a week of tracking...

I hadn't been tracking my diet closely for the past few months, but am
currently working out an appropriate metformin dosage and have been
tracking much more closely this week.

I've tried to eat as similarly as I've been doing, not changing stuff
just cause I'm tracking, cause I don't intend to track all the time.
I've probably been successful for the most part, though I admit there's
a few times I didn't eat a snack I might've eaten before just cause I
didn't feel like calculating the carbs, protein and calories and doing
the blood testing afterwards. I mean, if I have to test my blood in one
hour and two hours over a hard boiled egg, it's kinda easier to skip
that particular hard boiled egg. I doubt this effected my overall
consumption much though as I think I was eating a bit more at meals to
compensate.

My overall daily targets are 30-50 g carb, 80-100 g protein and
1200-2000 calories. I'm not staying in these ranges as well as I
thought I was though.

I've posted elsewhere that the first really startling thing was
discovering I eat a ****load of calories as dairy fat. I'm not
currently planning to change this particularly as it's not a problem
yet, but if I have problems in the future, I'll know where I have to
start. So it's good info to have, though I'm not planning to do
anything with it immediatly.

The next startling thing is... I eat way less carb than I thought I did.
My daily intake this past week varied from 16-37 grams of carb. Given
that my goal is 30-50 grams... well, I'm surprised. I'm not sure if I
want to change this or not. Most of my veggie intake is pretty much
greens, which have very little non-fiber carbs. I just can't eat enough
salad and mustard greens to significantly impact my carb levels, and
apparently don't even get that much in my excessive dairy consumption.
I could certainly add in more higher-carb veggies, a bit more tomato,
onions and carrots, or add in some low-carb fruits like melon and
strawberries. Whether this works well for the long-run is my concern at
this point... I have little issue with cravings right now and don't
particularly want to start any. On the other hand, being this low may
be a partial explanation for my slower-than-ideal weight loss. So I'm
not sure what I want to do about this. Certanly I will get my metformin
dosage worked out before attempting changes, as my current issue is
stablizing my blood glucose and I want a baseline before introducing
changes, but I am unsure if I will attempt changes or not as I'm pretty
happy not being hungry right now.

The other startling thing was... I find much more variation in my
day-to-day consumption of protein than I expected. I've always
considered a range more realistic than a strict target, because life
just works that way... some days I'm hungrier than others, depending on
exercise, amount of sleep, and who-knows-what-other-variables. While I
thought I was eating 80-100 grams of protein per day, I actually ranged
from 65 to 130 grams per day this week. I really didn't expect a 100%
variation in my protein intake, that surprised me.

My kilocalories are running high versus my target. My target is
1200-2000, which is a pretty wide range with what I thought was plenty
of wiggle room, but my actual measured range was 1300-2300, with most
days in the 1800 area.

JC will say I should eat less, but as far as I can tell, my issue is I
need to *drink* less as it's the damned cream in my coffee that's
killing me here. The coffee, even with cream and sweetener, has little
enough carb and protein that I don't feel it's necessary to test my bg
after every single cup. I just drink an awful lot of it, especially
when I'm working at the computer for long periods. I can easily cut
several hundred calories from my diet doing so and may need to think
about that in the future.

Right now, it's not a big issue, as I'm still losing weight and it's not
doing much to my bg one way or the other, but it's a potential future
concern. I don't like black coffee and I also don't find limiting
coffee intake works for me well, so I may have to give it up in the
future.

I also had the plasure of seeing a fasting blood glucose of 112 this
morning before I went to the doctor. Lowest reading I've had all year!
Woohoo! It's a bit ironic because I was going primarily to discuss
the fact that my metformin dosage needed increasing due to poor blood
glucose readings and I'd just gotten the best reading of the year.

I found my doctor pretty clueful when I met him last time and he found
me clueful also. We each congragulated the other on being a good doctor
and a good patient.

I'd been on 500 mg twice a day and the doctor looked over my data, then
gave me a few hundred samples of 850 mg pills and told me to increase
the dosage gradually and just come back in 4 weeks to tell him how much
I should be taking so he can write the appropriate prescription. Heh.

Note: I've got the pharamecutical insert intended for physicians and can
read it as well as he can since I used to be a biochemist. So it's not
quite as irresponsible as it might sound for him to just tell me to
figure out the dosage myself since he knows I'm quite capable of doing
it as well as he is.

So... it's been an interesting little week of gathering data, I've
learned a lot about my own personal little science experiment here.

