ROSIE - Calories - boy do they stack up!!

I'm loathed to risk sounding repetitious as I'm aware we've almost covered this a couple of times in our blog site. But such is the importance of this topic that I thought I would go over it JUST ONE MORE TIME as I am convinced that it is THE MAIN REASON FOR WEIGHT GAIN.

So, I have a semi-injury at the moment; nothing major, just a stiffening ankle which means I walk with a limp and am trying to lay off walking and exercising too much to avoid it getting worse. Result = a very much more sedentary life for the past week for me. Now, I never really take into account what I eat; don't get me wrong, I don't pig out but I eat sensibly, regularly, and NEVER get hungry. However, there has also only ever been one time in my life that I haven't exercised which is when I was recovering from my Cesarean.

So, yesterday morning I go to put on my jeans and horror of horrors they are too tight. God I hate that feeling - there's almost nothing worse than too tight jeans! This resulted in my putting on my "looser" jeans (I'm hoping everyone has a pair of those!) and flopping down into a depressed state. I had a big long think about the week I had had and tried to pinpoint the reason.

Boy, did it become abundantly clear! My "normal" weeks' eating without my normal exercise = weight gain! I suppose I would normally eat around 2,500 calories per day to maintain my weight. However, whilst sedentary, I suppose I only needed about 1,800. An overeat of 700 calories per day! Add in the Friday night takeaway (a rarity and treat for us, we only have one about two per year), followed by...hmmm.... half a tub of hagendaas (I hang my head in shame) and no wonder those jeans were feeling tight!

I sometimes find myself mentally calculating the calories I have consumed in the day, as I said, it's not something I normally do for myself but perhaps when I am preparing a food plan for a client I have to. It's shocking how quickly they add up and even though I may have had a "healthy" day, it can be at 2,000 calories by mid afternoon.

My point? WATCH YOUR CALORIES. That hard work-out which may have burnt 600 calories can be wiped out in 10 minutes of eating. In my estimation, over-consumption is the main reason for weight gain. And I don't mean the obvious over consumption, I mean people assuming they are taking in less calories than they do. Be careful what you eat!