fiber and finally, 106% on protein, but what a cost that was! --

Posted By elisaannh to The Little Bowl at 8/21/2010 09:53:00 AM

[Guest guest]

The point of the big burger is,everybody wanting more bang for their buck.I doubt anyone was thinking about what it would do to the waist line when they all wanted more for the money they were paying out!Now it seems everybody complains about their weight because they eat all the food on their plates because,after all they paid for it and they are not about to let it go to waste!Anyways, I agree,people don't know what a normal portion size is anymore and it

is because of the bigger portion being passed off as single serving sizes. The single serving size does look way too small to be filling,especially if you are used to eating large portions,but you can retrain your brain and stomach to accept the smaller portions as normal.It'll take some time but it can be done,you are living proof of that.Your little bowl experiment is a good example of how to retrain yourself to eating smaller(normal) portions.We went out to dinner yesterday and I was saying how I was gonna eat to my hearts content (all you can eat buffet) but my family reminded me how I whined and cried about a stomach ache the day before cause I ate more than I usually do and that reigned me in pronto!! I did not want a repeat of the pain I was in the day before and my desire to overeat vanished! I ate they way I normally eat at home,one plate of food and I only ate half the servings of the food on my plate- made a little room for

dessert and then only a few bites of that.I am proud to say,by the time we left the restaurant my hunger was satisfied but not stuffed and I suffered no ill effects from eating too much :)It seems you are getting closer and closer to eating without having to measure out your food. Pretty soon you won't even have to think about the portions anymore!! Good for you annh!! :)Daisy