Welcome to my weekly Diet Diary. At the beginning of the new year, I started a Low Carb, High Protien (LCHP) diet. It's the Atkins version but there are many others to choose from. I'm chronicling my journey here. I both want to share my experience and hear from you as well as have an enduring record for future reference. This is not an advocacy journal: there are many other ways to manage weight and many different experiences out there.
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Tonight's topic is taking health seriously. This diet journey I am on comes after many years of being accepting of my weight level but generally dissatisfied. You can think of this effort as trying to go nuclear on the problem, something I've been unwilling to do. And as I've poured into the data and thought more about why I'm doing this I've been struck by a recurring feeling: I should have done this much sooner. I simply have not been taking my health seriously.
Here are some ways to measure health and some of my personal experiences. I'll rate mine on a green-yellow-red scale:
- Blood Panels - This is the blood test you get at a yearly physical or more often depending on your medical circumstance. The big categories are blood sugar and blood lipid levels. I'd say I've been "yellow" on these scores.
- BMI - This is the simple measure meant to group people into Underweight, Normal, Overweight and Obese categories based on their height/weight proportion. I've been in the Overweight category for years. I rate myself a "yellow."
- Cardio Vascular Fitness - I may not be the world's foremost expert here but we all know when we we're "in shape" and "out of shape." There's many ways of measuring this on a technical level. But I think a good rule of thumb is if you can sustain an "aerobic" pace (60-85% of maximum heart rate) for at least a half hour comfortably. I'll rate myself a "green" here as I've been pretty consistent with getting to the gym.
- Colon Health - Not a pleasant topic but one that cannot be ignored. How's the bathroom experience? We should all strive for "regularity" and be concerned if we don't achieve that for extended periods of time. I give myself a "yellow" here.
- Stress - This one condition can affect all of the above ones negatively. It's important to know how much stress we are under and what we can do to control it. We can try to influence our upstream causes of stress. But we can also think about what we stress out about. "Let it go" is within our power and can be very effective for certain things. I've been green here lately but throughout my life I've had episodes of red.
Bottom line: on three of the five measures, I'm "yellow" on a green-yellow-red scale - that means I'm NOT healthy! Damn. Obviously, with this diet I am working on two of the measures. But my suspicion is that I'll need to manage these things whether on this diet or not long term. Once I reach my goal, it can't just go back to business as usual.
Is this the right scorecard? I'd love to get your suggestions. I've never even tried to give myself a comprehensive health assessment. I have a structured way to check my personal finances every three months but I don't have the same thing for my health? That's just ridiculous and has to change.
For reference, I'm 5'9", male and in my middle-late early 40s.
Week Summary
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Total |
Week |
Start date |
12/31/2013 |
02/04/2014 |
Report date |
02/10/2014 |
02/10/2014 |
Days on Diet |
42 |
7 |
Start weight |
183 lbs. |
169 lbs. |
Current weight |
167 lbs. |
167 lbs |
Weight Lost |
16 lbs. |
2 lbs. |
Pounds per day Lost |
0.38 |
0.28 |
Daily Activity
Date |
Weight |
Exercise |
Blood Ketones (mmol/L) |
Blood Glucose (mg/dL) |
02/04/2014 |
169 |
45 min Eliptical |
2.0 |
88 |
02/05/2014 |
... |
... |
1.2 |
91 |
02/06/2014 |
169 |
30 min Swim |
1.4 |
78 |
02/07/2014 |
... |
... |
2.2 |
82 |
02/08/2014 |
... |
... |
2.3 |
79 |
02/09/2014 |
167 |
... |
4.9 |
80 |
02/10/2014 |
167 |
... |
1.5 |
91 |
Note: I don't have a scale at home so I only have data for days I go to the gym which has a scale.
Analysis
By dropping below 169 pounds, I have crossed the boundary from Overweight to Normal as defined in the BMI. Considering that Underweight does not start until 125 pounds (!), I'm not going to be stopping here. This week I was impacted by a cold and so did not workout from the 7th on. I still went to the gym since it has a sauna which I thought could make me feel better.