Logging!

A lot of people log things.. Their food/fluid intake, exersize, blood sugars, insulin (when diabetic) ... I've never been good at it. Ever. When I was really little my mom would do it for me.. Like.. when i was 7.. But i've never been good at iton my own. I'm good at just keeping track in my head.. I can look back and remmeber everything I"ve eaten/drank.. and add it all together... I've been doing this all so long.. i'm almost 100% accurate on eye-balling portion sizes (although i still measure to make sure, majority of the time.) I just stopped attempting to log things.. Because i'd do it for a day.. then sto pfor a week.. do it for half aday, for 3 days, then not do it again for a few days.. It wasn't helpfull at all. and more frustrating than anything..

But this past weeki've been REALLY off.. not remembering half of my meds.. (i seriously have slept maybe a total of 12 hours... the past week.)... I've had a lot going on... It wuoldn't seem like a lotto most people.. But itsa long story.. ANYWAYS. i realized I havent taken my metformin (or any of my meds, for that matter..)thsi week... normally i'm realllllyyyy good with my meds.. I don't typically havea problemremembering them. it's become a habit for me.. But this has just been a messedup week..

I've been out of test strips for my blood sugar for a few months.. I just got some yesterday.. So i thought i'd take it..  i had just eaten.. figured it would bea ltitle high... no glucophauge(metformin), for a week.. and your blood sugar naturally goes up after you eat, right..? even in a totally healthy person..  well.. it was like 80.... .andi took it again later on.. and it was 78... -- uhm...? My blood sugars have never been... like... that great.. i've kept them controlled most my life.. without much of a problem (for which i'm grateful) but that.. without metformin? i was honestly amazed.. I've been on metformin/glucophauge since i as9 years old...

and for whatever reason this motivated me to start logging my blood sugars.. (get back on track with my meds, obviously..)
but i set a goal for myself.. to take my blood sugar fasting, 2 hours after lunch, and 2hours after dinner.. and see where i'm at.. just because this interests me. Now Itypically eat 4 (obviously pretty small) meals a day.. up to 60grams of protein total, sometimes more, and i keep the carbs under 45-50grams a day...  so i take it 2 hours after the first meal and 2hours after the last meal... and log it. I'll probably post my numbers on facebook each day.. because this is really.. id on't know. interesting i guess.. to me. to see what my levels are at. the first day i did (today) no glucophauge.. then the rest of the days i'm taking my glucophauge getting back into it..

(I'm not recommending stopping your medications, at all. This was honestly a mistake.. But i figured.. I'll take advantage of it, instead of sit there mad at myself for messing up so badly.)

then obviously i'll keep taking my meds.. like i'm supposed to. :P

But yeah..

So. the point of this post, is i'm going to try logging just for one week.. my blood sugars anyway. I've tried logging food. i just am not able to do it for more than 2 days without givng up.. its too much of a hassle for me.. I can tell you what i ate all day today.. no problem..:

Breakfast: 1/2 yoplait light blueberry yogurt, and a piece of string cheese.
Lunch: half of a chicken cheese quesadilla, and some milk..
Lunch #2: The other half of the chicken cheese quesadilla, and 2 small pieces of a peach.
Dinner: 5 small shrimp(with a little bit of coctail sauce) and a piece of string cheese.

Fluids: eh.. about 60oz.. made up of diluted diet pepsi, sugar free pink lemonade, orange flavored crystal light, and skim milk..

^^^^^. see? (: I made absolutely none of that up, either.

Butttt yeah. Just thought I'd put that out there. (:

but i did draw up two charts.. a food/intake log, and a blood sugar log.. the blood sugar log isn't exact to the one i'm using now, but it's pretty close.. you can use them as a guide to make you rown, if you want to try logging.. or just print them off. if you print off the picture, (just right click it, and click print picture, i believe..) it should show up when you print it, a full page.. the pictures look better enlarged.

Blood Sugar Log:

(i just scanned the drawing.. i didn't have the patience to try and do it on microsoft excel or whatever the name of the program isthat you can make graphs on.. sorry. :P haha.)

Food/Intake Log:

(I always hate when doctors would give me charts to try and fill out, that there was never enough room to write everything down.. ever. I'm not very good at writing super small.. so i tried to make this one have more space.. its basically for a week. 7 days. You kill more trees this way, but it's also easier to write.. and keep track of, i think.. anyway.. :P)

so.. there we go. (: I hope this helped some.. Have a great day!

-ashley.

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Ps: Feel free to email me, or comment on this, or write on my page on facebook! i'd love to talk to anyone who keeps up with my blog.. If anyone ever has any questions or concerns, or suggestions on things i should blog about... let me know! (: