Weightloss by Oatmeal, the follow-up

As you may remember, back in on November 3 I posted about the secrets to losing weight with oatmeal and surmised that based on traditional math I should have lost four pounds by changing my morning breakfast to oatmeal with no toppings.  It would seem that the four pounds I lost went out and made friends because instead of losing four pounds I have managed to gain four pounds.

It would seem that it takes more than one workout a week and oatmeal for breakfast to not gain weight over the holidays.  It is with great reluctance that I now trade in my 200 calorie latte for a boring little 25 calorie cup of coffee with cream.  Back to the math…

200 – 25 = 175 calorie per day savings

3500 / 175 = 20 days to lose a pound

Let’s hope this, along with picking back up the second day a week at the gym, and having all of the holiday food in the past will help me shed a few pounds by Valentine’s Day!

The Real Way to Lose Weight Eating Oatmeal

After looking at the scale this morning it became clear to me that working out twice a week was not enough to make a dent in the now two-year old fat from the pregnancy and broken thyroid.  The gym has done wonders for my energy level and I have nice muscles forming under all of the fat but muscle covered blubber still looks like blubber.

So with renewed interest I have decided to re-tackle my diet and cut calories through food choices and portion contract.  Getting things off I the right foot, when I stopped at Starbucks this morning for my 190 calorie latte, I decided to try the 140 calorie oatmeal  instead of my regular 350 calorie veggie and egg sandwich.  

Math: 350 – 140 = 210 calorie savings.

Being that it you need to cut 3500 calories to lose a pound I could lose a pound roughly every 16 days (about the number of days a month I visit Starbucks for breakfast).  Feeling quite good about myself and already have a pound a month on the way off, I went to the office and focused on losing a pound a month with oatmeal instead of the yummy aroma of a hot breakfast sandwich.

 Imagine my shock when I open my bag to enjoy my healthy breakfast to see a half full container of  mush.  I guess I forgot to mention I have never really been a fan of oatmeal except paired with chocolate chips in cookies… oh well, my pound a month is still winning out!  Then I see that if you add the tiny little pack of nuts you add 100 calories.  And the healthy raisins… another 100 calories, then if you toss in the brown sugar too you have a whopping 390 calorie breakfast! 

New math: 350 – (140+100+100+50) = -40

So this healthy little low-calorie breakfast now has 40 more calories that the satisfying and yummy breakfast sandwich…Plus you would eat twice as many carbs and only save five (5)  grams of fat!

Trying to remain focused on the long-term goal of losing a pound a month, I tucked the raisins away for a tasty treat later and only had 1/3 of the brown sugar bringing the caloric intake back down to 255 calories for a modest savings of 95 calories.

Someplace between spooning the first bite from and feeling it slide down my throat I realized with only a 95 calorie savings it would take two months to lose that pound and I felt my motivation begin to dwindle. 

 This is where you save though… if you don’t like oatmeal, which I apparently have not acquired a taste for in my 40+ years, you throw over half of it out thereby cutting the meal down to 127.5 calories or a 222.5 calorie savings. 

Final math:  350 – 127.5 = 222.5

Yay!  The pound a month is on its way off again and it this rate it will come off a day earlier.