Suddenly - I'm a calorie freak.

I'm not on a diet, so I can't explain where this instant curiosity came from. Perhaps it has something to do with my recent workout kick or maybe it's because it's January and I'm bored. Nonetheless, I've been sucked into the rest of the country's obsession with food.

It all started while questioning the amount of calories in a Chipotle burrito (a meal that I have a lot). Lucky for me, tons of people have already wondered about this and there's a web site dedicated to calculating the calorie count to your order. After punching in a few numbers, I found out that having my usual vegetarian crispy tacos totaled around 700 calories. Add 150 to that and you've got my usual burrito order. Fascinating. This led me to my next question: Exactly how many calories am I supposed to be eating anyway?

I found out, thanks to the trusty Internet, for someone of my height, gender, etc. I should be packing in about 2,000 cals a day. Well, that led me to wonder about the calories in everything, so I began to monitor. Tuna sandwiches? Coke? Falafel? Chips and salsa? Frozen yogurt? Frozen pizza? All part of my usual diet and all bad for you in some way. Now I remembered why I never bothered with calorie stuff. In my research, it seems that only things that are actually good for you are raw carrots (pretty much) and water (depending on the source).

So what did I learn? Not much. I pretty much eat the same way I've always eaten, but I did switch to diet soda (which, shockingly - to me anyway - knocks about 400-600 calories off my regular diet. Who knew?). Otherwise, I've been casually monitoring my calorie intake (somehow, naturally, I seem to be pretty good about how much I eat in a day) and in my "not so fitness conscious" moments, practicing a healthy state of denial.

I know this is scintillating stuff, but it did feel good to sum up all this caloric nonsense. Now, I promise never to mention it again...until I somehow gain 500 lbs.