February 28, 2008 MORE Calories?!?!?!

This morning I went and had my basal metabolic rate measured. It was pretty cool, just breathe in and out through a tube for 10 minutes. Turns out, guess what! I'm not eating enough calories! I've been doing around 1400-1500, and I need 1533-1915, just to cover breathing, never mind the exercise and daily activities. Wow! Who knew?

So off I went home to figure out where and how to add this in. I mean, it's only 200 calories, but still, where will they come from? I decided I should add them proportionately to my overall calories. About 25-30% fat, about 30% protein, and about 40-45% carbs. Cool! It works!!!For today, I added 1/2 oz tuna at lunch, about 50 grams potato and 1 oz chicken at dinner, and 1T nuts at my snack. Not too hard, except the extra chicken at dinner. This brought me to 1555 calories, 204 grams of carbs, 52 grams of fat and 81 grams of protien (which barely makes it, since I'm supposed to do 80 to 110 grams). Tomorrow will be easier protein-wise, since I'll have my morning snack which includes 2 ounces of turkey. Today I had breakfast late because of the test, which was done fasting, so I had no AM snack. Ah, well, it all works out in the end!

So I went to the gym, and did 30 minutes on the elliptical. The machine says I burned 203 calories, but SparkPeople says 463!!! Then I did 10 minutes on the treadmill, at 2mph, NOT holding on! Another 40 calories. BIG difference!! I wonder why that is, considering the elliptical seems SO much easier to me! I guess for now I'll alternate between 30 minutes (or more) on the elliptical, and 45 on the treadmill. 3 days of each? That ought to cover it!! At 600 calories every two days, that comes out to an average of 300, and to 1800 for the week. Not too shabby!!! And that doesn't even count the strength and stretching of PT! My calories are based on 200 calories a day for exercise, or 1400 for the week, so I should be a bit ahead of the game. I felt SO good after exercising, even though my legs are a bit tired!

I left my name and number with the desk so a nutritionist can call me. I want to set up an appointment with someone familiar with bariatric nutrition as well as exercise. This could be REALLY good!!!

The agency screwed up my helpers. AGAIN. Apparently Esmin called them and said she can't come back until Tuesday. But Monica has to leave tomorrow as planned because she starts a new job on Sunday. So they called and said they will send someone else tomorrow until Tuesday when Esmin returns. I really didn't like the idea of yet another person to get used to, even for just 4 days. So, after talking to Mom and Tracey about it, I called back and said to cancel the new girl, and to cancel Esmin for Tuesday, and I'll just end things tomorrow when Monica leaves. I mean, really, what were they doing for me? Hooking my bra? Helping me put on my sneakers? Well guess what? I won't WEAR a bra unless Laura is here to hook it for me! And my sneakers are now just right so I can slip them on. Voila! I'm self sufficient!! The laundry is all up to date, and the kids can help until Lorie comes back (and Tracey offered to do it if I need her to). The house is squeaky clean, so that can last until Lorie comes back. I'm already doing the cooking (except tonite, when Danny cooked the chicken that they'd made Sunday at cooking school), and if the kids have to help empty the dishwasher and do the grocery shopping, oh well! Meanwhile, it will save me a bunch of $$$. As for the bra, I just ordered a new one that hooks in the front. That should solve that problem pretty quickly! As much as I hate them, at least it will get me through until I can hook the regular one myself. And at $14, you just can't go wrong!

I went for my iron infusion today, and for some weird reason, my hemoglobin DROPPED from last week! OK, only 3/10 of a point, but still, you'd think it would go UP since I had the infusion last week. Oh well, at least I'm still in double digits!!

All in all, a rather productive day!