--
As you accelerate your food, it takes exponentially more and more energy
to increase its velocity, until you hit a limit at C. This energy has
to come from somewhere; in this case, from the food's nutritional value.
Thus, the faster the food is, the worse it gets.
-- Mark Hughes, comprehending the taste of fast food

Jackie Patti wrote:
:: I hadn't been tracking my diet closely for the past few months, but
:: am currently working out an appropriate metformin dosage and have
:: been tracking much more closely this week.
::
:: I've tried to eat as similarly as I've been doing, not changing stuff
:: just cause I'm tracking, cause I don't intend to track all the time.
:: I've probably been successful for the most part, though I admit
:: there's a few times I didn't eat a snack I might've eaten before
:: just cause I didn't feel like calculating the carbs, protein and
:: calories and doing the blood testing afterwards. I mean, if I have
:: to test my blood in one hour and two hours over a hard boiled egg,
:: it's kinda easier to skip that particular hard boiled egg. I doubt
:: this effected my overall consumption much though as I think I was
:: eating a bit more at meals to compensate.
::
:: My overall daily targets are 30-50 g carb, 80-100 g protein and
:: 1200-2000 calories. I'm not staying in these ranges as well as I
:: thought I was though.
::
:: I've posted elsewhere that the first really startling thing was
:: discovering I eat a ****load of calories as dairy fat. I'm not
:: currently planning to change this particularly as it's not a problem
:: yet, but if I have problems in the future, I'll know where I have to
:: start. So it's good info to have, though I'm not planning to do
:: anything with it immediatly.


What percentange? This is not uncommon for a LCer, you know. LCing is
basically a high fat diet.

::
:: The next startling thing is... I eat way less carb than I thought I
:: did. My daily intake this past week varied from 16-37 grams of
:: carb. Given that my goal is 30-50 grams... well, I'm surprised.
:: I'm not sure if I want to change this or not. Most of my veggie
:: intake is pretty much greens, which have very little non-fiber
:: carbs. I just can't eat enough salad and mustard greens to
:: significantly impact my carb levels, and apparently don't even get
:: that much in my excessive dairy consumption. I could certainly add
:: in more higher-carb veggies, a bit more tomato, onions and carrots,
:: or add in some low-carb fruits like melon and strawberries. Whether
:: this works well for the long-run is my concern at this point...

AS far as sticking to the diet, this is probably best for the long run to
increase it to your targets. Obviously, BG control is another issue.

I
:: have little issue with cravings right now and don't particularly
:: want to start any. On the other hand, being this low may be a
:: partial explanation for my slower-than-ideal weight loss. So I'm
:: not sure what I want to do about this. Certanly I will get my
:: metformin dosage worked out before attempting changes, as my current
:: issue is stablizing my blood glucose and I want a baseline before
:: introducing changes, but I am unsure if I will attempt changes or
:: not as I'm pretty happy not being hungry right now.

I doubt those targets with matter much for hunger. You are exercising.

::
:: The other startling thing was... I find much more variation in my
:: day-to-day consumption of protein than I expected. I've always
:: considered a range more realistic than a strict target, because life
:: just works that way... some days I'm hungrier than others, depending
:: on exercise, amount of sleep, and who-knows-what-other-variables.
:: While I thought I was eating 80-100 grams of protein per day, I
:: actually ranged from 65 to 130 grams per day this week. I really
:: didn't expect a 100% variation in my protein intake, that surprised
:: me.

Typical. Some days I have to go out of my way to get enough protein. It
helps me that I track all the time because if I introduce variations in my
diet, then I'll often have to compensate in the evening meal, and sometimes
that requires eating more protein that I'd like at different, so I'll end up
low for that day.

::
:: My kilocalories are running high versus my target. My target is
:: 1200-2000, which is a pretty wide range with what I thought was
:: plenty of wiggle room, but my actual measured range was 1300-2300,
:: with most days in the 1800 area.
::
:: JC will say I should eat less,

Without knowing what you weigh, one has little idea what your caloric needs
ought to be...

but as far as I can tell, my issue is
:: I need to *drink* less as it's the damned cream in my coffee that's
:: killing me here. The coffee, even with cream and sweetener, has
:: little enough carb and protein that I don't feel it's necessary to
:: test my bg after every single cup. I just drink an awful lot of it,
:: especially when I'm working at the computer for long periods. I can
:: easily cut several hundred calories from my diet doing so and may
:: need to think about that in the future.

These are reasons I dont' use cream in coffee. It adds too many
calories..but it certainly keeps the fat high. Jenny will tell you that
sat fat is bad for your beta cells, too.

::
:: Right now, it's not a big issue, as I'm still losing weight and it's
:: not doing much to my bg one way or the other, but it's a potential
:: future concern. I don't like black coffee and I also don't find
:: limiting coffee intake works for me well, so I may have to give it
:: up in the future.

Well, IMO, you can learn to like black coffee....

