Daily Random

I had to go to Joanne's Fabrics today, because I've lost my can of spray basting for quilts. I bought a can right before we left on the trip and now it's gone. *argh*

Whilst there, I bought a wooden footstool for the kitchen; the sink is a bit too high for me and washing dishes with my boobs resting on the counter is, well, not entertaining for me. The stool is a little high, so I might try taking a bit off each of the legs, but probably not. I will, however, be covering it with a piece of photorealistic scrapbook paper with an image of river rock pebbles on. I'm painting the sides of the stool grey (to match the pebbles), and the legs in two different colors of yellow. I'll probably use grey on the legs as well. I'll take pictures, I promise.

I also got a sharpener for the blades of my fabric cutter; I use a rotary cutter (which is, essentially, a smaller pizza cutter) and the blades seem to get dull really quickly. I figured that a $15 sharpener, assuming it works, will save me lots of money on new blades.

Anyway, in body image and shape news, I'm shifting to a 1200 calorie a day diet. Yes, I'm paying attention to nutrition - I'm not interested in dying of nutritive deficiencies! (I was talking to Kam about it and joked that I could drink two small lattes (about 100 calories each) and 5 Snickers bars and be set (calorically) for the day, but I wouldn't be able to finish a second Snickers bar in reality. I can't eat that much sugar all at once.) I'm also trying to drink more water and I'm going back to trying to get onto the bike every day. For my height and size, 1200 calories/day isn't really unreasonable, either. Given that I'm 4'9" tall, one of the standard calculations doesn't even go down far enough to determine my base caloric need, a realization that caused much amusement in my Nutrition class. (It gave a variable based on inches over 5'... and I'm not.)

Anyway, the correct way to do this is to calculate your Base Metabolic Rate, then multiply the given number by a ratio dependent upon one's activity level (I put Sedentary; let's be honest, shall we?), which will give one the number of calories one should eat to maintain one's current weight.

That site's BMR calculator says I have a resting metabolic rate of 1366 calories; dropping my actual intake closer to 1200 will certainly get my weight down. I'll be exercising and eating a multivitamin, and I'm not crazy, so if I find that I'm terribly hungry, I'll eat. This is an attempt to get to a healthier weight, not a desire to become anorexic. However, if my BMR is 1366, the fact that I wasn't losing weight before, when I was just exercising and trying to "eat better" (but without conciously restricting my calories), is less confusing.

We've also been trying to cut out things like high-fructose corn syrup, so I've been on a label-reading kick. Breakfast cereals have astronomically high calorie loads, did you know that? And the nutrition information on the side of the grits box differs from what's online, unless the grits box is using dry (uncooked) measures and Teh Intarwebs is using wet (cooked) measures. (Which makes sense, given the difference in quantities.) Protein is good at every meal, and salads are always fun to eat. I'm giving myself something of a pass on the caloric count in things like strawberries and cherries - sure, they're sweet, but they're seasonal, delicious, and, well, I love fresh fruit. NOM.

So anyway, I've done okay for the past couple of days, but I'm probably over. I am drinking a lot more water, and I'll be on the bike tomorrow for the first time since coming home. I hope I remember how to ride. *grin*

I found a blog where someone talked about doing something similar to this - she had originally been thinking of trying one of the programs that sends you food, but wasn't willing to cook for her family and not be able to eat what she'd worked so hard on. She did very well on a low-calorie diet, and switched to drinking only water. Now, see, that's something I'm NOT going to be able to do. I can't give up coffee! *clings to coffee*

I'm hoping tomorrow will be busy and productive. I'm still not finished with the damned quilts, I have some other sewing I need to get done, and there's the inevitable laundry to deal with. *sigh*

Merrie's working now, four hours a day, five days a week. She's a locker attendant at the pool near her school. I'm glad she's got a job, even though it's working with her (idiot) boyfriend. I sort of wish it were a heavier retail sort of job, so she could see just how awful retail can be, but I guess this is the best we can get for now. Plus, any sign of responsible behavior from her is a big positive thing.

It's very late, so I'm going to bed. I've made Geordie's lunch for tomorrow, I've done a bit of embroidery, I've laughed with Geordie at the stupid questions people ask on Yahoo Answers - time for bed and snuggles, I think.

Oh, for dinner? I made chicken thighs breaded with cornmeal and spices, steamed green beans, and pan dry-steamed garlicy collard greens. The chicken thighs turned out very well - baked in the oven and delicious. The collard greens, unfortunately, were very bitter; I'll have to find a way to deal with that. They're not always this bitter. Sometimes they taste more like broccoli. I'm hoping it's just the batch of collard that I got. (The dry steaming? Heat a pan, toast some garlic slices, then toss in a bunch of roughly chopped collard greens. Cover the pan and let the collard cook down - it's a remarkably watery vegetable. If I add liquid to this, it turns out mushy and horrid.) Fresh strawberries with a little whipped cream for dessert.

Okay, time for bed for me. G'night!

SongBird