What I've learnt from keeping a food journal

this past week consistently:

1. I tend to eat less (but we already knew that, didn't we?)
   
2. Most days I ate about 1600 calories. A couple were about 2000. That's better than I've done before.
   
3. I've done pretty well with balancing between food groups, although I struggle to get enough vegetables (They don't serve many at the cafeteria, and that's my main way of getting them since I don't go through them quickly enough as a single person at home. But I did get canned veggies last store trip, so there's some, at least--not as good as fresh, though.) I guess it's sad when a vegetarian (or at least pseudo-vegetarian, as I eat fish) doesn't get enough veggies.
   
4. I eat a lot of whole grains and a decent amount of fruit. Even so, I could do better in the fiber category.
   
5. I also eat a lot of cheese, so there's quite a bit of fat. But generally I keep it at 50% carbs, 30% fat, and 20% protein. I need to edge the protein up and the fat down, I think.
   
6. I eat way too much processed food.
   
7. My nutrition is generally okay. I get enough of the major vitamins and minerals, but have to work on others. I do take a chewable multivitamin, though.
   
8. I do really well in the dairy category.
   

I need to add exercise. Tomorrow I'm going to weigh myself to see if I've lost anything. Considering I was eating about 2500 or more calories a day, I've eliminated about 5500 calories. That's maybe a pound and a half. Not bad for not officially dieting, just trying to make better choices.

Okay, tomorrow's bone density scan happens at 8:30 am so I'd better go on to bed. Good night.

Trying to be a little proactive

I just joined Medic Alert, something I've meant to do for years but now that I have such a robust profile of diseases and allergies to my name and I am on even just a tiny bit of insulin, it made sense. It's $35 a year, and that's not bad for peace of mind in case I'm in an accident. I do keep a list of medicines (which I need to update a bit tonight), along with a copy of my living will, etc. on a thumb drive I have with me all the time, but health care workers are more likely to notice a bracelet.

I've eaten about 1600 calories today and put it in my food log. I feel pretty satisfied. I ate well (veggies, a little fruit, and quite a bit of dairy, although I had nacho chips and cheese for dinner, which wasn't the best fat-wise), and the only sweets I had were three small sugar free lemon cookies. I've taken all of my medicine correctly today, even the evening dose of Janumet I often forget. There's just the insulin tonight to take before bed. I also took off the boot and weighed myself today. I weigh 291.6 lbs. I'm concerned that the insulin will cause me to gain more weight, so I need to really watch what I eat and start exercising. I have an exercise bike borrowed from my grandmother. I'm going to try it out to see if it hurts my foot or not. I wouldn't think so; there'd be no weight put on it, really. Maybe I can start on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for a few minutes and work up to everyday for half an hour.

It's amazing what that leap to insulin will do for your willpower. I just hope I can keep it up. I really wanted pizza last night, but resisted, because I would have gotten breadsticks and eaten them plus maybe a slice or two of pizza and that would have just been too much.

Today I went to the pharmacy and picked up all my medicines that my doctor had called in. It's the first time I ever bought them all at once. It was $270. Gee, I was afraid I'd put too much into my flexible spending account. I don't think I have to worry about not spending enough. The scary thing? If you add up the actual cost of the drugs (what the insurance pays plus what I pay) it comes to $1,806.60. That's per month. I so need to keep my insurance! Aggh!

Today I tried to eat healthier

I had light blueberry yoghurt instead of a package of blueberry Pop-Tarts. For lunch I had minestrone and a salad. I had an apple and a small package of trail mix for my snacks during the day rather than candy bars or chips. I came home and devoured a lot of hummus and pita, but I still wound up with 2353 calories (less than I burn as at a sedentary lifestyle, but much more than I really needed to eat). I had roughly 53% of my intake as carbs, with 17% protein and 30% as fat, so I need to tweak that. My nutrition was really great vitamin-wise except for C, E, and potassium, and I took a children's multivitamin, so the potassium was the only thing I was low in. I know all of this because I kept a food log on FitDay.com, and it calculates all this for you.

My fasting blood sugar this morning was 294. Two hours after lunch it was 244. I forgot to check it before dinner. It's usually in the 140 range by then. I also forgot to take my second Janumet, which I am going to take right now. I guess it's a start, though.

All in all, it could have been better, but it was probably better than it has been. It was slow and probably useless, but I walked 20 minutes to the bus stop this morning and got out and walked around the hospital a couple of times today. I need to start walking around the neighbourhood now that it's cooler. I got a ride home this evening, so I really should have. Instead I came in and gorged myself on spinach and artichoke hummus. But I guess it was better than pizza or some sort of thing. The least healthy thing in terms of salt, fat, and calories I ate today was the trail mix. Breakfast and lunch totaled only about 850 calories, so I was doing really well. I'll have to watch the later eating during the day.

I can't imagine why you would be interested, but my food log/information is public, if you want to see an example of how FitDay works or you're just curious.

One of the blogs I read, Ben Davis's Ben Does Life, chronicles a young man's struggle with weight and his exercise goals and achievements. Ben used to weigh 360 lbs. Since then he's lost 120 lbs., has run a marathon, and has done an Ironman competition. I find his story very inspiring. Anyway, somewhere Ben wrote that it's best to start making changes in a public manner. His point was we often don't hold up bargains with ourselves, but putting a log up and trying to lose weight (or change other things about ourselves, for that matter) in front of others make us more likely to achieve it.

I'm not going to lose weight overnight, by any means. I weigh 288 lbs., after all. I've set a goal to be 150 lbs. by my birthday (April 2nd) of 2012. That's a year and a half, or 78 weeks, making a goal of 1.77 lbs loss a week. I'm not going on a specific diet. The goal is to eat healthy in general, keep my calories down down but well-balanced and my activities up, drawing from various suggestions. I have a long way to go in terms of exercise; it's actually easier for me to eat better, but that's an important component in lowering insulin resistance and losing weight, so I need to do it. Walking is probably the best choice for me at this time. I do also have an exercise bike. If I can work with it, I may get a real bike come spring. We'll see. Anyway, that's what my main focus was on today. The food log really helps a person be more mindful about what he or she is eating; it's just difficult for me to remember to write down every thing. But the online aspect helps a little.

Yesterday a friend asked me

if I were keeping a food journal in the new year. I hadn't thought to, but it's an excellent idea, so I went back to FitDay and started again. If you're in any way interested in what I eat/weigh (although I can't imagine why, really), the link is: http://www.fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=eilir. There's no weight on there; I won't be near a scale until Monday at the hospital. But even though I ate fairly healthy yesterday (except for a bag of microwave popcorn), I ate nearly 3,000 calories, and that's got to stop. Today I had a little over 700 calories for breakfast. We'll see how today goes.