::
:: I also had the plasure of seeing a fasting blood glucose of 112 this
:: morning before I went to the doctor. Lowest reading I've had all
:: year! Woohoo! It's a bit ironic because I was going primarily to
:: discuss
:: the fact that my metformin dosage needed increasing due to poor blood
:: glucose readings and I'd just gotten the best reading of the year.
::
:: I found my doctor pretty clueful when I met him last time and he
:: found me clueful also. We each congragulated the other on being a
:: good doctor and a good patient.
::
:: I'd been on 500 mg twice a day and the doctor looked over my data,
:: then gave me a few hundred samples of 850 mg pills and told me to
:: increase the dosage gradually and just come back in 4 weeks to tell
:: him how much I should be taking so he can write the appropriate
:: prescription. Heh.
::
:: Note: I've got the pharamecutical insert intended for physicians and
:: can read it as well as he can since I used to be a biochemist. So
:: it's not quite as irresponsible as it might sound for him to just
:: tell me to figure out the dosage myself since he knows I'm quite
:: capable of doing it as well as he is.
::
:: So... it's been an interesting little week of gathering data, I've
:: learned a lot about my own personal little science experiment here.
::
:: --
:: As you accelerate your food, it takes exponentially more and more
:: energy to increase its velocity, until you hit a limit at C. This
:: energy has to come from somewhere; in this case, from the food's
:: nutritional value. Thus, the faster the food is, the worse it gets.
:: -- Mark Hughes, comprehending the taste of fast food

"Roger Zoul" wrote in message

Well, IMO, you can learn to like black coffee....

Or just use less cream. I find that if I pour cream into my cup from the
carton, I'll usually use a tablespoon or so, and that tastes fine to me. But
I usually follow the habit of pouring out the cream into my teaspoon and
then stirring it in, which is 1/3 the calories and fat, and that seems to
whiten it for me and give it that smooth creamy mouthfeel, even for a
good-sized mug. It's all in what you're used to I guess, but I think a lot
of people use more cream than they really need.

HG

In article ,
"Roger Zoul" wrote:


Well, IMO, you can learn to like black coffee....

::


I totally agree. I am also a coffee fiend, and I was getting too many
calories from my half and half. I started drinking it black with sweetener
and cinnamon, and I don't miss the half and half at all. This was the
easiest place to cut calories for me.

--
Michelle Levin
http://www.mindspring.com/~lunachick

I have only 3 flaws. My first flaw is thinking that I only have 3 flaws.

"Eat less" is actually short for "consume less calories, whether they be in
solid or liquid form".

HTH

--

Eat less, exercise more. -- MFW

--
"Jackie Patti" wrote in message
...
I hadn't been tracking my diet closely for the past few months, but am
currently working out an appropriate metformin dosage and have been
tracking much more closely this week.

I've tried to eat as similarly as I've been doing, not changing stuff
just cause I'm tracking, cause I don't intend to track all the time.
I've probably been successful for the most part, though I admit there's
a few times I didn't eat a snack I might've eaten before just cause I
didn't feel like calculating the carbs, protein and calories and doing
the blood testing afterwards. I mean, if I have to test my blood in one
hour and two hours over a hard boiled egg, it's kinda easier to skip
that particular hard boiled egg. I doubt this effected my overall
consumption much though as I think I was eating a bit more at meals to
compensate.

My overall daily targets are 30-50 g carb, 80-100 g protein and
1200-2000 calories. I'm not staying in these ranges as well as I
thought I was though.

I've posted elsewhere that the first really startling thing was
discovering I eat a ****load of calories as dairy fat. I'm not
currently planning to change this particularly as it's not a problem
yet, but if I have problems in the future, I'll know where I have to
start. So it's good info to have, though I'm not planning to do
anything with it immediatly.

The next startling thing is... I eat way less carb than I thought I did.
My daily intake this past week varied from 16-37 grams of carb. Given
that my goal is 30-50 grams... well, I'm surprised. I'm not sure if I
want to change this or not. Most of my veggie intake is pretty much
greens, which have very little non-fiber carbs. I just can't eat enough
salad and mustard greens to significantly impact my carb levels, and
apparently don't even get that much in my excessive dairy consumption.
I could certainly add in more higher-carb veggies, a bit more tomato,
onions and carrots, or add in some low-carb fruits like melon and
strawberries. Whether this works well for the long-run is my concern at
this point... I have little issue with cravings right now and don't
particularly want to start any. On the other hand, being this low may
be a partial explanation for my slower-than-ideal weight loss. So I'm
not sure what I want to do about this. Certanly I will get my metformin
dosage worked out before attempting changes, as my current issue is
stablizing my blood glucose and I want a baseline before introducing
changes, but I am unsure if I will attempt changes or not as I'm pretty
happy not being hungry right now.

The other startling thing was... I find much more variation in my
day-to-day consumption of protein than I expected. I've always
considered a range more realistic than a strict target, because life
just works that way... some days I'm hungrier than others, depending on
exercise, amount of sleep, and who-knows-what-other-variables. While I
thought I was eating 80-100 grams of protein per day, I actually ranged
from 65 to 130 grams per day this week. I really didn't expect a 100%
variation in my protein intake, that surprised me.

