I purchased a Withings scale and was having some issues getting it setup. I spent a little time last weekend on it and then moved on to something else. I picked it back up this weekend and it worked 🙂
Up Next: Summarize my apps and devices.
Also, I seemed to have a fair amount of bread today.
I’ve been focusing on portions. The size of the meal as well as the quantity of the different elements. I’ve cut way back on the bread. If I get a chicken sandwich, I’ll ditch the buns and chop up the chicken and put it in a salad or bowl of spinach. No breadsticks etc. This won’t always happen, but balance!
Was looking for a good graphic of a well-balanced plate and I like this one.
I am getting used to testing my blood sugar. It’s a little tricky to get the right place on the finger that will generate a decent amount of blood. The depth of the poker (need to learn the real names of the equipment) matters as well. Too deep on small fingers is not ideal and too shallow on the bigger fingers won’t yield enough blood for the test.
Then there is the damn e-4 error on the Accu-Chek. This happens when you don’t get the blood in the end of the sample strip quite right. It really needs to wick the blood into it. I’ve used several of those getting the process down. Another week and I should be able to do it on auto-pilot.
The MySugr app makes it easy to capture and track. Next is really understanding what contributes to higher levels. Especially overnight. To help with this I started loosely tracking my food. I’m using the FitBit app to do this. Back in 2010 when FitBit was first becoming a thing, I used the food tracker extensively, It has a good database and is easy to use. This will help jog my memory when piecing together food/drink and blood sugar levels.
Quick fun fact – the Apple Health app lets you choose the unit of measure for weight. You can choose pounds or kilograms. And you can also specify stones.
Well played Apple. Well played.
I found an app for my iPhone to help me keep track of a few key things i want to do on a regular basis. It’s called Streaks. Very easy to setup and track the important habits you want to get done. As you complete a task you bui
The app limits you to 12 habits to track. This is intentional as the author really wants you to zero in on the most important habits to track. It sounds like they get a lot of feedback to allow more habits, but they are sticking to their guns.
Right now, I’ve got four setup. The first is for tennis. I have it setup four days a week. This is a good start and will try to increase it over time (or add another exercise like walking). The second one I have is daily for practicing and learning Spanish. The third is to weigh myself weekly. The last is a writing habit. I want to get something on this blog daily.
Granted, not all of these are earth-shattering. My thought is to use it as a subtle reminder to drive consistency. In a fun way.
Today I picked up an “Accu-Chek Guide Me” to start tracking my glucose levels. A I mentioned earlier, my current focus areas are trigs and blood sugar. This device allow me to track progress and make any adjustments to eating habits.
I’ve made adjustments to my diet in terms of food type as well as quantity. Working to get out on the tennis courts several times per week. These will form the foundation for getting these areas back under control.
I setup the device and connected it to the MySugr app. I completed a test after adjust the depth of the puncture and got it to successfully read. I’ll be doing this before breakfast and before dinner for the immediate futurte.
Up Next: Determining what good looks like and taking corrective action.
As I get back into my journey, I decided to update my tag line today. I like the original but want to keep a few things in mind every time I look at the site. I really love the book Food Rules by Michael Pollan where he distills the essence of how we need to think about food and eating. That makes up the first three phrases. I added the next two because I believe they are equally important to a well-rounded plan.
You must “move” as well as eat right. Activity is a core part of keeping the calories burned to intake ratio the right way.
This may just be for me, but to really keep this in the forefront of my mind and to keep me honest, I’ve found that writing about this journey is essential. You can look at the beginning of this blog and see a lot and then it fades. Along with the lack of writing is the sliding back into bad behaviors.
From: My Awakening … a long time coming (again)
To: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Move. Journal.
17 Stones 