The primary goal of level 2 is to eat less. I know from my fall testing that my standard mindless eating is around 3200 calories per day. Sometimes more, sometimes less. So for level 2, I'd like to build a day where I eat closer to 2500 calories per day and get used to that.
I was about to write, "That's still a lot" - look, I even did write it! - but I have to keep reminding myself that for the moment, it's irrelevant. Even more than that, "that's a lot" doesn't make sense in this context. A lot relative to who? Relative to where I'd like to be in a year? Yeah. But who cares? Relative to where I'm at now, it's a significant drop.
Eating out is a huge problem for me. It's financially unsustainable, and tends to provide me much larger portions than I'd make myself.
So! I had a big breakfast this morning, but one I prepared at home and that might fit into a proper level 2 day:
- Two eggs, scrambled in some olive oil: 280 calories (about 180 for the eggs and maybe 100 for the oil)
- Cup of whole chocolate milk: 250 calories (150 for the cup of whole milk and another 100 for the chocolate syrup)
- Two slices of white toast with butter: 420 calories (220 for the bread and about 200 for the butter)
- Total: 950 calories
This is just a framework, and ultimately was more than I want for level 2, but not much more. I could cut back by just doing one slice of toast, or water instead of chocolate milk. Or meat instead of the toast, like Spam or bacon. It's a framework rather than something I intend to follow religiously.
