The Dietitian

On Tuesday of this week I had my appointment with the dietitian over at the Student Health Center. I have to start changing how I eat and when I eat in order to get my glucose and cholesterol under control so I don't wind up with diabetes when I'm 25. I thought that the visit would be the usually 30-45 minutes that you have for a doctor's appointment, but I was totally wrong. I think I was there for almost an hour and a half.

Of course, I learned all sorts of really good things while I was there, and now I have to try my best to do things differently for the next 4 weeks until my next appointment the first week of June.

Here are some of the things that I have to start doing differently:

1. Eat three regular meals a day. I have been skipping breakfast or lunch, sometimes both, and a very regular basis, which has apparently led me to gorging myself on tons of food in the evening when it will do my body no good. Now I have to make a point of eating all three meals because it will help me not be so hungry.

2. I have to write down everything that I eat each day in a little chart so I can make sure I am eating a balance of all the essential food groups. This one is actually a bit easier than you would think it is.

3. Exercise. I'm supposed to have 30 minutes of physical activity on 4-5 days each week. I guess it is a good thing we have that treadmill in the apartment because otherwise this one would be a bit of a toughie as the days go by. It's not an easy habit to get into even with the treadmill in the house.

4. Counting all my calories. This is where the whole thing gets a little interesting. I have to track how many calories I am eating each day, which is going to get a little time consuming. According to the dietitian I am supposed to have about 2000-2500 a day as long as I'm getting my usual exercise. I guess before the visit I was consuming something in the range of 4000 a day. The dietitian told me if I can get it down I should expect to lose 3-4 pounds a week for the first 6-7 weeks. That would be kind of cool.

Anyways, I'm supposed to have 500-600 calories for each meal I guess, and that didn't seem like a whole lot of food when I was first doing the math, but then I had lunch on Wednesday, and let me break it down for you as to how it works. I had 2 ham & cheese sandwiches, 1 bag of baby carrots, a cup of applesauce, and a glass of sugar-free kool-aid. Here's how that breaks down calorie wise:

4 slices of bread (4 x 70 calories) = 280 calories
10 slices of ham (5 on each sandwich) = 85 calories
2 slices of cheese (1 on each sandwich) = 100 calories
1 bag of baby carrots = 25 calories
1 cup of applesauce = 40 calories
1 glass of sugar-free kool-aid = 10 calories

Grand Total = 530 calories

You can actually pack a large amount of food into 500 calories if you really want to, it is pretty amazing. It just matters what kind of food you are eating is all. So, I guess we will see where this takes me over the next couple of months. I have been about 50-50 on everything since Tuesday, but that is mostly because I haven't had the chance to get back to the grocery store and pick up some alternatives to what is already in the kitchen cupboards. Once I get that done I'll kick it into high gear I think.