2,995. I am what I eat
Muse #177 - why not celebrate today?
One tool that has been on my weight loss and weight management journey is Myfitnesspal. And it will be 3,000 days of consecutive logging in five days time. And I thought why not celebrate it on day 2995 instead?
It started nearly eight years ago when I woke up to the fact that I needed to lose weight and the pounds that I have carrying over the years have been detrimental to me. It fueled my diabetes, my sleep apnea, my energy, my ability to exercise, and every other aspect of my life. So one day in 2013, I said to myself “this is got to stop” and health became my #1 priority over other things.
I joined a weight loss clinic and I was introduced to food logging as part of the program. Paper food diaries were not as easy to maintain, review or derive statistics from.
Initially, the first six to eight months was extremely hard as I practiced a protein first, 500 calories a day deficit diet. But the results showed. Over a period of two years, I lost nearly 60 pounds. And have kept it off consistently staying at my lowest weight levels. And this has helped me reduce several of my diabetes medication and their dosage, went off my CPAP machine for my sleep apnea (but was unable to ward off my cardiac arterial disease)
My food intake has changed over time to something that has been designed in a way it works for me. I would not call it any diet in particular as it borrows ideas from several sources - the vegetarian version of the Mediterranean diet, portions from keto, and other ideas from diabetic diets, greek diets, and the Canada food guide.
I have ever since used the application as an external motivator to keep track of what I eat and also track my weight. It has become an integral part of my every day. There are of course ups and downs in my journey - but when I sense my eating patterns have changed, the weekly reporting data keeps me honest. After a couple of weeks of controlled eating and my weight and cravings come back on track again. Of course, this is a yo-yo, but I don’t want to let my body win and this tool is one helpful way of controlling my eating habits and staying on my track of being healthy and staying alive.
And to the next milestone in 655 days, that should get me to 10 years.
My public food dairy: