I will try to include nutritional information on each recipe at the end of each post. I have a desk job and so I sit for 5 days a week. I exercise 2 or 3 times a week, but otherwise, I am a relatively sedentary person. When I get home from work I clean up a bit and fix dinner, but after that I am parked on the sofa for the rest of the evening.
Thus my caloric intake is very limited. I like to use the calculator found here at Scooby's Workshop for a somewhat accurate idea of what my calorie intake should be. Right now, I am have an approximate basal metabolic rate of 1300 (what minimal calories my body needs just to be a vegetable), a maintenance rate of 1800 (what my body needs to maintain the weight I am), and a cutting rate of 1450 (what I can have if I want to lose .7 pounds per week).
People who eat a lot of pre-packaged foods will have an easier time counting calories that people who cook their own meals. This is somewhat ironic, given that pre-packaged foods are usually not as nutritious or wholesome as home-made or whole foods. But a bag of doritos is a bag of doritos is a bag of doritos, whereas a small banana is not a medium banana is not a large banana.
Compare the calories of a banana (from the USDA website): 1 small banana of 6" to 6-7/8" long is 90 calories, 1 medium banana of 7" to 7-7/8" long is 105 calories, and 1 large banana of 8" to 8-7/8" long is 121 calories. Consider my banana bread recipe which calls for 3 to 4 bananas. This throws off the numbers (but somehow evens out in the recipe).
Why the obsession with calories? Because weight loss/gain/maintenance is about calories in and calories out. I love to eat and to cook, but I don't think we need to sacrifice our waistlines in the process.
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