What 2147 Calories Looks Like

Posted: July 20, 2011 at 7:00 am

After giving birth to Makenzie, I discovered one of the best things ever. Food is not the enemy! In fact, my body told me EAT if you want to get in the shape you hope to achieve. And as I grew deeper in my faith and recognized my body as something of value, I began to see the importance of respecting it and fueling it adequately. I finally chose to listen to my body after years of following crazy food rules and ended up in the best shape of my life. I took that same approach post-Braedon and, wouldn’t you know, I made the same sort of progress and feel pretty dang good if I do say so myself. Eat well. Have energy. Live well. Get a healthy, strong, FIT body. Don’t mind if I do!

It always saddens me when I hear about diet plans with recommended calorie intakes of 1200 calories. I truly believe its possible for a healthy individual with no metabolic issues to lose weight eating more than that. I hope to display that you can certainly eat enough food to fuel your body well, feel satiated, and still make progress.

Peas and Crayons

I certainly don’t post all of my eats on a daily basis, so for today’s What I Ate Wednesday post I wanted to give a rundown of ALL my typical daily meals and how they add up. I even broke out the Eat Smart Precision food scale I received at the Fitbloggin conference to get accurate counts for you all. I ate as I normally do, but simply measured the portions I typically use. The scale made measuring for the day easy and accurate since I could choose to measure in grams. Note: If you measure things, always use grams. You get more food. Reason enough for me!

IMGP0087

Oh, flashbacks to competition prep days! It’s been a long time since I’ve measured things besides the occasional check on portion sizes or for recipe purposes. And it’s certainly been forever since I have measured things like raisins! Nevertheless, I wanted to get an accurate depiction, so here we are. Besides - calories beware. You don’t scare me!

Pre-Workout:

IMGP0092

Banana = ~ 110 calories

Breakfast:

IMGP9954

  • 1/2 cup rolled oats cooked in water
  • 4 large strawberries diced
  • handful of raisins (ended up at 26 grams)
  • big blob of peanut butter (ended up at 29 grams)
  • splash of unsweetened vanilla almond breeze to reach the right consistency + almond milk in my iced coffee (~ 1/2 cup)
  • sprinkle of brown sugar for sweetener (~ 1 tsp?)

Grand Total = 467 calories

Lunch:

wrap lunch

  • flat out wrap
  • sliced deli ham – 4 oz
  • 1 garlic herb laughing cow wedge
  • mustard
  • handful of spinach
  • thick slice of tomato
  • 2/3 of a mango
  • 2 large carrots chopped into sticks
  • 2 tablespoons Sabra Roasted Pine Nut hummus

Grand Total = 432 calories

Afternoon Snack:

  • whole wheat English muffin
  • spread of peanut butter on each slice (equaled 14 grams)
  • spread of “just fruit” strawberry jam on each slice (equaled 12 grams)
  • 6 oz container vanilla Chobani yogurt
  • handful Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal (equaled 22 grams)

Grand Total = 448 calories

Dinner:

pasta salad dinner

  • 3/4 cup cooked whole wheat penne pasta
  • chopped cherry tomatoes
  • diced zucchini
  • diced mushrooms
  • chopped artichoke hearts
  • chopped black olives
  • 1 oz feta cheese
  • 1.5 tbsp Ken’s Northern Italian dressing

Grand Total (estimate on this one because I got so sick of measuring): 450 calories

Dessert:

  • Private Collection cookie ice-cream sandwich while finishing up The Bachelorette

Total = 240 calories

In total, I ate 2147 calories on a typical day of meals. I haven’t changed my eating habits from when I made progress on my Body After Baby journey. I usually eat a good deal more than this on weekends as I consumer more “treats” and have a hunger monster at work every Saturday after my long runs. Sure, every body is different. However, I know in light of certain diets, it can appear that we need to eat less less less. From my personal experience, I find the opposite. My body will only reach the places it has when I give it what it needs. And I want to show the value in eating enough. Enough is different for each body…but why not push the limits to get the most quality fuel you can to it? Eating is fun. Enough with the starvation!

  • Do you ever track your food at all?
  • Because I’m curious – your thoughts on The Bachelorette if you watched!

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151 Comments to “What 2147 Calories Looks Like”
  1. Sarah says:

    Great post! I remember obsessingly counting calories (sparkpeople was my drug) and I know the calorie count to almost all my favorite food off the top of my head. And now I try to watch my calories without being too crazy. I know I need to lose weight and counting my calories helps keep me on track (as well as a meal plan). But it’s a fine fine line between healthy calorie counting and obsessive calorie counting.

  2. I’m a brand-new follower of your blog (found you through a post shared on FB by Fitblogger) and I found this post so interesting. I’ve been on my weight-loss journey since Nov. 2009. I’ve lost 83 lbs. with 12 to go before reaching my goal weight.

