Reaching daily calorie goal while eating healthy food proves to be a difficult task

Amanda Price / guest columnist

Week one

The first week was interesting, counting how many calories, tracking how many I burned during my exercising every morning and making sure I was in my target range was the hardest.

I found out it is actually really hard to get up to the right amount of calories when you’re eating foods that are good for you. I feel like I am eating a lot but when I add them up it seems to be less than 1000 calories for the day! When you are trying to reach a goal of about 1500 it’s pretty hard. It seems to be a goal that I am going to have to work at for a good while before I can get the hang of it.

I think Michelle, our dietician, will be my saving grace for that task. I have a meeting with her before our next group meeting at the Metropolitan Market on Wednesday and I think that she will help me with some of the right food choices with enough calories but is still good for me.

Our first weigh in was pretty exciting although I started late due to someone who had to drop out. Everyone else in the black team did an excellent job for their first week!!! Kendra and I figured out we lost a total of 2.6 percent of our group weight which is great. I did feel bad though that I couldn’t help my team out with some lost pounds since it was my first weigh in, but this week I think I will have some success with that.

Over the entire week I found the weekend to be the hardest not with snacking or sitting around doing nothing because I stayed busy almost the entire time. It is when you are the only one trying to watch what you are eating and don’t want to be a nuisance with where to go or what to order for delivery. That too is something I am going to have to work on. Unfortunately, I didn’t go anywhere that you could sit down and ask for a salad with what you order. Everyone wanted pizza and rodeo food. Not the best of choices but I thought minimizing the amount is better than nothing so I just watched how much of what I ate and balanced that with healthy choices for the other meals. I’m sure it wasn’t the best of decisions but that is one of the things I have to work on.

Tip: Consistency is the key. If there is a day you are dreading to get up and head off to the gym, just get started. You feel better afterward. You have accomplished so much, and you will feel better in the end.