Scale Sunday: Week 2

Sometimes I sit and imagine what my system would be saying if it had a voice. I suppose my own is as close as it gets, and it'd probably sound something like this:

"Nooooo! We're staaaaaarrrrrrrrvvvving! There's a gram of fat, grab that. A carb! Stash it some place special! Huuuunnnnngggrrrrryyyy."

"Oooo nevermind. Mmmm chocolate. Mmmm more chocolate. Uuuuuhhh so much chocolate. This isn't right. Bad bad bad! What do we do with it all?! Aaaaah!"

I could've saved all that and just written how confused it must be, but you would've missed all the fun of dramatization. You're welcome!

I'm still stuck in the stage of impulsive cramming, but it's getting better. Aidan made brownies last week...thick, chewy-around-the-edge and gooey in the middle brownies. One of the worst things to have around when I'm trying to build better habits. When he asked to make them I said yes because he loves to bake, and all of them love to eat. I think next time I'll try to compromise with carrot and apple muffins.

I have found that sipping on a hot drink in the evenings helps curb my end-of-the-day desire to graze. Vanilla chai tea with a little creamer is my go-to drink, but it has just enough caffeine in it to keep me from sleeping well. I'll have to try to find a suitable caffeine-free alternative.

I found a new tool that I'm excited to share with you! I've said before that I don't like using apps to track my health because it takes longer to log something on my phone than to just jot it down in my food journal. This app has changed that! MyFitnessPal had way too many ads and articles attached to it, and wasn't very easy for me to navigate. Maybe it was me subconsciously rebelling against what everyone else was doing? I don't know. At any rate, I still had to look up calories of foods for my journal whenever I didn't have them memorized. It's also quicker because I don't have to do math before I eat again. My time: 1; mental math skills: 0. One of the things I looked up the other day had an add for Nutritionix Track, which was advertised as a "free calorie calculator" so I decided to try it. It is so much more!

It's a lot like MyFitnessPal wherein you add the exact foods you ate that are already in their database, or you can create a custom food to add. Similarly, it tracks saturated and total fat consumed, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, sugars, fiber, protein, and vitamins and minerals in the daily summary. I love charts and graphs, and the pie chart at the bottom paints a pretty clear picture where most my calories are going. Carbs. Darn you, Betty Crocker. This is going to be a game changer for me in balancing my nutritional needs, and it appeals to my competitive nature. I'm going to beat the me from yesterday!

On the dashboard page I can see, much like in my food journal, the rundown of what I've eaten. Not only that, I can track how much water I drank. I often forget where I'm at on ounces, and this helps remind me to grab another drink. At the top of the dashboard page is a colored bar measuring where you're at in your daily caloric intake, telling how many calories you've consumed and how many you have left. The number in the middle tracks calories burned (and adds that amount to the calories you have left for the day). Exercise is also tracked on the dashboard page. If you go over your goal (which you determine) the line turns red. Your weigh-in is also on the dashboard.

In your preferences tab you set your age, height, weight, and sex, and whether you want to lose or maintain your weight. From there it suggests a daily caloric goal for you to accomplish that. There you can also connect a Fitbit to the app. (All you MyFitnessPal groupies are probably rolling yours eyes at me about now. I see you, it's ok. I've never claimed to be tech savvy...or even in tune with any of it!)

The stats tab tracks how many days a month you've kept on top of your diet, % of days greens were eaten, and a weight graph so you can see your progress.

One of the most refreshing things about Track: there's none of the "Stage 2 Obese" or "Morbidly Obese" categorizing. I'm a pretty solid person and I have never fit into the suggested weight ranges for my 5'1" frame, even at my fittest. I appreciate not being shamed for the way God made me!