After lunch yesterday, my friend Ginna voiced her concern that she didn’t think I was getting enough to eat. I assured her I was satisfied and not experiencing great bouts of hunger or urges to binge or cheat.

But I want to do this the right way, so today I started keeping a journal of every single thing I put in my mouth each day. And I think Ginna was correct. Today after eating breakfast, a mid-morning snack, a good lunch, a mid-afternoon snack, I’ve consumed only 768 calories. According to Leanne Davis, nutritionist at the Wellness Center, I need 2,000 daily.

I’m struck with several thoughts:

First of all, not eating enough is a brand new problem for this old girl. Believe me, it’s not one I’ve ever before experienced. It sort of tickles me.

Secondly, it’s amazing that when choosing healthful foods, you really can eat a lot. But when choosing high-fat, sugar-laden snack foods, it doesn’t take much to shoot your daily calorie count way out of the ball park.

So, I may not succeed today at getting enough calories, but starting tomorrow, I’ll do better. I plan to continue writing down what I eat and drink daily because I think that’ll be the easiest way for me to get it right.

I also think I’ll splurge and purchase one of those fat little books that lists thousands of foods and the number of calories in each.

Lesson learned.

On another note, thanks for the really good breakfast suggestions. They’ve helped greatly. My sister sent a recipe this week for low-fat bran muffins that you can bake and freeze individually in a zip-lock bag and zap in the microwave a few seconds to eat for breakfast or a snack. I plan to try them this weekend. If they’re good, I’ll share the recipe.