I might not be eating enough calories to be able to burn them off. My current estimates of how many calories I eat in a day seems to have me in the 600 to 750 range. Breakfast is 2 eggs and 4 small potatoes* fried in about 1 Tbsp. of Becel margarine. Lunch is a drink, sandwich and one serving of crackers or dried fruit. Supper is usually one serving of meat, a serving of vegetables and either a serving of rice, potatoes or pasta. (Tonight's dinner was home made beef stew with 2 large carrots and 8 small potatoes cooked in a LARGE pot. I had one bowl with a piece of bread and butter.) I've started drinking iced tea instead of soda, so that's a huge calorie reduction right there.
My problem seems to be this:
I have low blood pressure, otherwise known as hypotension. My doctor recommends a diet with increased sodium, but I do believe I may have gone overboard by eating potato chips, pretzels, sugar coated candy and drinking two to three cans of soda per day.
However...
As of yesterday I haven't had any junk food of any kind and I've had 2 cans of ginger ale. I opened a can of Pepsi this morning, drank about an eighth of the can and promptly poured the rest down the sink. It gave me such a HEADACHE!!! And this afternoon when I got thirsty, instead of going for the ginger ale, I made a 28oz bottle of iced tea (4 Tbsp. of powder to 1L of water). I can't drink plain water, there has to be something in it. I can dilute the iced tea by only using 2 Tbsp. of powder instead of 4.
What is a sensible caloric intake for a person who's 5'4 (5'5 on a good day) with a starting weight of ~220 pounds? (I don't own a scale so I don't know how much I weigh.) People I meet actually say I don't look it when I tell them I'm over 200 pounds... Instead of making me broader across the hips and stomach, it all coalesces ON my stomach so it sticks way out in front.
* - By small I mean petite or baby potatoes. 4 of those have 80 calories and I usually cut them into smaller pieces so they go further in a meal. Budget and meals both demand this.