    When I was using my body bugg, my calorie budge was 1500 a day, which is higher than many plans, but it was also taking into account that I would burn 2500 calories a day.

    Now, I’m using My Fitness Pal to track my calories. It give me a 1200 calorie a day budget, but I usually add 300-400 to that through exercise, giving me a total of 1500-1600 calories a day.

    This is the second time I’ve read, lately, that your body needs more calories than that. I’m so afraid to eat more because I’ve come so far and I still want to reach my goal, but the things you’ve said and what I’ve read lately make so much sense.

    One thing I noticed about your meals is that, intentional or not, they were all right around the same calorie count, giving your body consistent fuel throughout the day.

    I also noticed that all your choices were healthy, balanced meals. I think that plays a huge role in how your body uses the foods you’re eating and how they make you feel.

    Thanks for providing such great…well, food for thought. 😉

    • Tina says:

      I find that when I have the consistent energy and eat more, I have more energy to be more active and likely burn more overall. Plus, I can stay more consistent and on track which adds up over time. You could always try adding a couple hundred extra calories for a couple weeks and see what happens. In fact, I remember reading something recently that when you hit a plateau its beneficial to increase calories 10-20% for a few weeks and then, if that doesn’t kickstart metabolism, drop back down to the previous range and it will get things dropping again. Thought that was interesting. Not sure on it all though since I just read it. From Jillian Michaels I think??

      Either way – congrats on your progress and keep up the great work!

      • Yes, Jillian does say that. Really, it all makes sense. It’s just a scary thing to think about trusting your body’s cues after having come from morbid obesity.

        The thoughts swirling around in my head about this are probably going to turn up in a blog post soon. Much to think about.

  3. […] enjoy working out in the afternoon. Oats and smoothies are more fun to think about than leftover pasta salad, no matter how delicious it may […]

  4. Okay, let me just say wow. And that I am envious. I have been tracking for about two months since I won a MyTrak. I work out every day. I probably average around 1500 calories a day of intake. And that is me maintaining. I think the older I get the less I can eat. Kinda sad when I think about it. And imagine if I didn’t work out!!

  5. Ragnhild says:

    Oh, I love this post! While its been years since I counted calories, Im still hung up in rules and Im always afraid of eating “too much for a girl”. Im on my way to changing that,but it certanly takes time. It really does help to see other girls eta more though! So thank you for sharing this, and your love for food and fitness. So inspirational!!
    🙂

  6. Love this post!! I try not to count calories anymore, but I often still end up with a “general” tally in my head. But I don’t let that tally stop me from eating if I’m still hungry, you know? I only count because it’s a hard habit to stop!!

    I probably eat on average around 2,000 calories a day. Often more, sometimes less (but less is rare these days!).

    I think it’s important for people to know that (as you said) food is not the enemy! We can eat and fuel our bodies and still maintain healthy weights. Yay for healthy appetites! 😉

  7. […] what 2147 Calories looks like, Tina reminds us all that feeding our body is what results in meeting our goals and being fit— […]

  8. This was very interesting to read, I always forget that fruits and veggies add up and I never dreamed that an oatmeal could have that high of calorie count of all healthy things! Your meals all look so delicious! I’m definitely craving pasta right now, good thing dinner time is quickly approaching!

  9. […] Tina at Faith, Fitness, Fun’s post on what 2147 calories looks like (reading about diet plans that involve little calorie consumption is my pet peeve, because I believe that eating is not the enemy!  It’s what you eat.  You need to eat the right foods, that provide fuel for your body and keep you satisfied.  I think Tina’s post about eating a higher calorie diet was amazing.) […]

  10. Hi Tina! Sorry I’ve been MIA. Work has been insane lately. Loved this post and hope that I can get to this point in the near future. It seems I have some sort of mental block (continually counting/measuring) that I can’t get past. Someone else mentioned that they use MyFitnessPal. I do as well and they suggest 1200 calories as a base for me. On the days I exercise calories are adjusted accordingly, but it’s never much more than 1400 calories. Hope all is well! ~Kim

  11. Katie says:

    “Enough is different for each body…but why not push the limits to get the most quality fuel you can to it?”

    Although I’m thin, I eat enough, I just really don’t eat quality calories and have strange eating habits like being too anxious to eat during the day because of nausea. This sentence really inspired me to make sure what I am eating is quality food, not just comfort food, because I know my health is suffering for it.

  12. […] Post of the Week: What 2147 Calories Looks Like & Happy […]

  13. domain says:

    Every weekend i used to visit this web site, for the reason that i want enjoyment, for
    the reason that this this web site conations in fact pleasant
    funny material too.

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