Balancing calories without exercise

I _need_ those exercise calories each day to keep from going crazy trying to get the numbers to come out right and enjoy what I eat each day.

I begin the day with a fruit smoothie to begin carbohydrate centric: water, 14oz bag of frozen fruit, a banana, and a tablespoon of Udo’s flaxseed oil, and 2 scoops of SP Complete (protein powder) for 532 calories.  This makes 2, 18 oz cups of smoothie, that I drink over the first hour of getting up.  This is also enough to set me up for a morning exercise session, that I can do any time within a couple of hours of finishing it. 

Next up is typically an egg sandwich…usually mid-late morning if not exercising in the morning, so really an extension of the smoothie breakfast…with either egg whites (most often) or an egg, with 2 slices of Ezekiel bread, a slice of tomato, and then ‘usually’ a slice of cheese and/or 2oz of ham +/-…with egg whites, this comes out to another 325 calories. 

So, my standard smoothie and egg sandwich, is 857 calories…typically by noon…without exercise, almost half my calories for the day.

I find that a 1,000+ dinner, leaves me feeling ‘over-full’…even if it was a BIG exercise day…and therefore typically happiest in the 750’ish range…enough calories to have something to eat that I can enjoy…less than that, and for me, it’s a rather spartan dinner…particularly if out at a restaurant.  From my food log, I know that my restaurant dinners often run up over 1,000 calories pretty easily…always need to watch that…like last night…1,284…dang…that flat bread, rustic pizza was sooo good as an appetizer though…at least I skipped dessert, since I felt full…so good adjustment there.

So on a daily basis, between the 857 calories in the morning and 750 for dinner, that’s 1,607 calories, leaving 2,000 – 1,607 = 393 for lunch, and afternoon grazing…and weight loss…and a beer or two every once in a while…and even the odd dessert…never mind if I run over on the calories on a dinner out.

So even in the off-season, I get out the door every day to get 500-1,000 calories burned off in exercise calories…and more on days that I’m planning to go out to a restaurant for dinner…and then enjoy what I eat without becoming the Michelin man.