My kilocalories are running high versus my target. My target is
1200-2000, which is a pretty wide range with what I thought was plenty
of wiggle room, but my actual measured range was 1300-2300, with most
days in the 1800 area.

JC will say I should eat less, but as far as I can tell, my issue is I
need to *drink* less as it's the damned cream in my coffee that's
killing me here. The coffee, even with cream and sweetener, has little
enough carb and protein that I don't feel it's necessary to test my bg
after every single cup. I just drink an awful lot of it, especially
when I'm working at the computer for long periods. I can easily cut
several hundred calories from my diet doing so and may need to think
about that in the future.

Right now, it's not a big issue, as I'm still losing weight and it's not
doing much to my bg one way or the other, but it's a potential future
concern. I don't like black coffee and I also don't find limiting
coffee intake works for me well, so I may have to give it up in the
future.

I also had the plasure of seeing a fasting blood glucose of 112 this
morning before I went to the doctor. Lowest reading I've had all year!
Woohoo! It's a bit ironic because I was going primarily to discuss
the fact that my metformin dosage needed increasing due to poor blood
glucose readings and I'd just gotten the best reading of the year.

I found my doctor pretty clueful when I met him last time and he found
me clueful also. We each congragulated the other on being a good doctor
and a good patient.

I'd been on 500 mg twice a day and the doctor looked over my data, then
gave me a few hundred samples of 850 mg pills and told me to increase
the dosage gradually and just come back in 4 weeks to tell him how much
I should be taking so he can write the appropriate prescription. Heh.

Note: I've got the pharamecutical insert intended for physicians and can
read it as well as he can since I used to be a biochemist. So it's not
quite as irresponsible as it might sound for him to just tell me to
figure out the dosage myself since he knows I'm quite capable of doing
it as well as he is.

So... it's been an interesting little week of gathering data, I've
learned a lot about my own personal little science experiment here.

--
As you accelerate your food, it takes exponentially more and more energy
to increase its velocity, until you hit a limit at C. This energy has
to come from somewhere; in this case, from the food's nutritional value.
Thus, the faster the food is, the worse it gets.
-- Mark Hughes, comprehending the taste of fast food

Luna wrote:

In article ,
"Roger Zoul" wrote:

Well, IMO, you can learn to like black coffee....

::

I totally agree. I am also a coffee fiend, and I was getting too many
calories from my half and half. I started drinking it black with sweetener
and cinnamon, and I don't miss the half and half at all. This was the
easiest place to cut calories for me.

I've tried this in the past and just can't get used to it; tastes nasty
to me. If it comes down to it, I'd really rather just quit coffee.
Hopefully, it won't come to that.

Meanwhile, having thought about the immediate situation... I think I
need to watch my protein a bit more closely to get it to a more
consistent level of intake if I want my blood glucose stabilized.

I think that's what I'm going to focus on immediatly while continuining
to adjust the metformin dose.

--
As you accelerate your food, it takes exponentially more and more energy
to increase its velocity, until you hit a limit at C. This energy has
to come from somewhere; in this case, from the food's nutritional value.
Thus, the faster the food is, the worse it gets.
-- Mark Hughes, comprehending the taste of fast food

Well, IMO, you can learn to like black coffee....

Or just use less cream. I find that if I pour cream into my cup from the
carton, I'll usually use a tablespoon or so, and that tastes fine to me.
But
I usually follow the habit of pouring out the cream into my teaspoon and
then stirring it in, which is 1/3 the calories and fat, and that seems to
whiten it for me and give it that smooth creamy mouthfeel, even for a
good-sized mug. It's all in what you're used to I guess, but I think a lot
of people use more cream than they really need.



Ah. Thank you all.
I need to start measuring my coffee cream.
I might try making my coffee a bit lighter too.

*

JC Der Koenig wrote:

"Eat less" is actually short for "consume less calories, whether they be in
solid or liquid form".

HTH

fewer calories, not less.

hth

"The Queen of Cans and Jars" wrote in message
...
JC Der Koenig wrote:

"Eat less" is actually short for "consume less calories, whether they be
in
solid or liquid form".

HTH

fewer calories, not less.

hth

That helps a lot.

Luna wrote:
:: In article ,
:: "Roger Zoul" wrote:
::
:::
::: Well, IMO, you can learn to like black coffee....
:::
:::::
::
::
:: I totally agree. I am also a coffee fiend, and I was getting too
:: many calories from my half and half. I started drinking it black
:: with sweetener and cinnamon, and I don't miss the half and half at
:: all. This was the easiest place to cut calories for me.

Exactly what I did....exactly...cinnamon makes a nice flavor...