The Whole Living Detox has been a wonderful experience for me over these past two weeks.  My focus up until this point has been to only eat the food on the plan, but as I move into week three I am realizing the importance of calorie counting.

As I add more food options to my diet each week, I’ve seen the important of only eating when hungry, listening to my body, and watching my portions.  Although you may be eating healthy foods (fruits, veggies, nuts, seafood, legumes, lentils, gluten-free grains, and eggs) you can still eat too many calories.

Today I decided to use the My Fitness Pal app on my ipad to track my detox calories, and I was amazing at how many calories were in the foods I had been eating over the past 15 days and how quickly it all adds up.  I have been eating way too many calories in my morning smoothies and have been eating way too many nuts.  I was fooled… can see where I need to improve in my diet.

Despite the realization that I’ve been eating too many calories on this detox, I am truly beginning to understand three important keys to my weight loss.

1.  I must eat primarily whole foods and limit processed foods

2.  I must focus on portion control and my caloric intake

3.  Calories in vs. Calories out — Exercising!

Day 16 Food Log

Breakfast- Cherry, banana and pineapple smoothie @ 7AM (439 calories)

Lunch- Spinach and kale salad, topped with tuna and a homemade vinaigrette and a cup of Trader Joe’s tomato soup @ 12:30PM (321 calories)

Snack- Cashews and banana @ 4:00PM (300 calories)

Dinner- Quinoa with carrots, shrimp, and a spicy Korean sauce @ 7:30PM (476 calories)

Don’t be fooled, this isn’t birdseed!  Check out this new Trader Joe’s item, tricolor quinoa.

The quinoa is incredibly easy to make and although the texture/look freaks me out, it’s so tasty and filling.   To cook, combine 1 cup of stock (or water) with 1/2 cup of uncooked quinoa.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10-15 minutes or until all of the liquid is absorbed.

To my quinoa (1/2 serving) I added carrots, shrimp and 1 TBSP of this sweet and spicy Korean sauce.

With a salad along side, it was a wonderful and filling dinner.  At the end of the day, I had consumed 1536 calories.  I honestly think that I have been consuming 2000+ calories each day on this detox, which is well beyond what I should be eating in order to lose weight.

Are you ever fooled by the foods you’re eating?  How do you control your portions and caloric intake?

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